Technology

Google has announced several new features for its Nest thermostats centered around helping the smart home become a bigger partner in the battle against climate change. These features are wrapped up in a new service called Nest Renew. The service will use intelligent automation to allow the thermostats to communicate with energy providers and make it easier for Nest users to know when there is cleaner and / or cheaper energy on their local power grid. The device will then automatically adjust to use that energy at optimal times without you having to do a thing. Nest Renew is the “First program of its kind,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and it is entirely opt-in. It includes five main features: Energy Shift — automatic shifting of heating and cooling to times when energy is cheaper and / o...

Messaging app Telegram gained a “record” 70 million new users on Monday, as Facebook experienced a nearly six-hour long outage across its services, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced. Encrypted messaging app Signal also reported gaining “millions” of new users on the same day. Both apps compete mainly with Facebook’s WhatsApp, although the outage also took down Facebook Messenger, and left users unable to send messages on Instagram. 70 million new users is an increase of over 10 percent compared to the 500 million monthly active users Telegram had as of January this year, the last time it reported a similar surge in new signups. Coincidentally, this last increase in users was also helped by problems at Facebook. In January, WhatsApp mishandled the introduction of a new privacy policy, lead...

After years of focusing on phones, HMD is releasing its first Android tablet under the Nokia brand name — something we haven’t seen since the real Nokia launched the N1 Android tablet back in 2014. The T20 is a 10.4-inch tablet designed to be used for working and studying from home. Pricing starts at $249.99 in the US where it will be available from November 17th, while in the UK the tablet will be available from today starting at £179.99 for the Wi-Fi version, or £199.99 for the LTE model. As you might expect from its affordable price point, the Nokia T20 is not a powerhouse of an Android tablet. It’s powered by a modest Unisoc Tiger T610 processor, and in the US and UK comes with 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of expandable storage. HMD reckons its 8,200mAh battery is good for 15 hours of web surf...

Polar is making a number of updates to its family of sport watches today. This includes the launch of the Polar Grit X Pro for outdoor multisport enthusiasts, alongside feature and design tweaks to the company’s “premium” Vantage V2 multisport watch and Polar Unite fitness watch. The Grit X Pro is an update to the Grit X launched last year. For an extra $70/€70, the $499.90/€499.90 Pro model adds a tougher sapphire lens and a durable yet supple FKM watch band. Otherwise, you’re pretty much looking at the same specs as last year: GPS/A-GPS, waterproof to 100 meters, turn-by-turn navigation when linked with Komoot, and what’s considered to be one of the most accurate heart rate sensors available on any watch. Grit X watches will last for up to 40 hours of battery life in full GPS and heart-r...

Amazon has added a valuable new feature to Alexa: you can now opt to have more time to finish your statement or question before Alexa responds to you. The feature could be useful if you wish you had a bit longer before Alexa replied to what you were saying, but it’s also a useful accessibility feature, particularly for people with speech impediments who may need more time to say something. If you want to enable this, you can turn it on in the Alexa app. The company has also added the ability for Android users to type requests in the Alexa app. This feature might be handy for when you don’t want to use your voice to ask Alexa a question, but it too could be a boon for accessibility. This feature, which was first added to the iOS version of the Alexa app in December 2020, is in public previe...

Apple today released a firmware update for its AirPods Pro and AirPods Max that introduces new options for finding the pricey products if you happen to misplace them. These capabilities were first promised for iOS 15 but didn’t quite make the launch; thankfully, it didn’t take Apple much longer after that to roll them out. Both 9to5Mac and MacRumors reported on today’s release. Using Apple’s Find My app, it was already possible to view the location where your AirPods were last paired with your iPhone or play a sound to make them easier to dig out of the couch cushions. But this new update greatly expands that functionality. Now you can activate Lost Mode and have millions of other iPhones, iPads, and Macs aid in the search should your AirPods Pro or AirPods Max go missing. If they come wit...

Twitter announced Tuesday that it’s dropping a feature from its live broadcasts tool, but the company is removing it in service of making your video broadcast quality better. What’s gone? Now, you aren’t able to invite guests to join you in a broadcast via audio ahead of going live. That feature was added in March 2020. Now, when you go live, your broadcast will just feature you and whoever else happens to be in the frame, though people can still post in the chat or tap to add a heart to interact with you while you’re broadcasting. As of today we’re removing the option to invite guests when you go live, so we can improve your video broadcast quality. Your viewers can still interact with you through chat and hearts. https://t.co/bymoq55VIy — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 5, 2021...

Canon has announced what’s easily the oddest glass yet for its EOS R mirrorless camera system: a dual 5.2mm f/2.8 fisheye. The fisheye lenses are 60mm apart and are designed for creating 3D VR images and video content; Canon calls out the Oculus Quest 2 as a potential hardware destination and says this is “the world’s first digital interchangeable lens that can capture stereoscopic 3D 180° VR imagery to a single image sensor.” The lens can be used to shoot up to 8K footage on the EOS R5, which appears to be the only camera it’ll work with. Canon is releasing a 1.5.0 firmware update for the R5 as well as a Premiere Pro plug-in and a standalone file conversion app called EOS VR Utility. Canon calls this combination the EOS VR System and will be making the software available on a subscription...

Following a temporary Facebook systems outage, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen, who recently leaked tens of thousands of pages of Facebook’s internal documents and appeared on 60 Minutes, testified before the Senate on Tuesday. “I believe what I did was right and necessary for the common good, but I know Facebook has infinite resources, which it could use to destroy me,” Haugen said ahead of her testimony. Frances Haugen worked at several big tech companies including Google, Pinterest and Yelp before her two-year stint at Facebook. “Working at four major tech companies that operate different types of social networks, I have been able to compare and contrast how each company approaches and deals with different challenges,” she said in her prepared testimony. She specializes i...

I regret to inform you that Intel has again made a terrible ad to showcase how absolutely not mad it is about Apple switching to its own processors. This one, called “Breaking the Spell,” follows a classic format — people are put in a room and told about features supposedly coming to MacBooks. Then, after they get all excited, the twist! They were actually being told about Windows computers, powered (of course) by Intel. The folks in the ad (which the fine print says are “real people paid for their time and opinions”) are speechless and then clamor to buy or take the laptops, presumably now that they’ve awoken to the possibilities of the PC. It’s an ad format that’s never been great, but the real kicker is that it makes absolutely no sense here — in the intro, Intel claims it’s showing off...

Late Monday night, Google filed for a court order to produce documents from longtime Google critic Luther Lowe, as part of its ongoing federal antitrust case, US vs. Google. The motion arises from an apparent breakdown in negotiations between Google and Lowe’s employer, Yelp. Yelp has agreed to document production from a number of its employees, but has resisted on Lowe in particular, leaving Google to ask the court for a subpoena that would compel email archives and other documents. “Yelp cannot deny Google the documents it needs to defend itself” “Yelp’s allegations against Google conceived and advanced by Mr. Lowe, are a central part of the government’s case,” the filing reads. “Now that the very governmental action Yelp advocated for in its communications is underway, Yelp cannot deny ...