Lenovo bendy phones, again?
Lenovo’s Tech World ‘23 is in full swing, and it’s brought all the wacky stuff you’d expect to see from the company’s showcase. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang showed up alongside 2023’s favourite keyword – but that’s not what caught our eye. That honour fell to Motorola’s bendy phone concept, which popped its head out for a couple of minutes before being returned to the vaults until Lenovo Tech World ‘29 or something.
Motorola’s bendy phone concept (that’s the technical term) first showed up at the 2016 event, crunching itself into a watch-style bracelet before it was shuttered. Now, it’s made some minor improvements, according to the folks over at The Verge. There are no longer any ominous crunches when it wraps itself around your wrist and will even pull off a couple more poses. It’s kept the generous OLED display, too, but that’s about all that could be gleamed from the phone’s two minutes of fame.
Motorola’s opting to keep this one in the concept column for now. It’s nowhere near ready enough for the masses, with the wearer still needing what looks like a magnetic wristband to keep the phone from flying off the cuff. That’s without all the other issues it poses; like how it might work for calls, or when you want to rest your wrist on the table. Maybe Motorola will figure all that out eventually but don’t expect anything this decade (if ever).
Nissan’s Hyper Force EV looks like a videogame come to life
If you’ve seen Nissan’s Hyper Force EV concept that debuted at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 and wondered what sort of interior and GUI (graphical user interface) it’ll be rocking, we’ve finally got an idea. Nissan is teaming up with Gran Turismo developer, Polyphony Digital, to draw up the car’s interior.
If you’ve played Gran Turismo (or watched the giant ad for it) you can guess what the EV’s insides are going to look like. Futuristic, customizable and will arrive in two modes; “a high-performance R (Racing) mode and a GT (Grand Touring) mode for smooth and comfortable driving.”
Whether the car will ever make it to the manufacturing line, we’re not so sure. Our guess is no. Nissan’s putting on a bit of a show for the Japan Mobility Show to celebrate its 90th anniversary and is being displayed alongside several other concept cars that probably won’t ever see the light of day, either.
Lego’s got a Dune set on the way complete with a (really) tall Baron
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two was slated to hit theatres next Friday. That’s not happening and there’s no use moaning about it. The revised 15 March 2024 release isn’t that far away. And anyways, Lego’s keeping Herbert fans occupied in the meantime with something new from the Icons line-up – the Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter, which is about as gorgeous as you’d expect.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until 1 February to start building. But there’s nothing stopping you (besides your bank balance) from putting your name down for a pre-order today. You’ll need to cough up $165 for the privilege and preferably be an adult. Lego is stressing the model’s “premium quality” and the fact that it’s best kept out of reach of children. Although, we doubt the average Dune fan has kids running around the place.
Once you’ve assembled all 1,369 pieces, it’s got foldable (and flappable) wings that need playing with. It’s also got deployable landing gear, and room for seven of the eight included minifigures. See, Lego’s stuck to the source material, and kept Baron Vladimir Harkonnen standing around four times taller than the rest of the cast. It’s awesome. And frankly, a little distracting. That’s the idea, we guess.
Expect the set to hit greatyellowbrick shortly after the 1 February release date overseas.
YouTube’s Playlists finally get an update
We’re not sure why, but ever since YouTube Music’s inception, customers have never been able to change the cover art on custom playlists. It’s not exactly necessary but can add a bit of personality to your mix. That changes today. You won’t be able to upload anything custom, but you can now use generative AI to design something for you.
It’s an odd decision. We’re not coders, but we can’t imagine it being difficult to incorporate custom images into playlists. Spotify’s been doing it for years without hassle. Still, this is a step in the right direction. To get started, hit the pen icon in the bottom right of your cover art and select the category that best suits the vibe – such as food and drink, animals, travel or nature.
From there you can completely randomize the selection or choose from one of the several pre-written prompts on offer. A pug “in the style of a Medieval Gothic painting,” is one of the prompts available, but don’t expect much more variety than that. Make your selections and the AI will spit out a choice of five images. Pick the best one, and it’ll be saved to the cover of your playlist.
Having pre-written prompts isn’t exactly what we were after here. We’ll take it – it’s better than nothing – but it does leave things a little… unoriginal. We were expecting YouTube Music’s first foray into AI to come out looking a bit more similar to Spotify’s AI DJ than this. Maybe it’s a sign of things to come.
For now, YouTube’s uninspired AI efforts are limited to English users in the US, but YouTube says to “stay tuned for expansion to other regions and languages globally.” We’ll do that but don’t expect to jump for joy either.