Facebook has announced some big plans related to audio and its place on the company's primary social media platform. Starting later this year, the company plans to introduce multiple changes for its users, including the addition of sound creation tools backed by artificial intelligence and a new audio format the company calls Soundbites.
NASA's historic first flight of a helicopter on Mars was celebrated this week by Google's search engine. If you head to Google now and type in "Ingenuity" or "Ingenuity NASA", you'll find yourself on the business end of a fun little animation of sorts. Make sure you're using a Chrome web browser to do it, and it'll most likely work best if you're on a desktop computer.
While the next iPhone will be different from the last, it won't likely break tradition when it comes to its own release date schedule. In a note released this week by investor analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, new features were outlined for the next set of smartphone devices in the Apple universe. These devices are tentatively titled iPhone 13 (unless Apple comes completely out of left field with a new naming scheme), and they'll probably be arriving this Autumn.
A Google Photos update this week added a Documents tab to assist in the process of finding documents in one's photo collection. This might not seem all that important if you believe you've never used your smartphone or smart device camera to "scan" a document before. Why would you? As some users are finding out, they've captured far more personal, private, or otherwise important information via casual smartphone snap than they initially believed.
Lincoln has revealed its latest concept car, and the Zephyr Reflection is a striking reminder that "American Luxury" can be darn handsome too. Unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2021, the shapely sedan is focused entirely on Chinese tastes, Lincoln says, and pushes beyond some of the more monolithic cues of the automaker's current line-up.
Fitbit has a new health-tracking wearable aiming for your wrist, with Fitbit Luxe promising a little more style than most activity trackers. Described as the company's "most elevated tracker," Luxe takes its inspiration from jewelry more than the tech world, with a smooth stainless steel case and interchangeable bands and straps.
Back in March, Sony revealed its plans to shut down the digital PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita storefronts this summer. The announcement received a lot of pushback from gamers, and today, Sony announced that it's making an about-face - the PS3 and PS Vita stores won't be shutting down this summer as originally announced, and will instead stay online so users can continue to purchase games and other media for those platforms.
The most major all-encompassing Xbox Update for April 2021 delivered several new ways for players to involve their lives in the gaming universe. One way this took effect was a new ability to view leaderboards and achievements in the Xbox mobile app on game detail pages. That may seem like a small change - but the implications are huge.
Apple plans to allow Parler back into the App Store, having expunged the Twitter-rivaling social network in January over accusations it was used by January 6 US Capitol insurrectionists to plan violent acts. Apple and Google opted to remove the app from their respective download stores, while Amazon Web Services ousted Parler from its servers.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's been quite some time since we last saw a new movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe release. With COVID-19 vaccines rolling out around the world, we're going to see that change later this year, as Disney and Marvel release a handful of new MCU movies rapid-fire. First up is Black Widow this July, but following closely behind it will be Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Amazon will use United Launch Alliance to deploy the first satellites in its Starlink-rivaling constellation, with nine missions planned as it embarks on its planet-spanning internet provider. ULA will use nine Atlas V launch vehicles for Project Kuiper, it's been confirmed today, as Amazon plays catch-up to SpaceX's already-operational service.
It would appear that Google has a new way to share files in the mix with Android. Per the latest version of Google Play Services and some creative work looking at the code for the system, Nearby Share with "everyone mode" is nearly ready for the pubic. This update would add "Everyone" to device visibility right next to "Contacts" and "Hidden" in Nearby Share.