The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks will transform this fall into a hub for gaming and pop culture when it hosts the first Game Con Live on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11-12, 2025. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days and is geared toward kids ages 5 to 15 and their families with hands-on gaming, STEM activities and live entertainment.
Guests can meet popular YouTubers and actors, including BeckBroJack and DirtBoy, along with Aaralyn Anderson and others. Comic book artists Scott Hanna and Will Torres will appear in Artist Alley.
The festival will include video game stations where attendees can play Minecraft, Roblox, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, and retro and rare titles. The Cosplay Corner will host fan groups representing “Star Wars,” Avengers, G.I. Joe, Spiderlings, Zelda and more, with a costume contest open to all attendees.
Additional highlights include the Infinity Stage for live entertainment and contests, workshops in art and animation, a LEGO derby car racetrack, and an Unplugged Zone for tabletop play featuring Pokémon cards. Visitors can also shop the marketplace for gaming and comic merchandise.
Tickets start at $16.75, with VIP early entry passes available. For tickets, registration and full details, visit gameconlive.com.
Acer also released a slew of laptops, desktops, and monitors, but the DualPlay concept laptop with a pop-out controller jumped out at me. Slotted into the Predator laptop with magnets, the controller acts as a trackpad when it’s baked into the laptop, but you can pop it out and use it as a controller for gaming, and even split it into two like a Switch Joy-Con. The DualPlay also has a pair of 5-watt speakers that can pop out on each side to better annoy everyone around you. Again, this is a concept, so it’s unclear when or if we will ever see something like this in a real product.
HMD’s Fusion Is a Modular Phone
Photograph: HMD
HMD is on a roll. It released the first Qi2 Android smartphone several weeks ago (though we had some issues with the implementation), and more recently, it unveiled the Barbie Phone. Now, it’s time to get funky with the HMD Fusion. Teased back at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, this $299 Android smartphone wants to bring back the modular smartphone concept popular around 2016 (remember Moto Mods and Google’s Project Ara?). It might actually work this time because Apple’s MagSafe system has normalized sticking magnetic things to the back of a handset. HMD has also open-sourced its tech, so anyone can create “outfits,” as HMD likes to call them. There are smart pins at the base of the phone, so unlike MagSafe accessories, these outfits can transmit data with the phone wirelessly and even draw power from the Fusion’s battery.
To start, HMD is making a handful of these outfits. There’s a gaming controller outfit that adds controls to the sides of the phone, turning it into a gaming handheld of sorts. Some mods are simple, like the one that adds wireless charging support, while others are more complex, like the Rugged outfit. This makes the Fusion more durable with an IP68 water resistance rating and even adds an SOS and push-to-talk button. There’s an outfit that adds a flash not unlike a ring light, and you can swivel it to face the front of the phone so you’re well-lit while capturing selfies. HMD showed off some outfits made by fans too, including a projector, an E Ink back panel, and a solar panel that folds out the back of the phone to recharge it. The company isn’t bringing these to market but wants to help people create and sell their own outfits.
The Fusion otherwise seems like a solid $299 smartphone, with a 108-megapixel primary camera, a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, and a 5,000-mAh battery. It will get two Android OS upgrades and three years of security updates, and several components on this phone are user-repairable. You can just remove the screws to get into the internals, and parts will be sold at iFixit for seven years. Opening up the phone won’t even break the warranty. The Fusion will be sold in the US during the fourth quarter of the year (sometime between October and December). —Julian Chokkattu
Honor’s Folding Phone Is Super Thin
There were a few devices on show from Honor at IFA, but the headliner was the impressive Honor Magic V3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), the thinnest folding phone yet, with some interesting AI features you can read about in our review. At just 9.2 mm folded, it makes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 feel chunky. It’s a shame it’s not sold in the US.
Honor also launched the MagicPad2, a 12.3-inch OLED Android tablet with a smart pencil and a snap-on keyboard for a laptop vibe and productivity-focused AI features, like voice-to-text, and formula and handwriting recognition. The Honor MagicBook Art 14 and Honor Watch 5 round out the new lineup. (Honor hosted WIRED at its media event at IFA and paid for a portion of our reporter’s travel expenses.)
Deepfake Detector
Photograph: Simon Hill
As deepfakes continue to evolve, the myriad ways they may potentially threaten us are growing rapidly. Scammers are already using deepfake technology to impersonate real people during video calls, so the ability to detect them is crucial. A part of Honor’s dive into AI includes a new deepfake detection system the company demonstrated at IFA. Running in real time on an Honor laptop, the detector was able to scan a video call and determine the likelihood of tampering. It’s a prototype, but it will likely roll out to Honor devices as a software update when it’s ready for prime time.
Tado Wants to Integrate Home Energy
Heating specialist Tado wants to be a one-stop shop for home energy management. I reviewed Tado’s Smart Thermostat V3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) a while back, and the company has since launched its X range, which includes a heat pump optimizer and radiator thermostats with rechargeable batteries with Matter support. It announced a new wireless smart thermostat for the X range at IFA, which is set to launch in the UK in November.
Tado also showed off some interesting new app features designed to help folks with solar panels take full advantage of the power they generate. Tado’s new solar forecasts help ensure that solar is channeled into your heat pump or EV charger, and the app can drill into real-time usage, though home batteries seem like an obvious missing piece in the home energy puzzle.
Intel Launches Lunar Lake Processors
It’s tricky to get excited about Intel’s Core Ultra 200V laptop CPUs until you consider its promises of faster frame rates and longer battery life. Intel says Lunar Lake chips will beat Qualcomm and AMD on several fronts including gaming and AI performance in the thin and light laptop class. The overhaul has a strong focus on power efficiency, so your laptop battery might be the biggest winner. (A general trend we’ve been seeing on Copilot+ PCs.)
They also have Wi-Fi 7 baked in, along with Bluetooth 5.4 and at least two speedy Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. New versions of the Dell XPS 13 and Asus Zenbook S 14 featuring the chips are imminent and many more will follow. These are some of the first “Copilot+ PCs” capable of running specific AI tasks not powered by a Qualcomm chipset.
Aqara Announces a New Smart Home Range
Photograph: Aqara
There was a raft of interesting announcements from smart home brand Aqara at IFA, including the Valve Controller T1, capable of automatically shutting off water or gas in your home in response to leak detection. Aqara also revealed a Garage Door Controller T2 Kit, capable of controlling two garage doors and adding support for geofencing, voice assistants, and automation through Matter-enabled platforms. The releases kept coming with a new Smoke Detector, several smart switches, the new LED Bulb T2, and tighter integration with Matter, Home Assistant, and Tesla. Aqara’s unique Voice Mate H1 is a battery-powered device for voice controls that only wakes when you pick it up to maximize privacy.
“What would be the point of having a nominee,” he asks, “who, at best, could only win something like 214 Electoral College votes in November?”
The Democrats’ rules, according to Ginsberg, are more relaxed when it comes to “bound delegates,” which means it would be easier for them to find an alternative choice if something should befall Biden.
“It would be a free-for-all,” contends Robert Gibbs,Barack Obama’s former press secretary, who paints a picture of a convention like those of earlier generations in which delegates would gather in smoke-filled hotel rooms and convention crannies, wrangling votes for a nominee at the eleventh hour.
In Gibbs’s view, however, the delegates would likely back someone who looked more like the coalition of their base: meaning, candidates who are younger and/or of color and/or female.
There are a lot of talented democrats who fit that description, including Gretchen Whitmer, Amy Klobuchar, Raphael Warnock, Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, Mitch Landrieu, Phil Murphy, Cory Booker. Kamala Harris would naturally be in the mix. But delegates in Chicago would likely feel compelled to turn the page on the Biden-Harris team for a completely fresh ticket.
And yet, if Carville’s right, then none of these scenarios really fits the bill of being a total surprise.
It’s not hard to imagine a situation on the Republican side where delegates would want someone as pugnacious and outrageous as Donald Trump. Not to mention someone who had been 100% loyal to Trump. So none of the candidates who ran in the primary, except perhaps Vivek Ramaswamy, would qualify. Thus, why wouldn’t they nominate someone like, say, Greg Abbott or Marco Rubio for president? Or, going further afield, why not Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity?
And then you can imagine the Dems might freak out and determine that a traditional pick might not cut it. And they could try to out-Tucker the GOP by nominating their own celeb: an Oprah or a Jon Stewart, a Bob Iger or a Mark Cuban. Or they could decide they need a true superhero. Paging Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Go ahead and laugh. Far-fetched? As far-fetched as, oh, nominating a reality-TV host?
Chicago will host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the Democratic National Committee said Tuesday, bringing the event back to the city for the first time since 1996.
The Democratic Party seems to be closing ranks behind President Joe Biden as its 2024 nominee, although Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are mounting long-shot challenges. The president said Monday that he’s “planning on running” but wasn’t prepared to make a formal announcement yet.
“The Midwest reflects America and will give Democrats an opportunity to showcase some of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s most significant accomplishments for American families,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement. Chicago beat out cities including New York and Atlanta in the competition to host the convention.
A water taxi plies the Chicago River.
Getty Images
Biden said in a statement that the city is a “great choice” for the event and that his party will “showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down.”
Republicans are planning to host their 2024 convention in Milwaukee.
Chicago hosted the Democratic convention most recently in 1996, when President Bill Clinton was renominated. The 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago was marked by violent clashes between police and antiwar demonstrators.
Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson called his city “unmatched when it comes to hosting events of this scale.”
Johnson said: “I look forward to working closely with the DNC to facilitate a spectacular convention that showcases Chicago’s diverse culture, our beautiful lakefront, our renowned hospitality sector, and our best asset: our amazing people.”
The Democratic convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22, 2024.
NEW ORLEANS, January 28, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– With a city as large as New Orleans, there is no shortage of businesses to serve each person’s needs. However, some establishments lack the complete resources to fully provide customers, giving other entrepreneurs the opening they need to thrive in certain businesses or industries. For example, when Robert Daspit saw the chauffeur industry in New Orleans was lacking in areas, he decided to take the opportunity to build his empire, giving birth to his brand, Lagniappe Chauffeured Services.
The car service industry in New Orleans had been flowing without a hitch prior to Robert Daspit’s resolve, but that did not mean that there was no room for improvements. The industry had been moving steadily, following the traditional methods that kept it afloat for years. But despite this consistency, Robert Daspit saw opportunities that many had overlooked.
“I saw a need in the car services industry here in New Orleans that no other company can provide,” said Robert.
Choosing to proceed with his plans, Robert developed the Lagniappe Chauffeured Services. The brand utilizes a business model that will set the tone for what will eventually become the standard for ground transportation service domestically and internationally, twisting the traditional car service business model.
The Lagniappe Chauffeured Services is the first luxury car service to launch in New Orleans, which was established with the goal of becoming the only car service that people can trust when traveling into the city. Robert created his company to be the first choice for some of the most elite individuals in the city, including CEOs, entertainment figures, and the media elite. The company’s vision is to establish a world-class travel service that merges the art of chauffeuring with luxury, privacy, personalization, and ease.
The company’s services extend from airport transportation to special events, with the chauffeurs arriving at the appointments early according to their strict code of conduct, which requires them to dress in the formal attire of a clean, pressed dark conservative business suit, a pressed white dress shirt with tie, topped off with a well-groomed professional appearance. In addition, the chauffeurs of Lagniappe are disciplined to be positioned on-site 15 minutes prior to commercial flight arrival and half an hour before the private aircraft’s arrival.
“We believe that it’s not just where you’re being driven to but how you arrive,” said Lagniappe Chauffeured Services founder Robert Daspit. “That’s why our chauffeurs pride themselves on offering uncompromising services and not just safety or speed. In addition, we utilize the latest technology to create a customer experience that is unmatched in the transportation industry.”
Robert Daspit’s chauffeur company provides his clients with one of the most unique experiences in the industry. He takes great pride in the company’s professionalism, as they pay great attention to personal detail in the largest connected chauffeur in New Orleans, opening up clients to a unique and incomparable experience that Centurion Card members can’t enjoy.
Although Lagniappe Chauffeured Services has been making the waves in the car services industry of New Orleans, Robert Daspit is hopeful that the brand can go beyond the city, expanding across the south.
Plano, TX, April 28, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– Infinix Global Meetings & Events announced their involvement in the first-ever Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID). On April 14, 2016, they joined forces with the advocacy coalition Meetings Mean Business (MMB) to showcase the real impact that business meetings, conferences, conventions, incentive travel, trade shows and exhibitions have on people, business and communities.
Infinix Global Meetings & Events participated in GMID by hosting students from Collin College’s International Meetings and Conventions class at their Plano corporate office. The Infinix staff delivered an informative presentation to provide the students with a deeper understanding of the career paths available within the meetings industry. Staff, including President Mike Roberts, represented various functions from sales, meeting planning, finance & business management. Infinix has executed meetings in 35 countries and 5 continents over the past 25 years and brings a unique perspective to the global reach of our industry.
“What a wonderful opportunity to have students in my International Convention/Meeting Management class visit Infinix Global’s corporate office and learn from the team. The students gained valuable information and insight especially in dealing with the complexities of international meetings”
Linda Wee, Professor of Hospitality Management/Meetings & Events at Collin College
“What a wonderful opportunity to have students in my International Convention/Meeting Management class visit InfinixGlobal’s corporate office and learn from the team. The students gained valuable information and insight especially in dealing with the complexities of international meetings,” said Linda Wee, Professor of Hospitality Management/Meetings & Events at Collin College.
GMID marks the expansion of North American Meetings Industry Day (NAMID), held earlier this year in the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of Latin America. NAMID included 88 events across the continent as well as robust conversations online and 3.2 million social media impressions. Proclamations of support were issued by the governor of Wisconsin and mayors of Toronto, Buffalo and Washington, DC. A NAMID billboard was featured all day in Times Square and Caesars Entertainment “Turned the Strip Blue” in Las Vegas with NAMID logos and signage. In Mexico, a collaboration agreement was signed between the federal government, the tourism board and all 11 Meetings Industry Associations.
To learn more about GMID, visit http://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/GMID. Follow and participate in the digital conversations at @MeetingsMeanBiz on Twitter and by using the hashtags #MMBusiness with #GMID16.
About Infinix Global Meetings & Events:
With more than 25 years of global meeting experience across 35 countries and 5 continents, Infinix Global Meetings & Events offers specialized meeting capabilities and worldwide expertise. Full service planning for Meetings, Events, and Incentives is delivered with a high-touch experience and high-tech capabilities. For more information, please visit www.infinixglobal.com.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Lauren Dunnaway at 214-291-2920 or email at ldunnaway@infinixglobal.com.
