Latest Technology

The prospect of contacting a satellite to send a text or contact emergency services may soon be an effortless reality as startups move from proof of concept to actual product. Canadians on the Rogers network, which just inked a deal with Lynk, will get direct satellite-phone connections across the country; and not to be outdone, AST SpaceMobile claims to have made the first satellite voice call using a regular cell phone as well. Connecting a stock smartphone like last year’s Samsung or iPhone to a satellite would have sounded like a fantasy a few years ago, when we all knew it was impossible. But now companies are jostling for position as it becomes clear that satellite services will be a compelling offering on any mobile plan or phone model over the next few years. Lynk’s approach is to offer as universal as possible an SMS service to as much of the planet as possible, in the hopes that no one who needs help or is off the grid for any other reason will ever have to face “no signal.

If you find smartphone notifications annoying enough already thanks to their skill at exploiting the full range of distraction options available, whether dropping a banner from above or sprinkling pox-like red balls over your homescreen icons so as to lodge like grit in the eye, you should prepare yourself for even less subtle demands bubbling into your eye-line in the future if novel research into flat panel haptics ends up being commercialized by mobile device makers. Think notifications that create a physical bulge in the screen of your smartphone — making the update icon stick out or even pulse lightly like the proverbial sore thumb until you press with your own digit to remove the unsightly wrinkle. On the less dystopian side, touchscreens with the ability to be dynamically tactile could have accessibility benefits by enabling form and texture to co-exist with the utility of flat panel computing — for instance by providing people with visual impairment with physical signals to h

Colorado’s governor signed a refreshingly straightforward “right-to-repair” bill into law this afternoon, requiring companies to provide resources like parts, firmware and manuals for devices that they previously kept secret and proprietary even if an owner wanted to do the repairs themselves. Colorado’s “Consumer Repair Bill of Rights Act” is one of many such bills that have been proposed over the years, and is among the simplest, having graduated from a bill intended to help wheelchair owners do their own repairs to covering all “agricultural equipment” as well. As those in the intellectual property and hardware obsolescence space likely know, farms have become an unlikely frontier for change in the tech world due to companies like John Deere growing inflexible regarding the repair of their vehicles and devices. A tractor, in these days of precision agriculture, is of course more than simply a replacement for a pair of oxen — it’s as high-tech as any modern car, with GPS, automat

DJI has spent the last several years doubling down on its imagining prowess — tripling down as it were, in this case. Makes sense. Aside from the underlying fun of flying these things around, all of the most immediate consumer/prosumer applications revolve around picture taking and video. The new Mavic 3 Pro embraces the prosumer side of that dichotomy with a triple-camera system. At its heart is a Hasselblad camera — naturally, given that the drone giant purchased a majority stake of the much-loved Swedish camera maker back in 2017. It’s the same 4/3 CMOS model found on the standard Mavic 3 series, which is capable of shooting 12-bit RAW images. The three-camera system appears to offer a lot more optical flexibility than you’ll find on other off-the-shelf consumer-focused drones, with a trio of focal lengths at 24mm, 70mm and 166mm. The system can shoot up to 5.1K at 50 FPS and 4K at 120 FPS. Here’s DJI describing the system a bit further: The medium tele camera (70mm format equ

It’s been a whirlwind few years for Oura. The hardware-maker rode the early days of the pandemic to the top of the wearable ranks, establishing itself as the top smart ring maker by a mile. With the promise of detecting early COVID warning signals, the company struck up brand partnerships with some of the world’s leading sports leagues. Oura has had its share of controversy along the way, including the addition of a premium service that locked existing features behind a paywall. This time last year, the company announced that Tom Hale joined up as CEO, with a stated goal of scaling the company. Today’s news is a major step in that direction, as the company announces a deal with Best Buy that will bring its ring to around 850 locations around the U.S. “Brick-and-mortar retail is a natural next step for Oura and marks a pivotal moment for the business as we continue to expand into the mainstream,” Hale says in a release. “Introducing more people to the benefits of Oura’s technology an

When you think Canon, you might think cameras, scanners, printers and such. At CES this year, the company did a stride toward the softer side of tech , taking a broader view of what imaging means . Today, the VR calling software the company showed off back in January is available to you — if you have a VR headset such as the popular Oculu… I mean Meta Quest 2. In a limited preview earlier this month, I was able to try out Canon’s new VR calling software platform, which involves a phone and a VR headset. Overall and in theory, the system is super-well-thought-out: You scan your face using an app on your phone, which builds a model so the app can replace the part of your face that’s covered up by your VR mask. It also asks you how tall you are, so it can scale your picture proportionally to the person you are talking to — a nice touch; as a tall person it often feels unheimlich to be face-to-face with people when I’m in VR. I knew we would do the demo in a desert setting so I wore a

At a certain point, the market will, indeed, stabilize. It has to. Demand for new smartphones has been consistently down for some time now, but the phones themselves are, obviously, here to stay. This is how we arrive at surveys that suggest people would give up shampooing or lose a finger rather than go without a handset (shakes fist “millennials!! ). But macro climates are gonna macro climate. And these new figures from Canalys feel awfully like numbers from the last several quarters. Q1 2022 saw a 12% year-over-year drop in global smartphone shipments. It’s the fifth straight quarter of decline for the category. So why does something like that warrant a Canalys headline like, “Global smartphone market shows signs of stability with a 12% decline in Q1 2023”? “Stability” is, of course, a relative thing. Perhaps there’s a sense in which continued decline is stable — or at very least predictable. But that’s not what the firm is talking about here. Instead, it’s signals in the noise t

Apple is making headlines this week as it opens its first retail store in India, a significant milestone roughly 25 years after entering the South Asian market. CEO Tim Cook is visiting the country, planning meetings with prominent business leaders, including Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani and Tata Group’s Natarajan Chandrasekaran, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apple provided an early look at its BKC store in Mumbai to a group of over a dozen bloggers flown in for the occasion. The store officially opens its doors to customers today, with a second retail location scheduled to open in New Delhi on Thursday. The establishment of Apple’s first retail stores and the company’s increased efforts to assemble iPhones and other products in India underscore the importance of the South Asian market to the Cupertino-based tech giant. According to JP Morgan analysts, Apple is expected to expand its manufacturing capacity in India to produce 25% of all iPhones by 2025 . The company’s increa

India’s smartphone exports have more than doubled, reaching over $11 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March, according to trade data examined by the industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association and government officials, underscoring the South Asian market’s growing ambition to become a global hardware manufacturing hub. Smartphone exports of $11.2 billion figure surpasses New Delhi’s target of $9-10 billion even as Chinese smartphone makers, who commanded over two-thirds of all local shipment in India just two years ago, contributed little to the exports. Apple made up almost half of the total exports with an estimated $5 billion to $5.5 billion, as per industry analysts. Samsung Electronics, the South Korean giant, ranked second with about $4 billion. The surge in smartphone exports can be attributed to New Delhi’s concerted efforts and substantial financial incentives , which aim to encourage smartphone manufacturers to expand their operations in India as the S

Nearly two decades after Apple entered India, the iPhone-maker is ready to open its first set of retail stores in the South Asian market. Apple will open Apple BKC , its Mumbai store, on April 18, and its Delhi outlet Apple Saket on April 20, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Apple has long explored expansion into India, but curbed its enthusiasm because the market for premium smartphones and laptops remains tiny in the country. Even through India is the second-largest internet market, most smartphones that sell in the country are priced under $200. India currently contributes little to Apple’s topline, but the iPhone maker has said in the past that it’s bullish about its prospects in the country.  “These new retail locations mark a significant expansion in India that will offer great new ways to browse, discover, and buy Apple products with exceptional service and experiences for customers,” Apple said in a statement. Apple has been aggressively hiring employees for its st

After a nice spike during the first two years of the pandemic, global PC shipments continued to drop for a fourth consecutive quarter. Analyst firm IDC’s latest figure has Q1 down 29% from the same time last year. Canalys paints an even more troubling picture for the industry, with a full 33% drop. A disappointing 2022 holiday set the stage for the beginning of the year, as vendor inventory has continued to pile up – a trend that is expected to carry at least into Q3. The plunge has been so consistent that last quarter’s figures dipped below those of Q1 2019, putting worldwide shipments below their pre-pandemic level. “Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it’s still well above the healthy four to six week range,” says IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani. “Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter.” Image Credits: Canalys The culprits? For starters, a l

Apple has devised a pocket-sized companion that (hypothetically) does it all: music, videos AND books, sans the nagging smartphone or clumsy smartwatch. Cupertino, you’re so close. In a patent application published recently by the U.S. Patent Office, Apple sketched out such a device; a headphone case-meets-pocket-computer with a touchscreen display and the prerequisite guts for flicking through songs, watching movies, peeping the weather or even navigating somewhere via a mapping app. Put another way, time is a flat circle and Apple invented the iPod all over again. Judging by the filing, Apple sought to patent something reminiscent of a teensy iPod Touch or iPod Nano, but with a nook for charging a pair of wireless earbuds. This is only a patent application , which means there’s currently no (zilch! zero!) indication a supercharged AirPods case like this will exist beyond some doodles. Sure, the company could be exploring such a device, given its  well – established interest i

Apple is gearing up to open its first retail store in India to the public later this month, roughly two decades after the company began selling products and services in the South Asian nation that has grown to become the second largest internet market. The iPhone-maker on Wednesday shared the barricade of its first retail store in India, situated at Jio World Drive Mall, Mumbai. “Inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai, the Apple BKC creative includes colourful interpretations of the decals combined with many Apple products and services that will be available for our customers to discover,” the company said in a statement. Apple also plans to launch its second India store, somewhere in New Delhi, in the coming quarters. Apple has been aggressively hiring employees for its stores in India in recent months, according to recruitment posts. The company, which launched its online store in India in 2020 , had initially planned to debut the first retail outlet in 2021