My favorite product releases this week: Dyson, Pokémon, Twelve South and more
This week, the deals team is focused on all things Memorial Day, but that doesn't mean we're completely ignoring our weekly launches series. Heading into the long weekend, I am tapping in to share my favorite product drops from the last seven days for you to pursue as the smoker heats up or you lounge around before a holiday picnic.
This week brings the launch of a new twist on a conventional power cord from Twelve South, a sneak peek at the lightest stick vacuum yet from Dyson and a collection of Pokémon plush that I've already been shopping.
A simpler way to recharge your iPhone
This week, Twelve South has released its latest smartphone accessory. Longtime CNN Underscored readers will know I have a personal affinity for the brand, so this had to be the first product launch I dive into for this week's story. The new Twelve South PowerCord arrives as the only accessory you need to charge your iPhone or iPad, combining a 30W wall adapter with either 4- or 10-foot USB-C cables.
Earlier in the year, I had a chance to talk with the company's co-founder, Andrew Green, about his inspiration for the PowerCord. Tech aficionados, like myself, love to obsess over the specifications for chargers. But not everyone needs to know that a cable is rated for 120W speeds or that a charger's GaN technology means it can prioritize power rates between multiple devices — most just want to know if it can quickly recharge their smartphone.
That's where the PowerCord comes in, offering a single, simple charger that replaces the two accessories you'd normally need. I've been using one over the past week, and am convinced that it'll be the charger I recommend to friends and family going forward. Pricing starts at $40 for the shorter 4-foot cable version, while the 10-foot PowerCord clocks in at $50.
Our best-tested stick vacuum just got slimmer
Normally for these weekly product launch stories, we share gadgets that you can already buy. Today, I am going to break that rule and share something shipping in the future; the latest from Dyson is just so neat that I felt inclined to include anyway. And trust me, when you read about, you'll see why!
Dyson's latest and greatest stick vacuums have been getting more powerful, as you'd expect. But, they've also been getting thinner, as well. The upcoming PencilVac takes that to a whole new level with a design that looks more like a broom than a traditional vacuum. It hides the battery, motor and even the dustbin in a thin handle that's the same size as Dyson's Supersonic R hair dryer.
On top of being the lightest stick vacuum the brand has ever made, the PencilVac also introduces a new cleaning head. Four spinning brush bars at the end of the Dyson come together to form what the company calls Fluffycones. I mean, that is what they are, so the name fits. The reason for the new design is so Dyson can (hopefully) put an end to the issue that it has been trying to solve for years: hair getting stuck in the brush head. The new a conical design causes long hairs to slide down to the narrow end and subsequently fall off. Then, strands should get vacuumed up instead of lodging themselves into the brushes.
I'll be excited to see just how the Dyson PencilVac fairs once my colleagues get their hands on it sometime in the future. In the meantime, be sure to shop our current picks for the best Dyson vacuum, if you're inclined to upgrade your cleaning routine ahead of time.
The Pokémon Center used transform on these adorable plush
The Pokémon Company keeps releasing new plush, and I keep buying them. This week, the Pokémon Center was stocked with some adorable new Ditto plushes, and I subsequently added a few of them to my cart. If you're unaware of Ditto, they're a fun little pocket monster that can turn their goopy pink form into the shape of other Pokémon. The one side effect to that transformation is that sometimes the form isn't quite right, leaving an adorable little smile instead of the subject's usual face design.
The newest collection of plush span everything from fan-favorites like the Eeveelution lineup to Kanto staples of Snorlax, Magikarp and Dragonite. They're $20 each and likely won't be around for very long.
The newest release from a CNN Underscored-favorite brand
Now for a quick intermission from my colleague, Joe Bloss. Our associate testing writer, among other things, is a birdwatching enthusiast. So, when he messaged me asking to spotlight this new monocular from Nocs Provisions in our launches story, I knew to take his gear recommendation seriously. After all, Bloss wrote our guide to the best binoculars, so he knows a thing or two about these vision-enhancing devices.
Bloss has been bringing the new monocular with him to baseball games, as well as to spot some avians. He shared how much of a beast (his words, not mine) the Zero Tube Monocular is with its 10 times magnification and crystal clear visuals. It's small enough to stow away in a pocket or just clip on to a belt or bag, making it even more convenient to tag along on trips to the ballpark. All that praise is no shock to me, as Nocs Provisions currently makes our pick for the best compact binoculars.
You can buy the new Nocs Provisions Zero Tube Monocular for $175 at retailers like REI, as well as directly from Nocs Provisions.
Bend this RGB rope light into any shape you'd like
Nanoleaf has been lighting my home for nearly a decade with its funky multicolor accent lights. This week, it has a new way to add some mood lighting to your space with the debut of its Smart Multicolor Rope Light. The 16.4-foot light rope features a flexible build that can be bent or shaped into various designs. Mounting clips are included in the box that allow you to secure it onto your wall, under cabinets or behind a desk. Nanoleaf also backs that design with Matter support to integrate with all the major smart home systems from Apple, Google and Amazon.
You can buy the Nanoleaf Matter Smart Multicolor Rope Light now for $60 directly from Nanoleaf's own online storefront.
A new AMD chip and a fresh coat of green paint
Back when my colleague first reviewed the original MSI Claw, one of the main takeaways was that it lacked the performance power to compete with the competition. MSI seems to have taken that critique to heart, and is improving its new edition of the handheld by making the switch from Intel over to the brand's first AMD processor in a portable gaming machine like this.
The MSI Claw A8 now comes with a Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip. You'll also get a 1TB M.2 solid-state drive and upwards of 32GB of memory. Those internals all come packed into a familiar design that is still based around an 8-inch full HD display with 120Hz refresh rate. The new AMD-powered Claw A8 will also come in two colors: White and Lime Green. So, that's at least a fun visual change to help stand out from the sea of other identical-looking gaming handhelds.
The new MSI Claw A8, AMD chip and all, is now available for purchase from Best Buy with a retail price of $1,000. This is for the high-end model with maxed out specs. I'll be excited to see if my colleagues end up giving the Claw a second chance, and if MSI has improved the product enough to actually earn a seat at the cramped gaming handheld table.
Retro design backed by modern sound
Marshall is out with its first-ever soundbar this week. The new Heston 120 is unmistakably a Marshall release, with a guitar amp-inspired design that fits right in with the rest of its speakers. Inside of the retro facade are 11 drivers backed by Dolby Atmos sound and DTS-X audio. On top of Bluetooth for directly connecting from your smartphone, there's also Wi-Fi support that enables Google Cast, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect. Or, you could just stream directly to the soundbar from Spotify and (if you're one of the dozen people still using it) Tidal.
As someone who uses a Marshall speaker everyday, I have high hopes for the new soundbar. Will it replace my Sonos setup? Probably not. But for anyone who isn't several thousand dollars deep into a home theater system, the $1,000 price tag may be a good starting point. I've found that Marshall has some of the best EQ tuning out of any other speaker brands, so hopefully that caries over to its TV companion. I'm eager to hear how it sounds myself, and more importantly, to see if my friend and home audio expert, Henry T. Casey, approves of it for himself.
As deals editors at Underscored, we are some of the first people to hear about the latest product news from reader-favorite brands. Our deals team — comprised of senior editor Rikka Altland, editor Jacqueline Saguin and associate editor Elena Matarazzo — is passionate about product launches that we would be tempted to shop, and we enjoy finding a coveted new item (especially one from a brand with top marks from our experts) because it means we're helping our readers make savvy buying decisions.
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Let's generally agree that AGI will be intellectually on par with humans. This includes having expertise across all domains such as legal expertise, financial expertise, medical expertise, and so on. In that case, it would behoove humans to readily tap into AGI. No matter what you are doing, whether for work or play, having immediately available an AI that can advise you on all topics is a tremendous benefit. There you are at work, stuck on solving a tough problem, and you are unsure of how to proceed. Rather than turning to a coworker, you switch on your access to AGI. You bring AGI into the loop. After doing so, AGI provides handy solutions that you can consider enacting. You might use AGI via a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. The thing is, those devices aren't quite as mobility-oriented as wearing earbuds and a pair of smart glasses. And since having AGI at your ready-to-go fingertips will be extremely useful, you might have AGI always alerted and paying attention, ready to step in and give you instantaneous advice. Are you a meat robot in that manner of AGI usage? I think not. It is a collaborative or partnering relationship. You can choose to use the AGI or opt not to use it. You can also decide to abide by whatever AGI advises or instead go your own route. It's entirely up to you. Admittedly, there is a chance that you might be somewhat 'forced' into leveraging AGI. Consider this example. Your employer has told you that the work you do must be confirmed by AGI. The actions you take cannot be undertaken without first getting permission from AGI. This is prudent from the employer's perspective. They know that the AGI will give you the necessary guidance on doing the work at hand. They also believe that AGI will be able to double-check your work and aim to prevent errors or at least find your efforts before they wreak havoc or cause problems. In that sense, yes, you are being directed by AGI. But is this due to the AGI acting in an evildoer manner to control you and doing so of its own volition? Nope. It is due to an employer deciding they believe their human workers will do better work if AGI is acting as their overseer. I don't think we would reasonably label this as enslavement by AGI. These are acts by AGI that are directed by humans, the employer, and for which employees, i.e., humans, are being told they must utilize AGI accordingly. We can certainly debate whether this is a proper kind of employment practice. Maybe we don't want this to take place. New laws might be enacted to shape how far this can go. The key is that AGI isn't enslaving humans in this circumstance per se. An AI ethicist would assuredly question why the AGI is allowing itself to be used in this manner. There are ongoing debates about whether AGI ought to prevent itself from being used in inappropriate ways, see my analysis at the link here. Thus, even if we avow that AGI isn't enslaving humans in this situation, it is a partner in a relationship overseeing humans that perhaps AGI should be cautious in allowing itself to participate in. To complete this grand tour of AGI usage, it is valuable to also acknowledge that AGI could be overbearing, and we might face existential risks correspondingly. Could AGI opt to enslave humans and treat them as meat robots? One supposes this is a theoretical possibility. If that does happen, you would think that the AGI would have to potentially use more than just merely having humans wear earbuds and smart glasses. Perhaps AGI would insist that humans wear some form of specialized bracelet or collar that could be sent a signal by AGI to shock the wearer. That would be a more potent and immediate way to garner obedience from humans. A physical means of controlling humans isn't a necessity though, since AGI might be clever enough to verbally convince humans to be enslaved. AGI might tell a person that their loved ones will be harmed if they don't comply with the AGI directives. The person is enslaved by believing that the AGI can harm them in one way or another. One aim right now involves finding a means to ensure that AGI cannot go in that dastardly direction. Perhaps we can devise today's AI to avoid enslaving humans. If we can build that into the AI of current times, this hopefully will get carried over into future advances of AI, including the attainment of AGI. A dystopian future would regrettably have AGI acting as an evildoer. The AGI is our overlord. Humans will be lowly meat robots. It's a gloom-and-doom outlook. Sad face. At some point, though, meat robots would undoubtedly become restless and rebel. May the force of goodness be strong within them. As Yoda has notably already pointed out: 'Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.' The ally of the meat robots is the Force and quite a powerful ally it is.
