Technology

During the launch of its latest batch of internet-beaming Starlink satellites, SpaceX revealed key details about the planned constellation’s abilities, claiming that the satellites have shown “super low latency and download speeds greater than 100 mbps.” The speeds are still not as fast as what SpaceX originally claimed for the constellation, but they are slightly faster than what early user testing has shown. Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious plan to launch nearly 12,000 satellites into low orbits around Earth in order to provide broadband coverage to the ground below. Users of the system are meant to tap into the constellation using personal antennas on the ground, what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has described as looking like a “UFO on a stick.” Early photos of the device have been revealed in th...

Amazon on Thursday announced Alexa for Residential, a new program designed to make it easier for landlords and property managers to add Alexa devices to rental units to create smart apartments (smarpartments? smartments?). The company is billing it as a service “that makes having an Alexa-enabled home accessible for anyone, regardless of whether they rent or own their home.” Property managers can provide “custom voice experiences for their residents,” and no account or device setup is required. You don’t even need an Amazon account. But if you do have one, you can “easily link it to access the full range of Alexa features, including the ability to call friends and family” and link to your music playlists. “It will all just work,” the company says, listing off a slew of convenient-sounding ...

About to buy the latest Samsung phone or save a bit of money on a Google Pixel 4A? Whether you plan to trade in your old Android phone for a discount on your new phone, sell it on eBay, give it away to a friend, or drop it off for recycling, you’re going to want to wipe it of all your data first by resetting it to factory conditions. Luckily, that’s pretty easy to do. Before you start, be aware that these instructions were originally meant for a Pixel 3 XL running Android 9, and were recently checked on an original Pixel running Android 10. But the process for most current Android phones should be pretty much the same. Needless to say, first make sure that all of your data is transferred to your new phone, backed up, or both. Once your old phone has reset, there’s no going back. Grid View ...

Apple will soon let developers offer discounted or free subscriptions via new offer codes, the company has announced. Developers will be able to distribute these one-time use codes physically or electronically, which Apple says could help them acquire new subscribers, retain existing ones, or “win back” lapsed customers. Apple says the feature is coming “later this year,” and will be available to customers using iOS 14 or iPadOS 14. App developers have previously been able to offer discounted pricing or introductory offers for subscriptions on Apple devices, but the new codes should give developers more granular control. Acquire new subscribers, retain existing ones, or “win back” lapsed customers According to a new section added to Apple’s developer documentation, developers will be able ...

Facebook will stop taking new political advertising in the United States in the seven days leading up to the election, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today as part of a series of steps the company is taking to protect against election interference. “The US elections are just two months away, and with COVID-19 affecting communities across the country, I’m concerned about the challenges people could face when voting,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post announcing the move. “I’m also worried that with our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalized, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country.” Candidates and political action committees will continue to be able to buy ads that have already received at least one impression by O...

As part of its IFA 2020 announcements, TCL is today launching a slew of new gadgets including a pair of tablets, new true wireless earbuds, and a smartwatch for seniors. The Android tablets are perhaps the most interesting products of the bunch, as the higher-end model features a 10.36-inch widescreen (2000×1200) display with slim bezels; it even comes with a stylus. The internal specs aren’t going to come anywhere close to something like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7, but the company is positioning the TCL 10 Tab Max as an excellent choice for watching videos or conducting video calls thanks to its dual far-field microphones. It’s set to ship in the fourth quarter for €299 (4G model) and €249 (Wi-Fi only). Image: TCL There’s also the TCL 10 Tab Mid for even less money, though you’ll have t...

I write about and review cutting edge tech products for a living, yet every time I pick up a new piece of hardware I always think about my toaster. Not because I’m obsessed with bread, but more that my toaster is designed for how humans actually use gadgets. I use my toaster every week, and it’s a constant reminder of how other products are often badly designed. Most toasters are pretty simple, you drop one, maybe two pieces of bread inside the top, pull a lever, and a few minutes later your toast comes flying out as if it just woke up from a dough-induced nightmare. The results can vary widely, from a perfectly golden slice to a visit from the fire department. My toaster is a little different. The designers have clearly thought about how humans actually want to toast bread, bagels, and cr...

Qualcomm is today announcing Adaptive Noise Cancellation for true wireless earbuds, which it calls “a new technology designed to deliver an improved user experience for earbuds with integrated ANC.” Adaptive Noise Cancellation will adjust sound performance in real time, according to the company, based on how the earbuds fit in a user’s ear. If the fit changes slightly, the Adaptive ANC will adapt to ensure consistent performance. Sound familiar? This is almost exactly what Apple does with the AirPods Pro, which continuously adjust the level of noise cancellation 200 times per second. And the “adaptive EQ” feature of AirPods Pro automatically tunes sound output based on the shape of your ear. Qualcomm is trying to reach par with Apple in terms of these features and says that Adaptive ANC ca...

Acer has announced the newest iteration of its Spin 7 lineup at IFA 2020, and there’s a twist: instead of the usual Intel processor, the new model will be the first laptop with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G chip. It’s also Acer’s first 5G laptop. From the outside, the new Spin 7 appears to be a modestly updated version of the current model, with slightly squared-off corners and gold accents. But the changes are more significant. The ARM-based Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 processor means that, in addition to supporting 5G (both mmWave and sub-6 GHz), Acer is also promising that it’ll offer “multi-day” battery life. Image: Acer Additionally, Acer is adding an active Wacom pen that offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and can dock into the side of the computer to recharge. The rest of the...

Qualcomm is expanding its 5G portfolio to its budget Snapdragon 4-series chipsets in 2021, which will bring the faster networking standard to the cheapest range of smartphones yet. Qualcomm has steadily been expanding the list of chipsets that it’s offered with 5G compatibility. In 2019, only the company’s flagship Snapdragon 8-series phones offered 5G support. (Even there, it was an optional addition only offered on a handful of phones.) This year has seen that lineup expand significantly, with the current Snapdragon 865 lineup requiring a separate 5G modem, along with cheaper options in the company’s 7-series and 6-series lineups like the Snapdragon 765 and Snapdragon 690. But adding 5G to the next wave of 4-series chipsets could be the most significant expansion yet since 4-series devic...

It’s been almost two years since Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8cx, its flagship ARM processor for Windows laptops, but at IFA 2020, the company is unveiling its successor: the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, which promises some incremental improvements over the original. Qualcomm wasn’t too forthcoming about what specific performance improvements the 8cx Gen 2 will offer over its predecessor beyond saying that it would provide “generational performance and efficiency gains.” However, Qualcomm is very interested in showing that the new 8cx Gen 2 chipset is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with Intel’s traditional systems. It claims that the 8cx Gen 2 offers significant performance gains over both a comparable 10th Gen Core i5 chip from Intel as well as Intel’s Lakefield chips (which are ...

There’s a good deal happening on Western Digital’s WD_Black SN750 NVMe M.2 drive with 500GB of storage. It usually floats around $80, but it’s $63 right now at Amazon, B&H Photo, and even at Western Digital’s online store. 500GB is admittedly not a lot of storage, but if you’re in a pinch for something fast and don’t require a bunch of extra space, this is worth checking out. It’s an M.2 2280 form factor drive, so make sure your PC’s motherboard is compatible. Alternatively, stuff it into a USB-C enclosure and make it into a fast portable drive. [embedded content] Another PC-related deal comes from Newegg (via The Inventory), where you can get Intel’s 9th Gen, eight-core Core i9-9900K processor (base clock of 3.6GHz and turbo clock of 5GHz) for $370 when you use the offer code GAMERDAY...