September 5, 2024 | View in browser

🎮 Laptop with detachable controller
📱 Customizable phone hardware
🎧 The ideal travel headphones
🔪 Only Murders in the Building is renewed

🤖 Astro Bot delights

Image: Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

With IFA officially starting tomorrow, the announcements are already underway, and Acer has shown off some of its upcoming products including a handheld gaming device and a 600 Hz gaming monitor. But what really caught our eye was Project DualPlay, a gaming laptop with a detachable controller built into the touchpad.

You can lock the controller in place to use as normal, or you can pop it out to game in comfort. There are even some nods to the Nintendo Switch with detachable controllers sides. This is a concept, so it may or may not ever make it to market, but it's a genuinely innovative idea in the laptop space.

There are a few qualifiers you should always look for when choosing a VPN, and Surfshark’s VPN ticks all the boxes. Whether you’re headed back to school or working remotely, versatility is a necessity these days. Surfshark VPN makes it easy to work from a cafe or anywhere with public WiFi, while still protecting your data streams. Public Wi-Fi is a blessing for would-be hackers and can often lead to dangerous digital situations. Using Surfshark VPN you can browse and surf worry-free, anytime, anywhere. Of course, it’s capable of a whole lot more.

Image: HMD

People have long been interested in phone hardware that's customizable — where you could easily swap out faulty parts or change modules to suit your needs. Google's defunct Project Ara was an attempt at that, and the Fairphone continues to try this approach. Now, a new company is throwing its hat in the ring with a customizable budget phone.

The HMD Fusion comes with Smart Outfits which can be swapped in to add capabilities like a ring light or wireless charging. The Outfits will be hitting shelves later this year, but there's also an option to create your own with open source software and 3D printing.

Image: Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

One of the best ways to make long plane rides more bearable is with a good pair of noise canceling headphones, but over-ear cans can often be bulky and take up a lot of space. The new offering from Anker aims to give travelers the best of both worlds with great noise cancelling and sound performance, but also the ability to fold up into a compact shape.

Our senior mobile writer Andy Boxall took these new headphones on a trip and loved the small folded size and the high performance of the noise cancelling in busy environments.

Image: Eric McCandless / Disney

Beloved murder mystery series Only Murders in the Building will be back for a season 5, the show's official Instagram account has announced. The fourth season only just premiered a week ago, but already the core trio of Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short are confirmed to be coming back for another murder to solve.

The show is known for its plethora of guest stars, including Molly Shannon, Richard Kind, Kumail Nanjiani, and Melissa McCarthy who appear in season 4. The season finale will air on October 8, and then the fifth season will follow with 10 further episodes.

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

With the last decade of games going hard on a darker and more realistic aesthetic, it's a breath of fresh air to enjoy the bright, playful delights of Astro Bot. With its toy-like world, perfect platform design, and precise controls, the game is a joy to play.

It takes full advantage of the PS5's DualSense features, making use of its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. And though its graphical style is whimsical, the performance is smooth and without any glitches or dropped frames. Our gaming editor Giovanni Colantonio declared this one of the PS5's finest games.

Image: Digital Trends

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