keyword: Software

google-banks-big-in-alphabet’s-post-pandemic-peak-q1-2021-earnings

Google banks big in Alphabet’s post-pandemic-peak Q1 2021 earnings

During the height of the pandemic last year, Google was the rare tech giant that actually saw a revenue decline — the first in the company’s history — but only by 2 percent. To say Google has now recovered would be the understatement of the week: Alphabet’s just-released Q1 2021 earnings show it raking in a stunning amount of cash this spring, nearly as high as the all-time record revenues and profit it set last quarter.

Alphabet’s filing (PDF) shows revenues of $55.3 billion, nearly as much as the $56.9 billion it pulled in Q4 2020, alongside $17.9 billion in profit compared to $15.2 billion. That’s also 34 percent more revenue year over year, though that’s admittedly comparing to March 2020 when the effects of some pandemic shutdowns may have been included in the results.

Alphabet’s all-important Google Cloud business does still seem to be losing money — last quarter, it broke out Google Cloud sales for the first time ever to reveal an eye-watering $5.6 billion loss in 2020. But the bleeding has slowed, with the company losing less than a billion dollars ($974M, to be precise) on over $4 billion in revenue. Each prior reported quarter saw over a billion in losses after pulling in under $4B, so those are both improvements.

We also learned for the first time last year how much money YouTube brings in (it was a $15-billion-a-year business in 2020), and while YouTube didn’t pull in quite as much money in the spring quarter as in Q4 ($6.0B vs. $6.9B previously), it’s still a huge increase from the flat $4 billion YouTube’s ads delivered a year ago in Q1 2020. Back-to-back $6B quarters for YouTube would suggest we’ll be looking at far more than a $15 billion-a-year business — assuming people don’t dramatically cut back on their YouTube viewing as vaccine availability spreads and people get back out in the world.

It’s hard to tell how Google’s hardware business is doing because Alphabet bundles it into a giant “Google Services” category that not only includes YouTube and Search but also the company’s entire ads business, the Chrome browser, and Android’s software revenue. But the company does have a “Google other” category that it makes distinct from its search and ads businesses, and that category pulled in $2 billion more year-over-year to reach $6.49 billion in revenue.

Alphabet’s “Other Bets,” comprised of its experimental projects like self-driving company Waymo, health company Verily, and Google Fiber, is unsurprisingly still small. It pulled in only $198 million in revenue for an operating loss of $1.15 billion.

Developing… we’ll be updating this story with more info from Alphabet / Google’s earnings release and the investor conference call at 5PM ET.

xiaomi-mi-11-ultra-review

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review

Introduction

Now that the Pro moniker has gone mainstream, it’s Ultra that has come to represent the cream of the crop, and the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can wear that badge proudly. Limited to its home market last year, the ultimate Mi has gone global this time around, and we’re happy to have it for review today.

We’re torn whether it’s the camera system’s physical appearance that is more striking or the hardware inside. A simply massive raised area on the back looks bolted on, almost after the fact, it’s hard to miss, and it’s a great conversation starter even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

But its size is warranted – the main camera packs the largest sensor used on a modern-day smartphone, and next to it – two more modules unmatched in their own fields, in one way or another. Oh, and yes, there’s also a display here – because why not, but also because it can be useful.

There’s a lot more than 1.1 inches of OLED on the front. The 6.81-inch Super AMOLED is all kinds of great – high resolution, high refresh rate, high brightness, HDR, a billion colors, you name it. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 888 underneath is second to none as chipsets go this year and with 256GB of base storage, should we even mention the lack of expansion capability as a con?

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra specs at a glance:
Body: 164.3×74.6×8.4mm, 234g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), ceramic back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins).
Display: 6.81″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 900 nits, 1700 nits (peak), 1440x3200px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 515ppi.
Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680); Adreno 660.
Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
OS/Software: Android 11, MIUI 12.5.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/2.0, 24mm, 1/1.12″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f/2.2, 12mm, 128˚, 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF; Telephoto: 48 MP, f/4.1, 120mm, 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom.
Front camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 27mm (wide), 1/3.4″, 0.8µm.
Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+ rec; Front camera: 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@120fps, gyro-EIS.
Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 67W, 100% in 36 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 67W, 100% in 39 min (advertised), Reverse wireless charging 10W, Quick Charge 4+, Power Delivery 3.0.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port.Xiaomis don’t normally have dust and water protection, but that’s changed this year with the Mi 11s – both the Pro and the Ultra have an IP68 rating, and that’s a most welcome development. Conversely, a staple of the brand’s handsets, both affordable and expensive, the IR emitter remains. Stereo speakers have been making their way to the Xiaomi midrange, so it’s only natural that the high-end models have them, and these have been tuned by Harman/Kardon, that couldn’t hurt.

An increase in battery capacity compared to last year’s model is another upgrade we can appreciate. On the other hand, they did downgrade the charging – instead of the Mi 10 Ultra’s 120W, you only get 67W here. Tsk-tsk.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra unboxing

The packaging has lost the flair of the Mi 10 Ultra’s presentation, and the Mi 11 Ultra showed up in a standard black box with copper lettering (or is it rose gold?). What’s inside that?

Our EU-bound retail bundle includes the 67W charger – that’s not the case in all markets with chargers coming as a free-of-charge option in some places (China, maybe other parts of Asia). It’s a proprietary adapter with a USB-A output, so it won’t please USB PowerDelivery die-hards. There is a USB cable included too.

A headset may be missing, but there is a USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle included so you can use your own. Also inside the box is a transparent soft silicone back cover. While the (free) protection is appreciated, the look and feel of the thing is no match for the phone itself.

realme-announces-realme-ui-2.0-early-access-program-for-x7-pro

Realme announces Realme UI 2.0 early access program for X7 Pro

Realme today announced the Realme UI 2.0 early access program for the X7 Pro in India. The Realme UI 2.0 is based on Android 11, and those interested in giving it a try can apply for early access by heading to their X7 Pro’s Settings > Software Update menu, tap on the Settings icon in the top-right corner, then on Trial Version, and then on Apply Now.

Once you’ve submitted the required information and applied for the early access program and your application is selected, you’ll receive the update on your X7 Pro. But before you apply, make sure your X7 Pro is running software with firmware version RMX2121PU_11.A.14. Besides, there are limited seats available, so you might want to hurry if you can’t wait to check out Android 11 and Realme UI 2.0 on your X7 Pro.

It’s also worth noting that the early access build has some known issues which could hamper the user experience, so it’s best not to install it on your primary smartphone. You can head over to the Source link below for more details.

Source

samsung-galaxy-s21-ultra-5g-gets-improvements-to-camera-with-the-new-update

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G gets improvements to camera with the new update

Samsung has released a new software update for the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, which bumps up the Android security patch level on the flagship to May 1, 2021. Additionally, the new build improves the camera and enhances the Quick Share feature.

The new firmware carries version number G998BXXU3AUDA and requires a download of about 1.2GB. It’s currently seeding in Germany, and we expect the rollout to expand in other countries soon.

If you live in Germany and haven’t received the update yet, you can try checking for it manually by navigating to your smartphone’s Settings > Software update menu.

Source | Via

honor-50-pro+-specs-revealed-by-benchmark:-6.79″-amoled-120-hz-display,-s888-chip,-triple-camera

Honor 50 Pro+ specs revealed by benchmark: 6.79″ AMOLED 120 Hz display, S888 chip, triple camera

Honor will skip the 40 series and jump straight to the “Honor 50”. The series will be unveiled in May and the top of the line model should be the Honor 50 Pro+. The team behind the Master Lu benchmark has discovered the phone’s specifications and shared them with the world.

This will be a proper flagship. It will have a 6.79” AMOLED display with 1440p+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate (with HDR10+ support to boot). It will run the Magic UI 4.0 software, though at this point it is not clear if it will have Google services on board or not.


Honor 50 Pro+ specs by Master Lu

Anyway, the Pro+ will be powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset (note that the GPU is misidentified as a Mali-G78). The chip will be hooked up to LPDDR5 RAM (8GB seems to be the base) and UFS 3.1 storage (starting at 128GB).

Moving on to the camera, the rear will feature a 50MP main, 13MP ultrawide and 8MP telephoto (50 mm, or 2x magnification) modules. There will be a 3D ToF sensor too. The front will be home to a dual camera 32MP + 8MP.

The 4,400 mAh battery will support 66W wired and 50W wireless charging. There’s no word on pricing yet.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

sega-will-start-selling-nfts

SEGA will start selling NFTs

Mustafa Mahmoud
2 hours ago
Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming

NFTs have become the latest controversial blockchain technology, allowing people to (in theory) sell digital art in a similar way to that of a physical piece of media – offering an authenticated sense of ownership over a particular piece. The practice has been steep in controversy due to a number of reasons. Despite this, SEGA has announced its intentions to begin selling NFTs later this year.

In a Japanese press release, as translated by DeepL, SEGA has announced that it will “collaborate with double jump.tokyo Inc. to Develop NFT Digital Content Using Blockchain Technology Globally.”

These NFTs are linked directly to popular SEGA IP, with the publisher announcing its intention to “sequentially sell a wealth of digital assets, such as visual art from the time of launch and video and background music used in games, as NFT content for a number of classic IPs that were developed for hardware released by SEGA in the past and are still highly popular around the world.”

SEGA appears to be set to expand upon this in the long term, adding that “this will be the first of many such sales. In the future, we will also explore services that will enable users to effectively utilize and enjoy their NFT content.”

NFTs have become controversial for a number of reasons, not least due to their environmental impact – something which is a greater concern than ever before. Regardless of which side you land on the NFT debate, SEGA’s decision to support it is an interesting one.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this move by SEGA? Have you purchased any NFTs? What do you think about NFTs? Let us know down below.

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