Ultimate Ears has announced the arrival of Amazon Alexa support for its UE BOOM 2 and UE MEGABOOM speakers, enabling both to be used as smart speakers in conjunction with an Android smartphone. The new functionality arrives in the form of app and firmware updates, all of which are free, of course. Once updated, using Alexa with the speaker is as simple as tapping a button.
If you prefer to stream live television on your laptop rather than through the company's mobile apps, a new beta launch should get you excited. The company has announced the arrival of Sling TV streaming in Google's Chrome browser, though the entire thing is still in a beta right now. The streaming is possible within Chrome sans the use of a plugin or app.
Google Allo's web app has been a long time coming, but today it has finally arrived. Google revealed the new web app today, allowing those on Android to pair their phones with their computers and send messages from there. The only problem is that the web app seems like it'll be pointless most of the time.
Mushrooms containing psilocybin -- usually just called 'magic mushrooms' -- are a godsend for some individuals, proving to be a cure or a very effective treatment for cluster headache disorder and some other conditions, possibly including depression. Despite the growing evidence of psilocybin's medical potential, health-related usage hasn't been a viable option for most people. A new breakthrough study may change that.
Motorola has a plan to make a self-repairing smartphone covered with shape memory polymer material. Motorola's patent for this idea reveals in part how the device's smart glass would function. Note that we're using the term "smart glass" here for ease in explanation - in reality, Motorola's plan for the device calls for a much more complex piece of material.
Generally speaking, PC gamers want a wired mouse to cut back on latency as much as possible. The only problem with that is gaming on the road - if you're playing on a gaming laptop, you may not want to carry a wired mouse as a wireless mouse is more convenient. Razer claims to have the solution to that problem in its new wireless notebook mouse, the Atheris.
A new kind of notebook computer was granted a patent for Google this week by the USPTO. In this patent, a notebook with a new method for multiple use-case scenarios was presented. Instead of what the patent calls an "uncomfortable 'squishy' feeling", the user would cover the notebook's keyboard when the notebook is in "tablet" mode, doing so with a panel on a powerful hinge.
Between its announced buyout of Whole Foods and revealing physical retail stores of its own, Amazon's brick and mortar aspirations are plain. It's little surprise, then, that we're we're seeing Amazon launch a new service called Instant Pickup in five cities around the US this week. The idea behind Instant Pickup is pretty straightforward: select from hundreds of "need-it-now" items on Amazon and obtain them up in person at physical pick up locations.
For the first time in the Galaxy Note's history, two cameras may be equipped on the device's backside. A 2x camera setup replicates what other big brands like Apple and Huawei have been doing for the past year, pushing the abilities of the device to new limits with two lenses that have different abilities. If this all turns out to be true, it would not be a surprise to find that Samsung brings a bunch of devices with 2x cameras at their back when we reach 2018.
In the past two days, the rise in Google searches for Mewtwo in the Pokemon GO universe have expanded wildly. More than almost any other Pokemon GO-related term that I'm aware of - and I've been watching the numbers since day 1. The other thing that's risen sharply in the last 24 hours is Mewtwo-related complaints from Pokemon GO users that do not live in Japan - where this Pokemon is (thus far) exclusive.
Right this minute the biggest names in smartphones are speeding toward the next "big thing" in mobile devices: Augmented Reality. Qualcomm is the latest company to make a public showing of their efforts with what they call "Qualcomm Spectra ISP, 2nd Generation." That' ISB as in Image Signal Processor, this paving the way for high-powered smartphone cameras that can do things we've never seen before.
Well, that was fast: less than a year after announcing that it would drop its Battle.net branding, Blizzard has revealed that it will be sticking around after all. Even though Blizzard had already started the process of killing off Battle.net, it looks like it's a fair bit harder to part with such a popular brand than the company had anticipated. So, the Battle.net branding will stick around, though it'll still receive some tweaks.
