VanMoof refreshes its e-bike lineup with the $3,000 S5 and A5

VanMoof is updating its core e-bike lineup for the first time in two years. There are two new models designed for different use cases.

The company created the S5 with longer rides in mind. It reworked the straight frame to increase the height of the riding position. It’s for riders between 165 and 210 cm tall (approximately 5’5″ to 6’11”). There are larger, 27.5-inch wheels and the base e-bike weighs 23kg (51 lbs).

As for the A5, that’s designed more for shorter trips and city rides. It has an angled frame with a lower step-in and it’s for riders between 155 and 200 cm in height (roughly 5’1″ to 6’7″). It has 24-inch wheels and weighs 22kg (48.5 lbs). There’s support for both rear and front carriers as well

The front one is designed to carry up to 10kg (22 lbs) and has an elastic cord to secure items. Both bikes can be equipped with rear carriers. The regular rack is designed for loads up to 15kg (33 lbs), while the heavy-duty option should comfortably support up to 27kg (59.5 lbs).

VanMoof S5 and A5 e-bikes with feature descriptions
VanMoof

VanMoof has upgraded the motor on both bikes as well. With the 250W, 5V Gen 5 motor, the company says these models will provide the smoothest rides around. The motor has an e-shifter, torque sensor and integrated battery. The improved Turbo Boost will provide 68 Nm of torque, compared with 59 Nm in 2020’s S3.

Both models have a 26-cell, 47V permanent battery, though there are slight differences. The S5 has a 487Wh capacity, while the A5’s has a 463Wh capacity. At full power and in economy mode, the S5 will offer a range of up to 150 km (93 miles), while the A5 has a range of up to 140 km (87 miles). You can extend those by up to 140 km with the click-on battery.

Using the Gen 5 charger, you’ll be able to charge the battery to 50 percent of capacity in two and a half hours and fully in six hours and 30 minutes. The speed charger shortens those times considerably. You’ll be able to juice up your e-bike’s battery to half capacity in an hour and to 100 percent in four and a half hours.

VanMoof
VanMoof

New to the S5 and A5 is a halo ring interface with LED display integrated in the handlebar. There’s a phone mount with a USB-C charging port too.

The anti-theft tech includes a Gen 5 kick lock that you can arm with a tap of your foot. It’ll unlock automatically when you return. VanMoof is working on certification for Apple Find My support, and it’ll continue to employ its Bike Hunters. If that team can’t find and recover your bike within two weeks of it being lost or stolen, it will send you a replacement.

The S5 and A5 are both pricier than the S3 and X3, which cost $2,448. They’ll each cost $2,998/£2,298/€2,498. The company didn’t mention when it’ll ship the new models.

Nikon Z9 review: A versatile camera with solid 8K video recording

With Sony and Canon dominating headlines, Nikon has been the forgotten company in the mirrorless race. That’s set to change, though, with the launch of the 45.7-megapixel Z9. It’s an innovative professional camera that offers awesome speed, incredible …

What we bought: Peloton’s Lanebreak offered just the kick I needed to get back in the saddle

Four years ago, I decided to purchase a Peloton bike. I was spending way too much on membership dues at a luxury gym I hardly attended, and I was intrigued by the idea of an exercise bike with live and on-demand classes. Even though the bike is expensive, I bought it on an installment plan; the monthly payments worked out to be around $100 less than that underused gym membership. Add in the fact that both my husband and I could use it for the price of a single subscription, and I was sold.

While I still do like the bike, I’ll admit that I haven’t been using it as much in recent months. I just haven’t been very motivated, and when I do get the energy to go for a ride, I sometimes feel discouraged by my poor performance. Of course, I know that the beauty of the Peloton is that you can ride at your own pace, but it can feel demoralizing to rank at the bottom of the leaderboard all the time.

Recently, however, Peloton added a new “gamified” experience to the Bike and Bike+ called Lanebreak. Instead of following instructors in a class, you’ll be cycling along different tracks and at different difficulties in order to get a high score. Seeing as I’m a fan of fitness games – I really like Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure as well as Just Dance, for example – I was excited to try it out.

Peloton
Engadget

Lanebreak is found in the “More Rides” section in the Peloton menu, which is also where the Scenic Rides and Just Ride options are. In the game, there are six different tracks, and you navigate from one to the other with the bike’s resistance knob (you’ll know which one you’re in by the rotating wheel avatar). The farthest left is with the least resistance, while the furthest right is with the most resistance. As you might expect, the farther right you go, the more points you can score.

In order to gain points, you have to complete a few different tasks, which are either one after another on the same track or dispersed on to separate tracks. One is to simply cycle in the lane with blue bars, each of which represents “Beats.” These score points every time you go over them. Another is to cycle really fast in an orange “Breakers” section until the meter is “charged” – the more it’s charged, the more points you’ll get. Last but not least, there are “Streams,” where you’re tasked with holding your target cadence within a specified range.

At the end of a Lanebreak workout, your total score is based on all the Beats, Breakers and Streams that you’ve completed and collected throughout the game. You’ll also see a high score on the Lanebreak leaderboard for that particular game.

The length of a Lanebreak workout runs the gamut from five minutes to 30, and there are four different levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert. There’s also a wide variety of music playlists to pick from, such as “Rock Riot” and David Bowie remixes.

Peloton
Engadget

I have to say, I had a lot of fun. The look and feel really reminds me of Guitar Hero, a game which I have fond memories of. I enjoy navigating to the different tracks and then cycling as hard as I can to score the maximum points. I tend to score fairly well in the beginner and intermediate levels, but I dare not venture into advanced or expert modes just yet. I was a little concerned that a 20 or 30 minute game might feel repetitive, but I actually really liked it – the song mixes help keep things interesting.

There are a few downsides, though. For one thing, the resistance knob can be a little fiddly, which is not great when I’m trying to make quick lane changes. Plus, there’s no real break for you to take a sip of water; you kind of just have to miss out on a few points when you’re hydrating. Of course, as there’s no instructor, you’ll also miss out on motivation shoutouts and stretching exercises. But I find that the gameplay aspect of Lanebreak is fun enough to make up for that.

Perhaps the best part of Lanebreak is that it got me back cycling after several months of not doing so. It really made me fall in love with cycling all over again. After a five-minute Lanebreak session yesterday, for example, I navigated over to the on-demand library and took a 20-minute beginner class. I felt great afterwards, and didn’t care at all about where I was on the leaderboard.

Elon Musk will join Twitter’s board of directors

Elon Musk isn’t just stopping at buying a stake in Twitter — he’ll also have a seat at the table. As CNBCreports, Twitter is appointing Musk to the company’s board of directors. He’ll be of value as both a “passionate believer and intense critic” of the social network, according to chief executive Parag Agrawal.

An SEC filing shows that Musk will serve as a Class II director (that is, not top-tier) with a term that expires at the company’s 2024 annual shareholder meeting. The appointment limits the stake Musk can hold. He can’t own more than 14.9 percent of common stock during his tenure, and for 90 days afterward.

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey thought well of the deal. In a response to the news, he believed Musk “cares deeply” about the planet and Twitter. Musk and Agrawal “lead with their hearts,” he said.

It’s too soon to say how much influence Musk will have as a director. However, he recently blasted Twitter for allegedly falling short of “free speech principles” and asked the social site’s users if they want an edit button. He clearly intends to make his presence felt, not to mention thumb his nose at the SEC for its crackdown against his finance-related tweets.

Amazon orders up to 83 launches for its Project Kuiper internet satellites

Amazon needs partners if it’s going to send its Project Kuiper internet satellites to space, and the tech giant now has them lined up. The company has reached deals with Arianespace, ULA and its close ally Blue Origin to offer as many as 83 launches for Project Kuiper over the next five years. The arrangements will let Amazon field the “majority” of its 3,236 satellites, and is supposedly the largest commercial launch deal to date.

ULA will provide the most launches, with 48 Atlas and Vulcan Centaur rockets ferrying satellites into orbit. Arianespace’s Ariane 6 will deliver satellites across 18 launches. Blue Origin will provide just 12 launches aboard New Glenn, although there will be options for up to 15 additional flights.

There was no mention of who would provide the first launch, or a narrower timeframe for when that mission will occur. Amazon expects to deploy its first two prototype satellites by the end of this year.

It’s no surprise that Amazon would land such a large deal, however. If Amazon is going to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, it needs guarantees that its satellite constellation will launch in a timely fashion — SpaceX has already deployed over 2,300 satellites to date, and will use as many as 30,000 to offer worldwide coverage. These deals let Amazon focus on getting Project Kuiper ready for service, and spare it the indignity of asking its main rival SpaceX for help with any launches.

The Olive Max 2-in-1 hearing aids come with adaptive hearing tech

Olive Union has started taking pre-orders for Olive Max, its new pair of hearing aids that doubles as a pair of ordinary wireless earbuds. The company says the model was built-on top of the success of Olive Pro, the 2-in-1 hearing aids/earbuds it released back in 2020. While Olive Pro looks like a pair of Apple AirPods, Max uses a custom-built design that wraps around the top the wearer’s ear for a “more stable listening experience.” The new model also serves as a the debut product for Olive’s adaptive hearing technology, which is apparently its most requested feature. 

Olive’s adaptive hearing tech is powered by an AI that learns and improves the feature the more a user wears the device. It then uses machine learning tech to automatically customize Max’s sound settings to suit the wearer’s current environment. The new model also comes with a new voice auto-focus feature and a new sound engine that give it the capability to detect voices better, as well as to more effectively reduce and filter background noise. Olive claims Max is capable of separating voices from noises with such “incredible accuracy” that it won’t distort the user’s own voice while it’s filtering out ambient sounds. 

The Olive Max is an FDA Class 2 hearing aid that works for people with mild to severe hearing loss. It can last for up to 8 hours on a single charge, though its charging case can extend its battery life for up to 18 hours. It also only takes five minutes to set up using its accompanying iOS or Android app. The model is now available for pre-order for $299 and will start shipping in the fourth quarter of 2022. After the promo ends, Olive Max will be sold for $549.

August’s 4th-gen WiFi smart lock is $40 off right now

August’s WiFi smart lock is a good one if you want an easy to use device to expand your smart home. Now you can get $40 off the smart home gadget at Wellbots by using the code EGDTLOCK at checkout. That’ll bring the WiFi smart lock down to $189 — while not the all-time-low price we saw during the holiday shopping season last year, it’s the best price we’ve seen on the gadget in 2022.

Buy August WiFi smart lock at Wellbots – $189

We gave the smart lock a score of 80 when we reviewed it in 2020. The 4th-generation device is smaller than the previous model and, thanks to its WiFi connectivity, doesn’t require a bridge to work. August’s mobile app uses videos to guide you through installation and we recommending checking the company’s support page before buying to make sure that the gadget will work with your door. Overall, the installation process is quite easy and we like that August requires you to turn on two-factor authentication as part of it. It’s an extra layer of security that’s truly necessary for smart devices like these. And on top of that, the lock supports Bluetooth encryption as well as AES 128-bit and TLS encryption.

After setting up the smart lock, you can control it from anywhere using your phone. You can remotely unlock or lock your door whenever you want, controlling who can get into your home and when. You can also send limited-time keys to friends and family so they can get in when necessary, plus the Auto-Lock feature will automatically secure the door when the device detects its been shut. And your old-school keys aren’t suddenly useless now either — you can still use them with August’s device to lock and unlock your door. That’ll come in handy if you forget to replace the gadget’s dual CR123 batteries before they run out.

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Apple’s 256GB iPad returns to a record low of $429

Apple’s base iPad isn’t for early adopters or those looking to replace their laptop with a more svelte solution. Instead, it’s the iPad for those who just want a more than capable tablet at a relatively affordable price. And if you’ve been eyeing the model with extra storage, you have an opportunity to grab it for $50 less than usual. The 256GB iPad is back down to its record-low price of $429 at Amazon right now. Currently, only the space gray WiFi model is this low, but if you absolutely must have silver, you can get that one for $450, or $30 off its usual price.

Buy iPad (256GB) at Amazon – $429

The 2021 tablet has a few key differences from the previous model. First and foremost, Apple upgraded the processor inside to the A13 Bionic chip, which provides a boost in performance and an overall smooth experience. We didn’t experience any slowdowns or hiccups when using the iPad for things like web browsing, watching videos, messaging, playing games and drawing with the first-gen Apple Pencil. For most people, the A13 Bionic chip is more than powerful enough to handle all of the things you could throw at this iPad.

Apple also updated the base storage and the front-facing cameras on the new iPad. The base model has 64GB of storage now, but with these models on sale, you’re getting the maximum amount possible: 256GB. That will come in handy if you plan on storing a lot of photos or documents on the iPad, or you just have a lot of apps and games you want to keep on the device at all times. The new front-facing camera now supports Center Stage, which is Apple’s new feature that keeps you in the center of the frame during FaceTime video calls. It’s a neat feature that comes in handy if you move around a lot when you’re chatting with friends and family.

Otherwise, the 2021 iPad is much the same as the previous model, with features like a 10.2-inch touchscreen, a physical Home button with TouchID, chunkier bezels, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a Lightning port for charging. If you have the previous iPad, you may not feel the need to upgrade considering the minor changes made to the 2021 version. But if you don’t have an iPad or are looking for a solid tablet at a decent price, this iPad is worth considering.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

GM and Honda announce plans to build ‘affordable’ EVs arriving in 2027

GM and Honda will co-develop a series of affordable EVs using a global architecture and GM’s Ultium battery technology, the companies announced. They promised to build vehicles in multiple product segments, including the compact crossover category, calling it a “new chapter” in their partnership. That significantly expands on previous news that Honda would create two EVs using GM’s battery technology.

“GM and Honda will share our best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to deliver affordable and desirable EVs on a global scale, including our key markets in North America, South America and China,” said GM CEO and chair Mary Barra. 

The companies promised to share technology, design and sourcing strategies, while working toward “standardizing equipment and processes to achieve world-class quality, higher throughput and greater affordability,” GM’s press release states. The companies will also discuss EV battery collaboration in an effort to drive down costs and improve performance and sustainability. 

GM and Honda's new co-developed EVs will arrive in 2027
The Honda E
Engadget

The word “affordable” comes up a lot in the press release, as both companies emphasized the idea of building cheaper EVs than are currently available. “Honda and GM will build on our successful technology collaboration to help achieve a dramatic expansion in the sales of electric vehicles,” said Honda president & CEO Toshihiro Mibe. 

The tie-up makes a lot of sense, particularly for Honda, which has lagged way behind rivals in terms of EV development. By joining forces with GM, it can share development costs and contribute its considerable BEV and hybrid expertise. The two automakers previously announced a collaboration in 2018 to produce autonomous vehicles, with Honda taking a stake in GM’s Cruise self-driving division. The companies also joined force on hydrogen fuel cells.

Honda recently showed that it can build EVs with the Honda E, a cute and technologically advanced vehicle with limited battery range, designed mostly for urban use. More recently, it unveiled a pair of vehicles it’s developing with GM including the Prologue, to be launched in early 2024, followed by Acura’s first EV SUV.

GM, meanwhile, continues to develop its Ultium battery tech that uses pouch- and prismatic-style cells rather than cylindrical cells like Tesla. The aim to use it in up to 30-plus vehicles over the coming years, with the first models arriving in 2023. GM affirmed that it would release “a new all-electric product for North America positioned at a price point lower than the upcoming Chevrolet Equinox EV, building on the 2 million units of EV capacity the company plans to install by the end of 2025.”