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Spring has certainly sprung here at Engadget. Well, it has in terms of reviews, at least. We've put over a dozen devices through their paces since my last roundup, which gives you a lot to catch up on over the weekend. Read on for the rundown of all the reviews you might've missed.
ASUS ZenBook A16
ASUS' ZenBook A14 didn't live up to our expectations last year, but now the company is back with a 16-inch machine and a shot at redemption: the A16. "Compatibility issues aside, the ZenBook A16 delivers just about everything I want in an ultraportable," senior reporter Devindra Hardawar said. "It's got a gorgeous OLED screen and all of the ports you need. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite chips also give it a much-needed power boost. And best of all, it's one of the lightest and sleekest 16-inch Windows laptops I've come across."
Apple AirPods Max 2
Until this year, Apple's only updates to the AirPods Max were new colors and a USB-C port. The company finally gave its
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OpenAI has closed a yawning gap in its ChatGPT subscription pricing with a new $100 per month Pro plan that slots between the $20 per month Plus plan and $200 per month Pro plan. Offering five times more Codex than the $20 option, it appears designed to challenge Anthropic's $100 per month Claude option. "Compared with Claude Code, Codex delivers more coding capacity per dollar across paid tiers," an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch.
So what's the difference between OpenAI's two Pro plans? The $200 version does offer four times the Codex. However, you get the same advanced tools and models with $100 plan, according to OpenAI's product page. To encourage users to jump in, it will offer double the Codex for a limited time, or 10 times what you get with the Plus plan.
Users have been screaming for such a plan for a while now, according to posts on OpenAI's developer community forums. "The Plus plan will continue to be the best offer at $20 for steady, day-to-day usage of Codex, and the new $100 Pro tier offers a more accessible upgrade path for heavier daily use," OpenAI said in a post on X.
With the launch of GPT 5.2 late last year and GPT-5.3-Codex in February, OpenAI significantly boosted the speed and reasoning capabilities of Codex, giving developers a tough choice between ChatGPT and Claude Opus. However, the sticking point for many power users was ChatGPT's $200 per month price — so OpenAI
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This charging station features four three-prong AC outlets oriented in opposite directions so your bulky plugs don't get in the way of each other. And you know how all your USB power adapters take up so much room on your power strip? This solves that problem with built-in USB ports along the bottom edge—two USB-C, two USB-A—so those AC outlets can be reserved for importance stuff (like monitors).
As far as power, the main USB-C maxes out at 20W, the secondary USB-C at 15W, and the USB-A ports at 12W. When multiple ports are used at the same time, they typically max out around 15W shared (except for the USB-As, which max out at 12W shared). While that's far from "super fast" charging speeds, it's still plenty speedy for a budget-friendly charging station that's meant to be used while you're at home for a while.
I also love this charging station's flat profile—measuring 4.72 x 3.15 inches and only 0.71 inches thick—and the AC outlets recess when you aren't using them, so the whole thing takes up less space than your typical power strip and feels quite sleek. The power cord is 5 feet long so you can position it almost anywhere, and the end plug is flat and angled so you can easily reach it behind furniture hassle-free.
You can't go wrong with this, especially at this price. Get this 8-in-1 Anker
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New UK government surveillance laws are so over-reaching that tech companies can't possibly meet all of their requirements, according to Apple, which argues the measures will make the online world far less safe.
Apple, WhatsApp, Meta all threaten to quit UK messaging
The UK Home Office is pushing proposals to extend the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) with a range of proposals that effectively require messaging providers such as Apple, WhatsApp, or Meta to install backdoors into their services. All three services are now threatening to withdraw messaging apps from the UK market if the changes move forward.
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