New Mexico authorities are almost done with their investigation into cinematographer Halyna Hawkins’ death on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie.
Xiaomi had a busy Thursday. It revealed a new slimmer foldable smartphone to go up against Samsung’s just-announced Galaxy Z Fold 4, then made that appear dull when its own humanoid robot prototype walked on stage. The Xiaomi CyberOne is 177cm (5.8 feet) tall, weighs 52kg (115 pounds) and is, apparently, a Leo. It comes before Tesla’s humanoid vision arrived as a real-world prototype. But there’s some definite style overlap.
The CyberOne is the second product out of the Xiaomi Robotics Lab, after the CyberDog from August 2021. The humanoid machine has a face in the form of a curved OLED panel, it can see the world in 3D and hear with two microphones to identify “85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion.” I don’t think I even have that emotional range. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said each CyberOne would cost between 600,000 and 700,000 yuan (about $89,100 to $104,000), so it’ll be sometime before the robots hit mass production, if ever.
— Mat Smith
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Given a choice between settling for pathetically slow internet speeds from AT&T or paying Comcast $50,000 to expand to his rural home, Michigan resident Jared Mauch chose another way: starting his own fiber internet service provider. Now, he’s expanding his service from about 70 customers to nearly 600, thanks to funding aimed at expanding access to broadband internet. He’ll need to expand from 14 to about 52 miles of fiber to complete the project, including at least a couple of homes that require a half mile of fiber for a single house.
Another foldable appears – this time to go up against the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Motorola’s last Razr was a nifty folding smartphone and $1,500 fashion statement, but the weak hardware struggled. Now, the company has revealed the Razr 2022, a foldable that might live up to that kind of price, thanks to a true flagship-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and an upgraded, more expansive screen. The curved chin and top camera notch has been nixed in favor of an all-screen design, removing a lot of that Razr design DNA.
Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 2 is the Chinese brand’s second foldable phone, featuring a surprising thickness of just 5.4mm, opened — barely enough to house a USB-C port — and 11.2mm thick, folded. One feature that enables the Mix Fold 2’s thinness is Xiaomi’s third-generation “micro water drop hinge,” which gives a tighter fold on the flexible display panel. Alas, the Mix Fold 2 is China-only for now, so good luck finding an importer.
Google’s merger of Meet and Duo is definitely confusing, but there should be some benefits. The company has added a live sharing beta feature that lets users of the revamped Meet share Spotify and YouTube streams during chats. The functionality will sound familiar if you’ve tried Apple’s SharePlay, but you can’t use Spotify or YouTube with that feature. At least, not yet.
Former president Donald J. Trump, a continued threat to the safety and security of the United States, had his home in Florida raided by the FBI over classified documents on Monday. And we now know those documents at Mar-a-Lago likely contained highly classified secrets about nuclear weapons, according to the …
Allen Groat stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, then returned to his job working for the town that was home to the massive neo-Nazi rally that defined the Trump era.
If you’re in the market for an Echo Show 8 but missed Amazon’s Prime Day sales, don’t despair. Right now, you can grab the latest second-generation model for $85, a substantial 35 percent discount ($45 off) and just $10 than the record low price. At the same time, the Echo Show 5 is still on sale for $40, for a savings of 53 percent
But Echo Show 8 at Amazon – $85
The second-generation Show 8 earned an Engadget score of 87, thanks to its 8-inch 1,280 x 800 touchscreen, minimalist design and stellar sound quality. It differs from the first-generation device in several ways, particularly with the updated 13-megapixel camera that digitally pans and zooms to keep you in frame when you’re doing video chats on apps like Zoom. It’s a particularly nice feature if you frequently use your smart display as a stationary video-chatting device. It also works great as a photo frame, and Amazon’s updated home screen lets you see multiple items at once like the weather and sports.
If you need something smaller to put on a bedside table, for instance, the Show 5 might be a better option. It includes a sunrise alarm feature, allowing the display to slowly brighten as a way to wake you gently during dark winter mornings. It also comes with all the usual features found on Amazon Echo devices, including Alexa voice control and Ring integration. Best off, it’s available for just $40, a substantial $45 off the usual $85 price.
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For most teenage girls in Afghanistan, it’s been a year since they set foot in a classroom.
South Korean president President Yoon Suk Yeol has pardoned Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee and has cleared him of bribery charges in hopes of revitalizing the country’s economy. Lee was originally sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of bribing public officials to back the merger of two Samsung affiliates, which would have solidified his control over the tech giant. He walked free after a year in detention, but the South Korean Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered the case to be retried.
While Lee was sentenced with two-and-a-half years of prison time in early 2021 in that retrial, he was paroled half a year later in a development that civic groups had described as another example of the justice system being lenient towards the country’s elite. Now, Lee doesn’t have to worry about being sent to prison on bribery charges again — the presidential pardon even allows him to rejoin Samsung’s board and to travel overseas to close deals. He was previously not allowed to take on an official role at Samsung under the conditions of his parole, even though the company’s executives had been keeping him apprised of the latest developments.
According to Bloomberg, Lee is now expected to make major strategic decisions for the tech giant, including deals related to chipmaking. The Korean government said in a statement:
“In a bid to overcome the economic crisis by vitalizing the economy, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, whose suspended prison term was ended recently, will be reinstated.”
Similarly, Justice Minister Han Dong Hoon said at a briefing:
“With urgent needs to overcome the national economic crisis, we carefully selected economic leaders who lead the national growth engine through active technology investment and job creation to be pardoned.”
In its latest earnings report, Samsung posted a 12 percent profit increase due to weak mobile and PC demand, which it blamed on “geopolitical issues and concerns over inflation on top of continued weak seasonality.” The company also expects demand for consumer devices to stay weak over the coming months.
As Bloomberg said, it’s unclear if Lee intends to take over as Samsung’s chairman, which has been a vacant position since his father Lee Kun-hee passed away in 2020. It’s worth noting that Lee still isn’t completely free of legal problems, though, and could still face jail time if he’s found guilty in a separate case of fraud and stock manipulation. He will continue attending hearings related to that case.
Gird your inboxes. A vote by the Federal Election Commission on Thursday indicates that more political spam emails may be coming for Gmail users.
Numerous transportation projects across the U.S. will be getting a slice of $2.2 billion of new federal funding.
She’s on life support after suffering a severe brain injury.
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