Tag: laptop computers

India restricts laptop, PC imports to boost local manufacturing | CNN Business

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India has placed restrictions on the import of computers and laptops in a surprise move from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has been trying to encourage domestic manufacturing in the tech sector.

Importers will now need to apply for licenses in order to bring laptops, tablets, personal computers and other electronic devices into the country, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. Previously, the import of such items was unrestricted.

The ministry didn’t provide a reason for the change in rules, however Modi has aggressively pushed his “Make in India” campaign, which promotes local manufacturing in a bid to create more jobs. It follows a similar curb on smart TV imports in 2020.

India’s electronic imports stood at $19.7 billion in the April to June period, up 6.25% from the same period in 2022, according to Reuters.

CNN has contacted Apple

(AAPL) and Samsung

(SSNLF), top laptop sellers in the South Asian country, for comment but has not yet received responses.

India’s push to manufacture domestically comes at a crucial time for the world’s most populous nation, as companies look beyond China to secure crucial supply chains.

India’s working-age population is expected to hit one billion over the next decade, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Its large and young labor force makes the country a big draw for global companies seeking alternative manufacturing hubs to China.

Earlier this year, India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, said Apple was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India.

“If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25% of their manufacturing,” he said at an event in January.

In June, US chipmaker Micron

(MICR) announced a new factory in the western state of Gujarat, calling it the country’s first semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing facility.

The venture will see Micron invest up to $825 million and create “up to 5,000 new direct Micron jobs and 15,000 community jobs over the next several years,” according to the company.

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and a key supplier to Apple, is also looking to expand its manufacturing operations in India.

Last month, it abruptly announced it was exiting an ambitious $19.4 billion joint venture with Vedanta

(VEDL), an Indian metals and energy conglomerate, to help build one of the country’s first chip factories.

But, the company said it was still committed to investing in Indian chipmaking and was applying to a government program that subsidizes the cost of setting up semiconductor or electronic display production facilities in the country.

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August 2, 2023
Why Apple may finally be embracing touchscreen laptops | CNN Business

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CNN
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Over the years, Apple has added touchscreens to almost every computing device imaginable, from phones and tablets to smartwatches, but it has refrained from bringing the feature to its Mac product line – even as a long list of rivals did so with their laptops and desktops.

In 2010, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs described the concept of a computer with a touchscreen – then an emerging trend among the company’s competitors – as “ergonomically terrible.” Two years later, CEO Tim Cook reiterated the sentiment during an earnings call. And Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior VP of software engineering, said in 2018 that “lifting your arm up to poke a screen is pretty fatiguing to do.”

But now, Apple may be rethinking its stance. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported Apple engineers are developing a touchscreen for the MacBook Pro with an expected launch date of 2025, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While it’s unclear if the touchscreen laptop will see the light of day, introducing the product could accomplish two important things for Apple: adapting to shifting consumer expectations and supercharging sales for its Mac product line.

Microsoft, HP, Samsung and Dell, have long offered computers with touchscreens, and more consumers have come to expect they can tap on a computer screen just as they do on their phones. (If you have a MacBook, you may have already had the experience of a friend or relative touching your screen reflexively thinking it would do something.)

At the same time, interest in Apple computers is booming, thanks in part to Apple’s inclusion of its new in-house processor that improved battery life and offered better performance. Mac revenue increased 14% in Apple’s 2022 fiscal year to $40.1 billion. Apple’s iPad business, on the other hand, saw sales decline from the prior year.

Apple has previously kept the touchscreen away from its Mac lineup to prevent it from cannibalizing iPad sales. Instead, Apple added a narrow touch bar to its MacBook keyboard to provide easy access to shortcuts, emoji and other features, but ultimately it did away with the tool after it was panned by users and critics.

Now, however, Apple could use a Mac touchscreen to incentivize consumers to upgrade their computers and keep Mac sales momentum growing.

David McQueen, research director at ABI Research, said the lines are increasingly blurred between higher-end iPads and Macs, thanks to new chips, battery life and slim design. He noted that when a 12.9-inch iPad Pro is attached to a Magic Keyboard with use of an Apple Pencil, there is “not much to tell it apart from a laptop experience.”

“The market has embraced 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids and maybe now Apple sees the rationale for also adding one to its armory,” he added.”

Apple, for its part, has softened its stance on Mac touchscreens more recently. When asked at a conference last fall if Apple will add a touchscreen to Macs, Federighi responded: “Who’s to say?”

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January 15, 2023
No directive: FBI agents, tech executives deny government ordered Twitter to suppress Hunter Biden story | CNN Politics

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CNN
—

Internal Twitter communications released by the company’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, are fueling intense scrutiny of the FBI’s efforts alongside social media companies to thwart foreign disinformation in the run-up to the 2020 election.

At the heart of the controversy is Twitter’s decision in October 2020 to block users from sharing a New York Post story containing material from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. Conservative critics have accused Twitter of suppressing the story at the behest of the FBI, something they claim the released communications, dubbed the “Twitter Files,” demonstrate.

Musk himself has alleged the communications show government censorship, suggesting Twitter acted “under orders from the government” when it suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.

But so far, none of the released messages explicitly show the FBI telling Twitter to suppress the story. In fact, the opposite view emerges from sworn testimony by an FBI agent at the center of the controversy. And in interviews with CNN, half a dozen tech executives and senior staff, along with multiple federal officials familiar with the matter, all deny any such directive was given.

“We would never go to a company to say you need to squelch this story,” said one former FBI official who helped oversee the government’s cooperation with companies including Twitter, Google and Facebook.

Musk and his conservative allies have insinuated the released messages provide evidence of illicit behavior by the FBI, suggesting the exchange of secret files pertaining to Hunter Biden, and improper payments made to Twitter. But CNN’s interviews with people directly involved with the interactions and with those who have reviewed the documents disprove those claims.

Matt Taibbi, one of the journalists Musk tapped this month to comb through Twitter internal messages for evidence of free speech violations, said himself on December 2 that “there is no evidence – that I’ve seen – of any government involvement in the laptop story.”

What is clear, however, is that following Russia’s meddling campaign in 2016, plus after years of interactions with federal agents about how to spot foreign disinformation efforts, Twitter executives were hyper suspicious of anything that looked like foreign influence and were primed to act, even without direction from the government.

By the time the New York Post published its laptop story on October 14, 2020, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, had spent two years meeting with the FBI and other government officials. He was prepared for some kind of hack and leak operation.

“There were lots of reasons why the entire industry was on alert,” Roth said at a conference in November, not long after he resigned from Twitter. Roth insists he was not in favor of blocking the story and thought the company’s decision was a mistake.

As the released communications show, Twitter initially acted to suppress the story for a few days in part out of concerns that Hunter Biden, the son of the then-Democratic presidential candidate, was being targeted as part of a foreign election interference operation similar to the one Russia carried out in 2016.

What Twitter did not know at the time was that Hunter Biden was the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Since as early as 2018, the Justice Department has been investigating Hunter Biden for his business activities in foreign countries. In late 2019, nearly a year before the story first emerged in the New York Post, the FBI had used a subpoena to obtain a laptop that Biden allegedly left behind at a Delaware computer repair store.

According to sources at the FBI and at Twitter who spoke to CNN, none of that information was disclosed to Twitter executives trying to decide how to treat the laptop story, nor to anyone else for that matter.

“It was an ongoing investigation, so I would never approve of talking about it,” said the former FBI official.

While the released Twitter messages have yet to reveal a smoking gun showing the government ordered a social media company to suppress a story, Republicans on Capitol Hill say there are enough questions raised by the internal communications to merit calling tech executives to testify.

Scrutiny is building around the role of Twitter’s recently-fired deputy general counsel James Baker, a former top FBI official who joined Twitter in the summer of 2020. The released documents show Baker was in regular contact with his former colleagues at the FBI, giving rise to rampant accusations from conservatives that he was the conduit for the government to pressure Twitter.

In some of the material released by Twitter, an email shows Baker setting up a meeting – in the midst of Twitter’s internal deliberations about how to handle the New York Post story – with Matthew Perry, an attorney in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel. It is not clear what the two discussed.

The FBI declined to discuss any communications Baker had with FBI officials once he arrived at Twitter.

Baker is among a number of former Twitter executives called to testify this month by Republican Rep. James Comer, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee. Baker declined to comment for this story.

Comer also wants to hear from several former US intelligence officials who, days after the laptop story broke, wrote an open letter saying it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The group of former officials who signed the letter included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who, as a CNN contributor, appeared on the network to express his view.

Though the former officials admitted, “we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” their letter set the tone for much of the early discussion and coverage of the laptop.

In a statement to CNN, the FBI said, “The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.

“The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.”

Among the messages given the most attention from Musk and other critics are a series of emails between Roth and Elvis Chan, an FBI special agent based in San Francisco, where he focuses on cybersecurity and foreign influence on social media. On October 13, the day before New York Post story published, Chan instructed Roth to download ten documents on a secure portal.

Roth responded, “received and downloaded – thanks!”

Michael Shellenberger, who is among those Musk has entrusted with access to the internal messages, wrote about the Chan communication with Roth. Shellenberger does not describe the contents of the files, but he does insinuate that the timing of the message suggests Chan was secretly providing Roth information about the Hunter laptop.

At the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, a team reviewing the internal communications released by Musk says it has identified the 10 documents Chan sent to Roth. “I reviewed all 10 of these documents personally and I can say explicitly there is nothing in these 10 documents about Hunter Biden’s laptop or about any related story to that,” an FBI official involved in the review told CNN.

The official said eight of the documents pertained to “malign foreign influence actors and activities,” the FBI’s terminology for foreign government election meddling. The official said the other two documents were posts on Twitter the FBI flagged as potential evidence of election-related crimes, such as voter suppression activities.

Another interaction that has drawn suspicion is an internal message from early 2021 that Shellenberger cites showing that the FBI paid Twitter $3.4 million beginning October 2019. In the message, an unnamed associate emails Baker saying, “I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!”

The FBI says the bureau is obligated under federal law to reimburse companies for the cost they incur to satisfy subpoenas and other legal requests as part of the FBI’s investigative work.

The FBI describes its discussions with Twitter as the type of information-sharing that Congress and both the Trump and Biden administrations encouraged to help tech companies and social media platforms protect themselves and their users. The released messages appear to show that FBI officials repeatedly noted that it was up to the content moderators at the company to take action if a post violated their rules.

“All the information exchanged is about the actors and their activity,” a second FBI official who reviewed the communications told CNN. “What we are not providing is specifics about the content and the narrative. We are also not directing the platforms to do anything. We are just providing it for them to do as they see fit under their own terms of service to protect their platforms and customers.”

After the 2016 election, social media executives knew they had a problem. Russian operatives had used their platforms to run a massive covert influence campaign to help elect Donald Trump, using bots to spread disinformation and sow division among Americans.

To prepare for the next election, the executives set about bolstering their internal controls, including hiring former law enforcement and intelligence officials. But they also knew they had to forge a closer relationship with the US government to help root out foreign trolls and sources of disinformation.

What followed were a series of regular meetings with federal agents that began in May 2018.

The released communications as well as interviews with people involved in the meetings portray routine, friendly and sometimes tense contacts between company executives and the government officials with whom they regularly interacted. Among the released communications are lively exchanges between Twitter and the FBI, revealing some of the sensitivities — and tensions — at play as the government and Silicon Valley slowly figured out how to work together.

One former FBI official who spoke to CNN recalls that tech executives would insist on meetings away from their campuses, in part because government agents weren’t welcome. Feelings in Silicon Valley toward the intelligence community were still raw since the Edward Snowden leaks detailed a vast data collection apparatus that targeted the tech companies.

“Early on, who hosted the meeting was also a political football,” said a person familiar with the meetings between the government and Silicon Valley. “Each company wanted someone else to. There were worries about employees seeing a bunch of feds and leaking it in an inaccurate way.”

One tech source, however, dismissed this and said companies offered their offices for the meetings out of a shared sense of responsibility.

Nevertheless, the meetings went ahead. The first one took place at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park. Later meetings were held at Twitter and LinkedIn’s offices, a person familiar with the meetings told CNN.

Some of the early interactions were terse. Reports published by CNN and other news organizations described complaints from some tech executives that the FBI was sharing only limited information, useless to help the companies protect their platforms.

A telling moment came early on when a government lawyer lectured tech executives about the limits on what the government can do to help, multiple people who attended the meeting told CNN. One Silicon Valley executive described how the lawyer gave a 20-minute speech about the First Amendment and insisted that “government representatives can’t tell the companies to take any content down.”

Former Twitter employees and FBI officials involved say that by 2020, their discussions had become better coordinated and useful to both sides. One indicator of how advantageous the relationship had become: By 2020, Facebook was issuing press releases about some of the discussions.

Musk and other critics of the interactions point to released messages that they claim show a cozy relationship between the government and Twitter. But the messages also show Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, repeatedly pushing back against asks from the FBI.

At various points, the Twitter communications show Roth resisting pressure to reveal certain information about users absent a formal legal request, such as which third-party VPN services were used by some account-holders to access Twitter.

Roth also shut down a request that the company share more of its data with intelligence officials.

Others within Twitter noted the US government’s interest in Twitter’s data and urged colleagues to “stay connected and keep a solid front against these efforts.”

Conservative critics continue to blame Roth for Twitter’s suppression of the laptop story, but he insists he didn’t make the final call and says he thought it was a mistake. “It is widely reported that I personally directed the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Roth said last month. “It is absolutely, unequivocally untrue.”

Exactly who in Twitter’s leadership ultimately made the call to block the story remains unclear.

In December 2020, Roth gave a sworn declaration to the Federal Election Commission saying the government had warned of expected hack-and-leak incidents targeting people associated with political campaigns. Roth said that he learned in the meetings with government agencies there were “rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden.”

Roth did not point to the government as the source of the rumor, but his claim that law enforcement agencies gave general warnings about disinformation campaigns dovetails with recent testimony from Chan, the FBI agent who played a key role in the meetings.

Chan was deposed this year as part of a lawsuit brought by the Missouri attorney general alleging government censorship of social media. Chan disputed that the government told social media companies to “expect” hack-and-leak campaigns, saying that it would have only warned companies it was a possibility.

That Hunter Biden might be the target of a hack-and-leak operation was being publicly discussed at the time, after it emerged that Burisma Holdings, a company he worked with in Ukraine had reportedly been hacked by Russian military intelligence early in 2020.

Chan also testified that government agents never raised Hunter Biden specifically, and that his name came up only when a Facebook analyst asked specifically for relevant information. An FBI agent in the meeting declined to answer, Chan recalled, adding that she was likely not authorized to address the question because at the time the FBI had not publicly confirmed its Hunter Biden investigation.

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December 24, 2022

Best standing desks of 2022 | CNN Underscored

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Whether you’re a professional, a student or somewhere in between, the “new normal” has meant trading in a proper desk for a work-from-home space. It could be your kitchen tablet, a small hallway turned into an office or even tossing together something in the bedroom. But what about a standing desk or convertor desk? The trend that has taken the professional industry by storm is now readily available — with literally countless options — and could be the perfect solution for working from home.

That’s why we’ve been testing a handful of standing desks for months on end — from assembly to entire days spent on each — to find the best one for you.

Best standing desk

Best standing desk overall

The Branch Adjustable Standing Desk is a near-perfect desk that can handle multiple monitors, dual laptops and a plethora of knickknacks. It’s also incredibly sturdy, with one of the best builds we’ve encountered.

Branch’s standing desk might only come in two sizes and a handful of colors, but it doesn’t corner the product into oblivion. Instead, it keeps a high level of craftsmanship in a standing desk that ultimately rises above the best with seamless motion, a sturdy build and a design that doesn’t distract.

It starts with the desktop — in this case, a 48-inch wide by 30-inch depth particle board laminate. You can also opt for white or a dark walnut finish. Either route, though, you’re stuck with a set of legs in white. What’s especially lovely about the Branch option is that the depth is wider than the average desk. This makes it easy for multiple monitors, a laptop (maybe a tablet as well), a notebook with plenty of room to spare.

Furthermore, the desk’s front edge has a comfortable rounded bevel, making it pleasant to rest your arms on or lean into it without the feeling of a sharp corner jutting into your abdomen. During our testing, spills of water, coffee and never stained the finish, nor did the tabletop scratch. The side edges did peel a bit and showed some scuffs — but from pretty unnatural, heavy bangs.

The Branch also features a metal plate in the center rear of the desk that can either tilt backward or forward to reveal a brush system, through which you can snugly run cables to keep them tidy — and it even kept loose Lightning and USB-C cables from falling through.

While it’s not curved with an ergonomic cutout in the front like our previous overall pick — the ApexDesk Elite Series — we feel the Branch Standing Desk is a better overall package. Setup as a whole took about 20 minutes, and found a drill sped things up a bit. Branch does include all the necessary tools in the box and can be done with ease. The desk comes in two boxes — one with the legs and one that’s the desktop, and the directions were clear and thorough.

Heights range from 25 to 52 inches, and you can make adjustments by the centimeter at most heights. Whether adjusting up or down, the transition was one of the smoothest we tested no matter how heavy the items we had atop the desk. The Branch comes standard with a control switch that’s on the left-hand side that features an LED dot display showing the exact height, an up and a down switch and four presets. Those presets are easy to set and one touch to operate.

The Branch was also one of the sturdiest desks we tested, never rocking side to side or back and forth.

Best customizable standing desk

The Uplift V2-Commercial Standing Desk offers the widest breadth of customization out of any standing desk we’ve encountered, from size to finish to keypads — in addition to being a high-quality desk.

Read our review

Best budget standing desk

The SHW Electric Height-Adjustable Computer Desk is a surprisingly functional, sturdy desk at an incredibly affordable price, comparatively. It was a breeze to assemble, comes with a cable management tray and features a digital keypad with memory presets.

Read our review

	Best standing desk overall	Most customizable standing desk	Best budget standing desk
What we loved about it	The Branch Adjustable Standing Desk is a near-perfect desk — the sturdiest we tested (no matter the height) and one of the most comfortable to belly-up to thanks to its a slightly diagonally cut finish in the front. Setup took just 20 minutes.	We value choice. And with such an investment, we appreciated Uplift’s customizability — from size to finish to keypads — that ensures you’re getting the exact desk you want.	We were surprised by just how sturdy this affordable desk was once assembled, with minimal wobble from front to back and side to side at all heights. The this desk moves smoothly up and down without a hitch. Setup took just 25 minutes.
What we didn’t like about it	While you can choose from several finishes for the desktop, you’re stuck with white legs. Also, the side edges did peel a bit and showed some scuffs — but from pretty unnatural, heavy bangs.	The Uplift was one of the toughest desks to assemble, thanks to and assembly took nearly an hour due to all the parts required. Expect an hour-plus of assembly time.	We should note that the desktop is actually two planks of wood rather than one solid piece as the product photos may lead you to believe. Certainly looks and feels a bit cheaper than the other models highlighted.
Key specs	48-inch wide by 30-inch depth; adjustable from 25 inches to 52 inches high	42-inch wide by 30-inch depth up to 80-inch wide by 30-inch depth; adjustable from 22.6-inches to 48.7-inches high	47.25-inch wide by 24-inch depth; adjustable from Adjustable from 28-inches to 46-inches high
Price	$699	$599+	$209.87

The testing process for these desks lasted nearly two months. We unboxed and assembled each desk, paying special attention to the amount of time each unboxing and building process took. We noted how long it took to put each one together, how clear the product’s instructions were and if any special tools were needed. Once each electric standing desk was fully built, we used it at both sitting and standing heights; desk converters, of course, were used only in standing positions. We used each product for at least three full workdays and carefully noted how each desk performed in terms of ease of adjustments and ergonomics. Overall, we evaluated them on what we considered the most important factors: function, build and length of warranty. After tallying up scores for each product, we also took value into consideration, factoring the starting price of each desk with regard to the features it delivered on, to determine our final winners.

We broke the testing into the following categories and subcategories:

Function

Comfort: We made note of whether the desk provided proper ergonomics at all heights, and, where applicable, in both sitting and standing positions.
Number of different height adjustments: We noted the range of heights the desk was capable of reaching.
Ease of adjustments: We considered how easy it was to adjust the height of the desk, noting how smoothly it was able to move up and down as well as how easy and intuitive the keypad, if there was one, was to operate.
Sturdiness from front to back: We noted how much the desk wobbled, if it all, from front to back.
Sturdiness from side to side: We noted how much the desk wobbled, if it all, from side to side.
Organization: We noted if the desk came standard with any slots/grommets to organize wires, cable management trays, extra outlets. etc.

Build

Build quality: We looked at the quality of the desk’s materials, assessing whether it felt cheap or flimsy, as well as whether the desktop was prone to scratches and/or smudges.
Ease of assembly: We considered the time it took to unbox and fully assemble the desk, how clear the instructions were, if any special tools were necessary as well as if the included tools were efficient in the building process.
Appearance: We assessed the aesthetics of the desk — how it looked in a room/home office, if it was available in different colors and if so, how many.
Size: We noted how much equipment could fit on the desk, how much room it took up and whether it was available in more than one size and if so, how many.

Warranty

We looked into the warranty for each product and noted the length of coverage and what parts were covered.

ApexDesk Elite Series 60” (starting at $599.99)

The ApexDesk Elite Series 60” — our previous pick for best standing desk overall — is a sturdy, gorgeous standing desk available in two desktop sizes, both big enough to accommodate multiple monitors and devices. With a curved front, it’s more comfortable to use in both sitting and standing positions compared with the other standing desks we tried, allowing us to sit closer to the desk. It also comes standard with covered grommets to manage your wires. When we re-tested against the Branch, we found the latter had a sturdier and overall more premium build — and, therefore, more worth your money.

Fully Jarvis EcoTop Standing Desk (starting at $519 for 30×24”; fully.com)

Let it be known that we adored this desk, for myriad reasons. A newer model produced by Fully’s Jarvis line, the EcoTop is the brand’s most eco-friendly design to date, crafted from locally sourced fiber in Oregon that’s a minimum 92% pre-consumer, recycled or recovered, meeting the Eco-Certified Composites (ECC) Sustainability Standard. Beyond this new desktop, it’s identical in build and function to the customer-favorite (and also earth-friendly) Jarvis Fully Bamboo Standing Desk — and it’s easy to see why it’s so beloved. It scored top marks for its range of sitting and standing heights (25.5” to 51.1”, the second largest range of all desks we tested, displayed in increments of 0.1”) as well as its ease of adjustments, with the industry-standard four memory presets being intuitive to program. This desk felt high-quality — according to Fully, it can support upwards of 350 pounds — though a bit more wobbly from side to side at higher heights than our best overall pick. Similar to the Uplift’s warranty, Jarvis desks are covered by an impressive all-inclusive 10-year warranty on all frame components, including motors and electronics, and a five-year warranty on desktop surfaces, excluding normal wear and tear, and damage caused by improper assembly, disassembly or repair.

Ultimately, this desk lost points when it came to assembly. It was one of the most complicated builds of our pool, taking the most time and clocking in at a bit over an hour; particularly we found that the giant allen key, with prongs of equal lengths, made things clumsy to assemble. While the EcoTop features two uncovered grommets at the back corners for your cables, if you’d like to attach cord organizer, you’ll need a power drill to do so, as there are no pre-drilled holes. (We did appreciate that it came packaged with a surge protector, however.) The EcoTop is available in six sizes, and in black and white finishes.

This is a solid desk — and was indeed a solid contender for winner — particularly if you value sustainable, earth-friendly materials.

Vari Electric Standing Desk (starting at $650 for 60”; amazon.com; starting at $695 for 60” models; officedepot.com)

Another one of our favorites, the Vari is a classic electric standing desk, and there’s a reason — well, many reasons — why you may have seen it in myriad office spaces throughout the country as the standing desk du jour. For one, it’s impossibly sturdy, racking up top marks in that category during our testing. And despite its heavyweight build, it was by far the easiest of the non-budget-priced electric standing desks to assemble, taking approximately 20 minutes to do so. The Vari moves up and down smoothly, from a minimum height of 25” to a maximum of 50.2” (the highest maximum height of all desks we tested), and its LED keypad displays increments of 0.1. Programming the four memory presets is easy as pie; we didn’t even need to consult an instruction manual for that. And while there wasn’t much difference among all our standing desks in terms of motor noise, we’d contend that the Vari was noticeably quieter than the others in our pool. It has a five-year warranty for all components.

The Vari Electric Standing Desk is available in two sizes, 60×30”, 48×30” (starting at $550 at Amazon and Office Depot for the latter) as well as five finishes. Really the only place where it lost major points was in the category of organization. It features no grommets to contain wires, but rather a slightly indented back should you want to place it flush against the wall, so you’ll still have space for all your cables to comfortably hang; an additional wire tray is sold separately. (We did appreciate the complimentary bag hook that was included with our shipment.) The Vari came in just one point behind our overall winner, the ApexDesk Elite, so suffice it to say that we would recommend this desk in a heartbeat, so long as you can make do with that caveat.

Readydesk 2 Adjustable Standing Desk ($154.99; amazon.com)

While we were fans of this converter’s artsy, minimalist design, constructed from sustainable birchwood (it just screams “Brooklyn architect,” does it not?), admittedly we can understand how not everyone might be — and how it may not necessarily vibe with your decor scheme. Aesthetics aside, we appreciated how easily this converter assembles: Literally, it took just five minutes to unbox and slot the shelves into the base, no tools necessary. Because of this, it’s a good option for students living in dorms, or anyone else who may be moving around a lot and have minimal desktop space to work with. Disassembling is just as simple if you need to quickly get it out of the way and store it in a corner without taking up much space at all. Despite its lightweight build (it weighs in at less than 15 pounds), we found the Readydesk 2 to be impressively sturdy, both from front to back and side to side. It’s also designed with two keyhole-esque slots on each ledge to manage wires. The product has a one-year warranty free of defects in craftsmanship and material and a generous 100-day free return policy in the US.

It fell short in a few categories, however: It’s available in just one size and color, and doesn’t provide as much room for equipment as other converters in our testing pool did. Its unfinished edges had us worried we might snag the fabric of our sleeve on it (a valid concern among reviewers as well, as we later learned). Because of the lack of grips at the base, depending on the surface beneath it, it could be prone to sliding, although we had no issues in this regard. And, given its unique design, it’s not the most ideal product if two or more people of different heights are sharing use of it, as you have remove the piece of wood and manually move it to a different slot if you’d like to change up the adjustments, which is easy enough, but obviously not as simple as raising or lowering a lever.

Flexispot Standing Desk 48×30” ($249.99; amazon.com)

The Flexispot Standing Desk is another budget-priced standing desk model, similar to the SHW. It’s available in black, white and mahogany finishes, and while it does look quite sleek, and the desktop is indeed one solid piece rather than two narrow pieces assembled side by side, for the same price as our best budget winner, it comes with some noticeable downfalls. For one, the basic model includes a keypad with only an up and down button; the desk has a standing range from 28–47.6”, but in order to know what height you’re standing at (if that’s important to you), you’ll have to tack on another $90 for the “standard” model, which is 55” long and includes a digital LED keypad with memory presets. There’s also a smaller, 42×24” model, for $244.99.

We also noticed significant wobble once fully assembled, mostly from side to side but also from back to front. And on the topic of assembly: this desk arrives in two boxes, both pretty lightweight, but the instructions were confusing at times. A particularly baffling example: One step was to loosen bolts and stretch a rod, but the instructions didn’t specify to what length to stretch it. So we guessed, and when it came time to add the desktop, we had to loosen the bolts once again and then measure it to the correct length. Another step also required backtracking and unscrewing screws from a previous step. This desk comes with a five-year warranty for the frame, motor and other mechanisms, and a two-year warranty for the controller and switch, electronics.

Seville Classics 27.8” Tilting Sit-Stand Height Adjustable Mobile Laptop Computer Desk Cart with Mouse Side Ergonomic Table ($44.99; homedepot.com)

If you’re looking for a simple sit-stand option with enough room for your laptop and a mouse, and a laptop and a mouse alone, this Seville Classics desk is one worth considering. At just a hair under $50, unsurprisingly, you’re not getting a super-sturdy, smart standing desk option — but you are getting a product that gets the job done (the job being: providing the option to stand while at your computer), and on wheels to boot. Assembly was easy enough, as the desk is lightweight, and though the flimsy hexagon key wrench proved a bit difficult to use, we were able to build it in approximately 25 minutes. It comes with a one-year limited warranty.

The desk adjusts from a minimum of 27.9” to a maximum of 40.7”, so if you’re above, say, 5’9”, we can’t imagine you’d find this the most ergonomic product to use. We should also note that the desktop’s tilt is not adjustable, i.e, you cannot position it parallel with the floor, and the manual twist-lock knob can be a bit annoying to use to make adjustments to heights. Bottom line: If you’re on a tight budget and looking for something that’ll allow you to take standing breaks from time to time, this is a perfectly adequate solution. It’s a desk that’s perhaps best suited to students, children, and those with minimal space.

Vivo Height Adjustable 32-Inch Standing Desk Converter (starting at $109.95, originally $119.95; amazon.com)

This Vivo converter was quite similar in both build and function to the Flexispot converter. Assembly required only attaching the keyboard tray to the base, which was simple enough, and adjustment is controlled via lever. It’s a standard desk riser, and we found its sturdiness to rival Flexispot’s as well, but ultimately we didn’t select it as a winner for a few reasons: We took value into consideration, and the Vivo is available only in one size, at a starting price of $119.99, versus Flexispot’s $99.99 for its 31-inch option. (For $159.99, you can snag the Vivo in light wood or white finishes, or dark wood for $179.99.) The width of both the keyboard and desktop are a bit smaller than the Flexispot converter we tested, at 10” and 15.75”, respectively, though it does rise to a maximum height of 19.5,” one inch higher than our winning converter does. It comes with two cable clips to stick to the underside of the product, and it has a three-year warranty. If you’re seeking a finish that isn’t solid black, could make use of another inch of height as a tradeoff for some desktop space, and you’re willing to shell out a bit more cash, we think the Vivo is a fine option.

Ergo Desktop Kangaroo Pro Junior ($399; amazon.com)

This desktop converter is unique in its design, and we appreciated the dual ergonomics at play here: Basically, the desktop work surface and your attached monitor adjust separately, allowing you to customize the setup more so than typically possible with a traditional desk riser. The desktop surface, which measures 24×18” — enough to fit a laptop, or a keyboard and mouse — is adjustable to 14.5” above your desk. You’ll have to mount your monitor, and though it took us a bit to figure out the twist-knob situation in order to adjust our monitor, we no sooner got the hang of it. However, we found the removable stabilization leg to, initially, be quite confusing, and ultimately, a crucial design flaw; while the adjustable rod is meant to provide extra stability to your desktop at all heights, we found it difficult to stay put, and ultimately not a reliable source of stability after all. The Kangaroo Pro Junior does, however, take up minimal space, and if you’re working with a single monitor and a keyboard, we could see why you might be interested in this product.

High Rise Height Adjustable Electric Full Standing Desk DC840B (starting at $499.99, originally $609.99; victortech.com)

The highlight of the Victor Technology’s High Rise standing — available in 4-foot top or 3-foot top versions — features a deep work space paired with various height levels. All of this allowed us to comfortably fit a laptop, phone, papers, water bottle and iPad with space to spare. Made from materials including wood and metal, the build is sturdy no matter the height at which it’s set. Taking less than 20 minutes to assemble, the desk came with tools to put it together and straightforward directions.

There’s a memory function which lets you save four preferable heights — just tap the button and it adjusts to that exact height, ranging between 28.7 to 48 inches. Better yet, for anyone who works around other people, the desk is quiet when moving between heights.

The High Rise does lack additional perks, like desktop customization, options for additional accessories or a curved design like the ApexDesk. The price is very similar to our top-ranked standing desks, but for the same price, many of those desks offer unique features that create an individualized experience for customers, including white board and laminate desktops.

Read more from CNN Underscored’s hands-on testing:

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November 29, 2022

January 6 defendant who barged into Pelosi offices during attack found guilty of multiple counts | CNN Politics

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Riley Williams, a Pennsylvania woman who barged into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices on January 6, 2021, was found guilty on Monday of multiple counts she faced over the Capitol attack.

Williams was found guilty of six of the eight counts she was charged with, including assaulting or resisting an officer and disorderly conduct in the Capitol.

A mistrial was declared on two of the remaining counts, including the government’s charge that Riley had aided and abetted in the theft of a laptop from Pelosi’s office. The jury also could not come to a unanimous decision on the charge of obstructing the certification of the electoral college, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.

This is the first time a jury has not convicted a January 6 Capitol defendant of each count charged.

Williams was detained following her conviction Monday, taking off her plaid tie before a Deputy US Marshal took her away.

In agreeing with the Justice Department’s request that Williams be immediately locked up, Judge Amy Berman Jackson heavily reprimanded Williams and her actions on January 6.

“She was profane, she was obnoxious and she was threatening,” Jackson said of Williams.

“This is a person who was packed and ready to flee once before,” the judge added, saying that Williams’ father had offered her places to hide in the wake of the Capitol attack.

Prosecutors say they are still determining whether to retry the case against Williams on the charges of obstruction and aiding and abetting in the laptop theft.

“I don’t want to go to jail,” Williams said to her attorney Lori Ulrich, who told Williams as she was being taken away “You won. Riley, remember that. You won,” referring to the two counts the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on.

During the trial prosecutors argued that while Williams, a 23-year-old with long amber hair, didn’t appear dangerous she in fact stirred up the mob, recruited and coordinated rioters to attack police and directed others to steal the laptop from Pelosi’s office.

“Looks can be deceiving but evidence is not,” prosecutor Michael Gordon told the jury.

During the trial, multiple videos were played of Riley – some of which she shared with people she knew online who gave them to law enforcement agents – inside of Pelosi’s offices allegedly yelling “take the f**king laptop” as well as pushing against officers in the Capitol with her back.

The laptop was primarily used for conference videos and did not contain sensitive information, prosecutors said.

Videos of Pelosi’s office during the Capitol attack showed an overturned table and broken window, rioters rummaging around, taking selfies and videos – bragging that they had reached the speaker’s office. “Where’s Nancy?” members of the mob could be heard asking, over and over again.

Ulrich told the jury that what her client did on January 6 “was wrong,” but said she was young and simply “a girl wanting to be a somebody.”

According to prosecutors, Williams was “consumed” by far-right white nationalist Nick Fuentes – whose internet show “she watched obsessively” – and the Stop the Steal movement, attending rallies in the lead up to January 6.

After the riot, Williams bragged to people on the social media platform Discord that she had stolen the laptop and a gavel from the speaker’s office, none of which was true, her attorneys said.

“Riley Williams lived in a fantasy world of sorts,” Ulrich said of her client’s online presence, where she messaged people she had never met about her alleged exploits that day, much of which was made up, according to her attorney.

Williams will be sentenced on February 22 and, according to prosecutors, could face two to three years in prison, according to sentencing guidelines.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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November 22, 2022
Lana Del Rey says laptop containing her new album was stolen | CNN

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Lana Del Rey says she was robbed of a backpack that contained her laptop, which had her new album on it.

The singer said along with the computer, multiple hard drives and a camera were also stolen.

“A few months ago, I parked my car on Melrose Place — actually Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles — and I stepped away for a minute,” she said on Instagram. “And the one time I left my backpack inside my car, someone broke all the windows and took it.”

Del Rey added that another project, a book she is working on, was stolen as well.

“I had to remotely wipe the computer that had my 200-page book for Simon and Schuster—which I didn’t have backed up on the cloud,” Del Rey said. And despite that, people are still able to remotely access my phone and leak our songs and personal photos. I loved the book that I lost with all of my heart and put a lot of passion into it.”

The artist asked her fans to not to listen to any leaked music, and said she will continue to work on new music.

“I just want to mention that despite all of this happening, I am confident in the record to come, despite so many safety factors at so many different levels. I really want to persist and make the best record I can,” she said. “Please don’t listen to the music if you hear it, because it’s not coming out yet,” she said.

Del Rey concluded: “Obviously I won’t ever leave anything in the car again, even if it’s just for a moment. But we’ve had the same issues at the house, and it is a constant thing. And although I’m so grateful to be able to share all of the good stuff, I just also want to share that it has been a challenge.”

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October 21, 2022
Microsoft unveils $4,299 Surface desktop computer | CNN Business

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Microsoft’s most expensive Surface device is about to get even pricier.

At a press event on Wednesday, Microsoft is set to unveil several Surface Pro tablets, Surface Laptop models and a Surface Studio 2+ desktop computer, the last of which has not been updated in several years.

The new 28-inch Surface Studio 2+, an all-in-one desktop, now has an Intel Core H-35 processor, 50% faster CPU performance and an updated NVIDIA chip for faster graphics. The device also includes an updated display, cameras, microphones and supports a digital pen for on-screen drawing. It also has several ports, including USB with Thunderbolt 4, and the display can split into four different apps at once for greater multitasking.

The Surface Studio 2+ starts at $4,299, and $4,499 with the digital pen. The previous Surface Studio 2, released in 2018, received some criticism for its $3,499 starting price. Microsoft told CNN Business this year’s price jump is attributed to several significant improvements, including the new processor, a 1 TB SSD hard drive for faster file transfers and an enhanced 1080p camera, among other features.

The announcements about the refreshed Surface product lineup will kick off Microsoft’s days-long Ignite developer conference on Wednesday. The event comes as Microsoft marks the tenth anniversary of the Surface line, which originally launched with a tablet to take on the iPad.

Like other tech companies that have unveiled new products this fall, Microsoft is also confronting a more difficult economic environment, including high inflation and fears of a looming recession, that could make it harder to convince customers to spend three or even four figures upgrading devices.

While the new Surface products aren’t much different in terms of design or screen size than previous iterations, the latest devices feature some upgrades, including new chipsets for better performance.

Microsoft showed off its flagship Surface Pro 9 tablet, once again aimed at replacing the laptop. The two-in-one device features an aluminum casing in new colors as well as a built-in kickstand and a PixelSense display. Underneath the display is an HD camera, updated speakers and microphones, and a custom G6 chip. Microsoft said the chip helps power apps with digital ink, such as Ink Focus in Microsoft OneNote and the GoodNotes app for Windows 11, which is designed to make it feel like the user is writing with a pen and paper.

The Surface Pro 9 also offers a choice between processors. The first option is a 12th Gen Intel Core processor built on the Intel Evo platform 4 with Thunderbolt 4 – a combination which promises 50% more performance, better multitasking and desktop productivity, faster data transfer, and the ability to dock to multiple 4K displays. The second option is a Microsoft SQ3 processor powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon with 5G connectivity, with up to 19 hours of battery and new AI features.

The Surface Pro 9 is available in four colors, including platinum, graphite, sapphire and forest. It starts at $999.

Microsoft also introduced an update to its ultra-portable laptop, Surface Laptop 5, which looks very similar to its predecessor but with a processor update that may attempt to bring it closer in competition with Apple’s ARM-based chipsets for macOS laptops.

Surface Laptop 5 runs on Intel Evo platform and comes in two display sizes: 13.5 inches and 15 inches. It comes with updated Dolby Atmos 3D spatial speakers, a front-facing HD camera that automatically adjusts camera exposure in any lighting, and several new aluminum colors, such as cool metal, sage and alcantara. The company also said it promises one day of battery life on a single charge and is 50% more powerful than its predecessor.

The Surface Laptop starts at $999 for the 13.5-inch version and $1299 for the 15 inch. Pre-orders begin for Surface products on Wednesday in select markets and start hitting shelves later this month.

Microsoft hardware devices amount to between 3% to 5% of the tablet market, according to David McQueen, an analyst at ABI Research. Instead, the bulk of its revenue comes from Microsoft OS across different device types and associated applications and cloud services.

“Microsoft is able to stay in the hardware sector because of revenue generated from these services,” McQueen said. It’s an approach similar to Google whose Pixel smartphone remains a niche product but serves as a way for the company to highlight its apps and OS.

On Wednesday, the company also announced a new Microsoft Designer app and Image Creator in Bing and the Edge browser to bring advanced graphic design to mainstream audiences. The platform relies heavily on a partnership with startup OpenAI and its AI-powered DALL-2 tool, which generates custom images using text prompts. DALL-2 is also coming to Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service.

Brands are increasingly using DALL-2 for both ads and product inspiration, according to Microsoft. In a blog post, the company detailed how toy company Mattel sought out Dall-E 2 to conceptualize how future cars may look, such as by changing colors and typing “make it a convertible,” among other commands.

Experts in the AI field have raised concerns that the open-ended nature of these systems — which makes them adept at generating all kinds of images from words — and their ability to automate image-making means they could automate bias on a massive scale. In previous test of OpenAI’s system, for example, typing in “CEO” showed images that all appeared to be men and nearly all of them were white.

Microsoft said it is taking the concerns seriously. Inappropriate text requests will be denied by Microsoft’s servers, according to the company, and users will ultimately be banned for repeat offenses.

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October 12, 2022

Tag: laptop computers

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