For many people, one of the most exciting things about Windows 11 is the fact that the new OS will be able to run Android apps. Microsoft is slowly beginning to launch Android apps for Windows 11, though it seems the feature isn't quite ready for prime time yet. Instead of rolling out Android apps to all Windows 11 users today, Microsoft is launching it on a small scale for some early testers.
Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have been big proponents of augmented or mixed reality of the more widespread VR technologies in the market today. Despite that, the company's AR products have been limited to what can be done and seen on an iPhone or iPad screen. While iOS' ARCore definitely has some potential, it will take a dedicated AR or MR device to truly bring that out. Unfortunately for those hoping for such a device, they might have to wait even longer for that to happen.
Google practically has two major computing platforms, three if you consider the Web, and, once upon a time, these two didn't meet. Today, Chrome OS can almost be considered that one Google OS to rule them all, and its integration with Android is only about to get even deeper. There has been development afoot in a wider bridge between Chrome OS and a connected Android phone, and tomorrow might see a new feature that will finally let you mirror your Android phone's apps on your Chromebook.
Apple's M1 chipset may have given Apple Silicon its big debut, but it's the M1 Pro and M1 Max which power users have been waiting for. Debuting not one but two systems-on-chip (SoC) today, along with two all-new MacBook Pro models to take advantage of them, as before the big pitch is just how much power and efficiency you can achieve when you tightly tailor hardware to software.
Apple took to the stage to hype up its new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros today, but of course, the most important thing to almost every customer out there is price. These new MacBook Pros are going up for pre-order today and begin shipping out next week, but how much will each one cost you? That depends on what you're looking for.
For a while, the MacBook's disappearing ports were something of a meme among the I/O enthusiasts of the world. However, with today's new MacBook reveal, Apple has reversed course, announcing that it's actually adding ports to the new MacBook Pro. In addition, it looks like the display on the 2021 MacBook Pro is taking a design cue from modern iPhones, picking up a notch it can call its own.
It seems that the big game in the consumer tech market these days is for companies to design their own silicon in one form or another. Apple has, of course, been making the Apple A series of chips for iPhones and iPads far longer than its rivals, but Google has apparently started to catch on. Even Vivo jumped in on the game with its own V1 imagine signal processor. It's really no surprise that Microsoft might be joining the bandwagon, though its exact plans are still up for much speculation and debate.
It's less than a day before Apple's next big event, but there seems to still be some time for a small little change to expectations. Of course, something as minor as a marketing name change won't really affect how the next batch of MacBook Pros will perform, but it could either clarify or confuse consumers about which model to get. Debuting with new Macs is Apple's next-gen Silicon, which might not be called the Apple M1X after all.
The rollout of Windows 11 has been relatively quiet, which isn't surprising considering the small number of PCs that are receiving it or are compatible with it. Incompatible computers don't even get the upgrade, so Microsoft is practically gatekeeping the upgrade anyway. That said, things aren't as quiet over at the AMD camp with confirmed performance issues with some supported CPUs, a problem that was ironically exacerbated by Windows 11's first Patch Tuesday.
The majority of today's consumer tech products are unsurprisingly designed for the majority of people that don't have physical or mental handicaps. That's not to say, however, that these are the only people who deserve to have all that power at their fingertips. In fact, they should even be the ones whose lives are made even better by modern devices and software, correcting and augmenting what would normally be huge obstacles to leading functional and productive lives. Chromebooks are often portrayed as devices designed specifically for those purposes, and Google is presenting some features that make its Chrome OS platform more accessible to people with disabilities.
Microsoft has been pretty uncompromising about the minimum requirements for Windows 11, even if it means leaving many completely capable Windows 10 PCs out in the cold. Despite the still ongoing confusion, Windows 11's security and CPU requirements are set in stone, at least as far as "officially supported" machines are concerned. Microsoft, however, isn't moving to block unsupported installations and might even continue supporting these "non-compatible" Windows 11 with critical updates during the operating system's lifetime.
There have been a couple of new PCs announced in the past few days, and, given Microsoft's latest launches, it's no surprise that they all revolve around Windows 11. Acer does have new Windows 11 PCs to show off, but it is casting its net a bit wider. It has even more new Chromebooks joining its growing army of devices running Google's web-centric OS, and this year's lineup aims for almost every user need and design inclination.