Fourteen years after unveiling its first location in New York, Nintendo is finally opening an official store in Japan, too. Nintendo Tokyo will be located in Shibuya Parco, the new flagship of the Parco department store chain. Nintendo Tokyo is scheduled to open at the same time as the shopping center in fall.
In an announcement, Nintendo said “we are preparing to make this store, which will be a new base for communicating Nintendo information in Japan, an enjoyable place for a wide range of consumers.” In addition to games, consoles, accessories like amiibo, and branded merchandise, Nintendo Tokyo will also host gaming kiosks and events (if the New York store, in Rockefeller Center, is anything to go by, these might include tournaments, demos, and launches).
Nintendo recently posted strong third-quarter revenue growth, but also cut its Switch forecast for the year. Sales may pick up again, however, if Nintendo releases a smaller and less expensive version of the console, as Japanese financial publication Nikkei reported it plans to do.
Samsung has announced their 2018 earnings, and things aren’t so perfect for the top dog in the Android space. We were already expecting this from a warning directly from Samsung, but now it’s official: Q4 of 2018 saw Samsung take a sharp hit to revenue and profit for what’s typically the best quarter of the […]
It seems inevitable that the high seas will eventually play host to a sort of proxy war as automated vessels clash over territory for the algae farms we’ll soon need to feed the growing population. But this rocket-launching robo-boat is a peacetime vessel concerned only with global weather patterns.
The craft is what’s called an unmanned semi-submersible vehicle, or USSV, and it functions as a mobile science base — and now, a rocket launch platform. For meteorological sounding rockets, of course, nothing scary.
It solves a problem we’ve seen addressed by other seagoing robots like the Saildrone: that the ocean is very big, and very dangerous — so monitoring it properly is equally big and dangerous. You can’t have a crew out in the middle of nowhere all the time, even if it would be critical to understanding the formation of a typhoon or the like. But you can have a fleet of robotic ships systematically moving around the ocean.
In fact this is already done in a variety of ways and by numerous countries and organizations, but much of the data collection is both passive and limited in range. A solar-powered buoy drifting on the currents is a great resource, but you can’t exactly steer it, and it’s limited to sampling the water around it. And weather balloons are nice, too, if you don’t mind flying it out to where it needs to be first.
A robotic boat, on the other hand, can go where you need it do and deploy instruments in a variety of ways, dropping or projecting them deep into the water or, in the case of China’s new USSV, firing them 20,000 feet into the air.
“Launched from a long-duration unmanned semi-submersible vehicle, with strong mobility and large coverage of the sea area, rocketsonde can be used under severe sea conditions and will be more economical and applicable in the future,” said Jun Li, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a news release.
The 24-foot craft, which has completed a handful of near-land cruises in Bohai Bay, was announced in the paper. You may wonder what “semi-submersible” means. Essentially they put as much of the craft as possible under the water, with only instruments, hatches, and other necessary items aboveboard. That minimizes the effect of rough weather on the craft — but it is still self-righting in case it capsizes in major wave action.
The USSV’s early travels.
It runs on a diesel engine, so it’s not exactly the latest tech there, but for a large craft going long distances solar is still a bit difficult to manage. The diesel on board will last it about 10 days and take it around 3,000 km, or 1,800 miles.
The rocketsondes are essentially small rockets that shoot up to a set altitude and then drop a “driftsonde,” a sensor package attached to a balloon, parachute, or some other descent-slowing method. The craft can carry up to 48 of these, meaning it could launch one every few hours for its entire 10-day cruise duration.
The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. This is just a prototype, but its success suggests we can expect a few more at the very least to be built and deployed. I’ve asked Li a few questions about the craft and will update this post if I hear back.
It’s pretty rare that we ever see Verizon deploy Android updates before other carriers, but it looks like they’ve worked with Samsung to give the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ a timely experience with the latest One UI updates. Both of those devices are reportedly receiving OTA updates from the carrier right now. This […]
The OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T are both excellent phones, but as we always seem to note in reviews, some crucial corners tend to get cut. It looks like both models are experiencing issues with the microphone in third-party apps, and it’s causing serious quality problems while using things like Snapchat and other messaging apps. […]
The Raspberry Pi is one of the cheapest yet most fun gadgets to tinker around with, and with a little bit of creativity you can get them to do just about anything. We’re offering a starter kit and course bundle that will teach you the ins and outs of working with a Raspberry Pi, and […]
Samsung isn’t really known for making headphones, despite making accessories and gadgets of just about everything else. They do offer the IconX, a set of truly wireless headphones that I think are pretty mediocre, but otherwise they don’t leverage their Galaxy branding to push headphones like other manufacturers do. That might change with the launch […]
You may think that the worst you’ll risk by buying a bargain-bin smart bulb or security camera will be a bit of extra trouble setting it up or a lack of settings. But it’s not just while they’re plugged in that these slapdash gadgets are a security risk — even from the garbage can, they can still compromise your network.
Although these so-called internet of things gadgets are small and rather dumb, they’re still full-fledged networked computers for all intents and purposes. They may not need to do much, but they still need to take many of the same basic precautions to prevent them from, say, broadcasting your private information unencrypted to the world, or granting root access to anyone walking by.
In the case of these low-cost “smart” bulbs investigated by Limited Results (via Hack a Day), the issue isn’t what they do while connected but what they keep onboard their tiny brains, and how.
All the bulbs they tested proved to have no real security at all protecting the information kept on the chips inside. After exposing the PCBs, they attached a few leads and in a moment each device would spit out its boot data and be ready to take commands.
The data was without exception totally unencrypted, including the wireless password to the network to which the device had been connected. One device also exposed its private RSA key, used to create secure connections to whatever servers it connects to (for example to check for updates, upload user data to the cloud, and so on). This information would be available to anyone who grabbed this bulb out of the trash, or stole it from an outdoor fixture, or bought it secondhand.
“Seriously, 90 percent of IoT devices are developed without security in mind. It is just a disaster,” wrote Limited Results in an email. “In my research, I have targeted four different devices : LIFX, XIAOMI, TUYA and WIZ (not published yet, very unkind people). Same devices, same vulnerabilities, and even sometimes exactly same code inside.”
Now, these particular bits of information exposed on these devices aren’t that harmful in and of themselves, although if someone wanted to, they could take advantage of it in several ways. What’s important to note is the utter lack of care that went into these devices — not just their code, but their construction. They really are just basic enclosures around an off-the-shelf wireless board, with no consideration given to safety, security, or longevity. And this type of thing is not by any means limited to smart bulbs.
These devices all proudly assert that they support Alexa, Google Home, or other standards. This may give users a false sense that they are in some way accredited, inspected, or otherwise held to basic standards.
In fact, in addition to all of them having essentially no security at all, one had its (conductive) metal shell insulated from the PCB only by a loose piece of adhesive paper. This kind of thing is an electrical fire or at least a short waiting to happen.
As with any other class of electronics, there’s always a pretty good reason why one is a whole lot cheaper than another. But in the case of a cheap CD player, the worst you’re going to get is skipping or a scratched disc. That’s not the case with a cheap baby monitor, a cheap smart outlet, a cheap internet-connected door lock.
I’m not saying you need to buy the premium version of every smart gadget out there — consumers need to be aware of the risks they are exposing themselves to with the installation of any such device, let alone a poorly made one.
If you want to limit your own risk, a simple step you can take is to have your smart home devices and such isolated on a subnet or guest network. Making sure that the devices and of course your router are password protected, and take common sense measures like changing that password regularly.
A new study released earlier this week from Counterpoint Research revealed strong growth year over year for the “premium” smartphone market. This growth comes despite an overall trend of smartphone sales slowing by 3%. Keep in mind that for purposes of the analysis, the “premium” market is defined as phones that cost $400 or more, […]
While flagship level phones get a lot of attention and even mid-tier phones can generate buzz, the low end of the market seems like an unexciting place. Nevertheless, for smartphone manufacturers devices at the lower tiers of the market can be the bread and butter thanks to their price points making them affordable for a […]
Ready to master Python? We’re offering a master class bundle on learning the ins and outs of one of the most popular programming languages in the world, including starting as a beginner and delving into things like machine learning, web development, and data analysis. All in all this bundle includes 10 courses, and you can […]
If you’re interested in Meizu’s insane smartphone that doesn’t have any port or button, you can now pre-order it on Indiegogo for $1,299. Supply is limited as the company is only selling 100 units for now.
The Meizu Zero looks like any modern phone at first sight. But if you look beyond the display, you’ll notice that there’s absolutely zero port or button.
The volume button has been replaced with a touch-sensitive surface. The fingerprint sensor is integrated in the display. Wireless charging is the only way to charge the device. And if you’re thinking about putting your SIM card in the phone, there’s no SIM slot either — I hope your carrier supports eSIM cards.
There’s no speaker grille either. Meizu is using the screen as a display by sending vibrations through the display. It also works as a microphone, apparently.
It’s unclear if this is just a giant joke or an actual product. But it’s an interesting experiment. For $1,299, you get a phone with a 5.99-inch AMOLED display and a Snapdragon 845 system-on-a-chip. The company expects to ship the device in April 2019.
Sick of filling the limited space on your phone with apps, photos and videos? Sometime in the near future, your smartphone could ship with more than one-terabyte (1TB) of internal storage and run 10 times faster than a standard memory card.
Samsung is best known for making smartphones but the company’s memory division — one of its most profitable units — just announced that it has begun mass-producing a 1TB flash storage chip for phones. There’s no word on when they’ll be inside smartphones but Samsung said it plans to increase production during the first half of this year.
“Smartphone enthusiasts will soon be able to enjoy storage capacity comparable to a premium notebook PC, without having to pair their phones with additional memory cards,” Samsung said.
That 1TB capacity is double the previous highest that the Korean firm has produced. Its newest chip gave the Galaxy Note 9 a 512GB model which passes the terabyte milestone when a 512GB SD card is added. This new breakthrough promises to offer that without the help of a card, but the company also boasted of improved performance.
Samsung said its new tech reaches speeds of up to 1,000 megabytes per second (MB/s) — that would transfer a 5GB-sized full HD video in just five seconds to transfer, as opposed to nearly one minute with conventional microSD cards. Increased memory will also enable better quality high-resolution video shooting thanks to faster random read speed, it said.
Sounds good, but might this ship before the end of the year? The Samsung rumor mill is already speculating that the upcoming Galaxy Note 10 could include a 1TB model, but at this stage there is no concrete evidence. Keep an eye out for future leaks for more hints.
You can never have too many wall chargers, especially high-powered ones that can handle fast charge devices and tablets. They’re currently a pretty massive discount on a 35W 4-port USB wall charger that comes with several travel adapters, and you can get it for just over $10 with a promo code. All four ports include […]
A little less than a year ago Google started to redesign Gmail to use the company’s fresh Material Design standards. That redesign made the app look significantly more clean and modern, and helped to ease some of the pain of sending Inbox to the graveyard of Google apps. Now that update is deploying to mobile […]
The water’s really heating up for Huawei, as the US has officially filed charges against the Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The charges are fairly big, too, including 10 counts of stealing trade secrets and 13 counts of sanction violations. These charges tie back to a few things, including the allegation that Huawei lifted some QC robot […]
The Super Bowl is just a few days away, and if you’re in charge of hosting the party, you’re going to need a killer home theater setup. We’re not saying you should go out and buy a 75-inch TV with a full surround sound system that everyone in your neighborhood can hear, but we are […]
Apple is launching 58 new Today at Apple sessions to beef up its in-store education offerings for people who want to explore Apple’s products. The sessions, which cover video, photography, accessibility, coding, music, health and more, are free to attend and available at all of Apple’s retail stores across the world.
For the unveiling, Apple brought a group of reporters to its Apple Park campus in Cupertino last week. Throughout the day, Apple took us through sample Today at Apple sessions across Apple’s three categories: Skills, Walks and Labs. Skills are quick, thirty-minute sessions designed to teach you new techniques, Walks are actual physical walks with certain Apple products and services and Labs are 90-minute sessions where you create a project.
“So I think of Skills, Walks, Labs almost as, you know, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3,” Apple SVP of Retail Angela Ahrendts told a group of reports at Apple’s spaceship campus last week. “I mean, most things have green diamond, blue diamond, red, black diamond, I mean, there’s always levels.”
When Today at Apple first launched, it was a bit more open. Now, it’s a lot more structured, Ahrendts said.
Beats, art and jump-cuts
First up, I participated in a Garage Band Skills session, where we learned how to quickly create a beat using the beat sequencer. This session is geared toward people who are new to Apple’s tech and may need an introduction to the product or the software.
That is designed to prepare you for the next level of sessions, Walks. At Apple’s campus, we did a photo walk using the iPad Pro with Pencil and digital illustration app Procreate. The task at hand was to walk around Apple’s spaceship campus, snap photos of colorful scenes, capture that color in Procreate and then use the app’s numerous drawing tools to create a portrait. Here’s my masterpiece.
Walks, Apple Senior Director Karl Heiselman said, has beenthe most popular type of session.
“We think the reason why they’re so popular is you can’t do them on the Internet,” he said.
Last, but not least, we did a Lab where we learned how to create jump-cuts in the Clips app.
All of these sessions are entirely free to attend. Since launching Today at Apple almost two years ago,Apple has hosted 18,000 sessions per week. Millions of people have attended the sessions, so far, but it’s hard to get a totally accurate number, Ahrendts said.
“If you sign up, we have a number but the minute the session starts around the big screen, usually three times more people, you know, kind of hover over it,” Ahrendts said.
Apple’s in-store sessions are a way for the company to build brand loyalty and differentiate itself from the likes of Google and other hardware companies. While Apple’s online store is geared toward purchasing products and receiving customer support, its retail stores are designed to be focused on people and their experiences, Ahrendts said.
“If you’re taking the time to come into a store, we’re assuming you want a much more human experience,” she said.
Today is the biggest launch of sessions to date, with Ahrendts likening the update to its in-store sessions to updates to Apple’s digital software, “but you could assume there will always continue to be updates on our store software forever.”
File encryption is incredibly important, especially if you’re dealing with any private or sensitive information, and sometimes you just don’t want anybody to be able to snoop through your digital life. Handling encryption on your own can be a massive pain though, so Talk Android Deals is offering a deal on Kruptos 2’s advanced encrypting […]
Over the past few years, mattress company Casper has expanded its product lineup to include everything from dog beds to nap pillows. (It’s also opened its own nap store.) The latest addition: the Glow, an $89 light.
While the company has never made this kind of Internet-connected hardware before, Chief Strategy Officer Neil Parikh pitched the Glow as part of Casper’s mission to improve sleep. And although there’s already a whole category of light bulbs designed for the same purpose, the Glow has a couple of smart touches that could make it particularly appealing.
The basic use of the Glow is pretty straightforward. You turn it on by flipping it over, and it fills your room with warm LED light. The light then dims to darkness over a 45-minute period — as Chief Experience Officer Jeff Chapin put it, it’s “mimicking the setting of the sun and it helps you get sleepier as it dims into lower and lower amplitudes.”
You can control and customize the Glow with a smartphone app, but Chapin said, “There are some people who are never going to download the app and that’s fine.” That’s because the Glow can also be controlled by gesture — flipping it to turn it on and off again, twisting it (when it’s set on a flat surface) to adjust the brightness and wiggling it to get a low light.
The Glow is also portable, so if you wake up in the middle of the night and need to get a glass of water or use the restroom, you can just pick it up and carry it with you, rather than turning on a bright kitchen light. You can also set a wakeup time so that the Glow gradually lights up again.
“We’ve leveraged the good and the bad of light so that it would help you fall asleep, stay asleep and go back to sleep into the night,” Chapin said.
In fact, if you’re a frequent traveler who struggles with jet lag, you can even “freeze” the settings, pack the Glow in your suitcase and take it with you to your destination, though Chapin admitted, “We don’t know how many people are going to do that.”
In addition to buying a single Glow for $89, you can also get a two-pack for $169. The light comes with a small base for wireless charging.
The Casper team sent me a couple of Glows to try out for myself. I wasn’t able to download the app, but the Glow was indeed largely controllable by gesture. (My only real complaint is that the wiggle-for-dim-light only worked sporadically for me.)
Keep in mind that I didn’t have a particularly sophisticated or sleep-friendly lighting setup before this, and that it’s hard to know how I would have slept on any given night without the Glow. Still, I can say that I found myself getting sleepier as the light dimmed, and I seemed to pass out more quickly and reliably than normal. And since the Glow is pretty small (five inches tall and three inches wide), it was easy to find room for it in my cluttered bedroom, and to carry it around when necessary.
It sounds like Casper has plans more products that go beyond bedding, addressing broader environmental factors that affect sleep.
“You can expect a lot more from us in the same vein, trying to help people [sleep] across the board, in a multivariate way,” Parikh said. “It’s a very complicated problem.”
Looking for a case for your Galaxy S9 that’s not massively bulky and terrible to look at? You’re going to want to check out Totallee’s phone cases, one of the sleekest options on the market for flagship devices. They’re extremely slim and don’t have any ugly branding, all while keeping your phone safe from bumps […]
5G and foldable smartphones are the buzzwords of 2019 when it comes to mobile technology, with MWC 2019 expected to be awash with demonstrations and announcements concerning the two segments. While Samsung is thought to be showing off its Galaxy F folding smartphone during its Galaxy S10 launch event on February, Huawei is set to […]
As January finally comes to a close and we begin preparing for the madness of February, Anker has prepared a bunch of deals to tempt our barely recovered bank accounts. As you might expect from the accessory-maker, there are a whole host of discounted chargers, power banks and cables, and other gadgets on offer in […]
Apple has released an update on its spendings in the U.S. According to the company, Apple is now working with 9,000 different companies in the U.S. Those companies mostly work on hardware components and chipsets for Apple’s devices.
You may remember that Apple announced last year it would spend $390 million to expand Finisar’s production in the U.S. Finisar has been working on a key component for the iPhone and iPad Pro — the TrueDepth camera system.
That investment was part of a commitment to spend $1 billion in U.S.-based companies with its Advanced Manufacturing Fund in order to build new facilities and help manufacturers.
But Apple is already spending much more money with American companies. In 2018 alone, Apple spent $60 billion, which represents a 10 percent increase compared to 2017. The company estimates that it represents around 450,000 jobs.
In addition to Finisar, Apple names a few partners in its announcement — Corning, Cincinnati Test Systems and Broadcom.
Finally, if you take into account everybody working for Apple in one way or another, there are now 2 million people helping Apple as an employee, a contractor, a store manager, a supplier, etc. This number is up from 600,000 in 2011.
Google likes their Pixel cameras. They also think they hold up pretty well against other phones, and they’re not necessarily wrong. That’s the basis of their latest ad, which pits the Pixel 3 against the iPhone XS camera in low-light situations, and the results are astoundingly clear. Above you’ll see the clearly labeled iPhone X […]
Nokia has experiencing a massive rise in the smartphone industry, then a massive fall, and now it looks like they’re on the way back up with HMD Global. They make some of our favorite budget-friendly devices, and now they’ve managed to strike a deal with some carriers to bring those phones to even more customers […]
Meet the Meizu Zero, a phone from the Chinese manufacturer that doesn’t have any ports. Seriously, it literally doesn’t have any ports whatsoever; no headphone jack, no charging port, nothing. It’s the natural next step after the death of the 3.5mm headphone jack. It also lacks any speaker holes or a SIM tray, opting instead […]
Arduino boards are extremely powerful, especially for anyone that loves to tinker, but you’re going to need to know how to utilize them to take advantage of the platform. If you’re not familiar with the Arduino platform, Talk Android Deals is running a killer deal on the Make: Arduino Hacker eBook bundle to get you […]
The Honor View 20 launched at an event held in Paris on Jan 22, and besides boasting a stunning glass and metal design the phone also sports Huawei’s powerful Kirin 980 processor. Its 6.4-inch display has a punch-hole design that houses the 25MP front-facing camera while there is a big 48MP camera on the rear panel […]
We’re a few months away from Google’s annual developer conference, and the dates and location have been confirmed for the event. Google’s sticking with their plan from the last few years and will be holding the multi-day event at the Shoreline Amphitheater from May 7th to May 9th. All of this info came from one […]
The gaming world is excited to play for Anthem, Bioware’s answer to Destiny and other big-budget online shooters — but an exclusive preview weekend for the mech-flying game has struggled to get off the ground. Of course, it wouldn’t be a game launch these days without a few hiccups to spice things up, but it is a little embarrassing.
The 40-gigabyte demo was made available today to those who had pre-ordered the game, as well as press and other “VIPs.” The game, announced last year at E3, is a loot-focused shooter where you pilot mechs through a huge open world, engage in cooperative combat and exploration and all that.
At least, so they say. Reports immediately came flooding in on forums and social media that not only was Origin, the service on which the demo is offered, failing to function properly, but that the game itself wasn’t connecting to servers, or if it did, wouldn’t load beyond the intro sequence.
I encountered this myself; after eventually getting loaded and logged in, I managed to get into the starting town area where you will, in the full game, upgrade your gear, accept quests, and so on. But when I attempted to launch the first mission or otherwise enter the actual game world, the loading bar would stop about 95 percent of the way done and stay there forever (I waited about five minutes and reloaded a couple times to make sure it wasn’t just my aging rig). Those who made it all the way in complained of lag and glitches.
No one really ever expects a major title, especially one with a major online components to launch even in a limited way without a few speed bumps, but something like this can really put the brakes on a hype train. Publisher EA admitted to the laundry list of issues from a support Twitter account:
Funnily enough EA Help’s own servers were having trouble as well, so not only could people not play Anthem, they couldn’t report that they couldn’t play Anthem.
Patience is a necessary virtue in today’s AAA game launches, but the people hoping to play this weekend aren’t randos but paying customers; this preview demo weekend was supposed to be a pre-order bonus, but the first day is a bust so far. Considering Bioware and EA knew exactly how many players could be trying to connect today — and those numbers are likely far less than those who will try the open beta or connect on launch day — it’s rather odd that they were seemingly caught so off-guard.
Anthem is certainly promising and the developers have gone out of their way to assure players that many of the hated practices of online games these days would not find a home on their platform. But launch problems always jar the confidence of undecided buyers, and there’s almost no question that the game will be better a month or two after its actual debut. Launch numbers could be affected by players not believing the game is ready to play, and therefore not being willing to pay.
I fully anticipate these issues getting resolved at some point soon, however, and will collect my impressions of the game in a separate post when that happens.
Apple has registered new iPad models in the Eurasian Economic Commission reference database. The Moscow-based commission keeps a product database pretty much like the FCC in the U.S. And it sounds like Apple is about to launch a new iPad mini 5 and an updated entry-level iPad.
That database has shown information on new Apple products in the past — MySmartPrice first discovered today’s new filings. There are two different filings that both mention new tablets that run iOS 12.
The first filing mentions five different models while the second one mention two different models. Usually, each configuration gets a different model number depending on storage and LTE capabilities.
It lines up with previous rumors that mentioned a new iPad mini and a new cheap iPad for early 2019. Ming-Chi Kuo expects an updated iPad mini with a 7.9-inch display. The device hasn’t been updated for years and many believed that Apple would stop updating it. But if you still like that form factor, Apple may have something new for you.
When it comes to the normal size iPad, Apple last updated the 9.7-inch iPad in March 2018. While all eyes are on the iPad Pro, many people are still looking for the cheapest iPad they can get. And the $329 9.7-inch iPad is a good deal. Apple usually update that model every year.
Today’s filings don’t say what those devices will look like unfortunately. It’s unclear if Apple is going to reduce the bezels of those devices, add a Face ID sensor and switch to USB-C.
Facebook has made many major acquisitions over the years, with Instagram and WhatsApp being two of the most notable integrations. Up to this point, though, all of those services and platforms have been almost totally separate, but it looks like that might be changing in the future. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wants to have users from […]
MWC 2019 is shaping up to be a much bigger deal than it was in 2018 with Huawei, Xiaomi, Sony among the brands scheduled to launch handsets with 5G, foldable displays, and even a smartphone without ports or buttons. It will be a wild few days in Barcelona next month, and LG is joining the […]
Microsoft may have totally abandoned Windows Phone but their Microsoft Launcher for Android is actually one of the better options for third-party launchers for your smartphone. It has a ton of extra features and integration with Microsoft services, and Microsoft frequently updates it with changes, fixes, and new stuff. The latest version of the launcher, […]
Are you always losing your car keys like I am? You can save yourself a ton of hassle in the mornings by investing in a smart tracker, and right now we’re offering a cool deal on a KeySmart tool that will always allow you to keep up with your keys and add some extra functionality […]
It’s a weird quirk of the current generation of AirPods: they support Siri, but only if you double-tap one of the earbuds first. Unlike with iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and HomePods, you can’t just say “Hey Siri” and babble out your request.
Rumors have been floating around for a while suggesting that a new iteration of AirPods — AirPods 2, the rumor mill is calling them — would bring “Hey Siri” functionality. Now a screen hiding in the latest iOS beta seems to suggest the same.
While it’s not a publicly accessible screen, Guilherme Rambo of 9to5mac managed to trigger the following prompt in the just-released iOS 12.2 beta:
“Talk to Siri with your AirPods or iPhone by saying ‘Hey Siri’,” it reads.
Its absence from the current generation of AirPods presumably boils down to a matter of battery life. Apple figured out how to make “Hey Siri” work with minimal impact on battery life with the iPhone 6s, then broke down how it all works in a post on its Machine Learning Journal in April of 2018. But to pull off the same trick in a tiny earbud — each having a battery capacity of 93 milliwatt hours, or roughly 1 percent of that of an iPhone — is an entirely new challenge. For the first gen, it was just easier to let the headphones wait for that double-tap, queueing it up as a new selling point whenever Apple figured out how to pull it off.
Rumors have also hinted at other features for the eventual AirPods sequel, from waterproofing to sensors that help track health data. Alas, no sneaky hidden prompts hinting at any of that have been found yet.
Motorola is preparing to launch their new mid-range smartphone line, the Motorola Moto G7. The company has not been too overly concerned with concealing details, but a recent flub by their Brazil site for employees may have gone a bit too far when it posted images and details about the phones. As expected and as […]
Last week we were treated to a leaked build of Android Q that pointed to some nice benefits and changes that may be coming to users. They included things like a system-wide dark mode, better privacy controls, and possibly improved support for a “desktop mode.” This week the pendulum swings back the other way toward […]
As we start looking forward to Samsung‘s launch of their Galaxy S10 devices this spring, we have been mostly limited to renders of the devices so far. That has changed if pictures posted by German website AllAboutSamsung are accurate. They claim to show pictures of prototype devices giving us a good look at what Samsung […]
Astro, the company behind Luna Display and Astropad, is releasing a major software update that will drastically improve performance. According to the company’s own testing, you should expect as much as a 100 percent performance increase when it comes to latency and refresh rate.
Luna Display lets you use your iPad as a second monitor for your laptop. For instance, if you’re traveling and you can’t get any work done without an external display, you can use Luna Display to move macOS windows across your laptop display and your iPad.
Some people have also been using it with a home server. For instance, you can use Luna Display to control a Mac Mini using an iPad, a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. You’re no longer tied to a desk.
Compared to similar apps, Luna Display relies on a hardware dongle. This tiny USB-C or Mini DisplayPort device emulates a display. In your Mac settings, it looks like you plugged a standard display even though it’s just a tiny key.
Astropad is a separate app for creative professionals. It lets you mirror your Mac display and use Photoshop with your Apple Pencil. They both rely on the same rendering engine.
And today’s update is all about performance. Thanks to a bunch of optimizations, you get an average latency of 11.3 ms when you use one of those apps with a 13-inch MacBook Pro, an 11-inch iPad Pro and a USB cable. Over Wi-Fi, you get a latency of 22.4 ms.
When it comes to frame rate, it’s a bit harder to quantify. But Astro has compared its products with competing solutions and thinks you have a higher chance of hitting 60 frames per second using Astro’s products.
Astro has compared Luna Display with Duet Display and Air Display. And it’s interesting to see that the company reports better performance than Duet.
Duet recently released and update to take advantage of hardware acceleration. At the time, Duet claimed that its solution was faster and cheaper than Luna Display. It’s clear that this space is moving quickly, and the result is better apps for everyone.
Amazon Web Services is quickly becoming one of the major backbones of internet-connected services and products, and if you want to stay on top of your development game, you’re going to need to know how to work with AWS. Talk Android Deals is offering a certification bundle that will get you prepped and teach you […]
The Samsung Galaxy S10 is slowly being revealed through unofficial means. Several leaks have revealed key details and the latest report is the most detailed yet. According to All About Samsung, the upcoming Samsung flagship will have tiny bezels, front-facing cameras that poke through the display, a USB-C port and a headphone jack.
This report meshes with past leaks. There could be three variations of the phone: the S10, S10+ and a new version called the S10E. It’s been reported that Samsung will position the S10 as the main model with the S10+ being the large screen model (and the only with dual-front facing cameras). The S10E will likely be a less expensive version and could even have an LCD screen instead of an OLED screen.
Most of phone’s details have leaked out but a few questions remain. Will the phone have a fingerprint reader embedded into the screen? Will the phones have improved facial recognition to compete more directly with Apple’s Face ID? And lastly, will Samsung jack the prices in line with the latest iPhone prices?
Samsung plans to unveil the Galaxy S10 at an event in San Francisco on February 20. We’ll have a team on the ground to tell you more about the device.
We know more phones with hole-punch displays are coming, so someone is going to have to manufacturer the pieces and parts that go into those phones. Samsung likes to stay on top of the component game, so of course they’re ready to deliver camera sensors for phones that opt for notchless, full screen displays. The […]
The freezing waters underneath Antarctic ice shelves and the underside of the ice itself are of great interest to scientists… but who wants to go down there? Leave it to the robots. They won’t complain! And indeed, a pair of autonomous subs have been nosing around the ice for a full year now, producing data unlike any other expedition ever has.
The mission began way back in 2017, with a grant from the late Paul Allen. With climate change affecting sea ice around the world, precise measurements and study of these frozen climes is more important than ever. And fortunately, robotic exploration technology had reached a point where long-term missions under and around ice shelves were possible.
The project would use a proven autonomous seagoing vehicle called the Seaglider, which has been around for some time but had been redesigned to perform long-term operations in these dark, sealed-over environments. ne of the craft’s co-creators, UW’s Chris Lee, said of the mission at the time: “This is a high-risk, proof-of-concept test of using robotic technology in a very risky marine environment.”
The risks seem to have paid off, as an update on the project shows. The modified craft have traveled hundreds of miles during a year straight of autonomous operation.
It’s not easy to stick around for a long time on the Antarctic coast for a lot of reasons. But leaving robots behind to work while you go relax elsewhere for a month or two is definitely doable.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to maintain a persistent presence over the span of an entire year,” Lee said in a UW news release today. “Gliders were able to navigate at will to survey the cavity interior… This is the first time any of the modern, long-endurance platforms have made sustained measurements under an ice shelf.”
You can see the paths of the robotic platforms below as they scout around near the edge of the ice and then dive under in trips of increasing length and complexity:
They navigate in the dark by monitoring their position with regard to a pair of underwater acoustic beacons fixed in place by cables. The blue dots are floats that go along with the natural currents to travel long distances on little or no power. Both are equipped with sensors to monitor the shape of the ice above, the temperature of the water, and other interesting data points.
It isn’t the first robotic expedition under the ice shelves by a long shot, but it’s definitely the longest term and potentially the most fruitful. The Seagliders are smaller, lighter, and better equipped for long-term missions. One went 87 miles in a single trip!
The mission continues, and two of the three initial Seagliders are still operational and ready to continue their work.
Amazon launched an Echo Wall Clock before the end of last year but, less than a month later, things aren’t running to schedule. The e-commerce giant has paused the sale of the $30 Alexa-powered smart clock after a number of customers reported connectivity issues, according to The Verge.
The clock is still listed on Amazon but, as of Tuesday, it is “currently unavailable.”
“We’re aware that a small number of customers have had issues with connectivity. We’re working hard to address this and plan to make Echo Wall Clock available again in the coming weeks,” Amazon told The Verge in a statement.
The clock is pitched at existing Alexa users who could use it to set timers, countdowns or alarms, while it automatically adjusts to seasonal time changes. It is unashamedly basic, both in design as well as functionality, but it is an interesting addition to Amazon’s expanding home appliance push. That also includes an Alexa microwave (less impressive), a singing fish (ok…) along the more established cast of home speakers, the “Show” video screen, a subwoofer and more.
By this point you’d think that every possible Google Maps feature would be integrated into the mobile app, but unfortunately there are still a few holdovers from the slightly more advanced desktop version of Google Maps. Google’s been working hard to close that gap, though, and another new feature is making its way to mobile, […]
London-based edtech startup, pi-top, has unboxed a new flagship learn-to-code product, demoing the “go anywhere” Pi-powered computer at the Bett Show education fare in London today.
Discussing the product with TechCrunch ahead of launch, co-founder and CEO Jesse Lozano talked up the skills the company hopes students in the target 12-to-17 age range will develop and learn to apply by using sensor-based connected tech, powered by its new pi-top 4, to solve real world problems.
“When you get a pi-top 4 out of the box you’re going to start to learn how to code with it, you’re going to start to learn and understand electronic circuits, you’re going to understand sensors from our sensor library. Or components from our components library,” he told us. “So it’s not: ‘I’m going to learn how to create a robot that rolls around on wheels and doesn’t knock into things’.
“It’s more: ‘I’m going to learn how a motor works. I’m going to learn how a distance sensor works. I’m going to learn how to properly hook up power to these different sensors. I’m going to learn how to apply that knowledge… take those skills and [keep making stuff].”
The pi-top 4 is a modular computer that’s designed to be applicable, well, anywhere; up in the air, with the help of a drone attachment; powering a sensing weather balloon; acting as the brains for a rover style wheeled robot; or attached to sensors planted firmly in the ground to monitor local environmental conditions.
The startup was already dabbling in this area, via earlier products — such as a Pi-powered laptop that featured a built in rail for breadboarding electronics. But the pi-top 4 is a full step outside the usual computing box.
The device has a built-in mini OLED screen for displaying project info, along with an array of ports. It can be connected to and programmed via one of pi-top’s other Pi-powered computers, or any PC, Mac and Chromebook, with the company also saying it easily connects to existing screens, keyboards and mice. Versatility looks to be the name of the game for pi-top 4.
pi-top’s approach to computing and electronics is flexible and interoperable, meaning the pi-top 4 can be extended with standard electronics components — or even with Littlebits‘ style kits’ more manageable bits and bobs.
pi-top is also intending to sell a few accessories of its own (such as the drone add-on, pictured above) to help get kids’ creative project juices flowing — and has launched a range of accessories, cameras, motors and sensors to “allow creators of all ages to start learning by making straight out of the box”.
But Lozano emphasizes its platform play is about reaching out to a wider world, not seeking to lock teachers and kids to buying proprietary hardware. (Which would be all but impossible, in any case, given the Raspberry Pi core.)
“It’s really about giving people that breadth of ability,” says Lozano, discussing the sensor-based skills he wants the product to foster. “As you go through these different projects you’re learning these specific skills but you also start to understand how they would apply to other projects.”
He mentions various maker projects the pi-top can be used to make, like a music synth or wheeled robot, but says the point isn’t making any specific connected thing; it’s encouraging kids to come up with project ideas of their own.
“Once that sort of veil has been pierced in students and in teachers we see some of the best stuff starts to be made. People make things that we had no idea they would integrate it into,” he tells us, pointing by way of example to a solar car project from a group of U.S. schoolkids. “These fifteen year olds are building solar cars and they’re racing them from Texas to California — and they’re using pi-tops to understand how their cars are performing to make better race decisions.”
pi-top’s new device is a modular programmable computer designed for maker projects
“What you’re really learning is the base skills,” he adds, with a gentle sideswipe at the flood of STEM toys now targeting parents’ wallets. “We want to teach you real skills. And we want you to be able to create projects that are real. That it’s not block-based coding. It’s not magnetized, clipped in this into that and all of a sudden you have something. It’s about teaching you how to really make things. And how the world actually works around you.”
The pi-top 4 starts at $199 for a foundation bundle which includes a Raspberry Pi 3B+,16GB SD card, power pack, along with a selection of sensors and add-on components for starter projects.
Additional educational bundles will also launch down the line, at a higher price, including more add ons, access to premium software and a full curriculum for educators to support budding makers, according to Lozano.
The startup has certainly come a long way from its founders’ first luridly green 3D printed laptop which caught our eye back in 2015. Today it employs more than 80 people globally, with offices in the UK, US and China, while its creative learning devices are in the hands of “hundreds of thousands” of schoolkids across more than 70 countries at this stage. And Lozano says they’re gunning to pass the million mark this year.
So while the ‘learn to code’ space has erupted into a riot of noise and color over the past half decade, with all sorts of connected playthings now competing for kids’ attention, and pestering parents with quasi-educational claims, pi-top has kept its head down and focused firmly on building a serious edtech business with STEM learning as its core focus, saving it from chasing fickle consumer fads, as Lozano tells it.
“Our relentless focus on real education is something that has differentiated us,” he responds, when asked how pi-top stands out in what’s now a very crowded marketplace. “The consumer market, as we’ve seen with other startups, it can be fickle. And trying to create a hit toy all the time — I’d rather leave that to Mattel… When you’re working with schools it’s not a fickle process.”
Part of that focus includes supporting educators to acquire the necessary skills themselves to be able to teach what’s always a fast-evolving area of study. So schools signing up to pi-top’s subscription product get support materials and guides, to help them create a maker space and understand all the ins and outs of the pi-top platform. It also provides a classroom management backend system that lets teachers track students’ progress.
“If you’re a teacher that has absolutely no experience in computer science or engineering or STEM based learning or making then you’re able to bring on the pi-top platform, learn with it and with your student, and when they’re ready they can create a computer science course — or something of that ilk — in their classroom,” says Lozano.
pi-top wants kids to use tech to tackle real-world problems
“As with all good things it takes time, and you need to build up a bank of experience. One of the things we’ve really focused on is giving teachers that ability to build up that bank of experience, through an after school club, or through a special lesson plan that they might do.
“For us it’s about augmenting that teacher and helping them become a great educator with tools and with resources. There’s some edtech stuff they want to replace the teacher — they want to make the teacher obsolete. I couldn’t disagree with that viewpoint more.”
“Why aren’t teachers just buying textbooks?” he adds. “It takes 24 months to publish a textbook. So how are you supposed to teach computer science with those technology-based skills with something that’s by design two years out of date?”
Last summer pi-top took in $16M in Series B funding, led by existing founders Hambro Perks and Committed Capital. It’s been using the financing to bring pi-top 4 to market while also investing heavily in its team over the past 18 months — expanding in-house expertise in designing learning products and selling in to the education sector via a number of hires. Including the former director of learning at Apple, Dr William Rankin.
The founders’ philosophy is to combine academic expertise in education with “excellence in engineering”. “We want the learning experience to be something we’re 100% confident in,” says Lozano. “You can go into pi-top and immediately start learning with our lesson plans and the kind of framework that we provide.”
“[W]e’ve unabashedly focused on… education. It is the pedagogy,” he adds. “It is the learning outcome that you’re going to get when you use the pi-top. So one of the big changes over the last 18 months is we’ve hired a world class education team. We have over 100 years of pedagogical experience on the team now producing an enormous amount of — we call them learning experience designers.”
He reckons that focus will stand pi-top in good stead as more educators turn their attention to how to arm their pupils with the techie skills of the future.
“There’s loads of competition but now the schools are looking they’re [asking] who’s the team behind the education outcome that you’re selling me?” he suggests. “And you know what if you don’t have a really strong education team then you’re seeing schools and districts become a lot more picky — because there is so much choice. And again that’s something I’m really excited about. Everybody’s always trying to do a commercial brand partnership deal. That’s just not something that we’ve focused on and I do really think that was a smart choice on our end.”
Lozano is also excited about a video the team has produced to promote the new product — which strikes a hip, urban note as pi-top seeks to inspire the next generation of makers.
“We really enjoy working in the education sector and I really, really enjoy helping teachers and schools deliver inspirational content and learning outcomes to their students,” he adds. “It’s genuinely a great reason to wake up in the morning.”
