Technology

Apple may be working on a device with a 20-inch foldable display, which Apple tracker Mark Gurman describes as an “iPad / MacBook hybrid” in Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter. It’s not expected until 2026 Gurman says that Apple is, indeed, exploring the possibility of a folding device of the sort, backing up the claims of Ross Young, the CEO and analyst at Display Supply Chain Consultants. Last week, Young brought attention to Apple’s supposed plans to develop a device with a large, folding screen, and Gurman has added some more depth to this rumor. Gurman claims the device will feature a dual-screen display that omits a physical keyboard and trackpad — navigating and typing on the device will be entirely touchscreen-based. In terms of a potential release date, Gurman cites Young’s predictio...

Facebook has blocked access to a number of accounts in Ukraine, some of which are associated with Russian state-backed media outlets. It’s also reviewing other governments’ requests to restrict access to these accounts in their countries. We have been in contact with the Government of Ukraine, and at their request we have also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations. — Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) February 27, 2022 “We have been in contact with the Government of Ukraine, and at their request we have also restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations,” Nick Clegg, the vice president of global affairs at Meta, said in a thread on Twitter. “We are al...

NASA may be launching its Artemis I mission in late May. The space agency was originally aiming for an April takeoff but has since pushed back the mission’s timeline. The trip is part of NASA’s larger Artemis program, which has the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2025. Artemis I is an uncrewed test flight for the purpose of certifying that the Orion spacecraft is fit for crewed flights. The mission is set to last 25 days, with six of those spent in a retrograde orbit around the Moon. “April’s not a possibility,” Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, said in a briefing on Thursday, per CNET. “We’re still evaluating the tail end of May.” NASA went on to share that testing for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is now complete. The...

TCL, the Chinese manufacturer best known for its lineup of smart TVs, has announced five new affordable Android smartphones as part of its 30 Series. Unlike the TCL 30 XE 5G and TCL 30 V 5G announced earlier this year for the US market, the five new handsets are focused on Europe, and their starting prices range from €139 to €249. At the top of the new lineup is the TCL 30 5G, the only one of the new phones to support 5G. It’s got a 6.7-inch 1080p OLED display with a 13-megapixel selfie camera in a small teardrop notch, and around back it has a trio of cameras including a 50-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. It’s powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset with a 5,010mAh battery, and will be priced starting at €249 when it goes on sale in E...

This report from The Washington Post details how a team of researchers used a combination of Google Maps and radar imagery to track the movement of Russian troops, tipping them off to an invasion of Ukraine before the general public got word of the situation. According @googlemaps, there is a “traffic jam” at 3:15 in the morning on the road from Belgorod, Russia to the Ukrainian border. It starts *exactly* where we saw a Russian formation of armor and IFV/APCs show up yesterday.Someone’s on the move. pic.twitter.com/BYyc5YZsWL — Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) February 24, 2022 When Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies, noticed particularly bad traffic at 3:15AM near the Ukrainian border, he knew it wasn’t your ...

Samsung has announced two updates to its premium Galaxy Book line: the Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The devices will start at $1,049.99 and $1,249.99 respectively; they hit shelves on April 1st with preorders beginning on March 18th. A budget-oriented Galaxy Book 2 360, a convertible version of the regular Galaxy Book, will also ship April 1st with a starting price of $899.99. Both Pro models come in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch sizes, while the regular Book 2 360 is only a 13.3. As you can probably guess from the names, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is a clamshell while the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 convertible with a touchscreen and S Pen support. Here’s the Galaxy Book 2 Pro’s keyboard, which is backlit and has a nice smooth texture. These devices look and feel pretty similar...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Twitter that the European Union will ban Russian state-run media outlets from airing in the EU, as well as bar Russian aircraft from flying in EU airspace. Second, we will ban the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU. The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries,will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war. We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe. pic.twitter.com/7RcPEn6E14 — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022 Von der Leyen states that RT and Sputnik — both state-backed Russian networks — along with their subsidies “will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war.” She also says the Commission is working on tool...

Killing Eve, a show about a stylish assassin hunted by a frumpy MI6 agent, made it easy to fall a little in love with a serial killer. Vibrant clothes, a bumping soundtrack, and a coy smile from Villanelle made it hard not to smile even as she graphically murdered her way across Europe, taking glib satisfaction in the creativtity of her kills. As much fun as this was, it was also a problem, as by Killing Eve’s third season, the show had excessively minimized the titular character’s screen time to wallow in the winsome depravity of its villain. Now in season 4 Eve, played by Sandra Oh, is once again the focus of the show, and its so much better for it. What made Killing Eve’s first season so compelling was how focused it was on Eve (Sandra Oh). Villanelle (Jodie Comer) was like butter, wond...

Surprise! There are even more Pokémon games on the way. At a livestreamed event on Sunday morning, the Pokémon Company teased two new titles: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The games are expected to launch on the Nintendo Switch in late 2022, and the brief teaser looked reminiscent of 2019’s Pokémon Sword and Shield. Unfortunately, there’s little else in the way of detail right now. The other big news is that Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which just launched earlier this year, is getting a software update called “daybreak.” It’ll be available for free later today, and includes a new quest to investigate. The Pokémon Company also announced that it’s creating an animated series that’s set in the Hisui region from the game, which is expected to debut later this year. Also part of the announcement was...

Meta has reportedly dissolved a team of 300 employees working on the development of a new operating system for its virtual and augmented reality devices. According to new reports, the tech giant has disbanded the team behind the long-rumored XROS, instead moving over to other neighboring teams to help out on other related tech, including Meta’s AR glasses, its Quest headsets, and various features such as eye and hand tracking as well as machine perception. The change in direction probably doesn’t come as a surprise to those following Meta’s progress. Back in January, rumors surfaced suggesting that the company had ceased almost all work on the XROS, shifting its focus to improving the Quest 2’s Android-based VROS instead. At the time, Meta denied the reports, but following the news of its ...