Weekly Tech Recap - № 336 - Google Watch, Chrome Web Store, Asimo, Alienware laptops and Tesla results
Soon a Google Pixel watch?
Google Watch. © Google, via 91mobiles.com.
Though Google has offered a smartwatch version of Android these past eight years, the company never ventured to make a Wear OS watch per se. Other manufacturers, many of them watchmakers, jumped on the wagon so that you can now find watches by TAG Heuer, Hublot, Fossil, Citizen, etc., powered by Google’s Wear OS. These past few months, however, rumors have circulated about a Google watch likely to be named Pixel Watch, with an imminent release date. Wednesday, Evan Blass published on the 91mobiles website a picture of the watch that Google’s marketing leaked. What’s more, the 9to5Google website spotted the sudden appearance of a “watches” category on the Google Store. It’s not unthinkable that we could soon hear talk of this watch at the Google I/O 2022 conference taking place on May 11.
No other details have come to light other than its code name Rohan and that it’s shipping with a new version of Wear OS. And there’s absolutely no mention of its SoC. Leaked images show an elegant, round clock face that sets it apart from the Apple Watch, but without a bezel, just like the Apple Watch. More will be revealed in twenty days’ time.
⇨ Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “Google Pixel Watch leak shows off round, all-glass design.”
2022-04-20
Chrome extensions get a badge
Chrome Web Store. © Google.
It’s not unusual to feel a little apprehensive when installing an extension by an unknown publisher: aside from the security aspect, there’s also the question of the extension’s actual usefulness. One way to address these concerns is to check the source of the extension, as well as user reviews.
Google wants to make this job easier for you, by applying two new badges on extensions to indicate their trustworthiness. The first, Featured, which looks like a prize ribbon, is attached to the extensions that “follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.” The extension gets this badge after Google looks it over for compliance with its developer program policies. The second badge, which looks like a checkmark, is posted on extensions written by well-established publishers and shows that the publisher is legit. Google says that these developers must have “a consistent positive track record” of services rendered over a certain amount of time and have stayed within the developer policy guidelines. Google claims that it “will take at least a few months of respecting these conditions to qualify.” These new badges should give users some peace of mind when they click the “install” button, without having to worry about malicious extensions that sometimes creep onto the Chrome Web Store.
⇨ The Verge, Chris Welch, “Google rolls out new badges to help people avoid bad Chrome extensions.”
2022-04-20
Asimo retires from the stage
Asimo. © Honda Motor Co.
Public Japanese TV station NKH announced that Honda has ended Asimo’s long and prestigious acting career. Since its first break in 2000 when it highlighted the Japanese maker’s technological advances, the humanoid robot experienced seven iterations (begat seven successive generations?). Its technology evolved to master two-legged mobility, running and jumping, and it has routinely demonstrated its athletic prowess in various shows and public events around the world.
simo’s last generation was born in 2011. In 2018, Honda switched its focus to the development of more utilitarian robots such as those that specialize in elder care and disaster relief. Nonetheless, the Japanese robot won over the public, left its mark on the collective imagination, and made humanoid robot history, just like its namesake, author Isaac Asimov. You’ll still be able to see Asimo, lifeless (if ever it were alive), in museums such as the Miraikan in Tokyo. Farewell Asimo, and thanks for everything.
⇨ IEEE Spectrum, Evan Ackerman, “Even as it retires, Asimo still manages to impress.”
2022-04-21
New Alienware laptops
Alienware M17 R5. © Dell.
Dell announced the release and immediate availability (in the United States at least) of three laptops: a new version of the Dell G15 (15.6-inch screen), the Alienware M15 R7 (15.6-inch screen), and the Alienware M17 R5 (17.3-inch screen). Among several impressive features, each of these setups is equipped with AMD 6000 series processors, DDR5 RAM and Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti graphics cards as the default option. Intel-based versions will likely be forthcoming later in 2022.
As far as Alienware, the base models of the M15 (1,260 USD) and M17 (1,600 USD) include 16GB of 4800MHz DDR5 RAM, but with two SO-DIMM slots, both laptops support up to 64GB. In terms of storage, the lower-end models have a single storage option that starts with 256GB NVMe M.2 SSDs, going up to 2TB. But if you opt for a RTX 3060 or higher configuration, you’ll have dual storage options, supporting up to 4TB of storage. As usual with Dell computers, configuration possibilities are plentiful. You can push the configuration of the M17 to the max with an RTX 3080 Ti, 64GB of RAM, 2 SSDs of 2TB each, but that will cost you 3,900 USD.
⇨ The Verge, Cameron Faulkner, “Alienware’s 2022 gaming laptops are going big on AMD.”
2022-04-21
Record profits for Tesla
Tesla Store. © Tesla.
Despite supply chain problems and manufacturing delays in China, Tesla announced a 3.3-billion dollar profit on just over 18.7-billion dollar revenue in Q1 2022. This latest number is an 81% increase over last year, compared to Q1 2021’s 10.4-billion dollar revenue.
Tesla recorded 679 million dollars in greenhouse emissions gas credit sales to other auto builders, compared to less than half of that, or 314 million dollars, in Q4 2021. The company generates this income by selling credits to car manufacturers that make fewer “clean” vehicles than required by the US and European authorities. The earnings report also comes after robust car-delivery figures. Tesla says it shipped 310,048 vehicles this quarter. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, described this accomplishment as exceptionally difficult given the problems in the global supply and the closure of its Shanghai plant in the midst of rising COVID cases.
⇨ The Verge, Andrew J. Hawkins, Mitchell Clark, Umar Shakir, “Tesla earned over $3 billion in profit in the first quarter.”
2022-04-20
