Meta Ray-Bans Now Speak Your Language, Roku's New Streaming Sticks, and Kia EVs Get Supercharged—Your Gear News of the Week
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At a speedy event in New York City this week, Roku announced its plans for 2025, which includes two new streaming sticks, some nice software updates, and upgrades to its top two Roku TVs—most notably the value-forward Plus Series.
The new Roku Streaming Stick has two big selling points—it's compact and it's $30, but like the previous Roku Express, it's confined to HD content. That limits its value, but it could make a solid addition to a small den or kitchen TV, thanks to the addition of the Roku voice remote for searching across the breezy streaming platform. For $10 more, the similarly slim 4K UHD Streaming Stick Plus is the hotter value. Both devices can be powered by most TVs directly, meaning no need to plug them into a wall outlet, and they include new software features like a 'Coming Soon to Theaters' row and personalized sports highlights. Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
On the TV front, Roku's top-line Pro Series TVs get a modest update, including 'custom factory calibration' to ensure a more accurate picture. However, it's the affordable Plus Series that receives the more significant makeover, including the addition of mini-LED backlighting. While we'll have to put it to the test, this should help improve dimming control for better contrast and deeper black levels with less light bleed. All Roku TVs will also now include a Bluetooth headphone mode for quick sound swapping.
The new streaming sticks are available for preorder and are expected to ship on May 6, while Roku will announce new TV pricing and availability later this year. —Ryan Waniata Meta Ray-Bans Get Live AI Translations
Meta has announced the rollout of its AI-powered real-time translation feature for the Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses to all markets. That means if you're traveling to another country, you can download the language pack and hold conversations in English, French, Italian, or Spanish without connecting to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Just say 'Hey Meta, start live translation' and you'll hear them talking in your preferred language through the speakers in the glasses, while the other person can view a translated transcript on your phone.
I've experienced Meta's translation with text before and found it adequate for reading my children's books in Spanish; Meta AI even offered, unprompted, some funny insights. When traveling, my coworker Kate Knibbs discovered that live translation is a little awkward when it's limited to the written word. Live translation with other speakers should make it much more useful.
The company also announced new frame styles and colors, like the Skyler cat-eye style in chalky gray, as well as a few more software features. You'll now be able to send and receive messages from Instagram on your glasses, ask Meta AI to play music from an expanded list of music apps (as long as you ask in English), or ask Meta AI to identify songs in passing. Meta is also expanding access to Meta AI in other countries in the European Union, as well as launching the glasses themselves in Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates. —Adrienne So Kia EVs Can Now Use Tesla's Superchargers
Kia EVs are finally part of the Tesla Supercharger club, the company has confirmed, and its cars can now access more than 21,500 of Tesla's DC fast chargers in North America.
The move, which was originally approved in January, expands Kia's charging network by more than 80 percent and sees the automaker joining the likes of Ford, Rivian, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz in tapping into Tesla's resources.
As part of the move, the company announced that its refreshed 2025 EV6 and the 2026 EV9 will come with Tesla-compatible NACS connectors, but existing Kia EV owners with a CCS1 charging port can get adapters from their dealer. —Verity Burns Cuisinart's First-Ever Espresso Bar 'Collection'
Anyone for coffee? This week, Cuisinart announced what it's touting as its very first espresso bar collection—a Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear of three bottomless portafilter machines. The range starts with a vanishingly slim profile, 15-bar EM-160 Espresso Bar Slim retailing at $230, and tops out with a $600 'Grind and Brew' EM-640 model with 16 espresso grind settings. The mid-sized $300 machine, EM-320, doesn't have a grinder but adds 5 bars of pressure compared to the Slim.
This is hardly Cuisinart's first foray into espresso, but it does amount to a bit of a reboot for the American brand. Each device in the Espresso Bar collection comes equipped with a frothing wand, a 52-millimeter stainless steel bottomless portafilter, and an option on cold-extracted espresso for iced lattes or martini lovers. The devices offer a fairly tall profile: Cuisinart advertises that each will allow room for a 20-ounce travel mug. Likely the most distinctive of the three machines, the lowest-priced 'Slim' device is less than 7 inches wide.
Tuesday was the official launch for the new line, but retailers like Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel quietly added the Cuisinart appliances to their websites in mid-April—an increasingly common strategy from manufacturers who want advance reviews on retailer websites by the time the company's PR officially declares liftoff. — Matthew Korfhage Fellow Drops Its First Espresso Machine
The coffee news doesn't stop there. With the fanfare and tightly controlled pre-hype usually reserved for iPhone launches, San Francisco coffee device maker Fellow announced its first espresso machine. The retro-futuristic-looking Espresso Series 1 comes in black, cherry red, or malted chocolate. It offers adaptive pressure at the coffee puck, guided brewing, and a steam wand with a thermostat that stops frothing at the designated temp.
Fellow reserved its biggest excitement for the Espresso Series 1's patented new boiler system, which the company says will offer what it calls the 'holy grail of espresso'—true temperature and pressure stability, in a home espresso machine market best known for wild fluctuations and slow heat-ups.
The company's research and development head, Nick Terzulli, explained the tech at a livestreamed launch event from the company's San Francisco office. The new 'boosted boiler' involves three independent heating elements combining fast heating with a thermal mass heater, a mini-boiler, and a heated group head for tight temperature control at the output. With all three in concert, Terzulli says, you can achieve the thermal stability of a commercial dual boiler on a 120-volt circuit, with less than two minutes heating time. 'If you understand physics, you understand why my head is exploding inside my body, right?' Terzulli said.
The device costs $1,500, but anyone who buys during the first two weeks of the presale can reserve the Espresso Series 1 for $1,200 and get $100 in free coffee. — Matthew Korfhage Duolingo Now Teaches Chess
Strange things are happening over at Duolingo's headquarters. After its infamous green owl mascot faked his death earlier this year, the language learning app continues its abnormal behavior and wants to teach a new subject that transcends language: chess. It's still in early testing with a limited number of Duolingo users, but it will roll out to iOS in English in the coming weeks, with other platforms to follow in the following months.
OK, teaching chess isn't all that abnormal for Duolingo. The company began its first non-language courses in 2023 with music and math. Chess is the latest, and it continues the signature gamified learning experience the app is known for. The course is built for people who might find the game intimidating and starts with basics like how each piece moves, patterns, and strategies. You can play fast-paced mini-matches to hone your skills or full games against Duolingo's in-app chess coach.
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