Smart

PSA: If you enrolled in an energy saver program, your smart thermostat may adjust itself

Texas’ energy grid, which failed spectacularly over the winter during a stretch of historically cold weather, will be put to the test again this weekend, as temperatures across much of the state are forecast to be in the upper 90s. Despite assurances from Gov. Greg Abbott that “everything that needed to be done was done… Read more

Innodisk Reveals Industrial Grade DDR5 Memory Sticks

Home News (Image credit: Innodisk) DDR5 has only been with us for a relatively short time, and over the course of its lifetime, it will see a wide variety of applications and uses. Innodisk is jumping on the DDR5 boat quickly with its new industrial-grade DDR5 modules designed for “5G, deep learning, AI, edge computing,… Read more

‘Many’ Xbox Series X/S games will be playable on Xbox One

Home News (Image credit: Microsoft) The Xbox Series X and S might be Microsoft’s newest consoles, but you won’t need them to play the latest games. That’s because new titles are coming to Xbox One consoles, Microsoft has announced. Now, there are a few caveats to this announcement. Not all games will be playable on… Read more

Tamagotchi’s new smartwatch lets you strap a needy digital pet to your wrist

Everyone’s favorite digital pet, the Tamagotchi, is being reinvented for its 25th anniversary. The new Tamagotchi Smart puts the creature into a colorful smartwatch, allowing you to strap your digital pet — and all the chores that come with it — directly to your wrist. Kotaku reports that the new device features a touchscreen for… Read more

Google Meet’s hand-raising feature is getting a more visible animation

Google Meet, Google’s answer to video calling services like Zoom, is getting a collection of helpful tweaks to its hand-raising feature as part of ongoing updates to Workspace. The new changes, spotted by 9to5Google, include a new hand-raising animation, notification sound, and adjustments to how hosts are made aware of raised hands. While the update… Read more

How Republicans and Democrats are gearing up to fight tech monopolies

In a surprise decision Tuesday, President Joe Biden tapped Lina Khan, one of the most prominent critics of Big Tech, to lead the Federal Trade Commission. In that role, Khan will have the authority to guide the FTC’s agenda — and it’s fair to assume she’ll be taking a hawkish stance toward Big Tech. The… Read more

The next step for wearables could be illness ‘warning lights’

Harpreet Rai, the CEO of smart ring company Oura, often tells a story about a March 2020 Facebook post. An Oura ring user posted that the device said that his overall health score had dropped below his normal level, which prompted him to get tested for COVID-19 — and the test ended up being positive…. Read more

Hisense 2021 TV range includes Mini-LED, OLED and laser models

Home News (Image credit: Hisense) With Euro 2020 now in full swing, a lot of us are thinking that our ageing, grubby TVs could do with an upgrade. If that’s you, you might want to check out Hisense’s 2021 TV range, which will be hitting UK shops imminently. It’s headed up by the flagship U9GQ… Read more

Level’s new smart door lock is a little simpler and a little less expensive

Smart lock company Level is announcing a new model in its lineup today, simply named the Level Lock. The new Level Lock is very similar to the model introduced last year (now known as the Level Lock Touch) but without the touch controls. It sits in the middle of Level’s lineup and is available starting… Read more

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen vs Echo Dot 3rd Gen: What are the key differences?

(Pocket-lint) – Amazon’s line of Echo Dot speaker was one of the more settled and consistent in tech over the last few years – its puck-shaped design was clearly doing something right as the Alexa speaker sold in its multitudes. However, few things in tech last forever and Amazon now has an entirely new look… Read more

Razer is releasing its Project Hazel mask in limited drops in the fourth quarter of this year

Razer had a few announcements timed for E3 2021, including its new Razer Blade 14 with AMD’s Ryzen 9 processors, and an updated Raptor 27 gaming monitor along with a 130W GaN charger. We weren’t expecting to hear about anything else, but Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan announced that its Project Hazel mask will actually go… Read more

Doom now runs on an Ikea smart light bulb

“Can it run Doom?” is a question nearly as old as Doom itself, as creative hardware hackers and software savants across the internet work to try and get the 1993 classic shooter to run on virtually anything that has a microprocessor. The latest absurd entry: an Ikea Trådfri GU10 345 RGB LED bulb, which Next-Hack… Read more

Amazon Echo 4-gen vs Amazon Echo 3-gen : What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – Amazon has a new generation of Echo and for the first time in a long time, a completely new design. Gone is the cylinder as the Echo goes spherical. But that’s not the only change for this new Echo device, as it expands in other areas too. Read on and we’ll explore the… Read more

Google Workspace and Google Chat are officially available to everybody

Google is announcing some changes to its Workspace suite of apps and services today, including availability for anybody who has a Google account. Google says that there are over three billion users of its Workspace apps — though it’s probably a safe bet that Gmail accounts for a healthy chunk of that userbase. A lot… Read more

Bitcoin Miners Finally Approve Taproot Proposal

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) Bitcoin is about to get a significant upgrade. A proposal called Taproot finally received the 90% approval rating it needed to start the Speedy Trial phase before officially joining the Bitcoin Core software at the heart of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell proposed Taproot in January 2018 in… Read more