Apple

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.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple's next trillion dollars could come from its services business, AR glass, and Apple Car. The Apple Car is expected to launch sometime between 2023 to 2025 and will be positioned as the 'next star product'. While the idea of an Apple-branded vehicle was shelved sometime ago, some of the recent hirings of the company might mean Apple is indeed reconsidering getting into the automobile industry.

Macs are more or less impervious to hacking, right? Not any more, according to two cybersecurity researchers during a briefing at the Black Hat USA Conference 2018. However, the attacks involved are difficult to achieve and need to be launched at very specific times during the computer's set-up.

MacBooks of the future might feature a full touch keyboard if recently filed Apple patents are anything to go by. There are three patents filed that demonstrate an increased touch area with haptic feedback for signalling a key press. These patents, however, could be just design ideas and might not even see the light of the day.

TSMC stopped production in several fabs on August 3 after a virus had penetrated key systems. Production has stabilized and returned to normal, but how the virus infiltrated the company is still unknown. The downtime caused by the outage could cause TSMC to lose several wafers and lag behind schedule. Details on the how the attack occurred remain scant. Update: it appears the culprit was the WannaCry ransomware.

The European Union is looking into the current fragmentation in smartphone connectors and has setup an inquiry to see if a single connector type can be mandated across all smartphones. While the issue of multiple plugs is almost passe, Apple's Lightning Connector differs from the standard micro-USB or USB-C connector that is common amongst Android smartphones prompting the EU to investigate if some sort of standardization can be achieved.

A developer has turned up yet another icon that may represent another new Apple device. This one may correspond to the putative iPhone XI Plus. It may also be larger than its nearest predecessor, and retain some of its main front-panel features.

Fortnite for Android is coming (eventually), but when it does, you won't be able to find it on the Google Play Store. Instead, Epic (the developer of the game) will distribute the APK on their own website in an effort to both re-establish a direct relationship with gamers and retain more revenue.

A hidden asset in the latest iOS 12 beta appears to confirm rumors about the next-generation iPads from Apple. The icon shows an iPad that has much thinner bezels and no Home button, which aligns with leaked details about the devices.

Thanks to record-breaking P20/Pro smartphone sales and additional support from the secondary Honor brand, Huawei snagged Apple's second place for most handhelds sold in Q2 2018. The Chinese company also aims to break into the U.S. market, a move that could pose some serious problems for Samsung's leading position.

An article on a Taiwanese news site states that Apple is in fact releasing a new MacBook Air in 2018. These rumors suggest that the Cupertino company now intends to fast-track its release. However, is it all good news for fans of this device line?

Approximately 23 percent of all current smartphone users in the United States are using a Samsung model. Sales of the latest Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones, however, have been sluggish with a worldwide userbase that is less than one-third of the iPhone X.

If reports are to go by, the upcoming 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch Apple iPad Pros are all set to go almost bezel-less. These iPad Pros will also be getting the Face ID feature and in all likelihood, will be ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Apple Japan is offering to repair Apple products damaged in the recent floods in Japan, free of cost. Those affected can directly contact Apple to arrange for a pick up till the end of September. However, there could be delays in delivery as courier services are still suspended in some areas.

Owners of the iMac Pro and the new 2018 MacBook Pro have turned to Apple forums to report several instances of kernel panics, which trace back to BridgeOS found in the Apple T2 chip. The T2 chip provides support for secure boot, encrypted storage, and the always-on 'Hey Siri' command. Apple is apparently aware but has not publicly acknowledged the issue so an estimated date for a fix is not yet known.

In the backdrop of Qualcomm's earnings call for this quarter, the company stated that Apple intends to use only Intel modems in the coming iPhone release and thus, Qualcomm will not be supplying modems for the next iPhone. It remains to be seen if Intel would be the preferred supplier or Apple would be looking at alternatives such as MediaTek.

The new stable Steam Client for Windows, Linux, and Mac brings an all-new chat feature that is also available for web browsers, GPU acceleration in web views by default, support for the PlayStation 3 controller, 15 Xbox controllers, and more. In the near future, Windows XP and Vista will no longer be supported by the Steam Client.

Apple has issued a supplemental update to macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 that addresses the throttling issues exhibited by the 2018 MacBook Pro. Those who have installed the update report that they are seeing improved performance in the Core i9 model and that the CPU is now at least able to sustain the base clocks.