It’s clearly time: all the news about the transparent tech renaissance
Newyork Central Post
9 min read
Gadgets, much like fashion, can make style comebacks. For tech: we’ve lived through the ’80s beige keyboards, transitioned to the ’90s with gray and black plastic video game systems plus bright colors for Sony’s Walkman and Nintendo’s Game Boy handhelds, and then, at the turn of the millennium, welcomed the amazing see-through iMacs, N64 controllers, and other gadgets with clear casings.
And just like the return of grunge makeup and baggy jeans, transparent tech is back. See-through devices are leapfrogging over the ’00s piano white iPods, ’10s matte black smartphones, and some of today’s colored aluminum and glass finishes to (hopefully) become the next big trend. Now, we’ve got clear smartphones like the Nothing Phone, see-through earbuds like the Beats Studio buds, colorful translucent shell casings for game consoles, and even chargers and USB-C cables that show off some capacitors for your pleasure.
So dust off your Apple Studio Display CRT monitor, Toys R Us-exclusive Extreme Green colored N64 controller, and your other favorite transparent gadgets as you scroll through all of our clear tech news.
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Leaked images reveal a transparent color option for Sony’s new ANC earbuds.
The leaks indicate the WF-C710N will arrive in late May with new features like Sony’s Quick Attention Mode, but more tempting are four color choices including a new glass blue option with the buds and charging case all sporting a transparent design.
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Retro Remake’s Taki Udon announced last night that preorders had opened for the SuperStation One, a clone of the PS One variant of the original PlayStation. The $149.99 Founders Edition preorders are sold out already, but you can still preorder the standard $225 SuperStation One for $179.99 right now, with shipping expected in “Q4 or Earlier.”
While the SuperStation One looks like a PS One — complete with ports compatible with the original PlayStation controller and memory cards — it plays more than just PlayStation 1 games. It’s a custom MiSTER field-programmable gate array (FPGA) machine, as Polygon points out. That means rather than emulating game consoles, its hardware can actually function just like those consoles, with cores ranging from the Atari 5200 and NES to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
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Red, white, and see-through.Xbox has revealed a new controller that seems designed to revive the impossibly cool gadget trend from the late 90s and early aughts where everything was see-through. Called the Pulse Cipher Special Edition, the controller features a deep-red transparent casing that lets you see all its innards including the rumble motors. It’s $74.99 and goes on sale February 4th.
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Asus announced a NUC AI mini PC topped with a color E Ink display.
We’ve asked Asus for more info on its availability.
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This smoky black translucent box isn’t a gaming PC — instead, it might be the most powerful single-cable portable docking station ever conceived. When you plug your laptop or handheld into the just-announced 2025 Asus XG Mobile, it promises to add the power of Nvidia’s top-flight GeForce RTX 5090 mobile chip, and up to 140 watts of electricity, and two monitors, and a USB and SD-card-reading hub, and 5Gbps ethernet simultaneously.
That’s because it’s the world’s first* Thunderbolt 5 external graphics card and one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docks, using the new 80 gigabit per second bidirectional link to do more things with a single cable than we’ve ever seen before.
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Hyperkin’s modernized Xbox Controller S is going translucent green.
The $49.99 Special Edition Greenhaven DuchesS matches the Controller S that was included with the Halo-themed Xbox Microsoft introduced in 2004. Hyperkin hasn’t finalized a release date or when preorders will start.
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Anbernic’s latest handheld, which upgrades the design of Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance with a larger screen, extra buttons, and the ability to play games through emulation, is now available. The RG34XX can be ordered through Anbernic’s website for $69.99, but is discounted to $63.99 until December 18th. It comes in four colors, including the GBA’s original purple and black, as well as transparent green and red options.
Although it looks nearly identical to the original GBA’s hardware, the RG34XX adds a pair of additional action buttons, two more shoulder buttons, microSD card slots, an HDMI port, and a larger 3.4-inch display with a 720×480 resolution and a 3:2 aspect ratio. The handheld also appears to carry over the GBA’s volume dial, but it’s actually a two-way toggle switch allowing the volume to be adjusted up and down in small increments.
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Anbernic announced its next retro handheld today and it’s easy to see where the design of the RG34XX draws its inspiration. It appears to be a faithful clone of Nintendo’s original Game Boy Advance, although updated with additional action and shoulder buttons allowing games from more recent systems to be played. Pricing and availability hasn’t been revealed yet, but the RG34XX will come in transparent red and green colors, as well as the GBA’s purple and black.
One feature Anbernic didn’t carry forward is the Game Boy Advance’s LCD screen which lacked a backlight and was notoriously difficult to see unless you were playing outside on a sunny day or cozied up next to a bright lamp. The RG34XX will instead feature a larger 3.4-inch display with a 720×480 resolution. The display will also use the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the Game Boy Advance, so GBA titles should look great, and older games developed for 4:3 TV screens will fit without extensive stretching or pillarboxing.
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8BitDo has announced a new version of its mechanical keyboard with a design inspired by the transparent green edition of Microsoft’s original Xbox console. The 8BitDo Retro 87 Mechanical Keyboard – Xbox Edition features a transparent green shell and matching keycaps similar to the console. But unlike previous iterations of the keyboard, this is the first from 8BitDo to incorporate RGB backlighting.
The Xbox Edition mechanical keyboard is now available for preorder through Amazon for $119.99 with shipping expected to start on January 16th, 2025. 8BitDo also announced the matching 8BitDo Retro R8 Mouse alongside the keyboard, which is also listed on Amazon, but not available for preorder yet.
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The Omnitype Bauer Lite, one of my favorite keyboards of the year, is down to just $95 ($25 off) this week as part of Omnitype’s ongoing Black Friday sale. I paid full price for mine earlier this year, and it was a steal. It feels great to type on, it has a great layout, it’s customizable and fun to build, and it’s colorful. What’s not to love?
The Bauer Lite has a plastic case that comes in a bunch of fantastic translucent colors, from clear to atomic purple to bright blue, seafoam, coral, dark red, and my personal favorite: neon orange. This is great news if your brain, like mine, can sometimes be tricked into feeling a little happier by a jolt of fluorescent color.
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Maybe don’t buy this cool transparent magnetic Sharge battery — a Qi2 version is imminent.
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Why I’m returning Meta’s limited-edition translucent Ray-Bans.
I’m in a love-hate relationship with these smart shades. This’ll be the second time I’ve returned a pair! I gave them another chance because the see-through model looks fantastic… I’d use them almost every day if I could ditch these dealbreakers.
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A lot of work went into making this transparent iPhone 16 Pro.
Wanting to put its internals on display, YouTube’s Phone Repair Guru stripped an iPhone 16 Pro’s back panel down to the glass using a surprisingly complicated process. Gallium was even used to remove a thin layer of aluminum as the two metals react to create a soft alloy. The results look great, but maybe don’t try this mod at home.
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Turns out, there are only 7,500 of those clear Meta Ray-Bans…
They’re on sale now for $429 — an extra $100 more than the other translucent models — and are only available in the “standard” size. The limited-edition frames do come with transition lenses and “an exclusive custom-designed black case.” Meta normally charges a $50 premium for Transitions.
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Meta’s translucent Meta Ray-Bans now come in a crystal-clear colorway.
Meta already let you see some of its smart glasses circuitry through its orange and blue frames, but now there’s an even clearer version. We already got a few photos of our own in our story about them today.
Is it… time for me to buy these things?
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Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are already one of the best cracks at AI hardware to date. Now, Meta is pushing out a series of software updates, along with a new limited-edition translucent Ray-Ban style, that bring the smart glasses closer to actually feeling smart.
The company announced several updates to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses at its Connect conference on Wednesday, introducing new features like “Reminders,” which has the glasses take a photo of what you’re looking at and remind you about it later through a notification on your phone. You’ll also be able to scan QR codes and call phone numbers you’re looking at directly from the glasses.
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Anbernic’s Game Boy Advance SP is now available in three new transparent colors.
Anbernic isn’t introducing performance improvements or new features with the additional colorways. They still feature a 3.5-inch, 640×480 screen and enough power to play N64 games.
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Microsoft went and made its pricey Xbox Elite 2 controller part of the resurgent transparent tech trend with some fetching new seethrough “Cipher Series” color options in its Xbox Design Lab custom controller shop. In addition, the company announced new chromatic options for the D-pads and paddles. Prices start at $149.99 for a custom design, but you’ll pay extra for some options.
The new translucent faceplate options are white (Ghost Cipher), green (Velocity Cipher), purple (Astral Cipher), blue (Surf Cipher), pink (Candy Cipher), and red (Pulse Cipher) options. Meanwhile, you can choose Energy Chroma and Sunset Chroma for the paddles and D-pad.
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Genki’s transparent PocketPro might be the best-looking 8BitDo gamepad yet.
The SN30 Pro was already one of the best pocketable Bluetooth gamepads you could buy, complete with Switch motion controls — 8BitDo recently added drift-resistant Hall Effect sticks, too.
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This tiny gamepad isn’t ‘one-of-a-kind,’ but it sure is adorable.
Competition is a good thing, especially when it’s cute! We’re just not sure why CRKD would call the $20 Atom a “one-of-a-kind keychain controller” when the $25 8BitDo Micro and $20 Zero 2 have been around for years. The Micro even comes with a lanyard…
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8BitDo’s new Pro 2 controller colorways are clearly superior.
It features Hall effect joysticks, support for the Switch, iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, and SteamOS, can store and quickly switch between three customized profiles, and comes in a new transparent green or blue finish.
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I’m fairly confident Microsoft has created more Xbox controllers than I’ve eaten hot dinners at this point, but I’m always happy to see another translucent option. This time, it’s the new “Sky Cipher Special Edition” controller, which includes a translucent blue design that lets you see the inner workings of the Xbox controller.
Microsoft has created white, black, and even pink translucent controllers in the past, but only the top half of those featured the effect. This new blue model is now mostly translucent, apart from the rear, grips, and buttons. It matches the special 20th edition model that was released in 2021. Microsoft has opted for two-tone thumbsticks, a matching D-pad, and blue metallic triggers.
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8BitDo’s $24.99 dock makes your Xbox controllers rechargeable.
The officially licensed dock includes an 1,100 mAh rechargeable battery designed to replace a pair of AA batteries inside Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One wireless controllers. It also comes with replacement battery doors adding charging contacts and magnets for easy docking.
The battery takes about three hours to charge, after which the dock’s adjustable LED lighting will switch from amber to white.
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Amazon Prime Day is just beginning, and Elgato is already dropping a sweet deal. Prime subscribers can get the limited-edition atomic purple version of Elgato’s Stream Deck MK. 2 for $124.99 ($35 off) at Amazon.
Normally, the standard Stream Deck MK. 2 comes in black or white and sells for $149.99 (or discounted as low as $109.99 during its biggest sales promos), so there is a bit of a premium on the limited-edition model and its aesthetics. But this is the first (and possibly only) time the atomic purple model has been discounted. Elgato only sells this variant on Amazon, and it claims the individually numbered run will no longer be available once it sells out. So you may want to consider jumping on this if you love the recent resurgence of transparent tech. I know I’m quite tempted myself.
