GadgetFreak

Credit: Weibo/Honor Honor has revealed a June 16 launch date for the new Honor 50 series. A teaser video gives us a fleeting glimpse of the design. The company will presumably show off a new Honor Magic line as well. Huawei sold off its Honor brand last year as the heat from US sanctions became too much to bear, but it looks like the newly independent brand is back on its feet. The first proper phones as a result of this arrangement will be the Honor 50 series, and we finally have a launch date. Honor confirmed on Weibo that the new series will be launching on June 16, while also posting a video that gives us a tantalizing glimpse at one of the phones. Check it out below. The video gives us a look at part of the camera housing as well as the colorway. The color scheme looks particularly dazzling, consisting of blue with green flecks of some kind. So those looking for a departure from the usual black, gray, and rose gold colorways might want to keep an eye on this o

Tom Warren / The Verge : Nvidia announces flagship gaming GPU GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, promises to deliver 1.5x more performance over RTX 2080 Ti, available worldwide on June 3 for $1,199   —  This is Nvidia's new flagship gaming GPU  —  Nvidia is unveiling its latest flagship gaming GPU today, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2SO787y via IFTTT

Credit: Alienware Alienware has announced its new X-series gaming laptop line. The X15 and X17 sport 11th Gen Intel CPUs and Nvidia’s new RTX GPU lineup. Both machines will be available in June, with prices starting at $1,999. Dell’s Alienware division is freshening up its gaming laptop offerings this month. Just a few weeks after the m15 R6 , the brand is now launching the X15 and X17 gaming laptops packing new cooling tech, slimmer bodies, and more powerful hardware. While Alienware’s previous laptops aren’t known for being slight, the X series seems to be a concerted effort by the brand to change this perception. The X15 is just 16.3mm thick including the lid, with a maximum weight of 2.36 kg. The X17 also measures a little over 20mm thick with a 3.2 kg curb weight. Both figures may still seem hefty, but Alienware’s done a good job keeping weight down considering the hardware on offer. Alienware X15 Credit: Alienware Let’s start with the Alienware X15. The

Credit: AMD AMD has announced that Samsung will share more details of its Exynos chip with an AMD GPU later this year. The new flagship SoC will feature ray tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. Back in 2019, Samsung partnered with AMD to bring next-gen GPU architecture to mobile devices. Now, we may finally have a timeframe as to when we’ll see the long-awaited flagship Exynos chipset with an AMD GPU. During her keynote address at the ongoing virtual Computex 2021 conference, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su teased a few additional details about the upcoming Exynos mobile SoC with AMD graphics. “AMD is partnering with Samsung on its next-generation Exynos SoC, which will feature custom AMD RDNA 2 architecture-based graphics IP that brings ray tracing and variable rate shading capabilities to flagship mobile devices,” AMD noted its Computex press release . Dr. Su also announced that Samsung would share more details about the new 5G chipset “later this year.” Given the s

German startup Wefox has raised a $650 million Series C funding round led by Target Global. Following this funding round, the company has reached a post-money valuation of $3 billion. Wefox is a digital insurer focused on personal insurance products, such as household insurance, motor insurance and personal liability insurance. “It’s much more than we wanted to raise initially. It was a very fast process and essentially we were oversubscribed by 4x or so,” co-founder and CEO Julian Teicke (pictured left) told me. In December 2019, the company reported a $1.65 billion valuation. And the company says today’s funding round is one of the largest Series C rounds of all time — and likely the largest Series C round for an insurtech company more specifically. “Almost all of the big existing investors are participating,” Teicke said. OMERS Ventures, G Squared, Mountain Partners, Merian, Horizons Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, CE Innovation Capital,

Ryan Smith / AnandTech : AMD unveils Radeon RX 6000M series of graphics adapters for gaming laptops, which are based on the RDNA2 architecture that underpins AMD's desktop RX 6000 parts   —  Headlining a busy Computex for AMD - and a bit of return to form in that regard - this evening the company is making several graphics and CPU-related product announcements. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3vDSoXv via IFTTT

Suchit Leesa-Nguansuk / Bangkok Post : Thailand-based Flash Group, which provides e-commerce logistics services including Flash Express, raises $150M in new funding to become Thailand's first unicorn   —  Startup has a goal to list as leader in Asean  —  Thailand-based Flash Group, which provides e-commerce logistics services … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3i7c4iH via IFTTT

Wall Street Journal : Sources: PE firms KKR and CD&R are nearing a deal to buy software company Cloudera and take it private; Cloudera has a market value of nearly $4B   —  Agreement to take software firm private could be finalized by Tuesday, sources say  —  Private-equity firms KKR & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3p7itMg via IFTTT

Zenyum , a startup that wants to make cosmetic dentistry more affordable, announced today it has raised a $40 million Series B. This includes $25 million from L Catterton, a private equity firm focused on consumer brands. The round’s other participants were Sequoia Capital India (Zenyum is an alum of its Surge accelerator program ), RTP Global, Partech, TNB Aura, Seeds Capital and FEBE Ventures. L Catteron Asia’s head of growth investments, Anjana Sasidharan, will join Zenyum’s board. This brings Zenyum’s total raised so far to $56 million, including a $13.6 million Series A announced in November 2019 . In a press statement, Sasidharan said, “Zenyum’s differentiated business model gives it a strong competitive advantage, and we are excited to partner with the founder management team to help them realize their growth ambitions.” Other dental-related investments in L Catteron’s portfolio include Ideal Image, ClearChoice, dentalcorp, OdontoCompany, Espaçolaser and 98point6. Sequoia re

Kate Conger / New York Times : Uber and Lyft acknowledge prices are up and wait times are longer, citing a lack of drivers; research found prices rose 37% from March 2020 to March 2021   —  The companies say they are charging extra because they don't have enough drivers to match rebounding customer demand. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3fRjMKU via IFTTT

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch : Chipper Cash, which provides cross-border payments services in Africa and says it has 4M users, raises $100M Series C led by SVB Capital   —  Fintech in Africa is a goldmine.  Investors are betting big on startups offering a plethora of services from payments and lending to neobanks … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2RXaRjk via IFTTT

Pieter Haeck / Politico : Euroconsumers, a group of EU consumer agencies, partners with Facebook after settling a lawsuit with Facebook in April over alleged illegal user data harvesting   —  Euroconsumer had promised up to €200 in compensation for people who signed up to its lawsuit against Facebook. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2R9oUC0 via IFTTT

Credit: Twitter/Realme Realme has announced the X7 Max 5G smartphone for India. The phone is powered by MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 1200 chipset. Expect to pay a starting price of Rs 26,999 (~$372). Flagships powered by MediaTek have been a rarity, despite the firm taking the chipset crown in 2020. Fortunately, Indian consumers can soon get their hands on one as Realme launches the X7 Max 5G in the market. The new phone is powered by a brand-new Dimensity 1200 chipset, featuring a tri-cluster octa-core CPU (1x Cortex-A78 at 3GHz, 3x Cortex-A78 at 2.6GHz, and four Cortex-A55 at 2GHz). The 6nm processor also packs the same Mali-G77 MP9 GPU as last year’s Dimensity 1000 series, 5G+5G dual-SIM capabilities, a hexa-core APU for machine learning, and software-driven ray tracing support. The Realme X7 Max 5G also serves up a 6.43-inch 120Hz OLED panel, a 4,500mAh battery, and 50W wired charging. Shifting to photography, the handset packs a triple rear camera, featuring a

Credit: Steve Hemmerstoffer Some specs of the OnePlus Nord CE have leaked. The phone is tipped to feature the Snapdragon 750G SoC. Open sales for the device start on June 16. The OnePlus Nord CE is launching on June 10 in Europe and India and folks over at Android Central have leaked some of its specs. According to the publication, the Nord CE will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset. The SoC also powers devices like the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G, Galaxy A52 5G , and others. Besides the mid-range 5G silicon, the report alleges that the OnePlus Nord CE would get a triple camera setup comprising a 64MP main camera. Information about the other two sensors isn’t available. The phone is also expected to sport a 16MP selfie shooter. Elsewhere, the OnePlus Nord CE might get a 6.43-inch AMOLED display just like the original Nord . It looks like OnePlus will stick to its promised 90Hz screen refresh rate. There are still many specs missing from the leak. We previously go

Companies rarely focus on programs and products that won’t guarantee them revenue. It seems that this fact of business is what “ruined” Samsung’s Upcycling program , at least according to DIY repair website iFixit. While the program started with promise and had grand future designs, Samsung ultimately canned an expanded program due to the lack of a clear revenue plan. With iFixit clearly perturbed by Samsung’s change of heart, we wanted to gauge your thoughts about the fiasco. Did Samsung drop the ball with its Upcycling program? Here’s how you polled. Do you think Samsung dropped the ball with its Galaxy Upcycling program?  Results According to a poll on our website, nearly 90% of readers believe Samsung floundered its Upcycling program. Around 10.4% of readers find no fault with the Korean company’s handling of the program. If implemented correctly, the Upcycling program would’ve allowed unlocked bootloaders, opening up the opportunity for custom ROMs more suited to specifi

There are more than 400 million Arabic speakers globally and that number isn’t slowing down anytime soon . Arabic, to most people, is a tough language even to those who speak it. According to Duolingo , someone fluent in Egyptian Arabic might not fully understand Yemeni Arabic speakers because of the vast difference in dialect . While individuals can easily navigate dialects , it can be relatively hard for them to find tailored Arabic content essential for everyday life . Dr Ihab Fikry and Ibrahim Kamel founded Almentor.net in 2016 as an online video learning platform to compensate for this lack of online learning content for Arabic speakers . In collaboration with hundreds of leaders, educators, and experts, the platform offers courses and talks in various fields like health, humanities, technology, entrepreneurship, business management, lifestyle, drama, sports, corporate communication, and digital media . In 2016, Almentor closed a $3.5 million seed round and two years

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority Newly unredacted court documents reveal the steps Google has taken to maintain access to location data. Google purportedly buried privacy settings deeper within Android’s settings menu and pressured OEMs to do the same. Employees also took issue with the inability to use location data in a third-party app without Google gaining this info. Google made a number of privacy-related announcements at Google I/O earlier this month, such as a new privacy dashboard on Android and the quick-fire ability to delete the last 15 minutes of your web browsing activity. But recently unearthed court documents have revealed that Google actually made it tougher for Android users to find popular privacy settings. Unredacted court documents spotted by Insider show that Google tested versions of Android that made privacy settings easier to find. When users started taking advantage of these easier-to-find settings, Google purportedly viewed it as a “

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Today is the last day you can enjoy free unlimited Google Photos storage for high-quality images. Starting June 1, your high-quality and express-quality photos will account towards your free 15GB Google account storage. Here’s everything you need to know before the deadline hits. The dreaded day for Google Photos users is here. Today, May 31, is the last day of you enjoying free unlimited high-quality storage in Google Photos. Starting tomorrow, June 1, all your high-quality and express-quality images will count towards your free 15GB Google account storage. Once you reach that 15GB limit, you will have to start deleting some of your photos or other Google Drive content to free up space. Alternatively, you can also purchase a Google One plan to increase your Google account’s storage up to 2TB. If you are a Google Photos user who will be impacted by the new storage policy, here are some frequently asked questions you may wa

Michael Corkery / New York Times : Some residents worry the warehouse boom in PA's Lehigh Valley, driven by its proximity to NY and e-commerce, is putting long-term economic well-being at risk   —  Huge facilities have sprouted up in and around the Lehigh Valley, fueled by the astonishing growth of e-commerce. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3vHblIY via IFTTT

Credit: Kris Carlon / Android Authority New purported spy images of the Huawei Watch 3 series have leaked. The shots showcase Harmony OS, including the home screen and notification shade. Huawei will launch the Watch 3 series later this week. The Huawei Watch 3 series is to make its grand debut later this week alongside Harmony OS . But just ahead of its launch, a new set of alleged spy images of the watches has surfaced. Spotted by ITHome , the publication notes that “a number of digital bloggers” published apparent snaps of the Huawei Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro in an offline store. It fails to cite the original “netizen” source, though. Nevertheless, the spy shots do showcase a few interesting features. For one, Huawei will seemingly keep the round face of the previous Watch GT 2 line but use just one knob dial positioned at the top right. A secondary flat button resides underneath it. Overall, it makes for a sleeker facade. We also get a glimpse of the rumored pa

Welcome to the OnePlus 9 series update hub. Here you’ll find the latest information on updates to the OnePlus 9 , OnePlus 9 Pro , and OnePlus 9R . We’ll detail the current software versions for each device and alert you if there’s a new update rolling out. OnePlus usually pushes out Oxygen OS updates to the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, with the 9R receiving separate updates. Current stable version: Android 11 When will the OnePlus 9 get Android 12? October 2021 (Estimated) Latest OnePlus 9, 9 Pro, and 9R updates May 31, 2021: A new Oxygen OS update is hitting the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro India now, with Europe and North America following soon. Oxygen OS 11.2.6.6 brings a few camera-related improvements as well as tweaks in general. Check out the changelog below. System Improved charging experience Optimized power consumption Fixed known issues and improved stability Camera Improved the hidden operation logic of the camera‘s top bar Optimized the noise reduction and

  A promotional video of the Sony WF-1000XM4 has leaked. It confirms all the specs and features of the true wireless earbuds. The Sony WF-1000XM4 are the most hotly anticipated true wireless earbuds right now. While Sony is yet to announce a launch or release date, multiple leaks have already outed their refreshed, more compact design as well as upgraded specifications . Now, a leaked promotional video spotted on Reddit by SparrowsNews shows the WF-1000XM4 in action, confirming all of its new features. The video starts by teasing the “industry-leading noise cancellation” of the WF-1000XM4. It also shows that the earbuds will feature Sony’s integrated V1 processor, new drivers for a fuller, richer sound, support for LDAC and Hi-Res Audio, and DSEE EXTREME AI technology to reproduce frequency responses of the original sound source lost during compression. Further, the leaked video of the WF-1000XM4 shows that it borrows some features from the Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless he