Google Assistant has a few more tricks up its sleeve as of last week, including one that lets it play nicely with iPhones and a couple of others that make it easier to create routines. Google bound this set of features together with the theme of “making the day a little easier,” but the real …

Apple’s newest MacBooks are powered by the company’s own Apple Silicon M1 processors, and because of that Apple was able to extend the battery life of its M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro far beyond what we’ve seen in previous Apple laptops. But if you’re having battery life issues for any reason — on these MacBooks or others — we’re …

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra may not be Samsung’s latest, greatest handset — that honor goes to the amazing Galaxy S21 Ultra — but it’s packed with some top tech, a big screen and a brilliant camera. That all makes it a superb handset to capture the glorious, remote landscape of a road trip around the Scottish island of Mull.  Read …

Are two screens better than one? Xiaomi hopes to prove so with the Mi 11 Ultra. Announced last month, it’s the Chinese company’s latest superphone and rounds out its new Mi 11 lineup. With the regular Mi 11, Xiaomi already gave us an excellent device, packing nearly everything we expect from an Android flagship in 2021. But Xiaomi has outdone …

Update: Sorry, folks, but the seller has expired the promo code.  Shortly after the world began to social distance last this year, I discovered that my laptop didn’t even come with a webcam. It wasn’t a feature I had cared about until that moment. The bad news is that, even if your laptop does have a webcam, chances are it’s …

When my family and I moved across the country about a year ago, we decided to retire our decade-old basic HD TV and kit out our home with a fancy new 4K Roku-powered one. After mounting it on the wall, I tested it out with Star Wars (well, The Mandalorian). After marveling at all the visual eye candy my TV …

The UK government on Monday raised its objections to Nvidia’s takeover of chip designer Arm, in part due to national security concerns. UK Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the country’s competition watchdog, the CMA, would look into the proposed sale of Arm, which has its headquarters in the British city of Cambridge, to explore the any national security implications …

As the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with the murder of George Floyd, draws to a close, Facebook has outlined the ways in which it is preparing to deal with any fallout as the verdict is announced.  Across Facebook and Instagram, moderators are working “around the clock” to look for potential threats, Monika Bickert, vice …

Reddit on Monday announced Reddit Talk, a new feature that lets users host live audio conversations in their communities. Reddit Talk aims to give users another way to communicate with each other, according the announcement post. The feature isn’t available yet, but subreddit moderators can join a waitlist. Reddit Talk could potentially function like Clubhouse, the audio chat app that …

Facebook plans to launch a series of new “social audio” products in the next few months, taking on buzzy audio-chat apps such as Clubhouse that have become more popular during the pandemic. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance on group chatting app Discord.  Screenshot by Queenie Wong/CNEET “We think that audio is of course also going to be a …