No thanks. I don’t know how else to respond to this announcement by Qualcomm where they showed off the newest version of their Snapdragon Generation 8 processors. This chip supports an always on camera. The Snapdragon is the heart of nearly every Android phone on the market, not to mention many electronics out there. Mark Hachman over at PC World has more details about this privacy invasion. Essentially, it will be able to automatically unlock your phone, but also notice when someone may be peering over your shoulder and alert you… Qualcomm also showed off a video where a cook…
Category: Stream
It was only a matter of time before antitrust investigations landed on a negative ruling for Facebook Meta. The independent CMA panel reviewing the merger has concluded that Facebook would be able to increase its already significant market power in relation to other social media platforms by: – denying or limiting other platforms’ access to Giphy GIFs, driving more traffic to Facebook-owned sites – Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – which already account for 73% of user time spent on social media in the UK. – changing the terms of access by, for example, requiring TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat to provide…
I’ve talked about Wirecutter before and how it’s one of the three tools I use when doing any online shopping. The site has been around for years and does fantastic work. I never have to spend hours figuring out which item is best. I read one article and then make my purchase. All is not rosy for Wirecutter as the Wirecutter Union announced a strike lasting from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. The strike was due to being treated poorly by the NY Times. The union has asked people NOT to shop via affiliate links that helps generate revenue on…
Keza MacDonald has done exquisite work bringing to light the insane grind it takes to be a streamer on Twitch. “My sleep schedule shifted into the North American time zone because most of the people who were viewing my channel at the time were there,” says 36-year-old Cassie, a founder of the Black Twitch UK network, who has been streaming for five years under the name GeekyCassie. “I would do my day at work, nap a bit, and then stream for up to eight to 12 hours at night-time. I’d be absolutely beat, and then get up and do my work again ……
From the “things I didn’t see coming” category is the announcement by Jack Dorsey (Twitter’s co-founder) that he is stepping down as Twitter’s CEO. He, of course, announced it in a tweet. It’s more of a one-liner of text accompanied by a screen shot of his email he sent to the company. not sure anyone has heard but, I resigned from Twitter Originally tweeted by jack⚡️ (@jack) on November 29, 2021. To tl;dr the whole thing, he basically doesn’t want Twitter to be a “founder-led” company at this time and feels it would be better if someone else were at…
Christmas movies are always tough to nail right. Sometimes they’re too cheesy or too serious. The timeless ones are timeless for unknown reasons because they can still be too serious or too cheesy. A Christmas Story was basically unknown until TBS decided to run it endlessly on Christmas, turning it into a modern classic. A new challenger has entered the arena this year: 8-Bit Christmas. I checked it out this past weekend and this will be my spoiler-free thoughts. This movie stars Neil-Patrick Harris narrating a story to his daughter about his adventures in 1987 to get a Nintendo (which…
Leave it to the old vanguard of Hollywood to blame their failures on anyone else but themselves. This time around it’s Ridley Scott, mastermind of amazing movies, who’s looking for a scapegoat because his latest film, The Last Duel has bombed. “I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cellphones. The millennian [sic] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you’re told it on a cellphone,” Scott said. Old Guy Complaining About Crap The Last Duel hit theaters exclusively on October 20th and earned…
If you’re a fan of the Atari 2600 and second generation console gaming, then you’re in for a treat. A company called AtariXP is gearing up to sell brand new 2600 games that will work on the original Atari hardware. Three games are up for pre-order: Yars’ Return, Saboteur, and Aquaventure. The games they plan to release are games who’s code was completed but never released or games that are rare and they believe should have more copies available in the marketplace. Each game is offered in a standard and collectable version. I had a bit of sticker shock with…
Sometimes an announcement out of Apple’s Cupertino newsroom comes from left field. Cue a press release that went out this morning informing of a “Self Service Repair” program. Apple today announced Self Service Repair, which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access to Apple genuine parts and tools. Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips, Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022. Apple Press Release Apple has been, rightly,…
The much-awaited Grand Theft Auto compilation for Nintendo Switch is out and talk about a disappointment. After Rockstar released the game, people have been tearing it to shreds due to an awful conversation, especially on Switch. In some ways GTA runs even worse than on PS2, a console 3 generations behind the Switch. [It’s] one of the worst user-rated Switch game [on Metacritic] ever. After its release on November 11, 2021, it became the focus of much ire, mainly due to poor optimization, bugs, glitches, graphical inferiority compared to the original PlayStation 2 titles, and more. iMore I was pretty…
Disney+, best known for endless Star Wars and Marvel stuff these days, is dropping an amazing docuseries on November 25th with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles. It’s produced by Peter Jackson (the Lord of the Rings guy) and will release on the service for three consecutive days. The Beatles official channel has released a small clip of the show to YouTube. It’s only 85-seconds long but you can see the magic of the Fab Four in action. I’ve been waiting for this for nearly a year since it was originally introduced and cannot wait to view it. The footage…
People have praised Tesla’s buying experience for years. It’s unconventional and one the company isn’t even legally allowed to offer in every state. No dealerships, no haggling, no nonsense. You configure your car online and it’s ready for delivery or pickup when it’s ready. Unfortunately the dreaded supply chain / chip shortage has caused Tesla to be short some key parts for their cars. But, they forgot to tell their customers. In some cases, there are only holes where the USB ports are supposed to be. That’s purportedly what’s been happening to some Tesla owners who got their cars delivered in November, and…
It’s no secret that Uber upended the taxi industry and have caused real hardship. The price of NYC taxi medallions plummeted because of ridesharing. Getting around went from standing at the curb with an outstretched arm into tapping some buttons in an app. It’s really convenient but convenience comes at a price. Uber was thought to be rich with cash prior to going public. After disclosing their financials people learned that Uber was subsidizing every single ride in order to keep fares low. They paid good fares to drivers in order to entice them to drive for Uber. It was…
I rarely post about sports, but even as a hockey fan I can recognize this goal would excite anyone. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers scored this amazing beauty against four players on the NY Rangers. I could describe it, but you should see it for yourself. Having this guy on any team is like inputting a cheat code. What a talent.
Something I never thought would be reality in 2021: graphics cards being so desirable that people are stealing them. That is exactly what happened last week though. Thieves made off with a whole truckload of EVGA RTX 30-Series graphics cards. The graphic cards were in transit from San Francisco to EVGA’s southern California distribution center at the time of the theft, and it remains unclear how many cards were affected. The Verge There is the chip shortage affecting everything lately. Another constraint are the groups mining crypto with these cards. However, it is crazy to think that people are resorting…
Amazon, a company worth $1.75 TRILLION, uses normal people to deliver goods from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. Amazon calls their program Amazon Flex. It’s a near-identical setup to DoorDash and Uber Eats jobs. Normal people use an app for “gig work” and deliver stuff using their own vehicles. Earlier this month Amazon settled a lawsuit with the FTC about pocketing the tips of Flex drivers. Earlier this year, the FTC sued Amazon for withholding tips in its Flex program between the years 2016 and 2019. Amazon continued to collect portions of the drivers’ tips up until the government filed…
An funny thing happened on the way to getting Pixel 6 phones out the door: Google has no inventory. The phone, which was announced only a couple weeks ago, seems difficult to obtain depending on the color, capacity, and carrier. When visiting Google’s store for the Pixel 6, you need to choose the normal or Pro model. Afterward you can go down the decision tree of carrier, capacity, and color of the Pixel 6 you want. Depending on what phone you choose, Google will tell you if there’s a waitlist you can join. As of this writing, it’s the Pro…
A sort-of curveball announcement from Netflix (if you didn’t hear about their upcoming plans) is the launch of their new gaming service. Yes, Netflix who is known for streaming movies and TV shows, will now stream video games. Now don’t be confused with this launch. It is not a competitor to anything Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft are doing. This is a direct assault targeted at the likes of Apple’s Arcade and Amazon’s Prime Gaming. The games shown are more mobile-style than something you would see on a console. This is not stuff you’d want on your Xbox. Netflix’s gaming service…
Nintendo’s big Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct in October announced that two big updates would happen. The first being general updates to the game would bring it to version 2.0. This is to be the final update to the game. Version 2.0 brings a LOT of things like the fan-demanded Brewster’s Roost cafe, island ordnances, a shopping plaza on Harv’s Island, and more. The full list is here on IGN. This update to bring the game to an official 2.0 version and Nintendo has added a bunch things. Nintendo stated this would be the final update to Animal Crossing: New…
It’s hard to believe, but The Verge is celebrating 10 years this week. They’re posting a bunch of retrospectives that are great reads. One of them takes the cake. In “The Worst Gadgets We’ve Ever Touched” they lambast tech that should’ve been great but fell short in the worst ways. Notable entries include the awful Red Hydrogen phone, Ouya, and Apple’s butterfly keyboard debacle. Apple inflicted the butterfly keyboard on millions of customers for years, giving it the dubious distinction of causing the most tangible badness of anything we’ve ever reviewed. Some products on the Verge’s list are obvious while…
Two things I never expected to find entertaining when put together are Microsoft Excel and TikTok. Those are two diametrically opposed things. One is fun and has whimsy, while the other is a Chinese-owned social network that’s basically overtaken Facebook Meta. I kid, I kid. In actuality, Excel can be a wondrous tool in the hands of someone who knows even 25% of its power. I’ve seen colleagues work their magic on a spreadsheet in seconds simply because they knew a certain formula or function. Enter Kat Norton, an Excel guru that Quartz has profiled. Norton found herself in similar…
On Wednesday Apple released version 15.1 of Safari. This is momentous because it finally puts the tab disaster officially in the past. Since WWDC back in June, people have been adamant that Apple does not need to mess with Safari’s tabs. But Apple did, stuck with the design, and even shipped it out as full release-worthy software. The revolt didn’t stop. With this update, the Tabs section in Safari’s Preferences now offers a “Separate” option. This is the classic style we all know and is the most usable. I’m happy, everyone else using Safari should be happy, and Apple will…
Origin stories are a roll of the dice. They’re usually movies we never ask for. Some are innovative. Some are completely unnecessary. Today Disney released the trailer for Lightyear, an origin story for Buzz Lightyear. I was instantly skeptical, especially after reading that Buzz would not be voiced by Tim Allen. Then I watched the trailer. Chris Evans, from the tiny dialogue we get, sounds good as Buzz. Even further, I like the darker look of the film. It seems like it may be more gritty, which would add some nice color to the character. Lastly I think this can…
Lost in the bonanza of home buying was this fact: Zillow itself was buying homes. The speculation was the company did this to resell homes at a higher value, thus manipulating house values. This would benefit the listings it shows on its website. As the market has cooled in the past months, Zillow decided to pump the brakes on their hair-brained scheme. But due to a shortage of labor and supplies, Zillow can’t meet current demands to close, renovate, and resell the homes fast enough. CEO Jeremy Wacksman said the temporary pause on purchasing of new homes will allow Zillow to focus…
One of the silliest accessories Apple ever released were the iPod Socks. For $29 you could get a set of six socks for your iPod. It was weird but a fun accessory. I bought and still own my set (minus my green one which went missing) that came out in 2004. In today’s modern time, NativeUnion has gone ahead and released “beanies” for your AirPods. Our latest product is a tribute to one of the creations that’ve inspired our teams and the 10th anniversary of the visionary Steve Jobs’ passing. But more so, it’s just a fun way for us…
Interesting that a constant flow of crisis’ leads to “solutions” such as this: Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of…
Well, I stand corrected. Days after lamenting the fact that MagSafe accessories for the iPhone are a mess, Anker went ahead and dropped no less than SIX MagSafe products in a family called MagGo. Anker gives each item an arbitrary number (Anker 613 or Anker 610) instead of a name. This makes it difficult to refer to them individually. The gist of the rollout are three desktop chargers, one MagSafe battery pack with a built in kickstand, a Magsafe ring (ala PopSocket) and a car mount. The 623 and 637 desktop chargers seem nice, but nothing to write home about.…
Last year with the iPhone 12, Apple announced MagSafe. The idea was simple: the back of an iPhone is now magnetic and you could attach accessories easily. Need to change accessories? Swapping one would take only a few seconds. Apple rolled out a charging puck and a wallet. As someone who purchased an iPhone 12, I was excited to see what other companies would release in the coming months. Disappointment was abound when the reviews for Belkin’s Car Vent Mount Pro started rolling in. At a $40 price point I was not about to drop down the cash for something…
The year is 2021. We don’t have flying cars. We barely have cars that drive themselves. No hoverboards either. And one thing we definitely don’t have are printers that don’t suck. It is beyond absurd how much of a racket printer companies are these days. It’s so bad that Joanna Stern’s review of printers is more of the best of the worst. Because all printers are the worst. Now we get even more news of the absurdity of printers, courtesy of BleepingComputer.com: While using his Pixma MG6320 printer from Canon, the plaintiff was surprised to discover that the “all-in-one” machine…
If there was a perfect example of news that hit the TimeMachiner trifecta (Tech, Culture, and Nostalgia) it’s this. Last week Nokia announced they’re bringing back one of their most iconic cell phones: the 6310. This candy bar style phone was one you saw everywhere in the early aughts. It was durable as hell, had great battery life, polyphonic ringtones!!, and was a great size to fit in a pocket. More from the DailyMail: There will be ‘subtle changes’ to mark the passing of 20 years of technological evolution, including bigger buttons and a zoomed in menu for ease of…