The PC market finally grew again in 2019, after a full seven years of contraction. According to IDC, global PC shipments grew 4.8 percent in Q4 to 71.8M shipments, the highest single-quarter volume since Q4 2015. Overall, worldwide PC shipments were up 2.7 percent compared with 2018. That’s the first increase since the PC market grew 1.7 percent in 2011. “This past year was a wild one in the PC world, which resulted in impressive market growth that ultimately ended seven consecutive years of market contraction,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. “The market will still have its challenges ahead, but this year was a clear sign that PC demand is still there despite the continued insurgence of emerging form factors and the demand for mobile computing.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Xbox Kinect. When Microsoft debuted the platform, then known as Project Natal, the company promised it would enable an entirely new type of gaming, one in which your entire body would serve as the controller. Consumers clearly loved the idea — the first generation Kinect sold more than 10 million units by 2011, which is an excellent attach rate for a console peripheral. Microsoft took note of that success and doubled down on it, declaring that every next-generation Xbox would ship with a Kinect included. Polygon has published a deep dive into the design and development of Kinect, from conception to the Xbox One.
Earth has been on a clear warming trend for decades now, and 2019 did nothing to change that. New data released by NASA and NOAA illustrate the accelerating pace of climate change. 2019 was the second hottest on record, but more troubling, it also . The new data released this week confirm that the past five years have all been among the five hottest since record-keeping began in the late 19th century — 2016 remains the hottest ever. Furthermore, 19 of the 20 warmest have all occurred in the last two decades. Even going back further with the aid of clues from sediment and ice, it is clear this rate of change is .
It’s “Patch Tuesday” for Microsoft, and this is an important one. Not only is this the , but Microsoft is releasing a major fix for Windows 10 thanks to the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA reportedly in Windows 10, and it took the unusual but welcome step of telling Microsoft about it. Despite its name, the NSA is not aimed at improving security for the general public. Its goal of gathering intelligence and monitoring national communication networks is not served by patching vulnerabilities when it can weaponize them instead. That’s why, traditionally, the NSA keeps these security holes a secret so it can use them against targets.
The enormous gap between what homeowners want from smart homes and what companies actually provide has come starkly into view. Spectrum, which formerly operated a home security service, has decided it doesn’t want to continue to do so. All current Spectrum security equipment will brick on February 5. Existing customers will be offered discounts on Ring and Abode systems, but will not . In theory, should be compatible with other hardware, given that they use the common Zigbee protocol. Unfortunately, Spectrum has firmware-locked its own security products. They can’t “see” other Zigbee devices nearby, and other Zigbee devices can’t see them, either.
News about the Fisker Ocean continues to build. The performance specs are yet to come, while financing numbers all sound good. Really good on the cost part: $37,499 before tax credits, $29,999 after the $7,500 federal tax credit, or $379 for a lease. That’s less than a Tesla Model 3. But the Model 3 is shipping. At this point, Fisker is talking about 2021 production and delivery of first cars in 2022. Fisker took a prototype to CES 2020 to show off. It has a solar roof to help charge the Ocean. A California mode lowers all windows, including the rear, at the touch of a single button, and gives the car a convertible-like feeling — except that there’s still a steel roof (with a big sunroof, true) overhead.
According to rumor, Samsung’s next-generation phone won’t be the Galaxy S11. It’ll be the Galaxy S20, presumably because it’s 2020 and Samsung wants a bigger number than Apple. The new device will ship in different flavors, as has been typical for the past few years, but the specs on the supposed top-end model are truly something to behold. Yesterday, Samsung confirmed the of the device family and the overall design, as covered by my colleague Ryan Whitwam. Today, Max Weinbach of XDA Developers leaked the specs on the hardware. The S20 family will ship as the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra, with the S20 and S20+ offering LTE and the S20 Ultra as a 5G product.
Enjoy 2020 in style with a new high-quality 4K TCL TV that’s marked down a whopping $182.50. TCL’s 55R625 smart TV utilizes Quantum LED and HDR technology to create high-quality images with excellent color on-screen. With a clickable coupon, you can get this display marked down from $649.99 to $467.49 from Amazon. File your taxes with H&R Block’s Tax Software this year and you can get a 4 percent bonus added to your refund as part of a special offer. Currently, you can also get the Deluxe + State tax software for 2019 with a 50 percent discount from Amazon that drops its price from $44.99 to $22.49.
AMD had a great start to 2020, but one product gamers had hoped to see — so-called “Big” Navi — was only briefly mentioned by CEO Dr. Lisa Su. We know that Big Navi is absolutely in the works, but not much more than that. Here’s Lisa Su on the topic: I know those on Reddit want a high end Navi! You should expect that we will have a high-end Navi, and that it is important to have it. The discrete graphics market, especially at the high end, is very important to us. So you should expect that we will have a high-end Navi, although I don’t usually comment on unannounced products.
