In August, Drop announced its first new in-house mechanical keyboard in quite a while: the 75% Drop Sense75. On paper, the $349 gasket-mount keyboard looked like a winner, with an understated but classy design, Drop’s DCX keycaps, in-house stabilizers and its Holy Panda X tactile switches. The final result is a bit of a disappointment, though.

Early reviews of the prototypes that Drop sent out after the first announcement were rough. Those prototypes sounded hollow, the stabilizer rattled and both the switches and the board itself had issues with ping noise. Drop took some of that feedback to heart and made some changes.

The company recently sent me a pre-built review unit (there is also a $249 bare-bones option). I did not experience any case ping, and, while the board still sounds a bit hollow, the company added a second layer of thin foam that seems to have helped. But I also don’t understand how in 2022, Drop can ship a pre-built board with rattling, dry stabilizers. To make this board sound anything like what you’d expect from a modern mechanical keyboard, you have to completely disassemble it, lube the stabilizers and reassemble. But if you have to go through all of that, what’s the point of buying an expensive pre-built? Who is the audience for this?

Image Credits: Drop

The Holy Panda X switches are also a bit scratchy out of the box. Some Krytox and break-in time can fix that, but I’m not a huge fan of tactiles and I prefer a slightly lower sound, but that’s my personal preference. A lot of people love these switches.

In its pre-built version, the aluminum board come with an aluminum plate and an aluminum weight underneath (with a small Drop logo on it). If that’s too much aluminum for you, Drop also sells a $39 carbon fiber plate and a $25 FR4 plate is currently available as a preorder. Both should make the board a bit more bouncy, something it could use, because despite the gasket-mount system, this felt like a pretty stiff board. Drop says that “it took painstaking care to choose the perfect materials, proportions, and placement areas to create a typing feel that was neither too mushy nor too stiff — but just right.” I’m not sure that worked out as planned.

Image Credits: Drop

As for the RGB, the south-facing sockets are pretty standard at this point and the addition of the diffuser should make for a nice underglow. In reality, you can see exactly where each LED sits — and if there’s one thing that really feels cheap about the Sense75, it’s that diffuser layer, which I was always afraid I’d break every time I opened the board.

All of this comes down to the fact that I can’t recommend this board. Sure, after a bunch of work you can make it sound quite nice, but there are plenty of other options on the market that are more affordable. The Keychron Q1 is well under $200, fully assembled. A bare-bones Akko Mod 007 will set you back less than $150. A black Sense75 is $350 and a white one $400, with the bare-bones $100 less. But it doesn’t offer the premium typing experience you’d expect at that price.

Drop has been listening to feedback from the community and I hope they opt for a v2 of the Sense, because with some work, it can be a good board — just not in its current state and not at this price.

The Drop Sense75 is not the keyboard you’ve been waiting for by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

The world of mechanical keyboards is a very deep rabbit hole and it’s no secret that more and more people have fallen into it in recent years. So if you have somebody in your life who keeps talking about lubing switches, gasket mounts and the pros and cons of ABS vs PBT keycaps, chances are you might want to buy them something related to that for the holidays.

One weird thing about the mechanical keyboard world is that a lot of items are only available through time-limited group-buys, with shipping dates that may be year or more out from now. That’s especially true for keycaps and highly custom keyboards. For obvious reasons, we’re not going to recommend those here. This is a guide for 2022, after all, not 2023. We’re going to highlight a few keyboards, but for the most part, we’ll focus on accessories. We’re going to assume that you’ll want a keyboard that is easily customizable, so while there are some pre-builts on this list, they are all moddable.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

Keyboards

Image Credits: AKKO

There has never been more choice in mechanical keyboards and if you are so inclined, there is no limit to how much you can spend.

At the bottom end, there’s the Tester68. You can find it for as little as $15 (Walmart), though the going price seems to be around $35 on Amazon. It’s plastic/wireless-only, but for the money, it’s an affordable way to get your feet wet and start modifying your keyboard without worrying too much about breakage.

Once you move up in price, you get to the likes of Akko’s 3068B, a 65% hotswap keyboard (so you can easily replace the switches — more about that later) that comes with Akko’s own — and very good — switches, some decent keycaps and both wireless and wired connections.

The real sweet spot for mechanical keyboards right now, though, is in the $125 to $175 range. Here you get better quality materials and boards that sound and feel really nice, with the ability to modify them to your heart’s desire.

Image Credits: KBDFANS

I’m a big fan of the KBDfans KBD67 lite, now in its fourth generation. It’s made from a sturdy plastic, comes in a wide variety of colors and is even available in the European ISO layout, if that’s your thing. It’s a nice step up from the lower-end boards and if you want to upgrade later, KBDfans also sells an aluminum case ($125).

If you’re looking for a larger board, Novelkeys’ NK87 Entry Edition ($135) is also great, for example, but the company to beat right now (at least in this price range) is Keychron with its Q-series keyboards. There are wired aluminum hotswap boards that come with switches and keycaps, but can be easily modified. At this point, the company offers every imaginable layout, ranging from 60% to full-size boards, including some unusual styles like the excellent Q5 with its 1800 layout or the Q8 in the (semi-)ergonomic Alice style (that’s my personal daily driver right now).

Image Credits: Mode Designs

At the higher end, the sky is the limit, but if you have the money to spend, I’m a big fan of Mode Designs. I recently reviewed the Sonnet and loved the experience, but that’s sadly not going to be available in time for the holidays. But the Mode 80 is, so if you have $400 to spend, the fit, finish and sound you can get from that board is a step up from the cheaper boards and it’s easy to see that Mode — just like similar higher-end keyboard manufacturers — really understands the market and what drives mechanical keyboard enthusiasts.

Accessories

Instead of a keyboard, maybe you’re just looking for some accessories.

If you know the kind of style the person you are buying for is into, then keycaps may be a nice option. Drop is one of the few companies that has a limited set of GMK keycaps available without having to wait until late 2023 for a group buy. GMK white-on-black is the classic here and you can’t really go wrong, though the price point at $110 may not be that easy to swallow, but it’s quite low for a set from Germany’s GMK. But Drop’s own and new DCX keycaps are also really nice and a bit more affordable at $99. Like the GMK sets, these are ABS keycaps and available in black-on-white and white-on-black. For half the price, Keychron’s Cherry-style PBT keycaps offer some additional color choices and enough keycaps to be compatible with virtually every keyboard in the market today. If you’re looking for something different, check out Cannon Key’s selection, which typically ranges from $65 to $79.

Maybe you want to buy some switches, too? It’s really hard to recommend those, since this really depends on preference and some of the best ones aren’t easy to find. But you can’t really go wrong with something like the justifiably hyped Gateron Oil King linear switch, for example. Or if you want something a bit weird, the Akko CS Sponge with its double tactile bump is a fun one, too, and very affordable (actually, all of the Akko switches punch well above their weight). Another classic is the C³Equalz X TKC Tangerine linear switch. It’s as smooth as it gets, but then you’re in the premium category.

Image Credits: GLORIOUS

How about some stocking stuffers? Maybe some Durock Switch Film? A cool desk mat? Or an easier to use switch opener? Or maybe a lube station — because there’s nothing quite as boring relaxing as lubing a hundred switches.

Gift Guide: a few ideas for the mechanical keyboard fans by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

This year was a big one for the smart home thanks to the actual introduction of Matter after a couple years of discussion and refining the standard. It’s still early days for the cross-brand compatibility layer, and it’s probably still something that should only be one factor in how you set up your smart home and select your devices, rather than the deciding factor.

Accordingly, some of the below items support Matter, but not all. Complexity of interoperability is definitely a consideration, but in the end the best smart home is the one that actually feels smart, regardless of what does or doesn’t talk to what.

If you’re looking to pick up some added smarts for the true smart home lover in your life, the following gifts should hit the spot.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

1. Philips Hue Gradient Signe lamps

Image Credits: Philips Hue

Philips consistently makes great smart lighting products through its Hue lineup, and the Hue Gradient versions of its Signe table and floor lamps are no exception.

The Signe lamps are long, vertical light bars built into heavy cylindrical bases. It sounds simple because it is, but the Gradient version adds the ability to project multiple colors across the entire length of the bar. This is super useful if you’re using them in tandem with Philips’ Sync box for TV, but provides really nice accent lighting effects for virtually any room.

Price: $220 (table) or $330 (floor) from Amazon

2. Ikea Symfonisk Wi-Fi picture frame speaker

Image Credits: Ikea

To complete the home theater setup in a way that’s relatively innocuous, consider adding a pair of Ikea’s Symfonisk flat speakers, which are powered by Sonos technology. Besides the dangling cord, which you can blend into most decor with a little creativity, there’s not much here to give away the fact that these actually output sound.

They make for the perfect rear speakers in a room where you don’t want to sacrifice aesthetics to get surround, and when you pair them up with one of Sonos’ sounders and its new Sub Mini, you have a great sound system for your TV without sacrificing a lot of square footage or bringing down the general vibes.

Price: $250 from Ikea

3. Level Lock+

Image Credits: Darrell Etherington

The best new smart lock out this year has to be the Level Lock+, which uses Level’s genius design to give you a sophisticated smart lock that looks like an ordinary deadbolt. This new version adds Apple Home Key support into the mix.

Home Key works with modern iPhones and Apple Watches, and provides a dead simple and rock solid way to unlock and lock your door. The Home Key feature adds to the Level Lock’s existing remote and touch-based locking and unlocking options.

Price: $330 from Apple

4. Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

Image Credits: Ecobee

Canadian smart thermostat maker Ecobee updated their lineup this year with two new models, including the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium and the Smart Thermostat Enhanced. The top-of-the-line Premium comes with high-end finishes and materials, as well as a built-in indoor air quality monitor.

The Premium model definitely looks better than any prior Ecobee thermostat, and it also supports Siri or Alexa voice control, as well as streaming Spotify or other Bluetooth audio. Plus, it can act as a hands-free intercom system if you need to relay something floor-to-floor or room-to-room.

Price: $250 from Ecobee

5. iRobot Roomba Combo j7+

iRobot Roomba j7+

Smart vacuum maker iRobot released their first new model in a little while this year, and it’s a big upgrade – the first U.S. Roomba to include both vacuum and mop in one. With the ability to distinguish carpets from floors, and a way to maneuver the mop pad down and up as needed, it’s the smart cleaner you need to get more thorough with your approach.

It can empty its vacuum bin via the included docking station, but it’ll need your help to empty and refill the mopping tank. Still less work than the manual way.

Price: $1,100 (discounted to $900 at time of publication) from Amazon

6. Oral-B iO Series 9 toothbrush

Image Credits: Oral-B

You would think that at this point the humble toothbrush would be a long-solved problem, but you would be wrong. Oral-B released its modern iO lineup of toothbrushes a couple of years ago now, but they’re still the best you can buy, and after two years I now have the first-hand recommendations of multiple dentists and hygienists to back that up.

The Oral-B iO Series 9 is the top of the line model, with different colored indicators to tell you when you’re brushing too hard or too soft, and a whole host of different modes – including a dedicated one for tongue cleaning. It also comes with a charging travel case in the box.

Price: $299 (discounted to $249 at time of publication) from Amazon

7. Aviron Impact Smart Rower

Image Credits: Aviron

Aviron’s smart rowers are packed with tech, durable, quiet and well-built. The company has put a special focus on software development chops, employing actual game designers to build the interactive programs and apps that drive its workouts.

The Impact is the smaller of its two models, with a folding design that makes it easier to stow in a corner when not in use. The combo air and magnetic resistance system it uses helps provide a natural rowing feel without the adding complication of bringing actual water into the mix.

Price: $2,199 (discounted to $1,999 at time of publication) from Aviron

7 great gifts for smart home smarties by Darrell Etherington originally published on TechCrunch

I’m thrilled to announce TechCrunch Live is filming live and in real life at CES 2023. We’re filming on the first day of the show at 11:00. If you’re not attending CES, that’s fine. Just like every TechCrunch Live, the show will be streamed live on TechCrunch.com, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter Spaces — basically anywhere I can blast the show.

The mission remains the same despite the change of location: TechCrunch Live helps founders build better venture-backed business. I do this by hosting conversations with successful startup founders and their early investors and board members. We talk through pitch decks, fundraising strategies, and founder/investor relations. But for this show, I’m featuring a hardware company and investor. Because CES.

I hope you can come and hang out. We’re filming at Stagwell’s Content Studio, located at booth 60488, in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). We’re right next to the Starbucks, I’m told.

TechCrunch has a team of writers attending CES, and we’d love to connect. Fill out this form, and we’ll reach out if your company is a good fit.

TechCrunch Live is filming at CES, and you’re invited! by Matt Burns originally published on TechCrunch

Slowly but surely, state by state, the U.S. is becoming more cannabis-friendly. As the number of states where weed is legalized (or at least decriminalized) grows, so too does the number of companies building amazing products for cannabis users.

Got a friend who partokes and lives somewhere cool about it? Why not upgrade their experience with some fancy cannabis-focused tech this holiday season? The following gifts represent a range of products from startups, makers, and housegood companies attempting to break into the massive market.

There’s something here for everyone — from consumption devices to storage containers to coffee table items. None of these fit the bill? Give a pre-roll. Everyone loves a good pre-roll.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

DynaVap

Image Credits: DyanVap

DynaVaps are my go-to. They’re pocketable and produce a great cloud of vapor. Think of it as a one-hitter vape with a thermometer. First heat the tip with a torch or induction heater; the cap will click in about 3 to 5 seconds, notifying the user that the herb is at the right temperature and ready to hit. The cannabis lasts about three to four cycles. Since the cap protects the ground flower from the flame, there’s no combustion or smoke — just vapor — and very little smell.

DynaVap vaporizers are CNC machined in the company’s DeForest, Wisconsin, facility. George Breiwa started the company in 2015 and currently employs around 40 people. The company sells several versions of the little metal vape, starting with the $50 “B” and ending with the $220 titanium Omni.

Word of warning: I’ve given a lot of DynaVaps to friends, and I’ve found people either love it or hate it. It takes a bit of practice to get a good cloud.

Puffco Proxy

Image Credits: Matt Burns

Puffco has long led the market with innovative cannabis vaporizers. The Puffco Peak Pro is easily one of the best e-rigs available, and the company just unveiled a new vape called the Proxy. It offers the best of the Peak Pro and can be built into various form factors.

Don’t be distracted by the lovely pipe. That’s just a piece of glass. The Proxy slides into the glass piece. Think of the Proxy as a modular dabbing rig, able to fit into any form factor made for the unit. Bubbler? Sure. Glass beaker? Yep. Pipe? Obviously.

The $299 self-contained rig is about the size of a taller D-cell battery. Inside is the same heating element found in the company’s other flagship product, the Peak Pro. The battery can be recharged over USB-C, and the unit comes preprogrammed with four different heat levels.

Hitoki Saber

Image Credits: Hitoki

Get this: The Hitoki Saber uses a high-powered laser to light a bowl. It’s not cheap, but it’s a great (and fun) alternative to butane lighters. Just hit the button, and a laser shoots into a packed bowl. Best of all, with the right adapter it works with any glass piece. Also best of all, lasers.

The Saber is the second device from Hitoki, which debuted its laser system with the all-in-one Trident rig. The Trident is much larger than the Saber but features an integrated water chamber and mouthpiece.

Lighting your pot with lasers isn’t a cheap solution. Both of the Hitoki products carry hefty prices: The Saber costs $359, and the Trident is $499.(opens in a new window)

KushKards

Image Credits: KushKards

KushKards are great. As I said above, if you don’t have anything else for the stoner in your life, give them a pre-roll. If you want that pre-roll to look extra special, tuck it in a KushKard.

Each of these clever greeting cards has a special spot meant to hold a pre-roll and is designed around cute one-liners like “joint to the world” or “light up the holidays.”

The cards start at $7 and include the option to bundle a holiday-themed one-hitter.

Houseplant Car Lighter

Image Credits: Houseplant

Seth Rogen’s weed brand makes and sells terrific cannabis products. The best one? It’s the Car Lighter. It’s a fun repurposing of the classic, pop-out car lighter we all burned our thumbs on as kids, now housed in a hefty block that’s perfect for a coffee table. Just push the lighter down — a few seconds later, it will pop up ready to light your next joint.

The Car Lighter is made out of marble and is available in two colors: green and gray. At $280, it’s a bit of a statement piece.

Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana

Image Credits: Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana

Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana is a lovely coffee table book filled with beautiful pictures of classic strains. It’s marketed as a go-to guide, but for me, it’s a wonderful book to flip through during a chill smoking session. You’ll learn about the lineage, flavor, and effects produced by 170 marijuana strains. And the photography is exceptional!

For the aspiring weed grower in your life, opt for this book instead. Written by Ed Rosenthal (he’s a big deal), the Marijuana Grower’s Handbook is an all-in-one source for turning a seed into a bountiful harvest.

Image Credits: Storz & Bickel

Storz & Bickel Mighty+

This is the best vaporizer available. It’s reliable, can cook a lot of herb, and produces some of the best vapor from any device. Sure, there are drawbacks — including its large size and $399 price — but it’s worth it.

Storz & Bickel released the original in 2014 and released an updated version in October 2021. The new Mighty+ features quicker heat-up time, USB-C recharging and a ceramic filling chamber that’s much easier to keep clean than the chamber in the original.

A quick tip: The Mighty+ features orange arrow buttons, while the original’s are gray. You want the new one.

Markus Storz started working on a herbal vaporizer in 1996, and in 2002 Jürgen Bickel joined the board forming Storz-Bickel. The company still sells its original, groundbreaking device, the Volcano, and several less expensive products. The company is based in Germany, where its vaporizers carry medical device certifications. In 2018 Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth acquired Storz & Bickel. Jürgen Bickel remains at the company and runs the day-to-day operations.

Want something smaller? The Crafty+ is cheaper and smaller but still packs much of the same power as the Mighty+.

Storage Containers

Image Credits: Jonathan Adler (opens in a new window)

It’s 2022. Don’t store your bud in a plastic baggie. A proper container will better preserve your green, and you’ve got countless options.

The Libbey BudShield isn’t subtle but features a handsome exterior and an-all glass construction. $35 for 3.

The Staze features a unique design with a smell-proof design and a built-in airtight vacuum sealer. $18

The Higher Stand Mason Jar is, well, an upgraded mason jar. The 8 oz jar is child-resistant, made in America, and features a Higher Standards-branded koozie made from 100% silicone that wraps the jar. $30.

Jonathan Adler sells trendy house goods; in 2022 few products are more trendy than weed. The houseware company has a line of storage containers that are clearly designed to be displayed, including this lovely porcelain canister with a giant, hand-painted Weed label. $30.

Need to hide your stash? There are countless diversion storage containers on Amazon and Etsy. This Barbasol version is my favorite. $18.99

Image Credits: Pot Plant (opens in a new window)

(Fake) Pot Plant

Give a Pot Plant this holiday. But not a real one. These are fake plants designed to be displayed. They come in a variety of sizes and faux strains. The Clone (smallest option) stands 10-inches tall and costs $30. It’s subtle because, like an actual clone, the plastic plant is feigning to be in a state that doesn’t feature any buds yet.

The Teen plant is 16 inches tall and features a couple of small buds. The Adult is 22-inch with a few faux-growing buds on its main cola. The $165, 36-inch tall Mother Pot Plant is a monster fake plant with frosty buds growing throughout the plant.

9 high-tech gift ideas for the cannabis users in your life by Matt Burns originally published on TechCrunch

Keeping fit doesn’t need a lot of technology. A decent pair of running shoes and an exercise mat might just do it. But of course sometimes a little extra tech can give an inspiring boost — so long as whatever it is is useful, accessible and can move with you.

The smart spot for fitness tech is stuff that enhances and/or motivates training and performance. Think well designed kit, easy to access expertise, and trackers that give meaningful, actionable feedback, rather than expensive gym-style machinery that locks you into a subscription and chains you to the same static hardware every day.

So this holiday season if you’re buying a gift for a fitness lover or that special athlete in your life check out our round-up of smarter gift ideas — picked for their on-the-go potential to up their game or boost training anywhere.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

Beats Fit Pro exercise-friendly earbuds

Image Credits: Brian Heater

Exercising is often either a solo slog or a distracting cacophony at the gym so a good pair of headphones is a must. Just pop on a podcast or your favorite motivational music and off you go. But which buds to pick for a fitness fanatic? Apple-owned Beats’ Fit Pro earbuds are — as the name suggests — designed with physical activity in mind. So there’s at least a half-decent chance they won’t ping out mid run or slip out in a rain of fresh sweat.

As with Apple’s own brand AirPods, the Beats buds feature active noise cancelling but also a transparency mode so the wearer can stay aware of their surroundings — an essential consideration for road runners. For something a little less standard, the line had an update this summer when Beats announced a collaboration with Kim Kardashian, on a trio of nude/flesh toned Beats Fit Pro ‘phones — for an understated fashion statement.

Price: $200 from Amazon

Apple Fitness+ subscription

Image Credits: Apple

If you’re buying for an iPhone user, a subscription to Apple’s Fitness+ service could be a quick win — putting all sorts of video and audio workouts on tap on their device, from low intensity yoga to high octane HIIT. Back in October, Apple opened up access to Fitness+ by no longer requiring subscribers also own an Apple Watch so it’s more accessible than ever.

One gifting niggle: You can’t buy a dedicated Fitness+ gift sub from Apple — you’d have to purchase a general Apple Gift Card, instead.

Price: For an idea of how much to load on the Gift Card, the cost of Fitness+ is $9.99 per month — or you could splash out $79.99 for a year’s access.

ClassPass Gift Card

Image Credits: champlifezy@gmail.com (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

A solid gift idea for a gym bunny who’s always on the road or just easily bored: ClassPass’s monthly fitness membership could be just the ticket as it gives the holder access to a million boutique workaround studios around the world — letting them change up their routine to suit their mood, location, energy level and so on. Activities on offer run the gamut from yoga and pilates to dance, barre, boxing, bootcamp and many more.

ClassPass membership requires a subscription but your recipient doesn’t have to be a member already as there’s a gift purchase option. This lets you choose an amount to give — which can then be redeemed against a membership of their choosing.

Price: Varies by length of membership, but suggested gift amounts start at $50.

Fitbit Versa 4 smart watch

Image Credits: Fitbit

Google-owned Fitbit has been honing a range of fitness smart watches for several years in a bid to challenge the Apple Watch’s dominance of the wearable category, building out from humble beginnings flogging step-tracking wristbands. Marketing for its Versa 4 smart watch touts “better results” from workout routines, thanks to features like a “daily readiness” score to help the wearer pick between a challenging workout or opting for a recovery day. It can also suggest workouts; provide a recommended daily active minutes goal; and serve up a wellness report (drawing on health tracking trends over the past 30 days) — as well as offering partner workouts on-demand — although you’ll need a premium subscription to access these extra bells & whistles (but six months comes bundled free with the smart watch so your recipient will get a good taster). Minus premium, the Fitbit Versa offers the usual core workout tracking plus real-time stats access that smart watches have become best known for.

Price: $230 for the smart watch from Amazon; $9.99 per month for premium (once free trial expires)

Whoop 4.0 membership

Image Credits: Whoop

Move over smart watches! Whoop’s faceless fitness band is geared towards athletes who are serious about tracking their performance and recovery in order to dial up their training and competitive potential. The company claims its sensor-packed tracker yields the “most in-depth fitness and health feedback” available on a wearable — touting “best in class” accuracy measurements that keep tabs on key vital signs like blood oxygen, skin temperature and heart rate metrics — with all this data put to work providing an individual “strain” score which is intended to smartly steer the wearer’s training. Other features include a haptic alarm that can be set to wake the wearer at an optimal time based on sleep needs and cycles (good luck not being late to the office with that though.)

Whoop’s wearable is sold as a fitness subscription with the latest version of the hardware bundled into the membership price. But gift subscriptions are available, with either a one year or two year membership priced at $300 and $480 respectively.

The company also sells a range of undergarments that are compatible with its tracking hardware, as they’re able to house the sensing pod next to your skin — which could make a nice alternative gift for an already paid-up Whoop member.

Price: Depends on length of membership

Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2 racing shoes

Image Credits: Nike

Touted by sportsware giant Nike as one of the fastest shoe it’s ever made, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2 is ‘smart’ in the sense of being highly engineered for a feeling of speed. Packing a full length carbon fiber underfoot plate, the design creates a feeling of propulsion that’s designed to motivate runners to dig deep and up their pace. Layered below that is Nike’s cushiony ZoomX foam for added energetic bounce. Up top, the sneaker fabric incorporates a lightweight mesh for breathability.

The shoe is available in men’s and women’s models and a range of eye-popping colors. Gift heaven for runners.

Price: $250

Under Armour Flow Velociti Wind 2 run-tracking shoes

Image Credits: Under Armour

What about a pair of shoes that automatically track your run? These lightweight Under Armour kicks (available in men’s or women’s models) have built in sensors that let them track metrics like cadence, foot strike angle, stride length, splits etc so there’s no need to strap on a smart watch or other type of exercise tracker. The sneakers connect to UA’s MapMyRun service to power run analysis, with access to the service bundled with the shoe up to December 31, 2024.

As well as capturing and crunching the runner’s data, UA’s digital fitness platform — which has its origins in its 2013 acquisition of MapMyFitness — provides motivational features, letting the wearer set goals and participate in monthly challenges. The “smart coaching” experience also includes personalized, audio running tips in real-time. And while the sneakers need pairing to a phone (via Bluetooth) and may require updating, at least there’s no manual charging required.

Price: $160

Agogie Resistance Pants

Image Credits: Agogie

For the exercise lover who’s not big on apps (or ‘smart’ gadgets), these resistance pants offer a neat low-tech fitness gift option. There’s no tracking or quantification built in — just a little extra physical challenge since the pants come with eight elastic resistance bands sewn into seams running along the legs. The idea is that this will make your usual workout a little tougher by default as the added resistance activates muscles and works them a bit harder, helping boost strength and tone. The pants come in two grades of resistance, as well as in men’s and women’s sizes, with a variety of color options.

Price: $129 from Amazon

Straffr smart resistance band

Image Credits: Staffr

Give the gift of gym-class style inspiration on the go! German startup Straffr’s smart resistance band bestows its holder with the power perform strength training workouts wherever they are and gives them real-time feedback.

The stretchy band contains sensors running along its length so it can quantify workout performance as you move. The band connects via Bluetooth to a mobile device running Straffr’s companion app — which dispenses feedback verbally as you flex, as well as logging stats, tracking progress and offering a bunch of on-demand strength and HIIT training workouts to help you structure a strength training session.

The smart band is available in two strength grades: Medium (5-15 kg) or Strong (15-25kg).

Price: €99.99 (~$103) or €119.99 ($124) respectively.

Lumen track-it-and-hack-it metabolic fitness

Image Credits: Lumen

Lumen, a portable breath-testing CO2 sensor, came to market a few years ago. It’s the brainchild of a pair of endurance athletes who went looking for ways to better understand the impact of nutrition and workouts on their bodies to boost their performance. They came across an existing metabolic measurement, called RQ (Respiratory Quotient) — aka, the gold standard for measuring the metabolic fuel usage of an individual — which had been used by top-performing athletes for years but was expensive and difficult for a general consumer to access. Hence they set out to democratize access to elite metabolic tracking.

The upshot is a hand-held breath tester that they claim is able to measure an individual’s RQ in one breath and tell them whether their body is burning carbs or fats to get energy. The companion app guides the user to act on this metabolic tracking — nudging them to improve their metabolic flexibility through diet and exercise suggestions. How is all this good for fitness? Basically, better metabolic health means more energy available to knock it out of the park when you’re working out. So it’s about fuelling right to optimize athletic potential. Though it’s worth emphasizing that Lumen’s approach remains experimental, given the use of novel, proprietary technology.

The product is sold as a subscription service with the breath-testing hardware bundled as part of the initial sign-up price. Packages start at $249 for the Lumen and six months of service (after which the monthly price is $25). To gift the $249-six-month package Lumen offers a Gift Card service which emails a notification to your recipient and ships the product once they redeem it.

Price: Subscription plan starts at $250

Ultrahuman’s activity sensitive smart ring

Image Credits: Ultrahuman

A rising trend in fitness-related health data is more general consumer use of continuous glucose monitoring tech — which was originally designed for diabetes management. CGMs contain sensing filaments which the user ‘wears’ in the skin of their arm to track their blood sugar swings — a form of semi-invasive tracking that’s being explored as a way to quantify diet and lifestyle and, the claim is, optimize how you exercise. Indian startup Ultrahuman is one of several fitness-focused firms commercializing CGM tech in recent years — in its case selling a subscription service (its Cyborg/M1 tracker) geared towards improving metabolic health and “supercharging” exercise performance.

A recent addition to its product mix is a smart ring, the eponymous Ultrahuman Ring, which is designed to work with the aforementioned M1 CGM subscription service — linking real-time blood glucose insights with other health data that’s picked up by the sensor-packed ring (the latter tracks the wearer’s sleep quality, stress levels and activity density).

The goal is to get a deeper understanding of the wearer’s metabolic events (since many factors can affect a person’s glucose levels) and serve up better nudges to help them optimize activity and lifestyle. But if buying a CGM as a present seems a bit daunting, the Ultrahuman Ring also works as a standalone (and subscription-free) health and fitness wearable, linked to its companion app. In this scenario the sensing hardware puts the focus on tracking sleep, stress, movement and recovery (with the potential to upgrade the level of tracking by adding an M1 sensor later).

As well as detailed sleep tracking metrics, the Ultrahuman Ring generates a “Movement Index” (aka a measure of physical activity vs inactivity throughout the day to track that balance) and a “Body Index”, based on tracking sleep, activity and stress, to give the wearer a steer on how primed they are for activity. So even without any semi-invasive sensor action, Ultrahuman claims the ring will guide its wearer to optimize their activity by finding the lowest effort required to get results.

The ring’s hardware has been designed with workouts in mind so it’s sweat and water resistant (up to 7ft). Plus it has enough built in memory that its owner can workout without needing to also have their phone on them.

Price: $299

Gift Guide: On-the-go fitness tech to boost their training anywhere by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

All aboard the learn-to-code train! As another holiday season looms and kids everywhere start clamouring for shiny stuff, we’ve got you covered with a bumper edition of our annual STEM gift guide. This year’s guide is packed with more than 20 ideas to engage toddlers, excite tweens and inspire teens to get under the hood of the tech world through play.

Products in the STEM learning category typically promise to give kids a head-start on learning core coding and/or electronics concepts while they play. How much learning actually gets done is still a bit of an open questio but ideas in the category have generally converged around a few approaches — so there’s a stronger sense of ‘tried & tested’ out there now. We’re also encouraged to see increasing attention to diversity in STEM.

A few other trends are evident this year — most notably around supply issues linked to the pandemic-triggered (and still lingering) global supply chain crunch. Said crunch appears to be having some impact on product choice and availability.

One category-adjacent example: Sphero’s RVR+, a (mostly) school and makerspace focused programmable robot, was listed as unavailable for supply reasons when we started compiling the guide earlier this fall — but at the time of writing the website reports it’s back in stock “just in time for the holidays.”

‘Out of stock’ labels also remain a regular sight on STEM-focused marketplaces that range maker hardware, such as AdaFruit and Pimoroni. The latter told us recently it’s been managing ongoing shortages of Raspberry Pi hardware by rejigging featured products to mesh with available inventory. So creative stock hacks abound.

Supply issues may also be further decelerating innovation in what had already become a less experimental market compared to earlier, investor-fuelled boom years. The vertical had relatively few wholly new product launches for 2022, as players focused on shifting existing inventory instead.

The upshot is a feeling there’s a bit less fun and excitement to go around than in years past, furthered as more STEM startups pivoted to selling to the formal educational market (not so much to home buyers).

That crossover, from clever toys nudging informal learning to curriculum-focused products catering to formal education, is reshaping the kind of STEM kit on offer and making lots of stuff in the category feel, well, more serious. But — don’t despair — there’s still plenty of fun choices for gift-buying parents and relatives wanting to give budding builders and tiny techies a leg up to grasp the power and possibility of programming.

Suggested gifts in our guide run the gamut from a doll that sings the praises of coding to line-following programmable robots and hardware hacking electronics maker kits. There’s also a DIY computer kit and a sensor-packed robot-on-wheels that can dance and talk back.

As ever, we’ve made sure to include gift options that hit a wide range of price-points, starting at just $6 for a bare microcontroller that throws your kid in at the STEM learning deep end (they’ll need to source other electronics components, have access to a computer and the Internet, and display no shortage of determination to unlock the learning potential with that one), scaling all the way up to $250 for a talking robot on wheels that’s packed with (perhaps too many) distracting bells & whistles, with plenty of choice and price-tags in between. Enjoy!

Gift suggestions are grouped by age for easy reference: 2+, 5+, 8+ and 12+ years.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

2+ years

Lego Coding Express

Image Credits: Lego

Lego’s Coding Express is a train set for playful early years coding exploration — featuring 200+ Duplo bricks, including a push-and-go motorized train with lights, sounds and color sensors. The sensors interact with colored action coding blocks which kids place on the track. The set includes activity and inspiration cards to get your toddler started on grasping linear logic — with a free app to expand the parentally guided learning potential.

Age: 2-5
Price: $230 from Amazon
Made by: Lego Education

Codie the Coder

Image Credits: Surprise Powerz

Surprise Powerz, the U.S.-based startup behind this cute learning doll, Codie the Coder, was set up back in August 2019 with a STEM-centric mission to inspire girls, especially black and Latina girls, to “break barriers, solve problems and have fun doing it”. “We aim to get more STEM role models in the hands of more girls all across the nation to build their confidence in these critical subjects early,” it explains.

Founder and CEO, Kristel Bell, tells TechCrunch that Codie the learning doll speaks over 75 “coding-related phrases” — just squeeze her hand to hear the doll speak short phrases and questions. She says the goal is to inspire little girls to learn “they also have a place within the tech space” by seeing and hearing a coder role model which looks and talks like them, and engages them in an open ended conversation as they play. “Representation matters,” she adds.

Surprise Powerz’ STEM learning dolls are designed for pre-schoolers and up. Absolutely no screens required.

Age: 2-5
Price: $65 from Surprise Powerz
Made by: Surprise Powerz

Botzees Mini

Image Credits: Pai Technology/Botzees Toys

Botzees’ expressive, line-sensing bot for budding programmers offers a variety of ways for kids to learn core coding concepts as they play. As well as programming challenges, the Botzees Mini pack features math and music puzzles too, throwing a little melody into the tech mix.

Kids control the bot by placing it on the pre-drawn path on maps provided — or by line drawing themselves. The coding element involves kids placing command cards on the robot’s path to control its motion, sound and appearance, with feedback coming at them via the bot’s changing facial expressions (which are displayed on its built-in screen). Supported functions cover programming basics like cause and effect, if/then logic, sequencing and debugging. No additional screens or companion apps are required.

Age: 3+
Price: $70 from Amazon
Made by: Pai Technology/Botzees Toys

Switcheroo Coding Crew

Image Credits: Learning Resources

Turn learning STEM basics into an “interactive coding adventure” with Switcheroo Coding Crew. The kit aims to teach kids basic coding concepts, early counting and math skills, critical thinking, spatial concepts, sequential logic and more with the help of a battery-powered programmable truck that sports changeable colored shells.

The play-set includes a town-themed puzzle board and a set of mission challenge cards to get things rolling. Screen-free play.

Age: 4-7
Price: $30 from Amazon
Made by: Learning Resources

5+ years

codeSpark Academy – gift subscription

Image Credits: codeSpark Academy

For kids with access to an iPad (or Android-powered tablet), codeSpark Academy sells a range of subscription plans for ‘learn to code’ content in a gaming wrapper which aims to foster sequencing skills and help kids get a head start in STEM as they design and play. The software is centered on a proprietary game-making platform that features a set of cartoon characters called “The Foos.” Kids learn problem solving and coding by engaging with challenges and building their own games.

CodeSpark Academy says its approach is based on research-backed curriculum from MIT and Princeton. Its system includes a word-free interface to maximize accessibility and self-directed learning, with a claim that no prior experience is needed for kids to get coding.

Gift subscriptions start at around $60 per 6 months access — though you’ll have to stump up more to also get the ‘free’ plush toy pictured above…

Ages: 5-9
Price: Gift plans from $60 for 6 months (up to $225 for a lifetime sub, ‘Glitch’ plushy included)
Made by: codeSpark

Miko 3

Image Credits: Miko

Meet Miko 3: A sensor-laden, emoting tablet-on-wheels that’s been programmed to entertain and inform curious young minds. Encased in a brightly colored, robot-shaped shell is a voice- and face-recognizing AI (plus built-in speaker) which enables it to respond to questions and commands, piping up with interesting facts or playing tunes for a child’s dance party, and so on. A lot of what Miko offers is pure entertainment so there’s a risk STEM learning takes a back seat to other more fun interactions. This is also definitely not a tech lite (nor screen-free) learning option.

Still, parents hoping to accelerate the development of budding young coders might be won over by educational content the bot can put on tap for kids — via its curated ‘Talents’ app store. Available content includes Kidloland’s Coding School app. Again, though, good luck getting children to focus on something that techie when they could just be asking the bot to spin circles or play hide and seek…

Some of Mike 3’s digital content is bundled with the base price of the bot; unlimited premium kids content requires a subscription.

Ages: 5-10
Price: $249 (plus optional subscription)
Made by: Miko

Osmo Coding Starter Kit

Image Credits: Osmo

If your wannabe coder already has access to a tablet like an iPad, Osmo’s clever add-on system turns screen time into STEM learning time via hybrid digital/physical play. The product is comprised of a base stand to lift the screen off the table, making room for little hands to physically build lines of code, and a reflector that enables the software to keep track of their table-top programming.

As the name suggests, the Osmo Coding Starter Kit is the place to start. The kit is designed to help kids build coding skills in progression — walking them through three hands-on learning games. Kids learn coding basics by putting together the colorful physical programming blocks, and get real-time feedback by watching their coding adventure play out on the screen.

Ages: 5-10
Price: $99
Made by: Osmo

Tacto Coding

Image Credits: PlayShifu

For another spin on physical/virtual play, PlayShifu’s Tacto Coding system turns an existing (compatible) tablet into a dedicated kids coding station. Children are encouraged to get to grips with programming basics by playing through a variety of mini challenges with the look and feel of puzzle games.

The attention-grabbing twist is they interact with digital content on the touchscreen using a range of (physical) figurines arrayed around the tablet base-station. This (er, metaverse ready?) cross-over device is aimed at turning learning coding into child’s play — and a physical-virtual adventure.

PlayShifu’s child-friendly learn-to-code approach also has advanced modes to support kids as they progress, including offering Scratch programming language support so they can try their hand at block-based coding.

Age: 6-12
Price: $40 from Amazon
Made by: PlayShifu

8+ years

Ozobot STEAM Kits

Image Credits: Ozobot

Ozobot has been selling mini programmable STEM learning robots for several years, but these days it’s a lot more focused on the K-12 educational market. New for 2022 it’s added a bunch of STEAM kits into its product mix. You’ll need to either already own or buy one (or more) Ozobots to get the most out of these — but if you already have Ozobot kit at home they could be worth a look.

The OzoGoes to the Solar System kit combines the pull of its rolling robots with a paper-based educational kit for learning about the planets in our solar system, with the bots helping to illustrate their movements. Another kit — OzoGoes to the Sun, Earth & Moon — is similar but doesn’t require as many Ozobots to get the kinetic learning rolling. OzoGoes Around A Sundial (pictured above) has kids deploying their bot as a tool to help learn how to use the sun to tell the time.

Ozobot says the STEAM learning kits were designed by “experienced educators and curriculum developers” so homeschooling parents especially may want to check them out. The kits feature both screen-free (paper-based) and on-screen project-based activities.

Age: 8+
Price: From $30
Made by: Ozobot

Sphero Mini Activity Kit – Kids Coding Activity Kit

Image Credits: Sphero

Another programmable robotics maker that’s been rolling around the STEM learning space for years is Sphero. It’s also become increasingly geared towards the school markets. But a solid entry point for parents looking to give their kids a very-high energy taste of making code approachable (and fun) is the Sphero Mini Activity Kit – Kids Coding Activity Kit.

The kit comes with a Sphero Mini programmable bot plus a construction set containing STEM-inspired activity cards and bits and bobs so kids can build mazes, design obstacle courses, build towers, play croquet and more. The Sphero bot can be code-controlled using Blocks drive mode — which relies on basic drag-and-drop coding commands — or kids can tap into the Sphero Edu app to expand their programming knowledge. There’s also a Sphero Play app that turns the spherical gizmo into a game controller for arcade-style games if/when they get bored of all the STEM activities.

Age: 8+
Price: $89
Made by: Sphero

littleBits Electronic Music Inventor Kit

Image Credits: Sphero

The littleBits STEM learning brand — which, since 2019, has been owned by the aforementioned Sphero — is fixed on helping kids learn how electronics hardware works, one connectable component at a time. Perfect if you’ve got a budding hardware hacker on your hands.

Musically minded kids should appreciate putting together (and rocking out) with this littleBits Electronic Music Inventor Kit, which guides them to build a “rockin’ synth guitar,” air drums or another unique creation of their own using the 8 bits and 18 accessories provided in the kit.

Age: 8+
Price: $100
Made by: Sphero

Snap Circuits Code Journey

Image Credits: Elenco

Veteran electrical engineering STEM brand Elenco has devised a kid-friendly system of encased, snap together electronics components to encourage children to learn about circuits by building them. The Code Journey rover kit, pictured above, adds programming into this mix.

Children are encouraged to get coding by assembling circuits that they mount on the Snap Rover — using components like LEDs, a speaker, jump wires and more — and then by coding commands to send to the vehicle so it can take instructions and perform missions. Programming the rover is done using a simple graphical interface in the Snap Circuits App. There’s also support for Blockly Coding’s drag-and-drop interface as kids’ skills advance.

Age: 8+
Price: $103.74
Made by: Elenco

Coding Lab GinoBot

Image Credits: Engino

Cyprus-based Engino has spent years developing a programmable robotics platform for teaching STEM and physical robotics. Newly introduced into the US and UK markets is its Coding Lab: GinoBot. The programmable 4-wheel drive robotics vehicle (which can be assembled into one of two models) packs Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, color sensors, programmable RGB lights, an ultrasound sensor and infrared distance sensors — for powerful programmable play.

Also on board: Built-in connectors to enable structural and mechanical expansion, and the ability to plug in open electronics (such as Raspberry Pi, Microbit and Arduino, or Engino’s own ERP sensor modules) to further expand what’s on board, paving the way for a budding hardware hacker to grow their engineering skills.

Age: 9+
Price: $137.23
Made by: Engino

Code Rocket

Image Credits: Let’s Start Coding

Stuff a stocking with Code Rocket and spread a little STEM smarts! This dinky, spaceship-shaped circuit board is armed with built-in LED lights, speaker, and buttons, and designed to teach C++ coding through hands-on electronics. As well as space-themed electronics, the pack provides access to over 20 online lessons. Said lessons introduce kids to concepts like loops, variables and functions as they program the rocket booster LEDs, code a countdown to liftoff, send morse code sound messages, and more. Both block-based and typed C++ coding is supported. Access to a desktop computer to program the electronics is required.

Age: 8-12
Price: $54.99
Made by: Let’s Start Coding

Piper Make Light Show

Image Credits: Piper

San Francisco-based Piper Make has clocked up almost a decade in the STEM learning gizmo business — expanding to offer a range of products that encourage hands-on learning and typically blend electronics hardware with distinctive laser-etched wood base structures. The Piper Make Light Show, pictured above, offers a festive intro to programmable electronics. Curious youngsters will be encouraged to learn how to program the light panel to do stuff like display scrolling messages, display light art or host a Tetris-style game.

Programming the kit requires access to a computer (using the bundled micro-USB to USB-A cable) to access Piper’s drag-and-drop coding platform: make.playpiper.com. For the Light Show to work you’ll also need to have Piper’s base kit (aka, the Piper Make Starter Kit) — which comes with a Raspberry Pi microcontroller that’s used to power all its products.

Age: 8+
Price: $59 for the Make Light Show (plus $49 for a Starter Kit if required)
Made by: Piper

imagiCharm besties starter kit

Image Credits: imagiLabs

Got twin girls with an eye for tech? Get them into coding with imagiCharm’s besties starter kit — which ships a pair of its customizable tween-friendly, Internet connected “charms”. The Swedish startup’s Tamagotchi-esque connected gizmos are designed to inspire by teaching how to use code to change the look and function of the 8×8 matrix of colored LED lights.

The battery-powered charms can be attached to a school backpack or worn as digital jewellery to show off its coding owner’s latest look/vibe/mood/feels.

Age: 8-13+
Price: $136
Made by: imagi Labs

Smart Coding Watch Kit

Image Credits: Elecfreaks

Has your little engineer been eyeing up the Apple Watch? Why not get them to think outside the hermetically sealed, high shine, proprietary tech box by putting together their own smart watch? And learning to program it on open source hardware with this micro:bit add-on Smart Coding Watch Kit. The STEM learning kit guides them through assembling the wearable and learning how to program functions for it by connecting it to a computer and using free programming software. Options include graphical programming languages like Makecode and Scratch, or microPython or JavaScript.

(As well as access to a desktop computer for programming the hardware, you’ll need a micro:bit board  — not included in the watch kit — to power the wearable. If you don’t already own that STEM-focused microprocessor remember to pick one of those up too.)

Age: 8+
Price: $9.90 (+ $29.99 for a micro:bit)
Made by: Elecfreaks

Boolean Box

Image Credits: Boolean Girl Tech

How about getting your kid learning programming by building a computer of their own to code on? That’s the goal of build-it-yourself Boolean Box.

The DIY computer kit (powered by a Raspberry Pi 4) has been around for a few years — and was conceived with the goal of encouraging girls into coding. But it’s also designed to be an approachable option for children of any gender to up their STEM smarts.

Once kids have built and booted up the computer they’ll be nudged to start coding. Whether by learning to program mini games with Scratch, code Minecraft hacks with Python, or play at being a budding inventor using the bundled breadboard and electronics components to do circuit projecting… just add a TV or monitor and they’re good to go.

Age: 8+
Price: $199.99
Made by: Boolean Girl Tech

12+ years

CircuitPython Starter Kit with AdaFruit Itsy Bitsy M4

Image Credits: AdaFruit

Get your little maker started as a hardware hobbyist with CircuitPython using this cute electronics Starter Kit from AdaFruit — powered by an ItsyBitsy M4 microprocessor.

AdaFruit’s website offers tons of beginner guides for help learning all the ins-and-outs of electronics and hardware making. (Note: As well as containing small parts, some light soldering is required to attach headers to the ItsyBitsy, so the build process may require parental supervision.)

Age: Young engineer
Price: $24.95
Made by: AdaFruit

Legendary

Image Credits: Represented Collective

Give the gift of inspiration and a sense of belonging to the next generation of expectation-smashing women in STEM. Legendary, by Represented Collective, is a 56-card collection — featuring 41 profiles of professional women in science, technology, engineering and math — curated to showcase the often underrepresented contributions of primarily Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (BIWoC), and to celebrate what it describes as “a diverse set of women and their accomplished, yet nuanced stories”.

Age: Precocious tween+
Price: $40
Made by: Represented Collective

Trilobot Complete Kit

Image Credits: Pimoroni

Pimoroni is ranging this handsomely rugged-looking, Raspberry Pi-based Trilobot Complete Kit, which it bills as a “mid-level” robot learning platform.

Designed with educational use in mind, kids first assemble the bot then boot up the on-board Pi and install the Trilobot Python library in order to get tinkering with programming by running examples that let them play around with the bot’s features and functions. As their mastery grows, there’s a possibility of connecting a controller to remote control the rover — if they can figure out the code calls.

The three-wheeled bot sports a pair of grippy, “moon-buggy” wheels up front and a ball caster round the back for 2x front wheel drive. As well as its Pi microprocessor engine, the bot is armed with a Pi v2 camera and an ultrasonic distance sensor. It also sports RGB LED underlighting to dial up the visual fun. Plus you get a 32GB microSD card and 5000mAh USB-C battery pack in this version of the kit (so check local shipping rules to make sure you’re able to receive the battery pack). 

Pimoroni has created a detailed, step-by-step beginner tutorial for assembling the Trilobot. After that it’s Python code tinkering time…

Age: Roboticist in training
Price: $120.16
Made by: Pimoroni

Raspberry Pi  Pico w

Image Credits: Raspberry Pi

Don’t overlook the gift of pure, unadulterated Raspberry Pi. It’s an incredibly budget-friendly option for STEM learning — such as the $6 Pi Pico microcontroller with wi-fi, pictured above, which is great for powering DIY electro-mechanical projects. Though you will need a bunch of other components and access to a computer to program the hardware.

As we reported earlier this fall, Pi production has been hit by ongoing supply chain challenges since the pandemic but the Pico line is less affected than some of its other (bigger) boards so should be easier to track down.

Pure Pi comes with the baked in advantage of encouraging kids to seek out resources to help themselves learn which was of course the original philosophy behind the wildly successful maker hardware. The Raspberry Pi Foundation offers a solid starting point for setting up newly acquired Pi — and taking the first steps in a learn-to-code journey.

They’ve also published an official guide for MicroPython on the Pico in handy paper-based book form which could make a nice additional gift.

Age: It depends
Price: $6
Made by: Raspberry Pi

Gift Guide: More than 20 STEM gift ideas to inspire kids to code by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Smartphone shipments have been declining in what has been a rough year for mobile handsets, and that’s meant even more pressure on an already-precarious sliver of the mobile market: feature phones. Today, one of the players in that space, the feature phone operating system startup KaiOS, is getting a small financial injection that both speaks to that pressure, but also a chance to grow in what remains an opening in the market: selling cheaper and low-end, but ultimately still functional and usable devices, to the poorest consumers in developing economies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Hong Kong-based feature phone startup, which has previously been backed by strategic investors like Google and TCL, has picked up $3.4 million from Finnfund, an impact investor out of Finland.

Finnfund’s financing is coming in the form of a convertible note — meaning it could convert into equity in a potential future funding round.

We’ve reached out to Sebastien Codeville, the founder and CEO of KaiOS, to ask whether more financial activity is in the pipeline and will update this post as we learn more. It’s been a while since KaiOS raised (or more specifically disclosed) outside investment: its last funding was in 2019, when it raised $50 million from investors including Cathay Innovation, Google and TCL.

Finnfund and KaiOS said that today’s money will go towards KaiOS building out its business in sub-Saharan Africa — a major market for lower-end, low-cost devices. Africa is a particular focus for the investor, and it’s directly backed a number of startups in the region, too, including food supply-chain startup Twiga and fintech Jumo.

“With this investment, KaiOS can expand into new markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Codeville in a statement. “We are happy to partner with an investor like Finnfund who share our vision of how important it is to boost digitalisation in Africa.”

Finnfund estimates that there are some 3.4 billion people in the world today without internet access, mostly in developing economies, and mostly because they cannot afford smartphones. Even the cheapest smartphone models, powered for example Google’s Android OS, can work out to be as high as 20% of consumers’ monthly incomes, Finnfund estimates. (Running a little math on its numbers, Finnfund’s investment works out to $0.001 or 1/10 of a cent investment per potential user.)

KaiOS’s pitch is that it’s a low-cost alternative for handset makers that want to build feature phones that can compete with low-end smartphones. Equipped with apps and other hallmarks of in internet-enabled handsets, KaiOS currently lists 41 handset models running its OS, with the cheapest devices retailing for about $10.

But the startup has a tall order ahead of it.

KaiOS spent its early years on the wings of a lot of promise. It began life in 2017 as a fork of Firefox OS, which was an ill-fated attempt by Mozilla and partners to build a viable smartphone platform competitor to Google-backed Android and Apple’s iOS. Optimistically, the KaiOS team saw an opening to target the lowest end of the consumer market, in developing economies, and to consolidate R&D aimed at these users on a single platform for advanced feature phones.

Others agreed, and KaiOS quickly picked up OEMs like Nokia, as well as software partners to build out its ecosystem. Even Google, hedging its bets, wanted to make sure it played a strong role in the feature phone segment even as Android grew its market share, and so it became a strategic partner to KaiOS, investing tens of millions of dollars in the startup. 

But things haven’t played out as expected.

When KaiOS announced funding in 2019, it said that some 100 million devices using its OS had been shipped. At the time, IDC predicted that 500 million feature phones would be shipped annually for the next five. Today, the company says just that “over 170 million” KaiOS-powered devices have been shipped — with active users in the market a far lower number of around 100 million. It’s estimated that KaiOS today has a 0.07% share of the total mobile market. In contrast, Android, which itself has been powering an ever-cheaper range of smartphones, has just over 71% and iOS has a 28.3% share.

In addition to the small market share for feature phones, its overall sales volume is also in decline. India, followed by China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are the countries that dominate the feature phone market today. But on the other hand, given that Nigeria is the only country in Africa to make it into the top-five markets for feature phones (it’s number five), that does imply that there is still potential across the rest of the continent, something that Finnfund is hoping to build on.

“The investment in KaiOS is yet another important step in connecting the unconnected,” said Finnfund investment manager Kuutti Kilpeläinen, in a statement. “KaiOS has proved that it can solve the affordability problem and we are proud to join the group of investors who all share the same ambitious goal of closing the digital gap.”

KaiOS, the feature phone platform startup, raises a modest $3.4M to train its sights on growth in Africa by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

You blinked and it is, inexplicably, almost Black Friday again.

Should you buy a bunch of stuff just because it’s discounted? Probably not! Can you use it as an opportunity to save some money on stuff you already wanted anyway? Absolutely.

We don’t aim to be exhaustive with our Black Friday tech roundup. Instead, we just try to highlight some deals on the gadgets and gear we’d recommend even at full price.

Before we hop into the deals, we always like to start with a few tips:

• If you’re buying on Amazon, use a historical price tracker like camelcamelcamel to determine if the sale is really a sale, or if the price was just temporarily cranked up yesterday for the appearance of a discount today.
• Make sure you’re really buying what you think you’re buying. Retailers love to sneak last year’s model into the sale mix to clear out inventory. Now, last year’s model can be great! Just know what you’re getting.
• On a similar note: for things like TVs, it’s not uncommon to see older panels repackaged under new model numbers. If that model of TV didn’t exist before a few months ago and is somehow being offered at a huge discount, be curious.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

Apple

Image Credits: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP / Getty Images

If you want to buy from Apple directly, the company is offering gift cards of varying values with hardware purchases — up to $75 when you buy AirPods, $50 with an iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch, or $250 with a Mac. (Note that, unlike many retailers, Apple’s “Black Friday” deal isn’t starting before actual Black Friday.)

Apple Watch: Amazon has the Apple Watch Series 8 (the latest model) down to $349 (normally $399) and the new Apple Watch Ultra down to $739 (normally $799).

AirPods: Walmart has the latest AirPods down to $150 (normally $170), and Amazon has the latest AirPods Pro down to $199 (normally $250).

iPad: Target has the 2021 10.2″ iPad 64GB down to $270 (normally $330), while Amazon has the latest iPad Pro down to $1000 (normally $1100).

AirTags: Amazon has a 4-pack of AirTags down to $80 (normally $99.)

Amazon

Image Credits: David Ryder / Getty Images

If you’re looking to pick up an Amazon device like a Kindle or an Echo speaker, Black Friday tends to be the best time to do it.

Kindle: They’ve got the waterproof (and quite outstanding) Kindle Oasis down to $255 (normally $350), or $185 (normally $280) for the version that has ads on the home screen.

Amazon Echo: The latest Echo Dot is down to $25 (normally $50) and comes with a free Philips Hue bulb OR six months of Amazon Music Unlimited. If you want one of the Echos with a display built in, they’re all 50-60% off.

Fire TV: The very solid Fire TV Stick 4K is down to $25, normally $50.

Google

Image Credits: Google

Like Amazon, Google also tends to do deep discounts on its own hardware for Black Friday.

Chromecast: The latest Chromecast 4K with remote is down to $40 (normally $50). If you don’t need 4K, the HD-only model is down to $20 (normally $30).

Pixel phone: The Pixel 7 is down to $500 (normally $600), while the Pixel 7 Pro is down to $750 (normally $900).

Nest devices: The Nest Learning thermostat is down to $179 (normally $249.) If you don’t want all the automated “learning” features though (which, honestly, are hit or miss), the more manual (but still WiFi-connected) Nest Thermostat is down to a super cheap price of $90 (normally $130.). All Nest speakers and smart displays, meanwhile, are about half off right now.

Roku

If Google/Amazon/Apple’s streaming devices aren’t doing it for you, Roku’s gear is all discounted right now as well:

• The Roku Streaming Stick 4k is down to $25 (normally $50.)
• The Roku Streambar, a soundbar that doubles as a 4K Roku, is down to $80 (normally $130.)

Backbone

Image Credits: Backbone

The very solid Backbone One gaming controller for iPhone is down to $75 (normally $100.)

Alas, the deal is only for the iPhone model and seemingly does not include the just-released Android (USB-C) version.

Sonos

Sonos sometimes sits Black Friday out, but this year they’ve brought out some deals.

The Sonos One speaker is down to $175 (normally $220); they’ve offering a two-pack, as well, but the price/savings per speaker stays the same.

If you’re looking for one of their soundbars, the smaller option, the Sonos Beam, is down to $360 (normally $450), while the big higher-end Sonos Arc is down to $719 (normally $900).

Nintendo Switch

Image Credits: Nintendo

We haven’t seen any particularly mind-blowing deals for the Nintendo Switch yet this year. This is particularly true if you’re looking for a deal on the recently released OLED model, which seems to be going for its regular $350 price everywhere we look.

The best deal this year seems to be this bundle — it still costs the regular $300, but they’re including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (usually $60) and 3 months of Switch online (usually $8.)

Where you can find some Switch deals, though, is on really good games. Walmart has Mario Party Superstars, Breath of the Wild, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons all down to $30 (normally $60.)

Sony Playstation

Image Credits: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch

Finding a Playstation 5 in stock is still hit-or-miss, so there isn’t much in terms of deals on the console itself this Black Friday.

If you’re looking for another controller, though, Gamestop has PS5 controllers marked down to $50 (normally $70.)

Xbox

Image Credits: Microsoft

There are two versions of the latest gen Xbox console — the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Series X. You can read about the difference between the two here, but the gist of it is that the Series X has a disc drive and is more powerful across the board.

We’re only seeing deals for the Series S (read: the less powerful) model this year, with Amazon bumping the price down to $240 (normally $300.)

Gamestop has Series X/S controllers down to $50 (normally $60), and Microsoft itself is offering upwards of 30-50% off on games like Deathloop, Gotham Knights, Red Dead Redemption 2, and NBA 2K23.

Apps and Streaming Services

We’re not seeing any deals from Spotify or Netflix this year, but the competition has some offers:

• Hulu is offering its ad-supported plan for $2 per month (normally $8 a month) for 12 months.
• HBO Max is offering its ad-supported plan for $2 per month (normally $10 per month) for 3 months.
• Paramount+ is taking 50% off its annual plan, bumping the price of the ad-supported plan from $50 for the year to $25, and the no-ads (except on live TV) plan from $100 per year to $50.
• Plex is offering 25% off a lifetime subscription to Plex Pass — $90, instead of the regular price of $120.

The best Black Friday 2022 tech deals by Greg Kumparak originally published on TechCrunch

Aura, a startup founded by early Twitter employees that makes digital frames and photo sharing apps that can also be used to update those frames, has pulled in some funding to expand its business as it closes in on three million users of its app and half a million frames sold.

The company has raised $26 million in a mix of debt and equity led by Lago Innovation Fund, money that the company is using to boost manufacturing this quarter and to invest in 2023 plans.

Aura — not to be confused with the meditation and mental wellness app, nor the cybersecurity company, nor the biotech company of the same name — had previously raised around $13 million in equity from investors (per PitchBook) that include Spark Capital, SV Angel, Betaworks and DCVC, as well as a quiet, unreported investment from the Chicago-based Levy Family Office (led by the entrepreneur Larry Levy).

It hasn’t been looking to raise more equity-based funding although CEO and co-founder Abdur Chowdhury said it might do something in the coming year, pending the state of the venture market (it’s been a tough 2021 and investors predict that’s likely to continue for a while, so we shall see).

Meanwhile, the company has been growing at a snappy pace — 100% year-on-year for at least the last three, with app users going from 1 million in December 2021 to 2 million by September 2022 and on track to hit 3 million in January. Sales of frames have numbered around 500,000, with the company’s newest design, the $149 Carver, currently its top seller.

Aura’s frames typically have around four people on average connected to them for adding pictures, which creates a network effect of sorts, Chowdhury said: eventually some of those users get their own frames and build out additional networks of contributors uploading pictures to the new devices, and so on an so forth. He added that its devices currently are collectively showing some 1 billion pictures to people daily.

Twitter’s teachings

Under new owner and CEO Elon Musk, Twitter’s talent pool has been leaking heavily for the last couple of weeks through both layoffs and resignations, leaving a lot of question marks over not just what happens with Twitter itself, but also one another: among the thousands who have left, who will play a part in whatever might be the next chapter? It’s an open-ended question, one that Chowdhury can provide at least one answer by example.

Image Credits: Aura (opens in a new window)

Chowdhury and his co-founder Eric Jensen (pictured above with Jensen on the left), who is Aura’s CTO, are friends that go back a long way in the search for using technology to connect people with information, and to each other. The two first worked together years ago at AOL when it was still a major homepage destination trying to contend with the rising star of Google.

Then after leaving AOL, along with other ex-AOL’ers, Chowdhry and Jensen founded Summize, a search engine taking a new approach to search using content produced by internet users as its guide, which eventually trained its eyes on one juicy dataset in particular, that of the up-and-coming social site Twitter.

Summize was in fact Twitter’s first search engine, and in 2008 Twitter acquired it to integrate that functionality directly into the platform. Twitter had just 12 employees at the time, and Summize has six, so it was a significant deal for the two.

(Worth a read: former Twitter CEO and co-founder Ev Williams’ discussion with TC founder Mike Arrington, after Arrington initially reported rumors of the deal. Ev discloses that Twitter chose to buy and integrate rather than partner with another, larger third party to build and power Twitter’s search. Was that Microsoft? Google? Yahoo!?)

Chowdhury, Jensen and several others stayed on for several years to build the early versions of Twitter’s search and new features like trending topics — Chowdhury has been described as the father of the very concept of trending, as the person who wrote the first algorithm to produce trends on Twitter — and to help the company scale out its engineering operations as it quickly added more users and more browsing activity. Chowdhury was the platform’s chief science officer, and Jensen headed search and relevance.

By 2011 most of the Summize team was through its earn-out period and transitioned out of the company. It was then that the pair started to think of what comes next.

Chowdhury and Jensen may have walked out of Twitter, but they were not fully disengaged from the concepts that got them into Twitter in the first place.

Network concepts — how people connect with each other — is at the core of how Twitter works, and it was something that stayed on their minds. “We started thinking, something is missing here,” Chowdhury said in an interview.

They turned their attention to smaller networking experiments, where people share things that are more personal with smaller groups, unlike the open-ended nature of Twitter, or indeed others like Facebook. They weren’t the only ones — the app Path was a notable attempt to build around the concept of close-knit groups, and Facebook itself started to tailor how users could build sharing groups, too.

“But they were all broken in some way,” he said, either because of privacy reasons, or discovery or engagement challenges.

“We recognized that small networks were very fragile,” he said. “Without a power user, the network usually falls apart. It is also a challenge to monetize these networks.” At the same time, he added, “Smartphones with great cameras were being widely adopted. Photo content and sharing between loved ones were being underutilized.”

That is what led Chowdhury and Jensen to building both software — a photo sharing app that connected users and their pictures together — complemented with a piece of hardware, the frame, to view those pictures but also hit a couple of the other challenges:

“A Wi-Fi-connected frame actually acts as the ‘power user’ — keeping content fresh without requiring constant engagement or interaction by the network — all with the goal of connecting family members and enjoying photos.” And critically, selling a frame means building a monetization stream without resorting to advertising and all that data mining that comes with it, which no one really wants in personal, close experiences.

“We realized we could build a nice, private network for photos captured in the app, but living on in an evergreen way in the frame that could bring joy,” he said.

The company’s original name was Pushd. Chowdhury said that was because the startup wanted to work around push notifications to keep people connected — prescient considering that this is the core of how a lot of apps, including the likes of BeReal, remind users to engage today. Chowdhury added that “a lot of the learnings from Pushd formed into what is Aura today.” The startup was renamed prior to the first frame launch in 2016.

Opening up the digital shoebox

In these days of tablets and video-screen-fronted digital assistants in the home, it may sound a little anachronistic to focus on a digital picture frame. They were, after all, some of the earliest digital products to enter the domestic environment. By 2011, when Aura was getting off the ground, there were already 12 million digital frames sold, working out to 15% of all homes in the U.S.

Yet as Chowdhury and Jensen saw it, digital frames were quickly hitting a wall in terms of their development: not only were smartphones and tablets taking over the digital photo taking and consumption experience, but frames were clunky and fundamentally disconnected from those smartphones, relying on thumb drives and other means to be updated.

But frames weren’t the only digital relic hitting a wall. Photo libraries have been growing exponentially across the wider consumer market. Back in 2011, there were already some 300 billion digital photos taken in aggregate on phones, spurring a question for Aura’s founders: “How do you get back to all that content?” Chowdhury asked.

That question has only become more persistent: Apple said in September 2022 that more than 3 trillion photos were taking on iPhones in 2021 alone. The proverbial shoebox of photos we never manage to organize suddenly sounds kind of quaint.

Putting that together, Aura’s founders saw that there could be an opening in the market for a better frame, one that worked better with the devices now being used to capture pictures, without pulling users in the different directions (and different price points) that tablets do, and by making it easier to consume and enjoy the pictures we and others have taken.

The company at its heart is a technology player.

Among its work, Aura has built its own privacy-focused facial recognition (based on meta data not faces themselves) and computer vision algorithms in order to create intelligent picture clusters, which sit within its apps. It is building better “scanning” technology to capture artwork and other two-dimensional objects its users might want to see displayed in their frames. And it’s working on ways to potentially add temporary frame picture contributors, as well as more sharing between trusted, but not necessarily close, groups within the app that might not be connected to a single frame at all,

“How do you make it easier to collect and share photos, say, from a wedding,” he asked. “Beyond your close friends and family, it’s all about the continuation of telling a story, capturing those pictures and seeing them in your home.”

I found that Aura is currently sitting on a number of patents, around 50 when you count those issued and in progress. But not all of them are related to frames, photo sharing and social networking: several filed in the last couple of years are related to health and medical monitoring, in particular during pandemics and epidemics.

“This goes back to the Pushd days,” Chowdhury said. Some of the startup’s early work on small networks “had to do with location notifications of people in your private network.” In the case of healthcare, he said, it could help inform caretakers if an elderly parent did/did not leave their home for safety/well-being purposes. “This never became a product that Pushd launched and was not used in the creation of Aura, but the team’s early work and ideas were patented, Covid-19 perhaps being the spur for that, given that the filings are relatively recent.

Aura, the frame and photo startup, raises $26M as app users near 3M and frames sold pass 500K by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Amazon is now offering to replace customers’ discontinued Cloud Cam smart cameras with a new Blink Mini following its decision earlier this year to shut down its Cloud Cam line of products and end support for the device’s associated mobile apps. At the time of the retailer’s May 2022 announcement, Amazon said it would email customers with information on how to order their replacement products, which would also include a one-year Blink Subscription Plus Plan.

However, those emails did not immediately arrive, worrying customers that Amazon had either misled them or perhaps they had missed the important email when it came.

As it turns out, those emails have only now begun to go out. Over the past few days, Amazon Cloud Cam owners report they’ve received instructions on how to proceed to order their replacement Blink product.

The email thanks customers for their support and informs them that, for every active Cloud Cam device they own, Amazon will offer users a complimentary Blink Mini and a one-year Blink Subscription Plus Plan which covers all the devices under a Blink account.

The email then details which Cloud Cam products Amazon identified as active on the user’s account and explains how to make the purchase using a promo code. The company says customers have until January 26, 2023, to redeem their code. Each order only allows for one promo code, so customers with larger Cloud Cam setups will have to check out separately for each device they intend to replace.

The replacement product, Blink Mini, offers an indoor security camera with 1080p HD video, 2.4 GHz Wifi connectivity, night vision, motion detection, and two-way audio. It also works with Alexa. Those specs are similar to Cloud Cam, which had also offered 1080p HD video, night vision and two-way audio.

Amazon customers can also recycle their old cameras by requesting a free UPS shipping label through the Amazon Recycling Progam, the email notes.

After purchasing the product, customers will then need to log into their Amazon account associated with their email and place the order for their Blink Subscription, which will show free at checkout. (A Blink account is required to activate your subscription plan — so wait until that’s set up first or you’ll be charged full-price).

This subscription differs from those historically offered to Cloud Cam users, who had been able to choose from three priced tiers of $6.99, $9.99 or $19.99 per month, based on how many cameras they have (three, five or 10) and how long they want to store video clips — either a week, two weeks or a month, respectively. The Blink Subscription Plus Plan is a $10 per month (or $100/year) paid plan that offers a 60-day unlimited video history for an unlimited number of Blink devices, instead of just one.

Of course, those former Cloud Cam customers who are replacing just one camera could downgrade to the $3 per month (or $30/year) Blink Subscription Basic Plan after their free year is up.

The company is also giving its customers time to export their data from the Cloud Cam platform before it’s gone for good. Starting on December 2, 2022, customers will no longer be about to Cloud Cam or its associated apps. Up until then, customers can download their available video recordings if they choose. But after that date, all video history will be deleted, Amazon warns.

To export their content, customers will need to click on each video from the “Recorded Clips” section in the app and then click the Download icon to save the recording.

Amazon said its decision to kill the Cloud Cam, first launched in 2017, came about because the company’s smart home lineup of Alexa-connected devices had grown over the years and it’s decided to focus its efforts on other products.

“With your help over the last five years, Cloud Cam has served as a reliable indoor security camera and a hub for Amazon Key-compatible smart locks that work with Alexa,” the initial email to Cloud Cam customers had explained. “As the number of Alexa smart home devices continues to grow, we are focusing efforts on Ring, Blink, and other technologies that make your home smarter and simplify your everyday routines.”

To find the email about replacements, search your inbox for a message from “store-news@amazon.com” with the subject line “An important reminder about your Cloud Cam.”

Amazon is now replacing customers’ discontinued Cloud Cams with new Blink Mini devices by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

When you say portable speakers, most people think about cheap Bluetooth speakers that you can easily put in your backpack when you’re going to the park. But Devialet has something different in mind with the Devialet Mania.

The French high-end speaker maker wants to make the most luxurious and best sounding portable speaker around. The Devialet Mania costs $790 (€790) and is available today.

“We are launching a new product, the Devialet Mania. And it represents the end of a long process. We started with amps, then there were the Phantom speakers, the Gemini earbuds and the Dione soundbar,” Devialet CEO Franck Lebouchard told me. “We are entering a new market with this portable speaker.”

When Devialet decided to build a portable speaker four years ago, the concept was quite simple. Devialet wanted to design a speaker that works on battery, but a hi-fi speaker.

“Hi-fi means a lot of things. It means great sound quality of course. Hi-fi also means stereo sound or at least stereo rendering,” Lebouchard said.

The Devialet Mania is a spherical speaker with no front or back. There is a handle at the top of the device that invites users to pick it up and carry it around.

But you won’t put it in your backpack to go to the park as it weighs 2.3kg (around 5 pounds). You can take it with you when you go on vacation, but it has mostly been designed to carry around the house.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

When you start playing music, the first thing that you are going to notice are the two woofers that are set up in a ‘push-push’ configuration to avoid unwanted vibrations.

At the top of the device, there are four full-range speakers each pointing in a different direction. When you put the Devialet Mania on a table in the middle of the room, the full-range speakers alternatively broadcast the left channel or the right channel (clockwise: left, right, left, right).

This way, wherever you sit, you mostly hear sound from the two full-range speakers that are in front of you — and you get stereo sound.

There are four microphones in the device as well as an accelerometer. The Devialet Mania detects when it has been moved to a new location. Thanks to its built-in microphones, it can also detect when it’s next to a wall.

In that case, the Devialet Mania determines the front and back of the device. The two full-range speakers on the left of the device broadcast the left channel, while the two speakers on the right broadcast the right channel.

Using microphones to actively adapt the sound of the speaker was one of the selling points of Apple’s original HomePod. But Devialet insists on sound quality as well, such as its SAM proprietary technology (Speaker Active Matching).

“We are the only ones that combine portable, hi-fi and automatic calibration,” Lebouchard said.

The Devialet Mania works with Devialet’s own app and features both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On Wi-Fi, it supports AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect. The battery is supposed to last 10 hours at a normal volume.

There are some built-in buttons that let you pause the music, change the volume, activate Bluetooth and more. There’s a single USB-C port on the device for charging.

And because the Devialet Mania has microphones, the company is integrating Amazon Alexa for the first time. You can disable the feature entirely with a physical slider button near the USB-C port.

In addition to the base model that comes in black or white, there’s a $990 (€990) ‘Opéra de Paris’ model with gold-plated finishes and an optional docking station — the base can also be purchased separately.

“If we want to become a global player in the audio industry, we need to have a product in each major segment of the audio market — wireless earbuds, soundbars and portable speakers,” Lebouchard said. According to him, portable speakers and soundbars each generate €6 billion in sales every year.

Image Credits: Devialet

As for the company’s older products, Devialet released an update to its Phantom speakers in January 2021 with newer components and a matte finish. “With Phantom, we release a big update every couple of years,” Lebouchard said.

When it comes to amplifiers, the Expert Pro was the company’s first product but it hasn’t been updated in a while.

“Amps aren’t a priority for us because it’s a very small market. But the Expert is an important product for our brand, for audiophile enthusiasts. We want to make the best amplifier in the world because we can’t say that we are the company with the best sound in the world without selling the best amplifier in the world,” Lebouchard said. So I guess it means “stay tuned.”

Over the past year and a half, Devialet has shipped wireless earbuds, a soundbar and a portable speaker. Lebouchard told me that there’s one missing product in the lineup — and it’s headphones.

But don’t hold your breath for Devialet headphones as the company is not sure it would be a strategic move. “When you go outside, people moved on from headphones to wireless earbuds,” Lebouchard said.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Devialet launches a high-end portable speaker by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch