Author Archives: Ewdison Then

iPhones are always highly-coveted despite and perhaps because of their high prices. That does mean, however, that not all can afford one, especially more recent models. Rather than lose these customers to Android or have them clinging to their old, unsupported iPhones, Apple's Refurbished program lets people buy more recent iPhones like the iPhone XS for a much lower price, as long as they're OK with the caveats.

Continue Reading

Plastic cards tried to make paper cash a thing of the past and phones are now trying to return the favor. All of these payment systems, however, have one thing in common. They all require you to carry something with you, something you could potentially lose. Your hand, on the other hand, is always by your side (hopefully) which is why Amazon is reportedly looking into technology that will let people pay with just their palm.

Continue Reading

Chrome may have the lion's share of the web browser market but it is no secret that it is also one of the more resource-heavy and battery-hungry options in the market. Not a problem for desktops, of course, but as more and more people start working more on laptops, it definitely becomes a pain point. Fortunately, there might be some hope coming and it's coming from a rather unexpected source: Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge browser.

Continue Reading

Back in the days when phones weren't exactly smart, the only way people could browse the Web was often through Opera. In the age of smartphones and Google Chrome, however, Opera has become almost a legacy, a legacy that might soon be tarnished by the company's own actions. It turns out that Opera is using what can only be described as predatory loan apps on Android to make a profit but could, in turn, get it banned from Google Play Store for good.

Continue Reading

By now, SpaceX is quite famous for launching rockets that land safely back on earth to be reused again. Last Sunday, however, it let a Falcon 9 rocket explode and actually got congratulated for it. That's really because the expensive rocket wasn't the focus of the launch. Instead, SpaceX was testing the Crew Dragon's escape system that could hopefully save even more precious lives when the capsule does make its first manned flight in a few months.

Continue Reading

The Pixel 4 may have been a dud rather than a bang when it came to hardware but, as with other Pixels before it, Google has more or less made up for it in terms of software. In addition to the usual AI-based camera tricks, the Pixel 4 flaunted a few features that, technically speaking, is part of the general Android 10 release. That includes Live Captions, which is now available on all Pixel phones except, of course, the now unsupported OG Pixel.

Continue Reading

The audio equipment industry has experienced a dramatic change in the past few years. Especially thanks to smartphones, there has been a greater focus on wireless audio streaming which did catch a few companies a bit off-guard. Consumer buying habits have also changed over the course of the years, with more and more people becoming more comfortable buying things online rather than walking into physical stores. It is at least only for the latter reason that Bose is closing up almost half of its shops around the world and not because it's losing its market share.

Continue Reading

OnePlus' much-publicized philosophy is to never give its customers a subpar or expensive experience exchange for new, fancy features that won't benefit anyone. The company has stuck to that except when it doesn't, like when it did remove the headphone jack just in time for it to launch its own wireless earbuds. It still hasn't yielded ground to wireless charging, at least not yet, and it seems that the latest trend it is saying no to is foldable phones.

Continue Reading

Gone are the days when almost anyone that can set up a web server would offer a search engine of their own. These days, any custom engine is often powered by either Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Yandex and Baidu in certain countries. That is exactly what is happening with Verizon's unexpected OneSerch engine, which actually serves up results from Microsoft Bing. That, however, isn't what makes it interesting. Rather it is its promise to protect users' privacy that will probably raise not a few eyebrows.

Continue Reading

If you're tired of all the talk about foldable displays or even notches, don't worry, there seems to be a new trend on the way. Although not completely new, screens that boast of refresh rates higher than the normal 60 Hz have, until recently, been the arena of gaming smartphones. With OnePlus' announcement of its own, Samsung-made 120 Hz Fluid Display, it seems that its competitors like ZTE's nubia and Xiaomi's Black Shark will be joining the fray soon as well.

Continue Reading

It seems that Google is trying to further bridge the gap between Android and Chrome OS, making the latter the OS to rule them all without actually merging them. This is especially the case with the upcoming Chrome OS 80 version which is getting some key features that improve the web-based platform's Android support. The latest addition brings something that is both familiar but also divisive among Android users: full gesture navigation.

Continue Reading

Almost two years ago, computing accessory maker launched a rather interesting dock for the Surface Pro. Instead of a normal dock or even a dongle, the SD7000 turned the 2-in-1 tablet into a makeshift Surface Studio. After almost two years in the market, the smaller Surface Go is now also getting its own Kensington docking station but if you were expecting something like a mini Surface Studio Mini, you're unfortunately in for a very expensive disappointment.

Continue Reading