The Asus ROG Phone 8 series — demonstrated at CES 2024 in Las Vegas last week — is generating excellent reviews for its gaming capabilities and additional praise for its functionality as a smartphone. The devices start at $1,100 and tick up to an entry level of $1,500 for the ROG Phone 8 Pro. Asus calls the ROG Phone 8 series “the biggest redesign in its history,” and says it has evolved from just a gaming phone into a device suitable for streamers and content creators. At the heart of that is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform, supported by 8,533 Mbps LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. Read more

Sennheiser has updated its flagship Momentum True Wireless earbuds, adding support for Qualcomm’s aptX audio tech. The company also debuted a Momentum Sport edition that tracks heart rate and body temperature. The Momentum True Wireless 4 promises “unparalleled sound,” combining Sennheiser’s audio expertise with Qualcomm’s S5 Sound Gen 2 platform and Snapdragon Sound Technology with aptX for lossless sound and ultra-low latency. Boasting 7.5 hours of continuous listening, the new buds come in black copper, metallic silver, and graphite for $300. The more rugged Momentum Sport with biometric features lists for $330. Read more

After announcing in 2020 plans to launch a movie and TV show rental marketplace, media streaming platform Plex is finally taking the plunge. Following what has been described as “false starts,” including delays due to COVID-19, news broke at CES 2024 that the company will go public with its rental offering in February. The streaming media software maker has confirmed it will enter the TVOD (transactional video on demand) market to augment the ad-supported streaming that is its primary revenue source. Plex reportedly has “most studios” onboard, though it has yet to specify which ones. Read more

Paramount Global’s Pluto TV free streaming television service is adding a pop-up channel for NFL fans for the weeks leading up to Super Bowl LVIII on CBS. The new programming joins an NFL channel that Pluto TV launched in 2019 to showcase game coverage with news, replays and original shows. Airing 24/7 through February 21, the “NFL Super Bowl Classics” channel will feature past Super Bowl games and specials. Viewers can find the channel on the Pluto TV app or connected TV devices in the Sports category. Game replays will stream sequentially with specials and docuseries interspersed. Read more

HP has updated its popular flagship laptop, the HP Spectre x360, and the early reviews are quite impressive. HP has added Intel Core Ultra processors with neural processing for AI tasks and a 9MP webcam and Wi-Fi 7 capability. The Spectre x360 14 features a 14-inch screen and Intel Arc integrated graphics processing, while the Spectre x360 16 screen is two-inches larger, and includes the option to add an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. Both OLED screens display at 2,880 x 1,800, 120 Hz, with VESA True Black HDR 400. The 2-in-1 laptops use Intel’s latest H series chips, which are 14th generation, Meteor Lake, integrating both x86 and Arm cores on the same chip. Read more