Wooman style Rage

GoPro has been the industry standard for action cameras for over 15 years. It wasn’t until a few years ago that brands such as DJI and Insta360 began making action cameras with more features that challenged GoPro’s lead. This year, though, GoPro has created by far its most powerful action camera to date.

GoPro Hero 9 review: 5K for under $500 The GoPro Hero 9 is a action ready powerhouse

At 26.5 grams and the size of my thumb, Insta360’s latest action camera, the Go 2, looks like an oversized Tic Tac with an eyeball. It’s the second generation in the Go lineup, which is Insta360’s only non-360-degree camera line. Where the first-generation Go left a lot to be desired, particularly in the image quality department, the $299 Go 2 comes with a new charging case, larger sensor, and improved image quality, making a strong case for a mobile-first action camera.

Insta360’s Go 2 is a $299 action camera with a surprisingly powerful case Insta360’s latest action camera looks like an oversized Tic Tac with an eyeball.

II was quite out of my element when kneeling in the middle of 42nd Street in New York City attempting to photograph Terry Barentsen, professional cyclist, YouTuber, and Twitch streamer. I have never shot a cyclist before, certainly no one as fast as Terry. But Sony’s new flagship camera, the $6,499 Alpha 1 (A1), made this task as easy as shooting the flowers growing outside of my stoop.

The Alpha 1 is comprised of a 50.1-megapixel stacked CMOS sensor, an OLED viewfinder capable of 240fps refresh rate, and a mechanical shutter flash sync up to 1/400th of a second, all in a body that doesn’t look or feel that much different than any other Sony full-frame mirrorless camera. It can shoot 8K video at up to 30fps, make 120 autofocus calculations every second, and shoot 50-megapixel images up 30 times per second, complete with autofocus and auto-exposure. There is very little the Alpha 1 can’t do.

Sony Alpha 1 review: everything nice at an expensive price One part A9 II, one part A7R IV, one part A7S III, blend.

Last year GoPro did a complete overhaul of its Hero action camera lineup with the GoPro Hero9. It added a front-facing screen, 5K filming, and more battery life. This year’s GoPro Hero10 is an iterative update that builds on the foundation laid by the 9. But while the $500 Hero10 looks almost identical to the Hero9, there is one big change that sets the stage for much bigger things to come.

The GoPro Hero10: small step for the Hero10, big leap for GoPro Now 5.3K 60fps is possible thanks to the new GP2 processor.

Thankfully, wacky case ideas still live on in 2019, as is made clear by the pitch for the Duo charging case (for both iPhone and Samsung devices). The case’s back has a dedicated spot where you can store your Juul e-cigarette, and it also claims to be able to charge the device (and your phone) with its built-in 3,000mAh battery. So in theory, you should never encounter a dead Juul when you need a puff. Next to it is a spot for an emergency replacement pod for when you run out of v***r juice or want to change flavors.

This Juul-charging phone case will tell the world you value va**ng more than anything else It doubles the thickness of your phone and costs over $60.

The gameplay works much like Taboo: players are given a selection of words, and they have to figure out what they can ask a smart assistant that will get it to recite the word without saying any form of the word in their question.

“The game works because the devices don’t work that great,” says Frank Lantz, one of the game’s creators. “It’s very funny. You think, ‘Oh this is going to be easy. How hard can this be?’ But that’s the thing. It actually can be very challenging, and it plays with how janky these things are.”

Hey Robot updates Taboo for Alexa smart speakers Turning Alexa’s confusion into a party game.

LaurenLauren Stutzman’s nightstand is home to a pair of palm-sized, black and silver buttons. Once mutually activated, both illuminate with a flashing green ring. The light merrily circles the smooth black surface to announce some exciting news: your partner would like to have s*x with you.

Stutzman is one of 442 Kickstarter backers who threw their support behind LoveSync, a project that promises to help couples with problems in the bedroom. By tapping it, users can wordlessly express their interest in s*x. If both people hit their buttons within the set window of time, the LoveSync lights up. It aims to be both informant and instigator. “LoveSync Button lets you realize many more opportunities where you could be having s*x,” its campaign proclaimed. “Take the Luck out of Getting Lucky and make your move with confidence!” Its hopeful taglines were accompanied by images of a generic white couple: the man mid-fist pump, while the woman smiles coyly. Later, a gif showed him ripping off his shirt to unveil abs worthy of a Marvel movie, before diving face-first into bed.

How LoveSync went from s*x tech to viral joke Would you let a button tell you when to have s*x?

The company behind the Coolest Cooler, widely known as one of the biggest Kickstarter failures, is officially going out of business. An update sent to backers from the company’s CEO Ryan Grepper this weekend says the company is ending operations, and tariffs are to blame. Grepper says a tariff increase on Chinese imports to 25 percent affected the “entire Coolest product line.”

Crowdfunding disaster Coolest Cooler is shutting down and blaming tariffs for its downfall Coolest Cooler is no more.

If I have one wish for 2020, it’s that we see an end to the stream of gadgets that convince customers to buy a product that requires even more products to make it functional. Instead of being the “Uber for X,” like every app startup used to want, now IoT and gadget makers are aspiring to an even less appealing standard: becoming the Keurig of their niche marketplace.

Thanks for inspiring a generation of pointless gadgets, Keurig No one needs a manicure machine that uses special pods of nail polish

Either Unihertz is a really fun company to work at, or it decides each new phone concept by pulling random specs out of a hat. Maybe both. How else do you explain the existence of, say, the Titan, its rugged BlackBerry Passport-aping Android phone? Every Unihertz device must have a tiny audience, but I can only assume the people in that audience are overjoyed that the company exists.

The Unihertz Atom XL is like a rugged iPhone SE A big version of a tiny phone

If you have a flip phone that you haven’t used in over a decade, or maybe even a broken tablet, Amazon will pay for a shipping label that you can use to send it in to get recycled. Apparently, this recycling program has been a thing for a while now, but several of us at The Verge never even knew about it until we saw this tweet from journalist Dave Zatz, and thought it might be a good idea to spread the word.

Amazon’s recycling program lets you ship your small electronics for free from any UPS dropoff point (you just have to provide the packaging). Amazon then transfers the devices it receives to a licensed recycling facility, and notes that it will remove or destroy any “identifying marks or personal information” during the process. Amazon still recommends performing a factory reset on your device (if it still works) before sending it in, however.

Today I learned Amazon will recycle small electronics for free You can send in your old devices for free.

Last week, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address deceptive practices in the Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry. Eshoo and Wyden’s letter comes as people look to hide their digital footprint following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

A VPN allows a user to establish an encrypted connection between their device and a private server, making it harder for third parties to access their online activity. With abortion becoming illegal or restricted in several states, more people are looking to conceal their messages and search history, as police can use this information to prosecute someone seeking the procedure.

In their letter, Eshoo and Wyden ask the FTC to clamp down on VPN providers that engage in deceptive advertising, or make false assertions about the range of their service’s privacy. The lawmakers cite research from Consumer Reports that indicate 75 percent of the most popular VPNs “misrepresented their products” or made misleading claims that could give “abortion-seekers a false sense of security.” Eshoo and Wyden also call attention to reports accusing various VPN services of misusing user data, as well as “a lack of practical tools or independent research to audit VPN providers’ security claims.”

Lawmakers push FTC to clean up the VPN industry Lawmakers are concerned about abortion seekers’ VPN security.