Author: zppiot
If there is one thing that iPhone users have that Android phone owners don’t, it is access to both Apple Maps and Google Maps. Apple Maps has matured over the last few years and there are some iPhone users who prefer it over Google Maps. And since Apple Maps is preinstalled on iOS, iPhone users needing directions probably find it easier to just open Apple Maps as opposed to running to the App Store and installing the iOS version of Google Maps.As long as we are being cerebral about this, we can take an even deeper dive. Those switching to…
If phones could talk, they’d say: “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread…” (if that rings a bell, it’s because it’s a Bilbo Baggins quote from ).That’s because the “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” motto these days sounds more like: “Thinner, thinner, thinner… and thinner with AI!”Speaking of AI, I’m sure phones will be able to speak for themselves in no time. However, this isn’t going to be about AI at all (I can hear sighs of relief from left and right).I’m going to talk about the physical world – about size, dimensions, and proportions.Phones…
WhatsApp, the popular Meta-owned messaging, never seems to rest on its laurels. Always testing new features, the company recently revamped the status updates tray in their Android beta, giving it a sleek new look with bigger thumbnails and a more modern layout. But the changes don’t stop there – WhatsApp appears to be doubling down on enhancing the status update experience, with a particular focus on making sure you see updates from the people you care about most.A new feature currently being tested in the Android beta, dubbed “ranked status updates,” aims to prioritize updates from your most important contacts.…
Image credit: SpotifyThe recent news of Spotify’s plan to shut down all Car Thing devices by the end of the year has caused quite a stir. The streaming giant discontinued sales of the device a while back, but the announcement to completely deactivate functional units has drawn criticism from users who were hoping for a more sustainable solution.A tech enthusiast, Josh Hendrickson, recently shed light on an interesting detail about the Car Thing that Spotify hadn’t publicized. It turns out that the device is, in fact, open source. Hendrickson shared his findings on Twitter, revealing that the Car Thing runs…
YouTube called out for videos on how to build ghost guns YouTube called out for videos on how to build ghost guns 02:41 YouTube is updating its policy on firearm videos to keep potentially dangerous content from reaching underage users.The video-sharing platform, which is owned by Google, announced this week it will prohibit any videos instructing how to remove firearm safety devices. Videos showing homemade guns, automatic weapons and certain firearm accessories like silencers will be restricted to users 18 and older.The changes take effect on June 18 and come after gun safety advocates have repeatedly called on the platform…
What’s better than one of the best budget 5G phones out there with the cleanest and smoothest Android experience possible, pretty much unrivaled software support, excellent camera performance, and respectable Google Tensor G3 processing power? The same extraordinary mid-range handset sold alongside a nice and always handy $50 Amazon gift card.If this hot new Pixel 8a deal happens to sound oddly familiar, let us tell you it’s actually not identical with the Best Buy promotion we brought to your attention earlier this week. The distinguishing element is fairly obvious, but we’ll point it out anyway: here you can get 50…
The wind of change is blowing. With the latest leaks about the iPhone 16 Pro Max promising some serious upgrades, it’s hard not to get excited. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, although a solid device, seems to be treading water.Design: futuristic vs familiarThe iPhone 16 Pro Max is rumored to have a big redesign, that will differentiate it from predecessors. While the Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t look as different than its predecessor…iPhone 16 Pro Max: a Sci-Fi dreamThe design of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is rumored to be a leap forward, with reputable leaker IceUniverse suggesting it will look…
Seven new games are joining Apple Arcade’s catalog, which boasts over 200 games with no ads or in-app purchases. The service launches four titles: Rabbids: Legends of the Multiverse, Return to Monkey Island+, Tomb of the Mask+, and Fabulous – Wedding Disaster+.These are already live and from July 3 onwards, players will have three more new games: Outlanders 2: Second Nature, Punch Kick Duck+, and the popular, relaxing Zen Koi Pro+ from Singapore-based game studio LandShark Games.Ubisoft’s Rabbids: Legends of the Multiverse (this is one of the games that is already available) will challenge you to build the ultimate deck…
The operating room has long been defined by its hush-hush nature because surgeons are notoriously bad at acknowledging their own mistakes.These mistakes kill some 22,000 Americans each year. Many of the errors happen on the operating table, from leaving surgical sponges inside patients’ bodies to performing the wrong procedure altogether. Now, Teodor Grantcharov, a surgeon and professor of surgery at Stanford, believes he’s created the technology to create and analyze recordings of operations to help improve safety and surgical efficiency. It’s the operating room equivalent of an airplane’s black box: recording everything in the operating room via panoramic cameras, microphones,…
Say what you will about Apple, but we can all agree that it’s a predictable company. We get our small annual software and hardware upgrades, and if there’s a bigger one – it’s not a big surprise, thanks to the inevitable leaks.The iPhone company is rarely on the cutting edge of new ideas, but instead tends to wait for features to mature, before it deems them good enough to adopt on its own devices. Examples include always-on display, 120Hz displays, or, in the upcoming iOS 18 update – more control over one’s home screen.For whatever reason, Apple is slow to…
The foldable phone craze will continue in this year, it seems, as a record number of modules are predicted to launch in 2024. The foldable phone market share leadership will be intermittently held by both Samsung and Huawei, and the two will swap places between the first half and the second half of the year, reports DSCC.In the grand scheme of things, however, various handset brands are expected to launch no less than 38 foldable phone models this year, up from 35 in 2023. Samsung alone is projected to sell 13 million foldable phones in 2024 after the launch of the…
While most algorithms operate near perfectly on their own, Peter Grantcharov explains that the OR black box is still not fully autonomous. For example, it’s difficult to capture audio through ceiling mikes and thus get a reliable transcript to document whether every element of the surgical safety checklist was completed; he estimates that this algorithm has a 15% error rate. So before the output from each procedure is finalized, one of the Toronto analysts manually verifies adherence to the questionnaire. “It will require a human in the loop,” Peter Grantcharov says, but he gauges that the AI model has made…
The next big thing in the foldable phone world is on its way – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. While the phone itself isn’t out yet, the rumor mill is already buzzing about the colors it might come in. Reputable industry insider and leaker Ross Young has detailed what colors we can expect from the clamshell foldable.Here’s the potential color palette and what shades we might get to choose from when the Z Flip 6 finally drops.All the rumored Galaxy Z Flip 6 colorsThe Galaxy Z Flip 6 has already been in the rumor mill for quite some time.…
Samsung, just like all the other handset makers, stops supporting older devices at some point. Sometime that happens sooner than expected and you’re forced to upgrade to a new phone, but most of the time Android phones receive updates for around 5 years.However, the Galaxy A52 phones will stop at One UI 6.1, a major OS update that they recently received (or are in the process of getting). SamMobile reports that the Galaxy A52, Galaxy A52 5G, and Galaxy A52s will no longer receive OS updates that bring major new features and improvements like One UI 6.1.The move shouldn’t be…
Apple’s next WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) is just around the corner, and we are gearing up for a slew of announcements about iOS 18, Siri, and the integration of AI across the company’s ecosystem. Now, it looks like there is a new app on the horizon, too.iOS 18 to debut Apple Password appAccording to the well-known Apple insider Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the tech giant is gearing up to unveil a new in-house app next week called Passwords. The latter is designed to simplify the login process for customers on websites and software.The tech giant is reportedly integrating the new…
Last month, Oppo launched its latest mid-range phones, the Reno 12 and Reno 12 Pro in China. It looks like these devices are going global soon, though with some different specs.Global variant of Oppo Reno 12 Pro spotted on Geekbench listingAhead of its global debut, the Oppo Reno 12 Pro 5G popped up on the Geekbench benchmarks database. The listing shows the phone will come with 12GB of RAM and run on Android 14. In China, the Reno 12 Pro is also available with 16GB of RAM, but it seems the global variant will only offer the base storage option.The…