Features

The launch of Google Stadia is right around the corner, and Google will be launching the service with little in the way of competition. At the moment, Sony is really the only major player in the streaming space with its PlayStation Now service, but Stadia certainly sounds much more ambitious. Over the past several months, Google has trickle released information about Stadia and what users can expect, and now that we’re just about a week out from release, I can confidently say that Stadia is not the service for me (at least not at the start).

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I’ve always been a huge fan of the Audi R8, particularly the V10 model. Sure, I too mourned the demise of the V8 in the second-generation Type 4S R8, and back when the R8 first launched in 2007, it was unlike anything I’ve seen before. The Audi Rosemeyer Concept from early 2000 and Audi Le Mans Quattro concept both surged into my mind as I watched six-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx drive the R8 for the first time. The R8 was Audi’s first-ever supercar, and boy was it revolutionary in terms of design. Whether Porsche was ready to accept it or not, it was time for the 911 to have some proper competition, and the Audi R8 was the answer.

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Black Friday is coming but the holiday shopping season isn't waiting for its traditional kick-off, though while tech deals may be everywhere you look, there are some gadgets I won't be putting into my cart. Smart speakers and, more recently, smart displays have become a go-to gift for many over the past few years, but in 2019 they may not be quite so warmly received.

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There’s a lot riding on Volkswagen’s first-ever ID.3 electric car. As I watched the first production model ID.3 roll off the assembly line, you couldn't miss the newfound sense of pride among the 8,000 or so employees inside VW’s Zwickau factory, which was converted recently from a large car manufacturing plant into what the automaker claims is the Mecca of e-mobility.

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Not all foldable phones have a crease down the center of the display: some of them, like the LG G8X ThinQ and its LG Dual Screen accessory, have a hinge instead. The South Korean phone-maker's second attempt at a twin-display Android smartphone is also its first try at the US market, with aggressive pricing and a cautious feature-set to test the waters.

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The Polestar 1 behind me fills the rear view mirror, low and broad, a shark among minnows on the highway. There's something about the proportions that encourage a second-glance; after all, you can't really credit brand recognition for the number of hungry stares, hastily-pointed phone cameras, and blunt fascination the sleek 2+2 coupe engenders.

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Google's Nest Wifi arrives as mesh networking is firmly embedding itself in the mainstream. Three years ago, Google Wifi surfed into homes at the bleeding edge of mesh, promising whole-home coverage with multiple interconnected routers filling in any dead spots. Now, Nest Wifi promises the same, only with fewer units and the addition of Google Assistant smart speaker functionality.

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If the AirPods' convenience was enough to make Apple's fully-wireless earbuds a runaway hit, adding active noise cancellation could send them stratospheric. That's the theory behind the Apple AirPods Pro, anyway, instantly familiar at first glance but packing the sort of sound isolation that city dwellers, office workers, and frequent fliers dream of. At $249 they may not be cheap, but can the AirPods Pro make up for that in the ears?

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We're suddenly in a golden age for active noise cancelling headphones, and the Beats Solo Pro are aiming to oust the Bose from your bag with some Apple razzle-dazzle. The latest iteration of Beats' wildly successful headphones range, the Solo Pro were redesigned from scratch with Apple's H1 chipset at the heart, and a fully-automatic noise-cancelling system to keep the outside world at bay. Read on for the full review.

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They're the Apple product many have been waiting for: AirPods Pro bring active noise cancellation to the instantly-recognizable white earbuds. Joining, rather than replacing, the existing AirPods range, they're not exactly cheap at $249, but for frequent travelers or urban commuters deep in the Apple ecosystem they could be a godsend. I've been wearing AirPods Pro this week: read on for what already stands out.

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I owned a fair number of games for the Sega Genesis when I was a kid, but two that will forever stick out are The Lion King and Aladdin. Though I played both games for hours on end, I’ve only ever managed to actually beat just one of them: Aladdin. Aladdin was a game that was difficult enough on its own, but it didn’t hold a candle to the sadistic challenge of The Lion King. I have seen the end of The Lion King, but I didn’t get there through determination and skill. No, I had to use a Game Genie to get infinite lives and invincibility or to skip levels. Despite the amount of time I sunk into that game, I never managed to beat it legitimately.

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Numbers. When it comes to the all-new 2020 Ford Shelby GT500, it's all about the numbers. Well, numbers and obsession. By far the meanest, and fastest iteration of the sixth-generation Mustang S550, when the invite hits your inbox you're already expecting ridiculous numbers. Turns out, if exorbitant horsepower and torque at your disposal is your guiding star, the new Shelby GT500 will outshine just about everything else in the muscle car scene.

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