Month: January 2023
The storms battering California won’t make a big dent in its drought
A deluge of storms is dumping serious amounts of rain across notoriously dry California. Even so, this week’s downpours are still nowhere near enough to pull the state out of its intense years-long drought. A bomb cyclone is working its way across the state today, flooding homes and roads and…
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Zoom’s avatars now let you appear as a cartoon version of yourself
Zoom announced human avatars today for its video meeting app. Like Apple’s Memoji or the humanoid cartoons Mark Zuckerberg wants us to use in the metaverse, the customizable virtual characters mirror your movements and facial expressions. The idea is to inject zaniness into less formal meetings, letting you be present…
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EcoFlow has three new gadgets for luxury off-grid living
EcoFlow announced three new devices today — a refrigerator / ice maker, an air conditioner / heater, and a robotic lawnmower / leaf collector — as part of its burgeoning ecosystem of portable, battery-powered solutions for residential homes, off-grid cabins, and RVs. They join the company’s new whole-home battery backup kits,…
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Dell wants to cut out Chinese-made chips
Audio player loading… Dell has announced plans to phase out chips made in China from its machines by 2024 in a move that could to have major repercussions across the wider tech industry. A person familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia (opens in new tab): “The determined shift involves…
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Ring offers a first look at its home security drone
At the back end of 2020, Ring showed off a concept device it promised would be coming to homes at some point in the future. The Always Home Cam is a mini drone, designed to zoom around your home, patrolling for intruders when you weren’t in. Now, at CES 2023,…
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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite will let Android phones text off the grid
Last year, Apple introduced Emergency SOS, which allows the iPhone 14 to connect to satellites to send emergency texts. Now, Qualcomm has unveiled its own satellite messaging features for Android phones. It’s called Snapdragon Satellite, and it will allow devices equipped with the company’s X70 modems to connect to satellites…
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