Author: Robert

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The new Chromecast | Google

After seven years on the market, Google is finally giving the Chromecast its most-requested feature: a remote control. Today, the company is announcing the launch of a new Chromecast that also runs new software. And its official name is the somewhat awkward “Chromecast with Google TV.” The company is resurrecting the Google TV as an interface layer that runs on top of the actual OS powering the new Chromecast, Android TV.

The Chromecast with Google TV will cost $49.99 and is available in the US beginning today. Actually, it was available a couple days ago if you happened to visit the right Home Depot, and Chris Welch has already posted his review which you can go look at right now. It comes in three colors: gray, pink, and blue (or as…

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Photo: Google

Google just wrapped up its fall hardware event where it debuted the Pixel 5, the less expensive Pixel 4A 5G, the oft-rumored Chromecast with Google TV software built in, as well as the Nest Audio smart speaker. It’s a lot of good news for people who like new hardware. All said, the quick half-hour event contained mostly announcements we expected, but there were a few unexpected surprises. Here’s everything you might have missed at Google’s event.

Google’s Pixel 5 is a different spin on a flagship phone

In the case of specs, the Pixel 5 isn’t trying to go up against the most powerful phones in the world. Instead of beating them when it comes to raw speed (it has a midrange Snapdragon 765G processor, but the 8GB of RAM should deliver some…

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Google is starting to roll out a new editing mode for Google Photos on Android, which adds machine learning-powered automatic suggestions, and improved tools for more granular manual controls to help make your photos look even better.

The biggest change is a new “Suggestions” tab in the photo editing menu, which will offer recommendations for edits for the specific photo you’re currently looking at, automatically adjusting things like “brightness, contrast, and portrait effects.” The broad edits are also just a starting point — Google will also show you what edits it made, and let you tweak them further.

To start, Google is offering some basic options for suggestions, like “Enhance” and “Color Pop,” but the company…

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Image: Google

Google’s fall hardware lineup aims for the midrange

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Image: SanDisk

The SanDisk Extreme and the Sandisk Extreme Pro are a pair of speedy external SSDs that also have the hardware to keep your data safe and secure. The more expensive SanDisk Extreme Pro claims speeds of up to 2000MB/s for both read and write, while the regular SanDisk Extreme offers transfer speeds of up to 1050MB/s read and 1000MB/s write.

This puts the new SanDisk Extreme Pro among some of the fastest drives on the market, without having to put up with the more limited compatibility of a drive that connects over Thunderbolt 3. Tom’s Hardware has already put the 2TB version of the drive through its paces and notes that it delivers “very strong sequential read and write performance” over the latest 20Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard, and it…

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Image: Zound Industries

Zound Industries has announced its latest pair of Marshall-branded headphones, the Major IV. Like previous Marshall headphones, the Major IVs have a formidable battery life, which extends up to 80 hours on a single charge this time around. When it comes time to recharge, you can either plug in a typical USB-C cable or charge them wirelessly using a Qi-compatible charger.

We’ve seen numerous true wireless headphones embrace wireless charging over the last couple of years, but the feature is far less common with on-ear headphones like the Major IV. As well as wirelessly charging the headphones at home, the technology means you’ll also be able to charge them using any smartphones that support reverse wireless charging like the Samsung…

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Xiaomi has announced the Mi 10T Pro, its latest flagship phone. The device follows the strategy seen last year, where the sleek Mi 9 was followed by a largely unrelated Mi 9T Pro with a heavier emphasis on specs. The Mi 9T Pro was one of the best phone bargains of 2019 in markets where it was available, so expectations should be high for the 10T Pro.

The two standout specs on the Mi 10T Pro are its screen and its battery. It uses a 6.67-inch 1080p 20:9 LCD with a refresh rate of 144Hz. That refresh rate is what you’d expect from a high-end gaming monitor, and until now it’s mostly only been found on gaming-focused smartphones, making this the most mainstream phone yet to achieve it. Because the screen uses an LCD panel, though, the…

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Keep up with all of the announcements and analysis

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Image: Teenage Engineering

The synth wizards at Swedish electronics maker Teenage Engineering just introduced perhaps their most perplexing and intriguing product yet: a rewindable radio and speaker system called the OB-4. The device, which is available now in black or red for $599, is as sleek and well-designed as the company’s standard synth products, but it packs a whole lot of interesting tech under the hood.

The core feature of the OB-4 is its manual rewind dial paired with an integrated motor, which the company says will let you rewind back to anything you’ve listened to in the past two hours on a rolling basis — whether it was live radio, a Spotify playlist played via Bluetooth, or even an instrument plugged in, like one of Teenage Engineering’s synths….

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WinFuture

Google isn’t known for keeping secrets, especially about the phones they plan to introduce. In the case of Google’s upcoming Launch Night In event, we’re looking forward to two new Pixel phones: the Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4A 5G. But who knows? It’s possible that Google may be keeping some surprises up its corporate sleeve.

There have, of course, been the usual leaks. For the 5.8-inch Pixel 4A 5G, the follow-up to Google’s popular mid-priced Pixel 4A, there is talk about a Snapdragon 765G processor, a dual-camera system with a 12.2MP main lens and a 16MP ultrawide lens, and an 8MP front camera — all similar to what is being said about the Pixel 5. The latter will (possibly) add wireless charging, more RAM, and a higher IP rating among…

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