Tag Archives: smartphones

Reuters reports: Apple on Monday unveiled its artificial intelligence-boosted iPhone 16, showing off the long-awaited phone hours after Chinese rival Huawei’s tri-fold phone began racking up orders. “The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up. It marks the beginning of an exciting new era,” Chief Executive Tim Cook said at a product launch. …

Futurism reports: In a pitch deck to prospective customers, one of Facebook’s alleged marketing partners explained how it listens to users’ smartphone microphones and advertises to them accordingly. As 404 Media reports based on documents leaked to its reporters, the TV and radio news giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims that its so-called “Active Listening” software uses artificial intelligence (AI) …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: The Los Angeles Unified School District is moving forward with a plan to ban cellphone use during the school day, a move that has teachers and parents at odds. The district school board on Tuesday voted in favor of banning phones and social media throughout the day on school campuses, including break periods. The policy …

Politico reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday vowed to severely restrict the use of smartphones during the school day, a dramatic move by the nation’s largest state amid dire warnings from the Biden administration that social media harms children. Newsom’s decision, reported first by POLITICO, comes a day after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned the threat social media …

Ars Technica reports: Google Wallet on Android is finally getting ready for your digital driver’s license and other US state IDs. Google says the feature is rolling out this month, and it will slowly start bringing states online this year. Of course, your state has to be one of the few that actually supports digital IDs. Google says Maryland residents …

CNET reports: The iPhone 14 packs a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 14 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen. There are five colors, two rear cameras, and “all-day” battery life. The A15 Bionic powers the show, which Apple says is 18% faster. Both devices feature similar outer casings to the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models. Pricing for the iPhone 14 …

Bloomberg News reports: Apple Inc. is aiming to hold a launch event on Sept. 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, rolling out the latest version of a product that generates more than half its sales. The new iPhones will kick off a busy fall product season, which will also include multiple …

The Verge reports: Google says it’ll start automatically deleting visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, and other potentially sensitive locations from users’ location histories in the coming weeks. In a blog post on Friday, the company says that the deletion will happen “soon after” the visit, once its systems have identified that a trip was made …

Gallup reports: The percentage of U.S. adults saying they use their smartphone “too much” has increased markedly in recent years, rising from 39% when Gallup last asked this in 2015 to 58% today. This sentiment was strongly age-contingent in 2015 and remains so now; however, all age groups have become more likely to express this concern. Also, this belief is …

The New York Post reports: Even more than dark subways or stale bagels, New Yorkers fear being phoneless. Nomophobia, the fear of being without your mobile phone, is the No. 1 “unusual fear” in New York, according to a new report citing Google search metrics. Hyper-connected New Yorkers “see their phones as an extension of themselves,” said Kent State University …

Bloomberg News reports: Google will let Android mobile software users opt out of being tracked by advertisers on their smartphone applications, following an earlier move by rival Apple Inc. to bolster privacy on iPhones. The option will become available in late 2021, with a Google Play services update, the Alphabet Inc. unit said on a support website. Developers will no …

STAT News reports: After 13 years, Google is coming back for patient health records. The tech giant has launched an early user feedback program aimed at exploring how patients might want to see, organize, and share their own medical record data. The work could inform the creation of a consumer-facing medical records tool along the lines of Apple’s Health Records …

Via press release from Christian Newswire: New research suggests that even as churches and other religious gatherings have been closed during lockdown, there’s been a big increase in people turning to prayer and other forms of spirituality. The free ChatPray app is being launched today in response to those needs. The app has been specifically designed as an intuitive way …

Via press release from the FBI: The FBI advises the public to be cautious when downloading apps on smartphones and tablets, as some could be concealing malicious intent. Cyber actors target banking information using banking trojans, which are malicious programs that disguise themselves as other apps, such as games or tools. When the user launches a legitimate banking app, it …

The Verge reports: Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled …

Axios reports: Tinder will debut a feature later this month that will allow users to hit a panic button if they feel physically unsafe on a date gone wrong, the Wall Street Journal reports. Why it matters: Critics have previously called out Tinder for not doing more to ensure the safety of users and filtering out possibly dangerous users, especially …

Reuters reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation requiring all smartphones, computers and smart TV sets sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software. The law, which will come into force on July 1 next year, has been met with resistance by some electronics retailers, who say the legislation was adopted without consulting them. The country’s …

I’m sure this all means something: At its September event today, Apple has officially unveiled the successor to the iPhone XR. The new iPhone 11 packs a dual-camera and more.  The iPhone 11 camera setup includes wide and ultra-wide lenses, rather than wide and telephoto like many people had assumed. This gives users the ability to adjust cropping and zooming …

Gizmodo reports: Get ready to be blown away (or disappointed) as Apple gears up for its latest big iPhone announcement. We’re expecting to see updates to all three of the iPhones in Apple’s current lineup and possibly some updates on Apple Watch, iPad, and MacBook. We also expect to talk about cameras. A lot. The iPhone rumors so far have …

CNET reports: Get ready for the iPhone 11 on Sept. 10. Apple sent invitations to the media on Thursday for its next big product launch. It plans to introduce its newest devices and services at 10 a.m. PT at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. This year, Apple is expected to introduce three new models, replacing the iPhone XS, …