ASUS’s ROG Swift is the ‘world’s first’ 500Hz G-Sync gaming monitor

ASUS has unveiled what it calls the “world’s first” 500Hz G-Sync gaming display, the 1080p ROG Swift 500Hz. Designed for competitive gaming, it uses an “E-TN” (eSports TN) panel and incorporates NVIDIA’s G-Sync eSports to maximize motion it clarity. It also uses NVIDIA’s Reflex Analyzer technology that delivers real-time stats to help you reduce end-to-end latency if you’re using a Reflex-optimized mouse and NVIDIA GPU.

The key highlight is the 500Hz refresh rate that draws eight times faster than typical 60Hz displays, ASUS notes. The company is also promising 60 percent better response times than standard TN panels, thanks to the new eSports TN tech. It also uses something ASUS calls an enhanced Vibrance mode that’s built right into the monitor’s firmware. It’s supposed to let more light through the LCD crystals, boosting color vibrancy and “allowing you to pick out details and highlights that might give away an enemy’s position,” it said.

500Hz G-Sync eSports displays are specifically tuned for competitive games like CS:GO, Valorant, Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege. NVIDIA also announced four new Reflex-supported games: Icarus, My Time at Sandrock, Soda Crisis and Warstride Challenges.

NVIDIA also released a video (below) showing the benefits of higher refresh rates including animation smoothness for easier target tracking, minimal ghosting and improved system latency. It “benefits every game and gamer, not just competitive games and eSports games,” NVIDIA wrote in its own press release. 

Canon’s EOS R7 and EOS R10 are its first EOS R crop-sensor cameras

Canon has launched its first EOS R APS-C crop sensor cameras, the 32-megapixel EOS R7 and 24-megapixel EOS R10. The new models bring Canon’s APS-C and full-frame RF series in alignment, so you can finally use lenses interchangeably, much as you can wit…

Starlink launches satellite internet for RVs that costs $25 more

Starlink has launched a new product meant specifically for RV dwellers and those who can’t wait to get connected to the satellite internet service. While applying for a regular Starlink dish and service will put customers in a waitlist until 2023, Starlink for RVs is immediately available and will ship out to buyers right now. The downside? Network resources are always de-prioritized for it, and the service costs $135, which is $25 more than a regular Starlink connection. 

In other words, the RV option costs just as much as a regular Starlink connection with the Portability feature introduced back in March that allows customers to use the service while they’re away from home. A regular connection requires one to have a home service first, though, and that may not be possible for some people. Another difference is that the product for RVs gives customers the ability to pause and un-pause service, so they can control when their billing starts and ends. 

Since the network is de-prioritized for the RV service, though, users’ connection might be slow and intermittent in congested areas and during peak hours. “Stated speeds and uninterrupted use of the service are not guaranteed,” the company wrote in its Help page, clearly making sure interested customers understand that it’s prioritizing at-home users. One important thing to note for those looking into the RV option is that they can’t use Starlink while in motion at this time. SpaceX chief Elon Musk also added on Twitter that the dish is too big for cars, though that didn’t stop at least one user from bolting it onto their vehicle’s hood.

Sony 在台發表搭載「認知智慧處理器 XR」的 2022 年款 Bravia 電視

Sony 今日在線上舉辦了發表會，推出 2022 年款的新一代 Bravia 電視。它們共同點就是搭載了 Sony 新的「認知智慧處理器 XR」，號稱可以以「超越傳統 AI 、仿人腦感知的高效運作，即時且精細地處理影音內容」。…

Google is testing a smaller, modular Street View camera system

Street View for Google Maps launched 15 years ago this week, and Google is taking advantage of the anniversary to drop some updates, including a major update to the Street View mapping hardware. The one most people can immediately enjoy, though, is the ability to “go back in time” on Street View using Google Maps for Android or iOS. This feature has been available on the web for a while now, but it’s being added to the Maps app for the first time. Accessing this historical data is pretty straightforward: just get into Street View and tap anywhere on the image to pull up details about the location. After that, you’ll find a “see more dates” option that pulls in all other Street View captures for the location. 

Obviously, this will only work for locations where Google has a lot of historical Street View data, so what you’ll be able to find will vary widely by location. Google says that how often it scans areas for Street View depends on factors like how frequently the area changes, how popular it is and how difficult it is to get to. Street View first launched in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver, so those places will have the oldest historical data for the curious.

For those interested in the hardware Google uses to get Street View data, the company is announcing a big update to its camera system. Google says that the new camera (pictured above) has all the resolution and processing capabilities that are in the full Street View car, but it’s a 15-pound device that is “roughly the size of a house cat.” The company hopes this will make it easier to get data from under-mapped areas of the world; one example of such a place Google gave was the Amazon jungle. 

A camera system this small, relatively speaking, will be a lot easier for Google to deploy in more areas — it can be shipped anywhere and mounted to any type of vehicle. As long as it has a roof rack, Google says it’ll be good to go. Google says that historically, it had to create totally new camera systems to fit whatever area they wanted to capture, but the new camera is modular and customizable.

 It’ll serve as the “base” system that can be added to should the circumstances require it. For example, Google notes that the new camera doesn’t have the lidar scanners typically found on Street View cars that operate in cities, but they can be added on when they’re needed. Google says that the new camera system is being tested now and expects it’ll fully roll out in 2023. 

Finally, Google is adding four new collections of Street View imagery from some pretty noteworthy locales. The Pyramids of Meroë in Sudan, The Duomo in Milan, Les Invalides in Paris and the Sydney Ferries in Australia (the last one is coming later this year). The Duomo in particular shows off the inside of the largest cathedral in Italy as well as the exterior, while there’s a virtual tour available of Les Invalides in Paris. To check these new sites out, visit Google’s blog for direct links.

Logitech MX Mechanical: A gaming keyboard for work without all the RGB

Logitech’s MX Master mice are simply unmatched when it comes to premium productivity (despite what my colleague James says). However, while I like the Craft and MX Keys, the company’s keyboards don’t enjoy quite the same level of dominance. But after t…