Foldable Google Pixel Notepad launching in Q4, price at $1,399
Pixel Notepad is the purported name of Google’s first-gen foldable smartphone. Featuring a design similar to the Galaxy Z Fold and most other foldables, the first Pixel phone with a bendable screen was supposed to launch in 2021. But Google delayed the Pixel Notepad’s release date, going back to the drawing board to improve the handset. That’s all according to unconfirmed reports, but Pixel rumors are typically accurate.
Google plans to release the new foldable by the end of the year, according to recent leaks. And a new report indicates that Google might start Pixel Notepad production at some point this summer. Additionally, the report also revealed a tentative price for the first-gen Pixel foldable.
From BGR
Oppo K10’s specs leak ahead of next week’s launch
Oppo will introduce the K10 in India on March 23, and the company has already revealed its design and a few specs, including the Snapdragon 680 SoC, 50MP primary camera, 16MP selfie shooter, side-mounted fingerprint reader, dual-SIM support, dedicated microSD card slot, and virtual RAM expansion.
Oppo will reveal the K10’s battery size and charging speed on Monday, but if a new media report is to be believed, the smartphone will pack a 5,000 mAh cell with 33W charging.
The source also claims that the Oppo K10 will sport a 6.5″ 90Hz FullHD+ LCD, boot Android 11-based ColorOS 11.1, and have 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage onboard.
The 50MP primary camera on the rear will be joined by 2MP depth and 2MP macro units.
The Oppo K10 will be sold through Flipkart in India, and the source claims it will be priced under INR20,000 ($265/€240).
From Gsmarena
Google’s latest acquisition suggests Google Glass isn’t dead yet
The futuristic Google Glass augmented reality specs never found many buyers at all in the consumer market, but perhaps they were just ahead of their time. Now a new Google acquisition suggests more devices in this line could soon be on the way.
As reported by The Information, Google has picked up hardware startup Raxium, a small company that deals in developing microLEDs for AR – those are the microscopic, next-gen LEDs that offer better color and contrast with less of a power draw (they’re already appearing in expensive kit like Samsung’s The Wall).
The terms of the deal have not been officially disclosed, but a figure in the region of $1 billion has been floated. Raxium hasn’t yet produced a hardware device of its own, but has been operating for five years at this point.
From Techradar
OnePlus to launch Y1s Pro 4K TV in India alongside OnePlus 10 Pro
OnePlus launched the Nord CE 2 5G back in January and also debuted the TV Y1S and TV Y1S Edge alongside it in India. We already know that the OnePlus 10 Pro, also announced in January for the Chinese market should be coming to global markets, including India by the end of March. Rumors are mounting that the TV Y1s Pro will be unveiled at the same event, as well as potentially a new pair of Bullets Wireless Z2 earbuds.
From Gsmarena
Xbox Cloud Gaming Now Supports Steam Deck
Valve’s Steam Deck is a small, powerful portable gaming device intended to let gamers play their Steam games wherever they want. Thanks to Xbox Cloud Gaming, owners of the console can now access the Xbox Game Pass catalog using the Microsoft Edge browser.
A post from Reddit by a Microsoft Edge team member Friday confirmed Xbox Cloud Gaming works with the Steam Deck. Owners of the portable device will have to install a beta version of Microsoft’s browser in order to play games from the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Although Xbox Cloud Gaming does support the Steam Deck, so far, not many games are playable on it. The company has a page with a list of verified and playable games for the device. Some of the games that are playable so far are Forza Horizon 5, Quantum Break, and Sea of Thieves. It’ll be up to the developers of certain titles to make their games usable on the Steam Deck. Microsoft says Halo Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite, Gears of War 5 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X will not support the Steam Deck due to anti-cheating software.
The Steam Deck came out in late February for those lucky enough to receive the first shipment. Prices for the portable gaming device start off at $400 for a console with 64GB of storage.
From Cnet
Telegram’s about to be banned in Brazil for failing to check its emails
The New York Times reports that Telegram has been accused of and placed under investigation in Brazil for being a way to share fake news by politicians. Considering how misinformation could influence this year’s presidential elections, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes requested the company remove certain accounts and groups from the platform. However, Telegram never responded due to the email confusion described above, inadvertently breaking a Brazilian law mandating that online service companies must comply with court orders when asked.
Judge de Moraes has since ordered internet and cell-service providers to block Telegram’s services in the country, giving them five days to comply. Apple and Google have also been ordered to remove the app from their mobile stores. Companies that don’t comply will be fined $20,000 daily.
From Android police
Netflix loved people sharing passwords. In 2022, it doesn’t.
Netflix is running a test that will allow users to add up to two sub-accounts for people they don’t share a household with, but allow access to the main account. The sub-account will have its own profile, recommendations, and login credentials. The incentive for creating a sub-account is that it will only cost $3 to do so in Costa Rica, one of the test markets alongside Peru and Chile.
The other option is to transfer the profile of a freeloader to an entirely new account, with all the associated data such as My List, recommendations, and viewing history in tow. This facility will be available for Netflix’s Basic, Standard, and Premium subscription tiers. Why is Netflix doing this? To fund content production and make up for the lost revenue.
Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation, Chengyi Long, notes that password sharing is impacting the platform’s ability to “invest in great new TV and films” for its audience. Netflix is going to do the soak test in the three aforementioned countries and based on how it is received, plans for international expansion will follow.
From Digital Trends
Google confirms Maps is down for some users, says it’s working on a fix
Google Maps is currently down for some users around the world as the mapping service is experiencing a partial outage, Google confirmed to TechCrunch on Friday.
“We’re seeing reports of difficulties accessing some Google Maps and Google Maps Platform services. Our team is investigating and working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson from Google said in an email.
Google did not elaborate on the outage or explain what may be causing it.
The Google Maps platform status dashboard says the incident is impacting multiple Maps services, including the direction API, places library and more.
“Multiple Google Maps Platform services experiencing high rates of error, including several Web Services and the Maps Javascript API and services. We are still assessing the extent of the issue,” the status page reads.
Reports from third-party web monitoring service Downdetector indicate that issues with the mapping service started at around 11:30 pm ET. The reports indicate that both the web and app versions of Google Maps are experiencing issues.
From Techcrunch
DigiLocker, India’s app for issuance and verification of documents, tops 100 million users
DigiLocker, an app that enables individuals in India to digitize and store a copy of more than 560 different documents, including government-issued ID cards, says it has topped 100 million users.
The app, conceived by India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT over six years ago, is New Delhi’s attempt to create a paperless governance ecosystem.
Individuals need to physically possess scores of documents in their day to day lives: An ID card at the airport or railway station, for instance, a driver license when commuting, school and college certificates when applying for a job and policy documents when making insurance claims.
DigiLocker uses APIs to retrieve, digitize and store most of these documents and is recognized by nearly all government bodies, several fintech services and nearly all insurers, to authenticate an individual’s identity and other things. Each user gets a storage space of 1GB.
From Techcrunch
Google internet cable lands in Africa, promising fast connection
A subsea cable owned by Google that promises to double internet speeds for millions in Africa arrived in Togo on Friday, the company said, the latest step in a multi-year project to provide cheaper access to users across the continent.
The Equiano cable, the first of its kind to reach Africa, has wound its way from Portugal and will double internet speed for Togo’s 8 million residents, Google said in a statement.
That may be a taste of things to come for other countries set to benefit in a region where internet use is rising fast but where networks are often cripplingly slow and are a drag on economic development.
The new line will also make land in Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa, with possible branches offering connections to nearby countries. It is expected to start operating by the end of the year.
From Reuters
