Technology

Pikmin Bloom, the next game from Pokémon Go creator Niantic, is starting its global rollout today. The developer says that the app — which is billed as a joint project with Nintendo — “will be available on the App Store and Google Play over the coming days.” The rollout will start with Australia and Singapore before gradually hitting the rest of the world. The new Pikmin was first announced in March as part of a new collaboration between Niantic and Nintendo. Like Pokémon Go, the game is designed to get people outdoors and walking. In Pikmin Bloom, players can collect the titular plant creatures by gathering and planting seeds; in order for them to grow, you have to walk a certain distance, sort of like hatching an egg in Pokémon Go. Players can feed their pikmin to make them bloom and the...

There’s something strangely satisfying about leaving a trail of colorful flowers in your wake as you explore a neighborhood. It’s also one of the main hooks of Pikmin Bloom, the next release from the creator of Pokémon Go, and another app designed to get you moving in the real world. I’ve been able to play the game for the past few days, and while it’s less of a game than Pokémon Go, it definitely adds some magic and fun to a daily walk. Pikmin Bloom is starting its gradual rollout today, and it’s part of a new partnership between Nintendo and Niantic. The game is billed as a collaboration between Nintendo and Niantic’s Tokyo studio, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto even appears in the launch trailer. Pikmin isn’t necessarily the most obvious choice to kick off the partnership, as it’s o...

Google announced that WhatsApp’s chat history migration feature to bring your messages from iPhones to Android is now available on “all Pixel phones” and that it’ll “become available on new smartphones that launch with Android 12.” The feature was already available for Samsung phones but will make the experience of switching from iOS to Android easier, as you won’t have to give up your messaging history. The process should be relatively simple, as long as you’ve got WhatsApp up to date on both your iPhone and Android phone, and you’ve got a USB-C to Lightning cable handy. Google says that while setting up your Android phone, you’ll be prompted to scan a QR code with your iPhone, which will let you start the transfer process. A wired connection and QR code scan are all that’s required to st...

Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service is still coming up with new ways to attract gamers, and it’s finally trying one that we’ve suggested for years: free time-limited trials of entire games, so you can see whether it’s for you. As 9to5Google reports, you can now hop on over to Stadia, sign in with your Google account, and be playing a 30-minute free trial of Hello Engineer just by following this link and scrolling down to the “Free trial” button you see below. Google also has this dedicated webpage for other free trials that it might offer in the future, though it only appears to include Hello Engineer for now. Google previously tried some limited demos. Honestly, it’s still not as seamless as it could be. You still do have to sign in with that Google account (even if you’re already signed...

Apple hit Intel hard with its first M1 chips, offering a rare step-change improvement in performance with its 2020 MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Less than a year later, it’s already starting to compete with the best GPUs from AMD and Nvidia as well. The new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max offer a first glimpse at how well Apple’s M1 chips can scale to provide raw performance that rivals the discrete graphics cards we typically find inside Windows-powered laptops. Nvidia has been trying to woo many of Apple’s professional and creative customers with its Studio laptops, but Apple has not only managed to fix the mistakes it made with its MacBook port selection and keyboard, but it’s also scaled up its M1 chips to meet the performance expectations of 14- and 16-inch laptops, too. Th...

Google has done it again — raking in more money than ever before for the second quarter in a row as the COVID-19 pandemic continues on. Alphabet’s Q3 2021 earnings show an all-time record revenue of $65.1 billion and record profits for the fifth quarter in a row at $18.9 billion. As we mentioned last quarter, the growth we’re seeing in 2021 is unusually large: a huge leap over 2020. Google’s revenue in Q3 2021: $65.1 billion2020: $46.2 billion2019: $40.5 billion2018: $33.7 billion2017: $27.8 billion2016: $22.5 billion2015: $18.7 billion2014: $16.5 billion2013: $13.8 billion2012: $13.3 billion2011: $9.7 billion2010: $7.3 billion2009: $5.9 billion — Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 26, 2021 Revenue increased 41 percent year over year; profits increased nearly 69 percent. Proportionally,...

Microsoft posted the first quarter of its 2022 financial results today, reporting revenue of $45.3 billion and a net income of $20.5 billion (GAAP). Revenue is up 22 percent, and net income has increased by 48 percent. Microsoft has seen strong revenue performance in its cloud, server, and Office businesses this quarter. Microsoft might have just launched Windows 11 earlier this month, but in the months ahead of this new version of Windows, PC sales have started to decline in the US due to supply issues. That doesn’t seem to have impacted Microsoft’s Windows revenues, though. Windows OEM revenue has increased by 10 percent this quarter, despite what Microsoft calls “continued PC demand impacted by supply chain constraints.” Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Studio.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The ...

Snap, TikTok, and YouTube set out with one important goal for Tuesday’s Senate hearing on child safety: to convince lawmakers that they are nothing like Facebook. While lawmakers were encouraged by the companies’ transparency, their humble approach hasn’t dissuaded lawmakers from pursuing new legislation. While YouTube’s parent company Google has testified before, it was the first time representatives from Snap and TikTok testified before Congress, and they came prepared to differentiate themselves from the social media giant at the center of yet another series of scandals. It was Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s leaks that led senators to pursue these hearings. The Facebook Papers loomed over the event, reinforcing Snap and TikTok’s desire to set themselves apart and promising Cong...

A US Senate committee says manufacturer Seagate likely violated government sanctions by shipping hard drives to Chinese manufacturer Huawei. The Republican minority staff of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released a report alleging Seagate ignored August 2020 restrictions on shipping semiconductor components to Huawei — a category the report alleges “likely includes hard disk drives.” The report orders Seagate to stop shipments to Huawei and urges the US Commerce Department to “prioritize” enforcement of the sanctions, which the Trump administration implemented after claiming Huawei posed a national security threat. Seagate said in 2020 that the sanctions shouldn’t disrupt its shipments Huawei has used Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba hard drives for its...

The infamous iPod Sock is getting a successor of sorts from accessory company Native Union, in the form of the “AirPods Beanies” — a cozy knit case where you can put your AirPods’ existing case for an added layer of protection. For those of you who are a bit lost right now, a quick piece of history. Of all the products that Apple has made over the years, the iPod Sock definitely is one of them: a set of six colorful, two-tone knit sleeves that were designed to fit Apple’s various iPods for both style and protection. A bizarre piece of Apple’s history on par with the recent $20 screen cleaning cloth, the iPod Socks sold for the rather expensive (for socks) price of $29 for a pack of six. The original iPod Socks.Image: Apple But thanks to their relatively universal size (because, again, they...

The Matter smart home train is picking up steam. Following Google’s commitment to the new standard at its developer conference last week and Apple’s addition of Matter support in iOS 15 at WWDC, Samsung is now following suit. The company announced a complete adoption of Matter across ​Samsung’s Galaxy devices, televisions, Family Hub appliances, and SmartThings hubs at SDC21, its virtual developer conference being held this week. A founding member of the Matter group (formerly known as Project ChiP), Samsung also announced that it has joined the Thread Group Board of Directors, where it will sit alongside the likes of Apple, Google/Nest, Lutron, Qualcomm, and Silicon Labs to shape the future of the primary protocol that Matter devices will run on. Matter is a new connectivity standard crea...

Fully vaccinated international travelers will now be allowed to travel to the United States with proof of vaccination, the CDC announced on Monday. The order will go into effect on November 8th and applies to non-US citizens who are not immigrants, with an exemption for children under 18. The order will require fully vaccinated travelers with FDA-approved and World Health Organization emergency use listed vaccines to have a negative test taken three days before their travel date. Travelers who are not fully vaccinated, including US citizens and permanent residents, will now require a test within one day of their US travel date. This rule exempts children under two and accommodates people who have a documented recovery from COVID-19 in the past 90 days. Since child vaccine availability vari...