Author: zppiot
Technology use often goes wrong, Parsons notes, “because we’re too focused on either our own ideas of what good looks like or on one particular audience as opposed to a broader audience.” That may look like an app developer building only for an imagined customer who shares his geography, education, and affluence, or a product team that doesn’t consider what damage a malicious actor could wreak in their ecosystem. “We think people are going to use my product the way I intend them to use my product, to solve the problem I intend for them to solve in the way…
Are you in the market for a nice pair of high-end Bluetooth wireless headphones… available at a lower price than Apple’s somewhat divisive and decidedly outdated AirPods Max? It’s hard to think of a nicer option than the Sony WH-1000XM5, which are somehow both newer and cheaper than the recently discounted AirPods Max, not to mention objectively better in almost every major department.Normally priced at $399.99, these bad boys are frequently marked down by major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, which is pretty surprising given the glowing reviews and relatively young age of the WH-1000XM5.Perhaps even more surprisingly,…
“In one way it operates much like our brain does, where not the whole brain activates all the time,” says Oriol Vinyals, a deep learning team lead at DeepMind. This compartmentalizing saves the AI computing power and can generate responses faster. “That kind of fluidity going back and forth across different modalities, and using that to search and understand, is very impressive,” says Oren Etzioni, former technical director of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, who was not involved in the work. “This is stuff I have not seen before.” An AI that can operate across modalities would more closely…
“I don’t know what this thing in front of me is, but I’ll research!”Next time you’re in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, you may say what (more than) most of the people say upon laying their eyes on that building:”That’s really weird.”Or, you could say something else. Something like:Designed by Frank Gehry, this building epitomizes the Deconstructivism movement in architecture, but its style goes beyond simple classification due to its fluid forms, innovative use of materials, and the way it challenges traditional architectural norms. It incorporates elements of sculpture and it’s highly expressive, making it…
Three things to love about batteries It’s hard to pick favorites when it comes to climate technologies. Really, anything that helps us get closer to tackling climate change is worth writing about, both to share the potential upsides and to carefully examine for pitfalls. Our climate reporter Casey Crownhart, however, does have a special place in her heart for one in particular: batteries. Why? Well, they play a crucial role in climate action, there are a million different kinds that can meet basically any need, and they’re at least a little bit magical. Read the full story. —Casey Crownhart This story…
If you want a tablet running on Windows 11 and having a more PC-like experience, feel free to take advantage of this deal. Amazon is currently selling the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ at a sweet 21% discount, allowing you to snatch one for around $146 off its price if you pull the trigger on this sweet offer today. While the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ comes in a lot of configurations, the model currently enjoying Amazon’s discount is the one powered by an Intel Core i5 processor coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. This is not exactly…
Apple Notes app is one of the core apps on iOS, and it is one of the best examples of the power of the Apple ecosystem.It syncs across iPhone, iPad and Macs effortlessly, it supports various styles of formatting and is generally great. And unlike other notes applications with cross-device syncing capabilities, it is also free to use.Unfortunately, after Apple released iOS 17, the Apple Notes app keeps on crashing for a growing number of users and complaints have been piling up for months (one example is this thread on Reddit). So far, there is no solution in sight.The issue…
They’re versatile One of my favorite things about battery technology is its adaptability. Researchers are finding and developing new chemistries all the time, and it’s fascinating to follow. Lithium-ion batteries tend to be the default for the industries I typically write about (think transportation and energy storage). That’s mostly because these batteries were developed for personal devices that became widespread beginning in the 1990s, so they’ve had a head start on scaling and the cost cuts that come along with it. Even in existing battery technologies, there’s lots of nuance and innovation. Lithium-ion batteries follow a similar blueprint, but there’s…
Based on the latest leaks, the Zenfone 11 Ultra is happening, so the fact that the phone has just been spotted at Geekbench is not really a surprise. The benchmarks aggregator reveals some of Zenfone 11 Ultra’s key specs, which are no surprise either considering the phone was involved in a comprehensive leak recently.Although it doesn’t reveal anything new, the Geekbench listing (via Nashville Chatter) is important because it confirms some of the phone’s specs. In this case, it’s the amount of memory and the chipset the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra uses.According to the listing, the Zenfone 11 Ultra will…
Whether you’re rocking an iPhone or an Android phone as your daily driver, you are no longer limited to playing games specifically designed for smaller screens. Microsoft promised last month that it will make it possible to play games on iOS and Android devices without having to use a controller.Today, the Xbox February update is bringing the much-needed touch controls for remote play with the iOS and Android Xbox apps. This means that even if you don’t have an Xbox Wireless Controller, you can now play games when away from your console.The same custom touch layouts available through Xbox Cloud…
Considering that Oppo and vivo have fairly well-known foldable phones available (if you’re a phone enthusiast, that is), there is a craaaaaazy rumor going around. Per the Korea Economic Daily, a declining market share in the niche foldable category for both firms along with the speculation that Huawei is about to introduce a 10-inch tri-fold smartphone has led to a major shift in the market as far as Chinese manufacturers are concerned.The report says that Oppo and vivo have decided they will exit the foldable market leaving it for Samsung and Huawei to dominate. The report, which is written in…
Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone giant, is gearing up for the global launch of its Xiaomi 14 series on February 25. With the date looming, leaks are surfacing more frequently, and the latest one offers insights into the pricing of the upcoming phones in Europe.French website Dealabs (via Android Authority) has shared what appears to be European pricing for the upcoming Xiaomi 14 series. According to the leak, the Xiaomi 14 Pro is expected to remain exclusive to China, aligning with previous rumors that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra will have a global release instead. The Xiaomi 14 is rumored to launch…
After adopting the risky “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” strategy in response to some of the early complaints regarding the relatively low apparent quality of the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra screens, Samsung was rumored to be working on a software update mainly focused on improving the “vividness” of said displays according to the preferences and wishes of real-world smartphone users.This update, which is set to be the first-ever revision of the software found on the three aforementioned ultra-high-end handsets at launch, has now finally gone official ahead of an over-the-air rollout “in February.” Seeing as…
With Apple looking to add new generative AI features to Siri, Shortcuts, Messages, Apple Music, and other features in iOS 18, the tech giant plans to upgrade the Neural Engine on the upcoming A18 and M4 chips. A report by the Economic Daily News says that the new chips will see a significant increase in the number of cores used in the Neural Engine which will lead to improved AI and Machine Learning capabilities for the chips.We should see Apple introduce iOS 18 at WWDC 2024 in June. The A18 series chips will debut with the iPhone 16 series in…
Google redesigned its Weather app last year in tandem with the release of the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet. Although the new redesign included a clean new interface and a new set of weather icons, its corresponding widget kept the same old icons to represent the weather. This is about to change.Spotted by the Google News channel on Telegram, it appears that Google is now supporting the new set of weather icons on both the redesigned Weather app and the At a Glance widget that can be installed on devices other than Pixels. As usual when it comes to Google releases,…
While Google has stopped regularly updating its official Android distribution numbers a while ago, it’s safe to assume the latest OS version is far from widely used in today’s mobile industry. That’s obviously because smartphone manufacturers (with the worthy exceptions of Samsung and Google itself) remain as slow as ever in delivering the newest and smoothest collections of software goodies to older devices.But that’s not stopping Big G from working tirelessly behind the scenes on Android 14’s sequel. This will of course be known to the masses simply as Android 15 while reportedly carrying a delicious “Vanilla Ice Cream” internal…