Apple

Shazam is now finally a part of Apple, but the best part of this corporate acquisition is that the mobile app will soon become ad-free for all users. Shazam has been downloaded over 1 billion times so far, and nowadays it is being used to identify songs more than 20 million times a day.

According to TENAA, the iPhone XS has a 2658 mAh battery, a small downgrade from the iPhone X's 2716 mAh battery. Considering that the iPhone X was criticized for its mediocre battery life last year, this could be a sticking point for the XS.

Smart home technology has definitely caught on by now, with many people automating or controlling their living spaces with new products designed to be integrated into them. A new market research report suggests that the market built up around this trend is worth billions now and will be worth even more in the future.

Code discovered in the Setup app for iOS 12.1 references a device called "iPad2018Fall," This, combined with other rumors of upcoming features that make sense for an iPad, all but confirm that new Apple tablets are coming in the next couple of months. This would coincide with Apple's typical release schedule.

Huawei are now rumored to have updated their Freebuds wireless earphones. The new models, which look oddly familiar, are purported to be capable of charging via Qi charging or a USB cable. They may also be capable of charging from a smartphone such as the upcoming Mate 20.

Whether you are looking to purchase your very first laptop or just upgrading from a five-year-old model, the following list of points should help you navigate the mine-field that is the modern technology world. We point out some of the tricks manufacturers employ to get you to buy their products and share quite a few tips in a simple, easy to understand manner.

Apple's Homepod has so far been a flop, only managing to capture 6% of the smart speaker market as of June 2018. The picture is even more bleak among Apple's own consumers; of Apple users that own a smart speaker, only 2% have purchased a Homepod.

aibo, Sony's robot in the shape of a puppy, is available from today (September 18, 2018) for purchase in the US. This event is being dubbed the "First Litter" release of the mechanical pets. Sony claims that aibo can learn to recognize up to 100 faces and develops a unique personality based on how it is treated.

Apple release iOS 12 today as a free update. The new version of Apple's mobile OS includes better AR support, automation via Siri, and performance optimizations. The update largely feels like Apple playing catch up with Android, which has offered some of the new features for years.

Using the rather new backdrop-filter CSS property can lead to a crash of the entire iOS on an iPhone. An exploit that does this and the code behind it have recently been unveiled by a software engineer and security researcher at Wire. The even worse part is that this issue might affect macOS-driven systems as well.

Traditional nano-, micro- or mini-SIMs have dominated mobile connection delivery for smartphones during the devices' rise in the 21st century. Now, however, ABI Research think eSIMs are going to start getting much more popular, mainly as a result of Apple's inclusion of them in their newest iPhones.

WhatsApp is working on a dark mode for its app, according to a Twitter-based leaker. The relevant posts project that this option will be OLED-screen friendly. Dark mode may also help save battery life while messaging on the app.

The latest version of the Apple Watch (the Series 4) has just been released, promising upgrades in terms of hardware and features. Ironically, an equally new report from the analyst group ABI Research indicates that this device line is losing market share. However, the future of smartwatches in general is painted as increasingly rosy.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max — with their engineering triumphs and associated price tags — might have been the headlining announcement out of Apple today, but the cheaper iPhone Xr has the potential to be where most consumers direct their money. Reminiscent of the iPhone 5c and iPhone S, the iPhone Xr brings many of its flashier siblings features for US$250 less.

Apple has launched the all-new version of the world's best-selling smartwatch. The new Apple Watch Series 4 gets a complete redesign with a larger display, thinner body and the ability to undertake a ECG assessment via the new Digital Crown among the headlining features.

The Apple iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max were launched today as the ‘s’ year upgrades to 2017’s iPhone X. As is common for ‘s’ releases, iterative improvements have been made across the board, with a particular focus on the screen, dual camera system, and new A12 Bionic SoC.

An analytics group recently polled 2200 adults early last month to study brand loyalty and how factors like income, age, or region may impact user decisions. Apparently, more than two-thirds of adults say they would stick to the same smartphone manufacturer for their next upgrade.

The new Montblanc Summit smartwatch is scheduled to arrive in October, and what we already know is that it uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC. Unfortunately, most other details — including its price — have yet to be revealed, but it will probably cost more than US$1,500 (the launch price of the model currently on the market).

The respected technology analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, is on record with yet another prediction for upcoming Apple devices. This time it's the iPad Pro, which, Kuo projects, will lose the Lightning port this year. Instead, it will use USB-C - and also, possibly, an 18-watt adapter.

As the end of the fifth Fortnite season is drawing near, the start of the Fall Skirmish event is also heading our way. This competition will last for 6 weeks and the best players will have the chance to win a total of no less than US$10,000,000 (yes, that is 10 million). More details will be available later this week.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 is likely to feature in many next-generation wearables. Qualcomm held a launch event for it yesterday (September 10, 2018). The company claimed it will bring improvements in battery life and usability. The Wear 3100 is also to be used by new, high-end players in the wearables game.

With screen sizes between 5.8 and 6.5 inches, the upcoming Apple iPhone handsets will bring the A12 processor into the spotlight, but they are also expected to be the first phones released by the Cupertino giant to ship with a fast charger and a Lightning-to-USB Type-C cable in the retail box.

Qualcomm and partners such as Ericsson have been developing 5G for commercial use in (hopefully) 2019. The two companies have conducted data call tests for the latest release (15) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) using the new Qualcomm X50 modem.

A new Reddit post contains images of cases that could have been designed for iPhones. However, both examples of these new cases also do not appear to fit the iPhone X. Therefore, they may be intended for the anticipated new 6.1- and 6.5-inch display models. Both cases bear Speck branding.

Device unlocking using an owner's face has become quite popular. Unfortunately, offering truly secure, flexible and effective facial scanning in your product can get difficult and expensive. MediaTek claims that its new take on this form of identification is neither, and is furthermore at least as good as Face ID.

A hands-on image of the upcoming Apple Watch Series 4 has leaked showing a slightly larger edge-to-edge display with rounded corners. The resolution of this display is expected to be around 384 x 480 pixels, which allows for a higher information density than the Watch Series 3.

With the release of Firefox 62, Mozilla also stops providing support to Firefox 52 ESR, which is the latest version for those still using this ancient operating system. Firefox 62 comes with support for CSS variable fonts and shapes, dark mode automatically enabled for macOS users, improved scrolling performance in Android, and more.

Google is celebrating its 10th anniversary of Chrome with the release of a considerable update (Chrome 69) for the browser. It features a substantial UI redesign, as well as a new password generator. This version will be available for mobile and desktop.

The wearables market grew 5.5% from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018 mainly due to large growth in developing markets. Apple continued its dominance and enjoyed a 38% year over year growth. Xiaomi came in a close second. Fitbit was a big loser, seeing a year over year decline of 22%. While the future of wearables is still in flux, the market is far from dead.

Apple will officially reveal the new iPad Pro models on September 12, but some high-resolution CAD renders already got leaked, confirming the rumored thin bezels and lack of audio jack. These new models will not integrate the rumored OLED screens; however, they will get new True one IPS displays with FaceID technology.

Apple has announced that it is offering free logic board replacements for affected iPhone 8 devices purchased between September 2017 and March 2018 in select markets. Apple said that a small percentage of iPhone 8 devices had a defective logic board that resulted in unexpected restarts and frozen screens.

Apple's next-generation iPhone and Watch have been leaked in press renders. Said to be called the iPhone XS, the new iPhone is depicted in Gold while the new Apple Watch Series 4 confirms rumors it would pick up a larger display.

The Tesla Wireless Charger surfaced on the company's official store but was removed after less than a day. This power bank features 5 W wireless charging and USB Type-C wired charging at 5 V and 1.5 A, has a rather modest capacity of 6,000 mAh, but it lives up to the Tesla name and sports a not-so-friendly US$65 price tag.

YouTube allows vloggers who use the platform to monetize their videos with AdSense. However, many of these ads can be skipped after a few seconds. Now, however, YouTube now contains options to include skip button-less ads for all creators.

Apple is expected to launch three new iPhone X successors this September and apparently, the company is referring to them as 'S' devices as they are externally similar to the iPhone X and only sport internal upgrades. The largest iPhone of the bunch will be a 6.5-inch model internally referred to as 'D33'. The 'D32' is the upgrade to the current 5.8-inch iPhone X while 'N84' will be the cheapest of the lot and will sport a 6.1-inch LCD screen and come in multiple color options.

The name Huawei may not be a fan favorite in the US but you'd be wrong if you thought the company was just another upstart unknown Chinese OEM. According to IDC, Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone brand in Europe last quarter.

The Garmin vivofit jr. 2 is a fitness tracker for kids that comes with Disney Princess-themed bands and a mobile app capable of offering an interactive experience which includes popular characters such as Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, and Rapunzel. This smart wearable is already available for US$79.99.

The first Apple store in Kyoto will open its doors to the public on August 25. This retail venue is located on Shijō Dori, the street that has been known as the city's main shopping corridor for almost five centuries. Back in 2003, Apple opened its first retail store outside the US in Tokyo.

A number of variations on the same device are specified in a newly-secured approval from the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). The document's repeated references to "watchOS 5" increase the probability that the certification is for the upcoming Apple Watch refresh.

Apple has filed a patent that may contribute to the voice assistant Siri's functionality in the future. It may impart the ability to recognize different voices and attribute them to corresponding users on new versions of the software. This could give the assistant software a much-needed boost in its relevant marketplaces.

WhatsApp has distinguished itself among messaging apps through its ability to eat your storage. However, a new agreement between the Facebook subsidiary and Google mean that WhatsAapp backups will no longer clog up space on the Drives of its users.

The Minecraft: Education Edition community now consists of over 35 million licensed teachers and students in 115 countries, so it is not surprising that Microsoft is finally bringing this game to the iPad. Schools licensed through Microsoft 365 for Education already have access to this title and general availability will follow next month.

An iPad exploded in the Apple Store in Amsterdam on Sunday possibly due to an overheated battery. Luckily no one was injured but some of the staff are being treated in a local hospital for respiratory complications.

Apple attracted some criticism when it removed Touch ID from the iPhone X. However, a new leak suggests that the company is working on a new form of fingerprint scanning for its next-generation flagships. This new purported system may leave the home button in the past.

One is Google's new cloud-storage solution for those who formerly used services such as paid Drive. It provides a unified location for the data generated by apps such as Photos, Drive and Gmail. Google One has been absorbing Drive customers who wish to switch to it, and is now available to new customers too.

Just two days after Nvidia announces its Turing architecture, Intel has begun to tease its discrete GPU products. Intel has released a trailer intended to garner much hype, but does Intel even stand a chance against RTG and Nvidia? According to its trailer, we will find out in 2020.

A fresh rumor suggests that Apple could be adding Pencil support to its 2018 iPhones. The addition would give the iPhone the direct ability to compete with the just-launched Galaxy Note range, in addition to differentiating it from the Galaxy S 10.

A Melbourne, Australia based teenager was able to remotely hack and access some of Apple's secure servers for over a year, downloading over 90 GB of secure files and customer information. Using hacking software to obtain authorized keys for logging in, the teen hacked the company because he has always "dreamed of" working there.

PUBG Mobile crossed 100 million downloads this month, cementing it as one of the most popular Battle Royales for smartphones and tablets. Despite its success, it still trails behind Fortnite, which hit 100 million downloads last month on iOS only. The new Android version of Fortnite may spell trouble for PUBG Mobile and Tencent games.

A recently-released piece of marketing by Huawei Taiwan appears to take the same approach with which Samsung have targeted Apple in the past. The apparently jokey image and text may make fun of the "innovation" involved in the design of the Galaxy Note 9.