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 […]
Tag: research
Google’s Lyra audio codec delivers high-quality audio at low bit rates
Broadband wired and wireless internet connections are getting faster all the time. But in many parts of the world high-speed internet access is unavailable and/or unreliable. So researchers continue to find ways to find ways to use compression to save bandwidth while transmitting audio, video, images, and other content that typically uses a lot of […]
Lilbits: Microsoft Edge gets more interesting, Chromebooks outsell Macs, and a 31.2 inch color E Ink display
6 Comments on Lilbits: Microsoft Edge gets more interesting, Chromebooks outsell Macs, and a 31.2 inch color E Ink displayNow that Microsoft’s Edge web browser is based on Google’s open source Chromium project, it behaves a lot like Google’s Chrome browser… and for the most part that’s left me wondering why you’d use Edge instead of Chrome. Microsoft has been adding features that help set its browser apart, but up until now I haven’t […]
Canalys: Tablet and Chromebook shipments hit all-time highs in Q4, 2020
According to the latest global PC market report from research firm Canalys, PC makers shipped 458.2 million computers in 2020, up 17 percent from shipments in 2019. Much of that growth came in the fourth quarter of the year, with a total of 143.7 million units shipped, up 35-percent from the same period a year […]
IDC: Huawei smartphone shipments tank, but the market is up overall
Smartphone makers shipped 385.9 million devices in the fourth quarter of 2020 according to preliminary data from IDC, which is a 4.3 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. But while the global smartphone market ended the year on a high note, IDC’s report points out a few interesting trends that were largely […]
Lilbits: More new Intel chips, PC shipments are up, and Qualcomm’s new in-screen fingerprint reader is bigger
In addition to launching new 35-watt Tiger Lake processors for gaming laptops and new 6-10 watt chips for low-cost, low-power notebooks for the education market, Intel had some other big announcements today. The company launched a new line of 11th-gen Tiger Lake chips with vPro technology for business-class security, management, and performance features. Intel also […]
Lilbits: Chromebook explosion, Huawei’s respite, and PinePhone KDE Community Edition
The global pandemic has been hard on everyone… except maybe for PC makers. With more people working and schooling from home, a lot of people have been looking for laptops, tablets, and other devices capable of handling your daily Zoom quota. That’s been enough to reverse a trend in recent years that’s seen PC shipments […]
Reports: Tablet shipments were up in Q3, smartphone shipments were down
As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape the way people around the world live and work, two new reports suggest there’s been an impact on the types of mobile devices people are buying. According to IDC, global tablet shipments were up nearly 25-percent in the third quarter of 2020 when compared to the same […]
Global PC shipments are up due to COVID-19, but not everyone can get one
It’s been a rough decade for personal computer makers as sales have slumped due to a combination of factors including the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices and decisions by PC users to upgrade or replace older hardware less frequently. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading millions of people around the world to […]
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 […]