Consumer Tech

ChatGPT volunteered to play a 1977-vintage Atari 2600 to a game of chess and came to regret it after the eight-bit chess engine from the age of Disco Fever and the introduction of the Force did better than expected. A lot better.

Boutique audio brand Astell&Kern is known for pushing the music hardware envelope in terms of tech and price, but its titanium-housed Luna earphones bump things up a notch with a price tag so high it will send your bank balance into orbit.

DJI's latest enterprise-grade drone is seriously specced for heavy-duty tasks. Aimed at infrastructure planning agencies and emergency response teams, this flagship model can fly for a whopping 59 minutes, and boasts a payload capacity of 13 lb.

A few years ago, Google showed off its Project Starline tech that would make you look like a 3D hologram on a video call for a more connected experience. It's now called Google Beam, and you can pick up the gear from HP for the princely sum of US$25,000.

XGIMI has updated its funky portable projector line to include a laser edition. The MoGo 4 has been "engineered to resonate with tech-savvy Millennials, Gen Z and Gen A" though there's no reason old coots like me can't join the portable laser party.

Back in 2018, Elecrow hit Kickstarter with an electronics learning lab-in-a-box based around the Raspberry Pi. A 2nd generation crammed the lab into a laptop form factor. The latest version has launched on Kickstarter, and now goes all-in-one.

Around this time last year, Yaber launched two portable 1080p projectors designed to provide entertainment on outdoor adventures. They both required a dongle to access Google TV, but the company has now rectified that with the T2 Plus GTV edition.

Microsoft and Asus just showed off the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two upcoming handhelds designed to bring your entire PC game library everywhere you go. Here's what can you look forward to with them, and what they're up against.

When we tried the first true wireless earbuds almost 10 years ago, battery life for continuous listening came in at around 2 hours. The latest buds from Soundcore last for 12 hours, or 192 hours with a charging case that could also juice up your phone.

LG has announced what's claimed to be the first 5K2K computer monitor sporting Thunderbolt 5 ports, enabling super-fast data throughput, easy connection to source devices and laptop charging chops all from a single cable.

Ricoh's Theta 360-degree camera has come a long way since it first appeared in hammerhead concept form at CES 2013. Now the company has toughened up the panoramic immersion machine so it can get to work in extreme environments.

Hisense has launched its "smallest, lightest and most portable laser projector to date." The M2 Pro smart mini projector boasts RGB lasers, expands 4K viewing up to 200 inches and pounds out the soundtrack though Dolby speakers.

Makers, tinkerers, modelers and crafters looking for an edge that smoothly cuts through a range of materials like they're all butter might find the NeoBlade of interest – which is claimed to be the world's most compact wireless ultrasonic cutter.

In Japanese mythology, dragons aren't the fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding monsters you'll find in Tolkien, Martin, et al. Instead, they're wise, serpentine creatures who control rain, fly through the clouds, and protect sacred areas.

They're chunky and heavy, and not the most attractive handsets around. But rugged phones are designed to shake off abuse, while boasting huge batteries and useful tools. The latest model from Ulefone has all that in spades, plus pocket cinema chops.