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Showing posts from March, 2022

WhatsApp will soon help avoid the embarrassment of sending the wrong voice message

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WhatsApp’s voice messaging feature will soon get some nifty updates to help compose, send, and listen to those convenient audio messages. The Meta-owned app is the main mode of communication for over two billion people every month. It’s free, highly accessible, and end-to-end encrypted, making it an important app for users around the globe to connect with family and friends. These updates could enhance the already pretty good voice messaging feature of the app by helping avoid miscommunications in audio messages and helping listeners speed through long-winded conversations.  Included features are: Out-of-chat playback will let you continue listening to a message after leaving the chat in which you received it. Play and pause buttons will allow you to pause your recording and resume where you left off. Waveform visualization will show you how loud a message is, in case you need to prepare by adjusting your volume. Draft previews will let you listen to a message before sendin

Arc graphics are exactly what gaming laptops need in 2022

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As long as gaming laptops have existed, there have only been two companies that have produced GPUs for them. Nvidia and AMD have had an iron grip on the market for years, and now Intel Arc mobile graphics processors are finally here . I don't know if an Arc 7 GPU is going to be faster than an RTX 3080 Ti – it probably won't – but since it's Intel at the helm, I at least know it's going to result in a good experience.  To be clear, while Intel has said that laptops using its Arc 3 graphics are available now, I have not even seen one in person, so all I have to go off of is the information that Intel has provided. I'm not exactly in the business of trusting internal benchmarks, and neither should you.  But let's be honest, while AMD and Nvidia both make mobile graphics solutions, the best gaming laptops on the market are using a combination of Intel processors and Nvidia graphics. AMD Navi started to chip away at Team Green's dominance, but Intel can hit

Pentagon set to award billions in cloud contracts

Although a bit later than initially expected, the US Department of Defense ( DOD ) has announced that it plans to award up to $9bn in cloud infrastructure contracts in December of this year. Following the controversy surrounding its now canceled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure or JEDI contract, the Pentagon announced its new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability ( JWCC ) initiative back in November of this year. Unlike with the previous JEDI contract, the US military will now rely on multiple cloud providers as opposed to just a single one. Although Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and other cloud providers competed to win the $10bn JEDI contract, in the end the Pentagon awarded it to Microsoft before deciding to cancel it altogether . In a recent call with reporters, Pentagon CIO John Sherman explained that the US military's timeline was a bit too bold which is why it will now be wrapping up bidding for the JWCC initiative in December. When JWCC was first announced in July of l

Microsoft Build 2022 could virtually share the upcoming Windows roadmap

Microsoft has set the date for its Build 2022 developer conference, May 24-26, and decided, for the third year in a row, to make it all-virtual. While Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows, is often the star of the show, Microsoft Build is the Redmond, Washington-based company's chance to unveil updates across a wide array of software products, services, and development tools. There's also usually a theme. At Microsoft Build 2021 , it was about Tech Transformation and the responsibility technology has in shaping the future. Aside from "Designed for development" and "What's next in tech," the Microsoft Build site offers no hints about what to expect. It does outline, though, one change: market-specific experiences for France, Germany, Latin America, and the UK. The FAQ goes into a tiny bit more detail, explaining: "New for this year, experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin Am

AWS is catapulting Arm to the top end of the server market

Through its Graviton server chips, AWS is leading the way when it comes to cloud computing providers adoption of Arm-based processors according to a new report from the market research firm TrendForce . As corporate demand for digital transformation including AI and high-performance computing has accelerated in recent years, this has led to increased adoption of cloud computing services. In order to improve service flexibility, cloud service providers have begun introducing Arm-based servers and TrendForce believes Arm architecture in data center servers will reach 22 percent by 2025. As companies have begun to diversify their cloud workloads over the past few years, the market has started paying more attention to the benefits Arm architecture processing can provide to data centers. In its report , TrendForce explained that Arm-based processors have three major advantages. They can support diverse and rapidly changing workloads at scale while being cost-effective, they provide

Sony’s eccentric new LinkBuds will launch in the UAE on April 16

Sony’s new true wireless earbuds bring a fresh take on wireless buds and they’ll be coming to the UAE mid-April. The LinkBuds adopt a unique open ring design that leaves your inner ear exposed. This lets you hear what’s going on around you while streaming audio from the buds at the same time, kind of like a transparency mode that’s always on.  These are the best earbuds for any budget The idea is to have a pair of earbuds that you never have to take out, unless they need to be charged, of course. So if you find yourself removing buds regularly to listen to an announcement on the metro or chat with a coworker at the office or just want to keep tabs on what’s going on around the house, the LinkBuds could be a perfect fit. The LinkBuds have an unusual design that looks strange at first glance. A flat ring-shaped driver with a hole in the middle connects to a bulbous casing that house the buds’ 12mm drivers. While these don’t seal your ears for an immersive listening experience, the

Nintendo Switch OLED price hits all-time Amazon AU low, now just AU$449

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If you've been looking for an opportunity to upgrade your original Nintendo Switch , or even buy the hybrid console for the first time, here's your chance to do so while saving some money in the process. Right now, Amazon AU has brought the price of the Nintendo Switch OLED down to an all-time low on its site, with the console's AU$539.95 RRP slashed to just AU$449 – that's a saving of AU$90.95! It's worth noting that AU$449 price point applies only to the white version of the Nintendo Switch OLED. That said, the neon version of the console has received a smaller discount, and is currently available for AU$489. This isn't the cheapest price we've seen on the Nintendo Switch OLED – it was down to AU$424.15 on eBay during Afterpay Day, but this price isn't too much more if you missed out on that deal. Nintendo Switch OLED (white) AU$539.95 AU$449 (save AU$90.95) Nintendo's updated Switch OLED console is rarely discounted, which makes

The latest security is built into the latest hardware with AMD Ryzen PRO mobile processors

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Businesses have enough on their plates. Digital security threats shouldn’t have to be a constant worry, and keeping systems protected against ever-shifting threats need not be a monumental effort for IT departments. The latest AMD PRO security integrated into AMD Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors simplifies and strengthens security with top-to-bottom protection that covers the hardware, OS, and OEM system levels. AMD Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors are built with the Microsoft Pluton security processor integrated right onto the chip, making them the first x86 processors on the market to offer this technology. With the Pluton Security Processor, the system receives chip-to-cloud security for users’ data, applications, and identities.  The Microsoft Pluton security processor also makes it easier to keep systems safe over time. Straightforward Windows updates provide Pluton-enabled systems with the latest hardware and firmware protection. Working together with the other security technologies o

Mysterious new Raspberry Pi alternative is the size of an SD card

At a time when consumers are finding it difficult to get their hands on a new Raspberry Pi , MangoPi is teasing a new single-board computer that is slightly smaller than an SD card . In a recent post on Twitter, MangoPi showed off several pictures of its new unnamed module that features a Linux -capable SoC and no ports whatsoever. In addition to being much smaller than the Raspberry Pi 4B , the new device is actually even smaller than the Raspberry PiZero 2 W . According to a new report from Tom's Hardware though, MangoPi's new single-board computer could be called the 'Linux Box” as there is both a blank product page with the name on the company's site as well as a discussion about it on its forum. Based on the photos shared by MangoPi, the so-called Lunch Box will feature four Arm Cortex-A53 cores just like the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Zero 2 W. The device will also run Allwinner's embedded Tina Linux distro which is based on OpenWRT. Carrier board require

Your battery's not fat, it's just dangerously swollen

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My OnePlus 9 Pro battery is so swollen it split open the case. I discovered this potentially dangerous situation by accident when I noticed the one-year-old Android phone sitting imperfectly in its carbon-fiber case. Absentmindedly, I reached over and pushed one corner of the phone down, trying to reseat it. It popped back out. After a few attempts, I removed the case and discovered the truth: The battery had expanded and split the chrome case along one long-glued seam, creating, in one area, a quarter-inch chasm. "Not again," I thought. A few years ago, a Google Pixel 3 XL that I mostly keep on a Pixel charging stand by my bed appeared to jump off the charger of its own accord. It turned out that the battery has expanded so much that the case no longer sat flush with the charging base. I eventually sent the phone back to Google and got a replacement; at least that phone was more than a few years old. But I reviewed the OnePlus 9 Pro just over a year ago. At the time,

My 2017 iPad was a great buy – but in 2022, Apple's tablets don't have the same charm

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The iPad Air 5 , launched in March, was a surprising jump up in terms of power from the Air 4 , touting the same Apple M1 chip that newer iPad Pro models use, but something about it didn't sit right with me. At first I thought it was that Apple was presenting it as a device for creatives when it didn't have the specs to match - but something caused me to change my mind. We recently heard a leak about the new iPad for 2022 - that's the entry-level slate that Apple refreshes every year. This leak suggested that the device could get a big design update , possibly including the removal of the home button and a sizeable reduction in the bezel size, to bring it more in line with Apple's more modern tablets. If this information is true, Apple is bringing its last family of tablets in line with its new design, which it's slowly been rolling out to its different iPads for the last few years.  This design matches the specs of these tablets, and suits them well for busi

EU prepares to slap WhatsApp and others, but security experts are concerned

Security experts are growing concerned about the potential implications of the EU's new Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the effects it could have on WhatsApp and other secure messaging services . For those unfamiliar, the DMA aims to reign in big tech platforms in Europe so that smaller companies can better compete with Meta, Google, Microsoft and others. As part of the new bill, large tech companies with a market capitalization of over €75bn and a user base of more than 45m in the EU would be required to create products that are interoperable with smaller platforms. While this will likely be fine for online collaboration tools and office software , there are a number of security risks for messaging services like WhatsApp that included end-to-end encryption as part of their offerings. TechRadar needs you! We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn't take more than 60 seco

Motorola Frontier Image Leak Shows a 200-Megapixel Samsung Sensor

A live image of the Motorola Frontier has been allegedly leaked which shows a 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HP1 sensor. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/yjZIsYD

OnePlus 10 Pro Price, Specifications Tipped via German Retailer Website Listing Ahead of March 31 Launch

OnePlus 10 Pro is set to debut in global markets on March 31 and pricing for the smartphone has been spotted on a retailer website in Germany ahead of the launch. The smartphone is tipped to arrive with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 under the hood, sporting a 120Hz AMOLED display and support for 80W fast charging. The company is yet to reveal pricing of the smartphone in globa... from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/OpTbZDY

There's been another development in the Lapsus$ saga

The identity management software firm Okta has admitted that it made a mistake in the way in which it handled an attack on one of its suppliers by the data extortion hacking group Lapsus$ . In a recently published FAQ , the company provided a full timeline of the incident beginning on January 20 when it first learned that “a new factor was added to a Sitel employee’s Okta account from a new location”. For those unfamiliar, Okta uses Sitel to provide some customer support services to its users. TechRadar needs you! We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn't take more than 60 seconds of your time, and entrants from the UK and US will have the chance to enter a draw for a £100 Amazon gift card (or equivalent in USD). Thank you for taking part. >> Click here to start the survey in a new window << While the attempt to add a new factor was unsuccessful, Okta sti

That rumored iPhone subscription service just doesn't make any sense

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A report broke last week about a new iPhone subscription service - according to Bloomberg, Apple is working on a way to get iPhones in your hands, without you having to pay a hefty one-off fee (or giving loads of money to cell companies). This would apparently start with iPhones, but roll out to other Apple devices later down the road, and would let many more people get their hands on an iDevice, since it's easier to break down the cost into monthly payments, rather than see it as one huge lump sum. However since TechRadar's team covered the news when it broke last week, I've been unable to stop scratching my head (no, it's not headlice) - I just don't understand what's happening here. It's already a service The main question I kept asking myself is: "isn't that already a thing?". It is. Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program lets you pay monthly to get your hands on a new iPhone - it starts at $30 or equivalent for the iPhone 13 mini , an

Nvidia has developed a way to turn 2D photos into 3D scenes

AI researchers at Nvidia have developed a way to covert a handful of 2D images into a 3D scene almost instantly by using ultra-fast neural network training alongside rapid rendering. Known as inverse rendering, the process leverages AI to approximate how light behaves in the real world to turn 2D images taken at different angles into 3D scenes. Nvidia's researchers applied their novel approach to a popular new technology called neural radiance fields or NeRF for short. The result, which the company has dubbed Instant NeRF, is the fastest NeRF technique to date and it is more than 1,000 times faster in some cases. The neural model used takes just seconds to train on a few dozen still photos though it also requires data on the camera angles they were taken from. VP for graphics research at Nvidia, David Luebke provided further insight between the difference between NeRF and Instant NeRF in a blog post , saying: “If traditional 3D representations like polygonal meshes are akin

Xbox tech set to reduce CPU overhead by up to 40% when gaming on Windows 11

Windows 11 gamers could get some really beefy benefits from DirectStorage tech, which was recently announced to have arrived on Microsoft’s newest OS – but it’ll be some time yet before developers incorporate it into games. We already knew that Windows 11 would give users ‘optimal’ results with DirectStorage (compared to Windows 10) in terms of what this feature does – namely seriously speeding up NVMe SSDs. However, there’s been an eye-opening revelation concerning exactly how much difference this will make when it comes to relieving the pressure on the PC’s processor. As TweakTown reports, Cooper Partin, a senior software engineer at Microsoft, explained that the DirectStorage implementation for PC is specifically designed for Windows. Partin noted: “DirectStorage is designed for modern gaming systems. It handles smaller reads more efficiently, and you can batch multiple requests together. When fully integrated with your title, DirectStorage, with an NVMe SSD on Windows 11,

Realme GT Neo 3 Spotted on BIS, SIRIM Certification Sites, Tipped to Launch in India Soon

Realme GT Neo 3 will launch in India by April or May, as per tipster Abhishek Yadav. The smartphone has bagged BIS and SIRIM specifications, hinting that it may launch in the country and other global markets soon. It was launched in China earlier this month and is said to have an industry-first 150W fast charging support. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/5TyAos3

WhatsApp Is Testing Sharing Files as Large as 2GB on iOS, Android Beta: Report

WhatsApp is testing a feature that will allow users to send media files as large as 2GB, as per a report. The feature is being rolled out to some beta users in Argentina for both WhatsApp for iOS and WhatsApp for Android. Currently, users can only send files with size as large as 100MB. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/b7U1i9v

OnePlus 10 Pro Price in India, First Sale Date Leak Ahead of Imminent Launch

One Plus 10 Pro price in India and sale date have been leaked. It is tipped to be available for purchase on April 5. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/O8KGfYF

Honor X9 5G With Triple Rear Camera Setup, 120Hz Display Announced: Specifications

Honor X9 5G has been silently announced in Malaysia. The smartphone sports a 6.81-inch full-HD+ display with 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G SoC paired with 8GB of RAM. Honor X9 5G also features RAM expansion of up to 2GB. It sports a triple rear camera setup headlined by a 48-megapixel primary sensor. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/TKQfIxl

OnePlus 10R Specifications Surface Online, Tipped to Feature 6.7-Inch AMOLED Display, 50-Megapixel Triple Cameras

OnePlus 10R specifications have been spotted online, giving smartphone enthusiasts an idea of what to expect from the company’s purported successor to the OnePlus 9R. The smartphone is said to debut with a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC and could sport a 6.7-inch full-HD+ E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. OnePlus 10R is also tipped to be the first high-end s... from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/g8u9dUm

Poco X4 Pro 5G India Launch Today: How to Watch Livestream, Expected Price, Specifications

Poco X4 Pro 5G India launch is taking place today (Monday, March 28). The new Poco phone is teased to come with a 120Hz Super AMOLED display and 67W fast charging support. Globally, Poco X4 Pro 5G was launched at MWC 2022 last month. from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/ZxdsJLI

Leaked iPhone 14 schematics point to an upgraded camera with a huge bump

Just a few days ago, iPhone 14 Pro Max schematics were shared online by noted leaker Max Weinbach which indicate that we can expect an even larger camera bump on Apple's upcoming handset. According to the schematics, the camera bump on the Cupertino company's next Pro Max handset will stick out even further than the current iPhone 13 Pro Max , increasing from 3.60mm to 4.17mm. 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max pic.twitter.com/39TMqVTFVc March 22, 2022 See more As detailed by MacRumors , the camera module's other dimensions will also be upsized on the forthcoming device by around five percent, with its height jumping from 36.24mm to 38.21mm, and its width expanding from 35.01mm to 36.73mm. Now, we're talking about a difference of 1-2 millimetres here, which is far from what anyone would consider a deal-breaker. That said, a deeper camera module does mean users who want keep their device to lie down flat without rocking will need a bulkier phone case . What does this m

Can you get a free fibre NBN upgrade? Everything we know about FTTP upgrades

Update: NBN Co has begun sending out invites for the upgrade program , as well as releasing a list of suburbs and service providers that are participating in the first wave of upgrades. Last year, NBN Co announced that over a million Aussie homes would have their NBN service upgraded for free , giving them the capability to access the fastest speeds available in Australia. This would open these homes to a wider array of NBN plans , including the ultrafast NBN 1000 tier (or 'gigabit internet') as well as NBN 250 , both of which are only available on certain connection types.  To do this, NBN Co is spending AU$3.5 billion to upgrade almost 2 million premises around the country to FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) by the end of 2023 – a technology that involves no copper, only fibre. Does your home qualify for the free upgrade? Firstly, not all connection types are eligible for the free upgrade – FTTN (Fibre to the Node) households are being prioritised and form the bulk of the