Dbrand is canceling and refunding all preorders for its Steam Machine Companion Cube after producing the Portal-themed accessory without a license from Valve. This incident highlights the legal risks and intellectual property enforcement surrounding third-party hardware manufacturers utilizing established gaming franchises.
Xreal, Google, Snap, and Rokid are accelerating the release of AR glasses featuring 6DoF tracking, standalone computing, and expanded fields of view. This shift toward lightweight, standalone spatial computing platforms signals a move away from phone-tethered peripherals toward independent wearable ecosystems.
Xgimi is launching the MemoMind One, camera-free smart glasses featuring a green micro-LED display, AI voice assistant, and real-time translation. The device prioritizes a discreet, privacy-focused design over multimedia capture, offering a lightweight alternative to traditional AR wearables for notification and productivity tracking.
CNET tested 14 tower fans, identifying the Zafro Smart Tower Fan 36 as the best overall for its balance of airflow, energy efficiency, and price. The results provide a technical benchmark for consumers comparing raw power, noise profiles, and smart home integration across traditional and bladeless cooling hardware.
Proception, founded by former Tesla Optimus lead Jay Li, has raised $11 million in seed funding after settling a trade secret lawsuit with Tesla. The startup is shipping high-dexterity robotic hands that utilize a sensor-laden glove to collect scalable human interaction data without requiring a robot in the loop.
Roger Dahle, founder of Blackstone, has merged his griddle company with the legacy brand Weber to create a unified outdoor cooking entity. The transition highlights the shift from a viral, product-led growth model to managing a complex global supply chain facing high tariffs and retail trade-downs.
OLED displays from manufacturers like LG, Samsung, and Sony remain susceptible to burn-in caused by the uneven degradation of organic pixels when displaying static images. While mitigating features like pixel shifting and panel refresh reduce risk, users should avoid prolonged static content to prevent permanent image retention.
Y Combinator-backed Pocket raised $11 million to scale its $129 AI recording puck that attaches to smartphones for offline transcription and meeting summaries. The company is targeting professional workflows with enterprise integrations, including webhook support and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for database connectivity.
The creators of Flipper Zero will release the Busy Bar, a pixelated LED productivity display and timer, starting July 14th. The device targets focus enhancement for users and will be priced at $249, with an initial discount for the first 3,000 units.
Flipper Devices is launching the Busy Bar, a $249 productivity display featuring a 72x16 LED matrix, Matter certification, and app-blocking capabilities. The device targets developers and power users through open firmware, HTTP APIs, and Python/TypeScript libraries for custom widget creation.
