Samsung has been riding high on the success of the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, but it’s not resting on its laurels. In just one month, will unveil the Galaxy S9 . , and it’ll take place in Barcelona. We don’t know a lot about the device, but Samsung’s event invitation offers at least one tantalizing teaser. The invitation to Samsung’s Unpacked event simply shows a “9” on a black background with the phrase “The camera. Reimagined.” This lends some credibility to the rumor that Samsung will focus on camera performance with the Galaxy S9. The GS8 made little in the way of camera improvements over the Galaxy S7.
Many of the most magical pieces of consumer technology we have today are thanks to advances in and machine learning. We already have impressive object recognition in photos and speech synthesis, and in a few years cars may drive themselves. Machine learning has become so advanced that a handful of developers have created a tool called FakeApp that can create convincing “face swap” videos. And of course, they’re . Well, this is the internet, so no surprise there. FakeApp is based on work done on a deep learning algorithm by a Reddit user known as Deepfakes. The tool is available for download and mirrored all over the internet, but setup is non-trivial.
For a limited time, Dell is offering up a quad-core Inspiron 15 7000 laptop with a 4K display at a 38% discount. You can also grab discounted smartphones on Amazon, and a sleek HP Titan smartwatch on the PCMag store. Of course, with the big game coming up quickly, there are plenty of bargains to be found for televisions too. Featured Deals (Coupon code: TENOFF – List price: $999.99). (List price: $2324.57). (List price: $599.99). (List price: $144). . (List price: $28.99). (Coupon code: TITAN10 – List price: $79).
The Toyota Yaris iA is a well-designed little sedan that is fun to drive. The iA has a solid core of driver assists and safety features, has high reliabity scores, and reasonable cockpit room for four or five passengers given its 172-inch length. It only lacks the suite of higher-grade driver assists Toyota calls TSS (Toyota Safety Sense). It’s also simple to buy: Choose the exterior color and decide if you want the six-speed manual or the six-speed automatic. With the automatic transmission, you’ll pay about $18,000 for a Yaris iA. Other than the Toyota name badge, the Yaris iA is unrelated to the Toyota Yaris hatchback (or liftback).
Each presidential administration works to put its own stamp on America’s space program. In the Trump administration’s case, that reportedly involves cutting back on funds for the International Space Station and diverting them into funds for lunar exploration. The proposal isn’t entirely a surprise; Vice President Pence announced the Trump administration would “refocus America’s space program toward human exploration and discovery” by launching a new lunar program followed by a manned Mars shot at some point in the indefinite future. But closing the ISS in 2025 and diverting that money to cislunar programs or even a lunar habitat represents a major change to US space policy.
DJI isn’t resting on its laurels as it works to make sure it has a drone for every possible customer. After introducing the simplified Spark as its first entry in the consumer market, DJI has now announced an entry-level version of its Mavic Pro, called the Mavic Air. I guess I did always wonder why the Mavic was called the Pro when there was only one model, but now we know. The Mavic Air is designed to have some of the Spark’s ease-of-use features like gesture control, but also some advanced capabilities like obstacle sensors in all directions, typically found in higher-end models.
Computer systems around the world are getting a raft of patches in the wake of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. These low-level bugs affect many different CPUs and architectures, but Intel was hit harder than most. As the company starts rolling out patches, not everyone is happy with the quality of Intel’s work. In fact, original Linux developer Linus Torvalds has called Intel’s patches “.” He actually used caps lock, so you know he’s serious. target some core features of modern CPU known as speculative execution. These features allow CPUs to “prime the pump” by doing calculations that may be needed in the future.
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When HTC and Oculus debuted the first consumer VR products two years ago, their sky-high prices ($600 and $800 at debut) kept them out of reach for all but a handful of gamers. Today, Oculus is down to $400 while the Rift is $600 — significantly lower than before, particularly for Oculus, which now includes Touch controllers — but still fairly expensive for most customers. Now, if you want to try out VR or mixed reality, Microsoft’s Mixed Reality headsets are a strong alternative. Thanks to recent price cuts, they’re now available at much lower prices. The , , , and are now around $250, ranging from $218 for the Acer model to $246 for the Dell.
