Author Archives: Chris Burns

A Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI) was created for the near future in which COVID-19 vaccination checks are imperative. The VCI is a coalition of public and private partners that include Evernorth, Mitre, SAFE, SalesForce, Change Healthcare, CARIN, The Commons Project, Epic, Mayo Clinic, Oracle, and Microsoft. Cards will allow individuals to access and display their vaccination records "based on open, inoperable standards."

Continue Reading

This week the folks at Niantic released a new update for Pokemon GO. Beyond what we were able to see in the game's live code, a whole bunch of new and not-quite-active features appeared in the game's build. Items like a new Ditto Extensions Library (maybe for Shiny Ditto?) and Promise Library appeared in the mix before they're ready to roll in the game proper - let's take a peek!

Continue Reading

Today Samsung revealed their Galaxy SmartTag series, with Bluetooth for the standard version and UWB tracking with the Galaxy SmartTag+. Each Samsung Galaxy SmartTag will be able to be viewed in an app on your smartphone, tracked in real time, and pinged at a moment's notice with UWB (with the SmartTag+) or with the last known location using Bluetooth (with the standard SmartTag).

Continue Reading

The ASUS VivoBook S14 (S435) is an interesting piece of hardware. This laptop is not made to look particularly extraordinary - instead its value can be found in subtle accents and extreme portability. This is not the first VivoBook S14 to ever be released, but it is the most refined iteration of a VivoBook yet revealed to the public.

Continue Reading

ASUS announced to next-level laptops at CES 2021 with the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED (UX582) and ZenBook Duo 14 (UX482), both of them ready to roll with two displays apiece. The Duo 14 has a 14-inch display and a secondary touchscreen display that tilts up from the base of the device. The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED works with a 15.6-inch OLED display with a tilting secondary display - both of them 4K and HDR ready.

Continue Reading

On the 13th of January, 2021, Google announced the launch of Guest Mode. They've revealed this feature as "another easy way to control your privacy on smart speakers and Smart Displays." That includes Google Nest and Google Home speakers as well as a number of Google-embedded Smart Displays. This system was launched in English, first, and will likely spread to other devices and languages in the near future.

Continue Reading

Three star chip designers from Apple and Google formed a company called NUVIA in late 2019. They aimed to create silicon processing chips that'd eventually take on the likes of Intel and AMD, and raised a whole bunch of money in Series A and B funding and became a force to be reckoned with in a relatively short amount of time. Today, Qualcomm announced that they'll be acquiring NUVIA for $1.4 billion USD.

Continue Reading

This week the folks at Spotify launched a major upgrade for their shared family plan feature. Spotify Kids is a feature within Spotify that curates the Spotify music universe in a way that makes the whole experience safe for a kid. With a shared account, a parent can give access to their child via an account made specifically for said kid. With this latest update, they'll have access to Shared Playlists, too.

Continue Reading

In the year 2021, Oscar Mayer is seeking 12 recent college grads to become drivers of the Wienermobile. The Wienermobile, if you've never seen it, is a giant hot dog vehicle that doubles as an advertisement for the Oscar Mayer company. At any given moment, a handful of brand ambassadors - also known as Hotdoggers - are employed and deployed in Wienermobiles across these United States.

Continue Reading

Today we're taking a peek at the next Pokemon GO Community Day - ready for Machop! The day includes an optional $1 ticket for Special Research called "Straight to the top, Machop!" It also includes a special Machop Community Day Bundle that'll only be available one time (one purchase, only) with an Elite Charged TM.

Continue Reading

This week we caught our first glimpse of what LG described as the world's first rollable smartphone. This device was first shown at CES 2021, the consumer electronics show, the first "all digital" version of the show thanks to the pandemic through which we're still living. Today it's been reported that this LG-made smartphone with rollable display won't have a display made by LG.

Continue Reading

Today the ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) crew showed off a collection of new computers and accessories. In addition to some fantastical laptops running the newest in new graphics processors, they delivered a new mechanical RGB gaming keyboard, a 19,000 dpi wireless gaming mouse, and a 32-inch HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor, all under the ROG brand name.

Continue Reading