Technology

Today, Instagram announced that Reels can now be up to 60 seconds long. The limit, previously 15 second and then upgraded to 30 seconds, was changed at the suggestion of the Instagram community. Reels. up to 60 secs. starting today. pic.twitter.com/pKWIqtoXU2 — Instagram (@instagram) July 27, 2021 Instagram said the move was aimed at encouraging broader creativity and widening room for expression through its platform. In addition, the platform is introducing a captions sticker within Reels, which converts audio into text-based captions so Reels can be enjoyed without audio. Currently, the new feature is launching in a number of English-speaking countries with hopes to expand to additional countries and languages soon. Instagram recently announced plans to expand its video capabilities beyo...

Today, Facebook announced that it is temporarily halting all global sales of its Oculus Quest 2 due to skin irritation concerns, specifically contact dermatitis. The pause comes after multiple confirmed cases of skin irritation due to the headset’s foam faceplate. Earlier this year, several cases of skin irritation were reported that yielded varying reactions in users, from redness to swelling. At the time, Facebook conducted an investigation and determined that there were no contaminants or unexpected substances in its manufacturing process. Still, Facebook updated their foam covering hoping to resolve the issue. Since then, the number of reported cases has grown, forcing the tech giant to reevaluate the issue once again. To resolve the issue, Facebook is replacing the foam facial cover w...

In the largely saturated market of wireless earbuds, Carl Pei‘s Nothing has now brought a breath of fresh air with its uniquely designed Nothing ear (1), offering great audio performance at an accessible price. Setting itself apart from the crowd with a refreshing transparent construction paired with black and white detailed components, each earbud is driven by an 11.6mm driver produced in collaboration with Teenage Engineering to ensure balanced bass, mid and treble performance. Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity keeps your audio streaming clean and clear, while Active Noise Cancellation keeps unwanted distractions at bay. The earphones boast a playtime of 5.7 hours per single charge, and can run for up to 34 hours through its charging case, which itself supports ultra-fast and wireless Qi chargi...

Nokia brings back its 2002 best-selling 6310 model with a set of simple upgrades for the modern world. The 2021 Nokia 6310 has a 2.8-inch curved display, numerical keypad, rear 0.3-megapixel camera, FM Radio, and a 1,150mAh battery battery “that can go weeks between charges.” Opting out of modern applications, the phone is equipped with 8MB of RAM and 16MB of storage. In terms of user interface, the menu text is much larger and readable than before with a one-icon view function that can increase image and font sizes even further. The three-toned polycarbonate phones come in four different base colors: dark green, yellow, black, and light blue (India exclusive). The Nokia 6310 should release later this year and will retail at $69 USD. In other tech-related news, Dubai is creating artif...

The Federal Communications Commission told SpaceX and other companies on Monday that the billions in rural broadband subsidies it doled out last year can’t be used in already connected areas like “parking lots and well-served urban areas,” citing complaints. The commission, in an effort to “clean up” its subsidy auction program, offered the companies a chance to rescind their funding requests from areas that already have service. The companies that got the subsidies must do the work to determine they qualify for the money, wrote Michael Janson, director of the FCC’s Rural Broadband Task Force, in a letter addressed to SpaceX’s finance director David Finlay. Similar letters, first reported by Bloomberg, were sent to other recipients of the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $9.2...

Last week iOS 14.7 appeared, adding features including support for Apple’s magnetic battery pack. Unfortunately, the update also interrupted the “Unlock with iPhone” feature that Apple Watch wearers used for easy access to their wristwear. Now, another update is going out to fix that. However, even if you don’t have an Apple Watch, you should still install iOS 14.7.1 (and for Mac owners, macOS 11.5.1) as soon as you can, because security notes from Apple reveal that the two updates it pushed today fix flaws that are already being exploited in the wild. The memory corruption issues in Apple’s desktop and mobile operating systems have been assigned the same vulnerability ID and attributed to an anonymous researcher. IOMobileFrameBuffer Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models...

I recently re-watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It mostly held up — except for Lucasfilm’s attempt to bring Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia and Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin back to the big screen using CGI. That’s something that only bugged me the tiniest bit the first time I watched it. But Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic may now have the ability to make those movies a tad more futureproof, because it’s hired a YouTuber who specializes in deepfaking Star Wars and other big-budget movies, showing up their CGI de-aging techniques. Shamook is the one who “fixed” Luke Skywalker’s cameo in The Mandalorian to the tune of 1.9 million videos, and the improvements to Rogue One’s Tarkin are phenomenal: [embedded content] Peter Cushing was certainly thin in the role, but he no longer l...

Samsung’s follow-up to the excellent Odyssey G9 curved gaming monitor is nearly here: the 49-inch Odyssey Neo G9 will cost a staggering $2,499.99 when it goes on preorder starting Thursday, July 29th. That’s nearly $1,000 more than the original, but this isn’t just a simple bump. The new Neo G9 now has a Mini LED backlit panel that can hit 2,000 nits of brightness, with full-array local dimming for the kind of deeper blacks and convincing HDR that the original didn’t quite manage. intense brightness, deep color, enveloping curve I recently had the enviable opportunity to test out the Odyssey Neo G9 with Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077, and the thing that stood out to me the most — aside from practically being enveloped in its 1000R curve — was the intense brightness of the display. Whether...

New leaks suggest Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 will both have IPX8 water resistance, which would put them more on par with Samsung’s non-folding phones. The information was posted earlier by Max Weinbach and now corroborated by Evan Blass, who tweeted the rating along with what appears to be an image from Samsung showing the phones getting splashed. The water resistance tidbit adds to the pile of leaks and images that we’ve seen leading up to Samsung’s August 11th Unpacked event, where the phones are expected to be announced. As SlashGear points out, the rumored IPX8 rating for the phones doesn’t cover dust resistance, something that’s been a bit of a concern since Samsung started making folding phones. (This explainer does a good job of going over how IP ratings work.) ...

Tesla is weathering the global chip shortage by rewriting its vehicle software to support alternative chips, CEO Elon Musk said during an earnings call Monday. The shortage has upended the auto industry at a time of historic demand for new cars, leading to factory shutdowns, longer wait times, and higher prices. “We were able to substitute alternative chips, and then write the firmware in a matter of weeks,” Musk said. “It’s not just a matter of swapping out a chip; you also have to rewrite the software.” This approach has helped Tesla maintain high levels of production, delivering over 200,000 vehicles to customers over the course of the last three months, the company said. Tesla generated $11.9 billion in revenue in the quarter, including $1.1 billion in profit. Tesla isn’t alone in feel...

Samsung isn’t looking to have many surprises at its August 11th Unpacked event. Leaks have already revealed the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, a couple of new Galaxy smartwatches, and new Galaxy Buds 2. Now, Samsung mobile president TM Roh is continuing a recent tradition of publishing a pre-event blog post that confirms some news, sets expectations, and hints at some additional details. Roh promises improved durability for folding screens, stylus support, and that Samsung will not release a new Note phone this time around. Although the Unpacked invitation pictured above didn’t leave much to the imagination, Roh simply comes out and says there will be new foldables this year: “Our third generation of foldable devices will open up amazing new multitasking capabilities and enhanced durabi...

HMD Global’s newest Nokia device is the XR20, a rugged phone with 5G connectivity that goes on sale in late August for $549. In addition to robust physical protection, the XR20 is well supported on the software side — a big focus for Nokia’s latest devices — as it ships with Android 11 and comes with three years of OS upgrades alongside four years of monthly security updates. Even considering that the first of those updates, Android 12, is due for release very soon, it’s a policy that’s far stronger than that of most midrange Android devices. The XR20 has a long list of rugged specs. It’s IP68 rated and can withstand submersion in 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) of water for up to an hour. It also meets other criteria of the MIL-STD 810H standard, like the ability to withstand temperatures from 131°...