JPEG turns 25 this year, a remarkable achievement when you think about how the latest smartphone becomes ho-hum in a matter of months. But to celebrate JPEG’s birthday, we might finally be seeing something better. That’s because the Joint Photographic Experts Group has begun work on a successor, called JPEG XL that at a minimum …
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As a general rule, Apple products and “Cheapskate” don’t belong in the same sentence. But obviously zillions of people love Apple gear, price be damned. I like Apple gear, too, but damned if I’m going to pay full retail for it. That’s why I always advise people to choose refurbished hardware whenever possible. It’s usually good as new or darn …
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Pretty much everybody else is now happy with a single Bluetooth or sound bar speaker, but stereo speakers are still the choice for audiophiles. I get it: One speaker takes up half the space of two and costs roughly half as much, but I’d be derelict in my duties if I failed to mention what’s lost with a single speaker. …
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A little less noise, a little more signal. That’s what Google hopes to deliver to G Suite (business) Gmail users on iPhones and iPads with its support for high-priority email notifications. The feature is rolling out over the next few days but its arrival may be subject to your corporate administrative process before you see it. Android users will be …
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Sales are off to a brisk start for OnePlus‘ latest flagship phone. The Shenzhen-based phone manufacturer announced today it has sold more than one million units worldwide of its OnePlus 6 within 22 days making it the company’s fastest-selling device to date. By comparison, it took the OnePlus 6’s predecessors, the 5 and 5T, 3 months each to hit that …
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Look at this picture. Now imagine you’re holding a laptop that — instead of a keyboard — has a second screen. Like something out of Westworld. Swiping might be a tad easier than typing, yes? Microsoft-owned SwiftKey was one of the first virtual keyboards to offer intelligent, predictive swipe-typing on Android and iOS phones, and now Microsoft has announced that …
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I’m as scared as anybody that all of my oh-so-personal data is being turned into a giant dossier that’ll help companies and governments target me in all kinds of seminefarious ways. Shadow profiles and the like. But if Google’s just revamped Ad Settings tool is any indication, those potentially privacy-penetrating algorithms are still pretty dumb. So dumb that I’m happy …
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Snapchat wants to take over on your smartphone. Snap on Thursday launched Snap Kit, a platform for developers that’ll let them integrate Snapchat’s experiences into other apps. This means you can expect to start seeing filters, bitmoji and stories outside Snapchat, a Snap spokesperson said in a release. Like Snap’s recent expansion of friendmoji, it’s yet another move by the …
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Samsung’s making another big bet on artificial intelligence. The company on Wednesday said its Silicon Valley-based Samsung NEXT business has launched a new fund to invest in early-stage startups “solving AI problems, as well as those using AI to solve computer science problems.” The Q Fund doesn’t have a cap, but it falls under Samsung NEXT’s overall $150 million investment …
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Many of us scroll through our phones just before falling asleep and immediately after waking up. But first-year students at Eton College, an English boarding school for boys, no longer have that luxury. The students have been ordered to turn in their phones at night because of concerns around the pressures of social media, according to The Guardian. Eton College …
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