Tag Archives: Technology & Electronics

The best Android tablets for 2024

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There's a huge range of Android tablets out there. Some are great for reading comics, while others can double as laptop replacements. However, with devices starting at under $200 and going up to well over $1,000, picking the right one for your needs can be kind of tricky. We’ve tested dozens of tablets over the years from companies like Samsung, Lenovo and Google. So to help you select a device that fits your life, we've collected our top picks for the best Android tablets across various prices and use cases.

What we look for in a good Android tablet

Aside from cost, there are several specs and features we check out when evaluating new devices. One of the most important factors is the kind of display a tablet has. Not only its size (from less than seven inches to over 14), but also how bright it gets (ideally upwards of 400 nits) and what type of panel it uses (LCD, Mini LED, OLED, etc.). But it doesn't stop there: it's also crucial to consider things like refresh rate (the higher the better in most cases) as well as color saturation and accuracy, as those can help determine if a tablet is suitable for tasks like photo or video editing.

Performance is also a major benchmark. After all, no one likes to deal with hiccups or lag, especially if you're a gamer as that can make or break your experience. That said, it takes more than a beefy chip to make a device feel truly speedy. If a tablet has sluggish storage or slow wireless connectivity, downloading files or launching apps can become a chore. Generally, we’re looking for at least 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage with microSD expandability being a major bonus.

Battery life is another major concern because many tablets are designed for use when traveling or working on the go. This means it's critical to consider not just the size of a device's battery, but also how fast it can recharge and if it supports bonuses like wireless power sharing or docking options.

Finally, there are more-specialized features such as stylus support, dedicated desktop modes, and expandable storage that can help tailor a tablet for specific use cases like sketching or productivity. And last but not least, there are design-related factors like dust- and water-resistance that go a long way toward making a device more durable.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-android-tablet-120007530.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The EU is already investigating Apple, Meta and Google over fees and defensive policies

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We had the first wave of changes and tweaks to Apple, Google and other big tech companies’ policies and services just before the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act (DMA) took a harder line against monopolistic behaviors and practices. See: third-party app stores with Apple, the option to pay for Facebook (haha!), the ability to choose your own default browser, search engine, and more. 

But the EU isn't quite satisfied. Alphabet and Apple, says the European Commission, have not sufficiently allowed “app developers to ‘steer’ consumers to offers outside the gatekeepers’ app stores, free of charge.”

The EC says Alphabet might still be leading users to Google-owned services like Google Flights. Apple may not be allowing users meaningful choice in selecting alternatives to default iOS services or preferences, such as the ability to uninstall any preloaded app.

In January, Apple announced changes to the App Store to comply with the DMA, including the ability to use alternative app marketplaces on iOS in the EU. Included in Apple’s updates was a new “core technology fee” of €0.50 developers will have to pay per user per year after the first million installs of an app — even if a user downloads the software from a third-party marketplace. Many of Apple’s rivals aren’t happy about the App Store changes. Some criticized the company’s fees for third-party payments in the US too.

— Mat Smith

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Florida will require parental consent for kids to join social media

Under-14s are completely banned.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed a bill into law with far stricter rules on how kids under 16 can use and access social media. The bill requires a parent or guardian’s consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to make an account or use a pre-existing account on a social media platform. The companies behind these platforms must also abide by requests to delete these accounts within five business days. Failing to do so could rack up major fines, as much as $10,000 for each violation. The bill doesn’t name any specific social media platforms but suggests any service that promotes “infinite scrolling” will have to follow the new rules. So yeah, the usual suspects.  

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Spotify trials educational video courses in the UK

You will still have to pay for them.

Spotify has teamed up with content partners BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Thinkific Labs Inc. and Skillshare to offer content in making music, getting creative, learning business and living healthily. The test courses are available only to UK users, with free and premium subscribers receiving at least two free lessons per course. The series will range from £20 ($25) to £80 ($101), regardless of a person’s subscription tier. The course content seems to be somewhere between Masterclass and LinkedIn Learning — make of that what you will.

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TikTok turns to its teenage ‘youth council’

15 teens will advise the company.

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Getty

Last summer, TikTok said it planned to form a “youth council” of teens to advise the company as part of a broader push to beef up safety features for the app’s youngest users. That group is now official, just as TikTok contends with a bill that would force parent-company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States. While it’s unclear how much influence TikTok’s youth council will ultimately wield over the company’s policies, it underscores just how important teens are to the platform. The company has tried to mobilize its users, many of them teens, to oppose the bill being discussed by the US government.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-eu-is-already-investigating-apple-meta-and-google-over-fees-and-defensive-policies-113558285.html?src=rss

Prime members can get two Switch-ready SanDisk microSD cards for $25 in the Amazon Spring Sale

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Amazon is selling a two-pack of SanDisk microSD cards for $25 as part of the company’s Big Spring Sale. Each card is 128GB, totaling 256GB of sweet, sweet game storage. These are drives that have been designed and pre-formatted for Nintendo Switch systems, though they’ll work with just about any microSD reader. This deal, however, is only for Prime members.

The Nintendo Switch is notoriously stingy when it comes to integrated storage, offering just 32GB, so microSD cards are an absolute must for AAA titles. Nintendo may be wizards when it comes to compressing its games, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is only 16GB, but that space is still gonna fill up fast.

As a Switch-friendly bonus, each card comes emblazoned with a Mario-esque mushroom logo. We’ve always liked these SanDisk drives and gave them a call out in our list of the best microSD cards. They come with a lifetime warranty and boast read/write speeds that are, more or less, comparable to rival products. The max write speed is 90MB/s and the max read speed is 100MB/s. This isn’t as fast as something like the Samsung Pro Ultimate, but it’s a whole lot cheaper.

Looking for more than 128GB of storage? The above deal is part of a larger sale on SanDisk and Western Digital products. There are microSD drives up to 1TB, plenty of USB stick drives and external storage solutions. Also, if Mushroom Kingdom iconography is not your bag, you can pick up a 1TB SanDisk card that has been stamped with the Triforce from Zelda for $95.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-members-can-get-two-switch-ready-sandisk-microsd-cards-for-25-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-151356052.html?src=rss

TikTok turns to teenage ‘youth council’ as part of its latest safety push

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Last summer, TikTok said it planned to form a “youth council” of teens to advise the company as part of a broader push to beef up safety features for the app’s youngest users. That group is now official, and they have already started meeting with the company, including CEO Shou Chew, the company announced.

The announcement comes as TikTok is fighting a bill that would force parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States. As part of that effort, the company has tried to mobilize its users, many of them teens, to oppose the measure. TikTok’s critics often cite youth safety as one of the most significant risks posed by the app.

It’s not clear if the newly-formed youth council will do much to counter that perception. But the company says the group has already influenced an upcoming media literacy campaign in the US that will “focus on misinformation, AI-generated content, and more.” The council, made up of 15 teens from the US, UK, Brazil, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, and Morocco, has also weighed in on the app’s “youth portal” feature, which provides in-app privacy and security resources.

According to TikTok, the council is meant to advise on the safety policies and issues that often impact teens. The group also collaborates with UK online safety organization Praesidio Safeguarding, which helped select the council’s teenage members, all of whom are paid, according to TikTok. The company notes that CEO Shou Chew attended the most recent meeting in February, when the youth council asked TikTok to share more details about how reporting and blocking work in the app.

While it’s not yet clear how much, if any, influence TikTok’s youth council will ultimately wield over the company’s policies, it underscores just how important teens are to the platform. TikTok is one of the most dominant apps among teens in the US, currently the company’s largest market. The company has also leaned on them to oppose the bill that could lead to a ban of the app, though those efforts may have backfired.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-turns-to-teenage-youth-council-as-part-of-its-latest-safety-push-130005305.html?src=rss

The EU is investigating Apple, Meta and Google over fees and self-preferencing

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Uh oh. Apple, Meta and Google could be in hot water in Europe over their attempts to stand within the letter, if not exactly the spirit, of the bloc's sweeping new Digital Markets Act (DMA). 

Core to the probe are concerns Google parent Alphabet and Apple have not given sufficiently allowed "app developers to “steer” consumers to offers outside the gatekeepers' app stores, free of charge," according to the European Commission (the European Union's executive arm). As things currently stand, the new rules from these tech companies may "constrain ... developers' ability to freely communicate and promote offers and directly conclude contracts, including by imposing various charges." 

The European Commission said it also believes Alphabet's search may still engage in self-preferencing of Google-owned services, like Google Flights. Apple, it said, may not be allowing users meaningful choice in selecting alternatives to default iOS services or preferences — the ability to uninstall any pre-loaded app, for instance. Also caught up in the probe is Meta, in relation to its new EU scheme wherein users can opt out of ads, but only for a price.   

The European Commission had, in the lead up to these probes, been hinting at a possible investigation into Apple and Google. In January, Apple announced a raft of App Store changes to comply with the DMA, which required it to (among other things) enable alternative app marketplaces on iOS in the EU and to let developers direct users to third-party payment systems. Included in Apple's updates was a new "core technology fee" of €0.50 that developers will have to pay per user per year after the first 1 million installs of an app — even if a user downloads the software from a third-party marketplace. Google is also charging developers fees in the EU if they bypass the Play Store.

Many of Apple's rivals slammed the App Store changes. Some criticized the company's fees for third-party payments in the US too.

The EU, perhaps unsurprisingly, is keeping a close eye on how companies subject to DMA rules are complying (or not) with them. "There are things that we take a keen interest in, for instance, if the new Apple fee structure will de facto not make it in any way attractive to use the benefits of the DMA," antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told Reuters on March 19. "That kind of thing is what we will be investigating."

Today's announcement also hints that Apple's "new fee structure" for alternative app stores may still be on the docket for future intervention, along with, apparently, Amazon's possible self-preferencing in its digital storefront. 

In statements to press Apple has said it's "confident our plan complies with the DMA" while Alphabet has said it will "continue to defend our approach in the coming months." A Meta spokesperson called its paid, ad-free option "a well-established business model across many industries."

News of the sweeping probe comes soon after the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The government and more than a dozen states accused Apple of fostering a mobile app monopoly, claiming the company makes it too difficult for rivals to compete with its own products and services. 

It might be a while before we learn the outcome of the EU probes. According to Bloomberg, EC investigators try to reach a final decision within a year of starting a formal investigation. If officials determine that these companies aren't complying with the DMA, they face hefty penalties. 

Under the law, the EU can fine a company up to 10 percent of its total annual revenue, and up to 20 percent for repeated violations. Such penalties could make the $2 billion that the EU recently fined Apple for allegedly suppressing iTunes and Apple Music competitors like Spotify look like pocket change.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-eu-is-investigating-apple-meta-and-google-over-fees-and-self-preferencing-124147179.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The Rabbit R1 starts shipping next week

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According to Rabbit, the first batch of US pre-orders will ship on March 31. But stay patient, as it’ll take a few weeks for the devices to get to their destinations. The company estimates the first R1 orders will be in customers’ hands “around April 24.”

The Rabbit R1 generated equal amounts of hype and questions regarding next-gen AI hardware and whether it can deliver on the heady demos and press releases. I will say, though, the R1, co-designed by Teenage Engineering, is a pretty piece of tech.

— Mat Smith

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Apple Silicon has a hardware-level exploit that could leak private data

The odds are fairly low that you’ll have to worry about it.

University security researchers found a chip-level exploit in Apple Silicon-powered Macs. The group says the flaw can bypass the computer’s encryption and access its security keys. However, hackers would need to circumvent Apple’s Gatekeeper protections, install a malicious app and let the software run for 10 hours — in addition to other complex conditions. As long as you have Apple’s Gatekeeper turned on (the default), you won’t be able to install such malicious apps anyway.

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Senators ask intelligence officials to declassify details about TikTok and ByteDance

Lawmakers have participated in classified briefings about the app.

As the Senate considers a bill that would force the sale or ban of TikTok, lawmakers have heard directly from intelligence officials about the app’s alleged national security threat. Now, two senators are asking the office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify and make public what the agency has shared.

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Instagram porn bots’ new low-effort tactic works

Posting ass and… ‘insect’?

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REUTERS / Reuters

Instead of a suggestive tease, spam bots in the Instagram universe are now more likely to post a single, inoffensive, completely irrelevant-to-the-subject word, sometimes accompanied by an emoji or two. That’s partially because Instagram’s word filters won’t catch them, but it’s simply a numbers game. Cheyenne MacDonald takes a closer look.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-rabbit-r1-starts-shipping-next-week-111518284.html?src=rss

China bans Intel and AMD processors in government computers

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China has introduced guidelines that bar the the use of US processors from AMD and Intel in government computers and servers, The Financial Times has reported. The new rules also block Microsoft Windows and foreign database products in favor of domestic solutions, marking the latest move in a long-running tech trade war between the two countries.

Government agencies must now use "safe and reliable" domestic replacements for AMD and Intel chips. The list includes 18 approved processors, including chips from Huawei and the state-backed company Phytium — both of which are banned in the US. 

The new rules — introduced in December and quietly implemented recently — could have a significant impact on Intel and AMD. China accounted for 27 percent of Intel's $54 billion in sales last year and 15 percent of AMD's revenue of $23 billion, according to the FT. It's not clear how many chips are used in government versus the private sector, however. 

The moves are China's most aggressive yet to restrict the use of US-built technology. Last year, Beijing prohibited domestic firms from using Micron chips in critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, the US has banned a wide range of Chinese companies ranging from chip manufacturers to aerospace firms. The Biden administration has also blocked US companies like NVIDIA from selling AI and other chips to China. 

The US, Japan and the Netherlands have dominated the manufacturing of cutting-edge processors, and those nations recently agreed to tighten export controls on lithography machines from ASL, Nikon and Tokyo Electron. However, Chinese companies, including Baidu, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo have already started designing their own semiconductors to prepare for a future wherein they could longer import chips from the US and other countries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/china-bans-intel-and-amd-processors-in-government-computers-065859238.html?src=rss

Sonos’ Roam 2 portable speaker may arrive just in time for summer

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Sonos is readying the release of its followup to 2021’s Roam speaker, and it should be here in time for all your outdoor summer excursions. In the Power On newsletter this week, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Sonos is planning a June release for the Roam 2 speaker. The first-generation Roam was Sonos’ second attempt at a portable speaker, with a slim, triangular build that weighs less than a pound but produces impressive sound.

According to Gurman, this version of the Roam will feature the same touch-sensitive control panel seen in some of the company’s other speakers, like the Era 100. Sonos is also reportedly working on a new app to pair with its devices, starting with the Roam 2 and an upcoming set of premium headphones that are positioned as an AirPods Max rival. Those headphones will cost $450, Gurman reports, and are also expected to be released in June a bit behind their original schedule.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-roam-2-portable-speaker-may-arrive-just-in-time-for-summer-152535125.html?src=rss

Sonos’ Roam 2 portable speaker may arrive just in time for summer

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Sonos is readying the release of its followup to 2021’s Roam speaker, and it should be here in time for all your outdoor summer excursions. In the Power On newsletter this week, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Sonos is planning a June release for the Roam 2 speaker. The first-generation Roam was Sonos’ second attempt at a portable speaker, with a slim, triangular build that weighs less than a pound but produces impressive sound.

According to Gurman, this version of the Roam will feature the same touch-sensitive control panel seen in some of the company’s other speakers, like the Era 100. Sonos is also reportedly working on a new app to pair with its devices, starting with the Roam 2 and an upcoming set of premium headphones that are positioned as an AirPods Max rival. Those headphones will cost $450, Gurman reports, and are also expected to be released in June a bit behind their original schedule.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-roam-2-portable-speaker-may-arrive-just-in-time-for-summer-152535125.html?src=rss

Rabbit R1 starts shipping to the first batch of US buyers next week

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The bright orange Rabbit R1 is easily one of the most memorable devices to have debuted this year, and if you’re among the lucky few who were able to put in an order before the first batch sold out, yours will soon be on its way to you. According to Rabbit, the first batch of US pre-orders will ship out on March 31 (Easter Sunday). It’ll take a few weeks for the devices to get to their destinations, though. The company estimates the first R1 orders will be in customers’ hands “around April 24.”

Rabbit is also hosting a pickup party in New York City on April 23 that it says is open to all buyers, not just batch one. It plans to release more information on the party and the first deliveries next week.

The company’s Rabbit R1 demo, which came in parallel to CES, sparked a lot of hype and a lot more questions about the purpose of dedicated AI hardware in the era of smartphones. It’s positioned as a more useful AI assistant that can go with you anywhere, powered in large part by San Francisco startup Perplexity’s LLM. Co-designed by Teenage Engineering, the Rabbit R1 features a physical scroll wheel and a rotating camera, plus an adorable animated bunny that serves as its mascot.

The company started taking pre-orders for the $199 Rabbit R1 back in January, and the first several batches of 10,000 devices each sold out fast. While batch one starts shipping soon, buyers who got in later will still have to wait several months for theirs to arrive. Pre-orders are currently open for batch seven.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rabbit-r1-starts-shipping-to-the-first-batch-of-us-buyers-next-week-162804743.html?src=rss