Despite scandal after scandal, Koreans have shown their solidarity with one another, and the resilience of their institutions

Compared with other advanced industrialised countries, South Korea is still a young democracy, having only transitioned from authoritarian to democratic rule in 1987. However, the political freedoms and beliefs Koreans have come to take for granted were suddenly shattered on 3 December, when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, citing anti-state activities and collaboration with North Korea by some political actors as his reason for doing so.

His actions utterly shocked the country, and MPs promptly gathered at the national assembly in a clear act of defiance of the ban on political activities that accompanied the imposition of martial law. All 190 members of parliament who were present that night (out of a total of 300) had made it through the cordons of special forces around the parliament building and voted to nullify the law within hours of its imposition. President Yoon quickly repealed the law. Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens filled the streets around the national assembly calling for presidential impeachment. It took two attempts before enough MPs would vote to impeach the president. Watching Yoon appear at his impeachment hearing today, these may appear to be very dark days for democracy. But in reality, these events should give Koreans hope.

Youngmi Kim is senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and director of the Scottish Centre for Korean Studies

At CES 2025, XGIMI introduced a new concept product that could eventually make its way to people's houses. The XGIMI Ascend is a 2-in-1 ALR projector screen that rises up out of a big soundbar speaker system. It also happens to perfectly match the company's latest AURA 2 projector. That said, forget about OLED TVs or TVs with AI and cameras because this new device is so much cooler.

According to the company, this concept product combines a roll-up Ambient Light Rejection screen and two premium Harman Kardon soundbars in a seamless, motorized, compact design. The XGIMI Ascend concept introduces a 100-inch motorized floor-rising screen, which can "elevate home entertainment with unparalleled ease and sophistication."

This device pairs with XGIMI's AURA 2, its ultra-short-throw projector, unveiled in September at a NYC event. Over the past year, BGR had the chance to get exclusive hands-on with the AURA 2 before its release.

Aura 2 delivers the best-in-class short-thrown XGIMI's home projection Image source: José Adorno for BGR

With cinema-level audio and visual capabilities packed in a sleek short-throw projection unibody, the AURA 2 also features the Dual Light 2.0 tech and offers ultra-high brightness and color accuracy with 2,300 ISO lumens with IMAX Enhanced and Dolby Vision certifications. Its DCIP-P3 color gamut coverage is 99%, allowing for excellent and precise reproduction of colors. It also has immersive theater sound quality thanks to four built-in Harman/Kardon 15W 2-channel speakers.

Now, XGIMI leverages this experience with this concept product unveiled at CES 2025. The company says it's engineered to function both as a cinematic screen and an ambiance-enhancing display. XGIMI states that this product has a wide-viewing angle and advanced contrast ratio enhancement that rejects ambient light; it also provides exceptional clarity and vibrancy across various lighting conditions, making it ideal for any space.

"We’re thrilled to introduce Ascend at CES 2025 and showcase our latest technological explorations," said Apollo Zhong, CEO of XGIMI. "Ascend is a symbol of our dedication to continuous innovation in home entertainment and a testament to our drive to provide users with powerful, elegant solutions that enhance their everyday lives. It’s the type of jaw-dropping product that belongs at CES, and we’re so excited to gather feedback from technologists at the show."

While it's unclear when this concept product can become a reality, you can read BGR's review of the XGIMI HORIZON S Max and MoGo 3 Pro.

The post XGIMI Ascend is so much cooler than any new TV announced at CES 2025 appeared first on BGR.

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XGIMI Ascend is so much cooler than any new TV announced at CES 2025 originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 8 Jan 2025 at 07:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the Wi-Fi HaLow’s 9.9 mile range, you could connect to your home Wi-Fi at work, at the grocery store, and even inside your car throughout your ride.

Wi-Fi is probably the most important part of any piece of technology today. It helps devices connect, communicate, update, and be cutting-edge… but the problem with Wi-Fi is that it’s a high-frequency radio wave – that means it doesn’t travel far, and it can’t penetrate walls. It’s why we recommend placing Wi-Fi routers strategically at home so that you get seamless connectivity, but there’s a company hoping to make Wi-Fi so powerful, it passes through walls and can even connect devices nearly 10 miles apart. The Wi-Fi HaLow, developed by Morse Micro, is an upcoming technology that the company hopes will become a part of every device in the future… so that bad internet connectivity is a thing of the past.

Designer: Morse Micro

Without getting into the specifics (because I have no technical background), the Wi-Fi HaLow router (shown above) promises to make internet connectivity seamless over massive distances. It relies on Sub-GHz frequency waves that travel long distances (like AM and FM radio) to transmit internet connectivity, so you could potentially use your home Wi-Fi router within a 10-mile radius of your house.

Morse Micro, the company behind the tech, hopes that this Wi-Fi capability will coexist with current 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi bands. These existing bands are great for low-latency internet connectivity, but add HaLow to the mix and you get long-distance connectivity too, giving you the best of all worlds. Sub-GHz Wi-Fi won’t ever be as fast as 5GHz Wi-Fi (HaLow has max speeds of 32.5 MB/s), although those speeds are perfect for most everyday tasks like checking email, browsing the internet, or even for IoT devices to communicate with each other.

Sadly, the router isn’t something you can currently just plug into your home. While it does broadcast long-distance Wi-Fi, most devices like your phones, laptops, and smart home tech aren’t equipped to read that frequency band just yet… but Morse Micro is hoping to influence tech companies to adapt their hardware for the future so that instead of dual-band radio antennas, every device will have a tri-band radio antenna for 2.4, 5, and Sub GHz connectivity.

For now, Morse Micro’s working to deploy HaLows in commercial setups like Amazon warehouses (where robots can communicate seamlessly with each other over long distances), along with other industries like security and telecom. Potentially, this technology isn’t too far off. Imagine your lawnmower robot being able to easily connect to your home Wi-Fi without an intermediary hub, or your pool cleaning robot doing the same even if your pool is more than 20-30 meters from your home router.

The devices shown here are engineering samples. Morse Micro is sharing chipsets, dongles, and routers with engineers interested in building the tech into their existing stacks, so that potentially in the future your home Wi-Fi could also be your work Wi-Fi or your car Wi-Fi. And instead of asking your friend to share the Wi-Fi password when you’re at their place, you can just continue using your home Wi-Fi just fine!

The post This Game-Changing Wi-Fi Router at CES 2025 has a Connectivity Radius of 9.9 Miles first appeared on Yanko Design.

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The post For Love of God, Make Your Own Website appeared first on Aftermath.

8BitDo has announced its Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller, the company’s first gamepad that attaches directly to smartphones and mobile devices using an expanding clamping mechanism. It’s available for preorder now for $49.99 and is expected to be released on November 29th, 2024.

The Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller can be attached to smartphones or smaller tablet devices measuring between 100mm and 170mm in length. For expanded compatibility, instead of plugging in with USB-C, 8BitDo’s new controller connects wirelessly over Bluetooth but only supports Android devices.

The use of Bluetooth necessitates a 350mAh rechargeable battery in the controller, which 8BitDo says is enough for 15 hours of play on a 1.5-hour charge. That added...

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