This story is part of Tech for a Better World, stories about the diverse teams creating products, apps and services to improve our lives and society. Google said Thursday that it’s adding more “human-sounding” voices to its Select-to-speak feature on Chromebooks. Select-to-speak lets Chromebook users hear selected text on their screen spoken aloud. The new voices …
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The $160 Moto G Pure is the lowest-priced phone I tested in 2021. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It lacks support for 5G, has a 6.5-inch screen with just a 720p resolution and has a MediaTek Helio G25 processor which in our benchmark performance tests received the lowest score of any phone I tested. But after a few days …
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Microsoft on Thursday said it will shut down the localized version of LinkedIn in China amid a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.” The company said its new strategy in China will focus on matching professionals with jobs. LinkedIn plans to launch a new standalone jobs app, called InJobs, later this year in China. The app won’t …
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Apple’s spent years marketing its iPhones and iPads as more secure and reliable than competing devices powered by Google’s Android software, including from Samsung. One of the primary reasons is the App Store, the only sanctioned way to download apps for the iPhone and iPad. Though other phone makers have their own app stores too, they often allow what’s called …
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Acer announced four Chromebooks as part of the company’s global Next@Acer event on Wednesday. The new models include 14- and 15.6-inch clamshells — the Acer Chromebook 515 and 514 — as well as two 14-inch two-in-ones, the Chromebook Spin 514 and Spin 314. Shipments of Chromebooks exploded in 2020 from the pandemic and remained strong through the first half of 2021. That growth is showing …
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Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick Max is the company’s highest-priced and most powerful streaming stick yet. A step up from the $40 Streaming Stick 4K, the new Max runs $55 and packs a faster processor, support for Wi-Fi 6 and nearly all the latest playback standards from 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Vision to HDR10+ plus Dolby Atmos for audio. Spoiler: The Max is fast. For those who simply …
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Ahead of Google’s launch event on Oct. 19, noted leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks on Twitter) has posted new images of the purported Pixel 6, showcasing the device from multiple angles in three separate colors: stormy black, seafoam green and cloudy white. Take a look for yourself below: pic.twitter.com/DsQhodqPTy — E (@evleaks) October 12, 2021 The images line up with what …
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The Motorola Edge (2021) and Motorola Edge 5G UW are solid phones that boast premium features and a reasonable price. The phones are part of Motorola’s 2021 premium lineup. Up to this point, the Chicago-based company, which is owned by Lenovo, has spent most of 2021 launching a slew of sub-$500 phones in the US. These include the Moto G …
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Samsung announced Tuesday that it’ll hold its fourth Unpacked event of the year virtually on Oct. 20. Like the Unpacked event in August, Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 will be livestreamed. Samsung didn’t give much in the way of hints about what to expect at the event, but by all appearances it’ll be colorful and may involve apps. It’s hard to …
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The white-backed woodpecker is one the rarest and the most vulnerable of the woodpeckers in Europe. Though races of the bird can be found as far east as Korea and Japan, its numbers are in decline in Nordic countries, leading the Swedish to enact protections to try to preserve the species. There are currently more than 38,000 species of animals …
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