Friday 5 April 2019

The Morning After: A 'perfect' ultraportable laptop?

Engadget Email Newsletter

It's Friday, April 05, 2019.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Friday has landed, and we have crowned the 2019 iPad Air as the Apple tablet that gets everything just right, and Dell’s new 13-inch XPS may be the perfect ultraportable laptop. Elsewhere, Amazon is plotting its own AirPods rival, and games makers continue to struggle with development crunch.

(View in browser.)

'Bloomberg’ sources claim they're coming later this year.

Amazon is working on an Alexa-powered AirPods competitor

Amazon is working on some AirPod-esque hardware that can tap into Alexa. Bloomberg reports the online retail giant is working on its first Alexa wearable. Sources say the Amazon version will be similar to AirPods in terms of both general design and features. The company is reportedly aiming to offer better audio quality than Apple -- nothing new there.

This is the worst version of ‘Pokemon Go’ I’ve ever seen.

Verizon’s 5G network is live and fast, if you can find it

In a bid to claim the title of the first consumer-ready 5G network in the world, Verizon surprised us by lighting up its 5G nodes across Chicago and Minneapolis ahead of schedule. Obviously, there was no way we couldn't book a flight to the Windy City and see what this next-gen network was capable of. As usual, though, things weren't quite that straightforward. Mobile Editor Chris Velazco’s time testing 5G turned into a city-wide scavenger hunt, trying to find stable high-speed connections.

'BioWare magic' is marketing BS.

'Anthem' is proof that crunch can't save AAA games

Anthem is a fiery mess. Since launching in February, BioWare's loot shooter has been plagued by game-breaking bugs, narrative and gameplay inconsistencies and an overwhelming sense of incomplete blandness. Critically, Anthem has received middling reviews, and its current Metacritic score, 55, is the lowest a BioWare title has ever received. Yes, that includes Mass Effect: Andromeda. The culprit: The Crunch. Developers getting burned out.

Get 100+ hours of computer science training for under $40

Original director Shinichiro Watanabe is serving as a consultant.

Netflix 'Cowboy Bebop' series casts John Cho and Mustafa Shakir

According to Variety, John Cho will take up the lead role of bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. Alongside him will be Luke Cage-star Mustafa Shakir, who will play Spiegel's partner Jet Black. Daniella Pineda of The Originals fame will play the amnesia-stricken Faye Valentine. British stage actor Alex Hassell will take on Vicious, a notorious hitman and rival to Cho's Spiegel.

An iOS tablet that has serious power at a price that's easier to swallow.

Apple iPad Air review: Just right

The $499 iPad Air is a notable upgrade in almost every respect over the entry-level, $329, iPad. It has a bigger, better screen, more storage and support for Apple’s Smart Keyboard case. According to Nathan Ingraham, unless you’re on a tight budget, it’s worth the extra cash and is probably the best all-around iPad you can buy right now.

One of the best Windows PCs gets even better.

Dell XPS 13 review: A perfect ultraportable

Dell did it again. Its XPS 13 is still one of the best Windows ultraportables around. The design? Better than ever. The screen supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dell has finally returned the webcam to the proper position. Devindra Hardawar says there aren’t many downsides -- unless you’re looking for a bit more gaming oomph.

If you can wait three to five years.

High-density EV battery could offer 600-mile range on a single charge

Innolith AG plans to cram 1,000 Wh/kg into the rechargeable battery, a "world's first," and cut manufacturing costs by ditching "exotic and expensive materials." To put that in perspective, a top-level Tesla Model S offers up to 315 miles of range thanks to a 100 kWh lithium-ion battery.

But wait, there's more...

1. Nintendo Labo VR modes come to 'Super Mario Odyssey' and 'Breath of the Wild'

2. Microsoft is giving Windows 10 users more control over when to install updates

3. The tiny Palm phone is no longer just a sidekick

4. Samsung sees its Q1 profit drop 60 percent from last year's record high

5. Apple cuts HomePod price to $299

6. Tesla adds '2048' and Atari's 'Super Breakout' to its dashboards

7. Amazon plans to launch thousands of internet satellites

8. Snapchat Stories are coming to Tinder

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Thursday 4 April 2019

E-Commerce Minute

E-Commerce Minute: Thursday -- April 4, 2019

The E-Commerce Times -- E-Business Means Business
https://www.ecommercetimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Headline Scan
With More Than 8 Billion Things, Where Are the IoT Privacy Laws?
Walmart Lets Customers Use Google Assistant to Voice-Order Groceries
Retail Tech for Millennials
Extreme Customer Experience
Wayfair v. South Dakota: How Amazon Played Both Sides

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Today's Story Highlights

With More Than 8 Billion Things, Where Are the IoT Privacy Laws?

No knows for sure how many "things" are connected to the Internet, but
the Federal Trade Commission reported last year that it was more than 8
billion, and that it would exceed 20 billion by the end of 2020!
Astonishing as it seems, it turns out that U.S. privacy laws do not
apply to all of those devices and the data they collect. So, for the
third time in three years, the Senate has proposed a new law.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85936.html

Walmart Lets Customers Use Google Assistant to Voice-Order Groceries

Walmart has launched a limited beta of Walmart Voice Order, which lets
consumers order groceries by voice using Google Assistant. The service
can be used with a number of devices: tablets, watches and TV sets
running Android 6.0+; smartphones running Android 5.0+; iOS 10.0+
devices; Google Home; and more. "This announcement is huge," said Ray
Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85934.html

Retail Tech for Millennials

It's time to get strategic about winning over Gen Y. Members of the
millennial generation were born roughly between 1980 and 2000. They're
the largest age cohort in human history, making up about 25 percent of
the entire global population. When they're mentioned in headlines,
however, the news sounds bad for business: They're broke. They're self-
obsessed. They're definitely not buying your stuff.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85930.html

Extreme Customer Experience

CRM guru Samson Lee has a new idea about customer experience. I don't
know that I agree with it, but Lee has a way of making you question your
assumptions and possibly change your viewpoint. Lee describes extreme
experience as the inevitable pain you have to go through to reach
nirvana -- that is, get the product or service you want from the vendor
you want.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85931.html

Wayfair v. South Dakota: How Amazon Played Both Sides

In the late 90s, Amazon began expanding its offerings beyond books,
quickly embracing the Internet and leveraging technology to boost sales
and exploit dated tax laws. Thanks to the proliferation of the Web and a
rise in the popularity of e-commerce, Amazon rapidly scaled its business
to offer a range of products and services directly to customers anywhere
in the nation.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/85929.html

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Editor's Pick: Following Protests, Google Cuts Temps, Vendors, Contractors a Fairer Deal

Following Protests, Google Cuts Temps, Vendors, Contractors a Fairer Deal

Richard Adhikari Apr 4, 2019 5:00 AM PT
	Google has unveiled new minimum standards for temps, vendors and contractors in the United States, in response to demands from an employee coalition that included full-time Google staffers as well as temporary workers and contractors. "Yesterday, we shared an update on some new initiatives to support our extended U.S. workforce," Google spokesperson Jenn Kaiser said Wednesday. [More...]

More Picks:

Best Open Source Tools for Staying on Top of Projects
The type of organizing tools you use to plan your projects can make your work routine more efficient and improve your productivity. A project management application is an essential tool in some business environments. This week's Linux Picks and Pans takes a deep dive into some of the best project management software solutions available for the Linux desktop. [More...]

Retail Tech for Millennials
It's time to get strategic about winning over Gen Y. Members of the millennial generation were born roughly between 1980 and 2000. They're the largest age cohort in human history, making up about 25 percent of the entire global population. When they're mentioned in headlines, however, the news sounds bad for business: They're broke. They're self-obsessed. They're definitely not buying your stuff. [More...]

Walmart Lets Customers Use Google Assistant to Voice-Order Groceries
Walmart has launched a limited beta of Walmart Voice Order, which lets consumers order groceries by voice using Google Assistant. The service can be used with a number of devices: tablets, watches and TV sets running Android 6.0+; smartphones running Android 5.0+; iOS 10.0+ devices; Google Home; and more. "This announcement is huge," said Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research. [More...]

Extreme Customer Experience
CRM guru Samson Lee has a new idea about customer experience. I don't know that I agree with it, but Lee has a way of making you question your assumptions and possibly change your viewpoint. Lee describes extreme experience as the inevitable pain you have to go through to reach nirvana -- that is, get the product or service you want from the vendor you want. [More...]