It appears Microsoft will soon reveal its next-gen Surface Laptop Go. The successor to the would-be Chromebook competitor popped up in a Korean retailer listing that appears to have gone live a little too early. It seems the page has since been taken down.
The listing, which was spotted by The Verge, indicates the Surface Laptop Go 2 will shift from a 10th-gen Intel Core CPU to an 11th-gen Intel processor. This specific configuration boasts the i5-1135G7 and Intel Iris Xe graphics.
As with the original Surface Laptop Go from 2020, this laptop will support up to 8GB of RAM and as much as 256GB of storage, according to the listing. The base model specs are unclear, however. Previous reports indicated the laptop will have a baseline of 4GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The base Surface Laptop Go has 64GB of storage.
As you might expect, the laptop is slated to ship with Windows 11. The listing promises a battery life of up to 13.5 hours as well. In addition, it suggests the system will have "improved HD camera performance," even though, like its predecessor, it's said to have a 720p webcam.
The Surface Laptop Go 2 seems to have a lot of other details in common with the original system. The listing suggests it still has a 12.4-inch display and 3:2 aspect ratio, the same ports (including a 3.5mm headphone jack and the proprietary Surface charging port) and a fingerprint sensor. There's no sign of it having a backlit keyboard as yet, unfortunately.
It seems we may not have to wait much longer for Microsoft to formally announce the latest entry-level Surface laptop. The listing suggests preorders will open on June 2nd.
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Ahead of Apple’s big developer conference on June 6, WWDC, new information about what’s in store for iOS 16 has come to light. According to leaks reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS users may expect to see new features like an upgraded lockscreen as well as updated first-party apps, including Messages and Health, updates to notifications, iPad multitasking features and more.
The report described the software as a “fairly significant” upgrade — which is notable given the last two updates included sizable changes, as well. With iOS 14, for example, iPhone users gained support for home screen widgets, leading to a homescreen customization craze that still sees widget and themes apps like Brass, Themify, ScreenKit and others topping the Graphics & Design charts. Last year’s iOS 15 upgrade, meanwhile, delivered Focus Modes — a new way to control what and who is allowed to interrupt you and when.
This time around, Bloomberg says Apple will give particular attention to its lockscreen, a bit of under-utilized real estate currently which offers only the date, time and buttons to launch the Flashlight or Camera apps.
In iOS 16, Apple aims to support wallpapers that have widget-like capabilities, the report claims. This could indicate that Apple is considering merging what’s today to the left of the homescreen — the “Today View” with its lineup of widgets — directly into the lockscreen itself. This would make sense as the Today View is meant to offer easy access to information you may need throughout the day, like upcoming calendar appointments, the weather or widgets that can be tapped to open favorite apps. But the Today View isn’t within easy reach because you still have to swipe right to see it, and many users don’t bother to do so.
This change could be beneficial to app developers who support widgets, as it gives them another shot at grabbing users’ attention in a high-profile area. Plus, it would give the homescreen customization app developers a way to extend their offerings. That is, users could now download full theme sets with sets of widgets designed both for the lockscreen and homescreen, along with matching wallpapers and icon themes.
In addition, the updated lockscreen could be preparing for a future where the lockscreen has an always-on display, similar to Apple Watch, though this would likely be tied to updated hardware, the report said. This mode may be exclusive to high-end iPhones at launch, including the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max — if given the green light.
Other expected features with iOS 16 include an updated Messages app with more “social networking-like functionality,” which may include some sort of update around audio messages. (Please, Apple, allow us to play audio messages at faster speeds like on WhatsApp!)
The Health app will also be updated, but the report didn’t have further details as to what would be changed. In addition, watchOS will gain changes to watch faces and a low-power mode, while iPadOS will gain changes to windowing and multitasking.
One feature that wasn’t touched on, but is in need of improvement, is iPhone’s Focus Mode. While a solid concept in theory, in practice many who have tried to set up Focus Mode have ended up missing important calls and texts, as well as critical notifications, that had come in via numbers or apps that hadn’t been allowed to punch through “Do Not Disturb” settings for the given mode. Setting up Focus Mode takes a lot of work, too — what could be better, perhaps, would be a Siri-powered Focus Mode that asks users to train the setting over a period of time, allowing it to learn what you consider important versus a distraction for particular times of “focus,” like your workday or personal time. Siri could also suggest Focus Modes based on how you already use apps on your phone or how often and when you “mute” notifications from specific apps.
The Bloomberg report didn’t note any planned changes for Focus Mode, but it would be a big oversight on Apple’s part to not roll out some tweaks to this system with the software update.
Apple’s WWDC 2022 keynote will livestream on June 6.
The most exciting trend in audio over the past years is the move toward affordable gear that actually sounds good. Examples include Vizio soundbars, to Elac speakers and even traditionally expensive brands like Sonos. After dabbling in the "budget" category through its excellent Symfonisk collaboration with Ikea, and putting out the excellent One speaker, Sonos has now delivered its first "affordable" soundbar. And it's a winner.
The $279 Sonos Ray may look deceptively simple with its cut-down feature set, but it still manages to rival the more expensive Sonos Beam in some ways. The Ray lacks an HDMI port and doesn't have a voice assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant built in, but the sound is tighter than the Beam. Overall the Ray is an even better value than the Beam in my book, because it still has all the features you want as well as great sound for a lower price.
Like
Excellent sound for movies and music
Compact, attractive design
Simple connection
Still the best multiroom system
Don't Like
No HDMI
Some competitors offer wireless subwoofers as well
If you're looking to save money, Sonos probably isn't the first place you'd look, but budget-oriented products such as the Ray allow more people to enjoy the company's excellent multiroom system. If you're in the market for a compact soundbar that can integrate into a whole-home music system today or down the road, the Ray is a fantastic place to start.
The Ray is available in a choice of white or black.
Sonos
Simple design, basic features
The Sonos Ray follows in the tradition of its higher-end siblings the Beam and Arc. It's also a single soundbar without a subwoofer, but unlike those other two speakers the Ray is a stereo-only model. It has a pair of midwoofers and two tweeters -- there are no Dolby Atmos height channels here. Those tweeters feature a proprietary waveguide that focuses high frequencies outwards. They're the main reason the Ray is able to sound much bigger than its dimensions suggest.
The Ray has a similar aesthetic to the Beam, with a choice of white or black, but the Ray's a little smaller at 22 inches wide. Unlike the tongue depressor shape of the Beam, the Ray is more trapezoidal, though it boasts the same polycarbonate grill and set of touch controls on the top. When viewing it from above, I immediately noticed the Ray's lack of microphones. And while it doesn't have an onboard voice assistant, you can still control it by issuing voice commands to a paired smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo, Google Nest Mini or another Sonos smart speaker like the Sonos One.
The Ray on top of the Beam.
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The other thing the Ray misses out on? HDMI. Given that almost every new soundbar -- even the $80 ones -- now have an HDMI port, this does seem a weird way to cut costs. It's not a big omission, however, because basically every TV has a digital optical output, so you should be just fine with connecting to the Ray. While this connection does limit the soundbar to Dolby Digital, the soundbar does come with other audio functions such as Night Mode, Speech Enhancement and TruePlay tuning with an iOS device.
Like every other Sonos soundbar the Ray lacks a remote control, but after a straightforward setup process using the Android or iOS app, you can use your TV remote to control it. If you want to get more involved than changing the volume, the Sonos app lets you activate the sound modes or control music around your house. The Sonos system is still the gold standard of multiroom speakers and features dozens of streaming services, as well as connection with Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.
How does Sonos Ray sound?
I compared the Sonos Ray against two other soundbars, the more Sonos Beam and the Polk React, which costs about the same.
Screenshot by Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The CNET audio lab is a medium-sized 13- by 16-foot room with high ceilings, and the Ray had no problem filling it with sound. The Ray may not be as loud as the Beam or the React, but it can still play music and movies at satisfying volumes, and with a surprising amount of bass.
Of the three soundbars in the company's lineup, the Ray most resembles the Sonos One sonically. The midrange is a little "dark" or closed-sounding -- though vocals sound super crisp -- and the highs and bass are full. The Ray is capable of a wide soundstage and it doesn't sound like a small speaker at all.
Music comparisons
I started my tests with some music -- the tight funk of Tom Cardy's Between the Lines. The song features vocals mixed to the extreme sides with a thudding bass drum and vocoder bass line driving the song from the center. Of the two Sonos speakers I tested, the Beam sounded bigger, offered more midrange detail and better bass thump. By contrast the Ray first exhibited One-like tendencies with a tight, contained sound that didn't match the majesty of the Beam.
Next I tried the delicate, heart-breaking folk ballad Field of Flowers by Grand Salvo. This track, with its strummed guitar verses and close-mic-ed vocals, was more intimate on the Ray. Singer Paddy Mann sounded like he was right there with me. The Beam delivered a greater sense of dynamics once the song erupted into its choir-led chorus, but the speaker also amplified the tape hiss, and Mann's voice wasn't as present in the verses.
I swapped the Beam for the Polk React and tried music that could test each speaker's ability to take advantage of the space: Yulunga (Spirit Dance) by Dead Can Dance. At the song's 3:13 mark the Sonos Ray with its angled tweeters placed the left and right shaker about 3 feet either side of the speaker, and there was even a satisfying phoom from the bass drum. The Polk wasn't as deep-sounding -- there was more ambience from the hall, but Lisa Gerrard's voice was also a little nasally. Though the Polk demonstrated good stereo separation, the shakers were ultimately limited to the boundaries of the cabinet.
Audio comparisons with movies
While music was tipped in favor of the Ray, if you watch a lot of movies then the Beam was far and away the best speaker here. The Beam offers effective pseudo-Dolby Atmos effects and with Mad Max: Fury Road it showed what an all-in-one speaker is capable of. At the start of the film, a series of voiceovers recount the events of the world's apocalypse, and the Beam whizzed portents of doom around my listening room. By comparison the voices were relatively steadfast on the Ray and the Polk React. At 2 minutes and 7 seconds, a car jumps over the listener, an effect brought thrillingly to life by the Beam, with a real sense of both back to front movement and height. Though it didn't offer the same sense of movement, the Ray's dialog reproduction was still respectable and it was impressively wide-sounding for a small unit.
Moving to the lobby scene from The Matrix (1 hour, 41 minutes and 4 seconds in), the Polk React was more visceral and bigger-sounding than the Ray. The high frequency and bass effects sounded less boisterous on the Sonos Ray, but on the flip side it wasn't as exhausting to listen to.
Lastly, I tried the Ray's Speech Enhancement and it was subtle. It offered a little more definition, especially in the hard to decipher dialogue in Batman Begins -- it was easier to make out that the guard was sending Bruce Wayne to "solitary" instead of "cemetery." Other speakers, such as the Polk React and Zvox AV357 offer numerous levels of voice enhancement, and are more effective if you need to make speech more understandable.
Should you buy it?
I deliberately didn't compare the Sonos Ray with a Vizio V21 or another soundbar with a separate sub, because if I did it would sound positively anemic. That's not the point with speakers like the Ray, Beam or React: All three are designed for people who want a soundbar in a single box that's easy to set up. The Ray sounds particularly good with music and it can be upgraded with Symfonisk rears or a sub later.
For a big discount compared to the Beam, the Sonos Ray offers impressive performance. It's quite close when it comes to movies, and even better in some cases with music. It may lack the whizz-bang features, but I personally don't want a voice assistant in my soundbar, anyway. Smart speakers are cheap and go on sale often.
The Ray is a perfect complement to a bedroom TV and it would also make for a good way to upgrade a terrible-sounding television in a smaller living room. If you want voice control and better-sounding movies, the React has the edge, but where the Ray really shines (ahem) is in its integration of multiroom music and streaming features. The Ray sounds good, looks great and is easy to set up and use.
If you’ve wanted MagSafe-style convenient charging on an iPad Mini, Pitaka’s latest case is here for you. The new $79 MagEZ Case Pro for the sixth-generation iPad Mini (aka the iPad Mini 6) has magnetic points on the back that pass power through the iPad’s USB-C port when used with the included pad. Or you can use it with the $129 MagEZ Charging Stand, which elevates the tablet and provides a second Qi charging spot in its base for a phone or headphones.
There are some downsides to this approach. Pitaka’s case doesn’t make use of the magnets built into the back of the iPad Mini, and it blocks the USB-C port from access, leaving you with the magnetic pad as the only way to charge the device. Forget about transferring any data over a wired connection while the case is on, too. The case itself is a stiff rubber with a carbon fiber-like weave pattern, which should provide protection from most average drops but isn’t the most rugged thing I’ve seen. It also doesn’t cover the screen like Apple’s folio cases, so you’ll probably want to pair it with some kind of screen protector.
On the plus side, the case does allow for Apple Pencil charging on the right side, and there’s a little accessory that grabs the Pencil and holds it in place better when you toss the iPad in a bag.
Those downsides aside, the MagEZ certainly lives up to the easy part of its name, as charging just requires plopping the case near the base and letting the magnets do their thing. The magnetic attraction is strong, and the stand will hold the iPad easily in either landscape or portrait orientation. (The stand also tilts, but it does not have any height adjustment.)
Neither the case nor the stand comes with a charging brick, and Pitaka recommends at least a 45W USB-C Power Delivery brick if you want to charge the iPad and a phone at full speed at the same time on the stand. (The base supports 7.5W charging with iPhones or up to 15W charging with other Qi devices.)
You do have to really be committed to wanting magnetic charging to make this setup worthwhile, though, as neither the case nor the stand is particularly cheap. But if that’s not a blocker for you, both accessories should be available starting today, May 30th.
Samsung has just reached its highest global smartphone market share in five years. In April 2022, Samsung was the best-selling smartphone brand with a market share of 24% — the highest it’s been since June 2017.
Once again, the Galaxy S22 series and lower-cost Galaxy A phones weres the source behind this newfound success. Samsung hasn’t reached this level of global dominance since April 2017. Back then, it had a market share of 25%.
Samsung was only 1% shy of topping that record in April 2022. And while Samsung’s market share skyrocketed to 24% in terms of phone sales, Apple’s plummeted to 15%. Apple was followed by Xiaomi, the latter of which held 12% of global smartphone market sales in April.
How was Samsung this successful?
Aside from the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy A smartphones being great products, Samsung’s positive outcome was driven by several other factors, such as robust supply chain management and a healthy supply-demand balance.
Samsung also made a huge impact in India, and attractive promotions in core markets, including Latin America, have also helped the company expand its presence.
“Going forward, Samsung is likely to retain the leadership position in the global smartphone market in Q2” predict Counterpoint Research analysts, adding that the foldable segment also has a lot of potential for the Korean tech giant.
Samsung is gearing up to release the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 in August-September.
Acer is one of those laptop makers that frequently tries too hard to stand out. Consider the Predator Triton 900, a wild machine with a 360-degree swiveling screen that I found to be mostly useless. Earlier this month, Acer also announced plans to bring its SpatiaLabs glasses-free 3D technology to gaming laptops. Ambitious swings are nice and all, but these days I'm more interested in notebooks that are subtle about their gaming prowess. And after testing out the Predator Triton 500 SE for the past week, I've learned that Acer can pull that off pretty well.
Gallery: Acer Predator Triton 500 SE | 12 Photos
Gallery: Acer Predator Triton 500 SE | 12 Photos
The Triton 500 SE packs all of the power you'd want from a large gaming notebook, in a sleek metallic frame that wouldn't look out of place in a stuffy office or lecture hall. There's little need for garish LEDs (except for the keyboard backlight, which you can always turn off), or other obnoxious case bling. It's ready to get down to work. And sure, it's not the only subtle gaming notebook around, but competitors like the Razer Blade cost more than the Triton's $2,300 starting price.
Critics - Not yet scored
Users - Not yet scored
Pros
Gorgeous and smooth 16-inch screen
Fast 12th-gen CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs
Refined design
Cool performance
Easy overclocking
Plenty of ports
Cons
Could use a better keyboard
Trackpad is stiff
Tinny speakers
What separates the Triton 500 SE from your typical productivity laptop, aside from the powerful hardware, is its glorious 16-inch screen. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio, making it slightly taller than typical widescreen displays and more useful for dealing with documents. Our review unit shipped with the 240Hz WQXGA model (running at 2,560 by 1,600 pixels) which, in my book, is the ideal balance between sharpness and silky smooth refresh. There's no HDR support, but at least it offers a relatively high brightness of 500 nits, as well as full coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. And while the screen is a big reason the Triton is a hefty 5.3 pounds, that's still better than most 17-inch gaming notebooks (the Razer Blade 17 clocks in at 5.5 pounds).
Powering that glorious display is Intel's 12th-gen processors and NVIDIA's latest RTX 30-series GPUs, all the way up to the droolworthy RTX 3080 Ti. The unit we received featured that GPU as well as Intel's top-end Core i9 12900H, 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a speedy 1TB NVMe SSD. To be honest, it was that configuration that inspired me to review the Triton 500 SE in the first place. I wondered, can this unassuming notebook actually satisfy gamers? Turns out, yes.
Halo Infinite, for example, reached a solid 85fps at the Triton's native resolution at ultra graphics settings. While I missed the HDR and expansive view I've grown used to on the Alienware QD-OLED ultrawide monitor, I was surprised at just how immersive the game felt on a 16-inch display. You can thank the taller 16:10 aspect ratio for that – it sometimes felt like I was about to dive headfirst into Halo Infinite's maps. (That could also be a sign that I need to make my desk a bit more ergonomic for laptops.) The 240Hz display also shined as I lowered the game's graphics settings to reach higher framerates. I'm still not fully sold on such a high refresh rate, but it's nice to see laptop makers pushing for smoother and more realistic gameplay.
Gearheads will likely appreciate the Triton 500 SE's built-in overclocking capabilities. Acer's software makes it easy to tweak clock speeds and thermal profiles. Personally, though, I was just glad to have a simple "Turbo" button on the keyboard. It revs up the fans all the way and automatically overclocks the system. In Halo Infinite and all of the benchmarks I ran, it typically led to 8 to 10 percent increase in performance. The big downside? It's so loud you probably wouldn't want to use it without headphones.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Even without overclocking, the Triton 500 SE annihilated all of the benchmarks we threw at it, delivering performance mostly on-par with the Razer Blade 15. There were a few instances where the Razer edged ahead, like in PCMark 10 and Geekbench 5's Compute test (which mostly stresses the GPU). But in others, including Cinebench R23 and 3DMark's Port Royal ray tracing benchmark, the Triton held a commanding lead. Partially, that's due to our review unit having a slightly faster 12th-gen processor. Hit that Turbo switch and the Triton's numbers soar even higher.
NVIDIA's Advanced Optimus feature, which intelligently swaps the Triton's GPU between integrated and discrete graphics, also worked flawlessly throughout my testing. I didn't see any of the performance bottlenecking that occurred with older Optimus machines, where discrete GPUs had to be squeezed through integrated graphics. There's also a MUX switch that lets you manually change between both GPUs without rebooting the entire system.
After benchmarking and playing several games for a few hours, the Triton 500 SE remained relatively cool. The CPU typically hovered around 78 Celsius under load, while the GPU hit 83 Celsius. It never felt hot to the touch, though it's worth noting that I was testing in my chill basement. Fan noise was about what I'd expect with the Triton's default performance settings – audible, but not nearly as irritating as cranking them up all the way with the Turbo button.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
But even though Acer got cooling and overall performance right, it's a shame that some of the Triton 500 SE's hardware holds it back. The keyboard is fine for gaming, but I’d like more feedback for lengthy typing sessions. And while I appreciated the large and smooth trackpad, the actual clicking mechanism felt stiff – it was particularly bad at registering right clicks. I'm also not a fan of having a fingerprint sensor right on the trackpad, as it often gets in the way while I'm swiping around. Just stick that sensor on the power button, or throw in a Windows Hello webcam already! I'd also like to see Acer bundle more than just a pair of tinny stereo speakers, especially since Razer, Dell and others are cramming many more drivers into their notebooks.
Battery life is another disappointment, though I suppose we've grown used to that in powerful gaming laptops. The Triton 500 SE lasted five hours and twenty-five minutes in our benchmark, which involves looping an HD video. That's 17 minutes less than the Razer Blade 15. During my typical workday, it usually lasted around five hours before needing a recharge. Unfortunately, that's typical for gaming laptops with large screens. You'll never want to be too far from a power plug.
Still, I’d imagine most people would want to keep their workstations plugged in for the best performance. Acer also included all of the ports you’d need to make it a true workstation, including two USB 3.2 Type A connections, dual USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, Ethernet and an SD card slot. And thankfully Acer didn’t get rid of the headphone jack, something more laptop makers are doing these days.
The Acer Predator Triton 500 SE starts at $2,300, which is $200 less than the Razer Blade 15 with 12th-gen Intel chips and $400 less than the most recent Blade 17. Be prepared to shell out $3,000 if you want all of the hardware from our review unit (still cheaper than comparable machines from Razer and others). But if you can live with last year's 11th-gen Intel chips, you can also find older Triton 500 SE models for $2,000 and under. We'd recommend doing whatever it takes to get a 12th-gen chip, though, as the performance difference is huge.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
If anything, the Triton 500 SE proves that Acer is doing more than just chasing gaming gimmicks. After being known for producing cheap and unsophisticated laptops for years, it’s nice to see that Acer can make a refined gaming notebook without any unnecessary bling.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Apple is planning to debut an enhanced Lock Screen with iOS 16, improved multitasking in iPadOS 16, refined navigation in watchOS 9, additional smart home features in tvOS 16, redesigned apps in macOS 13, and more, according Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman outlined his expectations for all of Apple's upcoming operating systems, including iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, tvOS 16, and macOS 13. He believes that the updates will be "fairly significant."
Apple is reportedly planning to introduce a number of changes to the Lock Screen with iOS 16, including a new kind of wallpaper that displays information:
Apple is planning major enhancements for the Lock Screen, including wallpapers that have widget-like capabilities.
Further, I'm told iOS 16 builds in future support for an always-on lock screen, something Apple was originally planning for last year's iPhone 13.
With regards to iPadOS 16, Gurman expects "major changes to windowing and multitasking," while tvOS 16 will purportedly gain "more smart-home tie-ins."
Gurman expects the Messages app to gain "more social network-like functionality, particularly around audio messages." The Health app is not expected to expand to iPadOS or macOS, although "plenty of new features" are said to be on the way that work with the iPhone and the Apple Watch.
watchOS 9 will allegedly include "significant improvements to watchOS that affect day-to-day operating and navigation," alongside refreshes for existing Apple Watch faces and a new Low Power Mode.
Gurman claims that macOS 13 will overhaul System Preferences to bring it more in line with iOS's Settings app, including individual settings being organized by app, as well as other redesigns for default apps.
iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, tvOS 16, and macOS 13 are expected to be previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, June 6, followed by a beta testing period before the updates are widely released in the fall.
Google is rolling out an update to Chrome OS this week that comes with a very nifty new feature. As reported by our colleagues over at 9to5Google, Chrome OS 102 includes a new “USB-C cable alert” feature, and it’s a feature that Apple should absolutely replicate across the board for its products…
This new feature in Chrome OS will alert you when a USB-C cable you’ve connected doesn’t support certain features or “isn’t performing ideally for your laptop.” The alert will explain if the cable “doesn’t support the high-performance USB4/Thunderbolt 3 standards that your Chromebook does.” The full list of alerts includes:
Cable may not support displays
Your USB-C cable may not connect to displays properly
Cable may impact performance
Your USB-C cable does not support USB4. Device performance may be limited.
Your USB-C cable does not support Thunderbolt.
Your device supports a higher data rate than your cable.
Why Apple should copy this feature
As we’ve written about many times here at 9to5Mac, despite selling on a universal connector, the world of USB-C cables is still very, very confusing. This is especially the case for everyday Mac and iPad users who aren’t as in tune with the tech specifications like many of you reading this are.
A simple search on Amazon reveals a wide array of different USB-C cables, many of which support varying different data transfer speeds, display support, and charging speeds. Your mileage will significantly differ based on which cable you choose. This is also true on both ends of the spectrum; some of the cheaper cables won’t offer full support for the features the USB-C offers and others will overcharge and bill themselves as being more premium than they really are.
The USB Implementers Forum, or USB-IF, has promised branding changes that aim to help clear up some of the confusion surrounding different USB-C cables and standards. These changes, however, don’t appear to be rolling out anytime soon. And they still won’t solve the problem of accessory makers who don’t conform to the full USB-IF standards.
As the confusion around USB-C standards, speeds, and features continues to grow, Google has chosen to take matters into its own hands with the new “USB-C cable alert” feature. The alerts provide users a simple explanation of the feature of the USB-C cable they are using, including why it might not work for certain connectivity needs.
Apple has broadly adopted USB-C on many of its products alongside Thunderbolt 4 as well. As it increases its reliance on USB-C and Thunderbolt 4, it too should add some sort of USB-C cable alert feature on both Mac and iPad. This feature would significantly reduce confusion around USB-C and Thunderbolt cables, and give users a clear explanation of what cable they are using and what cable they might need to unlock more features.
Theoretically, Apple could even take this a step further and add a similar feature for iPhone charging. In the Settings app, Apple could explain the top charging speed of the cable and power brick combination the iPhone is connected to, and explain how that speed could get faster with a new power brick.
What do you think of this new Chrome OS feature? Is it something Apple should adopt across its products and operating systems? Let us know down in the comments.
Google Hardware's products aim to bring the best of Google's software prowess to the market, but the division sure does have a lot of quality control issues. The latest weird Google Hardware defect is yellowing, warping phone cases. As The Verge reports, Google's pricey, translucent plastic cases aren't living up to their $30 price tag.
Numerous reports on Amazon and Reddit list all kinds of problems with these cases. One post on Reddit, titled "Pixel 6 case Made by Google is trash," has 500 upvotes and contains several pictures of what these official cases look like after a few months. The cases apparently quickly turn yellow or brown from UV degradation. That's a common problem with cheap transparent cases, but it's not something you would expect from an official $30 case from a major manufacturer.
Another continually cited problem is that the cases don't fit correctly, either straight from the factory or due to warping over time. Images show waggly edges around the power and volume buttons.
Enlarge/ The side of this case is no longer straight.
Google has not yet responded to these complaints, but some Amazon customers received a "one time" refund. With the launch of the Pixel 6a coming soon, it might be best to stay away from Google cases. Maybe we can get the company to bring back the well-loved fabric cases from the earlier Pixel phones.
The Nothing phone (1) will feature a translucent design similar to the Nothing ear (1) earbuds.
Nothing founder Carl Pei focused on a unified design for the upcoming smartphones and the Nothing ecosystem.
Sketches show off potential designs for the upcoming phone.
As the world awaits the full unveiling of the Nothing phone (1), founder Carl Pai has taken a moment to tease the upcoming smartphone's design. In an interview with Wallpaper, Pei and Nothing's head of design, Tom Howard, discussed their inspiration for the phone and more of what we can expect this summer.
In a somewhat expected move, the Nothing phone (1) will sport a translucent chassis that the company hopes will help consumers appreciate the internal workings of a smartphone.
"From a design perspective, we really wanted to bring the inside out, and that meant working with the engineers to start from first principles," says Howard. "There are over 400 components in a smartphone, assembled in layers. We wanted to celebrate the 'good ones,' the things we thought were really interesting to emphasise."
(Image credit: Nothing via Wallpaper)
Howard described the engineering process as a "jigsaw puzzle" because the company wants to highlight the components such as the cameras and charging coil, among other elements. To do so, Nothing took inspiration from a 1972 New York Subway map designed by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda.
Of course, Nothing's first product, the Nothing ear (1), was also an inspiration, as the company aims for a cohesive design across its products, according to Pei. "Phone (1) and Ear (1) will clearly be from the same family, and as we fill in the rest of our product portfolio, we will maintain the same philosophy."
This follows Pei's earlier teaser about the upcoming phone, where he highlighted how he wants the Nothing family of products to challenge Apple's ecosystem with one of its own, with phone (1) at the center of it. This includes Nothing OS, which is currently available to preview on some of the best Android phones. However, we will have to wait until this summer to get a complete picture of the OS and the phone.
(CNN Business)Since launching in five US cities in 2007, Google's Street View cars have been circling the globe, using roof-mounted cameras to map more than 10 million miles of imagery — pictures that have been stitched together to build a visual map of much of the world.
Yet while these cameras have made it possible for Google to capture many far-flung places, they tend to be bulky, heavy, and require a bunch of computing power that has to be added on inside Street View cars.
On Tuesday, Google unveiled a new Street View camera it thinks will make it a lot easier to take pictures of the world, particularly in remote spots such as small islands and mountain tops. The camera weighs 15 pounds (about a tenth the weight of the current camera plus all the electronics the existing one requires); is modular so it can be customized with different sensors such as lidar when needed; and can quickly be connected to the top of a car's roof rack without needing the car to be customized (which will make it possible to connect it to many more kinds of cars).
As with the current Street View camera, it includes seven individual cameras, each with a 20-megapixel sensor, so it can take 140-megapixel panoramic images.
Last week, Google gave CNN Business an exclusive look at the new camera at the company's Street View garage in Mountain View, California, along with a tour of the array of cameras and vehicles Street View has used over the years.
The camera is cute — even for a surveillance device. It's about the size of a cat or small dog, and its top-most part is blue, with a white circle surrounding each of its large camera lenses (which look like big bug eyes).
Some cut-outs in the plastic make it appear, from certain angles, to have a tiny mustache. The bulk of its oblong body is silver-colored, with two black handles for easy carrying (which, naturally, also look like tiny arms).
Maria Biggs, who leads the team that designed and built the new camera, said her team was trying to make the camera so portable that it could be shipped on its own, rather than with a whole car, to different locations where it could then be connected to cars. In order to do this, the electronics that typically have been fit into the backseat of a Street View car have been fit into the new camera. Biggs said that in order to shrink the camera's electronics, her team designed power and processing boards smaller than the size of her hand. It can be powered by a car, or connected directly to a battery.
Over the past 15 years, Google Street View has connected its cameras to lots of things other than cars, too — think snowmobiles, bikes, backpacks, and even sheep — in its efforts to capture places that are off-road as well. (The sheep were part of an effort initiated by Faroe Islands residents in 2016 to gather pictures for Street View of the archipelago's numerous islands). Biggs said the portability of the new camera will make it useful for these other types of picture-taking, and will make it possible to collect pictures in more remote places more frequently.
The Street View team is testing the new camera near its headquarters in Mountain View, and plans to start using it widely next year.
Samsung’s latest high-end gaming monitor — the curved 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 — is now available to preorder for $1,500 and will be available to purchase on June 6th, the company has announced. The news follows its reveal back at CES in January.
The Odyssey Neo G8 is notable for having a 240Hz refresh rate, making it one of, if not the, fastest-refreshing 4K monitors on the market. Other features include a claimed peak brightness of 2,000 nits, support for Adaptive-Sync (which means it’ll do variable refresh rates with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs), and a curvature of 1000R.
Like its larger sibling, last year’s ultrawide Odyssey Neo G9, the G8 is Mini LED. It uses over a thousand LEDs as a display backlight, and these can be selectively turned off and on for better contrast. The G8 has 1,196 local dimming zones across its curved 32-inch display.
For an idea of how the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 might perform in practice, check out our review of the Odyssey Neo G9 from last year. Hopefully a year of progress means the new G8 won’t suffer from the same issues displaying HDR and 240Hz content as its predecessor. Curved displays are generally reserved for ultrawide monitors rather than regular 16:9 displays like the Neo G8, but it’s impossible to say for sure how it’ll perform until we see it for ourselves.
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