We’d like to say metallic bodies don’t scratch as easily, but that would be a barefaced lie. We took one of the most popular smartphones today, the Xiaomi Mi A1, and put it through some simple, real-world scratch tests. The objective here is to see if the Mi A1 is dependable on day-to-day usage, and we daresay the phone came out with flying colours. So, for the Mi A1, we tried keys, spare change and sand. It’s no surprise that the Mi A1 picked up a few scratches here, but we’re actually quite ha

A mouse is a mouse, right? This new dual-sensor system ensures that doesn’t happen, continuing to track movement even when the mouse is lifted. Furthermore, it allows the user to customize when the secondary sensor stops (or starts) tracking movement depending on the distance the mouse has been lifted. Weight for itThere’s a raft of other customization possibilities with the Rival 600, which includes being able to adjust weight and balance across 256 different possible combinations. The SteelSer

But it is only within the last couple of years or so that this hardware arms race has been upset. After, rather cheekily, Google then conducted its own Turing-test style experiment by showing some of its AI-created compositions mixed in with real pro shots, and around 40% of AI shots received similar grades to pro or semi-pro shots. Rather than rely on the human user to slowly cut out an object from an image, AI is used to spot the objects and chop them out, ready to be manipulated however the u

Netgear has revealed a new security service – in conjunction with Bitdefender – over at CES which will allow owners of its Nighthawk routers to better protect their home network against the likes of hackers and other malicious attacks. Netgear Armor is described as an advanced multi-layer security solution which bundles Bitdefender Total Security anti-malware software in a single convenient subscription package. Netgear says that Armor will initially be available on its Nighthawk AC2300 Smart Wi

Machine learning, context-sensitive behaviour, neural networks, natural language parsing – all of these techniques have been pushing games forward for years now. “I think there’s a lot that can be gained from incorporating more advanced and modern forms of AI into our game processes,“ Sweeney said. In addition to hosting their own games we’ve actually recently seen these assistants being worked into existing console games. Alpha Go is now the game of choice for AIWe just need to look at Alpha Go

From sleep trackers to brain-monitoring VR headsets, the wearable world has been expanding into some interesting new areas at CES 2018 . But this new bike helmet from Coros might be the most interesting wearable gadget we’ve seen, if only for how elegantly it answers some big road safety questions. With bone-conducting audio points integrated into the straps, your ears remain free to listen to the traffic around you, while still hearing tunes rattle around your head. And if you can cycle for mor

As ZDNet spotted, Nvidia noted that it wasn’t affected by Meltdown (which is specific to Intel’s processors), but that its GPUs were affected by the far more wide-ranging and problematic Spectre. The company issued a security bulletin stating that it is providing an “initial security update to mitigate aspects” of the latter. This applies to consumer GeForce graphics cards, as well as Nvidia’s heavyweight GPU products such as Quadro and Tesla. The new GeForce drivers also contain the usual raft

Essential new camera accessory 1: Camera bagIf you’ve got a small camera body and a single lens like an entry-level DSLR or mirrorless camera, a bag may not seem essential, but it’s a good way to protect them in transport and it keeps rain and dust at bay. Essential new camera accessory 2: TripodA tripod should be an essential part of your camera arsenal because it provides a method of holding your camera at exactly the right angle and keeping it absolutely still, so your images are pin-sharp an

And here’s the original announcement trailer:So far, Bandai Namco hasn’t announced a solid release date for Soul Calibur VI. Soul Calibur VI hands-onAt Bandai-Namco’s December 2017 games showcase in Paris, we were able to enjoy extensive hands-on time with Soul Calibur VI. Soul Calibur VI’s gameplay certainly impressed with its fluidity and responsiveness, and it should provide a pleasant nostalgia-trip for those who played previous Soul Calibur games. Indeed, when pressed Okubo tacitly admitted

AirSelfie 2The AirSelfie originally began life as a Kickstarter project in 2016, and now at CES 2018, its successor has emerged. The new model features upgrades to the camera, flight time, and field of view, while keeping everything in the same compact shell that can fit in the palm of your hand (just about). The main purpose of the drone, as its name suggests, is to scoot up into the air and take selfies of you and your friends. Low light performance has been boosted from the original Typhoon H

Amazon’s voice-orientated Amazon Echo line-up makes it the perfect gadget for quiz-show style applications, something the company capitalized upon with the release of its Amazon Echo Buttons. The connected push-to-play pucks add a tangible element to interacting with an Alexa device, and at CES 2018 the company revealed that it’s got much more planned for the add-on gadgets. Speaking to TechCrunch, Steve Rabuchin, the vice president of Amazon Alexa said that “I think you’ll see a lot more games

CES 2018 in Las Vegas is coming to a close, and we’ve seen the usual conveyor belt of weird and wonderful kit, from massive 8K TVs to concept electric cars. Despite the world’s media descending on the Las Vegas Convention Center, however, the photographic industry has decided to keep a very low profile this year. Admittedly, many of these camera announcements were entry-level compacts, but CES has also seen some big camera launches in recent years. On the slideFrom a photography perspective thou

According to Microsoft, those using Windows 10 along with Skylake or newer Intel processors experience “single-digit slowdowns”, meaning less than 10%. It’s further worth noting that Microsoft observes that when it comes to the performance hit, it’s patching Spectre which is troublesome. Meltdown (which is specific to Intel chips) mitigation doesn’t have any real performance impact. Spectre of side-effectsMeanwhile, regardless of any direct impact that the Meltdown and Spectre patches may have o

Despite recent rumors that the LG G7 might launch under a different name it now looks like LG will stick with its conventional numbering after all. Strong evidence for this comes from a mention of the ‘Future LG G7’ on LG’s UK website, which notes that the phone will be compatible with Quick Charge 4.0 – suggesting the use of either the Snapdragon 845 or Snapdragon 835 chipset. And this isn’t the first time the name LG G7 has been mentioned in an official capacity, as Android Police recently not

The Samsung Galaxy S9 wasn’t revealed at CES 2018 like some had predicted last year, but we now know it’s not far away as the phone is set to launch in February this year. Considering the lack of trade shows for mobile phones apart from MWC 2018 next month it seems quite certain the phone will be set to launch at the event in Barcelona. That’s all set to kick off on February 26, so expect the Samsung Galaxy S9 to appear around that date. So closeUntil the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus launch last

Peripherals manufacturer Hyperkin has revealed its own revamped Game Boy at CES 2018 and says it plans to have it on sale later this year. Though it’s certainly recognisable as a Game Boy (actually it reminds us more of the compact Game Boy Color design than the original Game Boy), it improves on it in a few different ways. Unlike Nintendo’s remakes, this console won’t come with pre-installed games so you’ll need to dig out your old Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges if you want to play. Bef

If your business has some technical resources, it might be better to use an AI platform to build a custom service of your own. Even if you don’t ultimately end up using the platform, technical users may find it useful to explore what’s on offer. Amazon Machine LearningAmazon Web Services (AWS) has been delivering powerful cloud-based services to businesses for more than 10 years. You can develop your first ideas in a drag-and-drop designer, and deploy simple models as web services within minutes

“Artificial Intelligence” is currently the hottest buzzword in tech. In the next few years we’ll be using AI to drive our cars, answer our customer service enquiries and, well, countless other things. This is a big deal – as it is this concept that underpins the amazing things that AI can do today. Deep Blue’s intelligence was, to a certain extent, illusory – IBM itself reckons that its machine is not using Artificial Intelligence. Your parents and spouses might not appreciate you spending so mu

Previously these two chassis were made primarily out of plastic, but now they’ve gotten full-metal makeovers with a touch of tempered glass and improved RBG lighting to completely modernize their designs. During CES 2018, we got a chance to catch up with Eddy Piedra, Marketing Manager at Origin to get the inside story behind the redesign. “We wanted to stay true to our high-quality standards of PC design, all while to continuing to offer easy customization and upgradability. With the addition of

Those headphones were the first in the world to pack noise-cancellation into a tiny true wireless form-factor to incredibly impressive effect. One of our complaints about the previous pair of headphones was that they were a little bulky and awkward looking. Pressing this drops the sound quality a little, but means that your music shouldn’t drop out when you’re in areas of high interference. We’ll have to spend more time with the earphones before we deliver a full verdict on the sound quality tho