Technology

Google Lens, the search giant’s powerful image recognition software, is becoming slightly less cumbersome to use within the Chrome browser on desktop. Currently, if you want to use Lens on an image on a website, the browser opens a page of results in a new tab. But in the future, the browser will instead show results in a panel to the right of a webpage. Only when you want to find an image’s source will Chrome open a new browser tab. The search giant’s image recognition software has long been available on mobile, where it’s accessible via Google’s apps on iOS or the native camera app on some Android phones. But last year, Google Lens came to desktop via the Chrome browser and can be accessed by right-clicking an image and then selecting “Search Image with Google Lens.” The new Lens sidebar...

Today’s deals kick off with some great prices on Logitech gaming and streaming gear from Amazon’s deal of the day, and just like monkey see, monkey do, Best Buy is following suit and matching many of those prices. The selection of discounted Logitech products ranges from mice and headsets to steering wheels and a webcam. There’s even a Blue Yeti USB microphone kit with a Compass desk mount for $143.99 (about $46 off compared to buying them separately) that’s ideal for podcasting and streaming — and because Logitech actually owns Blue. A lot of these deals are great, but let’s dive deeper into some of our favorites. One of our overall top choices for gaming headsets is the Logitech G435 Lightspeed wireless. It currently sits number one in our ranks for the best multiplatform wireless gaming...

Waze has finally introduced support for Apple Music on iPhones, allowing you to control your music through the navigation app’s built-in audio player. This should make it easier for you to pause, play, and switch between songs while following the directions to your destination. You’ll also get access to Apple Music’s wide selection of playlists directly through Waze, which means you shouldn’t have to open the Apple Music app at all. Apple Music joins a host of other audio streaming services that already connect with Waze. The app first rolled out support for Spotify in 2017 and later added Pandora, TuneIn, and Deezer. In addition to other popular music services like Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and iHeartRadio, Waze also supports a number of apps dedicated to podcasts, news, and audiobooks...

Microsoft is finally adding restore apps to the Microsoft Store on Windows 11. The software maker will soon start testing a new feature that allows you to restore apps onto a new Windows 11 PC. The existing Microsoft Store hasn’t offered an automatic way to restore apps, instead forcing Windows users to manually install apps from their library. “To make it easier for customers to transition to their new PCs quickly and seamlessly, we will soon test a new feature in the Windows Insider channel that helps customers automatically restore their apps, previously installed from the Microsoft Store, to their new Windows device,” explains Giorgio Sardo, general manager of the Microsoft Store. “This will also help developers retain their customers without having to remind customers to re-download t...

Microsoft’s yearly developer conference is kicking off Tuesday, May 24th and running through Thursday, May 26th. The conference, historically attended by IT professionals, engineers, and students, moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic and also became an entirely free event. Microsoft is continuing this trend in 2022 and keeping its sessions open to anyone interested in learning the latest on what the company is cooking up. So if you’re into checking out the latest Windows and Edge browser updates, understanding the difference between a product and a platform, and learning from other people that work heavily in Microsoft land, check out the links below! How to watch MS Build 2022 Keynote and Sessions If you want to attend any sessions, then register for free here. The keynote for Microso...

There’s a new hot trend in AI: text-to-image generators. Feed these programs any text you like and they’ll generate remarkably accurate pictures that match that description. They can match a range of styles, from oil paintings to CGI renders and even photographs, and — though it sounds cliched — in many ways the only limit is your imagination. To date, the leader in the field has been DALL-E, a program created by commercial AI lab OpenAI (and updated just back in April). Yesterday, though, Google announced its own take on the genre, Imagen, and it just unseated DALL-E in the quality of its output. The best way to understand the amazing capability of these models is to simply look over some of the images they can generate. There’s some generated by Imagen above, and even more below (you can...

HP’s newest budget laptop, the Pavilion x360 14, will be available this summer for a starting price of $599, the company has announced. The clamshell, higher-end Pavilion Plus 14 — HP’s thinnest ever Pavilion model at 0.65 inches — is another addition to the line, available now for a starting price of $799. The new x360 14 also has optional 5G support via Intel’s 5G Solution 5000. While we don’t know exactly how much the 5G-enabled model will cost, the $599 base price makes it likely that this will be one of the most affordable ways to get 5G on a laptop this year (many other 5G-enabled models cost well over $1,000). The Pavilion x360 14 will also be HP’s first consumer laptop to include a manual camera shutter — another feature uncommon at this price point. While hardware kill switches ap...

You can’t summarize the webcomic Mr. Boop better than its first panel, which emerged out of what felt like the raging id of the internet on February 28, 2020. “My wife Betty Boop is really hot,” says Alec, the strip’s spectacled, grinning protagonist, a cartoon avatar for actual writer and artist Alec Robbins. His wife, you see, is Betty Boop. She’s really hot. At first blush, Mr. Boop might not seem all that different from the webcomics that largely defined the genre’s boom a decade or so ago: imperfectly drawn panels, constant flirtation with copyright violation, and a horny, endlessly self-indulgent hero based directly on the author. But Robbins isn’t just channeling the tropes of a largely bygone era of fanfiction; he’s weaponizing them, delivering a note-perfect satire of a very speci...

Following months of rumors, Xiaomi has officially confirmed that it has signed a long-term deal with Leica, and is set to launch a co-developed flagship smartphone this July. Shortly after the announcement, rival Chinese technology corporation Huawei revealed that they parted ways with Leica on March 31, ending the duo’s seven-year partnership. In an era where tri and quad-camera phones are the norm, it’s safe to say that camera specs and image quality are huge deciding factors for consumers. Expertise from the German camera firm should allow Xiaomi to substantially uplevel the camera of its new flagship phone while benefitting from the iconic red Leica badge as a major selling point. “This cooperation will provide a strong boost to Xiaomi’s imaging strategy,” commented Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s f...