If families suddenly forced into home-schooling during the pandemic has highlighted anything, it’s that all things are not created equal when it comes to technology and internet access across the US. Projects like the US government’s rural broadband rollout are trying to fill in the gaps, but now individual states and universities are weighing in, with South Carolina the latest to establish strategically-located computer labs. Announced today, the project is being led by the University of South Carolina, with $6 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding from the state. It’ll be used to set up eight Apple computer…
Author: Miley Selena
Google today detailed all of the updates on the way to Google Maps in 2021, and it’s safe to say that this should be a pretty big year for the app. All of the updates heading to Maps are based in AI in one way or another, and they’ll not only help you find your way around indoors, but also find routes that may be more fuel-efficient than others. Google Maps will also now give you weather and air quality information for your destination and show more details that will help with arranging curbside grocery pickup. It’s hard to say…
Google has finally found an application worthy of its fiendishly clever Soli chip, and quite frankly it’s wasted in a smart display. Or more accurately, the Nest Hub 2nd Gen may be a great showcase for what Soli, the short-range radar, is capable of with Sleep Sensing, but I can’t help but wish Google had just made a standalone sensor instead. Soli, announced back in 2015, was initially billed as a breakthrough in gadget control. Its radar-like scanning was short range, but very precise: combined with the tiny chip size, Google suggested, it could make for virtual scroll wheels and…
Google is hoping you’ll like the new, second-generation Nest Hub enough that you’ll take it into the bedroom, with the third outing for its Soli sensor promising sleep tracking without anything on your wrist. Still $100, the new smart display aims to replace your old clock-radio and give some fresh insight into how restful your night was, though when the lights go out there are still some questions to be answered. For 2021, the design has changed, subtly, with edge-to-edge glass across the same 7-inch, 1280 x 800 touchscreen. There’s now a new Mist (aka pale green) color alongside the…
Xiaomi is joining the foldable phone club, revealing the new Mi Mix Fold that opens out to reveal what the company says is the largest folding screen on a smartphone so far. Similar in design to the Galaxy Z Fold 2, Xiaomi’s foldable eclipses Samsung’s with its 8.01-inch WQHD+ internal screen, though that’s not the only special detail here. The inner screen is a 4:3 aspect panel with a 60Hz refresh rate and 120Hz touch sampling rate, supporting HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Peak brightness is 900 nits. On the outside, meanwhile, there’s a 6.52-inch display for using the Mi Mix…
Apple has announced the dates of WWDC 2021, with the next Worldwide Developers Conference sticking with the online format that we’ve seen the Cupertino firm use to such good effect. The event will begin on June 7 and through through June 11, Apple said today, and be free for all developers to attend. Traditionally, WWDC has been an in-person event, bringing together thousands of app-makers to meet up with Apple’s own engineers and developers for a week of in-depth sessions. That’s also had its downsides, of course. Demand for tickets far outstripped supply, even with a fairly hefty price tag.…
Xiaomi claims to have achieved where Apple failed, with a new multi-coil wireless fast charging pad capable of charging multiple devices simultaneously – just as Apple AirPower was meant to do. Apple’s decision to pull the plug on its AirPower charging mat was a rare public admission of fallibility by the Cupertino firm, but that hasn’t dimmed the desire among users for a smart charging pad that doesn’t care whereabouts you place your phone. It’s something Xiaomi says it has figured out, unveiling the new charging mat alongside the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi Smart Projector 2, and other devices at…
Apple is currently experiencing outages of the App Store and issues with iMessage, iCloud, and other services, the company has confirmed. The problems have seen some users unable to access the App Store and Mac App Store altogether, while the two download stores are still available but much slower to respond than normal for others. The issue with both stores was acknowledged at 1:05pm EST, according to Apple’s System Status tracker, where the Cupertino company makes note of problems that might be affecting its paid and free services. There’s currently no indication of what might be causing the problem, and…
Xiaomi has revealed its newest flagship phone, and as expected the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is enough to give Samsung some nightmares. Packing a huge 50-megapixel camera sensor, a periscope zoom, wildly-fast 67W wireless and wired charging, and a tiny rear touchscreen for notifications and selfies, it’s basically everything we’ve seen Xiaomi working on over the past year or so, rolled into one phone. On the front, there’s a 6.81-inch WQHD+ (3200 x 1440) AMOLED display, in 20:9 aspect with quad-curve design. It’ll hit up to 1,700 nits of peak brightness, Xiaomi says, and has both a 120Hz refresh rate…
Xiaomi’s Mi 11 Ultra flagship Android phone isn’t the only Google-powered product the company has today, with a new Mi Smart Projector 2 Pro combining reasonably portable projection with the Google Assistant. The nondescript gray and white box looks more like an oversized smart speaker than a traditional projector, and indeed that’s because it’s one of those too. The projector runs at Full HD resolution, with HDR10 support. It’ll crank up to 1,300 ANSI lumens in brightness, Xiaomi says, and supports 60- to 120-inch screen sizes. Usefully, there’s also omni-directional keystone correction for automatic adjustment when you’re projecting off-angle. That…