Month: July 2024
Sick of iPhones? We’ve got 5 great Android alternatives
With these Android phones, you can forget iPhones.
Apple’s reputation for making devices that ‘just work’ means it can be hard to deny the quality, consistency, and dominance of iPhones; heck, I use the iPhone 15 Pro Max myself. However, not everyone gets on with iOS or can stomach the relatively high prices Apple asks for its phones.
Equally, iPhones can be seen as a step behind Android in terms of hardware, as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus still have a sluggish-for-2024 60Hz display, and even the Pro iPhones have yet to flirt with a rear camera combo that breaks from the main, ultra-wide and telephoto mix.
So, you may be reading this as an iPhone user who’s had enough of Apple’s phones and fancies a change, or as an Android user who wants a snapshot of the phones to upgrade to. With that in mind, check out the video below.
♬ Calm LoFi song(882353) – S_R
For a deep dive into the topic, check out our list of the best iPhone alternatives, and read our best phones guide to help you decide what phone may be best for you overall.
My personal recommendation is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra if you’re after a big phone that does everything but fold; for that, you’ll want the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Or the rather neat and smart Google Pixel 8, which offers solid hardware with a load of AI, great cameras, and a very slick take on Android.
Equally, if you’ve yet to be convinced to switch from an iPhone, yet need an upgrade, please take a look at my take on why you shouldn’t buy an iPhone right now. Spoilers: it’s because we’re very likely some six weeks away from the iPhone 16 family launching, which could bring in some solid upgrades and a price cut for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14.
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Next-gen Intel Core Ultra chips with boosted GPU and NPU are coming in September
Lunar Lake will be Intel’s response to Ryzen AI and Snapdragon X Elite chips.
Enlarge / Intel’s Lunar Lake Core Ultra CPUs will be announced in September. (credit: Intel)
Intel announced today that it plans to launch its next-generation Core Ultra laptop chips on September 3, just ahead of this year’s IFA conference in Berlin.
This announcement-of-an-announcement offers few specifics on what the next-gen chips will be like beyond promising “breakthrough x86 power efficiency, exceptional core performance, massive leaps in graphics performance and… unmatched AI computing power.” But we do already know a few things about the next-generation CPUs, codenamed Lunar Lake.
We know that, like current-generation Meteor Lake chips, Lunar Lake will combine multiple silicon “tiles” into one large die thanks to Intel’s Foveros packaging technology. We know that Intel will use a mix of up to four E-cores and four P-cores in the CPU, a step down in core count from what was available in Meteor Lake. We know Lunar Lake includes a next-generation Arc GPU based on the “Battlemage” architecture that promises up to 1.5 times better performance than the current Arc-integrated GPU. We know that at least some models are shifting to RAM that’s soldered to the CPU package, similar to how Apple packages RAM in its M-series processors. And we know that Lunar Lake includes a boosted neural processing unit (NPU) for local generative AI processing, Intel’s first chip fast enough to qualify for Microsoft’s Copilot+ label.
Taco Bell’s drive-thru AI might take your next order
Image: Taco Bell
Your next Taco Bell drive-thru order might be handled by AI — and AI may have helped you get a Chalupa already. Parent company Yum! Brands has been testing its “Voice AI” technology at more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the US, and now Yum! aims to bring the technology to “hundreds” of Taco Bell stores by the end of the year, according to a press release.
Yum! is pitching the AI tech as a way to ease the workloads of its staffers, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times — all, of course, while “driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees.” But the fast food industry’s experiments with AI have had mixed results so far: while Wendy’s has been thrilled with its tests, McDonald’s recently pulled back its plans.
There are more than 7,400 Taco Bell stores in the US, so this will still be a small rollout. The original tests at more than 100 stores have been going on for around two years, Bloomberg reports. Yum! is also bringing Voice AI to five KFC restaurants in Australia.
Image: Taco Bell
Your next Taco Bell drive-thru order might be handled by AI — and AI may have helped you get a Chalupa already. Parent company Yum! Brands has been testing its “Voice AI” technology at more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the US, and now Yum! aims to bring the technology to “hundreds” of Taco Bell stores by the end of the year, according to a press release.
Yum! is pitching the AI tech as a way to ease the workloads of its staffers, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times — all, of course, while “driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees.” But the fast food industry’s experiments with AI have had mixed results so far: while Wendy’s has been thrilled with its tests, McDonald’s recently pulled back its plans.
There are more than 7,400 Taco Bell stores in the US, so this will still be a small rollout. The original tests at more than 100 stores have been going on for around two years, Bloomberg reports. Yum! is also bringing Voice AI to five KFC restaurants in Australia.
Save 41% on This 200W 6-Port Desktop Charging Station at Amazon Right Now
If you need serious wattage, this Ugreen Nexode charging station is now $80 off and perfect for keeping all your devices ready to work.
If you need serious wattage, this Ugreen Nexode charging station is now $80 off and perfect for keeping all your devices ready to work.
Xbox console sales continue to crater with massive 42% revenue drop
Xbox Series X/S sales seem to have peaked early back in 2022.
Enlarge / The tumbling continues.
Microsoft’s revenue from Xbox console sales was down a whopping 42 percent on a year-over-year basis for the quarter ending in June, the company announced in its latest earnings report.
The massive drop continues a long, pronounced slide for sales of Microsoft’s gaming hardware—the Xbox line has now shown year-over-year declines in hardware sales revenue in six of the last seven calendar quarters (and seven of the last nine). And Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told investors in a follow-up call (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz) to expect hardware sales to decline yet again in the coming fiscal quarter, which ends in September.
The 42 percent drop for quarterly hardware revenue—by far the largest such drop since the introduction of the Xbox Series X/S in 2020—follows an 11 percent year-over-year decline in the second calendar quarter of 2023.
Mark Cuban and a team of VC leaders back Kamala Harris for president
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
A group of over 200 tech leaders and investors are pledging their support to Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race, countering a opposing group from Silicon Valley who have backed former President Donald Trump.
Shark Tank star and former Dallas Mavericks principal owner Mark Cuban, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, and SV Angel managing partner Ron Conway are among the signatories.
“We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress,” the investors write in a statement on their site, VCs for Kamala. “We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry – and every other industry – would collapse without them. That is what’s at stake in this election. Everything else, we can solve through constructive dialogue with political leaders and institutions willing to talk to us.”
While Silicon Valley has always had strong Democratic donors, the show of support is particularly notable at a time when some of the most well-known names in tech have come out in support of Trump. Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania earlier this month. And venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — who claimed to have previously voted only for Democrats — recently announced their support for Trump in the election. Craft Ventures’ David Sacks, Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire, and 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale have also showed their support for Trump.
There’s still a lot of unknowns about Harris’ views on key tech policy issues, but she also has personal connections to Silicon Valley, in part from her time as a California senator, attorney general, and previously, San Francisco District Attorney. But the VCs for Kamala movement indicates that many tech leaders are ready to support her on the basis of a broader message of democracy and stable institutions. “In this pivotal moment, we are united in our support for Vice President Kamala Harris,” they write.
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
A group of over 200 tech leaders and investors are pledging their support to Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race, countering a opposing group from Silicon Valley who have backed former President Donald Trump.
Shark Tank star and former Dallas Mavericks principal owner Mark Cuban, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, and SV Angel managing partner Ron Conway are among the signatories.
“We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress,” the investors write in a statement on their site, VCs for Kamala. “We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry – and every other industry – would collapse without them. That is what’s at stake in this election. Everything else, we can solve through constructive dialogue with political leaders and institutions willing to talk to us.”
While Silicon Valley has always had strong Democratic donors, the show of support is particularly notable at a time when some of the most well-known names in tech have come out in support of Trump. Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania earlier this month. And venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — who claimed to have previously voted only for Democrats — recently announced their support for Trump in the election. Craft Ventures’ David Sacks, Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire, and 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale have also showed their support for Trump.
There’s still a lot of unknowns about Harris’ views on key tech policy issues, but she also has personal connections to Silicon Valley, in part from her time as a California senator, attorney general, and previously, San Francisco District Attorney. But the VCs for Kamala movement indicates that many tech leaders are ready to support her on the basis of a broader message of democracy and stable institutions. “In this pivotal moment, we are united in our support for Vice President Kamala Harris,” they write.
Microsoft is Removing Ads From Skype
Microsoft is making Skype ad-free in an update that will rollout to users across all platforms soon. From a report: The update also includes improved AI image creation tools on Skype for Windows and macOS, and the ability to sign in automatically on iOS if you’re already signed into another Microsoft app. “Our latest update removes all ads from Skype channels and the entire Skype platform, ensuring a smoother, decluttered and more enjoyable user experience,” says Skype product manager Irene Namuganyi. The removal of ads in Skype means you’ll no longer see ads in the main chat interface, or in the channels section. Microsoft says it has listened to feedback around ads in Skype, and decided to “focus on your chats without any ad distractions, making your Skype experience cleaner and more user-friendly.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Microsoft is making Skype ad-free in an update that will rollout to users across all platforms soon. From a report: The update also includes improved AI image creation tools on Skype for Windows and macOS, and the ability to sign in automatically on iOS if you’re already signed into another Microsoft app. “Our latest update removes all ads from Skype channels and the entire Skype platform, ensuring a smoother, decluttered and more enjoyable user experience,” says Skype product manager Irene Namuganyi. The removal of ads in Skype means you’ll no longer see ads in the main chat interface, or in the channels section. Microsoft says it has listened to feedback around ads in Skype, and decided to “focus on your chats without any ad distractions, making your Skype experience cleaner and more user-friendly.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.