The Morning After: Thursday, August 31st 2017
Amazon and Microsoft AI work together
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
As August comes to a close, IFA 2017 is in full swing, starting with reveals from companies like LG, ASUS and Samsung. We'll have more news from the show floor over the next few days, which you can keep track of right here.
Nest's $169 thermostat keeps it simple
The Thermostat E still looks like a Nest device, but it doesn't have a metallic ring or a bright phone-like screen. It has a subtle design intended to blend in and simply displays the current temperature. Despite having a lower price than Nest's flagship $249 thermostat, it has many of the same features with schedule setting, schedule learning and remote control via app.
Despite several quality efforts, LG's phones haven't gained a reputation matching the competition from Samsung and Apple, but this could be the device to turn that around. Chris Velazco says the V30 is no also-ran, with a clean, comfortable design wrapped around its massive 6-inch OLED screen.
The latest ASUS 2-in-1 has NVIDIA graphics and weighs 3 pounds
With the latest ZenBook Flip and VivoBook, ASUS is squeezing some serious horsepower into very small devices. Its ZenBook Flip 14 is the "world's thinnest 2-in-1 laptop with discrete graphics," thanks to its entry-level GeForce MX150 hardware (a mobile version of the GTX 1030). Meanwhile, the Vivobook S14 shares that same GPU but inside a thin-and-light laptop frame.
Riptide's electric skateboard balances power and portability
There are tons of options for electric skateboards, but the newest entry to hit the crowdfunding scene is this Riptide R1. According to Jon Turi, "it's come closest to what I've been looking for on all fronts: size, price and power."
Since Samsung already gave us the tea on its Note 8, the company's IFA 2017 reveals are focused elsewhere. For pure smartwatch fans, there's the Gear Sport, which puts a health-centric spin on the Gear S3, while the Gear Fit 2 Pro band brings big improvements for activity tracking. Finally, the new Gear IconX Bluetooth earbuds can connect to its Bixby AI assistant.
Soon, Alexa and Cortana will work with each other
In the near future, summoning the AI helpers will be as easy as saying "Alexa, open Cortana," or "Cortana, open Alexa." That may sound like an odd fit now, but both Amazon and Microsoft are convinced of its perks.
But wait, there's more...
iPhone 8 reportedly swaps the home button for gesture controls
Alienware shows off new 34-inch widescreen gaming monitors with G-Sync
Olympus gives its entry-level mirrorless camera a 4K upgrade
'Onliner' malware spambot targets 711 million email accounts
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