TCL has released the Note A1 Nxtpaper tablet, a device that blends a full-color 120Hz LCD screen with a matte, low-glare display and a pressure-sensitive stylus designed to mimic the scratch of pencil on paper. Rather than a standard Android home screen, it opens to a note-and-calendar interface inspired by devices like the Remarkable, though it still allows full access to the Google Play Store.
VK, formerly Mail.ru Group, has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Moscow arbitration court after Apple pulled VK apps like VKontakte, VK Messenger, and Mail Cloud from the App Store in June to comply with EU sanctions. VK is demanding the apps be reinstated and is seeking daily penalties of roughly $696,000 if Apple refuses, which would total over $250 million annually.
Greenworks has launched the MaximusZ, an electric riding mower that uses five separate motors: two to drive the wheels and three to spin a trio of blades cutting a 54-inch swath in one pass. Powered by an 80-volt battery system combining four 6.0Ah packs and two 16Ah packs for 56Ah total capacity, the mower is rated for up to four acres per charge and recharges in about 3.5 hours using a proprietary charger.
Microsoft released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, an event that drew crowds lining up for the software in a way never repeated for a Microsoft product. The operating system marked a major upgrade over Windows 3.x, introducing true multitasking instead of relying on applications to cooperatively share resources. It also better exploited faster processors, unlike Windows 3.1, which plateaued in performance around 100 MHz regardless of chip.
Spotify suffered an outage that stopped many users from playing or downloading audiobooks across phones, desktops, and the web, with symptoms ranging from stalled loading to chapters skipping without playing. Spotify acknowledged the problem on its Community forum and has since marked the incident as fixed, though some users still report ongoing playback issues.
AYN announced via Discord that it will increase prices across all three configurations of its Odin 3 Android gaming handheld beginning September 1. The base 8GB/128GB model rises from $349 to $369, the 12GB/256GB Pro goes from $449 to $469, and the 16GB/512GB Max climbs from $499 to $529. This marks the third price increase for the device in 2025, following hikes in March and June.
Omega has updated its 38-mm Speedmaster collection with seven new references, replacing the oval subdials with rounder Moonwatch-style versions and giving the bezels a thicker, more authentic Dot-Over-Ninety design. Six of the watches run on the Caliber 3330 with date functions, including an $11,700 cappuccino-style model with a Sedna gold bezel, while a no-date Black Dial version priced at $6,500 uses the Caliber 3332.
Google has started rolling out Motion Assist, a new Android 17 feature that displays motion cues on screen to help reduce motion sickness while using a phone in a moving vehicle. The feature, previously tested internally as Motion Cues, is appearing gradually on Pixel devices, with some units already showing it while others on the same Android version do not yet have it.
ASUS has released its first gaming-focused soundbar, the ROG Gjallar, in the US market at a price of $600. The device features a 5.1.2-channel setup with Dolby Atmos support, a wireless 65W subwoofer, and a control hub with built-in microphones designed to enable headset-free multiplayer voice chat while filtering background noise.
AMD's Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT share the same 16GB GDDR6 memory, 256-bit bus and 64MB Infinity Cache, but differ in core count and clock speed, with the XT offering 14% more cores and an 18% higher boost clock. Since launch, pricing between the two has fluctuated significantly, sometimes narrowing the gap enough that the cheaper non-XT model has become a more compelling buy.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than 7:26AM Eastern on August 30, with live coverage starting at 6:20AM. If weather or technical issues delay the flight, a backup attempt is planned for August 31 at 7:22AM Eastern. NASA will also host a science briefing and prelaunch news conference on August 29.
Copernicus data shows average ocean surface temperatures reached 21.1C on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of 21.09C set in March 2024. Scientists note the timing is unusual since oceans typically peak in March or April, not August, and this record was set even before El Nino reached its expected peak.