Priced at $400 and more than many unlocked smartphones, the Punkt MP02 is designed as a mobile detox device offering only the most basic of features. In addition to calling and texting, this 88g device boasts 4G LTE connectivity, WiFi tethering for your tablet/laptop, microUSB charging, and a simple display with an anti-reflective coating. “I founded Punkt to offer a viable alternative for those feeling overwhelmed by the advanced technologies that have pervaded modern lifestyles. If anyone wants to talk to me, they can give me a call. Other forms of communication, for example email or social media, are available when I choose to use them – and via a linked device that allows me to use them more effectively,” said Petter Neby, founder of Punkt. Read more for a detailed hands-on video, additional pictures and information.
RAVPower’s 26800 Portable Charger lets you charge 3 devices simultaneously, and it’s being offered for $39.99 shipped, today only, originally $61.99. It’s perfect for trips, thanks to its auto-adjusting current and voltage with iSmart 2.0 and Panasonic Smart IC frequency technology. Want to know how much power is left? Just press the Power Button to keep track of your battery life with indicators in 25% increments. Product page. Read more for another video review and additional information.
Photo credit: Drew Feustel via Peta Pixel
Auto enthusiast and NASA astronaut Drew Feustel was also fortunate enough to also be commanding the International Space Station in 2018, so he decided to photograph racetracks around the world with a Nikon DSLR in his free time.
Photo credit: The Tech Sensei
Energizer’s Power Max P18K Pop is the world’s first smartphone to pack an 18,000mAh battery, but it comes at a price. Sure, you’ll be able to make 90hrs of calls, listen to 100hrs of music and watch around 2-days of video on a single charge or 50 days is standby mode, but the device is as heavy as a brick. Featuring a 6.2″ FHD+ screen, MediaTek Helio P70 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and five cameras, of which TWO are front-facing in a “pop-up” housing. There’s no pricing information available now, but the handset will launch this summer. Read more for another hands-on video, additional pictures and information.
The SD Association has just announced microSD Express, a next-generation memory card storage standard that uses PCI Express and NVMe interfaces for SD cards to deliver incredibly fast data read and write speeds available in three versions: microSDHC Express, microSDXC Express, and microSDUC Express. All of these new cards follow SD 7.1 specification, and contain a second row of pins for the PCIe 3.1 as well as NVMe 1.3 technology. Read more for another video and additional information.
In Japan, it’s common to find internet cafes and capsule hotels for cheap nightly accommodations, but now, there’s a place just for manga fans. Officially called the “Manga Art Hotel, Tokyo”, it’s located in Jimbocho, Japans’ “city of manga,” complete with over 5,000 manga titles (English versions included) to choose from during you stay in one of the 35 guest rooms. Read more for a short tour of one of the guest rooms, additional pictures and information.
For a sporty crossover that has the power to back up it sleek body, look no further than the Volkswagen T-Roc R. Thanks to a turbocharged 2.0-liter petrol engine with 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, mated to a seven-speed DSG, it’s capable of sprinting from 0-62 mph in 4.9 seconds, while topping out at an electronically limited 155 mph. Other features include large air intakes up front, a quad tip Akrapovic titanium exhaust system, and 18-inch alloy wheels standard, but you can opt for a 19-inch set. Read more for another video, additional pictures and information.
Elon Musk’s shiny new SpaceX Starship is aiming for Mars, but we could see it aid in the construction of a moon base even sooner. “Starship will also be good for creating a base on the moon. We’ll probably have a base on the moon before going to Mars,” said Musk in an interview with Popular Mechanics published Monday. The stainless steel rocket is being built at the company’s facility near Brownsville, Texas, and a shorter test version is designed for low altitude “hop” flights, which will not reach orbit. Read more for another video and additional information.
It’s official, the Sony Xperia 1 is the first smartphone with a 21:9 CinemaWide 6.5” 4K HDR OLED display. Not just great for movies, the expansive 21:9 display offers you a deeper unrestricted view of all your gameplay, while Game Enhancer optimizes the performance and blocks unwanted notifications, as well as allowing you to record gameplay. An advanced triple lens camera (12MP) is perfect for any situation and light conditions: 16mm for wide landscapes, a versatile 26mm lens and a 52mm lens telephoto shooting (35mm equiv.). It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 3,300 mAh battery. Read more for a hands-on video and additional information.
FarFarOut was discovered by Dr Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, who spotted it when a lecture he was due to give was postponed and he went back to analyzing his data on Planet Nine. This mysterious planet is thought to be located in the distant Oort cloud and exerting a gravitational pull on objects in the depths of the solar system. “This is hot off the presses. Yesterday it snowed so I had nothing to do so I went looking through some of our data. It is very faint; it is on the edge of our ability to detect it,” Sheppard said. “We don’t know anything about the orbit of this object, we just know it is far, far out,” said Sheppard. Read more for a video on Planet Nine and additional information.