Month: February 2024

It’s the best thing to happen to TV since the arrival of 4K. Here’s everything you need to know about the picture technology.

There’s no worse feeling than taking a great picture with your phone, only to realize it’s a blurry mess. This company has big plans to stop that for good.

These top computer monitor deals at Dell are incredible, and it’s a great time to shop for a new monitor, get another, or upgrade.

You don’t need to own a printer to print at home. HP’s All-In Plan provides a selection of printers, ink shipments, and more at a low monthly price.

The TORRAS Ostand series for Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra significantly enhances your experience using the phone with new features.

Woot is selling Amazon’s largest tablet, the Fire Max 11 for $140. That’s $89 below the list price and $37 cheaper than it’s selling for on Amazon right now. The price applies to the 64GB model with ads on the lockscreen and just the tablet alone — the magnetic case, stylus and keyboard case are all sold separately. The tablet hit $150 for the shopping holidays last year, so the Woot deal represents a $10 discount off the all-time low price. The sale should run through Sunday or until the tablet sells out. 

We had a chance to briefly check out a sample when the latest generation came out in May of last year and were impressed by how much you get for the money. There’s an 11-inch LCD screen (Amazon’s largest tablet screen) with a 2,000 x 1,000 resolution. Most of Amazon’s Fire Tablets are built for casual use like browsing, streaming and for kids to play games on, but the Max 11 could be seen as the grown-up of the lineup. It’s designed to handle a bit of work and multitasking with its octa-core MediaTek processor that Amazon says is 50 percent faster than the next fastest model. Just keep in mind that Fire Tablets rely on the Amazon Appstore, which does have Microsoft 365 apps, but you can’t natively get Google’s productivity apps without sideloading.  

Still, you get an aluminum build, support for Wi-Fi 6, 8-megapixel front and rear cameras, a fingerprint sensor and picture-in-picture capabilities. That last feature could be particularly useful for keeping tabs on your Alexa-enabled smart home cameras while you watch a show or flip through YouTube. In fact, when set up with a stand, it can go into “show mode” and act like one of Amazon’s smart displays, providing you with Alexa’s controls and interactivity. 

Even though it’s perfectly suitable for adults who want to get some work done, Fire Max 11’s claimed 14-hour battery life, comprehensive parental controls and access to an Amazon Kids+ subscription (currently $5 monthly) makes the tablet particularly well-suited for kids, too. Plus Amazon says the Max 11 is “three times as durable as the iPad 10.9 (10th generation).”  

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-fire-max-11-tablet-drops-to-a-record-low-of-140-171039269.html?src=rss

Apple has been steadily expanding its Self Service Repair program since spinning it up two years ago. Starting today, you can access the tools, parts and repair manuals you need to fix the latest MacBook Pros and iMacs that run on the company’s M3 chips. 

As of sometime next month, folks with M3 systems will be able to use Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair on their systems too. The web-based tool gives end users the same capabilities as the company’s authorized service providers and independent repair shops to pinpoint parts that may need to be repaired, as well as to test for “optimal part functionality and performance,” Apple says. The company debuted this tool for iPhone and Mac last year.

On top of that, Apple notes that it’s trying to improve the Mac repair process and make it more efficient through tweaks to system configuration procedures. As of early March, you’ll no longer need to contact its Self Service Repair team to carry out the final step of a repair. However, the team will still be available in case you need a hand.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-self-repair-program-now-covers-m3-powered-macbook-pros-and-imacs-165109070.html?src=rss

Meta and LG have partnered up to “expedite” the former company’s extended reality (XR) business. What does that mean exactly? We don’t know, but Meta’s current VR/XR business is fairly robust, with the recent release of the Quest 3 headset.

LG says the ultimate goal of the partnership is “to combine the strengths of both companies across products, content, services and platforms to drive innovation in customer experiences within the burgeoning virtual space.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg traveled to LG’s headquarters in Seoul to announce the collaboration. During this visit, LG CEO William Cho tried out the Quest 3 and the recently-released Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The business leaders discussed “business strategies and considerations for next-gen XR device development.” LG’s CEO also seemed to take a particularly keen interest in Meta’s large language models and the potential to further integrate AI into standalone devices.

As stated above, we don’t know exactly what this partnership will entail. LG says it hopes to bring together “Meta’s platform with its own content/service capabilities” from its TV business. That sounds pretty boring, but LG also said the partnership will combine “Meta’s diverse core technological elements with LG’s cutting-edge product and quality capabilities.”

This leads to the lens-shaped elephant in the room. Meta XR and VR devices require displays and LG makes displays. It could be just that simple. After all, even Apple relied on Sony for the micro-OLED displays inside of the Vision Pro headset.

This news follows LG creating a dedicated XR business unit last year, which was founded to “accelerate the pursuit of new ventures in the virtual space arena.” This led to rumors that the company was planning to launch its own VR/XR headset, which could still happen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-partners-up-with-lg-to-expedite-its-extended-reality-ventures-163251353.html?src=rss

Good news for those with Intel Arc graphics cards, as a new driver update boosts gaming performance by up to 155%.

Great news gamers – Microsoft is teaming up with Nvidia, AMD, and Intel to boost upscaling for your PC games.