Technology

SpaceX is starting to make deals with airlines to provide its Starlink satellite internet to sky travelers everywhere. It announced a deal on Monday with Hawaiian Airlines, and last week made a similar deal with charter carrier JSX. None of the involved parties shared the financial details of their deals, but both airlines did say they’re planning to offer the in-flight Wi-Fi for free, which is both a semi-miraculous fact and a sign of hope that free Wi-Fi is becoming the industry standard. Delta meanwhile, confirmed last week that it’s running “exploratory” Starlink tests. In-flight Wi-Fi has been on the minds of Team Starlink for a while. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink and commercial sales, said last year that the company was building an aviation product, and was “in talks wi...

It’s time to kick off another week of deals, and what better way than with promos like a smart speaker hitting its lowest price yet and a new TV getting a nice discount? Amazon’s orb-like Echo Dot is one of the most affordable ways to smarten up your home, and it’s now cheaper than ever before. You can pick up the fourth-gen Echo Dot, which launched in 2020, for just $27.99 at Amazon or Best Buy in black, blue, or white. That price is $22 off its regular price and even beats the discounts we saw around the holidays. While this little speaker is inexpensive and compact, it supports all the same Alexa voice commands as its pricier counterparts, like setting timers and controlling other devices in Amazon’s ecosystem of smart home devices. Also, as an affordable speaker, it sounds good for lis...

Twitter is closing in on a deal to sell itself to Elon Musk, The New York Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. An agreement between Musk and the social media network could arrive as soon as Monday. Musk announced on April 14 that he wanted to buy Twitter and take it private, tweeting out a link to his filing to buy “100% of Twitter for $54.20 [USD] per share in cash.” In the filing, he called the bid his “best and final offer” and said that if it’s not accepted, he would “need to reconsider [his] position as a shareholder.” Last week, Musk updated his proposal, lining up $46.5 billion USD in financing, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Twitter’s 11-member board reportedly met with Musk over his bid to buy the company on Sunday morning, with neg...

The Asus ProArt Display PA147CDV is a 14-inch touchscreen that’s designed to act as a secondary display for creatives. With its small form-factor and ultrawide 32:9 aspect ratio it looks as though Asus has ripped the secondary display off one of its Duo laptops and turned it into an external monitor. The PA147CDV was technically announced last September, but Asus is currently showing it off at the NAB 2022 show in Las Vegas and is announcing plans to release the monitor in Q2 2022 in North America at a price that’s yet to be announced. With its support for Microsoft’s Pen Protocol 2.0, and a built in dial that’s designed to emulate the functionality of Microsoft’s Surface Dial, Asus is pitching the PA147CDV as an accessory for creatives looking for a little extra screen real-estate without...

We already knew Blizzard is working on a new entry in the Diablo series that is designed for mobile devices. And today, timed to coincide with Activision Blizzard’s Q1 2022 earnings report, the company announced that Diablo Immortal will release on Android and iOS on June 2nd and, surprise, on PC too in open beta. According to the developers, Diablo Immortal will have cross-play and cross progression with controller and keyboard support on PC. Set after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Diablo Immortal, is a free-to-play MMORPG. The game will be online-only, and according to the development team, it will introduce new characters, storylines, and additional content as part of a “living, breathing, and constantly evolving experience.” Players are able to pre-register ahead of the June 2nd rele...

Just a day after Google seemingly confirmed previous rumors of an upcoming smartwatch by trademarking “Pixel Watch,” someone has now seemingly left a Pixel Watch at a restaurant by accident. A new report from Android Central features a series of images that showcase what appears to be a leaked Pixel Watch that someone discovered at a restaurant. As the article points out, the device looks almost identical to some of the renders insiders have come up with based on previous leaks and rumors about the wearable, which include a round, bezel-less design with a rotating crown and two hidden buttons. A closer look at the case also shows that the device, which a source says could be “a testing model for the Internal Pixel team,” uses a band that connects directly with the case via a latch tha...

Known for its high-end custom mechanical keyboards, Mode Designs is now gearing up to launch the “Sonnet,” a new luxury custom keyboard design. Designed to elevate any workspace and introduce joy into the simple act of typing, the keyboard is perfect designers, programmers, gamers, and more. Each Sonnet keyboard is built to order with a precision-milled high-grade aluminum and copper chassis that works with a slew of upscale finishes. With choices like polished stainless steel and brushed brass, users can choose from thousands of possible color and material combinations. While two mounting styles, seven switch plate materials and optional internal dampening serve allow for silent or expressive and flexible or firm fine-tuned typing experiences. The Sonnet features a compact 75% form factor...

Workers at Nintendo’s third-party repair facility reportedly faced a “very stressful” work environment caused by a deluge of Switches sent in for issues related to Joy-Con drift, according to a report from Kotaku. A former supervisor at the New York-based United Radio, the company that partners with Nintendo to repair broken devices, told Kotaku that the large volume of Joy-Con repairs resulted in a high turnover rate and “lots of” mistakes. United Radio is its own company — Nintendo merely acts as the middleman, handling customer communications and leaving the repairing to United Radio, which serves Nintendo customers located in the eastern half of the US. The ubiquity of Joy-Con drift led to “easily thousands” of Joy-Cons that passed through United Radio in a single week, and prompted th...