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hybrid

The Best Hybrid Mattresses for Couples, Back Pain, and More (2025)

by admin September 20, 2025

As a side sleeper who struggles with chronic illness, I require support and pressure relief in a mattress. This is where I like the Saatva Rx as a specialty option for those dealing with literal pain points. The Rx, if you couldn’t already infer from the name, was designed for more medically inclined situations where you need to treat joints with care.

By following a hybrid design of therapeutic foams and pocketed coils, the Rx manages to pull this off. While this may not be the firmest option to support sleepers with back pain, WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell found that the softer appeal speaks to side sleepers. She reports that her joints felt weightless with no pressure buildup. The Rx features an organic cotton cover, support quilting, and a focused layer in the middle of the bed for lumbar support, incorporating microcoils, phase change material, and graphite-infused memory foams. Additionally, it includes pocketed coils, with extra reinforcement on the edges for enhanced edge support. Another perk for pain purposes? This mattress also comes with included white glove delivery, so you won’t have to handle the setup and removal of your old mattress.

MaterialsOrganic cotton cover, lumbar support foam, gel infused foam, graphite- and phase change material-infused foam, micro coils, pocketed coilsCertificationsCertiPur-US certified foams, GreenGuard GoldFirmnessSupportive plushHeight12 inchesTrial period365 nightsWarrantyLimited lifetime

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

10 Best Smartwatches (2025): Apple, Wear OS, Hybrid & Kids’ Watches

by admin September 20, 2025

Other Smartwatches to Consider

The number of smartwatches on the market is staggering. I’ve tested models from Tag Heuer, Citizen, Montblanc, and many other fashion brands, but most of them are simply too expensive for what you get. Here are a few options I like.

Apple Watch Series 10

Photograph: Adrienne So

Apple Watch Series 10 for $364: Thanks to watchOS 26, the 2024 Series 10 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has many of the same features as the new Series 11, like hypertension notifications and Sleep Score. It has a thinner and lighter design with a larger screen than prior models, and it even got blood oxygen sensing back via a software update in August 2025. It’s too bad this one still has the 18-hour battery life. Avoid paying anywhere close to MSRP for this watch. If you can find it for under $300, snag it.

Google Pixel Watch 3.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Google Pixel Watch 3 for $299: The Pixel Watch 3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is seeing some steep discounts now that the Pixel Watch 4 has been announced. It’s a great smartwatch, with the caveat that it’s not repairable. (The newer model addresses that.) It features loss of pulse detection—cleared by the FDA for use in the US—which can be critical in saving someone’s life. Google also focused its fitness updates on running, enabling users to create custom runs and follow AI-powered run recommendations while getting feedback on cardio load—how hard your heart is working and whether it’s appropriate for your body. I strongly recommend you go with the 45-mm model, which doesn’t even feel that big. It simply delivers better battery life—just about 24 hours with the always-on display or a little more if you have it turned off.

Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Apple Watch Ultra 2 for $700: The Watch Ultra 2 is still worth considering, just don’t pay anywhere near MSRP; otherwise, you may as well buy the new Watch Ultra 3. It can last several days of use, and has many of the same great features as the latest model, including better mics to pick up your voice, an 86-decibel siren to alert your position to anyone nearby, and precise GPS to better track your hikes (plus help you find your way back with the Backtrack feature). The screen can display topographic maps, but you cannot view offline maps without an iPhone.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025 for $650: The 47-mm Galaxy Watch Ultra (7/10, WIRED Review) is the company’s Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin competitor, and it’s a solid first entry into the world of pricey, feature-rich, and powerful smartwatches designed for professional athletes. This is technically the 2025 model, which is identical to the 2024 version but comes with 64 GB of storage and in a new blue color. It lasts a little over two days on a charge because it’s a big 47-mm watch and can pack a beefy battery. There’s a titanium case and sapphire glass face, plus it’s rated to 10 ATM and IP68, so you can submerge it up to 100 meters underwater. The heart rate tracker is remarkably consistent with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and the dual-band GPS delivers accurate mapping. The software isn’t as intuitive, and a few features are lacking when compared to other performance smartwatches, but this is a good start if you’re in the world of Android. If you don’t care for the blue or the extra storage, you can buy the 2024 model for hundreds less.

Samsung Galaxy Watch7.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy Watch7 44 mm for $230: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch7 from 2024 is a little plain. This model debuted Samsung’s Energy Score and added updated sleep tracking capabilities. You also get FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection, though this isn’t a feature you’ll turn on all the time—it takes two nights to track, and afterward, you’ll get a note saying whether or not you show symptoms. This feature, along with the electrocardiogram and irregular heart rhythm notifications, is only available when paired with a Samsung phone. Otherwise, this watch functions well with any other Android. You can choose from two sizes, plus Bluetooth-only or LTE. I tested both sizes and found battery life frustrating compared to its predecessors. With the always-on display, I struggled to hit 24 hours with two tracked activities and sleep tracking overnight. With it turned off, things fared a little better, but I was still barely hitting a full day. You’ll have to baby the battery and utilize the power-saving modes. If you don’t care for the latest and greatest, you can save a lot of dough with the Watch7.

GPR-H1000.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Casio G-Shock Master of G Rangeman GPR-H1000 for $500: It’s not for every event, but the Master of G-Land Rangeman (GPRH1000RY1A) looks great on my wrist, and I love that I only need to charge it about once a week. This is a G-Shock first and foremost. It has a durable, thick case and a comfortable strap. It’s a big watch. It also has six sensors and a built-in GPS. Connect the watch to your smartphone via Casio’s app, and you can get simple notification alerts, heart-rate tracking, activity tracking, and sleep tracking. That’s without mentioning other features like blood oxygen monitoring, compass, world time, altimeter, and barometer. I’ve compared the results to an Apple Watch Series 10, and for the most part, core metrics like heart rate, step tracking, and sleep are similar. I have had some data not show up in the Casio app for a few days, and many of these functions are slow to load on the watch. This would not be my first choice if I wanted a fitness-focused wearable—get a Garmin instead—but I like the ability to look at and track some of these metrics whenever I want. More importantly, I like having a G-Shock around my wrist.

Samsung Galaxy Watch FE for $250: The Galaxy Watch FE is a fine budget Wear OS smartwatch. The 40-mm Galaxy Watch FE has a smaller screen that doesn’t get as bright and sports a slower processor and a smaller battery compared to the Watch7 series. The health sensors are almost the same, and I got accurate results with heart rate and sleep tracking. The battery lasts just about a day, if not a little less.

OnePlus Watch 2.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

OnePlus Watch 2 for $245: This is last year’s OnePlus smartwatch, but it’s still available. It seems like a better value now that the OnePlus 3’s price has been jacked up. The 46-mm OnePlus Watch 2 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) runs Wear OS and lasts roughly three days on a single charge, a little more if you enable some power-saving settings. The health capabilities are lacking—there’s no fall detection or electrocardiogram—but there’s sleep tracking, and it’s pretty accurate. Some features, like heart-rate tracking, distance traveled, and steps, have mixed accuracy in my testing, which means you shouldn’t buy this smartwatch if you’re primarily using it for those functions. Also, consider the OnePlus Watch 2R, which you can snag for less cash. The differences are mostly around build quality. The screen doesn’t get as bright, it has an aluminum case instead of stainless steel, and there’s no sapphire crystal protecting the screen, so it’s less durable. However, this makes it lighter and more comfortable to wear.

Withings ScanWatch 2.

Courtesy of Withings

Withings ScanWatch 2 for $370: The ScanWatch 2 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) can pass for an analog watch. Its health-tracking feature set is comprehensive—you get heart rate monitoring, an electrocardiogram, blood oxygen measurements, and sleep tracking. Battery life is stellar too, as it can last up to 30 days with light use. (Heavier usage will see roughly 22 days before needing a charge.) The main problem is the tiny display on this watch, which is too small to read some notifications. The GPS is also connected, meaning it requires your phone to be tethered and nearby. There’s an optional Health+ subscription, but we’d advise against it, as it doesn’t offer much utility. The ScanWatch 2 comes in a 42-mm or 38-mm case size and doesn’t have the rich features and apps you’ll find on the likes of an Apple Watch, but if you want to monitor your health data—and you don’t want your watch to look too techy—this will do the job.

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

AKG N9 Hybrid review: feature-packed headphones with a high price that’s almost justifiable

by admin September 18, 2025

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AKG N9: Two minute review

As someone who tests headphones for an income, I’ve got a roster of “X headphones” for specific tasks. I’ve got my best headphones for music, my running headphones, a gaming headset, a pair of the best earbuds when it’s too hot for headphones, and a set-up for movies and TV shows too.

The new AKG N9 from Samsung’s sub-brand’s sub-brand, AKG, didn’t slot into this line-up as much as they replaced half of them, and it’s largely down to one handy feature which we also saw in their contemporary earbuds equivalent, the AKG N5.

I’m not going to do that clickbait headline thing of alluding to a feature and then dancing around the topic, only specifying it 20 paragraphs in: this feature is a dongle which comes build into the AKG N9, and if you plug it into any USB-C slot, it overrides that device’s audio output into the N9.

Borrowing a partner’s laptop for a quick video call? Dongle it. Don’t want to play games out loud for fear of annoying a flatmate? Dongle it. Really can’t be bothered to set up Bluetooth on every device you own? Dongle it. That’s not to mention that this dongle has a higher quality connection than Bluetooth, affording higher-quality music and entertainment.

Within days of me realising the potential of this dongle, I’d begun using the N9 for a range of tasks that I usually afford to bespoke speakers or headphones; I was watching movies from my iPad, playing video games on my PC and taking calls on my girlfriend’s tablet. And now you can take a break from reading the word ‘dongle’ for a bit.

A handy way to instantly and temporarily connect to any device is a killer feature, but it’s not the only one the AKG N9 offer. The AKG Headphones app is full of extras like dynamic EQ, spatial audio, L-R panning and a hearing test to create you a bespoke audio profile.

There’s also a battery life that stretches up to a staggering 100 hours if you listen on Bluetooth with noise cancellation off, but lasts for over a day even if you turn on all its power-hungry features.

Of course, I wouldn’t be commending headphones like these if they sounded bad; they don’t, with AKG’s staple neutral audio mix delivering detailed music and an expansive sound stage.

I’m not used to writing so many positives in an introduction, so it feels weird to keep going, but one more thing: the AKG N9 are some of the best-designed headphones I’ve ever tested. Not only do they look premium but lots of the features are smartly incorporated into the design, with the dongle nestled in a little nook in one cup and volume being controlled by easily twisting one side of the cans. AKG clearly treats design as an important part of the headphone-making process, instead of an afterthought to hold a few drivers and buttons together, and it’s appreciated.

Unless you’re Sir Mix-a-Lot, you probably don’t like big “but…”s, and unfortunately the AKG N9 have a major one: the price. There’s no two ways about it: these are premium headphones and many buyers’ budgets won’t come close to reaching them. That said, they’re expensive, but they’re not four-figure-cost expensive like many of the true best headphones are, so perhaps sales will bring them within reach if you’re interested.

Since I have to list three ‘cons’: I also feel like the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) could have been a little bit more robust, as it doesn’t compare with top dogs on the market right now. Plus, you can’t fold up the headphones for increased portability, which made transporting them in my bag a risky proposition.AK

AKG N9 review: Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Component

Value

Water resistant

Battery life (quoted)

100 hours (ANC off) 55 hours (ANC on)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

281g

Driver

40mm

AKG N9 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

Announced in October 2024
Priced at $399 / £299 / AU$499
Expensive… but competitive to rivals

After making their debut in October 2024, the AKG N9 went on sale that same month. They’ve been on sale for roughly a year, by the time of this review.

The AKG N9 don’t come cheap. They’ll set you back $399 / £299 / AU$499, which firmly cements them as premium cans that you need to consider carefully before you buy.

They cost more than some of our favorite rivals including the iconic Sony WH-1000XM4 and Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, but then again, they undercut (to a decent extent) the B&W Px8, Dali IO-8, the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra.

I should point out that a year on shelves seemingly hasn’t affected the headphones’ usual price (outside of sales)… except in Australia, where they were easy to find for as little as AU$309 which is an absolute steal.

AKG N9 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

Premium-looking sleek cans
Features incorporated into design
Doesn’t fold down and no IP rating

On the surface, the AKG N9 might look like any old pair of headphones, but there are a few refinements and polishes that go a long way in making these look both premium and feel ultra-functional.

I’m talking about the soft fabric of the headband (either leather or a close imitator), the comfortable earpads, the sparkling sheen of the speaker covers, svelte fashion of the headband connectors. It all comes together to make it obvious to onlookers just how much you paid for these cans. They come in either white or black.

The headphones weigh 281g so despite some option extras that we’ll get to, they’re on the lighter side of things, and I found them comfortable to wear for long music bouts and entire movies. There’s no IP rating, as far as I can tell, but they felt sturdy enough that I wasn’t worried wearing them out and about.

I also had no qualms in wearing them for long periods of time, as they’re comfortable and lightweight.

Evidence of how easily-bendable the hook is. (Image credit: Future)

The headband connectors are extendable by about two inches each, letting you change your headphones’ size. One thing to note is that the headband can’t be folded, so you can’t reduce the size of the N9 to fit in a bag. Instead they can be transported in a rather large carry case that comes included in the price.

As with all the best headphones, each cup provides some useful controls. On the right side we’ve got a slider which lets you turn on the headphones as well as put them into Bluetooth pairing mode, as well as a pause/play button and USB-C charging port – and, in one of my favorite implementations of a volume rocker, the entire headphone cover can be rotated clockwise or anticlockwise to change the volume. This was incredibly easy to use, to save me fiddling with small buttons on the headphone.

The left cup has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a toggle for Ambient Aware noise cancellation, and I thought that was it at the beginning of my testing… until I realized that you can partially slide the headphone cover off to reveal a USB-C dongle underneath. Some may be annoyed that they’re carrying the extra weight of this dongle on the head but it’s only a few grams, and these are still nice and lightweight headphones.

AKG N9 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

Hugely long battery life
App brings loads of features
Useful dongle connector

The dongle is one of my favorite features of the AKG N9; you can plug it into any device with a USB-C port to instantly (and, vitally, temporarily) connect to said device without having to go through the laborious pairing method.

I used this to connect to my iPad, my laptop and my PC at various times in order to quickly watch a video, take a call or do some work, and it’s incredibly convenient – in fact, for a while during testing the N9 became my go-to gaming headset. One thing to note is that once during testing the connected device still played music out of its speakers instead of using the N9, and I never really worked out why – like the N5, it worked 90% of the time, but there were a few teething problems.

Another thing I absolutely love is the battery life of the AKG N9, which if you play your cards right lasts for an entire 100 hours. ‘Playing your cards right’ involves listening via Bluetooth with ANC turned off and if you want ANC on, that figure drops by 45 hours; likewise using the dongle cuts about 15% of your listening time over Bluetooth.

(Image credit: Future)

However AKG’s lowest battery expectation, specifically talk time over the dongle, is still 30 hours, which beats quite a few competitors. So the battery life is great whatever you do, and it’s fantastic that people who need a lot of listening time on one charge have the option of dialling down the features to get that fantastic figure.

Let’s touch on that active noise cancellation, which so dramatically affects the battery life. AKG has given the N9 a range of ANC modes: Ambient Aware which cuts out ambient background sound but allows in important nearby ones, TalkThru which does the same but just for voices, and a standard ANC mode which has extra modes for Adaptive ANC which changes the noise cancellation strength depending on your surroundings and Auto Compensation which does the same based on how you’re wearing the N9.

It’s a pretty overwhelming array of options for non-audiophiles but it does let you get into the nitty-gritty of what you can and can’t hear. However even at its strongest tier the ANC is only good, never great, and quite a few rivals are better for removing background sound.

Those aren’t the only overwhelming options in the feature set, because the AKG Headphones App has an absolutely huge roster of perks, including the ability to balance your sound to the left or right, change how voices sound on calls and play with a 10-band equalizer.

As in the AKG N5, the app lets you choose between listening to high-res audio, or enabling a few other features including spatial audio, dynamic EQ for low volumes and Personi-Fi. This latter is a hearing test that provides you with a custom audio mix.

AKG N9 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

40mm drivers
Balanced sound profile
Textured audio in high-res mode

The AKG N9 pack 40mm dynamic drivers with what the company calls “liquid crystal polymer diaphragms” which are designed to improve the detail and clarity across the board.

It works because the N9 have a beautifully balanced sound profile, which doesn’t dominate your mix with too much treble or overblown bass (though it also gives you a nice springboard to use the equalizer to change this if you like a wonky sound mix).

Instead you’re getting a detailed glimpse across the bow of an entire orchestra or band, full of texture and detail. You can hear the scoop of a bass guitar string, the strike of fingers on piano keys – I almost felt like I could tell which guitar strings were being strummed during chords.

There’s an audible sound spread too, and I noticed mids in several songs holding a distinct space that many rival cans lose. It’s an effect that makes these just as great for movies and gaming as for music, and I went so far as to use these headphones instead of my gaming headset during the testing period.

At times I did feel like songs lacked a an extra ounce of energy, with the bass in particular missing a touch of momentum, but these aren’t huge issues – I’m only nit-picking here to justify the score below not being a full 5 out of 5.

Sound performance score: 4/5

AKG N9: Value

(Image credit: Future)

If you’ve read the price section already, you’ll know that the AKG N9 have an uphill battle in proving themselves in the value department (and if you didn’t read that section, they cost $399 / £299 / AU$499).

Basically no headphones costing that much present a real value proposition, not when you can get great alternatives for a third of the price, but for what it’s worth the AKG N9s come closer than most.

The inclusion of the dongle, the useful cup controls, the range of features and high-quality audio all come together to make it clear that AKG is giving you some value for money… just not as much as if you’d paid a lot less money.

I will say, though, that these are primed for deals in Black Friday and Amazon Prime Days. So if you don’t think you can afford them, it could be waiting to see how low the price goes.

AKG N9 review: scorecard

Swipe to scroll horizontally

AKG N9: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future)

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Component

AKG N9

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100

Sony WH-1000XM6

Water resistant

Battery life

100 hours (ANC off) 55 hours (ANC on)

100 hours (ANC off) 60 hours (ANC on)

40 hours (ANC off) 30 hours (ANC on)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

281g

330g

254g

Driver

40mm

30mm dynamic

How I tested

I tested the AKG N9 for two weeks, doing so alongside their contemporary siblings the AKG N5 (which are earbuds).

As you’ll know from reading this review I tested them on loads of devices: Bluetooth from my smartphone, 3.5mm on an iPod Classic and 2.4Ghz dongle on a Windows PC, Windows laptop, iPad and Android tablet.

This was done for a range of functions; mainly listening to music and streaming audio but also gaming, movies and video calls. I tested at home, in the office and around my neighborhood, including on a several-hour-long trip.

DreamCloud Hybrid Mattress Review: Support and Value

by admin September 11, 2025

With previous iterations of the DreamCloud Classic Hybrid, the brand consistently classified it as a medium-firm mattress. In my previous reviews, I usually ranked it as a 6.5 out of 10 in terms of firmness. The brand lists this latest model as just a straight “firm.” After sleeping on it for a week, I’d say it’s now about a 6.75 out of 10. It’s a hair firmer than it was in the past, but I’d put it as neck-and-neck firmness-wise with the Wolf Memory Foam Hybrid Premium Firm. What I would classify as a truly firm mattress is the general firm side of the Plank Firm mattress (which also has an extra-firm side to it, given the flippable design).

I slept on my side, back, and stomach without any problems or pressure relief issues to complain about. However, I don’t think there would be enough cushion here if you’re of a smaller stature and weigh under 120 pounds. Even the DreamCloud’s slight increase in firmness may not be well-suited for your hips and shoulders. But everyone else, listen up. The DreamCloud Classic Hybrid’s firmer surface is ideal for weight distribution, so your hips and shoulders should stay grooving on the same level. If one half of the body is sinking in more than the other half, or your hips and shoulders are both sinking in too far, your poor spine’s going to let you know at some point via back pain.

This firmer surface is right on target for keeping a surface bouncy (shoutout to my couples in search of the best mattress for sex), which keeps you from feeling stuck in place. If you’re like me, flipping among sleeping on my side, back, and stomach, depending on which of my dogs is tagging along, this is a big win.

Value Add

The bottom line: Regardless of one’s tax bracket, we all appreciate bang for our buck, and DreamCloud has always delivered in that regard. Whether you decide to get one for yourself or your guest room, I don’t think you can do wrong with this mattress. Especially given the fact it’s regularly on sale for well under $1,000 for a queen size, has an outrageously long sleep trial, and offers a lifetime warranty. I’ve never doubted DreamCloud’s commitment to quality beds, and I’ll continue to recommend them.

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September 11, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Valor Mortis is more Dishonored than Dark Souls, but if anyone can pull off a hard-as-nails hybrid, it’s the Ghostrunner devs

by admin September 4, 2025

Here’s a bit of inside baseball: Gamescom is a busy show. More often than not, you’re booked back-to-back for hours on end, zipping from one appointment to the next in a flurry of interviews, previews, and meetings. I pack my schedule so tight I don’t stop for lunch, and playing just 30 minutes of a game at a time can spin you out a bit and make everything sort of blur into one. With all that in mind, I still couldn’t tear myself away from Valor Mortis – the hardcore first-person RPG from the Ghostrunner devs – when it was my final appointment of the day. I stayed at the demo station until I beat the boss. That, in an environment like Gamescom, is high praise indeed.

You awake in a mass grave with your sabre, a pistol, and magic powers infused into your palm a la Bioshock or Dishonored. From there, you have one task: survive. As much as I’m reticent to use the term ‘Soulslike’, you can’t hide from some of the genre trappings: you drop your currency on your gravesite when you die, you have a limited number of health recovery items you need to ration out, attacks come in light and heavy flavours, there’s a dedicated dodge button, and the bosses are sturdy bastards that have multiple health bars. Combat is crunchy and brutal, and if you want to come out on top, you’re probably going to have to learn how to parry effectively.

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But the Dark Souls comparison feels off. Aside from the most obvious thing – this is first-person, not third – the flow of combat feels more important here. Valor Mortis isn’t as much of an ‘immersive sim’ as Dishonored, but the perspective does a lot to evoke Arkane’s influential Bethesda debut. Maybe it’s in the spells you can bind to your right hand, maybe it’s in the dashing, jumping, and blade-plunging you can do that makes you feel more acrobatic than any Hunter or Chosen Undead in From’s catalogue, but Valor Mortis, for my money, is a game that rewards speed and aggression more than holding up a shield and ‘rolling around the big guy’.

The beating heart of Ghostrunner is still very much alive inside this ‘imsim’/Soulslike hybrid; it’s clear the game wants you to be deft and svelte as you tear through the muddy trenches of the Napoleonic frontline. You can see this focus on agility even in some of the mechanical choices that One More Level makes – blocking still causes you to take some damage, so parrying is the game’s preferred method of responding to threats. Some attacks are unblockable or can’t be parried, so dodging and then countering is prioritised. To be uncharitable, you could say it’s all one violent, trumped-up version of ‘rock, paper, scissors’, but that’s fine, because it all feels so damn good.

Not-so-standard bearer. | Image credit: One More Level

If there’s one standout thing about the Ghostrunner games, it’s the feel of GR-74 in your hands: the 74th Ghostrunner feels both dangerous and fairly fragile, making you a glass cannon blasting through the Dharma Tower. It’s a samurai/ninja fantasy, after all. Your avatar here, in 19th Century Europe, is William: more hardy than a cyborg ninja, but still just some guy when all’s said and done. Taking out possessed footsoldiers and mutated dogs in the blasted trenches is easy enough; learn to respond to their telegraphed attacks and how you can outrun them, and they become naught but feckless drones. It’s the bosses where Valor Mortis is going to shine, though, and that’s why I stayed past my allotted appointment time at One More Level’s booth. I needed to kill one.

As you’d expect, the first phase is simple enough. Use your pistol to target weak points, eat away at the stamina bar, stagger the hulking goliath, and dive in for a ‘poise attack’ that deals stupendous damage. Rinse, repeat, onto phase two. By the end of my session, I was clearing the first phase without even touching my potions – nice! – but the second phase is where things started to get muddy.

On your head be it. | Image credit: One More Level

An eruption of Cronenberg body horror and some vague dialogue about ‘power’ later, General Lothaire – or The Eagle Bearer, to use his military moniker – turned into a grafted beast akin to Elden Ring’s Godrick: multiple arms, all wielding flintlocks, a huge flagstaff he could bonk you across the arena with, and the ability to recall dead souls from the battlefield to complicate matters. One hit with his cutlass or flag, and you’d be down past half health. Oh crap. My offensive tactics from the first half of the battle became far more defensive, and I was on the back foot. Suddenly, I became keenly aware that I too had a stamina bar, and more often than not it was running on empty. Scrambling to find the right moments to gauge my attacks and respond to his onslaught was the name of the game here. It took me a good 10 deaths, but eventually I ripped the monster’s bones apart. Phew.

But my 30-minute slot was over. It had been for a while. Luckily, it was the end of the day and the only thing I was late for was a glass of kolsch and some aggressively-mid pork knuckle. But that desire – that need – to overcome this boss is emblematic of how Soulslike sickos will feel about this game when playing at home: it’s compelling, gratifying, and it will get its hooks into your brain and make you think ‘OK, I’m not putting this pad down until I’ve beaten this monster.’ One More Level, indeed.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

KeyGo’s hybrid keyboard brings Apple Touch Bar dreams to life with a 12.8-inch touchscreen, making every workspace instantly more versatile

by admin August 18, 2025

KeyGo 12.8-inch screen offers sharp visuals despite a compressed 1440p layout for multitasking
Scissor-switch keys provide a tactile typing experience suitable for serious work or long sessions
RGB lighting enhances visibility in low-light conditions while allowing personal customization

Small external screens have steadily become essential for those seeking flexible workflows and improved multitasking capabilities.

Yanko Design’s new KeyGo keyboard merges a 12.8-inch touchscreen monitor with a full-size keyboard.

It aims to create a hybrid device that extends the traditional workspace without requiring a full desktop setup.

A screen built for precision

This concept is ambitious, but its practicality is limited by the absence of a built-in battery, meaning users must remain connected to a power source for extended use.

The integrated display delivers a resolution of 1920×720 at 60Hz, which might initially raise eyebrows among those accustomed to conventional 1080p monitors.

However, the design essentially compresses a 1440p screen across a wider layout, producing a pixel density that keeps text sharp and visuals reasonably crisp.

For professionals who rely on portable monitors or a monitor for video editing, this width-oriented resolution provides a usable secondary screen for reference materials, timelines, or notifications, even if it cannot fully replace a main 4K display.

The keyboard uses scissor-switch keys, which offer a responsive typing experience comparable to high-end laptops.

This design minimizes the often-criticized “mushy” feel of cheaper units, enabling fast and accurate typing.

RGB lighting is integrated with three modes, supporting work in dimly lit environments and allowing a degree of personalization.

While the visual flair may appeal to gamers, business users may appreciate the practicality of illuminated keys during extended work sessions.

Connectivity is handled through USB-C, simplifying connections to laptops, tablets, or smartphones across Windows and macOS platforms.

The single-cable solution handles both power and data, which reduces clutter and streamlines setup for mobile professionals.

Despite its thin CNC-machined aluminum build, which gives it a premium feel, the device remains somewhat limited by its dependence on external power.

It also comes with a 180-degree hinge, allowing users to orient the touchscreen above the keys or stand it fully upright as a second monitor.

While the KeyGo revisits ideas reminiscent of Apple’s Touch Bar, it expands the concept into a standalone, multi-touch interface.

Pricing begins at $538, although early backers can purchase the KeyGo for $249, representing a 54% discount.

The product also includes global shipping and a one-year warranty, and the company claims only 23 of 200 units remain.

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

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