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It's Thursday, September 19, 2019. Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.  This morning, we’re looking at Facebook’s next attempt at making hardware, and investigating the appeal of an indoor/outdoor Sonos speaker. Plus, the iPhone 11 Pro Max isn’t out yet, but thanks to a Chinese regulatory agency, we know a bit more about the phone’s specs. Last but not least, we'll take a look at the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo laptop and its 14-inch second screen.
(View in browser.) Which is exactly what you wanted, right?  The second time around, Facebook’s Portal devices look more like picture frames than smart displays. The 2019 Portal has a 10-inch HD display (1,280 x 800), while the Portal Mini has an 8-inch HD display (also 1,280 x 800). The Portal and Portal Mini are standalone smart displays that retail for $179 and $129, respectively. | | Take your multiroom audio system outside.  The Move is the first Sonos with Bluetooth and is ready to work just about anywhere you want to put it. It brings a rugged weather-resistant design, good battery life and good sound quality, but at its $399 price, there are other options that sound even better. | | The 14-inch ScreenPad Plus acts like a monitor.  It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a productivity hound used to working across multiple displays on desktops, the ZenBook Pro Duo could be the laptop that satisfies you. | | Sponsored Content by Stack Commerce | | Going from game to social network with one new feature.  Party Hub is an all-new cross-platform voice-chat app that lets Fortnite players socialize even when they're not playing the game. It's based on technology from Houseparty, the group video chat app that Epic Games acquired in June. | | The company explains why this electrified car doesn’t use a typical battery.  According to Lamborghini CTO Maurizio Reggiani, the Sian’s supercapacitor offers three times the power of a battery pack from the same weight and packaging, while also storing and discharging energy much quicker. The spent power can be fully regenerated very quickly during normal braking. Plus, the supercapacitor doesn't have to cool down like a traditional battery, it's just ready to go at all times with 819 horsepower -- which is exactly what Lamborghini owners want. | | The iPhone 11 Pro comes with the same amount of RAM and a 3,046 mAh battery.  Documents Apple filed with Chinese regulatory agency, TENAA, confirm more details than the company gives up on its own. Specifically, they indicate the iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a 3,969 mAh battery -- 800 mAh more than last year’s iPhone XS Max -- and 4GB of RAM. That explains why Apple claims the Pro Max model can last up to five hours longer than the iPhone XS Max. We’ll get final specs when the phone is released and folks like iFixit tear one apart, but these numbers explain the long battery life noted in our iPhone 11 Pro review. | | The Taptic Engine alone accounts for one-quarter of the rare earth metals used to make an iPhone. The Taptic Engine is the tiny actuator that generates the iPhone's haptic feedback -- like the faux home button ‘click’ in iPhone 7 and subsequent vibrational feedback in the series. According to Reuters, the Taptic Engine accounts for about a quarter of the rare earth metals used in the manufacturing of a single iPhone.
The company will source the recycled materials from an outside supplier, but Apple adds that it's also working on a way to use robots to recover rare earth metals. Besides the environmental benefits, the move could help Apple weather a potential supply shortage. China currently mines 80 percent of the world's supply of rare-earth metals, and the country has threatened to limit these exports to the US if the trade war between the two countries continues to escalate. Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said that it was a happy coincidence where “what was good for the planet is really good for business at the same time." | | The fuel cell-powered Hyundai Nexo also qualified.  The Tesla Model 3 has joined the Audi E-Tron as one of the safest cars on the road, earning a Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The organization said that the Model 3 earned "good" ratings across the board for tricky accidents like driver- and passenger-side "small overlap front" crashes (below). It also did well to avoid collisions in the first place during 12 mph and 25 mph track tests.
In a statement, chief IIHS research officer David Zuby said that when it comes to EVs and fuel cell vehicles: "There's no need to trade away safety for a lower carbon footprint when choosing a vehicle." | | But wait, there's more... | | | |
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