WhatsApp has rolled out a dozen new features across chats, calls, and channels that make it easier to manage group conversations, alongside other general quality-of-life improvements. One of the more notable additions is a new “Online” indicator for groups, which displays how many participants are currently using the app in real time.

This is one of several new features that are similar to capabilities on competing communications platforms like Discord, which highlights the online status of server participants. WhatsApp hasn’t mentioned if users will be able to override their own status indicator to manually set themselves as online/offline, but it should make it easier to see how many users are actively reading the chat.

Notifications in group chats will now be easier to manage and organize if you find them overwhelming. Users can select the new “Notify for” setting and tap “Highlight” to place specific limitations on notifications for replies, @mentions, and messages from saved contacts, or select “All” to receive every notification. Group chat participants can also tap on reactions that other users have left on messages to add the same reaction, much like Discord and Slack users can.

Events have been updated to allow users to RSVP as “maybe,” invite a plus one, and specify an end date and time. Events can now also be created in direct messages, and pinned in group chats to make them easier to find.

Two features that are exclusively for iPhone users include a built-in document reader that allows users to scan, crop, and save document files without opening a separate app, and the ability to set WhatsApp as the default app for calls and messages. iPhone users can make the switch by opening their device settings, tapping on “Default Apps,” and selecting WhatsApp.

In the WhatsApp updates tab, users will now find transcriptions of voice messages that they’ve received, and a voice notes feature that allows channel admins to record videos of up to 60 seconds that can be instantly shared with followers. Channel admins can now also link people directly to their channels via a QR code.

Finally, WhatsApp says that video calls have been upgraded to make them “more reliable and higher quality.” WhatsApp users can be added to an ongoing call directly within a chat thread by tapping the call icon, and call participants can now pinch to zoom in to get a closer look at the live video.

Digg’s return to the modern internet is one step closer with the launch of an “early access” group called Groundbreakers. For a one-off $5 fee you can claim your username before someone else does and get a behind the scenes look at the new Digg as it comes together. 

Digg says that the $5 fee “keeps the bots at bay,” and that proceeds will go to a nonprofit to be chosen by the Groundbreakers community. It’s a one-off charge, not an ongoing subscription.

In addition to locking down their username, members of Groundbreakers will get early access to mockups and previews of the new Digg, with the chance to give feedback directly to the development team. They’ll also get a permanent Groundbreakers badge on their profile once Digg goes live. It’s worth noting that this isn’t actually early access to Digg itself just yet, but a group on the Circle community platform.

The rebooted Digg was announced last month, with original founder Kevin Rose returning alongside a group that includes Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian. It will still be centered around sharing and voting on links, but takes inspiration from the rise of Reddit and will incorporate AI to help user-led communities with moderation.

Invites to join Groundbreakers were initially sent out to Digg’s mailing list, but you can now sign up without an invite. There’s apparently a limited number of spaces, though Digg hasn’t said how many.

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a memory upgrade that allows it to recall old conversations that you didn’t ask it to save. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X that the chatbot can “now reference all your past conversations,” and that the update aligns with the company’s goal to develop “AI systems that get to know you over your life.”

This builds on the “Memory” feature that was added to ChatGPT last year, which allowed limited information like queries, prompts, and customizations to be retained and used for future responses. With the long-term memory update, ChatGPT will now recall information in two ways — using the “saved memories” that users have manually asked it to remember, and “reference chat history,” which are “insights ChatGPT gathers from past chats to improve future ones,” according to OpenAI.

The update will be available everywhere except in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, likely due to these regions having tight AI regulations that Altman has objected to in the past. It’s currently being rolled out to users paying for ChatGPT’s $200 monthly Pro subscription and will be available “soon” for $20 Plus subscribers, according to Altman. OpenAI also says it will be available to Team, Enterprise, and Edu users “in a few weeks,” but there’s no word on when — or if — it will roll out to free users.

Memory is an optional feature for ChatGPT. Users who don’t want the chatbot to save any conversations can toggle off saved memories under the ChatGPT personalization settings, or use the temporary chat function to ask it inquiries that won’t use or affect memory. ChatGPT’s memory upgrade follows a similar update that Google made to Gemini AI in February that allows it to recall older conversations to provide more personalized or relevant responses.

China has once again raised its tariff on US goods to match Trump’s, for what it says is the final time. China’s tariff is now set at 125 percent, as it warns that the US is on track to become an economic “joke.”

In a statement from China’s Ministry of Finance, which we’ve translated using Google, the country says that any further tariffs from the US side would “no longer make economic sense,” and that the US “will become a joke in the history of the world economy.” Trump initially set a tariff of 10 percent for China in February, which has risen four times, now set at 145 percent. Until now, China has retaliated in kind with its own matching tariff hikes.

China says that at the new tariff rate of 125 percent there is no longer any “market acceptance for US goods exported to China,” so there’s no sense in raising tariffs further. “If the US continues to play the tariff numbers game, China will ignore it,” the statement says.

China isn’t ruling out other forms of retaliation, however, ending the statement with a warning: “If the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counterattack and fight to the end.” Yesterday the country announced it was reducing the number of Hollywood films it would permit to release, and over the last week it has also restricted import and export rights for a number of US companies.

Microsoft is starting to gradually roll out a preview of Recall, its feature that captures screenshots of what you do on a Copilot Plus PC to find again later, to Windows Insiders, according to a blog post published Thursday.

This new rollout could indicate that Microsoft is finally getting close to launching Recall more widely. Microsoft originally intended to launch Recall alongside Copilot Plus PCs last June, but the feature was delayed following concerns raised by security experts. The company then planned to launch it in October, but that got pushed as well so that the company could deliver “a secure and trusted experience.”

The company did release a preview of Recall in November to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel for Qualcomm Copilot Plus PCs and made a preview available to Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PC shortly after. And after a couple weeks of testing, my colleague Tom Warren said that Recall is “creepy, clever, and compelling.”

In Thursday’s blog post, Microsoft spells out that you have to opt in to saving snapshots with Recall, and you can pause saving them “at any time.”

Bluesky is updating its app to version 1.100, and the update includes a more comprehensive search page and new chat reactions.

The search page is now known as “Explore,” where you can find trending topics, suggested accounts, and starter packs to jump-start stuff for you to follow on the app. This new Explore page still lets you search from the top, but now, the first thing you see under the search bar are a list of top trends and that may have a tag emphasizing how “hot” or “new” something is.

There’s also a shortcut at the top to edit interests that inform what you see on the Explore page, but you can hide that and adjust your interests later in Settings > Content and media.

As for the chat reactions, you can now hold down on a direct message and select an emoji to react to it with. The feature looks and works similarly to many other chat apps like iMessage.

Previously, holding down on a message brought up a menu on the bottom of the screen to transla …

Read the full story at The Verge.

After years of stuntwork largely being overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars are about to add a new category. Today, the Academy announced that it intends to start giving out Oscar statues for stunt design starting with films released in 2027 for the awards ceremony’s 100th anniversary.

“Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of filmmaking,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement about the new category. “We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.”

The Academy has yet to announce any other eligibility rules for films that will be nominated in the new category. “The specifics of the award’s presentation will be determined by the Academy’s Board of Governors and executive leadership at a future date,” according to the Academy’s press release.

Though over 100 stunt workers are currently members of the Academy’s Production and Technology Branch, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, the organization has only ever given out two (honorary) Oscars to stunt performers. Now that the new category has been established, we’re probably going to start seeing studios putting a lot more emphasis on their projects’ death-defying set pieces.

Razer has finally launched its platform for streaming PC games to mobile devices at their native screen resolutions, aspect ratios, and refresh rates. Razer PC Remote Play is now available for download on the App Store and Google Play and is compatible with Windows, Apple, and Android mobile devices running at least Windows 11, iOS 18, and Android 14, respectively.

Built on the Moonlight streaming client, Razer PC Remote Play requires people to install the Razer Cortex game launcher – which now has a redesigned interface – on their PCs, which is compatible with services like Steam, Epic Games, and Microsoft’s PC Game Pass. Mobile devices will need the Razer Nexus game launcher as well as the new Razer PC Remote Play app installed.

Razer PC Remote Play was first announced at CES 2025 and has been in beta. Razer says the launch version of the app now includes the “AV1 video codec for improved quality and lower latency” plus support for the Razer Kishi Ultra and all controllers that are compatible with iOS and Android.

People that are using the Kishi Ultra with Android devices will benefit from Razer’s Sensa HD Haptics feature. Sounds from a game are used to create haptic feedback by leveraging the same hardware mobile devices use to provide silent vibrating notifications.

When streaming PC games to the iPad, the Razer PC Remote Play app is fully compatible with connected keyboards, mice, and trackpads, potentially making Apple’s tablet a good solution for streaming and playing first person shooter games.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired about 30 members of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in February, and many of them were part of a department that assesses the risks of self-driving cars, according to the Financial Times.

One worker laid off from the NHTSA’s so-called “office of vehicle automation safety” told the FT that DOGE’s actions could “weaken NHTSA’s ability to understand self-driving technologies.” Another worker said it’d be “ironic” if the firings would slow down Tesla’s plans for autonomous vehicles. 

Tesla is under multiple investigations from the NHTSA over its automated features, including its Full Self-Driving software and remote summon feature. Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot driver assistant systems have more reported crashes on the road than any other company.

Families of victims who died in Tesla crashes have urged Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to protect Biden-era rules to report automated vehicle crashes, fearing Musk’s involvement in the Trump Administration could influence investigations.

The firings also came just months after the NHTSA released a new framework that could ease regulation on self-driving cars, but in exchange, companies would need to share more data with the regulator.

Garmin has announced a new addition to its Varia line of safety and visibility accessories for cyclists. The Varia Vue is the first to pair a bright headlight with a front-facing 4K camera designed to automatically record incidents and save the footage locally or send it to the cloud through a smartphone. It’s available now through the company’s online store for $549.99 and is also available through Amazon.

The Varia Vue can capture 4K video for up to six hours on a full charge, but battery life is reduced to as little as 1.25 hours with the headlight set to its brightest setting. Dropping the camera’s resolution to 1080P at 30fps can boost recording times to up to nine hours, or up to 1.5 hours with the headlight at full brightness.

Electronic image stabilization helps to reduce shakiness in footage captured on rough terrain, while continuous recording allows the events leading up to an incident (detected by the Vue’s accelerometer) to be stored alongside the aftermath. With the camera paired to devices like Garmin’s smartwatches, cycling computers, or even its mobile app, video is recorded with GPS speed and location info.

To further maximize battery life, the Vue can be connected to Garmin’s camera-equipped radar taillight. Not only does that unlock an additional recording mode where the Vue only starts to capture footage when a vehicle approaches from behind, it also allows incidents to be captured from two different angles.

Footage is recorded locally to an SD card, but when connected to Wi-Fi, videos can be automatically uploaded to the online Garmin Vault for added security. However, that feature requires either a $9.99 monthly subscription or a $99.99 annual one.

Garmin says the Vue’s headlight has a maximum brightness of 600 lumens, but that’s only available in a flashing mode designed for daytime use. At full brightness, the Vue outputs 550 lumens, and can be dimmed to as low as 140 lumens. The headlight is also designed with a cutoff beam that angles the illumination down onto the road so it doesn’t shine in the eyes of oncoming drivers.

One additional feature that will almost certainly appeal to existing Garmin fans is that the company, which has long stuck with Micro USB ports on its products, has opted for a USB-C port on the Vue for charging.

If you were hoping to cop a OnePlus Watch 3, you can finally buy one starting today. The problem is it’s no longer the $329.99 price that was originally intended when OnePlus announced the device a few months ago. It’s now $499, a $170 or roughly 52 percent markup.

The price hike was spotted by a number of Android blogs, but what makes this odd is a lack of official communication from OnePlus itself. Normally, companies will alert press and long-time customers as consumers generally don’t react well to unexplained price hikes. However, no such hint came from OnePlus before the smartwatch went on sale. When asked about the price increase, OnePlus spokesperson Spenser Blank told The Verge, “We don’t have any additional comment to share at this time.”

The obvious explanation, though unconfirmed by OnePlus, would be tariffs. Unless you’ve been hibernating under a rock, you’ve probably seen headlines about President Trump’s ever-increasing tariffs against products shipped from China. (As of this writing, they’re currently sitting at 145 percent.) While most wearables and gadget makers I’ve spoken to have acknowledged tariffs will have an impact on pricing, some have opted to take a more wait-and-see approach. This is, however, one of the first examples of a smartwatch actually increasing in price, let alone by such a dramatic amount.

It’s also unusual given that many gadget makers attempted to delay such price hikes by increasing inventory ahead of the tariffs taking effect — keeping consumers from actually feeling the impact of tariffs on their wallet as soon. Others, like Framework, temporarily opted to halt some sales in the U.S.

But OnePlus may not have been able to stockpile units in the US early because of an ironic mistake. The OnePlus Watch 3 was originally set to launch back in February but was delayed because of an unfixable typo engraved in the backplate.

That typo: ‘Meda in China.’

Vampire Survivors is finally launching cross-saves today, but they won’t be available on PlayStation to start and have a “very slim” chance of coming to the platform because of a “legal issue.” 

“Last month, we told everyone that cross-save would be available on PlayStation 4 / 5, PC, Xbox, Android and iOS alongside our next free VS update in April,” according to a Steam post from Poncle, the game’s developer. “But at last [sic] minute, we’ve run into a legal issue on PlayStation we weren’t aware of that requires us to share info on our partners that we’re unable to. The chances of Cross-Save coming to PlayStation consoles are now very slim, but not impossible, so we’re going to keep working alongside PlayStation to resolve these problems.”

Poncle and PlayStation didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Cross-saves are now available on Android, iOS, PC, and Xbox, Poncle says. Vampire Survivors on Nintendo Switch will also get cross-saves, but “at a later date.” Poncle wants to bring them to the Apple Arcade version of the game, but only “if we can do so without breaching any privacy commitments.” 

If you want to turn on cross-saves, check out Poncle’s guide. Note that cross-saves aren’t automatically synced, meaning you’ll have to manually save and load your save data across platforms as needed.

Alongside the cross-saves news, Poncle also released a free Vampire Survivors DLC expansion based on the Square Enix’s SaGa franchise titled Emerald Diorama and a chicken-themed update to the main game that Poncle calls “The Coop.”

Three years after signing an overall TV production deal with Amazon, Mike Flanagan is finally developing a new project for the studio.

Deadline reports that Amazon is moving forward with a Carrie series adaptation from Flanagan based on Stephen King’s 1974 novel about a girl born with telekinetic powers. In addition to writing and showrunning the project, Flanagan will direct a selection of its eight episodes.

Flanagan, who connfirmed the news on his Bluesky page today, will also executive produce alongside Trevor Macy. No official casting announcements have been made just yet, but actresses Summer H. Howell (Curse of Chucky) and Siena Agudong (Netflix’s Resident Evil) are reportedly in talks to portray Carrie White and cheerleader Sue Snell, respectively.

In a statement about the project, Amazon MGM’s head of TV Vernon Sanders noted how Carrie “has withstood the test of time with continued cultural relevance.” That’s a positive way of spinning the fact that there have been many Carrie adaptations (and a sequel) following Brian De Palma’s 1976 feature starring Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, and Piper Laurie.

Though very few of those films were especially great, Flanagan has a solid track record adapting King’s classics, including The Life of Chuck, Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game. Stretching Carrie’s story out over eight episodes will likely to lead to some unexpected narrative changes, but it’s all (probably) still going to go down in flames when the series ultimately debuts.

Canva is launching its latest smorgasbord of generative AI-powered workspace tools in its attempt to cram everything that Microsoft, Google, and Adobe can do into a single platform. Canva’s Visual Suite is being redesigned to combine its design and productivity tools into a single interface, alongside adding new coding, photo editing, spreadsheet, and AI chatbot features.

These join the collection of office suite tools that rolled out in 2022, such as Canva Docs and Canva Whiteboards — Canva’s answer to services like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and FigJam. Having made a name for itself as a marketing and design platform, Canva is now hoping to add more office teams and businesses to its community of 230 million users by providing a visual spin on traditional workspace apps.

The Visual Suite 2.0 update allows users to build and edit documents, presentations, animations, and websites into a single design, providing a unified format for teams to collaborate on multiple tasks simultaneously. “This eliminates the need for separate tools, fragmented workflows, and disconnected files,” Canva said in its press release. “Entire campaigns – from planning and briefing to design and delivery – can now happen in one seamless, collaborative space.”

Canva Sheets is a more creative take on typical spreadsheet-building applications, allowing users to combine text with visual assets. Data can be imported from HubSpot, Statista, Google Analytics, and more, according to Canva, while the company’s AI-powered “Magic Insights” feature automatically scans the data to identify notable patterns or takeaways. Data can also be transformed into a variety of interactive graphs using “Magic Charts,” which aims to make it easy for users to turn raw numbers into infographics, reports, and animated visualizations.

Canva Code is a generative AI coding assistant akin to Gemini Code Assist or the Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot. Users can give it a text prompt to generate widgets, websites, and other interactive content “with no coding or external tools required,” according to Canva.

Meanwhile, Canvas’s new AI chatbot — which the company describes as a “conversational creative partner” — brings all of Canva’s generative AI tools into one window to make them easier for users to quickly access. From there, you can use voice or text prompts to edit photos, resize designs, and generate text, slides, and images.

On the creative side of things, Canva has also updated its Photo Editor with similar features to those that Adobe has introduced in its professional Photoshop software. The Photo Editor now allows users to automatically modify or remove background objects by clicking on them, and create AI-generated backgrounds that “account for lighting and layout,” according to Canva.

As Sonos continues a company-wide effort to redeem itself after last year’s app snafu, it’s adding a well-known industry name to its board of directors. This morning, Sonos announced that Hugo Barra is joining the board to replace Mike Volpi, who is stepping down after 15 years — the longest tenure of any board member.

Barra has a long resume that includes senior leadership positions at companies including Google, where he’s credited with leading “the Android ecosystem from nascency through its first billion users.” After that, he moved onto Xiaomi and spent three years overseeing global operations for the influential Chinese phone manufacturer. Barra’s next stop was Meta, where he served as vice president of the company’s Oculus virtual reality division.

He’s currently the co-founder and head of product at /dev/agents, which is described as “a software company building a next-generation operating system for AI agents.” For now, it sounds like Sonos is glad to have Barra because he’s got a strong track record of delivering results — but those AI ties might prove useful down the road.

“He has a proven ability to turn cutting-edge innovation into great products — a great fit for Sonos,” board chair Julius Genachowski said in a press release. “With his deep expertise, including in AI, we’re excited to have him on the Board, engaging with the leadership team and adding value.”

Sonos remains focused on delivering performance improvements, bug fixes, and new features (along with some still-missing old ones) to its mobile app on Android and iOS. As part of that renewed effort, the company decided to cancel its next hardware product, a streaming video player codenamed Pinewood, which was first reported last month by The Verge.

The company’s product roadmap is in flux to some extent for the time being, but other projects in the works include a dedicated audio video receiver and a follow-up to the Era 100 smart speaker, which recently got a price cut. I’m told by sources inside the company that morale among employees has generally been on the upswing in recent months as interim CEO Tom Conrad — who seems likely to get the job officially — takes steps to right the course and shake up Sonos’ leadership ranks.

President Donald Trump’s “90-day pause” on high tariffs for many countries could be good news for Nintendo. The shift marks an opportunity for the company to ship more Switch 2 units from Vietnam to the US. And customs data reported on by Bloomberg suggests the company has already been stockpiling Switch 2 units from Vietnam this year ahead of the console’s June 5th launch date.

Before the pause, the Trump administration had placed a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam, where Nintendo manufactures some of its hardware. Concerns over the tariffs caused Nintendo to delay its planned April 9th date for Switch 2 preorders in the US. Right now, a 10 percent tariff is still in place for countries that haven’t retaliated against Trump’s tariffs, so any consoles shipped to the US from Vietnam will, for the time being, be hit with a smaller tariff than before.

Nintendo has already said that it’s shipped “some” Switch 2 inventory to the US, which could help it get ahead of what’s expected to be high demand for the console. According to Bloomberg, one of the Nintendo Switch 2’s primary assemblers in Vietnam has significantly ramped up how many devices it’s shipped to the US in the past couple months.

“Hosiden Corp., one of three main Switch 2 assemblers, shipped more devices in February to the US from Vietnam than in the previous six months combined, according to customs data provided by NBD,” Bloomberg says. A chart of NBD data in the article says that Vietnam exported 383,000 game console units to the US in January and more than 725,000 game console units to the US in February.

Nintendo hasn’t said when preorders in the US (and Canada) might open or if the Switch 2 will have a higher price to account for tariffs. But with the lower tariff in place for now, it seems likely that Nintendo is going to try and bring as many Switch 2 consoles to the US before higher tariffs potentially come into effect down the line.

Just ahead of the second season of The Last of Us on HBO, Sony is making it a little easier for newcomers to get the full game experience. The company just announced The Last of Us Complete for the PS5, which is exactly what it sounds like: a collection feature The Last of Us Part I and Part II, alongside extra features like the roguelike mode and “lost levels” collection.

Of course, you can already buy the PS5 enhanced versions of both games, but the new collection should provide a simple entry point to those just coming to the series after watching the show. That’s almost certainly why the complete collection is coming out now; season 2 of the HBO series premieres on April 13th.

That said, if you want a physical version of the complete edition, you’re going to have to wait. The downloadable version launches today, but the physical collector’s edition — which comes in a steelbook case and includes art prints and comic books — won’t be available until July 10th (it’ll be exclusive to PlayStation’s own shop).

Apple airshipped 600 tons of iPhones to the US from India before new US tariffs were scheduled to take effect, as reported by Reuters and The Times of India. Meanwhile, Nikkei Asia reports Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo were pressing to ship as many “premium” devices as possible, like high-priced computers above $3,000 that would see the biggest price increases under the new tariffs.

According to Reuters, the company lobbied officials to speed up customs clearance, added workers, and temporarily kept its plant in India running on Sunday to achieve a 20 percent increase in production. Based on the planes’ capacity and the weight of iPhones plus packaging, the outlet estimates that about 1.5 million devices were shipped out since March, which could help Apple avoid raising prices for a while.

Nikkei Asia spoke to an executive at a supplier to Apple, Microsoft, and Google, who said they got the call to ship as many consumer electronics by air as possible, but “there’s only so much” that could be shipped in time before the tariff deadline. HP reportedly initially told suppliers to stick to the original shipping plan, but within 24 hours reversed that and wanted as many devices shipped to the US as possible, while also planning to increase production in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Samsung is reducing smartphone component orders for the middle of 2025, while some PC makers like Lenovo and Acer are indicating they’ll increase output focus for non-US markets.

Last week, President Donald Trump declared a series of tariffs that pitted the United States against the rest of the world. Big companies stayed nervously silent; small ones panicked. The stock market plunged. And surely worst of all, Switch 2 preorders were delayed. Then, the same day the largest tariffs went into effect, Trump hit the brakes with a “90-day pause.” But it’s only sort of a pause — and not on everything. Taxes on items from around the world remain higher than they were a week ago. And an escalating trade war with China has no end in sight.

Here’s roughly what’s happened. Trump announced a 10 percent base tax on goods from nearly every country on the planet, plus even higher tariffs — sometimes reaching 50 percent — on many of America’s most important trading partners. (These joined existing tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, among other things.) The base rate went into effect over the weekend, as Trump declared that despite other countries’ attempts to negotiate, he wasn’t backing down. China retaliated with its own tariffs, so Trump promised an extra 50 percent hike on US taxes on Chinese goods, bringing the number to a staggering 104 percent. As prom …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Bosch should be worried after several bicycle brands just announced their first e-bikes built on top of DJI’s compact and lightweight Avinox drive system, which is surprisingly powerful and torquey. These international brands include Forbidden, Unno, Smartmotion, Megamo, Paprika 53, and Teewing, all of which have new e-bikes built around the 1000W Avinox motor that’s capable of producing a very responsive 120Nm of max torque. 

I haven’t tested the Avinox drive system myself, but a number of reputable reviewers are impressed — and it’s only DJI’s first salvo into the market. The Avinox system was first launched inside a mid-drive electric mountain bike — a segment dominated in sales by Bosch — from the DJI-offshoot brand Amflow. Most of the new bikes announced today are also electric mountain bikes, although newcomer Paprika 53 is positioning its Model 25 GT as an electric gravel bike.

It’s a very promising start for a very promising drive system from the world’s leading maker of consumer drones.