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Acer expands its Chromebook offerings with beefy AMD-powered Spin 514
It's joining the Qualcomm-powered Spin 513 this season
It's often more difficult tracing the differences between old and new Chromebooks given their wild release schedule. For Acer's part, the all-new Chromebook Spin 514 is set to head to market alongside the Spin 513 — the company's first with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c silicon — but towing AMD's 3rd-gen Ryzen mobile processors instead.
Save $600 on a Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra with Google Fi
Get some savings on the Note20s and Motos, too
You might have a reason to want to switch to Google Fi, but maybe you want to tie that onto a cheap or maybe even free upgrade. Well, Google's got ya — it's offering up to $600 off MSRP on a variety of Samsung flagships and Motorola phones.
Lenovo's modest new Tab P11 Android tablet starts at $230 and is ready for extreme accessorizing
Avoiding the iPad? Maybe try this on for size
For some of you, an Android tablet might be all you need — maybe just with a few mode changes like a dock, a folio, maybe even a pen. Lenovo has catered to this very peculiar subset for a long time and it's doing so again for 2021 with its latest Tab P11.
C by GE gets a (badly needed) new name, expands from smart bulbs to other home products
Security cameras, outdoor outlets, and a fan switch join all those bulbs
The clunkiest-sounding brand in smart home lighting is turning the page on the calendar and taking a new name. General Electric's lighting division was sold off to Savant Systems in July. With a change in ownership comes the demise of C by GE and the rise of Cync — yes, like "synchronization" — along with an expanded product catalogue for 2021.
Slide Aukey's 10,000mAh power bank into your pocket for just $15 ($10 off)
It could tickle us pink, the itty-bitty baby...
Looking to replace a power bank after the holidays when you might have given one away, broken another, or just left it someplace you can't find it? Maybe you're also looking to downsize? Check out Aukey's PB-Y36, a cute 10,000mAh bank on sale for 40% off!It's slightly thicker than a deck of cards at 25mm and smaller than most phones these days at 105 x 51 mm. Plus, it only weighs just about the same at 195 grams. For that volume, you can jam in a USB-C (Power Delivery 3 supported) or a USB-A (Quick Charge 3 supported) cable and charge at a maximum of 18W. Like we said, it's cute.
Google employees are forming a union
Alphabet Workers Union also recruiting elsewhere across company plus temps, vendors, and contractors
Silicon Valley could be facing its first major labor movement in the history of the technology boom: the Alphabet Workers Union, representing more than 225 employees across the company as well as temps and those with vendors and contractors in the United States and Canada, went public. The group, aligned with the Communications Workers of America, was formed in secret, tapping into years of built dissent that the corporation has failed to mitigate.
T-Mobile rounds out this awful year with another data breach, affecting hundreds of thousands of subscribers
The cherry on top of this stupid sundae that's as magenta as it can be
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T-Mobile has confirmed to Android Police it has shut down a data breach operation that may have harvested a small group of customers' phone numbers, number of lines per account, and call diagnostic metrics. Customers who may have been affected were alerted via text message yesterday and told that the event took place in November.
We live in a 24/7 world that has taken "work from home" to a whole new meaning and yet, Google seems to think we all live, work, and sleep the same hours. At least, that's what its Pixel phones with adaptive charging seem to think. That probably needs to change.
Pick up August's 4th-gen Wi-Fi Smart Lock at its lowest price yet of $199 ($20 off)
Secure these savings and lock in a low price today!
Dealing with a broken keylock sucks. In many cases, you're probably not in a position to fix it, thereby compounding the daily frustration of having to hit the hammers just right to get into your apartment. Well, if you've liberated yourself from who gets a lock on what you do with your locks, consider getting August's Wi-Fi enabled Smart Lock at its best price yet!Installing it is easy and works with most existing deadbolts, but the biggest advantage to a product like this is not having to use the darn key in the first place: you can set it to unlock when your phone is in range of your home 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and, for an extra step of security, require on-device biometric authentication (that's facial scan or fingerprint read) before it clicks off. Best of all, this fourth-generation design is 45% smaller than its predecessor and there's no need to fuss with an extra hub device.
The OnePlus 7T is a great choice for those who need a good, moddable phone in a pinch. And if that pinch is happening right now, you're in luck: B&H Photo has the device at its lowest price yet!
Leak depicts a seemingly much cheaper Galaxy Chromebook successor
It looks like the $1,000 original is intent on sticking around...
If, for whatever reason, you wanted a hotrod of a Chromebook, Samsung had it for you this year with the Galaxy Chromebook. With 10th-gen Intel silicon, a 4K display, and $1,000 price tag, it had everyone one could ever need for such a machine. But it looks like we could be getting a sequel as early as February. Says who? Says some stranger with a swiped presentation slide on Twitter.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/_h0x0d_/status/1341780886954512387[/EMBED_TWITTER]@_h0x0d_, not a strange name in our coverage, dropped this image along with a message through self-retweet of "p.s. how about 699?" The bullet points tell the story: the Galaxy Chromebook2 will be the first QLED Chromebook — it's an LCD panel with a filter of crystals that affect how the LED backlight is expressed and is not an OLED display — with speakers that are 178% louder than, presumably, its predecessor, a lower base configuration with the Intel 10th-gen Core i3 processor starring, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and a target battery cycle of at least 12 hours.The question then becomes "would you pay $699 for a watered-down Galaxy Chromebook?" Or, "does it even make sense to call this thing the Galaxy Chromebook2 when it should have something like 'Lite' in the name?"Sure, there's a role for this thing to play and it would have a hand in helping keep that barely-year-old Galaxy Chromebook alive and stubborn at its $999 MSRP ($899 at Amazon), but is it a role worth playing? We'll have to see if this thing comes true in the first place before we can answer that.Source: @_h0x0d_
OnePlus 9 Lite rumored to join next year's lineup armed with a Snapdragon 865
North of Nord in stature, but is it the right move?
The one thing you could not fault OnePlus for this year was its lack of range: it sold phones to impress and sold even more of them to respect the buyer's budget. But there was a clearly-defined gap between the Nord series and the OnePlus 8 entries this year that could be filled. Indeed, we heard earlier that the company intends to fill that gap in 2021 and are now learning more about how it will be filled.
Motorola announces plans to upgrade 21 phones to Android 11
This will be the only OS upgrade for most of them
Motorola has announced its list of smartphones that will receive the Android 11 upgrade presumably starting as soon as tomorrow but, more practically, throughout 2021. There will be pitfalls along the way as we find out which devices are gasping their last breaths and the technicalities getting in the way of others.
LiveXLive, the streaming app formerly known as Slacker Radio, has incorporated video into its content offerings. Now, its developers have decided to bring along one of Android's handiest features for video — picture-in-picture playback.
Unlocked Galaxy S20+ hits new record low price of $812 ($138 off) on Amazon
Full-fledged, loses the pricey edge
We're another month removed from the release of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series and another month closer to the announcement of the Galaxy S21 series. So, if you want a Galaxy S20+ without having to tie strings with a carrier, you'll be able to get it unlocked for even less than its previous best price.You know the numbers: a Snapdragon 865 with 12GB of RAM, a 6.7" AMOLED display, a 64MP lead camera, a 4,500mAh battery, and 128GB of internal storage. It's just about as much of a phone as a Galaxy S20 if only a bit physically bigger — buyer's discretion is advised. But it will work on all three major networks in the U.S. and comes with a corresponding manufacturer warranty, so those are things you don't have to worry about!
Play Store opens up paid apps to 22 new countries across Africa, Oceania, and elsewhere
If I had a nickel for every country, I'd have enough for an app!
Developers in 22 countries are now able to set prices for their Android apps listed on the Play Store. The new batch of countries also features heavily from Africa, but includes some nations in the Caribbean, South America, east of Africa, and Oceania. Users in these countries previously only had access to free apps.
More Chinese tech manufacturers are under the gun from President Trump's Commerce Department. Semiconductors firm Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and DJI, known best for its drones, have been added to the Entity List which prohibits them from U.S. imports. But while the White House rattles SMIC's closely-knit integrations to the military, the case for DJI is less clear.
Jabra Elite Active 65t on sale at record low price of $95 ($25 off)
You're still going to stuff yourself for the holidays and that means you'll need help staying off the couch
Need a workout buddy that isn't a human? Maybe something to stuff in your ears, but that won't get in the way of your arms as you pump them to your next record? Jabra's Elite Active 65t true wireless buds are currently at the lowest price we've seen them: $94.54.Keep in mind that Jabra also does a pair of TWEs called the Elite 65t. These Active buds are tweaked for runners and jumpers and such with a more specific fit, IP56 dust and water resistance for sweat and rain, and a 5-hour battery with 10 more hours possible through the charging case. Unfortunately, it takes Micro-USB, but such are the trade-offs sometimes.
NPR inks international podcast distribution deal with Spotify
Because RSS feeds do not exist anymore
Apparently, podcasts can spread through not just with RSS links, but with expensive distribution agreements as well. With that said, Spotify will be distributing 26 of NPR's shows internationally.
Google Pay wraps up '20 with $21 referrals, cashback offer from Target
You gotta give a little to get some
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While plenty of us are looking forward to the end of 2020, we shouldn't be rushing its demise along — especially as Google Pay reboots itself with a newly-written application and a hankering to get people migrated over. So, the company's popping the ante up with big, fat referrals and a cashback offer from Target.