Though the first trailer for A24‘s Lamb—from director Valdimar Jóhannsson—at first seems like it’s about to tell you a story about a couple of lamb-herding farmers living quiet lives in the mountains, it quickly takes a dark turn that evokes both Sweet Tooth and Ari Aster’s Midsommar. There’s been something…strange…
Robert Aaron Long still faces the death penalty if convicted in four more shooting deaths at Atlanta-area spas.
Back in March, Master & Dynamic rolled out its MW08 true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation. Today, the company is back with a follow-up to those in the MW08 Sport. It seems that the MW08 Sport earbuds keep all the good things about the original MW08, but they pick up a new wireless charging pad and some new durability … Continue reading
After a week with the Karma GS-6, the surprise wasn’t that nobody knew what the plug-in hybrid was, it was just how much I liked it. While the design may be ten years old now, rarity on the roads – and a convoluted back story – means plenty of head-scratching when you try to explain just what this swooping sedan … Continue reading
With tech pretty much everywhere in our lives these days, some people would prefer it matched their personal style and decor. But sometimes practicality gets left behind, resulting in products that look good but don’t work so well. Here at Engadget, for example, we’ve tested a few fancy keyboards that didn’t offer the best typing experience. But despite our misgivings, these “fashion” keyboards continue to be popular with social media influencers. AZIO’s new IZO collection, out this summer, tries to be both fashion forward and functional, and it succeeds — to a point.
The collection has three main components, all of them wireless: a $140 mechanical keyboard; a $70 number pad that also functions as a standalone calculator; and a $50 mouse. There’s also a matching wrist rest and desk pad. The items are sold separately, and you can snag them in either white, blue or pink. I opted to receive my review units in “baroque rose” because it really is a nice shade of pink, in contrast to the bubble gum shades favored by companies like Razer.
Regardless of which color you choose, each accessory is embellished with gold accents The keyboard, media dial, escape key and spacebar are all gilded and glossy. They stand out against the matte plastic used on the rest of the deck, and not in a good way. I also suspect that after several months of use, the coating is going to wear away and it’s not going to be pretty.
The keys are squircle shaped and lightly textured, so they at least feel nice to the touch. The typing… isn’t horrible. It’s actually perfectly fine, with good tactile bounce and a soft click with every press. But despite the blue mechanical switches it still feels a bit spongy compared to the other decks I have here in my office. I’m typing this hands-on with the IZO and it’s fine, but given a choice I’d switch back to my standards in a heartbeat. The IZO feels like a toy, which is disconcerting when I’m here to work. It’s a tenkeyless deck, which makes it great for tight spaces and taking on the go, though I wouldn’t slip it in my bag for fear of scratching it up.
If you need a number pad, that’ll cost extra. Seventy dollars is kind of steep for those 18 extra keys, and the fact that it can also be used as a calculator doesn’t make the cost sting any less.I will say this for it, though: I love this thing. Not because I use the number pad to do calculations (though I do), but because it’s just so fun to play with. I don’t have it connected or even turned on right now, I just like to randomly pick it up in both hands and play with the buttons. I may find the typing experience a little subpar, but as a fidget toy the numpad is great because it’s just so chunky and clicky, perfect for keeping my hands busy during boring Zoom calls.
The final piece of the set is the wireless mouse, the most beautiful of the three desk accessories. It’s a rounded rectangular shape, with a gold scroll wheel and stripe across the middle of the mouse, below which is a frosted white plastic bearing the AZIO logo. This is the kind of mouse that could strut around Milan Fashion Week or the beach at Ibiza. Unfortunately, it’s pretty bad as a computing accessory.
It’s the hand feel that’s an immediate turnoff. Where most mice curve inward and down on the end facing the user, the better to fit in your palm, the AZIO mouse is straight all the way down, with the rear of the mouse at the same height as the middle. It’s actually one of the smallest mice I’ve tested, but it feels huge in my hand. That’s a big no-no considering it’s a fashion peripheral, presumably meant to appeal to women, who usually have smaller mitts than men.
The design faux pas don’t end there, either. The DPI button is placed on the bottom of the mouse and it’s a tiny little nub that’s hard to hit, so once you’ve picked a setting you’ll probably want to stick with it. And the pads on bottom have a little too much friction on them to slide across my desk easily. I probably should use a mouse pad with this thing but I haven’t needed one in almost a decade and I don’t see why I should go back now.
I wouldn’t recommend the mouse and the cost of the number pad is a bit too steep for me to tell you to buy it — even at the currently discounted price of $40. The keyboard is also on sale for $80, which is a little more tempting. But if the color was your main reason for buying it, note that Logitech’s K380 comes in a fetching pale pink, can connect to up to three devices wirelessly and is only $40. You also have your choice of mice to match, including the stellar MX Anywhere 3. The IZO collection is for people who absolutely need to have a stylish mechanical keyboard — and even then, you might be better off just buying a white deck from a company like Corsair and customizing the LEDs to your favorite shade.
Sony has launched its first vlogging-specific mirrorless camera, the ZV-E10, that borrows a number of features from ZV-1 compact vlogging model. At the same time, it’s roughly based on the A5000 and A6000-series APS-C mirrorless cameras, with all the good (and bad) that entails.
The two biggest advantages of the ZV-E10 over the ZV-1 are the larger 24-megapixel APS-C sensor and interchangeable mirrorless mount. The latter feature opens Sony’s range of 60-plus E-mount lenses to vloggers, making the ZV-E10 much more versatile than the fixed-lens ZV-1. The larger sensor, meanwhile, will deliver improved light sensitivity and a shallower depth of field.
The ZV-E10 uses the aging 24-megapixel APS-C sensor found in the A6100 and other recent Sony models. While that delivers sharp, downsampled 4K video at up to 30 fps (or 120 fps 1080p), it’s likely to have a serious amount of rolling shutter that’s not ideal for its intended purpose.
On the more positive side, it offers optical and active electronic image stabilization, just like the ZV-1. That should smooth out handheld shooting pretty well, though don’t expect miracles for walk-and-talk type vlogging — especially if rolling sensor wobble proves to be an issue.
Size-wise, the ZV-E10 is smaller than any of the A6000-series cameras at 343 grams and isn’t much larger and heavier than the ZV-1. It lacks an electronic viewfinder, but it’s Sony’s first APS-C mirrorless camera with a fully-articulating flip-out screen — a basic requirement on any vlogging camera these days.
The ZV-E10 comes with Sony’s latest phase-detect autofocus system, both for video and still shooting. That means you should get incredibly quick subject tracking, along with reliable eye, face and head detect autofocus. It also has an S&Q (slow & quick) feature that lets you record time-lapse and slow motion footage in-camera without the need for any post processing work.
It borrows several vlogging features directly from the ZV-1. The first is called “product showcase,” a setting that allows it to instantly focus away from your face and onto an object placed in front of the camera. That’s particularly handy for vloggers reviewing products, devices, etc.
The other is a bokeh switch that instantly sets the lowest f-stop available for lighting conditions. That way, you can have the background as defocused as possible, allowing your subject to stand out clearly.
The ZV-E10 has a built-in, high-quality three-way microphone (left, right and central channels) that’s designed to pick out your voice. That means you can vlog without the need to buy a microphone, though it still won’t match the quality and voice isolation of a dedicated shotgun or lapel mic. It also comes with a hotshoe-attached muff to help block wind noise, and if that’s not enough, a wind noise reduction setting. It also comes with a microphone input, though not a headphone output.
Finally, if you’re into live streaming, you can connect the ZV-E10 directly to a smartphone and stream directly to YouTube or other services — much as you can with Panasonic’s latest GH5-II. It will also work directly as a webcam, streaming both video and audio (not just video like other cameras) so you can take advantage of its high-quality microphone.
The ZV-E10 will be available in either black or white by the end of August and will cost $700 for the body, or $800 in a bundle including Sony’s 16-50mm F/3.5-5.6 power zoom lens.
You know what my desk has been missing? A wooden dinosaur lamp. And, okay, something to shim the legs so they’re even and it doesn’t wobble when I type. I suppose you get what you pay for, and I found this desk by the curb of a neighbor’s home on trash day. But enough about my thriftiness. Created by HROOME and available on Amazon (affiliate link), these Dinosaur Lamps add a little prehistoric whimsy to any desk or table. Plus light. I mean they are lamps after all.
Available in two colors (‘black walnut’ and ‘wood’), the 6-watt LED lamps have three light settings (low, medium, high), and posable legs, arms, tail, and head. Am I going to buy two and pose them like they’re locked in battle? No, in my mind my dinosaur desk lamps are friends.
Pretty cute, right? I just added one to my Christmas list, and of all the things I might actually get, I feel like this stands the best chance. I mean even I’ll admit I haven’t really been Porsche 911 Turbo good this year.
[via DudeIWantThat]
With the release of a brand new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it’s only fitting a wave of toys comes along with it. io9 is excited to debut three brand new Ghostbusters-themed items, ones that focus primarily on the new film but stay true to the original roots.
While Facebook and Apple haven’t been on the best terms as of late, the social media giant is reportedly considering letting Oculus users sync up their workout data to Apple Health, according to Bloomberg.
“We hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of one of the world’s best gymnasts,” the Tokyo Olympics Twitter account wrote.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
