Author: zppiot
What is the state of wireless charging on smartphone in 2024?Well, while processors are getting faster and cameras are getting more capable, charging speeds on the major brands like Apple, Samsung and Google have been stuck at the same rate for years.The latest high-end iPhone 15 series and Galaxy S24 family max out at 15 watts when it comes to wireless charging, which means a full charge usually takes more than two hours. Google’s latest Pixel 8 Pro is only slightly faster at up to 23 watts, but in our testing the actual charging time was still more than two…
When’s the last time you seriously considered an Apple Watch Series 7 purchase? A year ago? Two years ago? Last month? Never? Regardless of your answer to that question, we’re here today to recommend you do precisely that right now.While the nearly three year-old wearable device is obviously not getting any younger, one especially premium model is impressively getting cheaper and cheaper. We’re talking about a cellular-enabled 45mm variant with a tough stainless steel case that used to cost a whopping $750 back in the day.Discounted by no less than 420 bucks just a few weeks ago, this graphite-coated unit…
The Nothing Phone (2a) has launched with some fanfare — something that’s generally not seen in the midrange phone space. And it is, indeed, meant as a value option from Nothing — a step below the top that is the Nothing Phone (2).But that doesn’t mean that it was just slapped together, packed up and shipped. Nothing seems quite proud of the Phone (2a), with tons of teasers, a special reveal party around MWC 2024 in Barcelona, countless of social media teases, and a very bold marketing page. The Phone (2a) is a Nothing Phone — a bit cheaper, but…
To spark innovation by identifying gaps and pain points in the employer-based health-care system, JPMorgan Chase launched Morgan Health in 2021. Morgan Health’s chief technology officer of corporate responsibility, Tiffany West Polk, says Morgan Health is driven to improve health outcomes, affordability, and equity, with data at its foundation. Gaining insights from large data streams means optimizing analytical platforms and ensuring data remains secure, while also HIPAA and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) compliant, she says. Currently, Polk says, the U.S. health-care system seems to be “quite stuck” in terms of keeping health-care quality and positive outcomes in line…
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, and Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra may be among the best earbuds you can buy right now, but they cost an arm and a leg. So, if you don’t want to break the bank, you are most likely in the market for earbuds in the sub-$100 price range. The problem is that there are plenty of budget earbuds out there, making finding good-sounding earphones a hard feat to accomplish.But fret not, as we are back with another awesome deal that allows you to snatch good-sounding earbuds on the cheap. The offer is available…
How it works: Jets release heat, water vapor, and particulate matter that can produce thin clouds in the sky, known as “contrails”. When numerous flights pass through such areas, these contrails can form clouds that absorb radiation escaping from the surface, acting as blankets floating above the Earth. Why it matters: A small fraction of overall flights, between 2% and 10%, create about 80% of the contrails. So the growing hope is that simply rerouting those flights could significantly reduce the effect, presenting a potentially high leverage, low cost and fast way of easing warming. Read the full story. —James…
Even if you’re not following politics closely, you can’t have possibly missed the ongoing US-China clash. The fight is fought on many economic fronts, one of which is the chipmaking industry. Last year’s Mate 60 series release was a global shocker, particularly upsetting US officials, because the Mate 60 was the first 5G phone since the Mate 40 series. Prior to this, Huawei was sanctioned by the US and was permitted to only use modified versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets for its P50, Mate 50, and P60 flagships (these chips were altered to exclude 5G connectivity).Less than a month ago,…
For one thing, Barrett says, researchers still need to test, refine, and engineer systems that can reliably predict, with enough time to reroute planes, when and where contrails will form—all amid shifting weather conditions. There are also some thorny complications that still need to be resolved, like the fact that cirrus clouds can also reduce warming by reflecting away short-wave radiation from the sun. The loss of this cooling effect would have to be tallied into any calculation of the net benefit—or, perhaps, avoided. For instance, Shapiro says the initial strategy might be to reroute flights only during the early…
Who said that foldables must be expensive? Last year, Motorola released its Razr 2023, which allows you to enjoy the foldable experience without breaking the bank. And, at the moment, this bad boy is enjoying a sweet discount on Amazon, letting you get a new fancy phone that can fold in half at an even more affordable price!How affordable? Well, the discount that the Motorola Razr 2023 is currently enjoying is 29%. After a quick calculation, you’ll see that this sweet price cut will translate into lovely savings of $200 if you act quickly and pull the trigger on this…
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. I remember the first time I tried on a VR headset. It was the first Oculus Rift, and I nearly fainted after experiencing an intense but visually clumsy VR roller-coaster. But that was a decade ago, and the experience has gotten a lot smoother and more realistic since. That impressive level of immersiveness could be a problem, though: it makes us particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks in VR. I just published a story about a new kind of security vulnerability…
If we’re to talk about smartwatch history, we have to go back some 40 years to 1983, when the revolutionary Seiko Data-2000 digital watch was released. Believe it or not, this timepiece allowed users to store notes on its internal memory of up to 2000 characters. It needed a special keyboard attached to type the notes.Then, IBM and Microsoft entered the game with their own witty sci-fi watches.Samsung entered the wearables game in 1999, and since, has been releasing quite the gadgets: you remember some of them very well, others – not at all, I’m sure.There’s a wonderful Samsung infographic…
Released in late January around the world, the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra have already been deemed major box-office hits in a number of different reports. But because Samsung rarely makes the sales results of its high-end smartphones public, it’s definitely nice (and important) to see another reliable source put together some unofficial estimates.The latest data collection comes from one of the most reputable market research firms out there, and although it doesn’t actually reveal how many S24-series units have been shipped to date, it once again emphasizes the success of the new Android flagship trio compared to…
In the fall of 2023, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, once known as Ray-Ban Stories, got a big upgrade. They now have a faster processor, better cameras, improved audio, and you can even livestream to Facebook and Instagram. Oh, and Meta AI is now on board. The recent Version 2 update stepped up the game with better image quality, global volume control, and beefed-up security features. And guess what? More updates are on the way.Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth, shared in a Threads post (via Engadget) that a new feature is on the way with the latest beta. It is a…
Samsung is the king of trade-in deals, and what we’re about to show you is another testament to this statement. Right now, the official store offers its vanilla Tab S9 at a killer $650 off (with trade-in) on top of the $100 discount you get before trade-ins on the 8/128GB configuration. To tell you the truth, sparing something like the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra to claim the maximum trade-in credit on the vanilla model from 2023 probably isn’t worthwhile. Then again, you can shave $500 off your new fancy tablet with high dust and water resistance even by sparing the…
The Google Contacts app is getting a new update soon that will streamline the way you view your contacts’ information. When looking for a specific contact that you have tied to another app on your phone, the contact info will now show this information in a more organized way, likely improving your overall user experience.Spotted by The SP Android in version 4.26 of the app, contact info from connected apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram will now be grouped into a “Connected apps” section. Before the update, this information was shown as a list of phone numbers that would clutter…
Last month we told you that Google was working on an Adaptive Touch feature. A string of code discovered in February by Android expert Mishaal Rahman said, “Touch sensitivity will automatically adjust to your environment, activities, and screen protector.” In other words, rain or sweat, which normally might stop a Pixel’s touchscreen from reading inputs, will work thanks to Adaptive Touch.While Rahman discovered the code in Android 14 QPR3 Beta 1, he wasn’t sure whether the feature would be included with the Pixel 8a and Pixel 9. Now, per Android Authority, he says that new code found in the latest…