Lenovo Duet: Chrome OS Shines on Innovative 2-in-1
This new device mimics Microsoft’s Surface Pro line, using the Chrome OS instead of Microsoft Windows. It redefines what the Chrome OS can do on a convertible tablet, compared to Android. The Duet comes with a 10.1-inch screen, a magnetically attached keyboard with trackpad, and 128 GB of internal RAM for $199.99.
Women in Tech: 20 Trailblazers Share Their Journeys
Successful women in the tech trenches share their insights and tackle subjects ranging from how to search out a strong mentor to how to be one -- from how to advance in a large company to how to start your own firm.
This book is an excellent guide for students considering STEM courses, graduates pondering job choices, and career changers at any stage in life. It's also a useful tool for school and career counselors, recruiters, and HR pros eager to diversify their workplaces.
Website Development Contracts, Part 1: How to Avoid Major Disasters
When entering into website development contracts, the more you know the more likely you will be able to avoid contract disasters that could prevent your website from launching on time or working properly. There are many stories about failed software development projects, not just in connection with website development contracts, but with all information technology projects.
Jack Dorsey is CEO of not one company but two. In addition to Twitter, he runs Square, the leading mobile payments company. If you are buying services, you probably are paying for them over Square. Currently, one of the most powerful investors in Twitter is moving to have Dorsey fired, so he is also at personal risk.
How to Soup Up Your Home WiFi With Multiple Repeaters and Access Points
Does flaky Internet connectivity have you scrounging for solutions? The COVID-19 pandemic increased our demand for Internet service due to working from home, online learning for kids, and video conferencing with colleagues and family members. For many people stuck at home, Internet connectivity issues became more troublesome in recent months. Use these tips to improve your WiFi performance.
A pandemic, economic uncertainty and social distancing -- what a kerfuffle we are in. As marketing leaders, it's an incredibly difficult time to direct our teams. Yet, while we're all figuring out how to juggle emotions, families, dogs, toilet paper shortages, and a calendar full of conference calls, the revenue team has to press on in building pipeline and establishing predictable growth.
One of the exciting things that came out of Microsoft Build was that the company has been working to create virtual court solutions. If done right, a virtual system could fix a lot of court-related problems. It would allow judges to work around...
COVID-19's rampage is causing the electronics industry to suffer supply chain setbacks. Product innovation remains incredibly important in today's new normal, but electronics industry product launches have been delayed or canceled due to the...
If your contact center agents are working from home, download this Remote Agent Checklist to ensure they can provide exceptional customer experience, no matter where they're based.
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For what is probably the lightest news you'll read today, Amazon's new feature for Alexa turns any connected devices into walkie-talkies. While they could already easily send messages from one device to another, now you can ask Alexa to "Drop In Everywhere" and get a live line to all the devices in your house, useful for finding out who wants what on their pizza or getting someone to check for a package at the front door. Just… don't activate it by accident?
-- Richard
Researchers say Oura rings can predict COVID-19 symptoms three days early
With over 90 percent accuracy.
Engadget
Researchers have combined biometrics from Oura rings with AI prediction models to detect COVID-19 symptoms up to three days early with, they claim, over 90 percent accuracy. It sounds pretty incredible, but the science isn't just about wearing a bit of tech on your finger. The project asks participants to track stress, anxiety, memory and other psychological and cognitive biometrics in an app. The Oura ring collects physiological data, like body temperature, heart-rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate and sleep patterns. It combines all of this with prediction models to suggest those that may have the virus, with high levels of accuracy.
The platform is currently being tested by more than 600 healthcare professionals and first responders, and the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute is working with partners like Thomas Jefferson University and Vanderbilt University to scale the test to include more than 10,000 participants. Continue reading.
Introducing Engadget's Dads and Grads Gift Guide
All the gear to make their lives easier (and maybe more fun).
Engadget
We know that celebrations are hard right now -- hard to pull off and sometimes hard to enjoy -- but we don't want to forget about our amazing fathers and our equally awesome new graduates. We want to help you do that with our eight guides full of useful and fun gifts for dads and grads.
Our product recommendations run from practical to playful: tools to help new graduates start their "adult" lives, gadgets that can turn dads' backyards into grilling havens and lots more. Also because we know money is tight across the board, we included gift ideas under $50 for both dads and grads, so you can celebrate your loved ones while sticking to your budget. Continue reading.
Facebook staff plan 'virtual walkout' over response to Trump posts
Employees are angry at Zuckerberg's decision.
Facebook employees are so upset with Mark Zuckerberg's decision to take no action on Donald Trump's posts on the social network that they are participating in a "virtual walkout" in a show of protest against the company.
Facebook workers, most of whom are still working from home, are taking the day off and leaving messages that they are "out of the office in a show of protest," according to a report from The New York Times.
It comes after Zuckerberg announced Friday evening that Trump's posts, which Twitter said broke its rules regarding "glorification of violence," didn't violate Facebook's standards. Axios later reported that Zuckerberg had spoken to Trump on the phone before announcing the decision. Zuckerberg announced Sunday night that Facebook would make a $10 million donation to "groups working on racial justice." Continue reading.
Earlier, Sony's official PlayStation account shared a statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying it denounced systemic racism and violence against the Black community.
The company has delayed its PS5 event scheduled for later this week, halting plans to share more than an hour of PlayStation 5 game footage from both big and small studios. Other games companies like EA and Activision have followed suit, canceling recent game reveals and events. Continue reading.
Since our early weekend edition of the Morning After, SpaceX has made it into space. Its second attempt, on Saturday afternoon, marked the first time a commercial aerospace company has transported astronauts off-world. It's also the first time since the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 that astronauts have lifted off from US soil.
Roughly nine minutes after the Falcon 9 took off, the first stage rocket successfully set down on its autonomous sea barge here on Earth, and the Crew Dragon capsule, nicknamed Endeavor, successfully separated from its second stage.
Then, less than 24 hours ago, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked the capsule with the International Space Station. More on that and the rest of the latest tech headlines, below.
-- Mat
SpaceX Crew Dragon astronauts board the ISS
It's another historic milestone in private spaceflight.
SpaceX just passed another milestone in Crew Dragon's historic journey. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley successfully docked the capsule with the International Space Station just under 19 hours after launch from Cape Canaveral.
The pair emerged from the Crew Dragon capsule at around 1:15 PM ET and were greeted by astronaut Christopher Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanshin and Ivan Vagner. While describing the ride as less smooth than the space shuttle, Hurley said he "couldn't be happier" about the Crew Dragon's performance.
The capsule's solar arrays are rated for 119 days in space, so the astronauts have some time to acclimate to space and the ISS. Continue reading.
Modified Cessna is the 'largest' electric aircraft to take flight
It's a flight of compromises.
Magnix
A little closer to Earth, Magnix and AeroTEC have flown what they say is the world's largest all-electric aircraft. Their modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, the eCaravan, flew for 30 minutes around Washington state's Grand County International Airport, using Magnix's 750HP electric motor instead of the usual turboprop engine.
There are compromises. Batteries consume massive amounts of space and weight, and the current eCaravan could haul just four to five passengers (instead of as many as 14) for a distance of 100 miles. Magnix and AeroTEC hope to eventually carry nine people 100 miles once the technology has advanced, but that won't happen until after the initial aircraft's expected certification in 2021. Continue reading.
A simple wallpaper image is bricking Android phones
It's something to do with color space.
Users have discovered that a landscape photo is "soft-bricking" some Android phones when it's used as a background. Your phone isn't completely dead if it happens, but it'll get stuck in a loop that turns the lock screen on and off, even after a reboot. There are some options, however: You can use safe mode to delete the photo file or use the bootloader to reset the device entirely.
The issue may come down to the color spaces your phone supports and how they're handled. Dylan Roussel from 9to5Google discovered that the source image uses the RGB color space instead of Android's preferred sRGB, and Android 10 doesn't convert it where the Android 11 preview does. Continue reading.
Best Buy is selling the Lenovo Smart Clock for half its launch price
The smart home device is on sale for $40 on Best Buy.
Engadget
The Lenovo Smart Clock is currently on sale for $40 on Best Buy. That's down $20 from its $60 retail price, and it's half of the device's original $80 price at launch. We gave the smart home device a score of 87 in our review and recommended it for its price, attractive minimalist design, ambient light sensor and sunrise alarm, which slowly brightens, you know, like a sunrise. It's packed with voice-activated Google Assistant features but focuses mostly on being a clock and being more useful than your smartphone's alarm. Continue reading.
Microsoft cuts dozens of staff as it shifts to AI for MSN news stories
Automation is affecting journalism.
MSN
Microsoft is letting go of dozens of news contractors (about 50 in the US, 27 in the UK) after June 30th, due to a shift to AI news production on MSN. The workers were responsible for choosing, editing and curating stories. Those employed full-time by Microsoft, however, will stay at the company.
In a statement to the Seattle Times, Microsoft said it "evaluate[s] our business on a regular basis," like most companies, and that this could involve "re-deployment." It stressed that the contractor job cuts were "not the result of the current pandemic."
Companies have tapped AI for choosing and even writing news in the past. However, this is a real-world case affecting jobs on a major site. We tested out an AI writer several years ago at Engadget -- but it didn't quite work. Continue reading.
