The Morning After: Segway made some electric skates

June 29, 2018

Hey, good morning!

Hoverboards are so 2017. Time to get some Segway e-skates. We also report on the 1000-player battle-royale game hoping to beat Fortnite and PUBG and check out some new workout headphones made by Under Armour and The Rock.

Accidents will happen.Segway's new e-skates are probably a terrible idea

The Segway Drift W1 is a pair of e-skates using the balancing technology the company is well-known for. The skates promise to bring all the "coolness" that you can expect from the Segway line, which quite frankly isn't saying much. The Segway Drift W1s look about as fantastically nerdy as you'd expect. They're black and white and advertised in the release as small, lightweight and easy to carry. We're most concerned about the lack of straps.

Wear kneepads, screamed the world's moms.

RIP
Honda ends development of its bipedal Asimo robot

We've been enjoying Honda's Asimo (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) robot ever since Engadget existed, but now Honda has announced that this robot project is winding down. The technology behind Asimo isn't going away, however, as it will be put to use in other products, like the Walking Assist device we've seen or its self-balancing motorcycle. For an idea of what's next, just take a peek at the 3E (Empower, Experience, Empathy) robots Honda brought to CES 2018 a few months ago.

It's all in the details.Sling TV adds à la carte channels, free shows and a rate hike

First, the bad news: Sling is raising the price of its Orange subscription by $5 to $25 per month. The company pointed to added channels and rising programming fees to justify the hike, but there's some good news, too. You can subscribe to services like Showtime ($10 per month), CuriosityStream ($6) and the NBA League Pass ($29) on their own, or pick up PPV items without having a subscription at all. Plus, there's now about a hundred hours of free movie and TV content that "returning" customers can watch even when their subscription is over.

Trump's trade war is hurting companies like Harley-Davidson.Harleys sold in the US will still be built in the US

Despite what you may have heard, if you're riding it in the US, then your electric Harley-Davidson of the future will be built here.

Meet the adorable new tank.The next 'Overwatch' hero is a hamster in a death ball

The team behind hero shooter Overwatch has released several outlandish heroes over the game's two-year run, but this is a new high. After a series of hints over the last couple weeks, Blizzard revealed on Twitter... a hamster in a machine-gun-toting iron ball. Hammond joins Overwatch as a flexible tank hero. He balances quad machine guns and an activated ability that adds a higher amount of shields per nearby enemy with decent mobility, either by curling into a ball and dashing away or using a grapple hook to swing around terrain -- and into foes. While airborne, he can use Piledriver to slam into the ground and launch enemies skyward. Finally, his ultimate Minefield seeds the surrounding area with explosives.

The wireless, on-ear Project Rock set hits stores today for $249.Can you smell what The Rock and Under Armour are cooking? (It's headphones.)

Wireless headphones are dime a dozen, unless you want a pair that's on- or over-ear and designed to handle intense workouts. There are some solid options for fitness buffs, including the JLab Epic2 and Jaybird X3, but those are earbuds. Under Armour hopes to offer an on-ear option with its new Project Rock wireless, on-ear headphones, which are specifically designed for workouts and were created with input from training junkie Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock.

The headphones are made from rugged materials (IPX4 rating) with an anti-slip, sweat-resistant liner and breathable ear cushions (that can be removed and washed for easy cleaning). Under Armour claims these features will make them withstand the "toughest gym conditions," without giving up on sound quality. And they're out today.