ICYMI: The Week’s 8 Biggest Tech News Stories, From Nintendo’s New Alarm Clock to Toyota’s Revolutionary EV Charging Technology
This week, after months of waiting for a sequel to the hugely successful Nintendo Switch handheld, we finally got brand new Nintendo hardware in the form of a clock called Alarmo. We also saw some major AI developments for Gemini, and the price of the RTX 5090 leaked (spoiler, it’s not cheap).
To keep up with all this and more, we’ve rounded up the week’s top news stories here so you can catch up on everything you missed.
Once you’re up to speed, check out our picks for the seven new movies and TV shows streaming this weekend (October 11).
8. Apple struggled to control the M4 MacBook Pro
Apple doesn’t really do leaks, so this week was quite a shock for tech fans used to watertight launches.
Not only did we see a wave of credible video and benchmark leaks for the rumored M4 MacBook Pro, several people in Russia claimed to be selling the unannounced laptop on a classifieds site. Not quite to the level of leaving an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar, but not far from there.
While it’s possible the now-removed ads were fake, the large number of compelling leaks suggest an M4 MacBook Pro is coming soon – possibly with more Thunderbolt ports and a Space Black version.
7. Toyota unveiled a future powered by hydrogen cartridges
Hydrogen made headlines again this week as a possible fuel source for cars and even homes, when Toyota unveiled a series of portable cartridges that resemble giant AA batteries.
Toyota says the cylinders were developed based on its experience in downsizing the hydrogen tanks in its fuel cell electric vehicles. The concept is certainly attractive: instead of having to refuel at petrol stations or EV charging points, you can simply switch your energy source when your hydrogen levels are low. At least in theory.
Whether the concept becomes a reality remains to be seen, but hopefully it will at least be somewhere down the road: we can’t tolerate broken EV charging networks for much longer.
6.Nintendo has finally launched new hardware
Nintendo announced new hardware this week, but it wasn’t the Nintendo Switch 2. Instead, it (obviously) unveiled a new sound clock called Alarmo.
It features a 2.8-inch LCD screen that tells you the date and time and shows a playful Nintendo mascot β including Link, Olimar and (of course) Mario β reacting to what you and Alarmo are doing. But if you stay in bed too long, Alarmo can send a less friendly face to motivate you, like the evil King Bowser.
However, what makes this smart alarm clock smart is the built-in motion sensor that can track your movements. Alarmo can track your sleep habits so you can review them in the morning, can be waved to to snooze your alarm, and can detect when you sit up to turn off your alarm.
Alarmo is currently only available for purchase to those who are paying Nintendo Switch Online members, but should release to the general public in January 2025.
5. Google’s Imagen 3 is being rolled out worldwide
This week, Google updated its Gemini AI chatbot to use the latest Imagen 3 software for image generation. It’s also easy to use, you just ask Gemini to create an image with the same text prompts you use to talk to Gemini normally. Imagen 3 sees significant improvements over the previous version, with much better detail in images, especially when it comes to text.
Imagen 3 is available to anyone who has access to Gemini, on a laptop or smartphone, even if you’re on the free tier, while Imagen 3’s image quality is fantastic and there seems to be no limits to the number of images you can take per day can create, there is one minor annoyance: you must be a Gemini Advanced subscriber if you want to use it to generate images of people.
4. Apple Intelligence release date has been leaked
Apple Intelligence finally has a release date… sort of. We were told that Apple’s AI tools would arrive on iPhone, iPad, and Mac as part of a software update in October, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has given us a date.
Gurman suspects that iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 will arrive on October 28, ushering in a new era for Apple as it moves into the AI-powered future. It’s definitely an exciting time to own Apple products, but will features like Writing Tools, Cleaning, and Notification Summaries be enough to get people interested in AI?
At WWDC, Craig Federighi called it βAI for the rest of us,β but time will tell if the βrest of usβ even want AI. Expect Apple Intelligence features to roll out over the next year, with Genmoji and Image Playground arriving before the end of the year and the long-awaited update to Siri arriving in early 2025.
3. The Loop Dream helped us sleep well
Loop has released its latest noise-reducing earbuds, Loop Dream, which are specifically designed for sleep. Offering the highest noise cancellation in the Loop range at 27 dB, Loop Dream features redesigned oval tips that place less pressure on your ear canal and a new silicone-coated loop that keeps the earbuds in the cavity of your ear.
These nifty little buttons proved to be hugely useful for our Managing Editor of Lifestyle, who has been using them for the past three weeks – and ended up sleeping well with them.
2. Nvidia has apparently gone crazy with the prices of the next generation of GPUs
It’s been a rough ride for Nvidia from the rumor mill this week, and the most glaring speculation came regarding the alleged price tags Team Green could slap on RTX 5000 graphics cards when they arrive (likely early next year). We were seriously shocked to discover that Nvidia is apparently considering β and it’s just a consideration at this point β a price point between $1,999 and $2,499 for the flagship RTX 5090. And the leaker who shared this β YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead β thinks that the company is looking more at the $2.5,000 mark, rather than just two thousand dollars. Yes.
Additionally, Nvidia may be considering taking the RTX 5080 from $1,199 to $1,499, and the RTX 5070 could go for $599 to $699. We should note that it’s an RTX 5070 that may come equipped with just 12GB of VRAM, adding to the outrage surrounding this week’s Nvidia-related leaks.
What’s going on with these prices? We’re honestly a bit baffled, but a theory suggesting that Nvidia may be testing the response to these prices as the numbers inevitably leak out could offer some hope that a turnaround will happen here of course. Come on, Nvidia, don’t do this to us. The worst part is, in some ways, it seems almost inevitable these days that Team Green will push the boundaries when it comes to expensive, and even worse, this also gives AMD no incentive to price more competitively with RDNA 4 GPUs. when they arrive. Meh…
1. Panasonic unveiled the world’s smallest full-frame zoom lens
Panasonic’s new Lumix S 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 became the world’s smallest and lightest zoom lens with autofocus for full-frame cameras β and forms an ideal combination with the Lumix S9 mirrorless camera, which also received a major firmware update announced. plus improvements to Panasonic’s Lumix Lab app.
Weighing just 0.34 lb/155 g and measuring just 40.9mm in length when retracted, the 18-40mm is definitely small, but still offers a wider than average 18mm perspective that’s ideal for videographers, weatherproofing, focus breathing suppression and decent close-range focusing capabilities β just 0.15m/0.49ft. It’s exactly the lens that Panasonic’s polarizing Lumix S9 for content creators needed, a camera we labeled “small, simple, powerful and flawed” in our comprehensive Lumix S9 review, but whose compact form factor is rather redundant felt without an additional L-mount lens. That changed with the new 18-40mm which, together with the firmware update, gives the Lumix S9 a second wind and could realize its potential as one of the best YouTube cameras.