To combat the surging issue of scalping in the incredibly popular Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Pokémon Center stores are escalating their tactics. Following the lead of most Pokémon Centers in Japan, the Singapore store has become the first location selling English TCG products to remove the outer plastic wrapping from sealed booster boxes at the time of purchase.

This strategy aims to deter scalpers who buy at retail price only to resell at inflated prices. By removing the plastic, it makes it harder for secondary market buyers to trust the integrity of the boxes.

For regular Pokémon TCG enthusiasts buying cards at official stores, this packaging removal has no real impact, as the individual card packs inside remain sealed and untampered with. While some collectors of sealed products have expressed disappointment, the move is largely seen as a positive step by the majority of consumers frustrated by the prevalence of scalping in the TCG market.

Bambu Lab, through its MakerWorld brand, has launched an innovative toy system called CyberBrick on Kickstarter. This new initiative pairs reusable, programmable electronic components with a wide range of 3D-printable toy models, both official and community-designed. Having already surpassed its funding goal, the first CyberBrick kits are expected to ship in May 2025.

The initial CyberBrick launch features three official toy designs: a forklift, a truck, and a “soccer bot,” all controlled by a universal wireless controller. The starting kit, priced at $29.99, includes solderless electronic modules, wireless components, and instructions for printing and assembling these designs. Pre-printed kits are also available during the Kickstarter campaign but will be discontinued afterward.

The true potential of CyberBrick lies in its open ecosystem. Bambu Lab is encouraging community contributions and has already showcased several impressive user-created designs, including a lunar rover, a walking table, and a Tesla Cybertruck replica. Beyond toys, the system even includes components for a 3D printing timelapse kit. Notably, all CyberBrick components are fully programmable.

This isn’t Bambu Lab’s first venture into the world of 3D-printable gadgets under the MakerWorld brand, which already offers components for items like smart lights and mice. However, CyberBrick marks their first cohesive ecosystem bringing together electronics and printable models. Importantly, CyberBrick is compatible with various 3D printers, which should be welcome news to users concerned about Bambu Lab’s recent implementation of an authentication tool that restricts remote printing with third-party software.

Sony has announced a promising new display technology dubbed “General RGB LED Backlight Technology.” This innovation replaces the standard blue LEDs in mini-LED TVs with RGB LEDs, allowing for more accurate color projection without relying on traditional color filters or quantum dots. The result is significantly richer colors and brighter images compared to conventional mini-LEDs, potentially rivaling OLED’s picture quality.

Currently, the top TV technologies are mini-LED LCD and OLED. Mini-LED excels in bright HDR highlights, while OLED offers superior contrast with individually controlled pixels but typically lower brightness. Sony’s RGB LED aims to bridge this gap.

While lacking the pixel-level control of OLED, RGB LEDs demonstrate remarkable color accuracy and exceptional brightness. Demonstrations have shown brightness levels exceeding 4,000 nits, surpassing even high-end models and approaching professional reference monitor standards. Furthermore, this technology significantly improves viewing angles, a long-standing weakness of mini-LED TVs, eliminating color saturation loss or green tints at wider angles.

Interestingly, this technology isn’t exclusive to Sony, with manufacturers like Hisense also displaying impressive TVs utilising RGB LEDs. The technology is also expected to scale well, potentially leading to more affordable large-screen TVs. While it might not immediately dethrone OLED, RGB LEDs offer a compelling combination of vibrant colors, stellar brightness, and wide viewing angles, occasionally even outperforming OLED in color richness. With further development, especially in improving response times for gaming, RGB LED technology could become the next dominant display technology, similar to how OLED once overtook plasma.