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Rose Behar-

Rose Behar

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Google has a massive user base in India, but, until recently, there's been a dearth of Google products that support Indian languages. At this year's Google for India event, the company announced that it is taking strides to correct that.

You know smart home technology is becoming ubiquitous when even a 150-year-old company decides to get in on the fun. That's the case with Yale, founded in 1868 by the inventor of the modern pin tumbler lock, Linus Yale, Jr. The historic company collaborated with Google's home automation company, Nest, to reveal the Nest x Yale Lock in January 2018. Now, Yale has achieved the inevitable next step in its journey into cutting edge security tech, with the announcement that as of today, Google Assistant on mobile or Google Home supports voice commands for its product.

Many of the recent Pixel 3 leaks haven't exactly been celebrated — our own recent poll results show 60 percent of participating readers don't like the look of it — leaving the well-reviewed Samsung Galaxy Note9 in a strong position. Carrier deals only enhance the allure —for instance, T-Mobile's offer of up to $500 in trade-in credits (split over 24 months) on Note9 activations. Even better, though, is Costco's new offer in partnership with the carrier, which gifts the full $500 in one lump sum. 

One of the no-brainer use cases for smartwatches is providing users with an easy way to call for help, and yet in many cases it's a multi-step process that requires an accompanying phone. Fossil is planning to address this gap in the market by partnering with digital safety platform Noonlight to integrate a discreet 911 alert button on its fourth generation smartwatches. The application will come pre-installed (and at no extra cost) on the new Wear OS-powered Fossil smartwatches. Meanwhile, those that have already shipped will receive an update rolling out soon.

One of the more frustrating elements of booking flights online is being unsure about whether you're getting a deal, an average price or an overly-expensive ticket. The always-useful Google Flights will soon offer a solution to that issue by rolling out a feature that shows how good the price you're given is, based on historical pricing and flight ticket costs so far that year. 

Twitter is a fun place, isn't it? It's a friendly area of the internet where you can go to engage in meaningful, mutually respectful conversations. Oh wait, I meant the exact opposite. In any case, it's trying to improve and one of its latest methods is to filter out "lower quality" direct messages from your inbox. The social media giant announced its new feature this afternoon, to mixed response.

When the new Gmail arrived in April this year, it brought with it a quick-access side panel that integrated Calendar, Tasks, and Keep right into the email platform's interface. Now, that feature is coming to Google Docs editors and Google Calendar, as well. This means that you'll be able to access compact versions of Calendar, Keep, and Tasks from an expandable panel on the right-hand side of Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. As for Google Calendar, you'll get just Keep and Tasks. 

The dream of an open and free internet isn't dead. Net neutrality — the principle that internet service providers must treat traffic equally, regardless of the source — is still seeing a strong fight waged on its behalf. This week, a group of 23 attorneys general from across the U.S., led by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, published a new brief reaffirming its dedication to the cause.

Not only are chipset makers racing to 5G, there's also a constant push towards shrinking fabrication processes. The smaller the process, the smaller and more power efficient a chip can be – or, conversely, the more transistors it can fit, making it more powerful at the same size. As it stands, 10nm is as little as it gets when it comes to commercially available mobile processors, but that won't hold true for long. Shortly after Huawei quietly announced that its Kirin 980 system-on-a-chip (SoC) will be built on 7nm process technology, Qualcomm has announced that its next flagship chipset will also be built on the 7nm process node.

There's always someone in the family who could use a cheap tablet. Sure, we've been less than enthused with recent expensive, productivity-focused devices, but when you just want a convenient large screen for your apps and media, tablets are hard to beat. Whether it's grandma or the kids, one strong deal to consider is the 32GB Amazon Fire HD 10, currently reduced by $50 to $100.Of course, the 10.1-inch tablet is already a nice value at $150 on Amazon, but when it dips down  that extra half a yard (as it has only twice since last September, including most recently in April), it's even more alluring. The discount also helps to offset qualms about the tablet's Android-based Fire OS, which only comes with Amazon's store out of the box, not the Google Play Store.Still, there are workarounds to that, and overall reviewers were pleased with the sharpness of the display for the price and solid performance, so as an Alexa-integrated media machine it could be ideal.For those with larger storage needs, a 64GB version is available for $140 (regularly $190). In either case, the color options are black, blue or red. The deals are also available from Best Buy.Beyond the tablet, Amazon is offering discounts on a range of its own devices, including 43% off the Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Amazon Echo Show.Source: Amazon, Best Buy

Person playing a game on a Samsung phone.

Mobile games are a major contributor to the modern gaming industry, but while many of us play them, only some users actually pay up. That is, of course, because for the most part paying is optional. The dominant pricing model these days is free-to-play games with in-app-purchases (IAP) — for instance, paying real-world dollars in order to play continuously without mandatory cool-off periods, or purchasing extra lives. In a recent report from Liftoff, a mobile app marketing platform, the agency delves into who among us is paying for mobile games, and who is refraining from dipping into their wallets.

Do you judge a smartphone by its weakest components? In his most recent durability test on the JerryRigEverything channel, YouTuber Zack Nelson identified one slightly-less-sturdy element of the otherwise highly durable Samsung Galaxy Note9: the buttons, which are removable and pop out easily just by prying with a fingernail.

While this past year hasn't been entirely smooth sailing for telecom equipment and device manufacturer Huawei, there have been some major highlights. Among them: the critical success of the Huawei P20, an Android device reviewers were surprisingly passionate about, which is rare in this smartphone-fatigued modern era. Along with the Mate series, Huawei's P series represents the company's premium-tier efforts. Now, a series of credible renders have emerged that reveal the alleged Mate 20, Huawei's next shot at impressing the Android set.

Mobile games don't tend to look favorably on rooted devices — i.e. smartphones where the user has root access to the system code — due to the potential for cheating. However, not many go to the extreme that Niantic has just imposed with a recent update for its massively popular Pokémon GO game.

Elite hackers aren't the only thing Google has to worry about when it comes to its platforms. Perhaps just as pernicious are simple abuses of its systems and products — often stumbled upon by an average person with too much time on their hands. For instance, finding ways to purchase items from Google without paying, or getting around restrictions on content use and sharing. It's these issues that the Mountain View tech giant is aiming to uncover by officially expanding its Vulnerability Reward Program to include reports on techniques to successfully bypass its abuse, fraud and spam systems.

At its Uncarrier event held today, T-Mobile unveiled several new promotions and services aimed at bolstering its reputation as a customer-friendly, "subversive" wireless brand. Among them: a free year of Pandora Plus for customers, discounted live music tickets from Live Nation, free 30-day service trials, and the official launch of a customer service overhaul.

In the ongoing battle to be at the forefront of 5G, Samsung has shot into a prominent position with the Exynos Modem 5100. The electronics company and chipset manufacturer today revealed a mobile modem built to the newest 3GPP-official 5G standards that features not only 5G functionality (using both sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum), but also support for legacy wireless technology from 4G LTE all the way back to 2G GSM/CDMA.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has, for the first time ever, allowed an app to market itself as a contraceptive. Natural Cycles brands itself as "digital birth control" and offers a return to the age-old rhythm method, albeit with the addition of technology that promises to make the process more accurate. But global regulators are casting doubt on that promise, and the company's aggressive marketing taglines.

What do you call a copy of a copy? The Moto P30, if new leaks are any indication.

Samsung is well known for its prowess in OLED display technology, but in case you need a secondary source to provide a glowing and detailed review, DisplayMate has come out with its analysis of the Note9.

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