Technology

After almost a year of waiting, we finally know when Google Assistant will arrive on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 lineup. Kind of. In a blog, Samsung executive vice president Patrick Chomet announced the long-awaited feature will arrive this summer. As for when this summer, it’s anybody’s guess. Chomet writes that Google Assistant on Wear OS 3 will enable “faster and more natural voice interactions” as well as the ability to look up quick answers while on the go. He also noted that it would also be possible to control Spotify with Google Assistant on the watch. A big reason why Samsung opted to work with Google to create a unified Wear OS 3 platform was the Google Play Store. Samsung’s smartwatches had historically been a way for it to push its ecosystem of products and services, including its...

Fintech is in its flop era, and it would be funny, except that it’s dragging real people down with it. It’s true that stocks are down generally — the S&P 500 has fallen 10 percent in the last 30 days, the Nasdaq is down 14 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6.5 percent. But fintech is, by comparison, down bad. Coinbase dropped almost two-thirds in the last 30 days. Block, the Jack Dorsey-led company formerly known as Square, fell by 40 percent. PayPal shares dropped by a third. Robinhood has fallen less, shaving off more than a quarter of its value. The meme stocks are down bad, too. GameStop fell more than 40 percent in the last month. AMC also lost more than 40 percent of its value. Bed, Bath and Beyond is worth about half as much as it was a month ago. Bitcoin’s a...

The Pixel 6A is the latest phone to join the competitive upper tier of midrange phones, also occupied by Samsung, Apple, and more. Google announced the new phone onstage at its I/O 2022 keynote, detailing just a few key things about it. First thing you should know: it isn’t coming out immediately. Unlike how many announcements take place as products are on their way to retailers, this one won’t be available to preorder until July 21st, 2022, with orders shipping the following week. Unsurprisingly, this new (and smaller) 6.1-inch Pixel phone borrows many of the same design features from the pricier Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, with a raised camera section and a two-toned color scheme. The Pixel 6A is a big deal, as it’s the first Google midrange phone to ship with its Tensor processor instead o...

Twitter released a new browser game on Wednesday that’s intended to help explain some of its privacy settings. You can play the game, called Twitter Data Dash, right here. “Welcome to PrivaCity!” reads a description of the game on the site. “Get your dog, Data, safely to the park. Dodge cat ads, swim through a sea of DMs, battle trolls, and learn how to take control of your Twitter experience along the way.” When you start Twitter Data Dash, which was made by Momo Pixel, you’ll first pick the language you want to play in, and then pick from one of four characters who will accompany Data the dog on a couple of the levels. (That character will otherwise appear in text boxes.) The game itself is a pretty straightforward side-scrolling platformer. Each level is themed around what I can best de...

2022’s developer conference season is here, and, as usual, Google is the first of the major companies to host its event. But while Google I/O is full of useful information for developers that build things for Android devices and Google services, it also has a bunch of product announcements and other interesting news for us consumers. This year, we’re expecting to see a whole raft of products, from a new Pixel A-series phone to upgraded Pixel Buds and maybe even a Pixel Watch smartwatch. During its kickoff keynote, Google will also likely go over all of the updates coming to Android, other Google products, and its AI efforts, so there’s something for everyone. The keynote event starts at 1PM ET / 10AM PT on Wednesday, May 11th, and we’ll be liveblogging the whole thing, so join us for the f...

YouTube TV is rolling out two new Spanish-language offerings: Spanish Plan and Spanish Plus. While the $34.99 / month standalone Spanish Plan provides access to an all-Spanish lineup of channels on YouTube TV, Spanish Plus is a $14.99 / month add-on for users already subscribed to the YouTube TV Base Plan. Spanish Plan subscribers gain access to over 28 channels (all of which you can view on this page) including ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, CNN Español, and Discovery en Español. The Spanish Plus add-on is advertised as having a slightly more limited selection of over 25 networks, but that’s just because YouTube TV already bundles Univision, UniMás, and Galavisión in its Base Plan. YouTube TV announced the addition of these three channels to its Base Plan last year and also hinted at launch...

Several years after we first heard that EA and Respawn Entertainment would bring their battle royale shooter to mobile platforms, there’s a global release date for Apex Legends Mobile, which will launch for Android and iOS on May 17th. Beta testing for the game started over a year ago and has slowly expanded to include more players worldwide, but now its limited regional launch period is over. If you’re wondering what devices it will run on, this FAQ from the beta has more information. EA isn’t ready to share more details, but beta testers have been able to experience a game that looks fairly close to the experience players get on PCs and consoles. In an earlier trailer provided for the regional launch, you can see how the game has changed for play on mobile platforms and some idea of the ...

From live music to Thomas Edison’s phonograph, record players to cassettes and CDs, the way we consume music has continued to evolve with the progression of society and new technologies. But in 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, ultimately changing the way music was consumed, produced, stored and understood. Its influence infiltrated the lives of us all, and to this day its prevalence in society remains strong – why else do you think we have iPhones that work alongside streaming platforms and AirPods in our ears?  Cast your mind back to 2001. iTunes was released, as was the GameBoy Advanced, Britney Spears was a pop culture icon, David Beckham had the U.K. in a heartthrob chokehold, and overall, the turn of the millennium was in full swing. It was an exciting time for the entertainment ...

I am driving a pickup truck through Texas hill country. The buzzards are circling overhead, the road is empty as a moonlit prairie, and all’s right with the world. Or at least it should be. There is a noticeable lack of engine noise coming from under the hood of my truck. That’s because there is no engine, only a vast, empty space. Ford calls it the “Mega Power Frunk,” which is a very dumb name for a very cool feature, one truck owners have been clamoring for for years: secure storage space. The advantages of the frunk are just one of many noteworthy things about the F-150 Lightning, Ford’s hotly anticipated electrified pickup truck. And yes, the F-150 Lightning is likely the most important electric vehicle yet to arrive, blah blah blah. I’m sure by now you’ve heard all the reasons why thi...

Apple is preparing to swap the proprietary Lightning port on its iPhones next year for the nearly universally-embraced USB-C, claims company analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a pair of tweets, Kuo said Apple was going to make the change in 2023, basing this claim on an unspecified “survey” (presumably of component manufacturers, from whom Kuo seems to get a lot of his information for predictions about future Apple products). Kuo said that adopting USB-C “could improve iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs, but the final spec details still depend on iOS support.” (2/2)It’s expected to see existing USB-C-related suppliers of Apple’s ecosystem (e.g., IC controller, connector) become the market’s focus in the next 1-2 years, thanks to vast orders from iPhones and ac...