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Surprise! Facial recognition smart locks are actually good

Facial recognition smart locks are here; now you can unlock your door the same way you unlock your phone. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Hands-free unlocking is the future of smart locks. The best smart home tech removes friction, and having your door unlock for you as you walk up is as frictionless as it gets - no passcodes to remember, no need to have a free hand to wave, press, or poke at the lock. One way to achieve this nirvana is through facial recognition. You already unlock your phone with your face; why not your home?

Hands-free unlocking using geofencing has been around for a while, but it can be slow and unreliable, and requires an app running in the background on your phone. Newer innovations - facial recognition and unlocking using an ultrawideband (UWB) radio - …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is incredible

18 July 2026 at 13:30
The Sony Bravia 9 II displaying an image of a bird, on a wooden home theater credenza with SVS speakers on either side.
Sony’s flagship Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV I’ve seen this year.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the most anticipated new TV in years. It's an amazing RGB LED TV. I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the new Bravia with my son, who has been getting into the roleplaying game but had never seen the movie. The landscapes of Faerûn looked natural and real, while the magic cast by the Red Wizards of Thay was vibrant and colorful. Specular highlights in HDR really pop. I saw it with Xenk's glowing sword as he fought in the Underdark in Honor Among Thieves, but also in the explosions as Furiosa flees across the desert in Mad Max: Fury Road and the sun reflecting off the waves in The Meg.

The Bravia 7 II …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Fine, electric mountain bikes don’t suck

18 July 2026 at 08:00
A mountain bike does a wheelie on a single track in the forest.
You don’t need a $10,000 Amflow PX Carbon Pro, but it doesn’t hurt. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Cheater, I'd grumble between huffs as yet another e-bike rider casually skittered past me on a steep ascent. It's this purist attitude that, for years, has left me blind to one simple fact: electric mountain bikes are fun!

My attitude adjustment came a few weeks ago, the very first time I rode an Amflow PX Carbon Pro fitted with the incredibly compact, lightweight, and powerful M2S motor from Avinox, a new DJI offshoot that has incumbents like Bosch and Specialized on edge. The motor doesn't make me a speed demon, but it does let me suck better by compensating whenever my poor technique kills the momentum.

Mountain biking has a long histor …

Read the full story at The Verge.

A Month with Logitech’s Innovative Mobi Fold Travel Mouse

8 July 2026 at 17:56

I can’t recall the last time I was truly excited about a mouse. I primarily use a trackpad whether I’m at my desk or using a laptop. The trouble with a trackpad-only setup, though, is that I sometimes wind up with wrist and elbow pain. That’s why I keep a Logitech MX Master 4 mouse on my desk to balance out the stress on my arms.

But that only works if I’m at my desk. More and more, I’ve been turning to a MacBook Pro for working away from my desk at home or elsewhere. Those locations are always less ergonomic than sitting at my desk, causing wrist and elbow pain more quickly. Still, I’ve never made it a habit to bring a mouse with me, especially when I’m away from home, because it’s more than I want to carry – that is, until Logitech’s latest mouse, the Mobi Fold, came along.

The Logitech Mobi Fold is an impossibly small mouse that folds completely in half, reducing its footprint to about ⅓ the size of my iPhone 17 Pro Max and about twice its thickness. Unfolded, it’s close to the length of the MX Master 4 but narrower. The Mobi Fold is impressively full-featured, too, making it an excellent all-around travel mouse worth taking a closer look at.

Folded, the Mobi Fold doesn't look much like a mouse.

Folded, the Mobi Fold doesn’t look much like a mouse.

I’ve been testing the Mobi Fold for about a month, and my favorite thing to do with it is fold it up, show it to someone, and ask them to guess what it is. No one has guessed correctly because a folding mouse just isn’t a thing most people have encountered before. Instead, the most common guess is that the Mobi Fold is a small battery for charging an iPhone, until I unfold it and the shape becomes more familiar.

The Mobi Fold is tiny.

The Mobi Fold is tiny.

Really tiny.

Really tiny.

The Mobi Fold is powered by a rechargeable battery that Logitech says lasts for up to 33 days (and up to 22 hours on a one-minute quick charge). The device also turns itself on and off automatically when unfolded and folded, which I love. Plus, the Mobi Fold can connect to up to three devices, and it supports both Bluetooth connections and Logitech’s Bolt dongle (sold separately).

The Mobi Fold’s surface is a soft-touch plastic that feels comfortable in your hand, and it has three buttons arrayed across the front. The middle button doubles as a trackpad, allowing you to drag a finger across its surface to scroll and perform gestures like a double tap for zooming in and out of a webpage.

The Mobi Fold pairs with up to three devices.

The Mobi Fold pairs with up to three devices.

By default, tapping the front of the middle button navigates forward, while tapping the back navigates back in a browser. However, as with other Logitech mice, you can program the Mobi Fold’s buttons and gestures to:

  • perform different actions depending on the app you’re using,
  • control system settings like brightness and volume,
  • perform macro-like smart actions, and
  • display the Logitech Actions Ring, a customizable set of actions that are overlayed on your work environment.

That’s a lot of customization for a diminutive mouse, which I appreciate. However, because the Mobi Fold is typically my “long work sessions at the coffee shop” mouse, I’ve found that all I really need is its traditional point-and-click functionality.

The Mobi Fold makes a good companion to an iPad.

The Mobi Fold makes a good companion to an iPad.

Ultimately, the Mobi Fold isn’t going to replace the MX Master 4 sitting on my desk, but it’s not meant to. I’ve fallen for the Mobi Fold just the same because its compact size and light weight make it a no-brainer to carry with me. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at just how comfortable the Mobi Fold is to use, unfolding into a sturdy, angular shape that feels good in hand, unlike, say, Apple’s shallower Magic Mouse.

As a result, I really can’t recommend the Mobi Fold enough for on-the-go use with a Mac laptop or iPad. The combination of features in such a small, portable package sets it apart from every other mouse I’ve used and makes it well worth its $79.99 price tag.

The Mobi Fold is available in Graphite, Lilac, Off White, and Sand colors, both directly from Logitech and from Amazon.

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