Eliana Willis

The Aventho 300 headphones in Black and White. Beyerdynamic/ZDNETPopular consumer audio brand Beyerdynamic announced new flagship headphones and true wireless earbuds during IFA 2024 in Berlin, Germany. On Thursday, the German audio brand debuted the Aventho 300 over-ear headphones and the Amiron 300 true wireless earbuds.  The new flagship headphones offer listeners modern features and upgrades. According to Beyerdynamic, the Aventho 300 headphones prioritize comfort with their high-grade swivel, aluminum yokes, and ergonomic design. According to a press release, the headphones are built with all-day comfort in mind, and the brand’s Stellar.45 drivers are embedded into the headset for a rich sound experience. The Aventho 300 are compatible with a host of audio codecs, like AAC, LE Audio, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless. Also: The new Soundcore Space One Pro are smaller and mightier in all the right waysThe Aventho 300 offer up to 50 hours of battery life, noise-canceling and transparency modes powered by dual Sony chipsets, and spatial audio with Dolby Head Tracking technology, an increasingly popular audio feature for premium headphones. Beyerdynamic’s new over-ear headphones are equipped with Bluetooth 5.4, which promises more stable connections and higher-quality audio playback.Beyerdynamic’s new true wireless earbuds, the Amiron 300, also include several advanced features within a light and wireless package. According to Beyerdynamic, the Amiron 300 earbuds are designed with a flat back, so you can listen to them while lying on your side with no discomfort. The company says the Amiron 300 prioritizes “deep bass, precise mids, and crystal-clear highs.”  More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETLenovo just unveiled a handful of new laptops with novel features ahead of IFA 2024 in Berlin, but one of the coolest is its new Auto Twist concept on its new line of 13-inch Intel ThinkBooks. We’ve all seen “convertible” laptops that allow the screen to fold all the way back — this feature takes it a step further by enabling the screen to rotate horizontally in either direction, as well. This means you can flip your screen around 180 degrees to show it to someone sitting directly opposite of you with the keyboard in place, then fold it back completely to turn the laptop into a tablet.  Also: Your next laptop may be powered by this Intel AI chip, and the benefits are mind-blowingEven more impressive is the voice activation feature, which prompts the laptop to open and close the screen on its own. If you say, “Hey Twist, open laptop,” for example, the clamshell cheerfully opens up. Conversely, saying “close laptop” closes the screen no matter its configuration. Saying “tablet mode” will rotate the screen to become a proper tablet, and “laptop mode” switches it back. Seeing it for yourself. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETThere are also some interesting integrations with the laptop’s camera. For example, if you’re using the laptop for a video call or giving a presentation, the display “locks on” to your face and will auto-rotate to stay facing you, with a maximum horizontal rotation of 270 degrees. I recently had a chance to experience the new Auto Twist feature at a Lenovo product demo, and the idea as a proof of concept is impressive in the sense that I couldn’t help but think, “I’m surprised no one’s thought of this before.” Also: OpenAI, Intel, and Qualcomm talk AI compute at legendary Hot Chips conferenceIn practice, however, I wonder about its usefulness. Opening and closing the lid is hardly the most challenging thing you can do on a laptop, especially because it’s much faster to do it yourself. When it opens and closes on its own, it does so very carefully, and while the motion is mostly smooth, there’s some screen wobble as it rotates into position. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETPerhaps more useful is the laptop’s ability to close the display on its own after a designated period of inactivity. This means you can walk away from your laptop and return to find it closed and locked, a handy security feature.  I was also curious about the logistics involved with this and couldn’t help but ask what would happen if you push the screen open while it’s trying to close or vice versa. Luckily, because there are no gears involved, nothing will be damaged if you force the screen in either direction.  More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETLenovo just unveiled its new line of Aura Edition laptops in partnership with Intel, and they’re full of features that, if nothing else, are attention-grabbing. One of the most noteworthy is the new auto-rotating laptops that open and close on their own, something I tried out first-hand at a recent demo. Also: 5 most interesting Copilot+ laptops revealed at IFA 2024 (including one for gaming)On the software side, Lenovo’s Aura Edition laptops also come with a host of AI-infused “smart modes.” The ability to set your laptop in different modes isn’t anything new, but Lenovo’s smart modes use AI to go beyond “battery saver” or “performance mode” for some pretty clever features. More

Lenovo/ZDNETLike Acer and Asus, Lenovo is making a big splash at IFA 2024, revealing multiple new Copilot+ PCs. However, the brand is taking a different direction than its contemporaries by focusing more on affordability. There are two that caught our eye: the seventh-generation ThinkBook 16 and the IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1.Also: 5 most interesting Copilot+ laptops revealed at IFA 2024 (including one for gaming)Beginning with the former, the upcoming ThinkBook is aimed primarily at enterprise users. It houses Qualcomm’s new lightweight Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor. The CPU is paired up with its own dedicated NPU enhancing the computer’s performance and enabling its AI features. Lenovo claims the chipset will allow users to enjoy “multi-day battery life,” though the company doesn’t mention the average runtime. They do, however, point out that the model possesses a large 84Whr battery, which is larger than most. More

kampee patisena/Getty Images ChatGPT has found a niche not just among individuals but among organizations. The business and educational flavors of OpenAI’s chatbot have officially snagged more than 1 million paying business users, a company spokesperson told ZDNET. That number is a hefty gain from the 600,000 recorded this past April. The amount represents the […] More

Twelve South Tired of losing your charger? Apple accessory company Twelve South might just have an answer.  In what it’s calling a world-first, the company debuted its PlugBug<!–> today – a USB-C wall charger with Find My built-in.  If your PlugBug goes missing, you’ll be able to use the Find My app on your iPhone […] More

Soundcore/ZDNETAudio brand Soundcore just released a direct follow-up to its fantastic Space One headphones, the aptly named Space One Pro, and the upgrades are impressive.Also: The best over-ear headphones you can buyThe ear cups on the older headphones possess a unique structure for blocking outside noise. On the Pro version, the company expanded this design to consist of four stages working together to enhance active noise canceling (ANC). First, exterior microphones detect sound coming from the outside. The cup covers then act as barriers, preventing noise from coming in.A chip inside the Space One Pro takes the mic input and actively cancels out disturbances in real time. The final stage sees the triple-composite drivers block out the last bit of noise. Soundcore says these speakers were specially made “for perfect audio balance” so users can enjoy “distortion-free sound.” This output can be tweaked in two different ways. The HearID 2.0 test can create a sound profile tailored to your specifications. If you want further customization options, the headphones support multiple equalizer settings. Both of these tools can be found on the official Soundcore app.Also: These $40 headphones have no business sounding this good (and they look great, too)The company also updated the headphones’ design. It’s just as ergonomic as before; however, the Pro model has a “FlexiCurve Structure,” reducing the device’s size by about 50% compared to the older model. What’s more, the headband is now collapsible for easier carrying. Soundcore claims that, when folded up, the Space One Pro is about the size of a donut. More