Technology

Ford and Walmart are teaming to launch a robo-delivery service in three US cities, using autonomous test vehicles equipped with sensors and software developed by Argo AI. Customers who live in Miami, Austin, and Washington, DC, who order items from Walmart online and live within a specific geographic area may be eligible to have their items delivered by a Ford/Argo vehicle. The companies plan on kicking off “integration testing” for the delivery service this year, with plans to expand the geographic areas over time. Autonomous delivery is seen as a potentially lucrative market, with online grocery shopping growing fivefold over the next decade and American consumers spending upward of $100 billion on food-at-home items by 2025, according to a recent report. Ford has been experimenting with...

LG has announced a new lineup of Direct View LED (DVLED) home cinema displays, which range in size from a huge 108-inch HD screen to an obscene 325-inch 8K panel that costs an eye-watering $1.7 million, according to CNET, and weighs in at over 2,000 pounds. The company has previously reserved these displays for commercial buyers, but now it’ll sell them to anyone with pockets deep enough. Obviously, these screen sizes mean the home theater displays aren’t going to fit in a lot of houses, a limitation that’s likely to have a lot to do with the display technology they’re using. Rather than using an LCD layer to create pixels, and lighting it with separate LEDs, these displays just use LEDs (with some using smaller MicroLEDs, according to CNET), similar to what we’ve seen from Samsung’s The W...

Cameras continue to be one of the biggest differentiators in smartphones, and Apple’s iPhone lineup is no different. Apple says the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini have the company’s “most advanced dual-camera system ever,” while the 13 Pro and Pro Max have “our three most powerful cameras ever.” Which you’d hope for, of course. But this year, Apple really does appear to be making a big push with its cameras, particularly with the Pro models. As ever, the question will be what Apple is able to wring out of its hardware with image processing and software. The iPhone 13 lineup represents the first time Apple has increased the primary camera’s sensor size across the board since the iPhone XS and XR in 2018, though last year’s 12 Pro Max had a 47 percent bigger sensor than the 12 and 12 Pro. Sensor size...

Looking to challenge the world of aesthetic computing, Singaporean custom PC specialist, Aftershock PC, has teamed up with server solution name, GIGABYTE USA, to create the “world’s first bubble tea” gaming PC. The commissioned exotic builds on the user’s love of bubble with a fully customized interior marked by a milky taro bubble tea-like coolant and replica bobas. The unique cooling setup sees the faux bobas swirl around in the reservoir like they would at the bottom of a traditional cup. Finishing up the look is a glow-in-the-dark corgi drinking bubble tea motif to celebrate the owner’s beloved pet. Aside from its striking look, the custom pc is loaded with powerful components, courtesy of AORUS ANZ. Take a look at Aftershock PC’s “world’s first bubble tea” gaming PC above and catch a ...

LG heads into the world of super-luxury residential homes with the release of its Direct-View LED technology for consumer use. The LG DVLED Extreme Home Cinema is different from typical LED televisions where they are actually LCD TVs with LED backlighting. A Direct View LED display creates the images directly by the LED for higher contrast, brightness, color gamut, and better viewing angles. Ranging from two million to 33 million diodes, depending on resolution, this 8K wall-sized television can be configured in 16:9 aspect sizes from 81-inches to 325-inches diagonal, and even in wall-filling 32:9 UltraStretch layouts. “This truly is the supercar of home display technologies, offering hand-constructed quality and performance that appeals to those with luxury lifestyles who want something t...

What makes a gamer? I’ll tell you. It’s having the right attitude, the skills to dominate, and of course, the right tech. You won’t get ahead without the best, well, you name it. Razer has already produced gaming monitors, headsets, mice, keyboards, toasters, Chroma-enabled mug holders, chairs, controllers, plush animals, clothing, laptops, desktops, headphones, glasses that are also headphones, and truthfully, a lot more. If you’re still not getting the results you’ve worked for? Don’t worry, the company somehow still isn’t at a loss as to what to put out next to maximize your potential. Pros know that this is elite formRazer The latest essential gamer gear is hardcore thimbles that cost $9.99, with two included with each purchase. They’re called “Gaming Finger Sleeves” and Razer says the...

As a slew of new iPhones come in, several models go out. This year, Apple pulled the plug on a couple of familiar standbys to make room for the iPhone 13, as MacRumors points out. The iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have disappeared from Apple’s online store outside of refurb models. This is customary for Pro models when the lineup is refreshed, even though they’ve been shipping for less than a year. If you absolutely must spend more than $1,000 on a brand-new iPhone that isn’t the iPhone 13 (or you love that dark blue colorway), your options today are carriers and third-party retail shops. While the devices are likely to appear as cut-rate options at places like Woot from time to time, Apple’s retail option cuts out the option of buying last year’s high-end model for a little less as o...

Zoom has unveiled a whole series of updates it has been working on for the popular video calling app over at its upcoming event Zoomtopia 2021. One of the highlights of the announcements is Zoom’s arrival to the Facebook VR platform. Coming early next year, the app will be accessible through Facebook’s Horizon Workrooms, which provides virtual conference rooms for people to host meetings in. Users will soon be able to access Zoom Whiteboard as well, giving them greater functionality and flexibility during conference calls. The whiteboard can be displayed on your virtual desk or a wall for everyone in the room to see and use, even by those who are using a computer instead of VR headset. In addition to joining Facebook VR, Zoom Whiteboard will also now be offered as a standalone service outs...

Tactical flashlight expert Nitecore has given its P10 series a welcome update, now coming in the form of a compact P10i model that nonetheless packs plenty of punch. Despite weighing just 84 grams and measuring shorter than six inches long, the little gadget packs 1,800 lumens and 21,100 candelas, all paired with a new cooling system to keep the flashlight brighter for longer. A throw of 290 meters gives the beam itself plenty of reach and distance, while a 50-hour maximum battery life provides enough usage time for prolonged outdoor expeditions or camping trips. Its 4,000mAh battery can also be charged via USB-C to give you added convenience when topping up from other portable devices such as a power bank. As you’d expect, the flashlight is also IP68 rated to ensure it won’t suffer from w...

The Apple Watch Series 7 was one of the many announcements made during Apple’s “California Streaming” event, sharing the stage alongside the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, a new iPad Mini with USB-C charging, and more. The watch comes in new 41mm and 45mm case sizing, moving away from the 40mm and 44mm sizing that has been the standard for the last few generations of Apple Watch. As expected, Apple updated its online inventory of Watch bands accordingly for the new sizes. But many of them no longer list options for the 38, 40, 42, and 44mm sizing options for all of the bands. While it might appear at first that Apple has unceremoniously eradicated support for all previous models, don’t worry, it didn’t do that. However, the company did make it slightly more confusing to quickly find the accessory m...

Apple introduced an updated version of its MagSafe leather wallet today with new colors and support for an additional feature: tracking in the Find My app. Apple’s location tracking service recently expanded with the addition of AirTags, and now the company is apparently working some version of the same functionality into its more low-tech accessories. That might seem like the continuous tracking AirTags offers, but Apple’s description points to something simpler. The company writes that the wallet “supports Find My, so you can be notified of your wallet’s last known location if it gets separated from your phone.” That’s helpful, but possibly not useful if someone moves your wallet after it’s separated. It seems like MagSafe is the key Apple isn’t entirely clear why this is the case on its...