Category: Gadgets

All news related to gadgets.

  • Rashes and Hives: Facebook Recalls Quest 2 Foam Facial Interfaces

    Rashes and Hives: Facebook Recalls Quest 2 Foam Facial Interfaces

    Facebook is recalling 4 million foam facial interfaces for its Oculus Quest 2 headset over skin irritation, including rashes and hives.

    The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted the recall notice. There have been 5,716 reported incidents of skin irritation, as well as 45 cases that required medical attention. The reported issues included “rashes, swelling, burning, itching, hives, and bumps.”

    The CPSC says the affected units have “serial numbers that start with ‘1WMHH’ and end with a number below ‘1264.’”

    Customers should contact Facebook for a free silicon replacement.

  • OnePlus Throttles Performance With Popular Apps

    OnePlus Throttles Performance With Popular Apps

    OnePlus has confirmed its OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 throttle performance when running popular apps.

    AnandTech was the first to notice something wasn’t quite right with the latest OnePlus 9 phones. When benchmarking the phones with the Chrome web browser, writer Andrei Frumusanu noticed the phone was not utilizing the high-performance Cortex-X1 cores when running Chrome, instead running it on the slower Cortex-A78 cores. In most cases, the phone wasn’t even running the Cortex-A78 at their full 2.41GHz, throttling them at 2GHz instead. Frumusanu found the OnePlus 9 throttled some of the most popular apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and more.

    GeekBench, maker of the popular benchmarking software, followed up AnandTech’s investigation with one of their own, confirming the findings. As a result, GeekBench delisted the phone from their Android Benchmark charts.

    After XDA Developers picked up the story, OnePlus reached out to them and offered a statement confirming the phones are, indeed, throttling.

    Our top priority is always delivering a great user experience with our products, based in part on acting quickly on important user feedback. Following the launch of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro in March, some users told us about some areas where we could improve the devices’ battery life and heat management. As a result of this feedback, our R&D team has been working over the past few months to optimize the devices’ performance when using many of the most popular apps, including Chrome, by matching the app’s processor requirements with the most appropriate power. This has helped to provide a smooth experience while reducing power consumption. While this may impact the devices’ performance in some benchmarking apps, our focus as always is to do what we can to improve the performance of the device for our users.

    This is incredibly disappointing for OnePlus users. The phones’ Snapdragon 888 is an incredibly capable processor, but OnePlus owners will not get to experience its speed, instead being crippled by the device’s throttling.

  • Drones May Soon Track You Using Your Screams

    Drones May Soon Track You Using Your Screams

    Scientists may be on the verge of a major breakthrough in search and rescue (SAR), training drones to track people using their screams.

    In life and death situations, such as when a natural disaster strikes, finding survivors is a race against the clock. To make matters worse, rescuers often have to proceed carefully and slowly to avoid making matters worse. For example, if people are trapped in the rubble following an earthquake, rescuers must move slowly and methodically to avoid causing any additional cave-ins.

    Scientists may have found a solution, training drones to zero in on the sound of a person screaming and track the screams back to their source, according to The Washington Post.

    Engineers at Germany’s Fraunhofer FKIE institute have already built a working prototype, and the initial results are promising.

    “[Drones] can cover a larger area in a shorter period of time than rescuers or trained dogs on the ground,” Macarena Varela, one of the lead engineers, said. “If there’s a collapsed building, it can alert and assist rescuers. It can go places they can’t fly to or get to themselves.”

    While the concept is absolutely brilliant, and the engineers are to be applauded for what they’re trying to accomplish, I for one can’t help but imagine bloodthirsty drones hunting down humans screaming and running for their lives, Skynet-style. Especially in view of recent reportswhere a military drone hunted humans down without authorization, I can’t help but wonder how long it will be until human scream-tracking is turned into a nightmarish Terminator scenario.

  • Xiaomi Intros 8-Minute Phone Charging

    Xiaomi Intros 8-Minute Phone Charging

    Xiaomi has introduced fast-charging, designed to charge a phone to 100% in 8 minutes.

    Xiaomi has been improving its fast-charging technology for some time, and the latest 200W charging doesn’t disappoint, charging a 4,000mAh battery in just under 8 minutes.

    For those with less than 8 minutes, the 200W charging will take a phone from 0 to 10% in 44 seconds, and 50% in 3 minutes.

  • Huawei Will Release HarmonyOS June 2

    Huawei Will Release HarmonyOS June 2

    Huawei is preparing to release its HarmonyOS for smartphones, in an effort to end its dependence on Google.

    The Trump administration banned Huawei, restricting its access to Google’s Android updates, as well as Google’s apps. As a result, the company has had to look for alternatives, such as striking a deal with TomTom to replace Google Maps.

    While Huawei had been working on HarmonyOS before it was banned, being cut off from Google’s services raised the stakes even more. Since Android is open source, Huawei is using Android as the basis for HarmonyOS.

    Huawei is now planning on releasing HarmonyOS on June 2, although it remains to be seen if it will impress or disappoint. It doesn’t bode well for the company that early information indicated HarmonyOS was based on Android 10, whereas Google is already working on Android 12.

    https://youtu.be/NKBXq1q6chQ
  • Google and Samsung Combining Wear OS and Tizen info Unified Platform

    Google and Samsung Combining Wear OS and Tizen info Unified Platform

    Google and Samsung have announced they are combining their wearable platforms into a single unified one.

    Apple is currently the market leader in the wearables market, with Samsung coming in third-place. Google, on the other hand, hasn’t been able to break into the top five, prompting it to purchase Fitbit to give it a boost.

    Google and Samsung are now joining forces, combining Google’s Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen into a single, unified platform that will help both companies better compete. The unified platform will be called “Wear,” although one can’t help but hope they come up with something with at least a little more pizazz.

    Bjorn Kilburn, Google Director of Product Management, Wear, outlined some of the benefits of the unification in more detail.

    For performance, our teams collaborated and made apps start up to 30% faster on the latest chipsets with smooth user interface animations and motion. To achieve longer battery life, we’ve worked to optimize the lower layers of the operating system – taking advantage of low-power hardware cores to enable better battery life. That includes handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day. Finally, our unified platform will make it easier for developers to build great apps for the watch.

  • System76 Launches Open Source Configurable Keyboard

    System76 Launches Open Source Configurable Keyboard

    System76 has unveiled the Launch Configurable Keyboard, an open source, customizable keyboard with cross-platform support.

    Computer keyboards are often a very personal choice, with some preferring mechanical keyboards, futuristic options or highly ergonomic designs. Some prefer non-QUERTY layouts that offer some efficiency and typing speed benefits.

    System76 has an innovative solution, with its Launch Configurable Keyboard. The keyboard allows the user to swap out keys, rearranging them to suit their style of typing. Meanwhile, the included software makes it possible to remap the keys so they send the proper signal. The keyboard supports macOS, Linux and Windows.

    Place control back into your hands. Remap keys, swap keycaps, and configure multiple layers to your liking. Launch uses only three keycap sizes to vastly expand your configuration options.

    The Launch keyboard is sure to be a hit among those that want more control over their typing experience.

  • Vivo Commits to Three Years of Updates to Flagship Phones

    Vivo Commits to Three Years of Updates to Flagship Phones

    Vivo has announced it will provide Android and security updates for its flagship devices for at least three years.

    Vivo is a company that makes a brand of smartphones popular in Asia, Australia and Europe. Like most smartphone makers, Vivo phones run the Android operating system (OS). Unlike iOS, which is controlled exclusively by Apple, there is a great deal of variance in the levels of support the various Android vendors provide.

    Vivo is working to differentiate itself from rivals with the announcement that its upcoming Vivo X flagship line will receive OS and security updates for three years — with some caveats. The policy will only apply to users in Europe, Australia and India, and only includes the X line of smartphones.

    “Featuring top of the line hardware, the X series flagship phones are built to last — and we want to make sure that our customers get software support that lives up to their expectations,” said Vivo senior vice president and CTO Yujian Shi, via ZDNet.

    “We always innovate with the user in mind. With this pledge, we are making a promise to our customers that they will be able to enjoy a premium smartphone experience for an extended period and continue to benefit from the latest software features.”

    The announcement puts Vivo in greater competition with Samsung, which recently announced its own extended support plans. While Vivo’s announcement will likely help it in its core markets against other competitors, Samsung is still more widely available, and now offers four years of support, instead of Vivo’s three.

  • Gadget Ogling: Pebble Goes Round, VR Hits Movies, and Smart Locks Lose Keypads

    Gadget Ogling: Pebble Goes Round, VR Hits Movies, and Smart Locks Lose Keypads

    The latest Pebble looks a touch different from previous models of the smartwatch. Instead of a square screen with rounded edges, it bears a circular watch face.

    Prior to last weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, JGR announced Josh Leslie was replacing Odell on the No. 18 pit crew. Mayo has served as Earnhardt Jr.’s front-tire changer for much of the 2015 season, but was replaced by Kevin Novak.

    But now the sounds inside had ceased, and a thin circle of bright metal showed between the top and the body of the cylinder. Air was either entering or escaping at the rim with a thin, sizzling sound. They listened, rapped on the scaly burnt metal with a stick, and, meeting with no response, they both concluded the man or men inside must be insensible or dead. Of course the two were quite unable to do anything.

    Henderson went into the railway station at once, in order to telegraph the news to London. The newspaper articles had prepared men’s minds for the reception of the idea. I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty people surrounding the huge hole in which the cylinder lay.

     

     

    Gregg the butcher and his little boy

    I think they perceived that nothing was to be done for the present, and had gone away to breakfast at Henderson’s house. There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the Pit, with their feet dangling, and amusing themselves–until I stopped them–by throwing stones at the giant mass. After I had spoken to them about it, they began playing at “touch” in and out of the group of bystanders. Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing gardener I employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby, Gregg the butcher and his little boy, and two or three loafers and golf caddies who were accustomed to hang about the railway station. There was very little talking. Few of the common people in England had anything but the vaguest astronomical ideas in those days. Most of them were staring quietly at the big table like end of the cylinder, which was still as Ogilvy and Henderson had left it.

    I fancy the popular expectation of a heap of charred corpses was disappointed at this inanimate bulk. Some went away while I was there, and other people came. I clambered into the pit and fancied I heard a faint movement under my feet.

    Our prime purpose in this life is to
    help others. And if you can’t help them,
    at least don’t hurt them.
    Dalai Lama

    It was only when I got thus close to it that the strangeness of this object was at all evident to me. At the first glance it was really no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road. Not so much so, indeed. It looked like a rusty gas float. It required a certain amount of scientific education to perceive that the grey scale of the Thing was no common oxide, that the yellowish-white metal that gleamed in the crack between the lid and the cylinder had an unfamiliar hue.

  • Facebook satellite to beam internet to remote regions in Africa

    Facebook satellite to beam internet to remote regions in Africa

    Mark Zuckerberg details plans on how company is ‘exploring ways to use aircraft and satellites to beam internet access down into communities from the sky’

    I had gone but a short distance further when what seemed to be an excellent trail opened up around the face of a high cliff. The trail was level and quite broad and led upward and in the general direction I wished to go. The cliff arose for several hundred feet on my right, and on my left was an equal and nearly perpendicular drop to the bottom of a rocky ravine.

    Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground, but the most painstaking examination failed to reveal the faintest spark of life. I forced water from my canteen between his dead lips, bathed his face and rubbed his hands, working over him continuously for the better part of an hour in the face of the fact that I knew him to be dead.

    I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly a man in every respect; a polished southern gentleman; a staunch and true friend; and it was with a feeling of the deepest grief that I finally gave up my crude endeavors at resuscitation.

    The tax man even cites a specific statute: “Whoever purchases goods at an unseemly low price to take advantage of the seller’s ignorance shall be subject to a fine equaling 200 percent of the earnings from any such transaction.”

    You can admit to tax evasion and pay a penalty, or you can deny any wrongdoing. Choose that option and you’ll be commended by the tax man; he’ll even give you a “Taxpayer in Good Standing” diploma, which he recommends you frame and hang in honor.

    The cowhide exploit involved killing cows and collecting their hides. Players quickly discovered that if they mediated for a certain period of time, cows in one early area of the game would respawn every time they woke up. Thus, players could stock up on cow hides to their heart’s content and then sell them for a nice fee. CD Projekt Red addressed this by deploying the Bovine Defense Force Initiative, which took the form of a hulking, ultra-powerful nasty monster who kills anyone trying to cash in.

     

     

    Browne Sanders made up her allegations against Thomas

    The Money Quotes via Ben Golliver

    I think they perceived that nothing was to be done for the present, and had gone away to breakfast at Henderson’s house. There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the Pit, with their feet dangling, and amusing themselves–until I stopped them–by throwing stones at the giant mass. After I had spoken to them about it, they began playing at “touch” in and out of the group of bystanders. Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing gardener I employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby, Gregg the butcher and his little boy, and two or three loafers and golf caddies who were accustomed to hang about the railway station. There was very little talking. Few of the common people in England had anything but the vaguest astronomical ideas in those days. Most of them were staring quietly at the big table like end of the cylinder, which was still as Ogilvy and Henderson had left it.

    I fancy the popular expectation of a heap of charred corpses was disappointed at this inanimate bulk. Some went away while I was there, and other people came. I clambered into the pit and fancied I heard a faint movement under my feet.

    [blockquote author=”DALAI LAMA” pull=”normal”]Our prime purpose in this life is to
    help others. And if you can’t help them,
    at least don’t hurt them.[/blockquote]

    It was only when I got thus close to it that the strangeness of this object was at all evident to me. At the first glance it was really no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road. Not so much so, indeed. It looked like a rusty gas float. It required a certain amount of scientific education to perceive that the grey scale of the Thing was no common oxide, that the yellowish-white metal that gleamed in the crack between the lid and the cylinder had an unfamiliar hue.

    Soon the crew came on board in two

    Dorothy’s life became very sad as she grew to understand that it would be harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again. Sometimes she would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at her feet and looking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorry he was for his little mistress. Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.

    Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the Silver Shoes which the girl always wore. Her bees and her crows and her wolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up all the power of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of the Silver Shoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she had lost. She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she ever took off her shoes, thinking she might steal them. But the child was so proud of her pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and when she took her bath. The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to dare go in Dorothy’s room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of water was greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near when Dorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, nor ever let water touch her in any way.

     

     

    She waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came a rumbling of little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all talking together: she made out the words: ‘Where’s the other ladder?—Why, I hadn’t to bring but one; Bill’s got the other—Bill! fetch it here, lad!—Here, put ’em up at this corner. No, tie ’em together first—they don’t reach half high enough yet—Oh! they’ll do well enough; don’t be particular—Here, Bill! catch hold of this rope—Will the roof bear?—Mind that loose slate—Oh, it’s coming down! Heads below!’ (a loud crash)—’Now, who did that?—It was Bill, I fancy—Who’s to go down the chimney?—Nay, I shan’t! YOU do it!—That I won’t, then!—Bill’s to go down—Here, Bill! the master says you’re to go down the chimney!’

    ‘Oh! So Bill’s got to come down the chimney, has he?’ said Alice to herself. ‘Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn’t be in Bill’s place for a good deal: this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I THINK I can kick a little!’

    She drew her foot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited till she heard a little animal (she couldn’t guess of what sort it was) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above her: then, saying to herself ‘This is Bill,’ she gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next.