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Carving up London on the monster Mate X electric bike
Most electric-bike companies are pursuing designs nearly indistinguishable from their purely pedal-powered brethren. They're hiding batteries in slightly thicker frames or attaching them where a rider would normally store a water bottle. While the execution differs, the goal is the same: to make the owner blend in with other cyclists. Mate is a little different, though. The Danish startup is developing e-bikes that are meant to stand out and make people stare. Its latest, the Mate X, is a monster ride with chunky off-road tires and a thick slab of metal that doubles as the top and down tube. And, oh boy, does it fly.
Huawei didn’t need American customers to become a smartphone giant
On October 16th, Huawei announced its latest smartphone, the Mate 10, alongside a Porsche Design-ed version of the same device. In previous years, the phone might have been seen as little more than a me-too clone of Samsung's Galaxy Note. But these days, Huawei believes that its hardware is more than enough to stand up against the smartphone world's "big two." Its status as a major player may not be entrenched, yet, but between flashy product launches and an ever-growing presence on the world stage, it feels almost inevitable.
Huawei's next mobile chipset is ready for our AI-powered future
A big part of Huawei's multi-year push to improve its image has been improving the hardware it builds to go inside them, and its latest processor is more than up to the challenge. Unveiled today at IFA 2017, the Kirin 970 chipset goes beyond the initial machine learning implementation of previous designs and is ready to be an AI processing powerhouse. Earlier this year Huawei introduced "the intelligent phone" with its Mate 9 (pictured above), but the new hardware could help fix some annoying AI-related drawbacks of the device. While AI work done in the cloud is one thing, on-device AI computation will continue to grow, with the need for sensors to operate without waiting to send any information back and forth over wireless connections. Native AI processing will enable faster image and voice recognition, as well as "intelligent photography." A few people first spotted some specifications at the company's IFA booth, showing that it's sticking to last generation's octa-core setup with four 2.4Ghz Cortex-A73 processors and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A53 cores, but produced using an improved 10nm process instead of the old 12nm.
Huawei's flagship Mate 8 phone goes global, we go hands-on
Huawei earned a new legion of fans after crafting the surprisingly good Nexus 6P, but its new flagship — the Mate 8 — is a drastically different beast. The company announced at its CES press conference that the Mate 8 will get a global launch, but I've been fiddling with the phone for a few days already. I plan to put it through the wringer by using it all the way through the nightmare that is CES, but one thing is clear even after a few days: Huawei knows how to craft a lovely phone. Now, if only its software chops were as good.
The Daily Roundup for 05.23.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Linux Mint 13 'Maya' released, just in time for the next piktun
Linux comes in all sorts of flavors -- it's part of what makes the OS so confusing to new comers. To make matters worse, some of the most popular variants are actually based on other distros, such as Linux Mint, the refreshing desktop that's based largely on Ubuntu. So, if you're wondering what's new in the Mint 13, a good place to start is probably our review of the aubergine OS. Of course, Maya has a few wrinkles of its own -- including a pair of desktop options dubbed MATE and Cinnamon. MATE, as you may recall, was introduced in the last version, but Cinnamon is all new (read: a tad unstable) and built on a modern framework using Gnome 3 and Clutter. There have been a few other new additions, including a new display manager in MDM and a switch to Yahoo! as the default search engine. As usual with these things, you can download it and try it out for free at the source. [Thanks, Mohamad]
NEC debuts VersaPro UltraLite VB laptop, Mate MG all-in-one for Japan
Like your computers to be all-business and only available in Japan? Then you might want to take a gander at NEC's latest duo, which includes the thin-and-light VersaPro UltraLite VB laptop, and the Mate MG all-in-one desktop (pictured after the break). Both of those are fairly mid-range when it comes to specs, with the laptop (a 12-incher) boasting either a Celeron, Core i3 or Core i5 processor and a range of basic configuration options, while the 19-inch desktop packs your choice of a Celeron or Core i5 processor and a somewhat unique power saving mode that uses a motion sensor to shut of the display when you leave the room. While they may not exactly be high-end, it doesn't look like these will come cheap -- look for the base model of the laptop to run ¥175,000 (or just over $2,000), while the desktop starts at ¥181,000 (or roughly $2,170).
NEC's new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable
There comes a time when you have to stop chasing performance and start making good for the environmental damage you've caused -- or do you? NEC's latest Mate desktop offers 30% boosted efficiency over previous models despite offering better performance with Core i5 or i7 processors, consuming just 23 watts thanks to a redesigned motherboard and the use of SSD. It also features greater use of recyclable components and a shell composed of environmentally friendly yet flame-retardant plastic -- important when your power supplies have been known for their explosive personalities. NEC is also announcing the new VersaPro VD laptop (pictured after the break), similarly equipped with Intel's latest, and offering a new software tool for tracking energy consumption to "increase user awareness of energy saving." Knowing is half the battle, friends.
