Latest Tech News

Using biomimicry to replicate how birds land on tree branches and balance there, Stanford researchers have managed to create SNAG, the Stereotyped Nature-Inspired Aerial Grasper, which can fly like a quadcopter but land like a peregrine falcon. SNAG is not your average drone but a robotic bird that can grasp branches of various forms and textures with its 3D-printed legs, motors for muscles, and fishing line for tendons. The end goal is to conserve battery while filming or surveying an area by perching instead of hovering all the time.

A 15-inch MacBook Pro has shockingly caught on fire in a user’s house, resulting in catastrophic damage to the laptop. The spontaneously combusting Apple MacBook Pro was a model from the 2015 lineup, which was infamously banned from some airlines because of the battery being a potential fire hazard.

Insider Mark Gurman recently stated that Apple plans on releasing five different Mac models next year. These could include new iMac and Mac Mini models, a MacBook Air redesign, and two different MacBook Pros. Most of these parts, barring the higher-end MacBook Pro, will likely be powered by variants of the Apple Silicon M2 chip.

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization recently downgraded its prediction for global semiconductor revenue growth in 2022. This year, WSTS expects revenue to grow by just 8.8 percent, a far cry from 2021's 25 percent growth rate.

TEAMGROUP announced two new industrial storage solutions, the N75A-M80 and N75G-M80, which are designed to operate in changing and volatile environments. The company claimed that these SSDs were developed to meet the increasing demands of the 5G and smart edge computing markets. These devices also feature amazing cooling performance and are suitable for small industrial spaces.

The Moto G51 is one of Motorola's latest phones, and also debuts a new SoC from Qualcomm. Now, it is to become available in India via Flipkart. The brand touts it as bringing "true 5G" to its new market on its December 2021 debut.

A Huawei executive recently confirmed that devices running on the company's HarmonyOS platform will reach the European market in 2022. This could mean that powerful devices like the Mate 50 Pro will once again be available to international audiences.

Sony has announced availability and pricing for the inaugural Airpeak drone. The S1 is rated as the "world's smallest" drone that can still carry a full-sized mirrorless Alpha-series camera. It is up for pre-order from now, to be shipped later in December 2021.

When is a monitor with a screen measuring less than 20 inches diagonally valued at just under US$15,000? According to Canon, it's when it is the first professional reference display from the brand to feature its exact dimensions at a 4K/UHD resolution. The DP-V1830 can also support a 4-way split-screen, enhanced blacks and improved viewing angles.

Asus has emerged victorious as a result of 2021's Interbrand Best Taiwan Global Brands survey, making it the country's "most valuable" brand that operates worldwide - and for the eighth year running, too. The OEM has attained this accolade due to its fame, resilience to the pandemic and ability to forge partnerships with other groups.

Fans of Samsung's Galaxy S series in India have strongly opined that getting the Exynos variants of the phones put them at a disadvantage. It appears, however, that there'll be no cause for such complaints next year, as a new leak indicates that the Indian models of the Galaxy S22 series will be equipped with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

A French eCommerce platform recently listed a new Acer Nitro 5 model, sporting what appears to be the Intel i7-12700H, alongside a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. While neither part has been officially launched, the laptop's listing indicates that we may see Alder Lake H sooner than expected.

Ubisoft will be making Anno 1404 History Edition free to download and keep forever, but only for a short time. The giveaway falls within Ubisoft's 35th anniversary and includes the Anno 1404: Venice expansion pack.

Magico's latest subwoofer is like almost no other, with it weighing in at 177 kg and capable of outputting 6,500 W of power. The subwoofer has a frequency response of between 10 Hz and 150 Hz too, with a 136 dB peak volume.

iQOO may be on the verge of adding a Snapdragon 888-powered device to its often flagship-killing Neo series of smartphones. Now, it may have shown up on the Google Play Console and on the 3C regulatory database. It is shaping up to be a reasonably premium Android device for the end of 2021.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 and 20 Ultra are part of the One UI beta program, which means the flagship phablets are on a short list of devices to get access to the OEM's build of Android 12. The Notes 20 are now on their third beta in a few markets, and addresses a number of issues caused by the second.

@DCS recently shared a Weibo update about the state of OPPO's 150W charging technology. The company has already begun trial production of 10-Amp chargers that'll support 150W charging. Upcoming flagships like the Find X4 might only support 80W charging, though.

Sony is working on "Spartacus," a competitor to Xbox Game Pass, that will reportedly combine its PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus services. "Spartacus" will feature a three-tier subscription plan, bundling in PS Plus benefits, free PS4 and PS5 games, and game streaming.

Tamriel Rebuilt, a mod effort to add in the entirety of mainland Morrowind to The Elder Scrolls III, just received a new roadmap for 2022. With the Elder Scrolls 6 still years out, RPG fans might have reason now to dust off Morrowind.

The recently slumping crypto markets are causing a lot of concern for crypto investors, who fear that the frantic growth of digital currencies like Bitcoin may have peaked and that further corrections or even a full-grown crypto crash are in the cards.

Fairphone has just launched the latest of its signature modular smartphones, with a design that allows for various different individual components of the 4 to be removed and replaced with an unusual level of ease. Now, it has starred in new JerryRigEverything and iFixit videos.

OPPO has confirmed that it will debut a "new flagship product" during its annual Inno Day showcase. The device in question could be a new smartphone powered by the latest Qualcomm silicon. The event is also now scheduled to include what just might be a launch for the OEM's first-gen foldable phone.

PKVitality has been showing off its upcoming K’Watch Athlete wearable. The device has been constructed to help athletes involved in either endurance or explosive sports to monitor their lactic acid levels without the need for analyzing blood samples. The K’Watch Athlete, which offers continuous lactate monitoring, can be worn as a smartwatch or armband.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology responsible for EV certification wants electric cars to do better in cold weather conditions. Citing reduced battery range on a charge when temperatures are low, the Ministry held a panel to coordinate the efforts of electric car makers, regulators, and researchers to serve EV drivers better in cold climates. The list of participants includes the top Chinese EV manufacturers which already hold the range-on-a-charge records, as well as academia that deals with battery chemistry research.

Tipster @chi11edog released what appears to be a leaked price list for an entire lineup of MSI B660 DDR5 motherboards, starting at US$119. With extant Z690 boards starting at US$220, this could give budget builders a path forward to Alder Lake.

Intel may have a winner in the popular US$120 processor segment with the Core i3-12100. The Core i3-12100 is yet to be released, but early benchmarks prove that the entry-level Alder Lake-S processor has enough muscle to beat the AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100 in most benchmarks, that too with reduced power consumption and thermals.

Motorola is aiming to be one of the first, if not the first, mobile device brand to launch a smartphone based on Qualcomm's new cutting-edge SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Now, the company has teased the Moto Edge X30 in terms of its screen quality, officially revealing that it will have a high-refresh-rate display with other high-end specs to boot.

NVIDIA may have just announced the RTX 2060 (12 GB), but we may only be 6 weeks away from the launch of the RTX 3050. The entry-level card is believed to feature 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a GA106 GPU, the same graphics chip found in the RTX 3060.

According to reports, Huawei could be less than three weeks away from revealing its first smartwatch that can monitor your blood pressure. The so-called Watch D will be one of many devices unveiled during a comprehensive launch event.

A TechPowerUp report indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12GB will not have a pricey Founders Edition variant from NVIDIA. Instead, the refreshed Turing card will be an AIB-exclusive, which could potentially help keep pricing under control.

Cryptocurrency miners face a perfect regulatory storm from the looming financial regulation of digital assets on one side and the upcoming climate change bills on the other. Bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan became the second-largest globally after China banned its miners, but the country's energy infrastructure can't handle the load, and large mining platforms are relocating to the US. Here, however, Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent a letter demanding more info on the climate impact of Bitcoin mining, spelling further regulatory trouble for miners.

Tipster @KOMACHI_ENSAKA got their hands on benchmark results for an unnamed Intel Raptor Lake part with 24 cores and 32 threads. Despite having a 50 percent higher core count, the engineering sample falls well behind the 12900K, hinting at very low test clockspeeds.

Members of Congress recently introduced the Stopping Grinch Bots Act. If it passes through, this piece of legislation could make it illegal for scalpers to use bots and scripts to hoard electronics for resale.

According to a report by Jon Peddie Research (JPR), AIB graphics card shipments increased by 25 percent over 2021, despite the apparent global silicon shortage. This raises questions about the impact of crypto mining and scalping on cards meant to reach the consumer market.

Those who don't want to spend a lot of money for their work laptop can perhaps find the ideal laptop in the ThinkPad L15 G2 with Intel's Core i3 Tiger Lake CPU.

The Google Pixel 6 impressed us in the test with its bright OLED display, strong cameras, and decent battery life, but it still didn't manage to get a top score. Read on to find out why this is and why it's still a very good smartphone.

Valve is not quite ready to begin shipping the Steam Deck, but it has finalised the console's packaging. The box contains quite a few jokes too, but not many accessories inside.

Acer's mid-range Nitro 5 gaming laptop is currently on sale and heavily discounted at Best Buy, making it a noteworthy deal for everyone who has passed on similar Black Friday or Cyber Monday offers.

Steam's hardware survey sometimes offers intriguing insights into the popularity of certain CPUs and GPUs among gamers, but after the October release of Windows 11 it has now given a noteworthy clue about gamers' willingness to upgrade to Microsoft's latest operating system.

The new "visual update" of Office is now becoming official. This cosmetic adjustment makes the productivity suite match the new Windows 11 look, although some users still on 10 might also see the update. It mostly functions to add the new rounded corners and dark themes to 4 of Microsoft's classic work-focused apps.

Car thieves in Canada are abusing the functionality of Apple's AirTags, which have reportedly been used for tracking the location of expensive vehicles in an attempt to later steal them. Apple iPhone users should be aware of a certain notification that can thwart the relatively simple procedure employed by such criminals.

SiFive is aiming to catch up to ARM by committing to deliver significant performance improvements in record time. The Performance P650 processors releasing next year will scale to 16 cores and deliver up to 81% performance increase per core compared to ARM's Cortex-A75.

OPPO has confirmed that it is "one of the first" OEMs to have laid hands on the all-new top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, and that the phone based thereon will be out by the end of the first quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, it has also certified a new device that may or may not be its inaugural foldable mobile device.

RISC-V International is pushing for increased adoption with the introduction of 15 new specifications for the RISC-V ISA. Most prominent are the Vector specs that expand support for AI / machine learning, the Scalar Cryptography specs that make it easy to add improved security features even on the smallest IoT devices, and the Hypervisor specs that add compatibility with other OSes for data center environments and allow for increased malware protection.

A European retailer has leaked several SKUs of upcoming MSI gaming laptops, all with Intel Alder Lake-P processors and NVIDIA RTX 30 Ti GPUs. The GE66 Raider, GE76 Raider, GS66 Stealth and GS76 Stealth will also be upgraded, but prices will be steep.

Xiaomi is building momentum for the release of the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12X, both expected to arrive this month. As executives continue to tease its upcoming flagships, it is also preparing behind closed doors to bring Android 12 and MIUI 13-based builds to MIUI's Stable channel.

Huawei is now said to launch its inaugural clamshell-style foldable as early as December 2021. A new patent lends more weight to this theory by depicting an innovative new kind of "heat pipe" that looks designed to fit into such a device. It can bend in the middle, thereby potentially lining up nicely with a smaller foldable smartphone's hinge.

Not content with the various versions of the ONEXPLAYER that it already sells, One-netbook is also looking to bring an ONEXPLAYER mini to market. A new gameplay video shows what to expect from the 7-inch handheld, which should launch with a 1200p display.

Xiaomi is preparing to release the Redmi Note 11 4G globally. The device has already been certified in Germany and the US, but there could also be an Indian variant. The device has a 90 Hz display, a 5,000 mAh battery and a 50 MP primary camera, among other features.

According to reports, a 2022 release is on the table for Google's first smartwatch. However, expect to charge the Pixel Watch daily and to shell out over US$300 for a smartwatch that has proprietary straps.