More Google Pixel 7 Pro low-level specs leak from prototype
If you’ve been keeping up with Pixel news lately, then you probably know that a number of prototype units for both the vanilla Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro are already out in the wild. Google has generally done a good and swift job hunting these down remotely and “bricking” or deactivating them in some manner, but that hasn’t stopped tinkerers from snooping around in what is left like boot logs to dig up specs.
A few more low-level details have now been unearthed. In no particular order let’s start with the new Tensor 2 chipset. The new leak reaffirms that the Pixel 7 custom GS201 chip will still use a 4+2+2 CPU core design and will also keep using Cortex-A55 cores, as evidenced by a specific workaround spotted in the boot logs. As far as we already know from other leaks the two “big” Cortex-X1 cores will also be carried forward from the original Tensor. The original design used old A76 cores instead of the latest Cortex-A78 (the last of the ARMv8 medium cores), which might end up being the only potential swap. That said, we still don’t know what Google has planned for the GPU and other hardware.
From Gsmarena
Asus ROG Phone 6 will be splash-resistant
Asus has already confirmed a few features of the ROG Phone 6 arriving on July 5 as a part of its promo campaign, and continuing it further, the company has now announced the ROG Phone 6 will be splash-resistant and is advertising it as the “world’s 1st IPX4 gaming phone.”
From Gsmarena
Google Pixel 6a listed on Best Buy’s website ahead of release
In anticipation of the Google’s Pixel 6a hitting retail stores next month, US retailer Best Buy already has a listing for the budget-oriented Pixel on its website as “Coming Soon”. The listing doesn’t reveal anything that we didn’t already know, the Google Pixel 6a was fully revealed last month during Google I/O and will retail for $449 in the US.
The Pixel 6a will be available in Chalk (white), Sage (green), and Charcoal (Black). All the images shown on Best Buy’s website are from the same set of renders we saw recently leaked by @evleaks. Best Buy has two SKUs listed: one Unlocked and the other a Verizon model.
From Gsmarena
AirPods Pro 2 to feature heart rate monitoring, hearing aid function
Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 are coming soon, and today a new leak brings us a few details about them along with a bunch of renders.
The AirPods Pro 2 come with a new System-in-Package (SiP) for the H1 chip, which supports adaptive active noise cancellation. The new SiP brings better performance and improved power consumption due to “higher integration and better manufacturing technology”.
There’s also an improved Find My function, as well as new features like heart rate monitoring and a Hearing Aid mode of use. The case comes with a USB-C port and has optimized fast charging.
From Gsmarena
Mars Orbiter Gets a “Windows 98 Update” to Speed Up Research
The Mars Express probe is best known for detecting liquid water beneath the Martian surface. But now, nearly two decades after its launch, Mars Express is gaining notoriety among nerds because of a software update. In astronaut Chris Hadfield’s words, “How do you update Windows 98 on a spaceship orbiting Mars?”
Space fans and computer dorks are excited to learn that Mars Express, which the European Space Agency (ESA) launched in 2003, runs software related to Windows 98. The ESA just updated this software to improve the spacecraft’s signal strength and ability to collect data, a preparatory step before Mars Express searches for water at the Red Planet’s south pole.
From Review Geek
This could be our first look at Valve’s wireless VR headset, Deckard
A recently published U.S. patent application might provide a good preview of Valve’s wireless VR headset.
The rumor mill has been heating up recently with deep dives into Steam code, uncovering intriguing details that seem to suggest a new head-mounted display system, possibly called Deckard, is in development. So far most signs point to this being a stand-alone, wireless headset similar to Meta’s Quest 2 — or at least a device that has the option to be used without a PC connected.
From Digital Trends
Netflix confirms the inevitable — ads are coming
Netflix is working on an ad-supported tier, which means the streaming platform will eventually allow ads. On Thursday, the company’s Co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed this while speaking at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, (via Hollywood Reporter).
Netflix has always opposed ads on its platform since its inception and never implemented them. It thus explains its platform’s premium pricing compared to the competition, many of which already have their own ad-supported tiers to keep costs low. However, a new ad-supported tier for Netflix could succeed at bringing new customers to the platform as the streaming market becomes increasingly saturated.
According to Holywood Reporter, Sarandos suggests that the company has left out a significant customer base who believes the streaming service is too expensive for them. He believes that the consumer base wouldn’t mind ads on the streaming platform if it means paying less money.
This move comes right after the company reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year, its first subscriber loss in a decade. In April, co-founder and co-CEO, Reed Hastings, said that the company was exploring introducing ads to the platform.
From Android Central
Hollywood actor Chris Evans says goodbye to his beloved iPhone 6S and its home button
Every technology user is different, and even in an era where large displays and swipey gestures are the norm, there are still users who believe “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Movie star Chris Evans was not ready to part ways with his iPhone 6S in an Instagram post he published with his beloved 2015 iPhone.
From Gsmarena
Elon Musk Says New Tesla Factories Are Wasting “Billions of Dollars”
All is not well at the Gigafactory, apparently.
In a just-released May 30th interview with the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley fan club, billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk lamented that global supply chain issues and EV battery woes are causing serious financial fallout at both of the company’s newly-built, extremely large manufacturing facilities, located in Berlin and Austin.
“Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now,” Musk explained to his eager subjects, who he spoke to in Austin, Texas. “It should be like a giant roaring sound which is the sound of money on fire.”
From Futurism
India’s Government Amps Up Facial Recognition Deployment, Claims The Only People Affected Are Criminals
Prime Minister Nahendra Mohdi’s government has apparently peered over the Great Wall of China (to pedants: figuratively, of course) and liked what it was seeing. China is the world leader in pervasive surveillance — something the government uses to shield the government from criticism and to keep the people the government considers to be undesirable under the bootheel.
It would be inconceivable to believe at this point that this isn’t the aim of the Mohdi government. Since his election in 2014, Mohdi has been increasingly taking direct control of communications (mainly via laws targeting internet use) and ensuring no Indian citizen goes unsurveilled.
The Indian government is home to one of the largest biometric databases in the world, one that contains at least some information on most of the nation’s 1.2 billion residents. And it’s going to get bigger. Anyone stopped, detained, or arrested by Indian law enforcement is forced to submit iris/retina scans to the national database, under the theory this will “modernize policing” and “increase the conviction rate.”
The easiest way to expand this biometric collection is to allow cops to hassle as many people as humanly possible. Since “detainment” isn’t clearly defined, any interaction with law enforcement can lead to the harvesting of biometric details. And that’s being accelerated by the Indian government’s apparently unconditional embrace of facial recognition tech.
From Techdirt
