Amazon is undercutting Facebook’s own Portal sale

Ahead of Valentine's Day, Facebook is discounting its Portal products by $30 each -- and it's added $50 discounts for bulk-buying into the mix, too. While this isn't quite as good a deal as Facebook's previous Black Friday offering, the 'buy one, get...

Facebook’s big Portal update adds livestreams and ‘Mic Drop’ karaoke

Facebook is adding a slew of new features to Portal, and just in time for all the video calling the holiday season demands. First up, Facebook Live -- you'll now be able to livestream from Portal directly to your Facebook profile, a feature which is...

Pixel 4 will automatically screen robocalls and center your Duo videos

To keep its phones from steadily getting worse over time, Google plans to roll out bigger updates, called feature drops, to its Pixel devices. The first feature drop, rolling out this month, will bring the latest Call Screen features and improved Duo...

Google Duo’s low light mode brightens your nighttime video calls

Following May's update that enabled eight-member video calls, the latest change to Google Duo allows users to better see each other in low lighting. Google cites homes in less affluent locations as the motivation behind this new feature. "In many pla...

Apple’s new iOS 13 feature corrects your gaze during video calls

A video call is a great way to connect with friends and family when you can't physically be together. But even if you're staring directly at your loved one's face, there's still something a little off about the whole process. The way your phone's scr...

Google Duo’s group video calls roll out to everyone

Google is making Duo more useful as it's rolling out group video calls to everyone on Android and iOS. You can have up to eight people on a call at once (a far lower limits than FaceTime's 32 and Skype's 50). Group calls gradually went live in some m...

Isn’t it time the set-top box did much more?

Quite simply and aptly titled the Smart Set Top Box, Weilin D and Xican Deng’s conceptual tv box does much more than broadcast televised content to a display. Just as the title of the article suggests, the Smart Set Top Box is capable of much more. With in-built stereo speaker, the set top box complements its crisp visuals with ‘banging’ audio to match, and when not connected to the television, the set top box works as a smart speaker too… However, its feature list doesn’t quite end there. Housed in the top of the box is a retractible webcam that also allows you to make video calls using your television as a display, because Facetime/Skype on a 4K television is quite the experience to have!

Designers: Weilin D & Xican Deng

Facebook Portal will be available outside the US this fall (updated)

Facebook's Portal video chat devices are about to become much easier to find, not to mention more useful. The company has announced that it will make both Portal and Portal+ available outside of the US, starting with Canada this June and following wi...

Facebook cuts its Portal smart display to $99 for Mother’s Day

Mother's Day is less than a month away, and it seems Facebook is hoping you'll consider giving your Mom a Portal or Portal+ to keep in touch with you -- it's running a Mother's Day sale on the smart displays. Until May 12th, Portal will set you back...