I don't care what they call it, as long as the iPad-specific features justify the name change. iOS on the iPad has never really done the hardware justice.
That could mean we are going to see some serious changes. I'm looking forward to this!
My god Apple is getting messy.
What a horrible name. Will they also rename iOS for iPhone to iPhoneOS? Oh dear…
Yas. Give me that mouse courser! My body is ready to spent 159€ on a mouse!
Let’s hope this means it a full operating system for mobile use. God knows we don’t want to buy those MacBooks with junk keyboards and buggy T2 chips.
Who cares about the name, the important thing is that maybe is the iOS push most people where waiting for. I just hope it makes the Pro a really Pro device.
So now Apple has to maintain five operating systems? Wow...
You guys asked for this. Don't complain about anything in the future.
Great. Looking forward to that.
Then is Apple going back in time and renaming iOS back to iPhoneOS?
At its annual developers conference Monday, Apple(AAPL) is expected to announce new features and design for the operating systems that run on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches and Apple TVs.
iOS 13 could get a dark mode, improved Siri capabilites and an undo gesture, but we could also see an end to the 18-year old iTunes software on Macs as Apple(AAPL) switches to separate music, TV and podcast apps. Enhanced fitness tools on the iPhone and Apple Watch, as well as a possible update to the Mac Pro, are also expected.
The announcements will kick off Apple's World Wide Developers Conference, which brings in thousands of developers from around the world who want to learn more about making apps for the Apple ecosystem.
The event, which is held at San Jose Convention Center, will be live streamed on Apple's site, starting at 10 am PT/1 pm ET.
CNN Business will be there live reporting on each update.
Greetings from sunny San Jose. Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference officially kicks off this morning at the McEnery Convention Center with a big keynote. While the rest of the week is focused on developers, today’s show is all about what’s the come from the company, and after relatively low key events from Google and Microsoft, Apple’s looking to make a splash this year.
We’ve already seen a fair share of rumors and leaks — you can read about those here. The list includes system-wide dark mode for iOS 13, a focus on health and perhaps even the long awaited return of of the Mac Pro.
The show kicks off at at 10AMPT/1PM ET, so grab a snack and get comfy, because we’re going liveblogging below.
In today’s world, it feels like every company is trying to spruce up old tech with the power of the internet. We got smart locks, smart lights, smart vacuums, so why not a smart alarm clock? But with so many people opting to set alarms on their phones rather than manage yet one more device, what’s that point? Well for one, because snoozing an alarm with a smack is a hell of a lot more fun (and easier) than trying to hit a random software button on the phone you just knocked onto the floor.
Amazon was one of the first to really give the idea a shot with the Echo Spot back in 2017, but even after more than a year and a half, Google still hasn’t released a real alternative for those invested into the Google Home ecosystem. But that’s where Lenovo is hoping to swoop in a carve out some space with its new, simply named Smart Clock.
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As part of the Google Home ecosystem, Lenovo’s $80 Smart Clock is basically a Google Home Mini with a 4-inch screen. Lenovo even cribbed a bit of Google’s style with the Smart Clock sporting a simple design with friendly rounded edges and a gray mesh fabric that looks and feels quite similar to what you’d find on a homegrown Google Home device.
However, I do like that instead of touch controls for volume, Lenovo opted for dedicated volume up and volume down buttons, which are much easier to use than what you get on a Google Home Mini. But perhaps my favorite thing about Lenovo’s Smart Clock is that after an alarm goes off, you can snooze it simply by giving the device a nice little whack.
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There’s no special snooze button you need aim for, anywhere will do, which is exactly what you want when your sleep-addled brain just wants to get an extra 10 minutes of shuteye. And because the Smart Clock’s plastic and fabric build feels quite solid, I was never worried that it couldn’t handle the hits.
Like every other Google Assistant-powered smart speaker, you can use your voice to ask the Smart Clock to play music, check the weather, control your other smart home devices, or anything else you’d normally do. Meanwhile, that 4-inch screen has super simple UI that lets you swipe left to access a dedicated screen for all your alarms, swipe up to access device settings, or swipe right to bring back the main clock face. You can also swipe down to see a small selection of handy shortcuts for any currently set alarms, active routines, music controls, and what I think is its most useful feature: a toggle switch for any nearby smart lights.
If you don’t want to ask Google to turn off the lights, you can just swipe down, tap the toggle, and do it yourself. Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)
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This is super handy because sometimes you just want to tap something to turn off your bedroom smart lights (like say when someone else is the room is sleeping) instead of shouting at Google for help, and since the Smart Clock will probably live on a nightstand or a bedside table, it’s already in an ideal position. And as long you as make sure the Smart Clock gets added to the correct room during setup, there’s no additional tweaking or customizing you have to do, as the device automatically knows which smart lights are in your bedroom.
Sadly, aside from its wake up light feature that slowly brightens up the Smart Clock’s screen prior to an alarm going off, that’s about all the Smart Clock’s display can do. You can’t use the Smart Clock to watch YouTube videos, send videos to it via Chromecast, or make video or audio calls. Now some people might ask why you would even want to do those things on something with a 4-inch 800 x 480 screen, but at the same time, why not? Especially when you consider that while it costs $50 more than the Smart Clock, these are all things the $130 Echo Spot can do.
That said, the part about not handling video calls is understandable, because even though the Smart Clock does have an ambient light sensor to help prevent the screen from blowing up your eyes at night, it doesn’t have a traditional built-in camera, which does make you feel better about a gadget that lives in the bedroom. And if you don’t want the Smart Clock to listen in on you either, there’s a dedicated microphone mute switch around back too.
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As for the Smart Clock’s audio quality, it’s on the same level as a Google Home Mini. If you listen close, the Smart Clock seems to have slightly better bass and a maybe even slightly richer mids. However, because its speakers are located on its top, which is angled up and towards the rear, depending on its placement and location in your room, the Smart Clock’s audio doesn’t always sound as full as you might want.
But my big question about the Smart Clock is less about its abilities or features, but more how it fits into people’s increasingly gadget-filled lives. In a world where so many people simply use their phone as their alarm clock, Lenovo’s Smart Clock feels a bit superfluous. Simply putting your phone on a stand (or better yet, a wireless charging stand) delivers practically the same sort of functionality as the Smart Clock.
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And if you still want a dedicated device for handling voice requests, a $30 Google Home Mini is a cheaper and simpler alternative. And that’s not even factoring Google’s recent behavior of flinging Google Home Minis at people for free through promotions with seemingly every major company. Also, with the price of the Google Nest Hub (formally Google Home Hub) currently listed at just $99, for just one more Andrew Jackson, you can get a more robust smart home device that can use its screen for more than just displaying the time.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)
This makes the Smart Clock feel less like an essential piece of your smart home arsenal and more like a luxury gadget for people still enthused or nostalgic about the idea of a dedicated bedside clock, even one with more modern sensibilities like Lenovo’s Smart Clock. The Smart Clock has a niche, but because it’s being pinched on either side by the Google Home Mini and Google Nest Hub, it’s a rather small one. Lenovo’s Smart Clock is cute, helpful, and a well-designed bedroom addition for people who don’t already have some sort of smart speaker, but I still find myself wishing it offered just a tiny bit more. Why, oh why, does this thing not support video?
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README
The Smart Clock is basically is Google Home Mini with a screen and a handful of handy alarm controls.
Even though it has a 4-inch screen, the Smart Clock sadly can’t play videos.
It’s streamlined UI is easy to use, and comes with a handy toggle for controlling nearby smart lights.
Smacking the Smart Clock to snooze an alarm will never get old.
By CCN: Shares of Google are set to open lower when trading starts Monday following a network outage over the weekend that affected third parties and most of the tech giant’s services.
In pre-market trading, shares of the online search giant’s parent company, Alphabet, were marked 2.9 percent lower. Alphabet closed Friday trading at $1,103.63 while pre-market trading prices on Monday were $1,071.45.
As previously reported by CCN, at about 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT Google’s Cloud service in the U.S. suffered an outage. This affected users of Gmail, Google Home, YouTube as well as other Google Cloud third party users.
Google cloud’s angry clients – snapchat, vimeo and shopify
Third parties that were affected included SnapChat, Vimeo and Discord. Some online stores on Shopify were also unable to process credit card payments for hours following the outage. With regards to YouTube, users reported problems while signing in and while watching videos.
Per Google, this was caused by ‘high levels of network congestion’ mostly in the eastern U.S. By 4 PM US/Pacific, the issue had been resolved. Google also promised to conduct an ‘internal investigation’ of the issue with a view of preventing or minimizing future recurrence.
Besides the eastern U.S., some countries in Europe and parts of Brazil were also affected by the network outage.
BSaitcoin enthusiasts bash google – see, we warned you against centralization!
Following the outage, crypto enthusiasts did not pass the chance to point out that despite Google being over a decade older than Bitcoin, the latter has enjoyed a 100 percent uptime, a feat the Silicon Valley giant cannot boast of.
However, this is not to say that Bitcoin has had absolutely no network issues. During its early days, the cryptocurrency witnessed an isolated security issue dubbed the ‘Value Overflow Incident’. On August 15, 2010, a Bitcoin transaction saw more than 184 billion coins created out of thin air for three different addresses! This problem was however quickly resolved and no issue of that nature has been reported ever since.
Compared to Silicon Valley’s tech giants, Bitcoin isolated network issues are insignificant. In the past 12 months, for instance, YouTube has experienced downtimes severally. On January 8, YouTube users across the world experienced problems uploading and watching videos for hours.
A similar problem had been experienced with YouTube two months prior where the global outage took several hours before it was fixed. Gmail has also experienced a similar fate to YouTube with the most recent one, prior to the weekend outage, being reported in mid-March. And in late June last year Google Chromecast and Google Home experienced an outage for several hours.
The next innovation in mobile is peeking its head for all to see today after Chinese companies Oppo and Xiaomi both showed off under-screen cameras.
Apple’s notch set the ball rolling as a new way to pack a front-facing camera without compromising on the screen size, but it is already feeling date. The industry has since given us smartphone cameras that pop out, flip up and slide out, while the hole-punch condenses the notch further still, but the next stage is going under the screen for full invisibility.
The benefits are obvious. There’s no compromise on the front screen, which is now 100 percent screen, and removing moving parts means no concern for potential damage — but can it be done well enough?
Oppo VP Brian Shen teased his company’s early effort on Weibo. The video, which was later shared by Oppo’s Twitter account, doesn’t have a lot of detail but it does show a hidden camera that takes a photo of the ceiling.
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience – prepare to be amazed. 📲
You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaY
We don’t get a chance to delve into the quality of the image and it isn’t clear what device it was taken on, but already Shen claims the technology is showing promise.
“At this stage, it’s difficult for under-display cameras to match the same results as normal cameras, there’s bound to be some loss in optical quality. But, no new technology jumps to perfection right away,” he said, according to Engadget.
You’d imagine that a number of Chinese smartphone makers are hard at work bringing this design to reality. Proof of that comes from Xiaomi’s very hasty response, which saw the company posts its own under-screen camera teaser right after Oppo’s.
This one comes courtesy of Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin, and it also originated on Weibo before it made its way to Twitter.
The Xiaomi video appears to show a prototype Mi 9 with the hidden camera compared with a regular model. As with the Oppo tease, we don’t know when this technology will reach consumers but these tactical leaks certainly show that the wheels are in motion.
Hot on the heels of OPPO, Xiaomi is highlighting its own in-display camera technology. The teaser video shows off a Mi 9 prototype with an notchless design next to the standard Mi 9, and in spite of the lack of a front camera the camera shows a live view of the room.
Xiaomi was granted a patent for an in-display camera solution, with a smaller secondary display tucked away behind the main panel. With the Mi Mix series designed to provide an all-screen front with no bezels or cutouts, it's likely Xiaomi will want to showcase the technology in the Mi Mix 4.
