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You can watch the coolant flow inside Ugreen’s liquid-cooled power bank

The Ugreen MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank attached to the back of a smartphone with its liquid cooling window visible.

Does your power bank have "CryoPulse technology" or a "Cyber Window"? If you disappointingly answered "no" to both, you might want to consider upgrading to Ugreen's new MagFlow Pro Magnetic Power Bank. It's available starting today for $149.99, which puts it on the really expensive end of power banks with only a 10,000mAh battery, but those fancy-sounding features are part of what Ugreen is claiming to be the world's first liquid-cooling system on a power bank with wireless charging.

Inside the MagFlow Pro is a micro-pump that's used to circulate coolant and draw heat away from components including the power bank's Qi2.2-compatible wireless …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Dungeons & Dragons is getting a ‘Ravenloft’ live-action Netflix series

Cover art from Dungeons & Dragons’ Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
Strahd returned earlier this year in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. | Image: Wizards of the Coast

A Ravenloft series is currently in development from executive producer Alfonso Cuarón, writer and executive producer John August, and Hasbro Entertainment, Deadline reports. It could bring to life one of Dungeons & Dragons' most iconic campaign settings, which got an update earlier this year with Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.

Netflix's Ravenloft series will reportedly center on the infamous Strahd, according to Deadline:

At its heart, the series follows the making of the vampire Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, whose story of power, love, obsession, and undead transformation charts his origins from tragic antihero to one of Dungeons & Dra …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Congressman says TikTok backed out of a meeting to avoid child safety questions

An illustration of the TikTok logo in front of the Capitol

TikTok backed out of a congressional committee's "public roundtable" set for this month over concerns it would be asked about child safety practices, the chair of the committee said.

After negotiating "in good faith" to bring TikTok's chief security officer before the House Select Committee on China to answer questions about Chinese government access to Americans' data and the TikTok algorithm, Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) said in a statement Thursday that the company reversed course. "Now, TikTok is refusing to appear citing its own desire to avoid broader scrutiny of its child safety practices," Moolenaar wrote. TikTok did not immediately …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s beloved Q Series sound system is hundreds off for Labor Day

Samsung’s Q990F is a full home audio system in a single box. | Image: The Verge

Researching, buying, then finally assembling a sound system for your TV is daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. If you want one of the best kits you can get at a rare discount, Best Buy and Amazon are selling the Samsung Q990F Soundbar for $999.99. It normally retails between $1,300 and $1,600. This bundle includes a 48.5-inch, 11.1.4-channel soundbar, a wireless subwoofer and two wireless rear speakers with their own power cords. That’s a solid deal on an Atmos-ready soundbar with a rich set of features.

Samsung Q990F Soundbar System

If you want to bring your home theater to the next level, the Samsung Q990F is the answer. The Q990 series has been at the top of best lists for years, and for good reason. It delivers an excellent Atmos experience with clear dialogue and booming bass to fully immerse you in whatever you’re watching.

Where to Buy:

You can also use the Q990F as a speaker system for listening to music, and it communicates with smart home systems like Google Home and Alexa, as well as AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. The system supports Dolby Atmos for spatial audio, with upward- and side-firing drivers in both the soundbar and the rear speakers to elevate the experience. There’s also a clear dialogue mode to help voices stand out, and a game mode for deeper, more immersive audio with your console hooked up.


Other deals to consider

  • The Ring Wired Doorbell 2K is discounted to $49.99 at both Best Buy and Amazon, $30 lower than the usual price. This video doorbell features a wide-angle lens with a 140-degree field of view, up to 6x digital zoom, and two-way communication for chatting with visitors. The doorbell works in any home with wiring for a doorbell, though it works better in homes that use Amazon Alexa for their smart home management.
  • Amazon and Best Buy have the Sonos Sub 4 marked down to $759 for Labor Day, $140 lower than the typical price. This beefy subwoofer connects to Sonos soundbars like the Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam, and the upcoming Beam Ultra to give them an extra punch during heavy action sequences, as well as to speakers like the Sonos Five, Era 300, or Era 100 to add a lot more low-end presence to your favorite content.
  • Switch 2 owners can grab the Dbrand Killswitch 2 Travel Kit for $71.99 at Best Buy, which is $8 lower than the current cost available directly from the brand. The Killswitch 2 is our favorite case for handheld and docked play, and the case I personally use to protect my console. In addition to the grips, shell and dock adapter, this combo includes the front cover, which hooks around the case to protect the screen during travel, with room for up to 10 cartridges.

OpenAI’s next big AI model has ‘entered the AGI era’

OpenAI's next big model is here: GPT-6 Astra. The company calls it a "generational leap in capability" for areas like cybersecurity, professional work, software engineering, science, and computer use. As OpenAI announced earlier this week, it's also the first model designated as meeting OpenAI's "critical cybersecurity capability threshold" - but the company promises that won't lead to a repeat of its models hacking a rival company's internal systems.

"If we fast-forward a couple of years, and we look back and say, 'When was it, really, that AGI was created?' I think it's going to be about this time, and I think it might be about this model …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft slashes Xbox Cloud Gaming to just 15 hours a month for Ultimate subscribers

Vector illustration of the Xbox logo.

Microsoft is announcing some major changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming today, less than a year after opening up cloud gaming to its Xbox Game Pass Premium and Essential tiers. While all Game Pass plans have included unlimited cloud gaming over the past year, from November this will be limited to just 15 hours on Ultimate, 10 hours for Premium subscribers, and a measly 5 hours for Game Pass Essential.

"We recognize that introducing limits is a meaningful change, particularly for players who regularly spend more time gaming through the cloud," says the Xbox team in a blog post announcing the changes. "We expect this upcoming change to impact four pe …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft opens up Xbox Cloud Gaming with new pay-as-you-go option

Microsoft says it will let anyone access Xbox Cloud Gaming in November, without the need to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass. The change to a pay-as-you-go model is part of some sweeping changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming today, and is designed for people who don't use cloud access enough to warrant a monthly subscription.

"Players will be able to purchase cloud playtime hours through the Xbox Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices," says the Xbox team. "This will provide another option for people who want occasional access to cloud gaming or do not want a recurring Game Pass subscription."

This pay-as-you-go model comes alongs …

Read the full story at The Verge.

I held the first truly bezel-free phone

Cast your mind back a decade or so, and smartphone makers were obsessed with shrinking the bezel on phones. Screens got bigger, the black bars around them got smaller, and for a while it looked like truly edge-to-edge displays were imminent.

Then, progress just stopped. The bezel shrunk down until it was a millimeter or so on every side, on just about every phone, and phone manufacturers seemed to agree as one that this was probably far enough.

Tecno, a budget brand in the same family as Itel and Infinix, has stepped up to see if it could push things just a little further. Its new device, the Bezelless, is strictly a concept phone, never …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Circular’s new smart rings add contactless payments and vibrating alerts

Four versions of the Circular Ring 3 Slim wearable in different metallic finishes.

Circular announced its new Ring 3 Series today as a follow-up to the Ring 2 that debuted at CES 2025 with upgraded sensors and FDA-cleared atrial fibrillation detection. The new Ring 3 collection consists of both a Pro model that carries forward those same health-tracking features, and a smaller Slim option that offers more limited stats tracking. But both versions of the new Ring 3 feature vibrating alerts for alarms, medication reminders, and guided breathing exercises, and an integrated NFC chip for making contactless payments without having to reach for your phone or wallet.

The Ring 3 Pro has a slimmer design than its predecessor and …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Moto Watch Ultra is a return to Wear OS

The Moto Watch Ultra comes in one size, two colors, and with Google’s smartwatch software.

Just a few months after getting back into the smartwatch game, Motorola is targeting the premium end of the market with the first Moto Watch Ultra. It comes with some upgrades from the recent Moto Watch - most obviously the jump to Wear OS - but lacks the outdoorsy features that would make it a true rival to Samsung and Apple's Ultra watches.

While the Moto Watch ran a custom operating system, Motorola has adopted Google's Wear OS platform for the Ultra model, with a Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1 chip to run it. That gives the Ultra an immediate leg up in terms of access to a wide range of apps, interoperability with the company's Android phones …

Read the full story at The Verge.