Bone conduction pioneer Shokz has released the OpenFit 2+, an upgraded version of their popular open-ear headphones that maintains the brand’s signature situational awareness design while delivering meaningful improvements. The $339 headphones represent a solid evolution rather than a revolutionary leap, focusing on enhanced audio quality and extended battery performance. The OpenFit 2+ builds upon the foundation established by its predecessor with several notable upgrades. Most significantly...

A recent uptick in battery-related fires has drawn attention to the challenge of identifying defects that can cause these catastrophic malfunctions, but are rarely obvious to the naked eye. In hopes of preventing the dangerous glitches that can cause batteries to overheat and catch fire, researchers from Drexel University have developed a standard testing process to give manufacturers a better look at the internal workings of batteries. In a paper recently published in the journal Electrochimica...

TP-Link just launched a bunch of new security cameras for its Tapo smart home brand, including a 4K-capable line for outdoors and a slew of inexpensive pan and tilt cams that can be used indoors and out — all without any subscription fees. The company is also finally releasing its Tapo HomeBase H500 hub, first shown at CES 2024, which brings facial recognition and expanded local storage to its cameras. The HomeBase will also act as a Matter controller, allowing you to add non-Tapo smart home d...

Credit: charnsitr/Shutterstock Among the many features and changes included in iOS 26 are a series of helpful battery updates for your iPhone. There’s a new charging indicator that appears at the top of the Lock Screen, to let you know how long it’ll take to charge your phone to 80 or 100%; a redesigned Battery settings page, which gives you deeper insights into your battery health and usage; and, most notably, a new “Adaptive Power” feature, that can make small changes i...

LONDON 24 June 2025 – UK-based energy transition company ep Group and Norwegian battery energy storage specialist Pixii have launched a new joint venture to meet the growing demand for distributed energy systems across the UK. The new company, ep Pixii, is based in London and led by Leo Bedford. It will focus on delivering integrated energy solutions for the Commercial Real Estate, Residential Development, and Industrial sectors – helping energy users reduce costs, unlock new revenue streams...

Australian researchers are reporting a breakthrough with zinc-ion battery technology, developing a new method to significantly boost the structural stability of the cathode material that enables the battery to operate reliably for more than 5,000 charge-discharge cycles. June 24, 2025 David Carroll From pv magazine Australia Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), working with scientists from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, have developed a new way to improv...

CATL opened its first-ever bricks-and-mortar experience center, the NING Space, in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday, August 10, 2024. Credit: CATL Chinese battery giant CATL has partnered with Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group, as well as bike-sharing platform Hellobike, to make autonomous ride-hailing vehicles, according to an announcement published on Monday, placing them in direct competition with early movers such as Waymo and Baidu. Hellobike, which counts Ant as its lar...

For years now, most Chromebooks have run some variety of Intel or AMD processor. The occasional device used a MediaTek chip, but they were often underpowered and cheap devices that were hard to recommend. ARM-based processors have worked tremendously well for Apple on the Mac, and they’re being used in more and more Windows PCs as well. Now, Lenovo (makers of my favorite Chromebook) and Google are giving ARM a real shot with the $649 Chromebook Plus 14. The companies say the MediaTek Kompanio...

ZDNET’s key takeaways The LG Gram 17 (2025) is available now for $1,699. You won’t find a thinner, lighter 17-inch laptop out there, and the Intel “Lunar Lake” processor is a big upgrade from last year’s model. The touchscreen is wobbly, the black matte finish attracts fingerprints, and I wish it had a haptic trackpad. View now at LG At Best Buy, the 2025 LG Gram 17 is on sale for $1,750 ($250 off). So you like a big screen, 17-inch laptop, but you want to carry it...