Technology
Logitech’s $80 supercapacitor gaming mouse is the most versatile it’s ever made
I haven’t thought about charging my Logitech wireless gaming mouse in two and a half years, because I have a magic mousepad that does it automatically. But Logitech mice that work with the Powerplay mousepad are expensive, heavy, or both, and none of them double as a Bluetooth mouse so I can wirelessly pair them to my laptop, handheld, or phone.
Today, Logitech is changing that with the Logitech G309, an $80 mouse that almost does it all. It’s the first Powerplay mouse this inexpensive, the first with Bluetooth, the first that lets you use a AA battery when you’re on the go — and the first Logitech wireless mouse with a supercapacitor inside so you don’t necessarily need a battery at all.
Even without Powerplay, the G309 is a dual-mode wireless gaming mouse that promises up to 300 hours of battery life using its Lightspeed wireless dongle, or up to 600 hours over Bluetooth, while you’re slinging around its 86-gram frame.
But if you’ve got that $120 Powerplay pad, you can remove the AA battery to reach a total mouse weight of just 68 grams, nearly as light as the 60-gram, $160 Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 that gave me serious mouse envy last year. It’s possible because the supercapacitor acts as a tiny battery constantly being wirelessly charged by the Powerplay mousepad underneath. “It’s never going to die at all; it’s endless battery life,” promises Logitech senior global product manager Nicolas Métral.
It’s not the first wireless gaming mouse to test the waters with a supercapacitor — but when Mad Catz and Razer tried that in 2018, those pricey wireless power mice didn’t have any other way to charge. You had to use them on their bundled pad or with a wired cord. Until now, Logitech’s used internal rechargeable lithium cells to let you make its Powerplay mice somewhat portable; here, a AA battery picks up the slack.
Despite being on the budget end of Logitech’s gaming mice, the G309 also has the same Hero 25K sensor and hybrid optomechanical switches the company’s been shipping in premium mice for a while, both of which might be welcome upgrades over the $60 G305 mouse it’s based upon.
But it’s still missing the one Logitech mouse feature I’d have a hard time doing without — the company’s dual-mode ratcheting/free spinning scroll wheel that I’m constantly using to zip through documents and webpages when I’m using my gaming mouse for work. Among gaming mice, that’s still exclusive to its G502 and G903 from what I can tell.
And, it’s a bit of a shame Logitech still sells its Powerplay mousepad for $120 with only the rarest and smallest of discounts. If the company really wants to fulfill the G309’s promise of “Wireless Play for All” — that’s Logitech’s tagline — I’d recommend making the complete package more affordable.
Logitech says it will keep selling the G305 alongside the G309. The G309 can also share a single Lightspeed wireless dongle with a bunch of Logitech’s wireless keyboards, including the new G515 TKL, G715, G915, G915 TKL, Pro X 60, and Pro X TKL.
Technology
AMD is slightly delaying its Ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs ‘out of an abundance of caution’
AMD was set to launch its new Zen 5 processors on July 31st, including the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X, a chip it’s calling “the world’s most powerful desktop consumer processor.” Instead, it’s now announcing a one- to two-week delay “out of an abundance of caution.” The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will now launch on August 8th, while the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will go on sale on August 15th.
This is not because AMD’s found any issues with the actual chips, spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid tells The Verge. Rather, AMD discovered some of its chips didn’t go through all of the proper testing procedures, and the company wants to make sure they do.
Here’s the full statement from AMD computing and graphics SVP Jack Huynh:
We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.
AMD already recalled the chips that needed the additional testing before they could go on sale, and it sounds like that testing is going smoothly; AMD’s engineers are confident the chips won’t be delayed further, according to MacDiarmid.
Tom’s Hardware reports that those crashing Intel chips have been permanently degraded and will need to be returned to Intel; we’ve reached out to Intel with a list of questions about how it’s handling the situation.
AMD is about to launch its Zen 5 laptop chips, too, codenamed Strix Point and formally known as Ryzen AI 9 300. AMD recently revealed a new higher-end chip in that lineup, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, with a more powerful 55 TOPS NPU.
Technology
Fox News AI Newsletter: Waymo’s robotaxi launches citywide in San Francisco
Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Robots take the wheel as San Francisco opens streets to driverless taxis
– FTC probes AI-powered ‘surveillance pricing’ at Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, McKinsey and others
– US Air Force’s XQ-67A drone thinks, flies, acts on its own
DRIVERLESS TAXIS ARRIVE: The future of urban transportation is here, and it’s taking the form of sleek, autonomous vehicles traveling through city streets. Across the United States, self-driving car companies are racing to revolutionize how we move, promising safer roads, reduced traffic and a new era of mobility. But it’s in San Francisco that this future is suddenly now a reality for thousands.
‘SHADOWY ECOSYSTEM’: The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced that it launched a probe of eight companies that offer “surveillance pricing” tools that use artificial intelligence and other technology to analyze consumer data to help set price targets for products and services.
AI IN THE SKY: The U.S. Air Force has just unveiled a new aircraft that’s turning heads and raising eyebrows across the globe.
ACCIDENT AVOIDANCE: Developed by Maine-based entrepreneur Josh Fox, Survue is an innovative device that looks to address the limitations of existing bicycle radar systems. While conventional systems primarily focus on the speed of approaching vehicles, Survue takes a more holistic approach by considering multiple factors to assess potential risks.
Subscribe now to get the Fox News Artificial Intelligence Newsletter in your inbox.
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Technology
Google has big new ideas about the Play Store
Google is bringing a handful of new features to its Google Play store on Android today. There are new categorized “Collections” that highlight content from apps you’ve already installed. The company’s reward program is adding more prizes including Pixel hardware. Google’s Play Pass subscription service is introducing more versatile gaming capabilities. And in Japan, Google is rolling out a curated space for comics, which will let people dive into first chapter previews without needing to install third-party apps first.
Taken together, these changes are intended to make Google Play “an end-to-end experience that’s more than a store.”
The company previewed some of the latest updates at a media briefing in New York City on Tuesday. Google Play VP Sam Bright highlighted a few upgrades announced back at I/O such as AI-generated app reviews. Those AI features are being expanded with a new tool that will make it simpler to compare apps in similar categories (like photo editing software or fitness apps).
Then Bright moved on to some of the bigger new features. First is a new section of Google Play called Collections.
Rather than try to sell you on new apps, Collections are designed to surface content from those you’ve already installed and organize everything into categories like shop, watch, and listen. You’ll see a “continue watching” row for various streaming apps, plus the latest deals from select retailers. “With your app content in one place, it’s easier to pick up right where you left off,” Google’s blog post reads.
Gaming is another big focus of today’s updates. When searching, you can now select from a list of interest filters to refine the types of games that Play suggests. And starting today, Play Pass subscribers on PC are able to play multiple titles at the same time, so you can get your Clash of Clans fix in one window while playing another game elsewhere onscreen. Google launched Play Games for PC as a beta in 2022 and has continued to iterate on it with 4K support and now this.
Google is also trying to make its Play Points reward program more appealing by adding “super weekly prizes.” Available to gold, platinum, and diamond members, these level up the usual prizes by throwing Pixel devices, Razer gaming products, and other hardware into the mix. Prizes will rotate on a weekly basis and can be claimed from the Play Points perks tab.
Android customers in Japan are getting a new curated space in Google Play that’s entirely devoted to comics. “You can access comics-related content all in one place — including free first chapter previews, live events and trailers, editor picks and fan reviews even from apps you haven’t installed,” Google’s blog post reads. A new “comics” tab is coming right to the Google Play homescreen. The company is continuing to explore how it can best use these curated spaces in other regions; the first example was a cricket section in India.
Importantly, Google is also giving everyone greater control over exactly what data is used for Play’s personalized recommendations. Now you can choose apps that might contain sensitive data that you don’t want to be factored into the store’s personalization algorithms. You can find this option by navigating to “Personalization in Play” from the main menu.
Will these new features lead to people spending more time in Google Play? Perhaps, but many of them (like Collections) are easy to ignore if you prefer to keep using it as a destination for apps like always.
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