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Razer Ups Its Gaming Gear for 2023 with 18-inch Blade, Accessories

At CES, bigger Blade laptops are joined by a new high-end Kiyo Pro Ultra webcam for streamers and a beefier Leviathan V2 Pro gaming soundbar.

Razer’s new 16- and 18-inch Blade laptops join the pack of front-line CES gaming laptops. Like a lot of other models announced at CES, Razer has essentially replaced its 17-inch Blade with an 18-inch and brought back the «desktop replacement» terminology after a hiatus. Both boast the latest technologies announced at the show, including top-of-the-line 13th-gen Intel Core i9 HX chips and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series mobile graphics.

The Blade 16 does offer a novel 1,000-nit screen, which Razer refers to as «dual-mode»: In Creator mode, it operates at 4K-plus resolution (the 16:10 aspect ratio means it’s just off 16:9 4K) at a refresh rate of 120Hz, while in Gamer mode it drops the resolution to 1080p-ish to run at 240Hz. It’s an interesting concept, but the execution will make or break its usefulness.

Razer has also invented a new spec it calls «Graphics Power Density,» for the amount of graphics power per cubic inch (which, unsurprisingly, it has the most of!) in order to convey thin-but-powerful-ness. I suspect it’s because the Blades tend to be heavy, but it’s kind of nebulous and I really, really hope it doesn’t catch on.

The Blade 18 also has the new components, but instead a 1440p-plus 240Hz display. It gets one of the increasingly common 5MP webcams and incorporates a six-speaker array that uses Razer’s own THX spatial audio.

Both are slated to ship this quarter. The Blade 16 starts at $2,700, while the Blade 18 starts at $2,900.

Razer’s Leviathan V2 soundbar line has gotten an upscale sibling, the Leviathan V2 Pro. In addition to adding a gazillion lighting zones (OK, 30), the Pro beefs up its audio chops with head tracking (via IR cameras) and beamforming to more precisely target the sound toward your ears.

It also replaces the pairs of full-range drivers, tweeters and passive radiators with five full-range drivers which boosts the lower frequency response range down to 40Hz from 45Hz, while upping the power output to 98dB from 96dB. The Leviathan V2 Pro also puts back the headphone jack Razer had removed when it leveled the Leviathan up a generation. All of that makes it a bit longer, though.

You can preorder the soundbar now for $400; it’s scheduled to ship at the end of January.

Razer already had a Kiyo Pro webcam, so its newest model, which jumps to the top of the line, went Ultra. The 4K Kiyo Pro Ultra has been upgraded with a 1/1.2-inch sensor, much larger than typical webcams, which can help a lot with exposure (especially in low light) and color. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee a better result, but larger sensors usually do improve image quality over smaller ones.

It’s got an «ultra-large f1.7 aperture lens,» which doesn’t mean a lot; a larger sensor requires a larger lens, and f1.7 is neither here nor there. The webcam does, however, seem to have to have focusing behavior and depth of field, which is sadly lacking in webcams. Razer challenges Elgato’s Facecam Pro by claiming rawer raw processing, with in-camera conversion of the 40-30fps stream into lower resolutions and frame rates on the fly and directly stream out.

The Kiyo Pro Ultra has a built-in shutter in addition to a protective (but easily lost) standalone cover. That was also on my wish list.

It’s available now, albeit at a pricey $400.

The company also unveiled the first of a line of add-ons for the Meta Quest 2, padding developed with partner ResMed, and announced the availability of the Edge and Edge 5G tablet-plus-controller handhelds for cloud gaming.

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Google Making AI-Powered Glasses With Warby Parker, Gentle Monster

Google revealed its first two partnerships with eyeglass brands, with more to come.

The tech world has rarely been called stylish. But at Google’s annual I/O developers conference on Tuesday, the company took one step into the fashion world — kind of. The company revealed that the first eyeglass brands to carry Android XR AI-powered glasses will be Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, with more brand partners to be revealed in the future. Android XR is Google’s upcoming platform for VR, AR and AI on glasses and headsets.

Yes, there was a Superman joke as the company joked that unlike Clark Kent, who hid his superpowers behind nerdy glasses, the Android XR glasses will give you superpowers. That remains to be seen, although NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo did show up at Google I/O wearing the XR glasses.

Warby Parker, founded in 2010, was originally an online eyeglass retailer that gained fame for its home try-on program, where customers could order five frames sent to their home to try on and then return. It also allowed customers to upload photos to see how they would look wearing different frames.

South Korean eyeglass brand Gentle Monster, founded in 2011, is known for its luxury eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company’s celebrity customers include Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish.

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Tariffs Explained: I Have Everything You Need to Know as Walmart, Subaru Hike Prices

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Google I/O Announcements: The Latest AI Upgrades Coming to Gemini, XR and More

From its new Project Aura XR glasses to Chrome’s wants-to-be-more-helpful AI mode, Gemini Live and new Flow generative video tool, Google puts AI everywhere.

As you’d expect, this year’s Google I/O developer’s conference focused almost exclusively on AI — where the company’s Gemini AI platform stands, where it’s going and how much it’s going to cost you now for its new AI Ultra subscription plan (spoiler: $250 per month). Meanwhile, a new Flow app expands the company’s video-generation toolset, and its Android XR glasses make their debut. 

Plus, all AI usage and performance numbers are up! (Given that a new 42.5-exaflop Ironwood Tensor processing unit is coming to Google Cloud later this year, they’ll continue to rise.) 

Google’s Project Aura, a developer kit for Android XR that includes new AR glasses from Xreal, is the company’s next step in the company’s roadmap toward glasses-based, AI-driven extended reality. CNET’s Scott Stein goes in-depth in an exclusive interview with Shahram Izadi, Google’s VP and GM for Android XR about that future. And headset-based Project Moohan, developed in conjunction with Samsung, is now available, and Google’s working with Samsung to extend beyond headsets. 

For a play-by-play of the event, you can read the archive of our live blog.

Google already held a separate event for Android, where it launched Android 16, debuting its new Material 3 Expressive interface, updates to security and an update on Gemini integration and features. 

A lot of the whizzy new AI features are only available via one of its subscription levels. AI Pro is just a rebranding of Google’s $20-per-month Gemini Advanced plan (adding some new features), but Google AI Ultra is a pricier new option — $250 per month, with half off the first three months for the moment — that provides access to the latest, spiffiest and least usage-limited of all its tools and models,  as well as a prototype for managing AI agents and the 30 terabytes of storage you’re going to need to store it all. They’re both available today.

Google also wants to make your automation sound smarter with Personalized Smart Replies, which makes your generated answers sound more like you, as well as plowing through pieces of information on your device to provide relevant information. It’ll be in Gmail this summer for subscribers. Eventually, it’ll be everywhere. 

Also, it includes lots of better models, better coding tools and other details on developer-friendly things you expect from a developer conference. The announcement included its conversational Gemini Live, formerly part of Project Astra, its interactive, agentic, voice AI, kitchen sink AI app. (As Managing Editor Patrick Holland says, «Astra is a rehearsal of features that, when they’re ready for the spotlight, get added to Gemini Live.») And for researchers, NotebookLM incorporates Gemini Live to improve its… everything.

It’s available now in the US. 

Chrome AI Mode

People (that is, those over 18) who pony up for the subscriptions, plus users on the Chrome Beta, Dev and Canary tracks, will be able to try out the company’s expanded Gemini integration with Chrome — summary, research and agentic chat based on the contents of your screen, somewhat like Gemini Live does for phones (which, by the way, is available for free on Android and iOS as of today). But the Chrome version is more suited to the type of things you do at a computer rather than a phone. (Microsoft already does this with Copilot in its own Edge browser.)

Eventually, Google plans for Gemini in Chrome to be capable of synthesizing using multiple tabs and voice navigation. 

The company is also expanding how you can interact with its AI Overviews in Google Search as part of AI Mode, with interactions with AI Overviews and more agentic shopping help. It’s a new tab with search, or on the search bar, and it’s available now. It includes deeper searches, Personal Context — which uses all the information it knows about you, and that’s a lot — to make suggestions and customize replies.

The company detailed its new AI Mode for shopping, which has an improved conversational shopping experience, a checkout that monitors for the best pricing, and an updated «try on» interface that lets you upload a photo of yourself rather than modeling it on a generic body. 

Google plans to launch it soon, though the updated «try on» feature is now available in the US via Search Labs.

Google Beam

Formerly known as Project Starline, Google Beam is the updated version of the company’s 3D videoconferencing, now with AI. It uses a six-camera array to capture all angles of you, which the AI then stitches together, uses head tracking to follow your movements, and sends at up to 60 frames per second.

The platform uses a light field display that doesn’t require wearing any special equipment, but that technology also tends to be sensitive to off-angle viewing. HP is an old hand in the large-scale scanning biz, including 3D scanning, so the partnership with Google isn’t a big surprise. 

Flow and other generative creative tools

Google Flow is a new tool that builds on Imagen 4 and Veo 3 to perform tasks like creating AI video clips and stitching them into longer sequences, or extending them, with a single prompt while keeping them consistent from scene to scene. It also provides editing tools like camera controls. It’s available as part of Gemini AI Ultra. 

Imagen 4 image generation is more detailed, with improved tonality and better text and typography. And it’s faster. Meanwhile, Veo 3, also available today, has a better understanding of physics and native audio generation — sound effects, background sounds and dialogue.

Of course, all this is available under the AI Pro plan. Google’s Synth ID gen AI detection tool is also available today.

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