Technology

Power tool batteries are some of the densest lithium-ion packs lying around your house (or construction site), but they rarely play nice with the kind of chargers and batteries that top up your laptop, phone and PC. That might be about to change — Ryobi and DeWalt are testing the waters with USB-C powered battery options, and one of them looks seriously neat. It’s easy to argue that Ryobi has taken the idea the furthest; as Gizmodo reports today, it’s the first major manufacturer to stick a USB-C charging port on the battery itself, letting you use the same charger to top up your power tool as you’d use on a laptop. Image by Ryobi But these 4V 2Ah batteries look a little bit weaksauce to me — they’re not compatible with existing tools, nor are they remotely powerful enough for the 18-20V p...

Apple‘s upcoming iOS 15.4 update adds a roster of new emojis and enhanced Face ID capabilities, among other new features. Soon, iPhone users will be able to unlock their device using Face ID while wearing a mask, a highly-requested feature during the pandemic. Several new emojis have also been added, including heart hands, biting lip, pregnant person and pregnant man, hamsa and several others. In addition, users will have the ability to copy text from objects using the camera while in the Notes or Reminders apps. Other utilities are also in the works. Apple has yet to announce a release date for the update, though interested users can sign up for the iOS 15.4 public beta here. Apple unveiled its iOS 15 update in September, introducing several key new features to enhance the iPhone user exp...

Apple has made a regular trend of announcing record-breaking quarterly earnings, especially in the company’s fiscal Q1, which includes the holiday shopping season. And Q1 2022 has managed to top them all: Apple just reported the biggest revenue for any quarter in its history. Driven by sales of the iPhone 13 lineup and a continued rise of its services business, Apple posted $123.9 billion in revenue with earnings per share of $2.10, handily beating Wall Street expectations of $118.66 billion and $1.89, respectively. Apple recorded a profit of $34.6 billion — also a record. The iPhone enjoyed a supercharged sales quarter, no surprise given that it was a holiday period and the first full quarter of availability for the iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max. The iPhone unit took in $71.6...

HP has overhauled its Elite Dragonfly with some significant changes, some of which will likely be welcome in consumer and business circles alike, and some of which may be… controversial. We got a chance to try out a prototype of the new Elite Dragonfly G3, which isn’t performance-ready but gives us an idea of what the new chassis will look and feel like. Put this next to the various Elite Dragonfly models we’ve reviewed in the past, and you won’t have trouble telling the difference. The main thing you’ll notice is the display. The Dragonfly line is finally going the way of the Spectre x360 and adopted the 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s taller than a 16:9 panel, giving you more room to multitask with less scrolling, and also leaves extra space for a bigger touchpad. The panel on this unit is ...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a complaint against Amazon, alleging that the company illegally threatened, surveilled, and interrogated workers who were trying to start a union at its Staten Island, New York facilities. The company also reportedly hired a union avoidance consultant who told workers that the union organizers were “thugs,” according to Motherboard. Motherboard’s report, which cites the NLRB complaint, details other alleged incidents between Amazon and union organizers, including multiple times when security guards kept organizers from distributing pamphlets that discussed unions. Amazon will either have to settle this case or have it go to trial, and the NLRB is reportedly calling for it to implement training for managers, supervisors, security guards, ...

In the lead-up to AT&T and Verizon’s rollout of their upgraded 5G C-band equipment, it seemed like the sky was falling. For years, the Federal Aviation Administration and airline organizations had voiced concerns that the upgraded cellular tech could interfere with vital safety equipment on planes, while the FCC and carriers insisted it was safe, pointing to similar rollouts in dozens of other countries. Even after several delays, there were still last-minute deals being made between carriers and regulators, with airlines banding together to warn that the activation could cause a “catastrophic disruption” to air travel and shipping. Several international airlines canceled flights to certain US airports. But just a few days after the carriers switched on their equipment, United and Amer...

Meta has updated Messenger with optional end-to-end encrypted chats for more secure and private conversations on the platform. The company began testing end-to-end encryption for group chats last year among a small group of users. Now, the feature is accessible to all accounts and includes privacy for voice and video calls, too. Messenger has also rolled out several new updates to its service, including a new screenshot notification that will detect when a user screenshots a disappearing message. Additionally, Messenger has added GIFs, stickers and reactions for an enhanced user experience on the app. Further, users are now able to reply to specific messages within an end-to-end encrypted chat, either by holding down on the message or swiping to reply. Similarly, users can long press on a ...

Commercial space company SpaceX plans to launch a whopping 52 flights in 2022, a NASA safety panel revealed today during a meeting. If successful, it would be the most launches the company has ever conducted in a single year, with its previous record last year at 31 launches. The impressive figure was given during a virtual meeting of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, or ASAP, which gives guidance to the space agency on how to maintain safety within its biggest programs. “NASA and SpaceX will have to be watchful during 2022 that they’re not victims of their success,” Sandy Magnus, a former NASA astronaut and member of the panel, said during the meeting. “There’s an ambitious 52-launch manifest for SpaceX over the course of the year. And that’s an incredible pace.” “that’s an incredib...

Apple appears to be testing a feature that will let you use Face ID to unlock the phone even when wearing a mask. The first developer beta for iOS 15.4 has a screen that asks if you want to be able to use Face ID while wearing a mask, at the cost of reduced security, according to photos from Brandon Butch on Twitter and MacRumors. Unfortunately, the feature will only be available if you’ve got a newer device according to 9to5Mac. According to pictures of the screen, Apple says that “iPhone can recognize the unique features around the eye area to authenticate” but warns that Face ID is going to be more accurate if you have it set to not work with a mask. Not everyone will be able to take advantage of this particular feature, though. While one of my colleagues confirmed that it worked on his...

Comcast executives announced today that Peacock reached 24.5 million monthly active accounts in the US at the end of 2021, with more than 9 million of those being paid members. To continue growing that number, Peacock plans to double its content budget to around $3 billion in 2022 alone. This week’s figures were surprisingly transparent for a streamer that has recently held its subscriber data close to the chest — in the past, the company has declined to specify the number of its paid subscribers. Peacock’s monthly active accounts are up from the 20 million active the company last reported in July of 2021. Speaking during the earnings call for Peacock parent Comcast on Thursday, Comcast chief Brian Roberts said that the company also expects the 7 million “highly engaged” Peacock members wh...