The European Union has adopted new regulations regarding batteries that could extend the lifespan of gadgets, cut back on electronic waste, and generally improve sustainability. While the regulations apply to all sorts of batteries and covers things like waste collection and use of recycled materials, one section has been gathering a lot of attention: smartphones […]
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Lilbits: Linux on Apple Silicon (updated)
Linux 6.2 was released last week and, among other things, it includes some initial support for Apple’s M1 series processors. That’s an important step toward allowing a wide range of GNU/Linux distributions to run on Macs released in the past few years. But it’s still just a baby step. While there had been a widely-cited […]
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The EU wants to make it easier to replace your laptop or smartphone battery
In a few years it’s possible that nearly every new battery-powered product sold in the European Union may need to have a user-replaceable battery. Members of the of the EU Parliament have drafted an agreement that would take effective three and a half years after the final legislation is passed. While the rule would apply […]
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1 Comment on Lilbits: Checking in on Amazon’s Astro robot and Echo smart speakers could become a WiFi range extenders
Lilbits: Checking in on Amazon’s Astro robot and Echo smart speakers could become a WiFi range extenders
1 Comment on Lilbits: Checking in on Amazon’s Astro robot and Echo smart speakers could become a WiFi range extendersAmazon’s next-gen eero mesh WiFi routers are expected to bring new features including support for WiFi 6E on at least some models. But they could also bring tighter integration with other Amazon hardware: Steve Moser reports that they’ll allow you to use an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot as a WiFi range extender. In other recent tech […]
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Motorola Moto G9 Power has a big screen, a bigger battery
Motorola’s Moto G smartphones are known for mid-range price tags and reasonably decent bang-for-the-buck hardware. The new Moto G9 Power aims to meet those expectations by offering a pretty standard set of specs for a phone in its price range (about $230), but one stand-out feature: a massive 6,000 mAh battery that should provide two or […]
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Researchers built a battery-free Game Boy
Most portable electronic gadgets these days ship with rechargeable batteries… and many modern smartphones and other devices support fast charging that lets you refuel quickly. But what if you didn’t need a battery at all? A team of researchers have developed a proof-of-concept handheld gaming device that doesn’t use a traditional battery. Instead it draws […]
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Tile’s latest Bluetooth trackers have replaceable batteries
Tile sells a line of small, Bluetooth-enabled gadgets that you can put on a keychain or slap on the back of a laptop, tablet, or anything else you want to keep track of. If you misplace your keys, you can fire up the Tile app on a phone to locate the missing device on a […]
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Anker PowerHouse 200 is a massive battery that charges all the things
Anker is probably best known for selling a range of affordable-yet-decent portable batteries, chargers, earbuds, and other smartphone accessories through Amazon. But last year the company introduced something a bit bigger, in the form of a 434 Wh battery called the Anker PowerHouse. It’s a $500 beast that has a 3-prong power plug as well […]
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Apple responds to iPhone throttling complaints, offers $29 battery replacements throughout 2018
12 Comments on Apple responds to iPhone throttling complaints, offers $29 battery replacements throughout 2018Apple recently acknowledged that some iPhones with degraded batteries would run slower than a model with a newer battery in certain situations. The company says this was to help keep phones from unexpectedly shutting down, but plenty of folks jumped to the conclusion that this was the long sought-after proof that Apple was intentionally crippling […]
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Samsung says graphene ball batteries charge faster, hold more power
Over the past few years device makers have brought longer battery life to smartphones, tablets and laptops… but generally that’s been done by stuffing bigger batteries or more energy-efficient components into those gadgets. Meanwhile, fast charging has become all the rage… your battery may not last all day, but at least you can top it […]