Every quarter a handful of analysts release reports letting us know if shipments of devices like PCs, smartphones, tablets, and smart home devices are rising, falling, or flat. Sometimes this data gives us a good idea of current and future trends. This year, I’m not really so sure what it tells us. With that in […]
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Lilbits: Facebook’s wristband, next-gen iPads, and Live Caption comes to Chrome
Facebook is working on a new wrist-worn device that uses sensors to detect the electrical motor nerve signals running from your brain to your fingers, allowing it to notice when you move your finger as little as one millimeter. And that could open the door for new ways to interact with virtual reality or augmented […]
Apple introduces 4th-gen iPad Air with A14 Bionic processor
Apple’s new iPad Air is a tablet with a 10.9 inch, 2360 x 1640 pixel display surrounded by slim bezels that leave no room for a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, so Apple moved it to to the power button. The 4th-gen iPad Air also has a USB-C port, making it easier to use your existing […]
Apple launches 8th-gen iPad for $329
Apple’s newest entry-level iPad is a 10.2 inch tablet powered by an Apple A12 processor, which the company says makes the 8th-gen iPad 40-percent faster than the previous-gen model, while offering up to twice the graphics performance. The new model also supports optional accessories including the Apple Pencil and Apple Smart Keyboard, as well as […]
Lilbits 6-23-2020: The ARMs race is on
This week Apple confirmed that it’s preparing to transition from Intel to ARM chips for upcoming Mac computers, and the upcoming macOS Big Sur will be the company’s first desktop operating system designed for Apple Silicon chips based on ARM architecture. Befitting a move so big, it’ll also be the first version of the Mac […]
iPadOS 14 brings Scribble handwriting recognition to iPads (with Apple Pencil), UI updates, and more
When Apple’s iPads first launched, they were basically oversized iPhones running a barely modified version of the iPhone operating system. But over time, Apple has added a growing number of iPad-specific features and spun out the operating system as iPadOS. Now Apple is introducing iPadOS 14. In addition to support for the same features coming […]
Lilbits 400: Google’s problematic auto-policing of the Play Store and Chrome Web Store
Google has a long history of using computers to do thing that… quite honestly could probably be done better by humans. But it’s easier to scale an algorithm than it is to hire more people. And that leads to situations where an algorithm makes an obviously wrong decision that stays in place until a human […]
Hackers bring multi-boot support to newer iPhones and iPads
Apple makes it easy to upgrade an iPhone or iPad to a new version of iOS and often boasts about the high-percentages of users running the latest version of the operating system. A few things the company doesn’t make easy? Downgrading to an earlier version of iOS, installing an alternate operating system, or dual-booting. Or […]
Logitech Combo Touch is a $150 backlit keyboard & trackpad cover for 10 inch iPads
Apple’s new 2020 iPad Pro models will be the company’s first tablets to ship with support for mouse and trackpad input. But when iOS 13.4 rolls out to older iPads next week, you’ll be able to use those pointing accessories with most recent iPads… with no need to spend $799 or more on an iPad […]
Microsoft brings Project xCloud game streaming preview to iOS (in a very limited test)
Four months after launching a preview of its Project xCloud game streaming service for Android phones and tablets, Microsoft is bringing its xCloud preview to iOS. That makes Project xCloud the only major game streaming service compatible with iPhones and iPads right now… but the test is very limited at the moment. Let’s take a look […]