Apple has officially announced HomeView, its long-rumored smart home hub, priced at $299 in the US. It comes in two versions, a tabletop model and a wall-mounted one, both built around a 7-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone that ranges from 500 nits down to just 0.3 nits. The tabletop model sits on a domed speaker base with a down-firing woofer, attached through a tilting stainless steel hinge. Inside, there's an A18 chip with Secure Exclaves, which Apple says keeps camera and microphone data separate from the rest of the system.

HomeView leans heavily on Apple's new Siri AI, which is still in beta on the device. Personal context features need a paired Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone or iPad, and some server-side features come with daily limits, with paid expanded access planned for later. The hub also recognizes up to six people by face, each with their own Home Screen. Smart home control covers Matter accessories as well as Apple's new Home Collection, designed with LG and Schneider Electric and arriving in December.

Gearbox and 2K today opened Borderlands 4 pre-orders, with the rather unexpected $69.99 base game price resulting in a simultaneous sigh of relief following the gaming industry's recent move towards $80 AAA games. Following the pre-order launch, Borderlands 4's Steam page revealed the game's minimum system requirements as a bit of a mixed bag. According to the Steam page, the new looter shooter will only run on an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, but this seems to largely be related to VRAM, since the minimum requirements also mentions that 8 GB is the minimum VRAM amount. An SSD and an eight-core CPU—listed as the AMD Ryzen 2700X or Intel Core i7-9700—will also be mandatory for Borderlands 4. Even the recommended specifications for Borderlands 4 are rather moderate, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6800 XT making the cut.

In addition to the reasonable PC specs, news also broke about an ECHO-4 Collector's Edition, a curious edition to the line-up of special edition bundles for Borderlands 4 that seems to be exclusive to GameStop for now. The Echo-4 Collector's Edition bundle is a host of physical Borderlands 4 memorabilia, including a cloth map of Kairos, an eight-inch Echo-4 figure with LED lights, a Vault symbol necklace, a card with five SHiFT codes for Borderlands 4 golden keys, and four double-sided lithography art prints—all for $149.99. The one glaring omission from the Echo-4 bundle is an actual game key for Borderlands 4. That is clearly labelled as "sold separately" on the GameStop page.

Einarex is a young company that seems to put a lot of effort into building its reputation. Since we saw them this year at CES Las Vegas, we stopped at their Computex booth to see what they've created since then. It seems that aside from the Prisma, Pulse, and Zenith PC case series, they have quite a few more interesting items, such as new cases, air and liquid coolers, fans and even power supplies under the Nexus and Apex series.

The Snow is a spacious tower case with full front and side glass panels. If you prefer a more classic design you can take a look at the Rack series that features a grille-style front panel, a glass side panel and a large display at the bottom. The Prisma series received the SM501D—slightly less inspired naming than Snow—a case that offers a panoramic view in a more compact format. Pulse series received a surprisingly good-looking PM200 "Small Frame, Big Game" case with perforated panels all over. Of course, their booth had the shiny-reflective Prisma S800 and the elegant Pulse PM400 with its wooden grille front panel up on display as we already saw them in January.

Blink, an Amazon company, today announced the next-generation Blink Mini 2. The new Blink camera packs a punch in a compact, weather-resistant design that can now be used indoors or outdoors with the purchase of the new Blink Weather Resistant Power Adapter (sold as part of a bundle or separately). Blink Mini 2 offers enhanced image quality with improved low light performance, a wider field of view, and a built-in LED spotlight for night view in color. Powered by the company's custom-built chip, Blink Mini 2 utilizes on-device computer vision (CV) to support smart notifications, including person detection, which is available with a Blink Subscription Plan (sold separately).

"It is clear customers love Blink—in fact, the Blink business has grown 5x over the last four years," said Liz Hamren, chief executive officer at Blink. "We are building on this momentum with the addition of Mini 2 to Blink's affordable and easy-to-use suite of devices. Mini 2 was rebuilt from the inside out, keeping everything customers expect from Blink while adding even more utility through features like person detection, all at an incredible price point."

Amazon today introduced a range of new Echo devices designed for even more personalized, proactive, and intuitive Alexa experiences at home and on-the-go—the next-generation Echo Show 8, all-new Echo Hub, and new Echo Frames. In addition, Amazon collaborated with Safilo, one of the world's leading eyewear manufacturers, to blend the power of Alexa with iconic Carrera designs.

"Engagement with Echo devices is at an all-time high," said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV. "Customers rely on Alexa for so much, including managing their smart homes, keeping up with the latest news, setting birthday reminders, and keeping their homes stocked with essentials. These new Echo devices give customers more ways to experience the world's best personal AI—and the growing generative AI capabilities that will be coming to Alexa soon—at home and on the go."

Amazon today introduced a new lineup of Echo products—the all-new Echo Pop, Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 5 Kids, and all-new Echo Buds—offering customers even more choice in how they access Alexa. In addition, Echo Auto is now available to customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

"Customers around the world love Alexa as their trusted, personal AI—they've now purchased well over half a billion Alexa-enabled devices, and use of Alexa increased 35 percent last year," said Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa. "These new devices give customers more options and more utility at incredible value. And as with every Echo device we've shipped, they will only continue to get better as we add even more generative AI powered experiences for Alexa throughout the year."

Amazon today introduced the next generation of Echo Dot and Echo Auto, giving you more ways to bring the convenience of Alexa to every room of your home and into your car. In addition, Amazon announced a new generation of Echo Dot Kids with new designs, significant audio improvements to Echo Studio, and a host of new features for Alexa—including a new Fire TV experience on Echo Show 15.

"A true ambient experience is there to simplify your day-to-day life when you need it and fades into the background when you don't. This generation of Echo devices are designed with this vision in mind," said Nedim Fresko, vice president of Amazon Alexa Devices. "With the upgraded audio and compact form factors, each of these new devices give customers more ways to make Alexa a seamless part of their day. And, with the new sensors and technology built in to Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock, customers can have Alexa do even more on their behalf."