June's Greatest Gear, From Apple's New iPad to Coding Robots

Remember Monument Valley, the world's most beloved iOS game? Well, it just got even better with Monument Valley 2, a 16-level follow up to the 2014 blockbuster. On the surface it looks and plays like the first Monument Valley, but a closer look reveals a deeper, smarter game than before. Follow the avatar, Ro, and her daughter as they travel from world to world, relying on each other to move monuments and solve puzzles. Don't be surprised if the tugs-at-the-heartstrings narrative gives you a sense of purpose you might not have felt with the original. Read the full story here.

Very few computers make a statement just by sitting on top of your desk. HP’s latest update of the Envy 34 all-in-one is one of them. The CPU lives in a sturdy base, from which a single post rises to support the screen. That 34-inch curved screen makes sure every horizontal point on display is equidistant from your eyes. None of that would matter if the Envy wasn’t a dazzling performer, and the good news is that it is. It shattered records on general performance benchmarks and turned in top-flight gaming and graphics numbers, too. Read the review here.

Children can grasp technical concepts, but they need the right tools—like this playdough from Tech Will Save Us, designed to demystify the complex idea of electrical circuits. Kids can mold the conductive dough into creations that move, flash, and make sound. It's so fun to play with that your kids will hardly realize they're learning how electricity works. Read the full story here.

Apple's all new iMac Pro—a ridiculously powerful, 5K, space gray all-in-one—seems to have been made almost as a statement. That statement? If you need a supercomputer, Apple’s still the place to go. The company's most bonkers machine yet can have processors up to 22 teraflops, memory up to 128 gigs, and as much as 4 terabytes of storage. The whole thing starts at $5,000, and is almost definitely more computer than you’ll ever need—Apple intends it for machine learning, VR, and real-time 3-D rendering. Not for Netflix. Or at least, not only for Netflix. Read the full story here.

At first glance, the new Aero 15 might seem like little more than a rebranded box. But the 15.6-inch machine, crafted from machined aluminum, offers a few notable upgrades over more mainstream laptops. It comes with a fully programmable keyboard and Pantone tuning, plus a litany of ports. At 4.7-pounds, it's not light, but it's competitively priced for an ultra-high-end configuration. Read the review here.

Live OS is not a line of furniture, but a cloud platform that tracks how people make use of office space. Attach an infrared sensor to the underside of your desk and Live OS will log when you sit and stand, come and go, all the while pushing information to a beautifully designed dashboard. The goal is twofold: First, to help rid employees of their sedentary habits; and second, to give companies data on how their employees interact with the furniture. For the privilege, Herman Miller will charge $60 annually per sit-stand desk and $36 per fixed height desk. Read the full story here.

Thought the iPad Pro was already perfect? Think again, because Apple managed to make the new 10.5-inch model even better. Apple laid lots of spec upgrades on the new Pro, some important but invisible (the crazy fast chip now runs even faster) and others subtle but striking (the screen, now with an even faster refresh rate). With iOS 11, coming this fall, it shows the best promise for turning your iPad into a computer. $649 and up. Read the full review here.

The Eero Beacon plugs straight into an outlet and acts like a nightclub bouncer for your Wi-Fi, securing all the connected devices in your home. Up-leveled security measures protect you from viruses, malware, and even phishing attacks and ransomware. You can buy an Eero and a Beacon for $299, or add another Beacon for $100. The three-router system, now called Pro Wi-Fi System, still costs $499. Eero's plan is to be more than just an internet machine; it wants to be the gateway to your entire connected future. Read the story here.

Surfing giant waves at Mavericks, jumping off a cliff in a wingsuit, floating around on the ISS—if you're going to do it, you're definitely going to want a video. Enter GoPro's latest POV camera, now with 360 capabilities. The Fusion 360 camera has a pair of fisheye lenses—one on each side—which work in tandem to capture a full spherical view of the camera's surroundings. A feature called "OverCapture" lets you play director of photography after you've already shot the scene, tilting and panning the camera at will. You can also pull all the way back until you have the "tiny world" perspective, with the whole 360 degrees squished into a 1080p frame. Read the full story here.

Like the iPod, Dyson created a coveted product that turned its market upside down. Now, Dyson takes it one step further with its line of cord-free vacuums. Modular parts snap onto the V7 Motorhead Cord-Free Vacuum, allowing you to vacuum your floor, your couch, and your car with the same machine. The V7's standard suction power works as well as the larger Dysons of the previous generations. Oh, and did we mention that it comes in fuchsia? Read the full review here.

OnePlus packed all the best components into its latest phone: Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 processor, 6 or 8 gigs of RAM, a 3,300 mAh battery with super-fast charging, 64 or 128 gigs of storage, dual-sim support, Bluetooth 5.0, a two-camera array on the rear that lets you take cool portraits, and an absurdly high-res 16-megapixel selfie cam. It's way cheaper than the iPhone or the Google Pixel, while packing the same amount of storage and memory. OnePlus didn’t do anything outrageous or eye-catching, like shave the bezel to a sliver or build in a modular ecosystem. It simply made all the stuff in its fourth flagship phone better. And in doing so, it made a pretty good phone. Read the full review here.

There's no lever-jiggling or button-pushing on The Pacific, the first task chair from British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. Instead, the sleek and streamlined chair houses an innovative hinge that automatically adjusts its resistance based on the weight of the chair's occupant. The slightly-bowed backrest dips below the seat to create a clean, sharp silhouette. The chair’s aluminum armrests jut out at 90 degrees, like miniature plane wings, and attach under the seat (rather than to the back, like most chairs) so that the person sitting can swing her legs to the side unrestricted. You'll feel so sophisticated that you'll hardly remember you're stuck in a cubicle. Read the story here.

Forget everything you think you know about programming. Koov makes learning to code as easy as playing with building blocks. The set of candy-colored blocks snap together like Legos, and pair with a Koov app that teaches kids basic programming concepts like looping and "if-then" logic. Together, the system lets kids build their own interactive robots, penguins, trucks, and other cool things. Read the full story here.

The average person will spend 3.9 years of their life staring at a smartphone screen. Don't be that person. Instead, try the Punkt MP01, a handset that offers only calling and texting. No apps, no camera, no nothing. Sure, $295 might seem like a lot of bread for a phone that you can't use to log into Facebook or fire off a quick work email, but really, can you put a price on regaining your basic humanity? Repeat after us: Offline is the new luxury. Smartphones? Out. Dumbphones? In. Read the story here.

Don't waste wall space with your hefty television. Turn it into décor with The Frame, Samsung's clever mashup of a television and digital art display. One click on the remote toggles between the TV and “art mode,” a high-res display for digital paintings, drawings, and photographs. You can import your own images, order them from Samsung at $20 a pop, or subscribe to unlimited art for $5 a month. The 55-inch 4K screen is nothing to scoff at, but at $2,000, you're not really paying for a TV. You're paying for one that disappears. Read the story here.

Straight out of the box, Anki’s adorable robot Cozmo plays games, fist bumps, and uses its big, blue digital eyes to convey convincing emotional range. And its brain uses machine learning, so it gets more savvy as you play with it. An update lets Cozmo teach you skills as well, like the basics of coding. Using Scratch, a simple programming language MIT developed developed for use in elementary and middle schools, you can program Cozmo to roll forward, turn left, or do-si-do around the living room. As if Cozmo wasn't already cute enough. Read the story here.