Month: February 2023

Enlarge (credit: OnePlus)

OnePlus is finally ready to detail its first mechanical keyboard. No, we didn't need another company to start making mechanical keyboards. But if you're looking for a new Bluetooth keyboard that plays particularly well with Macs, has a compact layout, and a rotary knob that looks stylish and functional, OnePlus will have one more choice for you come April.

Announced today, OnePlus is jumping into the mechanical keyboard race with a strange name, the Featuring Keyboard 81 Pro. The "81" refers to the key count, while "Pro" is assumably meant to make workers and power users think the keyboard's a good fit; but the name doesn't quite roll off the tongue. The outlier here is the "Featuring" bit, which refers to the OnePlus Featuring "co-creation" platform that builds products based off user feedback. Community users are said to have contributed to the 81 Pro's design, including its proprietary switches. OnePlus' press release today claimed it will release "many" more Featuring products.

OnePlus-y touches include a logo-stamped Esc key. (credit: OnePlus/Twitter)

Another huge influence on the 81 Pro is keyboard-maker Keychron, which is said to have helped engineer the product. That includes its layout, which matches the layout of the Q1 Pro that Keychron is currently crowdfunding. In addition to macOS, the keyboard is supposed to work with Windows, Linux, and Android, OnePlus' press release said. The keyboard's product page also claims support with iOS. Similar to some wireless Keychron keyboards, like the Keychron K14, there's a toggle on the keyboard's side for switching from Mac to Windows. Considering the lack of USB-A ports among Macs, the Bluetooth 5.1 keyboard charges over a USB-C to USB-C cable (there's also a USB-C to USB-A adapter).

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto)

Elon Musk says Twitter has stabilized its finances after being close to bankruptcy, but the company still faces money problems and at least seven lawsuits alleging it stopped paying bills after Musk bought the social network. A new report says an attempt to boost Twitter Blue subscription revenue isn't paying off much yet, and a plan to charge for API access has angered users and developers.

In a tweet on Sunday, Musk said he's had an "extremely tough" three months because he "had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties... Wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!"

Musk had said on November 4, 2022, that Twitter was losing over $4 million a day. He reduced Twitter's expenses by laying off half its staff, terminating thousands of contractors, and issuing an ultimatum that caused many employees to resign. After the cost-cutting spree, he reportedly said on a podcast in late December that "we've got the expenses reasonably under control, so the company's not in the fast lane to bankruptcy anymore."

Enlarge / Mozilla's current logo for Firefox. (credit: Mozilla)

Companies like Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft have versions of their web browsers on Apple's iOS and iPadOS App Stores, but these versions come with a big caveat: The App Store rules require them to use Safari's WebKit rendering engine rather than the engines those browsers use in other operating systems.

But that could be changing. According to The Register, Google and Mozilla have recently been spotted working on versions of Chromium and Firefox that use their normal Blink and Gecko rendering engines, respectively.

Apple hasn't announced any rule changes. The correlated activity from Google and Mozilla could suggest that they're expecting Apple to drop its restrictions on third-party browser engines in the near future, or the companies could simply be hedging their bets. Regulatory pressure from multiple governments is pushing Apple in the direction of loosening many of its App Store restrictions, including (begrudgingly) accepting third-party payment services and sideloading of apps and third-party app stores.

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  The OnePlus 11. [credit: OnePlus ]

After the OnePlus 11's debut in China last month, the phone is finally making it to US shores. Preorders open today, and it ships on February 16. The phone's US price is $100 lower than last year's release, which may help it out in the currently terrible smartphone economy. The OnePlus 11 starts at $699, or $100 less than the base model Galaxy S23 that was announced just last week and $200 less than the OnePlus 10.

OnePlus is wiping the floor with Samsung on pricing this year. Besides its lower price, the OnePlus 11 is a higher-tier device than the base model Galaxy S23, with better specs and more features. Compared to the S23, the OnePlus 11 has a way bigger screen (6.7-inches versus 6.1 inches), a much bigger battery (5000 mAh versus 3900 mAh), Wi-Fi 7 support (which Samsung doesn't offer at any price), and dramatically faster charging (80 W versus 25 W). Samsung's similarly specced Galaxy S23 Ultra costs $1,200 and still would not cleanly win a spec sheet battle against OnePlus' $700 device.

OnePlus did make some cuts to get the price down. The device is only rated "IP64" for dust and water resistance. That's the usual amount of dust resistance, but while something like IP68 would be good for total submersion in water, IP64 is only good for "splashes of water," and it would certainly be nice to have better water resistance.

Enlarge / Mercedes-Benz Vans eSprinter will go on sale in the US in the second half of 2023, then Europe before the end of the year. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)

On Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz debuted its latest electric vehicle, and this time it's not a sedan or an SUV. It's the eSprinter, an electrified version of Mercedes-Benz Vans' workhorse, and it goes on sale in North America later this year, with European sales set to follow sometime before the end of 2023.

American consumers have mostly given up on the van, but on the commercial side of things, the shed-on-wheels appears to be gaining in popularity, especially since European imports like the Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter started strutting their stuff on US roads.

The eSprinter's high-voltage electronics live under the hood. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)

Ford was the first to electrify its commercial van; we drove the E-Transit at the beginning of 2022. Now it will have competition for emissions-free vantime, at least once the eSprinter goes on sale in the second half of this year. Production is scheduled to start in Düsseldorf, Germany, and then eSprinters will also be built in Ludwigsfelde, Germany, and Charleston, South Carolina, in time.