Razer’s latest Huntsman Mini brings analog sensitivity to tiny keyboards

Want a smaller Razer keyboard than the Huntsman, but don’t want to give up the analog feel from some of the company’s other models? You now have a viable option. Razer has introduced a Huntsman Mini Analog keyboard that preserves the ultra-compact 60 percent design of the regular Huntsman Mini, but uses “analog optical” switches. The finer-grained key action will help you dial in your preferred sensitivity, as you might guess, but you can also use it to replace analog controls in some games (such as the accelerator in a racing sim) or even assign two functions to the same key depending on force.

The RGB-lit keyboard is billed as durable between its aluminum body and double-shot PBT key caps. The USB-C cable is fully detachable to make this micro-Huntsman easier to carry.

Razer is selling the Huntsman Mini Analog today for $150. That’s no small amount, especially if you’re used to full-size keyboards, but it might be easy to justify if you’re a fan of the brand or want truly flexible analog input.

Senate committee advances FCC nominee Gigi Sohn

The Senate will vote on the nominations of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission and Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, respectively. The Senate Commerce Committee moved forward their nominations, though the 14-14 tie means there will be an additional procedural step for each before a full Senate vote.

Democrats and Republicans each have 50 senators though Vice President Kamala Harris has a tie-breaker vote. Should Sohn and Bedoya be confirmed as commissioners, the Democrats will hold a majority in both the FCC and FTC.

The committee delayed a vote on the nominations after Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) suffered a stroke in January. Luján, whose vote was needed for Democrats to move the nominations forward, has since returned to work.

President Biden nominated Sohn at the same time he put forward Jessica Rosenworcel as FCC chair in October. While the Senate approved Rosenworcel’s permanent appointment in December, Sohn’s appointment has taken longer. As such, the FCC has been deadlocked at 2-2 along party lines, leaving Rosenworcel unable to, among other things, advance a net neutrality policy.

Opposition to the nomination of Sohn, a longtime advocate for net neutrality, has come from a number of quarters, including the Directors Guild of America. The group urged senators to vote down Sohn’s nomination due to her “hostility towards copyright law.” Sohn was previously on the board of Locast, a defunct service that rebroadcast over-the-air TV broadcast signals via the internet. She said she’d recuse herself from issues concerning retransmission consent and broadcast copyright.

In confirmation hearings, Republicans portrayed Sohn as an extreme partisan. She hit back at those assertions, arguing that she had been subject to “unrelenting, unfair and outright false criticism and scrutiny.”

The FTC, meanwhile, is in the process of reviewing some significant proposed mergers. According to reports, those include Amazon’s planned buyout of MGM and Microsoft’s bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. Reports suggest the FTC is mulling an antitrust challenge to block the Amazon-MGM deal, though it would need a majority vote to proceed with a lawsuit.

Reddit bans links to Russian state media across the entire site

Reddit isn’t done clamping down on misinformation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The social hub has banned links to state-supported Russian media outlets across the entire site, and for all users worldwide. While numerous subreddits already banned links to outlets like RT and Sputnik, this will make it harder to share the content anywhere.

The site has also barred ads that either originate from Russia or target the country. Reddit recently quarantined the r/Russia subreddit, keeping it out of searches and recommendations while prompting a warning to visitors.

Reddit characterized the move as showing support for Ukraine. It also suggested this was part of a broader effort to curb misinformation, arguing that quarantines and similar practices made it difficult for “coordinated disinformation attempts” to take root.

This won’t prevent determined users from sharing Russian state media content, as they can use proxy sites or republish articles in their posts. It might also complicate attempts to counter Russia’s official message while using state-supported articles as reference points. It’s not surprising that Reddit would limit links, though. Between an EU ban on these outlets and crackdowns from tech industry leaders like Google and Meta, Reddit faces extensive pressure to take action.

Bowers & Wilkins’ $999 Panorama 3 is its first Dolby Atmos soundbar

Bowers & Wilkins is no stranger to soundbars, but the company’s lineup over the years was missing one key feature: Dolby Atmos. Across two Panorama models and the Formation Bar, the immersive audio format wasn’t yet supported by the company’s soundbars. It’s changing that today with the Panorama 3: a $999 all-in-one model that features up-firing drivers for Atmos alongside a host of other handy features for music and movies. 

Inside the low-profile angular design, a collection of 13 drivers harness 400 watts of total output in 3.1.2-channel configuration. That includes three tweeters, six mid-range, two subwoofers and two up-firing units. The company says that this combination allows the Panorama 3 to function as a standalone setup with “room-filling sound.” In other words, Bowers & Wilkins doesn’t think you’ll need a dedicated wireless subwoofer parked adjacent to the soundbar, similarly to how Sennheiser designed its pricey Ambeo model. 

Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3 soundbar
Bowers & Wilkins

The Panorama 3 connects to your TV via a single HDMI eARC jack, or for older displays, there’s an optical port as well. An Ethernet connection provides wired internet while AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect offer wireless control for music via your phone or other devices. The Panorama 3 supports aptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC codecs when it comes to Bluetooth audio and the company’s app pipes in tunes from Deezer, Last.fm, Qobuz, Soundcloud, Tidal and TuneIn. Support for more streaming services is on the way, according to Bowers & Wilkins. 

The company also says multi-room audio will arrive “shortly after launch” which will allow you to use the Panorama 3 in unison with other Bowers & Wilkins speakers around your home. This soundbar has Alexa built-in for voice control or you can reach for the “hidden until lit” capacitive touch buttons on the top of the speaker itself if the remote (or your phone) isn’t nearby.

The Panorama 3 is available starting today for $999. That may seem like a lot, and it is certainly a big investment, but that price is a few hundred less than the current flagship Atmos soundbar from Sony. 

OSOM’s OV1 looks to pick up where the Essential Phone left off

Unless you religiously follow Android blogs, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of OSOM Privacy. It’s a startup made up of former Essential employees who worked on the PH-1 before the company became mired in controversy on account of founder Andy …

Rivian reverses price hike for R1T and R1S pre-orders following backlash

Rivian is quickly backtracking on its steep EV price hikes. The Vergereports Rivian has reversed the price increases for R1T pickup and R1S SUV pre-order customers. Anyone who ordered one of the vehicles before March 1st will pay the original prices, and those who cancelled orders in response can reinstate their orders without affecting their prices or delivery timing. Orders for affected configurations made from March 1st onward will still cost more.

Company chief RJ Scaringe said the higher prices “broke the trust” of customers, and that the automaker didn’t properly communicate the reasons for the hikes. While the new prices were meant to reflect higher manufacturing costs (hence maintaining prices for new buyers), Rivian “wrongly” applied those increases to existing customers, according to Scaringe. It also incorrectly presumed customers wouldn’t mind buying the lower-end dual-motor and standard battery models if the quad-motor option was suddenly too expensive.

The price change angered more than a few customers. Quad-motor buyers faced prices between $12,000 to $20,000 above what they’d expected. Some accused Rivian of bait-and-switch tactics, while others cancelled (or threatened to cancel) orders in response. Tesla, a key competitor, has historically honored pre-order prices regardless of any changes between the order and delivery.

The incident is poorly timed, at least. Rivian is still in the early stages of ramping up R1T deliveries, and has yet to fulfill R1S orders. The automaker’s reputation is still young and delicate — it risks driving business to Tesla, Ford and others with comparable EVs. While reversing the price hike will likely be painful to Rivian, it might be worthwhile if it fosters goodwill and leads to more sales in the long run. 

Volvo is testing wireless EV charging tech in Sweden

Volvo will put a wireless EV charging system through its paces as part of a program to test alternative charging options. A small fleet of electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars will be used as taxis in Gothenburg, Sweden in a three-year pilot.

The cars are equipped with a wireless charging system from Momentum Dynamics. Charging pads will be embedded in the ground at two taxi ranks. Volvo will use 360-degree cameras to help drivers put the cars in the correct position and when they’re in the right spot, the taxis’ batteries will automatically topped up. An image shared by Momentum Dynamics showed an EV charging at a rate of 41kW. 

The EVs will be on the road for more than 12 hours a day and are expected to be driven for upwards of 100,000 km (62,000 miles) per year. Volvo says this is the first durability test of its electric EVs in a commercial setting. Momentum Dynamics has also teamed up with Jaguar to test wireless charging in electric taxis in Norway.

The concept of building charging tech into roads is hardlynew, but it hasn’t exactly taken off yet. Still, researchers and engineers are working on other ways to charge EVs as they drive, so at some point in the future, drivers may never need to visit a typical charging station.

In-vehicle interface during wireless charging at over 40kW
Momentum Dynamics Corporation

CNN+ streaming service arrives this spring for $6 per month

CNN is starting to narrow down the launch details for its CNN+ streaming service. The online-only offering is now slated to debut this spring at a price of $6 per month. You’ll have a strong incentive to sign up quickly, though — CNN will offer lifetime monthly subscriptions at 50 percent off for anyone who signs up within the first four weeks.

The company also outlined how you’ll access the service. A unified CNN app will provide access to CNN+ as well as live and on-demand content for conventional TV subscribers. This will encourage everyday CNN users to subscribe to CNN+, of course, but you also won’t have to switch apps to view the content you want.

CNN+ is banking on a combination of recognizable hosts and shows to pull you in. Former Fox News host Chris Wallace will provide live daily news, for instance, while other hosts range from CNN veterans (such as Anderson Cooper and Poppy Harlow) through to outside talent like cook and writer Alison Roman. You can expect some on-demand material, including the Big Tech-focused The Land of the Giants to back catalog releases like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

Whether or not the pricing is right, there’s little doubt CNN+ faces some competition. There are direct rivals such as Fox Nation, but services like NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Paramount+ mix live news and sports with plenty of on-demand entertainment. The success of CNN+ isn’t guaranteed, particularly when subscription fatigue might make it harder to justify yet another outlay.

CD Projekt Red will no longer sell games in Russia and Belarus

CD Projekt Red says it will stop selling its games until further notice in Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine. People in those two countries will no longer be able to buy the publisher’s own games — such as Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — or any title from CD Projekt’s GOG store.

“Today, we begin working with our partners to suspend digital sales and cease physical stock deliveries of CD PROJEKT Group products, as well as all games distributed on the GOG platform, to the territories of Russia and Belarus,” CDPR wrote in a statement on Twitter. The publisher’s games are sold on several digital platforms, including the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch stores, as well as Steam, Epic Games Store and Google Stadia.

In a note to investors, CD Projekt said that Russia and Belarus accounted for around 5.4 percent of revenue from its own games and 3.7 percent of GOG sales over the last 12-month period.

CDPR said it “stands firm with the people of Ukraine.” The day after the invasion started, CD Projekt donated approximately $242,000 to a humanitarian group in support of the conflict’s victims.

“While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don’t aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people,” CDPR said. It acknowledged the decision will impact gamers in Russia and Belarus who aren’t involved in the invasion and perhaps oppose it, “but with this action we wish to further galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe.”

Bloober Team, the developer of games such as The Medium and Blair Witch, is blocking sales of its titles in Belarus and Russia on all platforms too. “We want to be a part of a world that doesn’t turn a blind eye to warmongering. And we won’t stay neutral when human lives are at stake,” the studio said. Like CD Projekt, Bloober Team is based in Poland, which borders Ukraine.

The moves by CDPR and Bloober Team follow a request from Ukraine’s vice prime minister for gaming companies to temporarily block player accounts in Russia and Belarus. EA Sports said on Wednesday it’s removing Russian and Belarusian teams from FIFA and NHL games.

Update 3/3 12:56PM ET: Added details about Bloober Team removing its games from sale.