Brian Heater
Hardware Editor
The Latest from Brian Heater
Q3 earnings find Apple and Google looking to the future for hardware rebounds
“5G is a once-in-a-decade kind of opportunity,” Tim Cook told the media during the Q&A portion of Apple’s Q3 earnings call. “And we could not be more excited to hit the market exactly when
Facebook is limiting distribution of ‘save our children’ hashtag over QAnon ties
Facebook today confirmed that it will be limiting the distribution of the hashtag “save our children.” Over the past several months, the phrase — and ones like it — have become associated with
Smartphone shipments dip in China for Q3, led by Huawei decline
China was the first major global smartphone market to rebound from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stringent lockdown measures were able to help the country recover from the virus relatively
Corsair acquires EpocCam, a webcam app for iPhone
Corsair Gaming today announced that it has acquired EpocCam, the software developer behind the iOS software of the same name. It’s easy to see why the gaming company would be interested in such an a
Spotify hits 320 million monthly active users
In its latest quarterly financial report, Spotify announced that it had crossed 320 million active monthly users. That marks a 29% growth for the quarter, coming on the heels of what seems to be a rat
Robust.AI raises a $15M Series A to improve problem solving for collaborative robots
Robust.AI today announced that it has raised a $15 million Series A, led by Jazz Venture Partners. Existing partners Playground Global, Liquid2, Fontinalis, Jaan Tallinn and Mark Leslie also participa
Justice at Spotify demands better compensation and increased transparency for musicians
Musicians have taken issue with Spotify’s artist compensation for about as long as there’s been a Spotify. Making a living as a musician is difficult enough for the vast majority of those who are
Mophie introduces a modular wireless charging module
Here’s a clever addition for Mophie, one of the longstanding battery case makers, which is now a part of the same smartphone accessory conglomerate as Zagg, Braven, iFrogz and InvisibleShield. The J
Reddit will allow employees to work from anywhere, going forward
Spurred on by the seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic — and no doubt inspired by similar moves from companies like Twitter — Reddit today announced plans to offer its staff the opportunity to work
Amazon adds device dashboard in bid to make Fire tablets a smart home control center
It’s been a busy few weeks for the smart home race. Amazon, Google and Apple have all announced new smart speakers aimed at — among other things — cementing their respective positions at the cen
TCL announces a $400 5G handset
What’s most remarkable about the push for 5G is how quickly the prices came down on handsets sporting the next-gen wireless technology. The push toward affordable 5G devices is clearly as much an in
Microsoft Office gets mouse and trackpad support for the iPad
As promised, Microsoft announced that it has added full trackpad and mouse support for the iPadOS version of Microsoft 360. That includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, marking another important step in
Teaching robots through positive reinforcement
There likely isn’t a robotics teacher institute in the world actively pursuing robotic learning. The field, after all, holds the key to unlocking a lot of potential for the industry. One of the thin
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit gets unofficial remote play on Surrogate.tv
Readers of a certain age will no doubt remember some regional variation of TV Powww, the syndicated program that found viewers at home giving directions over the phone to an in-studio operator playing
The short, strange life of Quibi
“All that is left now is to offer a profound apology for disappointing you and, ultimately, for letting you down,” Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman wrote, closing out an open letter posted to Me
OnePlus’s 8T handset brings faster charging and a 120Hz display for $749
OnePlus continues its twice-yearly smartphone cycle with today’s arrival of the 8T. The latest device isn’t a huge upgrade over April’s OnePlus 8, but continues the company’s longstanding trad
‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ is now an Apple TV+ exclusive
On first screening, the network assumed it had a disaster on its hands. It was a quiet cartoon — more of a meditation on seasonal depression than a proper holiday film. The pacing was slow, it was v
The smart speaker market is expected to grow 21% next year
New numbers from Canalys point to a strong growth in smart speaker shipments in Mainland China this year. The market is on track to grow in 2020, having gotten the COVID-19 pandemic mostly under contr
Amazon Echo review: Well-rounded sound
Six years ago, Amazon essentially created a new consumer electronics category. Expectations weren’t particularly high when the first Echo device debuted in November of 2014. Amazon, after all, has n
4 quick bites and obituaries on Quibi (RIP 2020-2020)
In memory of the death of Quibi, here’s a quick sendoff from four of our writers who came together to discuss what we can learn from Quibi’s amazing, instantaneous, billions-of-dollars fai