An engineer hacked Apple’s infamous Magic Mouse to make it more user-friendly, ergonomic, and overall less annoying. Ivan Kuleshov is the said engineer, and he has also hacked the Apple Mac Mini in the past to be powered over Ethernet.
A number of Anker chargers, cables, power adapters and other accessories are on sale for Black Friday at Amazon, with discounts of up to 37 percent. One key callout is on our favorite premium power bank, Anker’s Prime 20,000 mAH battery with charging base. It’s currently down to $130 for the set and the lowest price ever. At full price, we’ve seen the set go for as high as $200. The base is what makes it really stand apart from other power banks — simply drop the brick on the platform and it starts recharging.
The screen on the Prime bank is impressive as well, detailing just how much charge the pack has left and how much is heading out of each of the three ports (one USB-A and two USB-C). In our tests, it revived a dead iPhone back to 100 percent in just over an hour and 45 minutes, with enough left over for another three-quarters charge. It brought a spent iPad Air back to full in a little under two hours. Not only is the base an easy way to recharge the battery, it also acts as a charging hub with three ports of its own for powering up other stuff.
Other Anker accessories we like are seeing big discounts too, including the 67W USB-C charger for 37 percent off, bringing it to $38, matching its all-time low. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, so you can charge your phone, tablet and even a battery pack at one time.
Our top 65W fast wall charger is Anker’s 735 GaN Prime, which is down to a new low price after a 38 percent discount. It’s got the same three ports as the above wall adapter and outperformed other contenders in our tests.
Finally, the diminutive and handy Anker Nano Power Bank is seeing one of its first discounts since coming on the market a couple months ago. It’s down to $21 and would make a great stocking stuffer — particularly for those who always seem to have a phone hovering around 5 percent. The small brick has a built-in foldable USB-C connector and in my experience, it got a Galaxy S23 Ultra to 62 percent in about an hour. Plus its easy to use the phone while the bank is pugged in.
Check out the larger Black Friday Anker sale here.
Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ankers-black-friday-deals-will-save-you-up-to-37-percent-on-some-of-our-favorite-charging-gear-183048555.html?src=rss
Cadillac has unveiled a new entry-level compact electric SUV. The Optiq will sit below the Lyriq in Cadillac’s lineup, and images the automaker shared suggest it will also borrow from the more expensive SUV’s stylings. However, you may have to wait a while before buying one, as Cadillac says we won’t hear more about the Optiq (including its full specs) until 2024.
The Optiq will continue Cadillac’s naming convention of ending its EVs’ names with some form of “IQ.” In addition to the Lyriq, other examples include the Escalade IQ and Celestiq.
Although Cadillac hasn’t explicitly stated so, the Optiq will likely use GM’s Ultium battery platform. Road and Driver speculates that since Cadillac’s SUV is similar in size to the Chevy Equinox EV, it could have similar specs. The Equinox has a 210-horsepower electric motor for the front wheels and an optional 290-horsepower dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup with a range likely capping out at around 300 miles for maxed-out configurations.
Autoblog notes details we already know about the version of the Optiq made for China, thanks to photos and information shared through the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) pre-market vehicle approval process. That model is allegedly 189.8 inches long, 75.3 inches wide and 64.6 inches tall. That would make it around 2.5 inches narrower and seven inches shorter (in length) than the Lyriq. The China model is listed as weighing 4.850 lbs with a top speed of 112 mph. It has two front-wheel-drive configurations, including a 201-horsepower motor and a 241-hp one.
Cadillac’s full press release was short and to the point. “Today, Cadillac has confirmed the fourth vehicle to join its expanding global electric vehicle portfolio — OPTIQ,” the announcement reads. “OPTIQ will act as the entry point for Cadillac’s EV lineup in North America, slotting in below LYRIQ, a luxury compact SUV. OPTIQ’s spirited driving dynamics are designed to appeal to global luxury customers. Additional details, as well as available features and pricing, will be unveiled next year.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cadillacs-midrange-optiq-electric-suv-takes-cues-from-the-high-end-lyriq-183414934.html?src=rss
Dino Rojas-Moreno, 26, has been accused of murder after Laguna Beach police say they obtained evidence connecting him to the death of Tatum Goodwin.
An engineer hacked Apple’s infamous Magic Mouse to make it more user-friendly, ergonomic, and overall less annoying. Ivan Kuleshov is the said engineer, and he has also hacked the Apple Mac Mini in the past to be powered over Ethernet.
The Hubble Space Telescope just ogled an exoplanet passing in front of a star in a triple system, revealing the nearby world’s mass.
Amazon is sacking employees in its Alexa division even as it prepares to upgrade Alexa to be as smart as modern AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT. The move will impact several hundred employees in the US, Canada, and India, according to an internal email sent on Friday.
“As we continue to invent, we’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers — which includes maximizing our resources and efforts focused on generative AI,” wrote Daniel Bausch, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Fire TV in the email, first obtained by GeekWire. “These shifts are leading us to discontinue some initiatives, which is resulting in several hundred roles being eliminated.”
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the company was, indeed, laying off “several hundred” people in the division and said that Amazon was trying to find roles for those impacted wherever possible. “While this was a hard decision to make, we remain very optimistic about the future of Alexa,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “As we move forward, Alexa remains an incredibly important part of our business, and we will continue to invest and innovate to deliver on our vision.” The spokesperson did not say which initiatives were being discontinued.
Amazon released Alexa in 2014. But nearly ten years later, most people don’t use the digital assistant for anything beyond playing music, asking for the weather, or setting timers. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which was powered by generative AI, was widely perceived to be smarter than Alexa and Siri, which sometimes struggle with basic requests. A few months ago, OpenAI added voice capabilities to ChatGPT, letting people have conversations with it in natural language.
In September, Amazon announced that it would upgrade Alexa with capabilities that would bring it closer in line with ChatGPT. Alexa will soon be powered by a large language model, the same foundational technology that is the basis of modern chatbots like ChatGPT. “Our latest model has been specifically optimized for voice,” David Limp, Amazon’s SVP of Devices & Services, told the audience at the company’s event that month, “and the things we know our customers love — like having access to real-time information, efficiently controlling their smart home, and getting the most out of their home entertainment.” Earlier this year, Limp announced he would leave Amazon after more than 13 years later this year and is now the CEO of Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin.
The new upgrades to Alexa will mean that you won’t have to say “Alexa” each time you want something done. You’ll also be able to give complex requests, like asking the assistant to prepare the house for bedtime every weeknight at 9 PM, dim the lights, lock the doors, and set the temperature all at one go. Alexa will also be able to hold longer conversations and maintain the context of the discussion.
Amazon has so far laid off more than 27,000 employees across the company after it began mass-scale cutbacks a year ago for the first time in its history. Last week, the company cut 180 jobs from its gaming division, including the entire staff of Crown, a company-backed Twitch channel. Earlier this month, Amazon also laid off an unspecified number of employees in its music streaming unit and has previously cut more than 100 employees from its gaming divisions.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-is-laying-off-several-hundred-employees-working-on-alexa-190339189.html?src=rss
MediaTek has announced two new products at their MediaTek Executive Summit 2023: the MediaTek Filogic 860 and Filogic 360 WIFI 7 chips. These chips broaden WIFI 7 technology accessibility, targeting more mainstream market segments with their features and performance capabilities.
The newly unveiled MediaTek Filogic 860 is a WIFI 7 chip designed primarily for routers and access points. It boasts a maximum theoretical speed of 7.2Gbps, positioning it as a formidable player in the high-speed internet.
One of the most notable aspects of the Filogic 860 is its construction using a 6nm semiconductor process. This refinement promises enhanced power efficiency compared to older chips with larger transistor node sizes. Additionally, it is equipped with one 10Gbps Ethernet port, catering to users requiring basic high-speed wired connections.
In contrast, the MediaTek Filogic 360 is tailored for end-user devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. This chip is a move by MediaTek to make WIFI 7 technology accessible to more users, particularly those who may not require the high-end performance of more expensive chips but still desire the benefits of advanced WIFI technology.
Introducing the Filogic 860 and 360 represents a strategic expansion of MediaTek’s product line, adding to the segment tiers previously occupied by the more expensive Filogic 880 and 380 chips. While the high-end Filogic 880 offers significantly higher performance compared to the new Filogic 860, the latter is still poised to meet the demands of the vast majority of users.
Similarly, the Filogic 360, with its peak bandwidth of 2.9 Gbps, still offers substantial performance (at a lower cost) compared to the 6.5 Gbps bandwidth of the higher-end Filogic 380, making it an attractive option for more consumers.
The performance of these chips is directly tied to the number of compute units they contain. Higher performance requires more units, which increases the cost due to the larger space needed on the silicon die. This relationship between performance, size, and price allows MediaTek to cater to various market segments with different versions of a similar technology.
The new Filogic 360 also brings modern updates like Bluetooth 5.4 and maintains cutting-edge WIFI 7 features such as Multi-Link Operations and Multiple Resource Units without significantly impacting the price.
With the introduction of the Filogic 860 and 360 chips, MediaTek is set to enable a new generation of more affordable WIFI 7 devices. These chips are a testament to MediaTek’s commitment to delivering innovation to a wide range of devices, from high-end access points to affordable mainstream consumer electronics. The truth is that the Internet needs of most people can be easily and efficiently cared for by these cost-efficient Filogic chips.
Expect to see devices featuring these chips in mid-2024, according to MediaTek.
MediaTek Unveils New Filogic 860 and 360 WIFI 7 Chips
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The tech company’s decision comes after the billionaire backed an antisemitic post on his social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The tech company’s decision comes after the billionaire backed an antisemitic post on his social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
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