Technology

AT&T’s new 5G Plus expansion gives T-Mobile the perfect “I told you so” moment. AT&T currently offers two “flavors” of 5G: 5G Plus over the high-band mmWave spectrum and regular 5G, which is comparable to 4G LTE. Now, a blog post details AT&T’s plan to roll the mid-band spectrum it owns into 5G Plus, conflating its fastest but hard-to-find 5G with a new variant that has a better chance of both range and speed — the kind of 5G that T-Mobile has been focused on from the beginning. Former T-Mobile CEO John Legere slammed AT&T for not having a mid-band spectrum in 2019, stating that 5G needs a low-band, mid-band, and high-band spectrum to work efficiently. This is because that high-band mmWave 5G offers the fastest speeds over shorter distances, making it best for highly concen...

Theranos said a lot of things to Lisa Peterson that made the company seem credible when she evaluated it on behalf of the crazy-wealthy DeVos family. One of the things that stood out as a reason to trust Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes? Its devices didn’t need FDA approval. That made it seem more credible that the machines worked, said Peterson, who works on investments for the DeVos clan (including former secretary of education Betsy DeVos), and who testified today during US v. Elizabeth Holmes. The DeVos’ approach to Theranos seemed to be more about shiny things and FOMO Okay, some background: it’s true that Theranos didn’t need FDA approval to start using its tests and devices. That’s because they were considered “lab-developed tests” — a category of tests developed and used within a sing...

Assuming you managed to order a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, then you should know that once the phone is in your possession, you’ll need a little extra time to get everything set up and working. That’s because, as a post on the Google support forums points out (via 9to5Google), there is a software update to install. The post indicates you’ll need it to get all of the features, although it’s unclear what would be missing if you simply started using the phone without it other than the November security update. According to Google, the build number is the same for both phones, and it should display SD1A.210817.036 or SD1A.210817.036.A8 for Verizon customers. If your phone arrives early, then the update might not available at first. According to our team, all the review units are running the same b...

Instagram is now allowing everyone to share links on their Instagram Stories, a feature that was previously limited to accounts that were either verified or had a certain number of followers. In its announcement, Instagram cited how it had witnessed how impactful link sharing could be when used to distribute educational resources about issues of social justice and mental well-being. Access to link sharing could also help grow small creators and businesses, who use the feature to showcase their products. “We made this decision based on feedback we heard from the community about how impactful it would be for accounts of all sizes to benefit from link sharing to engage with their followers,” the company said. To use the newly-expanded features, users simply add the link sticker — located in t...

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,...