consumer tech
Spoot: Spotted Early keeps consumer tech in one place: 5 stories so far. The section currently leads with “Pocket-sized buttons, real joysticks, and a phone that finally plays like a handheld”, “This tiny $400 telescope squeezes the cosmos onto your nightstand”, and “Aurzen's Zip Pro keeps its folding party trick, sharpens the picture”. There's a particular dread that comes with trying to play a real game on a phone: your thumbs cramp over the screen, the touch controls drift, and you lose the boss fight because your finger slipped. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every consumer tech story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
Pocket-sized buttons, real joysticks, and a phone that finally plays like a handheld
There's a particular dread that comes with trying to play a real game on a phone: your thumbs cramp over the screen, the touch controls drift, and you lose the boss fight because your finger slipped. Abxylute's new M5 and M6 controllers are the counterargument. They pack proper-sized buttons and real joysticks into a form that attaches securely to your phone and still slips into a pocket. That's the whole pitch, and it's a good one. The M6 is the one I'm circling back to, because a motion controller that fits in your jeans is the kind of weird, specific promise that either works brilliantly or becomes a drawer ornament. It's a Kickstarter, so we'll see if they ship. But for anyone who's ever squinted at a touchscreen d-pad, this is worth tabbing. Stay spooty.
This tiny $400 telescope squeezes the cosmos onto your nightstand
A $400 telescope that promises to put the cosmos on your nightstand. That's the pitch, and I'm already poking at the seams. It's a smart telescope, meaning it does the heavy lifting, tracking, stacking images, compensating for light pollution, so you don't need a degree in astrophotography or a backyard observatory. The question is whether it actually delivers a view, or just a filtered TikTok of the sky. I like the ambition: making the universe feel intimate, not intimidating. But I want to know how it handles a suburban rooftop or a cloudy Tuesday. For another look at cleverly compact designs, check our piece on the car-topped pop-up that unfurls into an off-grid A-frame. This telescope is small, sharp, and weird enough to earn a second look, if it proves it can see.
Aurzen's Zip Pro keeps its folding party trick, sharpens the picture
The Zip Pro doesn't unfold so much as it refuses to lie flat, and honestly, that's the charm. Aurzen's taken the original's delightfully stubborn Z-fold trick and left it intact while sharpening everything around it. First teased at IFA 2026, this thing is creeping closer to a real release, and the upgrade path is less about reinvention and more about tightening the screws. The picture gets the obvious boost, but the real win is that the hardware finally feels like it's catching up to the hinge. It's still a pico projector, still tiny, still begging for a dark wall. But it's also proof that a clever idea can survive contact with a second version. If you're into gadgets that fold like origami and punch like a much bigger box, keep this one tabbed.
Epson's new lasers don't care about your living room wall, they'll paint 300 inches on it anyway
Epson's new lasers have looked at your living room wall and decided it's basically a blank canvas begging for a 300-inch punishment. The Home Cinema LS5000, LS6000, and LS7500 are joining the existing LS11000 flagship, and all four of them will happily throw an image the size of a small garage door across your paint job. That's absurd. That's wonderful. That's a 100-inch TV quietly feeling very inadequate right now. Here's the thing about this lineup: it's not just about size, though size is the headline. It's the laser part that gets me. No bulb to babysit, no warm-up theatrics. Just light, appearing on demand. Epson is betting your home theater ambitions should outgrow the room you actually have. Fair enough.
The sun does your drapes' dirty work now, no motor required
The sun does your drapes' dirty work now, no motor required. We've seen smart curtains before, sure, but they usually want a chunky motor, a hub, and a stern talking-to about Wi-Fi passwords. This new one skips the machinery and just lets the light do the pulling. That's the razor clam in the spec sheet, the detail that makes you lean in. It's clever, sure, but we're gently skeptical until we see it ship. The campaign's live now, and it's worth a scroll if you've ever wanted blinds that move without you lifting a finger or lifting a screwdriver. It's not quite the cinematic wall-buster Epson's pushing with its new lasers, but for the window-bound among us, this feels like the quiet win. Stay spooty.