Tuesday’s top tech news: CES kicks off 2023 with a bang

The hits from CES 2023 just keep coming. Asus is rolling out a bevy of new hardware announcements for its ROG gaming brand, and among those are refreshed models of its Flow lineup. The Flow X13, X16, and Z13 are all getting hardware improvements, including the latest processors and mobile GPUs — but perhaps the most notable improvement with one of these gaming laptops is its larger battery.

Asus’ Flow line is relatively unique among gaming laptops, sporting 2-in-1 displays and — in the case of the X16 and Z13 — compatibility with an Asus-made external GPU to boost gaming performance. However, the most recent iterations of these laptops suffered from abysmal battery life, something Asus is trying to amend with the new models of the X13.

Razer announced the Blade 16 and Blade 18 gaming laptops two days ago at CES 2023, but it shared much more information today on the two new sizes. This is the biggest shake-up to Razer’s popular, well-designed Blade lineup in a while, going well beyond processor and GPU spec improvements. Their screens are taller with a 16:10 aspect ratio, so you’re getting more screen real estate, plus the display “chin” near the bezel is significantly smaller. This change has some positive knock-on effects, such as allowing Razer to fit in bigger batteries compared to last year’s Blade 15 and 17. More on that below.

Every configuration comes standard with Intel’s high-end 13th Generation Core i9-13950HX 65W CPU, while both models can be upgraded to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 mobile graphics. The Blade 16 starts at $2,699.99, while the larger size starts at $2,899.99. They’ll all release sometime in the first quarter.

Last year, Samsung radically shook up the TV market with the introduction of its first OLED model in many years. And it used a new QD-OLED (quantum dot) panel that produces superior color brightness compared to popular OLED sets from LG.

2023 is going to be decidedly low-key by comparison. Instead of introducing yet another flashy new TV to its portfolio, Samsung is focused on improving everything down the line. And most of the refinements in this year’s Neo QLED (Mini LED in Samsung parlance), QLED (standard LCD sets), and OLED TVs are centered around AI and enhanced picture processing. Things like a greater and more three-dimensional sense of depth, improved upscaling, and more. The hardware features you’d expect on premium models, including VRR up to 144Hz, are all present. (There’s still no Dolby Vision support, tragically.) But Samsung’s really talking the most about software.

Last year’s S95B QD-OLED (quantum dot) TVs from Samsung were an exciting shakeup for the consumer market and gave LG and Sony some long overdue competition. But the S95B series was limited to just 55-inch and 65-inch models — because those are the only TV sizes that Samsung Display manufactured QD-OLED panels for. It’s brand new technology, after all.

But only a year later, we’re going bigger. Samsung’s just-announced S95C QD-OLED TV will add a larger 77-inch model in addition to the previous sizes. Every TV maker claims that consumers are increasingly opting for larger and larger sets, so this was the obvious thing to do as Samsung builds out its OLED reputation.

It’s safe to say that Apple’s MagSafe magnetic charging pucks for iPhone have not created the amazing snap-on accessory ecosystem we’d hoped. Instead of freely allowing manufacturers to create gadgets that power and/or communicate with an iPhone, the company chose its traditional tight licensing stranglehold. But this time, manufacturers realized they didn’t need to play Apple’s game, because the two main components of MagSafe — a Qi wireless charging coil and an array of magnets — were freely available. The result: a wide array of “MagSafe-compatible” accessories of varying quality.

But now, Apple’s trying something different. With the blessing of competitors, Apple is about to change the Qi wireless standard itself. It’s contributing to a new version of Qi that works much like MagSafe — magnets, authentication, and all.

As companies have announced smart appliance after smart appliance, some people (myself included) have questioned why on earth you’d want to connect something like a washing machine or refrigerator to the internet. Samsung, however, has come up with a very compelling, if admittedly niche, use case: the company announced in December that it's issuing an over-the-air software patch as part of the recall for some top-load washing machines that “can short-circuit and overheat, posing a fire hazard.”

It’ll even send some customers a dongle in case their washers can’t connect to Wi-Fi.

L’Oréal is no slouch when it comes to gadgets. Like Dyson, L’Oréal has been pushing the game in beauty tech for the past few years, announcing neat gizmos like wearable UV and pH sensors. This year is no different. For CES 2023, the company is announcing two makeup gadgets: Brow Magic, which uses AR to create and draw your perfect brow, and Hapta, an accessible lipstick applicator prototype.

Brow Magic was developed with Prinker, which makes a temporary tattoo printer. Brow Magic works similarly. It’s got 2,400 tiny nozzles that can print up to 1,200 dots per inch. And when you think about it as a tattoo printer, it makes sense given popular brow procedures like microblading and microshading are also semipermanent tattoos. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of products you need to achieve a look. (Yours truly uses a brow pencil, brow gel, and sometimes brow powder.)

Withings is generally known for its sleek smartwatches, but it also shows up at CES each year with ambitious health gadgets. Last year, it was a smart scale that could also take EKGs and segmented body composition readings. This year, it’s the U-Scan, an at-home, hands-free “urine lab” that you stick in your toilet.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Nanoleaf is expanding its lineup of addressable smart lighting along with some new tech aimed at providing a more immersive viewing experience for your TV. The Nanoleaf 4D TV Smarter Kit is a series of RGB light strips designed to reflect the colors on your TV with the aid of a small camera that remains pointed at the screen.

The TV lighting kit is just one of the new products Nanoleaf is showing off at CES 2023, expanding its lineup of intelligent lighting and Matter-compatible products. The 4D Kit will be available in two sizes, one for TVs 55 to 65 inches and another for TVs 70 to 80 inches. What separates the 4D Kit from other light strips offered by Nanoleaf is the small camera that’s included.

Nanoleaf is finally bringing its whole-home smart lighting ambitions to fruition with the launch of its first-ever smart switches — and they come with a twist designed to make them smarter than that of the competition. The smart lighting company announced the Sense Plus Smart Light Switch and Sense Plus Smart Wireless Light Switch at CES this week, both with built-in sensors designed to learn your lighting habits. (Think Nest Learning Thermostat but for lighting.)

Twitter is going to “expand” the political advertising it allows on the platform in “the coming weeks,” the Twitter Safety account tweeted on Tuesday. Twitter banned all political advertising in late 2019, but the company is apparently loosening its rules just a couple of months after major ad agencies recommended against buying ads on the platform.

Exactly what will change under the new policies outside of what’s mentioned in the tweet is unclear. But the return of political ads could have a major effect on the platform, especially ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. We asked Twitter for details, but the company has dissolved its press office since Elon Musk took over, so we’re not expecting a response.

Three federal financial agencies put out a joint statement on Tuesday warning banks about the “key risks for banks associated with crypto-assets and the crypto-asset sector.” The statement explains that while banks aren’t wholesale banned or discouraged from providing services to crypto firms, the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency believe that issuing or holding cryptocurrency is “highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices.”

The regulators say they’re still figuring out how to deal with banks and crypto, working on a case-by-case basis, and that they’re being “careful and cautious.”

Microsoft’s cutting off Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 from security updates and technical support on January 10th. That’s just one week from today and also marks the launch of Microsoft Edge 109 — the last version to support the aged operating systems.

But Edge isn’t the only major browser ditching Windows 7 and 8.1. In October, Google announced that Chrome will end support for Windows 7 and 8.1 on February 7th. Although both browsers will continue to work on these devices, they won’t receive any critical security updates or new features. Support for WebView2, the tool that allows developers to embed web-based content into their apps, is going away on January 10th, too.

President Joe Biden renominated Gigi Sohn Tuesday to serve on the Federal Communications Commission, once again throwing his support behind the embattled pick whose confirmation has stalled for more than a year.

Sohn, a public interest advocate and former FCC counselor, was first nominated to the post in October 2021. Since then, she’s struggled to gain the necessary support of moderate Democrats and has faced an intense opposition campaign staged by Republicans and telecom industry groups. But last November’s Democratic Senate midterm wins could be a boon for Sohn’s nomination, adding an additional Democratic senator into the mix and possibly securing her confirmation.

Twitch is recovering from its first major outage of 2023. During the incident, the streaming site showed blank pages for accounts or “an error has occurred,” which made it appear to some like a streamer deleted their account.

The Twitch outage affected both desktop and mobile users, with iOS and Android users seeing an “error loading followed channels” when opening the app. The search feature didn’t let Twitch mobile users navigate to streamers, either.

CNBC reports that Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to the eight criminal charges he’s facing, accusing the former crypto billionaire of committing fraud and money laundering. Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, appeared in a New York City courtroom nearly two months after his crypto exchange FTX declared bankruptcy.

Now, billions of dollars from investors and customers are missing, and the Department of Justice, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have all accused his empire of operating as a fraud practically from the very start.

A Louisiana law requiring age verification for adult websites has kicked in, renewing long-standing concerns about online privacy. The policy, Louisiana HB 142, requires sites composed of “thirty-three and one-third percent” or more of pornographic content to verify that people accessing them are 18 or older. That includes services like Pornhub, which has started requiring a government-issued ID for access.

Pornhub didn’t confirm the new policy, but video posted to Twitter apparently demonstrates what users see in Louisiana. It asks users to verify their age with AllpassTrust, which works with the Louisiana digital ID service LA Wallet. Vice confirmed the report using a VPN service, adding that other adult sites like XVideos didn’t appear to require verification.

With Dell’s new 32-inch 6K UltraSharp monitor, the Apple Pro Display XDR is no longer in a category of its own. Dell’s new monitor does things a little differently, though, blending elements from Apple’s $4,999 monitor and the $1,599 Studio Display, providing a possible best of both worlds when it comes to productivity and performance.

Though the UltraSharp 32 matches the Pro Display XDR for size and resolution, it doesn’t quite have the same specs and construction. Dell’s 6144 x 3456 pixel monitor uses the LG Display-developed IPS Black technology, which allows for better contrast and deeper blacks, and provides up to “1.2 times better color accuracy” when compared to conventional IPS monitors. It supports 1.07 billion colors and 99 percent of the DCI-P3 color space as well. Meanwhile, Apple’s top-end screen uses local dimming and can hit peak brightness levels of 1,600 nits, while the Dell tops out at 600 (a level more in line with the Studio Display).