Stephen Shankland

Apple says its new M1 Mac chip delivers better speed, battery life

Apple’s next-generation Macs will use a new chip called the M1, a big brother to the A14 chips in its iPhone 12, that Apple says will bring new power and battery life to its personal computers. The same M1 chip now powers new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini models. The company’s goal with …

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USB 4 will help your PC, phone and gadgets get along in 2020 (FAQ)

USB has come a long way since its humble origins as a better port for plugging your mouse or printer into your PC. Now, the latest generation of the technology standard, USB 4, is starting to show up in the wild.  On Tuesday, Apple unveiled a portfolio of new Macs that feature USB 4 ports as it transitioned to computers …

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Apple must show its iPhone chip sibling is powerful enough for a Mac

Apple is taking a risk giving Mac computers a brain transplant, swapping out Intel chips for processors of its own design. Apple’s processors are part of the Arm family — the kind used in iPhones and iPads — that have delivered lackluster speed on Windows PCs. But Apple has a chance to give that reputation a speed boost. With the …

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Honeywell fires up the H1, its second

Honeywell’s second-generation quantum computer, the H1, is in business. The powerful computer performs calculations by carefully manipulating 10 ytterbium atoms housed in a thumbnail-size package called an ion trap. Honeywell, a surprise new entrant into quantum computers, is one of a several companies hoping to revolutionize computing. Tech giants IBM, Google, Intel and Microsoft also have serious quantum computing programs, and …

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More cars could get What3words address tech with Here navigation deal

Some Mercedes cars have the What3words technology built in, letting you speak or type three words to pinpoint a 10×10 foot location in its navigation system, but a lot more cars soon could get similar technology. The London company announced a deal that will let navigation system maker Here incorporate the technology. Here navigation technology is used in car brands …

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Adobe Lightroom gets cinema

You might have noticed how moviemakers try to shape your mood with color: the sickly green tinge of the Matrix, the psychedelic purple and blue of Avatar, the miasmic orange of Blade Runner 2049 or the gritty dulled colors of Saving Private Ryan. It’s done with a technology called color grading, and Adobe has just built it into its Lightroom …

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iPhone 12 Pro’s cameras got some new tricks that serious photographers will love

Apple’s iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini add significant new photography features, but camera hardware and computational photography software on the higher-end iPhone 12 Pro models really show how hard Apple is working to attract photo and video enthusiasts. Among the changes in the iPhone 12 Pro models are new abilities to fuse multiple frames into one superior shot and a lidar …

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Privacy push could stop some annoying website pop

If you’re sick of websites tracking you and just as frustrated with website pop-ups prompting you to dig through obscure browser cookie settings — good news. An alliance including web publishers and browser makers has developed technology to stop websites from selling or sharing the data they gather about you, and you can try it now. If the effort succeeds, …

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Chrome now can find hacked passwords on Android and iPhones

Chrome running on your smartphone now can check whether your passwords have been hacked. The feature previously worked on personal computers, but now works on Apple iPhones and devices powered by Google’s Android, the company said Tuesday. The feature sends usernames and passwords to Google servers to check if they’ve been compromised in known data breaches. Google itself can’t see …

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What’s this EXIF technology people used to study Trump photos?

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. President Donald Trump‘s case of COVID-19 gave an obscure photo data technology called EXIF its 15 minutes of internet fame as people started scrutinizing photos taken of him this weekend at Walter Reed hospital. But what exactly is EXIF? In short, it’s a …

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