First Glimpse
First Glimpse
Sneak Peek: The Next BIG Thing from Punkt!
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Powered by the new Aphy OS and set to launch later this year, the upcoming phone from Punkt. is poised to carve out its niche in the mobile market.
Teardown
Grid's BlackBerry Bold 9000 display is a beautiful tribute at a mobile icon
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BlackBerry may be gone from most of our pockets, but we can still appreciate the beauty inside and out of one of the best pocket keyboard phones ever made: the Bold 9000.
Retooling
US offers $15 billion to upgrade old gas car factories for the EV future
The US Department of Energy is making $15 billion in grants and loans available to convert American automobile plants from making gas cars to electric ones.
Maaaagnets
Qi2 wireless charging with magnetic alignment is finally happening
Despite being unveiled back in January, it's taken until the end of summer for the MagSafe-based Qi2 wireless charging standard to show up in products — but now they're here!
Sit down before you see the prices
Philips Hue adds security cameras and Matter support
Philips Hue is branching out. No more are they just a smart lighting brand — they're becoming a smart home brand with their new Secure cameras and sensors. Just, you know, brace yourself for the price tag.
Expect loads of AI
The Google Pixel 8 will be unveiled on October 4th — here's what we know
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Google pinned down 4 October 2023 to show off the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and while we're not expecting anything groundbreaking in the hardware, the real star in the Pixel line has always been the software anyway.
Could've been an email…
What happens if everybody sends their Google Duet AI to the call?
Google's new Duet AI tool can attend a Google Meet call on your behalf — offering notes from you to the other callers, and taking notes for you about what is discussed. And it can also be a modern AI-powered Clippy for Docs, Sheets, and more.
🤖
OnStar hands non-emergency functions to Google AI to cut waits (and humans)
Automobile manufacturing giant General Motors partnered with Google to run basic OnStar help questions, cutting down on wait times for a human assistant.
USB-C!!!
The next iPhone will be unveiled on September 12 — here's what to expect
Apple just announced their next launch event for the middle of September, and it's going to bring some big changes to the venerable iPhone lineup.
AI for the office
ChatGPT Enterprise is OpenAI's faster business-grade private AI
OpenAI has a new offering for businesses: pay for the fancier version of ChatGPT with faster responses and better data privacy.
Coning around
San Francisco protesters are pranking driverless cars with traffic cones
While there's reasonable debate about the safety and reliability of driverless cars roaming the roads today, that ignores the debate over cars vs. public transit — and some advocates are getting devious.
Not-so-boring money stuff
Nvidia's monster earnings are all about AI
Quarterly earnings reports are usually a bore. But last week NVIDIA blew expectations out of the water with revenue was up almost 90% from the prior quarter. The reason: an epic hunger for chips to power AI.
Carry your water
SwitchBot's first robovac/mop is surprisingly clever
Robot vacuums aren't new, nor are robot mops. The two combined isn't new. A docking station that drains and refills the mop isn't new. But one you can hook up to your plumbing? Now you have my attention.
Instagram takes on Twitter
Everything you need to know about Threads, Instagram's Twitter clone
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Threads is Meta's attempt at a "microblogging" platform, in the vein of Twitt— err, X. It's still pretty new, but has seen decent adoption thanks to being built on the accounts system of Instagram. It's also seen regular updates to add new features like a "following" feed and a full web interface.
Surface what?
It's surprising how good this $800 Surface 2-in-1 competitor is
Robo & Kala is a new entrant in both Western markets and consumer devices, but their first 2-in-1 Windows tablet is both really quite good and surprisingly affordable.
One at a time
My long and slow personal social media detox
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I've slowly been withdrawing myself from most social media and I'm feeling happier and healthier for it.
Pseudoscience
So, it turns out that blue-light filtering glasses are complete bulls***
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A research study looked at all of the actual scientific material on the fad of "blue-light filtering" to alleviate eye strain and improve sleep quality. Aaaaand… there's no real evidence to support that. Welp.
Clicky Clacky
Why aren't keyboard phones viable anymore?
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My first smartphone had a keyboard, and I made a point of sticking with keyboard phones for a long time. I see new designs popping up with keyboards and they stir something inside me. Yet… I still use a slab-of-glass phone. What gives?
Disconnect
The case for an actively minimalist smartphone
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The way many of us use modern smartphones is really unhealthy. Can we do better? Can our phones do better for us?
An upgrade in waiting
Tesla's "Standard Range" Model S and X are cheaper, but there's a catch
If you were looking to save some money on a new Tesla Model S sedan or Model X crossover, you're in luck — the "Standard Range" models are back with a battery that you cannot charge all the way. But it's $10,000 less, so there's that.
How did we get here?
To the surprise of literally no one, the Zuck vs. Elon cage match is off
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I can't believe that I'm writing this, but here we are. I'm writing this. You're reading this. And we're all worse off for it.
AI Everything
"We're putting AI in it" is 2023's "we're putting blockchain in it"
Just because you can use a new technology doesn't mean you need to.
Large and Charged
The electric Escalade IQ is very, very big (and a very, very big deal)
There's a new electric Cadillac coming next year, and it's kind of a big deal. It's also kind of big, as you would expect from an Escalade.
5 billion scam calls
We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty…
The scammers behind the prolific call spam operation placed more than five billion robocalls during just a three-month period in 2021, aggravating effectively every American with a phone. And now they've been slapped with a $300 million fine by the FCC.
Coffee Shop Workstation
This portable monitor is an on-the-go dual-screen productivity booster
The ESR Kickstand Portable Monitor checks all the right boxes to be a good second display for my laptop when I'm away from my desk. Especially the most important box: price.
Taking on Tesla
US automakers team up to install 30,000 EV fast chargers and rival Tesla
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A coalition of American car manufacturers has formed an alliance to build a charging network to rival Tesla's Superchargers, and that's good news for everyone.
Flat folding
Samsung's newest foldable phones iterate on the theme
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Samsung kicked off the foldable smartphone market years ago and has been the market leader — and the new fifth generations of the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip make some minor but welcome improvements.
Turning tabs on their side (literally)
Arc rethinks the web browser and now anybody can try it
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What if you started building a new web browser interface from the ground up instead of continually hacking around a layout that hasn't substantially changed since the days of Netscape Navigator?
Send me a xeet
Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand is more ambitious than just the letter X
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Twitter owner and leader Elon Musk has long liked the letter X and owns the X.com domain, but his recent rebrand of Twitter is about more than just the letter. He wants to build it into the "everything" app.
Time will tell
Threads needs a "following" feed and edits — and they're coming
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The experience on Threads has changed dramatically since launch as high-profile celebrities and brands have joined and come to dominate the feed — and the developers are going to help tame that.