One of the most promising features of recent PCs running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors is Microsoft's "Always Connected" Windows experience. That is, as long as a data connection is available. That's about to become much easier, and cheaper, thanks to a new Sprint promotion that offers free unlimited 4G LTE through the rest of 2018.
Google plans to change how it flags secure sites in Chrome, retiring its "Secure" indicator in favor of highlighting which pages don't support HTTPS. The decision, which will take affect in a later release of Chrome, flips the current system on its head.
ASUS has quietly launched a new performance laptop, the ASUS ZenBook Pro 15, squeezing a six-core Core i9 processor into a super-slim chassis. Latest of the 15.6-inch notebooks to bear the ZenBook Pro 15 name, the new laptop also finds space - and battery power - for a discrete NVIDIA GPU.
A Japanese company is hoping to launch an e-ink portable typewriter in the US market, a model called Pomera. The typewriter resembles a folding keyboard, but with a twist: a 6-inch e-ink display appears alongside the keyboard, enabling users to type out a document without carrying around a full-size laptop or a large battery. The company is seeking funding on Kickstarter.
Intel has finally begun shipping a 10nm processor, though this first Cannon Lake Core i3 is a tidbit ahead of what will be the main event next year. The chip-maker has been struggling to meet its own 10nm manufacturing promises, discovering that transitioning to the new architecture was trickier than it initially expected.
Onboard graphics chips have earned a not so good reputation for being near useless beyond basic display capabilities. That reputation is partly thanks to Intel who, until recently, hasn't exactly given its built-in GPUs much love. AMD, in contrast, is playing up its Radeon property, acquired from old NVIDIA rival ATI, to boost both its images and its graphics chops. It is putting those chops to work on the second gen Ryzen PRO processors for notebooks and desktops. And this time, AMD made sure it has some OEMs to cheer it on.
HP has started its week with a bang, announcing a ton of new devices in multiple product lines. One line getting some love today is the consumer-focused ENVY series of laptops, which in all is getting four new models this summer. While perhaps not as powerful as HP's business-centric EliteBook line, these new ENVY laptops should still serve as a good day-to-day workhorse for a lot of consumers.
Mesh WiFi systems promise to spread wireless internet access to every dead-zone in your house or office, but now the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to make them play nicely together, too. Systems like Google Wifi, eero, and Linksys Velop are all designed to support multiple units - or mesh nodes - to which your phones, laptops, consoles, and IoT gadgets connect to for ubiquitous coverage, but so far you've had to commit to one brand.
HP has updated its ENVY desktop line, adding Alex to its vast ENVY Curved AiO 34, and adding a minimalistic but potent tower to the range. Revealed today, the new desktops feature a more mature, restrained design language than you might expect from machines that have a gaming bent.
The frustrating flickering problem affecting Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 has finally been acknowledged by the company, with the promise of replacement tablets for those affected. The issue with the 2-in-1 began to be noticed more broadly earlier this year, with owners complaining that their Windows computer had begun showing erratic behavior - just outside of the Microsoft warranty.
Google's I/O 2018 conference kicked off with a lot of talk and demos of AI and machine learning. It painted a future of wonderful convenience but left audiences and readers wondering about the ramifications of an AI-powered world. This dichotomy, confusion, and fear was perhaps best shown in the demonstration of Duplex, an AI that sounded so human that it could book a restaurant reservation without the human on other side being the wiser. And thus the AI disclosure debates were born.
It's graduation season - not to mention Mother's Day and Father's Day nearly upon us - and Lenovo thinks the new 2018 IdeaPad range should be your first port of call for a laptop gift. Starting from $249.99, and spanning 14- to 17-inches in size, the IdeaPad 330, 330S, and 530S series include features like USB-C, HDMI ports, and discrete graphics options from NVIDIA, not to mention a rapid-charge battery system that can deliver up to 2hrs from just 15 minutes plugged in.