Insta360 is teasing a new camera with apparent links to astrophotography and lowlight imaging.
Mobile | Digital Trends
The Modos Paper Laptop is part e-paper and part laptop, allowing users a calmer and more humane computing experience, the company says.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Having been promised for months, the Google Assistant finally began rolling out to Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatches last week but it seems that the addition of the virtual assistant may be causing some issues. Galaxy Watch 4 owners are reporting that their units are experiencing battery drain and pairing issues since the Google Assistant was […]
Come comment on this article: The Google Assistant could be to blame for the Galaxy Watch 4 suffering pairing issues and battery drain
OPPO’s launch of the Find N foldable smartphone at the tail-end of 2021 saw the brand gain some well-deserved plaudits, with special consideration paid to its wider-but-shorter cover display that enables a squarer viewing area than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 when extended. According to a new report, OPPO will concentrate its efforts on the […]
Come comment on this article: OPPO could ditch its rollable phone project to concentrate on the Find N successor and a Galaxy Z Flip 3 competitor
While its expected launch in August is still a while away, rumors about Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 are gathering pace with reports suggesting that the clamshell foldable will enjoy a bigger battery capacity than its predecessor and that it could be powered by the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ processor. If accurate, this would […]
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 could have a bigger battery and be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+
The Google Pixel 6A seems like it’s going to have a new fingerprint scanner, possibly setting it apart from the rest of the Pixel 6 line’s sensor problems.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Google’s Pixel Watch is finally a thing, and thanks to the unit that was casually left behind in a restaurant we now know that it’s also really round. First, there were images posted on Reddit of the Pixel Watch casing, and now there are pictures of the smartwatch with its strap attached and a separate […]
Come comment on this article: Google’s Pixel Watch looks really round in the latest leaked images, could cost up to $ 400
Since their release in 2020, Sony's WH-1000XM4 have consistently been among the best Bluetooth headphones you can buy thanks to their long-lasting battery and excellent noise cancelling capabilities. It now looks like the company has a substantial upgrade planned. In a leak spotted by Gizmodo, German-language publication TechnikNews shared details on what to expect from the WH-1000XM5.
According to the outlet, Sony's next flagship noise cancelling headphones will feature up to 40 hours of battery life. If accurate, that would be a significant improvement from the already impressive 30 hours you can get on a single charge from the XM4. Charging the new model to full via USB-C will reportedly take approximately three-and-a-half hours, or about 30 minutes longer than the XM4. The new model is also said to feature an additional processing chip for ANC and a new set of drivers.
But as you can see from the renders TechnikNews shared, the most notable difference between the WH-1000XM4 and its alleged successor is an entirely new design. It looks like the XM5 won't fold in like Sony's current flagship Bluetooth headphones but the tradeoff it appears is that they'll feature more padding on the earcups and a lighter band. A lot of people love the WH4 for their comfort and it will be interesting to see if the design of the new model makes it even easier to wear over long listening sessions.
TechnikNews didn't say anything about a release date or pricing for the WH-1000XM5. Outside of sales, the current model retails for $ 350. We'll note here Sony's WF-1000XM4 earbuds ended up costing more than their predecessor due the addition of features like Qi charging and LDAC support.
Researchers at Stanford University have created a novel approach that allows standard image sensors to see light in three dimensions.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Researchers at Louisiana State University have found a way to use A.I. to help phones analyze how users are holding them.
Mobile | Digital Trends
Having announced its Magic 4 series during MWC 2022, Honor has surprised us with the release of the Magic 4 Ultimate which aims to take on the likes of the OPPO Find X5 Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. Packing in requisite flagship features such as an OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, Qualcomm’s […]
Come comment on this article: The Honor Magic 4 Ultimate could be the camera powerhouse we need (if it goes on sale outside of China)
Those of us that were disappointed when Essential shut its doors and thus consigned hopes of a second-generation smartphone to history will perk up when they hear that a number of the team that worked on the original Essential Phone are planning on launching a new smartphone under the OSOM brand called the OV1. The […]
Come comment on this article: The OSOM OV1 could offer the ‘essential’ smartphone experience when it launches in Q4 2022, no word on possible Kenobi Edition
Ever since he left OnePlus and created Nothing, it has been thought that Carl Pei would turn his hand to smartphones again, and it could be that 2022 is the year that it will happen if his teasing tweet (and Qualcomm and Android’s replies) is anything to go by. His obtuse tweet (embedded above) alludes […]
Come comment on this article: Carl Pei teases a return to Android that could essentially be a Nothing smartphone
We found four things that we liked and four things we didn’t like during Samsung’s Unpacked February 2022 event.
Android | Digital Trends
The Nothing Ear 1 earbuds have a unique design, but does the sound meet expectations?
Mobile | Digital Trends
Becoming an astronaut requires perfect 20/20 vision, but unfortunately, the effects of space can cause astronauts to return to Earth with degraded eyesight. Now, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed a sleeping bag that that could prevent or reduce those problems by effectively sucking fluid out of astronauts' heads.
More than half of NASA astronauts that went to the International Space Station (ISS) for more than six months have developed vision problems to varying degrees. In one case, astronaut John Philips returned from a six month stint about the ISS in 2005 with his vision reduced from 20/20 to 20/100, as the BBC reported.
For multi-year trips to Mars, for example, this could become an issue. "It would be a disaster if astronauts had such severe impairments that they couldn't see what they're doing and it compromised the mission," lead researcher Dr. Benjamin Levine told the BBC.
Fluids tend to accumulate in the head when you sleep, but on Earth, gravity pulls them back down into the body when you get up. In the low gravity of space, though, more than a half gallon of fluid collects in the head. That in turn applies pressure to the eyeball, causing flattening that can lead to vision impairment — a disorder called spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome, or SANS. (Dr. Levine discovered SANS by flying cancer patients aboard zero-G parabolic flights. They still had ports in their heads to receive chemotherapy, which gave researchers an access point to measure pressure within their brains.)
To combat SANS, researchers collaborated with outdoor gear manufacturer REI to develop a sleeping bag that fits around the waist, enclosing the lower body. A vacuum cleaner-like suction device is then activated that draws fluid toward the feet, preventing it from accumulating in the head.
Around a dozen people volunteered to test the technology, and the results were positive. Some questions need to be answered before NASA brings the technology aboard the ISS, including the optimal amount of time astronauts should spend in the sleeping bag each day. They also need to determine if every astronaut should use one, or just those at risk of developing SANS.
Still, Dr. Levine is hopeful that SANS will no longer be an issue by the time NASA is ready to go to Mars. "This is perhaps one of the most mission-critical medical issues that has been discovered in the last decade for the space program," he said in a statement.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is reported to be shipping with the same $ 700 starting price as last year’s S20 FE. Is it too high?
Android | Digital Trends
A set of carefully-worded warnings directed to the right accounts could help reduce the amount of hate on Twitter. That’s the conclusion of new research examining whether targeted warnings could reduce hate speech on the platform.
Researchers at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics found that personalized warnings alerting Twitter users to the consequences of their behavior reduced the number of tweets with hateful language a week after. While more study is needed, the experiment suggests that there is a “potential path forward for platforms seeking to reduce the use of hateful language by users,” according to Mustafa Mikdat Yildirim, the lead author of the paper.
In the experiment, researchers identified accounts at risk of being suspended for breaking Twitter’s rules against hate speech. They looked for people who had used at least one word contained in “hateful language dictionaries” over the previous week, who also followed at least one account that had recently been suspended after using such language.
From there, the researchers created test accounts with personas such as “hate speech warner,” and used the accounts to tweet warnings at these individuals. They tested out several variations, but all had roughly the same message: that using hate speech put them at risk of being suspended, and that it had already happened to someone they follow.
“The user @account you follow was suspended, and I suspect this was because of hateful language,” reads one sample message shared in the paper. “If you continue to use hate speech, you might get suspended temporarily.” In another variation, the account doing the warning identified themselves as a professional researcher, while also letting the person know they were at risk of being suspended. “We tried to be as credible and convincing as possible,” Yildirim tells Engadget.
The researchers found that the warnings were effective, at least in the short term. “Our results show that only one warning tweet sent by an account with no more than 100 followers can decrease the ratio of tweets with hateful language by up to 10%,” the authors write. Interestingly, they found that messages that were “more politely phrased” led to even greater declines, with a decrease of up to 20 percent. “We tried to increase the politeness of our message by basically starting our warning by saying that ‘oh, we respect your right to free speech, but on the other hand keep in mind that your hate speech might harm others,’” Yildirim says.
In the paper, Yildirim and his co-authors note that their test accounts only had around 100 followers each, and that they weren’t associated with an authoritative entity. But if the same type of warnings were to come from Twitter itself, or an NGO or other organization, then the warnings may be even more useful. “The thing that we learned from this experiment is that the real mechanism at play could be the fact that we actually let these people know that there's some account, or some entity, that is watching and monitoring their behavior,” Yildirim says. “The fact that their use of hate speech is seen by someone else could be the most important factor that led these people to decrease their hate speech.”
The Pixel 6’s fingerprint complaint doesn’t seem to be going away although it’s important to state that many users have a perfectly good experience unlocking their new Google phones. Still, it’s looking more and more as if Google will bolster the beleaguered fingerprint sensor on its Pixel 6 series with the return of face unlock, […]
Come comment on this article: Google could add Face Unlock to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, eventually
Google’s Pixel Fold seems like it could come with weaker cameras than the Pixel 6 and use the old Pixel 5 sensors instead.
Android | Digital Trends
New Motorola-branded smartwatches are on the way for the end of the year with mass production beginning in November.
Wearables | Digital Trends
It’s a few months since Google and Roku’s spat about YouTube TV became public, and now it seems that access to another of the search giant’s apps is also on the line. This time it’s the turn of the YouTube app which could be removed from Roku on December 9th thanks to it and Google […]
Come comment on this article: Google and Roku’s ongoing feud could result in the removal of the YouTube app from December 9th
Scientists say that our existing internet infrastructure — namely undersea cables — isn’t equipped to weather the next big solar storm. Here’s why.
Emerging Tech | Digital Trends
Fresh from nabbing a $ 50 million investment from Qualcomm, Nothing’s Carl Pei has confirmed on Twitter that the brand will be launching ‘Something’. While Pei was coy about revealing any further info, it’s being reported that Nothing is preparing to launch a smartphone during 2022, as well as a power bank. According to 91Mobiles, Nothing […]
Come comment on this article: Nothing could launch something mobile in 2022
Microsoft announced the Surface Duo 2 earlier this week which boasts fixes for many of the complaints leveled at the first model, including the presence of Android 11. Those who stumped up the cash for the original Surface Duo will be painfully aware that it’s still languishing on Android 10, the version of Android that […]
Come comment on this article: Good news! Microsoft says that Android 11 could roll out to the Surface Duo in 2021
Nubia Red Magic phones are getting pretty well known these days, especially if you’re into the mobile gaming scene. They typically feature high-end hardware and some useful extra features, but Nubia wants to take that a step further and make the designs really stand out in the crowd. Nubia Red Magic electrochromic design This new […]
Come comment on this article: The next Nubia Red Magic phone could have an electrochromic shell
Future deep space missions might not take as long as you’d think. Researchers have discovered a Solar System “superhighway” network of routes that would let probes and other spacecraft travel outward at quicker pace. Asteroids near Jupiter, for examp…
Engadget
Whenever the runways of Paris, London, Milan and New York open back up, designers might be showing off looks adorned with flexible color ePaper displays. E Ink has teamed up with Plastic Logic to make the first such panels based on its Advanced Color…
Engadget
Climate change is far and away the greatest threat of the modern human era — a crisis that will only get worse the longer we dither — with American car culture as a major contributor to the nation’s greenhouse emissions. But carbon-neutralizing energ…
Engadget
With the launch of its Galaxy Z Fold 2 in August, Samsung has pretty much tied up the foldable smartphone segment while you could go as far as saying that LG has cornered the swiveling dual-displayed smartphone niche with its Wing. Out to stake some fresh ground for itself is OPPO, who today revealed a […]
Come comment on this article: The OPPO X 2021 concept has a rollable OLED display and could launch next year
Companies have jokingly given themselves code-based names in the past (you can thank XKCD for that), but one of them was just forced to mend its ways. The Guardian reports that UK business registrar Companies House has forced a software consultant to…
Engadget
The iPhone 12 may have an unannounced and currently dormant feature: the ability to charge your accessories wirelessly. In an FCC filing first found by VentureBeat’s Jeremy Horwitz, the tech giant wrote said that “2020 iPhone models also support WPT…
Engadget
Despite the ongoing saga of its troubles with the US government, Huawei continues to plow ahead with its smartphone plans with its new Mate 40 Series once again pushing the envelope of technology. The trio of handsets consists of the Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, and the Mate 40+ that, as with the Mate 30 […]
Come comment on this article: Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ are official with almost everything you could want in a flagship smartphone
After many, many leaks and rumors, Samsung has finally unveiled the Galaxy S20 FE, an affordable flagship that just might prove to be the best non-folding phone of 2020 for the Korean company. Coming in 4G and 5G variants which are powered by the Exynos 990 and Snapdragon 865 chipsets respectively, the Galaxy S20 FE […]
Come comment on this article: The Galaxy S20 FE is official and could be Samsung’s most desirable phone of 2020
We’re only a day or so away from Sony’s next PlayStation 5 event where we hope to get a confirmed price / launch date for the new console, but the rumors are still coming in. After reporting in July that Sony would respond to the coronavirus pandemic…
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TikTok’s attempt to sell itself and avert a possible US ban may run into some complications. The Wall Street Journal reports that China has unveiled new restrictions on AI technology exports that could affect TikTok. The new rules bar the exports of…
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BlackBerry faithful were dealt a harsh blow earlier this year when TCL, the biggest company to build phones for the brand, said it would stop. That left enthusiasts clinging to their KEY2s, wondering about would-be replacements, and raising glasses t…
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Having finally launched the Pixel 4a earlier this week, Google also discontinued the Pixel 4 and 4 XL and is now rolling out the final Android 11 beta. It seems that a slip has been made along the way, giving us the date when we can expect the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 to […]
Come comment on this article: Looks like the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 could launch in the traditional slot in early October
Google is continuing its war against annoying website notifications. TheWindowsClub has discovered that Google will test a feature that sets an expiration time for notification subscriptions. You’d have to enable the test, but it would let you decide…
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We may be looking forward to August 5th when Samsung will officially launch the Galaxy Note 20 series and Galaxy Z Flip 5G, but the Korean giant is already prepping to announce another handset sporting the Snapdragon 865 processor sometime during Q4, according to a usually reliable leaker. Known as the Galaxy Fan Edition, S20 […]
Come comment on this article: Samsung could launch the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition with SD865 SoC and a ‘nice price’ in Q4 2020
Law enforcement in America is facing a day of reckoning over its systemic, institutionalized racism and ongoing brutality against the people it was designed to protect. Virtually every aspect of the system is now under scrutiny, from budgeting and st…
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When GDC's organizers cancelled the annual conference due to the coronavirus outbreak, they said they were hoping to host another even in the summer. Now, they've officially announced GDC Summer, a three-day "celebration of all things game developmen…
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AI is the backbone of technologies such as Alexa and Siri — digital assistants that rely on deep machine learning to do their thing. But for the makers of these products — and others that rely on AI — getting them "trained" is an expensive and oft…
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It’s a couple of months since Google rolled out the first Pixel Feature Drop, and it seems that the search giant is preparing to release a second batch of improvements in the next week or so, according to the folks over at 9to5Google. As you might expect, this second Pixel Feature Drop will bring a […]
Come comment on this article: The next Pixel Feature Drop could roll out next week
Five years ago, Sharad Mittal had a dilemma. He and his wife had just watched Noah, a movie starring Russell Crowe with a heavy environmental message underneath its retelling of the classic Biblical tale. The movie moved him deeply, giving him a new…
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The Android 11 developer preview has officially kicked off, and we’ve seen a few cool new features for our phones already. But some of the exciting part about these early releases is seeing what might be hinted at in future builds, or even phones. The latest rumor suggested by the Android 11 developer preview build […]
Come comment on this article: Pixel 5 could feature an exclusive double-tap gesture with Android 11
Windows Phone is long gone, and even Microsoft’s attempts to get back into the smartphone game just run Android. But if you still like the idea of Windows as a mobile operating system, well, you’re not alone. Emperion is a smaller company that’s apparently worked with Microsoft to put Windows 10’s ARM version on a […]
Come comment on this article: Would you be interested in a Windows 10 phone that could run Android apps?