Google Docs is getting an annotation feature that will let you mark up your documents just like you might with a pen and paper. With today’s update, announced at MWC 2024, Google Docs users on Android devices can use a finger or stylus to write notes, highlight text and circle words to their heart’s desire. Google says the feature will work on Android tablets and smartphones, so it’s got some real potential to give devices like foldables even more of a productivity boost. It should also make for a smoother way to sign digital documents.
Android users will have access to multiple pen colors and highlighters with the new annotation tool for Google Docs, which is good news for anyone who loves color-coding their notes. If the popularity of digital notebooks like reMarkable’s tablets or Amazon’s Kindle Scribe has taught us anything, it’s that, as speedy as typing may be, plenty of people still prefer writing by hand when it’s an option. The only thing this update seems to be missing is the ability to convert handwriting to text, which would allow for more extensive writing tasks. Apple is a few steps ahead in that regard, offering the feature for Apple Pencil users on several of its native iPad productivity apps, like Pages and Numbers.
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-mark-up-your-google-docs-with-handwritten-notes-on-android-devices-080050320.html?src=rss
Google is finally giving Android smartwatch owners a feature they’ve been wanting for years: Google Wallet passes. Among its many announcements at MWC, Google said today that it’s officially bringing boarding passes, event tickets, gym memberships, loyalty cards and other passes that might be stored in your Google Wallet to Wear OS. It’s one area where Wear OS has lagged way behind the Apple Watch, which has long had passes.
While some users have sporadically reported seeing the feature pop up over the last month or so, Google is only now confirming its arrival. Any passes you’ve added to Google Wallet will show up with a QR code or barcode on your Wear OS watch with the update, and you can choose to hide whichever ones you don’t need at the moment. Google is also adding the ability to get detailed public transit directions on your watch so you don’t need to take out your phone to figure out where you’re going. You’ll be able to look up departure times from your wrist, and get step-by-step directions or a guided map view to your destination.
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-finally-brings-wallet-passes-to-wear-os-watches-along-with-transit-directions-080010242.html?src=rss
Google is finally giving Android smartwatch owners a feature they’ve been wanting for years: Google Wallet passes. Among its many announcements at MWC, Google said today that it’s officially bringing boarding passes, event tickets, gym memberships, loyalty cards and other passes that might be stored in your Google Wallet to Wear OS. It’s one area where Wear OS has lagged way behind the Apple Watch, which has long had passes.
While some users have sporadically reported seeing the feature pop up over the last month or so, Google is only now confirming its arrival. Any passes you’ve added to Google Wallet will show up with a QR code or barcode on your Wear OS watch with the update, and you can choose to hide whichever ones you don’t need at the moment. Google is also adding the ability to get detailed public transit directions on your watch so you don’t need to take out your phone to figure out where you’re going. You’ll be able to look up departure times from your wrist, and get step-by-step directions or a guided map view to your destination.
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-finally-brings-wallet-passes-to-wear-os-watches-along-with-transit-directions-080010242.html?src=rss
Apple’s latest iOS 17.4 beta version is stirring quite the excitement among iPhone users, and for good reason. This update introduces a plethora of new features and enhancements aimed at improving user experience and security. Let’s dive into the details to see what this update has in store for you. The video below from Brandon […]
Are you tired of struggling with PDF files? Do you wish there was an easier way to convert, create, and edit PDFs? Well, your wish has just come true! Introducing the AceThinker PDF Converter Pro, an all-in-one software that’s here to make your life easier. This software is not just a tool, it’s a game-changer. […]
Back in 2020, the way we worked radically changed. No, I’m not talking about the shift to Working From Home (WFH) during the pandemic, I’m talking about the birth of the Mover Erase, a rather inventive little piece of stationery that took the best parts of a magnet, a whiteboard, and a Sticky Note and combined them all into one single universally appealing solution. The Mover Erase was just genius – it was portable, reusable, magnetic, and came in clusters that helped you move notes around instead of one large static surface. Moreover, it saved paper by replacing thousands of sticky notes that would eventually end up in the trash. Nearly 4 years later, the folks at Bravestorming are making the Mover Erase better than ever, with standardized sizes that let you mount sticky notes onto your individual MEU (Mover Erase Uni-size) plate, for people who prefer the texture of paper. The entire kit also comes with its own mounting accessories, along with an app that digitizes your hand-written notes, giving them a place to live forever even if you wipe them clean to reuse!
Whiteboards are great because you can capture ideas, wipe them down, and start afresh. Sticky notes are great because you can put them anywhere, and arrange them to create brainstorming maps with repositionable boxes. So why not combine the two into a novel, clever solution? The Mover Erase Uni-size cleverly merges them into a singular product that really lends well to your creative process. The MEU’s whiteboard-like glossy silicon surface is great to write on with whiteboard markers, while the magnetic design lets you snap your notes easily onto surfaces for future reference. A patented release technique lets you dislodge notes too, quite like pulling a sticky note off a wall. The MEUs are color-coded, perfect for organizing your notes based on category or urgency, come in two standard sizes that match popular Sticky Note formats, and unlike paper which tends to curl up and become frail after days, stays looking as good as new forever.
6 Forms of MoveNote + Trifold
The beauty lies in the ability to use a cluster of MEUs together, brainstorming, organizing, reshuffling, and effectively mapping out ideas simply by moving individual MEUs around. Then, once you’re done with your sprint session, you can either keep the MEUs where they are, dislodge them to assign activities/roles to different teammates, or better still, take a photo through 3M’s Post-It app to digitize your notes effectively before wiping an MEU clean. Cleverly enough, the new MEUs are perfectly sized to fit your standard Post-It notes too, so just in case you love the texture of paper, you can stick your notes right on the MEU and use them… although what’s great about the new MEUs is the fact that the silicon surface on which you write can actually be removed from its plastic housing and stuck onto surfaces (given that silicon has an almost friction-like gripping tendency). However, there’s an understated beauty to the magnetic clear casing that the MEU has been perfecting since 2020.
Speaking of things being perfected since 2020, the Mover Erase Uni-Size comes with two new accessories in the form of an A3-compatible Movenote magnetic folder that gives your MEU notes and your paper documents a single place to coexist, and a shapeshifting Trifold that gives your notes a dynamic stand to display themselves on. The Movenote is a folio case that holds documents (A4/A3), acts as a daily planner (letting you stick your MEUs on the built-in charts), and even transforms into a tiny table! Its A3/A4 size compatibility means it holds tablets too, giving you a singular place for all your stationery and productivity tools. However, if you need something a little more compact just for your MEUs, that’s where you’ve got the Trifold.
The Trifold is a clever accessory that features three panels with dedicated charts on them for using alongside your MEUs. The magnetic surface lets you easily attach MEUs to the Trifold’s charts, but wait, they also fold into a prism shape, sitting on your desk either horizontally or vertically, allowing you to view and access your MEU notes on command. Open the Trifold flat, and it’s just the right size to fit into the Movenote folder, giving you a holistic kit that radically transforms how you think, take notes, and work.
The makers behind the Mover Erase began their journey by simply designing magnetic memo bricks that you could attach sticky notes to… but in doing so, they realized there was a lot more to the product. “Compared to the traditional sticky note thinking process, our Mover (Magnetic Memo Brick) significantly helped ADHD adults, Montessori educators, and many entrepreneurs in their thinking processes,” mentioned the creators at Bravestorming. Over the years, different iterations helped them build products that served different needs for different users. The magnetic memo brick still remains core to the product’s UX, but it now comes with a removable, washable, paper-like textured silicone writing surface… but more importantly, it’s standardized in size, still allowing people to mount Sticky Notes from popular brands like 3M onto it, just like the first generation.
Following 3 successful Kickstarter campaigns with over 15,000 happy customers, the folks at Bravestorming are finally turning a good idea into a great ecosystem. Four years later, the Mover Erase ‘universe’ is more functional and well-rounded than ever, allowing you to ideate, brainstorm, collaborate, and organize your work-life more efficiently and creatively. The Mover Erase Uni-size Starter Pack starts at a mere $33, consisting of just blank MEUs, but for $44 you can upgrade to color-coded MEUs, and for a little extra, you can add the Movenote and Trifold to your kit.
Not all watches are meant to have intriguing complications. A minimalistic watch with a black and white interface, accompanied by a briefcase is proving that right. Designed to let you navigate the world with time to your advantage, The Time Traveler Watch in discussion is created by Nik Bentel, a design-forward studio in New York City.
Nik Bentel Studio is a goal-oriented team of designers that thrives on releasing limited-edition performative objects, often through collaborative efforts. The Time Traveler is a watch that journeys from the wrist to a briefcase, as you travel between countries, has been created in close collaboration with Trio of Time (TTT) Watches by Anicorn.
Time zone wall clocks found a pace after the global trade kicked off post-World War II. These clocks with a simple typeface, clean white aesthetics, and a straightforward design became a staple with travelers who trotted between time zones. The Time Traveler Watch revives this timeless design with a combination bag, creating a no-nonsense time-telling narrative for modern globe trotters.
Rethinking how modern-day watches perceive global time; the Time Traveler, as previously iterated, is a two-part time teller. One part is a 39mm diameter wristwatch paired with a removable leather strap. The design language is black, white, and straightforward. The second part is the briefcase that is wearable without the watch. Its true potential is however realized when the wristwatch is defragmented (the strap removed from the dial) and it is placed inside the designated section on the bag.
The bag with crossbody woven strap has interchangeable city plates – for London, New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong – made of chromed silver right below the watch slot. You can interchange the plates (that hold up to the bag using a magnet) to match the time zone your watch is following at a given point in time.
For the inquisitive, the Time Traveler has a stainless steel casing and a Japanese Miyota 2035 Quartz movement powers it. The straightforward dial is protected under mineral glass, and the watch itself is 50 meters water resistant. Aiming to simplify time telling in global locations, The Time Traveler intends to reinterpret the perception of global time zones, and I think it has pulled that off well. The watch is available for $349 right away!
Motorola and Lenovo have announced a new cross-device management tool at MWC 2024 called Smart Connect that lets users seamlessly switch tasks from one device to another. You could, for example, move a podcast from your phone to your tablet without losing your place using only a swipe gesture, or easily share files between connected devices using a unified Share Hub. The companies haven’t yet released the full list of compatible devices, but so far say Smart Connect will work with Lenovo PCs running Windows 10 or later and only some Lenovo tablets and Motorola devices.
Smart Connect will allow users to navigate between multiple devices using the same keyboard and mouse without interruptions, and receive synced notifications across connected devices. It brings a smart clipboard feature too, which serves as a single clipboard for all the connected devices, so you can copy and paste items from one device to another. Smart Connect will also let users turn their phone into a hotspot for a connected tablet or PC, or use it as a webcam. Users will also be able to cast content from their phones to other connected devices, say to watch a video on a bigger screen. Smart Connect will be available in a few months through the Microsoft Store and Google Play Store.
In addition to Smart Connect, Motorola is showing off the adaptive display concept it introduced last fall. Motorola’s concept rollable display can be morphed from a slab into other shapes to fit different needs, like a tent-style setup that allows it to stand on its own or wrapped around a person’s wrist like a watch.
Christopher Dilts / Motorola
Christopher Dilts / Motorola
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lenovo-and-motorolas-smart-connect-makes-it-easier-to-manage-tasks-across-your-devices-230058598.html?src=rss
Motorola and Lenovo have announced a new cross-device management tool at MWC 2024 called Smart Connect that lets users seamlessly switch tasks from one device to another. You could, for example, move a podcast from your phone to your tablet without losing your place using only a swipe gesture, or easily share files between connected devices using a unified Share Hub. The companies haven’t yet released the full list of compatible devices, but so far say Smart Connect will work with Lenovo PCs running Windows 10 or later and only some Lenovo tablets and Motorola devices.
Smart Connect will allow users to navigate between multiple devices using the same keyboard and mouse without interruptions, and receive synced notifications across connected devices. It brings a smart clipboard feature too, which serves as a single clipboard for all the connected devices, so you can copy and paste items from one device to another. Smart Connect will also let users turn their phone into a hotspot for a connected tablet or PC, or use it as a webcam. Users will also be able to cast content from their phones to other connected devices, say to watch a video on a bigger screen. Smart Connect will be available in a few months through the Microsoft Store and Google Play Store.
In addition to Smart Connect, Motorola is showing off the adaptive display concept it introduced last fall. Motorola’s concept rollable display can be morphed from a slab into other shapes to fit different needs, like a tent-style setup that allows it to stand on its own or wrapped around a person’s wrist like a watch.
Christopher Dilts / Motorola
Christopher Dilts / Motorola
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lenovo-and-motorolas-smart-connect-makes-it-easier-to-manage-tasks-across-your-devices-230058598.html?src=rss
It’s not often you encounter a device that looks like it came straight out of a movie set. But Lenovo’s Project Crystal, supposedly the world’s first laptop with a transparent microLED display, is an example of sci-fi come to life.
Currently there are no plans to turn Project Crystal into a retail product. Instead Lenovo’s latest concept device was commissioned by its ThinkPad division to explore the potential of transparent microLED panels and AI integration. The most obvious use case would be sharing info somewhere, like a doctor’s office or a hotel desk. Instead of needing to flip a screen around, you could simply reverse the display via software, allowing anyone on the other side to see it while getting an in-depth explanation.
When combined with the camera built into the rear of the system, Lenovo says there could be possible AR applications. One example would be to use the camera to identify an object, similar to Google Lens. And with its transparent display, it should be possible to take that idea a step further by overlaying a diagram or schematic on top of the object for things like troubleshooting or repair.
But the best thing about Project Crystal, is that Lenovo bothered making it at all. Currently, even standard microLED displays are extremely expensive with those panels typically reserved for cutting-edge gadgets like Samsung’s The Wall or Apple’s Vision Pro. And, see-through versions have only been seen as concepts like on the transparent microLED TV Samsung showed off a couple of months ago at CES 2024.
In person, the transparency effect is bewildering. When closed or when its display is off, Project Crystal’s screen almost looks like an ordinary piece of glass with a slight brownish tint. But at a moment’s notice the whole thing lights up like a battleship. Nominal brightness goes all the way up to 1,000 nits, with Lenovo saying peaks can go as high as 3,000 nits, which would make it brighter than the new Galaxy S24 family. And despite being made of multiple layers, the panel is extremely thin, which helps blur the line being the digital and analog worlds. Lenovo says it's also considering adding some sort of contrast layer, so it can turn into a traditional opaque display at the touch of a button. However, for a relatively large 16-inch display, its resolution isn’t super high, so if you look closely you can see individual pixels.
Another design twist is that instead of a traditional keyboard, Project Crystal features one of Lenovo’s touch-based replacements similar to those on older Yoga Books. Unfortunately, it still suffers from a lot of the same issues. The most obvious example of this is that your hands drift while typing because there’s no tactile feedback, which leads to decreased accuracy. Lenovo says AI may be able to address that in the future by learning a person’s typing habits and then using that info to account for your hands straying from the home row. But right now, it’s still a problem.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
The rest of the laptop is very much a work in progress, too. I only saw two ports on the entire system which would be a major faux pas for a notebook this big. Project Crystal is also based on a last-gen CPU, while other components like its hinge was so weak that its screen threatened to close anytime it tilted below 90 degrees. And for some reason, the laptop seemed to build up a static charge, as it sometimes shocked people who touched its display.
Project Crystal is a solution in search of a problem. A problem that does exist in niche situations and may be an issue worth tackling more seriously down the line. But more importantly, it’s challenging us to think about what is possible with emerging display technology and how it might fit into a laptop of the future.
Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lenovos-project-crystal-is-the-worlds-first-laptop-with-a-transparent-microled-display-230025521.html?src=rss
