Technology

ASUS may be releasing a successor to the ROG Flow X13, the convertible laptop that doubles as a gaming PC. Evan Blass (@evleaks), a reliable leaker, tweeted out a photo of the ROG Flow Z13 — at a glance, it looks fairly similar to the new Microsoft Surface Pro 8. If the leaked ROG Flow Z13 is anything like the X13, we already know how it may perform. The X13, a convertible laptop, can be connected to ASUS’ external graphics card (eGPU) called the XG Mobile, which we found to boost the lightweight convertible’s performance. The eGPU also serves as a USB dock with a number of ports, transforming the 13-inch convertible into a full-blown gaming rig. It looks like the ROG Flow Z13 can be hooked up to an eGPU in the same way, so Microsoft should probably be worried. The ROG Flow X13 just came o...

An investigation by The Financial Times found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube lost around $9.85 billion in revenue following Apple’s changes to its privacy practices. Last year, Apple announced the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy that requires apps to ask permission to track users’ data. The policy went into effect in April, barring apps from tracking users if they opt out. Facebook notably criticized the move with a full-page newspaper ad, and thanks to the FT’s report, now we know why company leaders were so frustrated. According to the report, Facebook lost the most money “in absolute terms” when compared to other social platforms due to its massive size. Meanwhile, Snap “fared the worst as a percentage of its business” because its advertising is mainly tied to smar...

After an outage that began Thursday evening, Roblox appeared to be back online Sunday evening. The company said in a tweet at about 4PM ET Sunday that it was “incrementally bringing regions back online.” Quick update as we work to get things back to normal. We are incrementally bringing regions back online. — Roblox (@Roblox) October 31, 2021 The problems began October 28th around 7PM ET, when the platform first reported it was having issues, and said it was “working hard to get things back to normal.” Some speculated that the outage was caused by a cross-promotion with Chipotle that went live about a half hour before the problems began, but the company said the outage was “not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform.” Roblox confirmed in a statement to The Verg...

Google Home, the companion app for Google’s smart home products, is changing the way users interact with photos on the app and on Nest Hub devices. 9to5Google first noticed the changes, which include a revamped Photo Frame settings menu. Now, when you use Google Home to change the displayed album while your Nest Hub is idle, you’ll see a carousel-style UI that gives you the option to choose from curated groups of photos, categorized as “Select family & friends,” “Recent highlights,” and “Favorites,” 9to5Google reports. Scroll past that, and you’ll be able to see all the albums that you’ve created. A preview window appears at the bottom of the page, and you can swipe through the preview carousel to see how your pictures will look when displayed on your Nest Hub. 9to5Google also notes th...

I’m close to giving up on The Morning Show; the latest episode spends a lot of time building up to a twist that makes very little sense given the season so far. They only have three episodes left and a lot of plot to push forward. Luckily, Succession is getting good and juicy with the Roy siblings choosing sides, and I’m also getting caught up in Maid, mainly because of Margaret Qualley’s strong performance as Alex. So much to watch, so little time. We’re heavy into the sci-fi and fantasy realms in this week’s roundup, but there’s a little fashion and murder-mystery as well. [embedded content] The Wheel of Time We’ve seen a few glimpses of The Wheel of Time series based on the books by Robert Jordan, but this latest trailer shows us the beginning of the story, with Moiraine Damodred of the...

Oura made headlines a year ago when it was rumored that all NBA players would have to wear the health tracking device to complete the previously halted season. Although the initiative was ultimately nixed in the end, the health tracking ring is certainly one to look out for in the growing wearables industry. The Finnish brand has released the Oura Ring Generation 3 — a 24/7 heart monitoring device made with durable titanium and a non-allergenic PVD coating. More than just an aesthetic change, the ring provides a more accurate read on your health by measuring the signals in your fingers, as opposed to the wrist. From fitness, cycle, and sleep tracking, to period prediction and guided meditations, the ring promotes a healthy lifestyle while maintaining a timeless look and feel. Lighter than ...

A company called Throwboy is back with another Kickstarter for a collection of pillows shaped like classic Macs, following its 2018 line of Apple-inspired plushes. It’s fittingly called The Iconic Pillow Collection 2, and features pillows shaped like soft versions of Apple’s Lisa, iBook, and both the cheese grater and cube flavors of Power Mac. For Apple history buffs who want to spruce up their living or bedrooms, it may be a campaign worth investigating. In its original collection (which featured pillows shaped like the Finder icon, original Macintosh, and iPods), Throwboy tactfully didn’t mention specific computer names, and it refrained from doing so this time around as well. The Lisa-shaped pillow is called the 1983, the iMac G4-esque one is branded the 2002, and so on. On its Kicksta...

Apple has apparently pulled its 21.5-inch Intel-based iMac from shelves (via MacRumors). Its discontinuation doesn’t come as much of a surprise, now that Apple is transitioning from using Intel processors to its in-house M1 chip. The 21.5-inch iMac was still available after Apple’s October 18th Unleashed event — it didn’t appear to go missing until sometime this week, according to MacRumors. The $1,099 21.5-inch iMac, which came with a 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-Gen Intel Core i5 and an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, is no longer found on the list of available iMacs on Apple’s online store. A “Buy” button also doesn’t appear for the 21.5-inch iMac on Apple’s product comparison page. We reached out to Apple to confirm the changes, but didn’t immediately receive a response. However, the company con...

Chipotle is a pioneer of the fast assembly-line restaurant format, where you get in line and guide a human worker through the process to build your meal while you watch. It’s a foolproof system, or so I thought before I checked out this investigative story by MarketWatch revealing how Chipotle is handling the growth of online orders in a pandemic world. Once I read the accounts of various Chipotle employees interviewed in the MarketWatch article, I was stunned by what they really go through. One employee detailed the struggle with the onslaught of online orders: “People would just stare at us, angry,” he said. “Orders were coming in faster than they could be made. We would frequently see orders of 75, 80, 90 items within a 15-minute time span.” The idea that a comprehensive and option-fati...

Meta — formerly known as Facebook — has now acquired virtual reality fitness developer Supernatural. While financial details of the new deal have not been disclosed, the VR fitness subscription service will join Meta completely, with all staff members in the startup being offered roles in Meta. Supernatural’s CEO Chris Milk will also be joining, pointing out that the acquisition will give his firm “more resources to expand.” The company itself provides services similar to those of Peloton, using VR to provide training sessions to those at home. “Our larger hope is that we can bring in a whole new type of audience into virtual reality that might not have been interested in it for the use case it has been promoted for thus far,” explained Milk earlier last year. The new acquisition comes sho...

An inspired musician can use pretty much anything as an instrument, but this just-in-time for Halloween cover of the Ghostbusters theme song goes in an unexpected direction. Device Orchestra is dedicated to posting music videos recorded solely with the sounds of common household devices. It’s the work of a Finnish YouTuber who’s been creating gadget-powered covers since 2014 (via Wikitubia). This time, Device Orchestra busted out 14 gadgets for its composition — including electric toothbrushes adorned with googly eyes. One electric toothbrush with pipe cleaners for arms stands front and center, belting out the familiar chorus in a tone comparable to a musically-inclined bumblebee. It might be the star of the show, but it has plenty of backup. A line of receipt machines mimics the sound of ...