Brian Heater
Hardware Editor
The Latest from Brian Heater
Amazon is crowdsourcing Alexa’s answers to tough questions
If you’ve got an Echo device at home, you’ve almost certainly played a few rounds of “stump Alexa,” asking Amazon’s assistant increasingly arcane questions in an attempt to elicit some baffl
OnePlus mulls the price of innovation
Qualcomm’s big Snapdragon Summit has become yet another battleground for smartphone one-upmanship, as companies duke it out around the latest flagship chips. OnePlus, which has carved out a name for
The Apple Watch’s ECG feature goes live today
ECG/EKG was easily the new Apple Watch’s most lauded feature. It’s also been the most delayed. Of course, this kind of serious health feature is the sort of thing you need to get exactly right, fo
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is good, clean, butt-kicking fun
After a few days with the game, I’m no expert. Hell, I’m not even entirely sure I’m confident enough to take on all comers. I am, however, most definitely hooked. This scrappy little gaming upst
Yandex gets in the smartphone game
“The Google of Russia” is a fairly apt description, as far as those things go. Yandex has its hand in just about everything internet in its native Russia. Recent additions include a Prime-style se
AT&T announces a second Samsung 5G smartphone for 2019
Leave it to Samsung to talk up its second 5G smartphone before most companies have tipped their first. A few days after announcing its first 5G handset via Verizon, the company is already on to number
Faraday Future furloughs more employees as cash woes continue
For a company with such a forward-looking name, the road ahead has been looking pretty bleak for Faraday Future. Debts, fleeing executives and payroll delays have clouded the last year of the automake
AT&T says it’s getting that 5G Samsung phone, too
Samsung announced yesterday that it’s set to bring a 5G phone to market in the first half of next year, name-checking Verizon in the promise. This morning, however, AT&T was quick to note that i
Microsoft is reportedly replacing Edge with a Chromium-based browser
Microsoft Edge has failed to capture the public’s attention since launching back in 2015, so you can’t really blame the company for switching tacks. According to new reports that first surface
Bose is dabbling in ‘audio AR’ with a pair of sunglasses
Back in March we first caught wind that Bose is dabbling in augmented reality, with the launch of a new wearable SDK. Seems the headphone maker is ready to bring that technology to market, launching i
Google’s call screening transcripts are live and they’re pretty rad
If you’re the proud owner of a Pixel handset you, like 9to5Google, may have spotted this already. The call screening transcripts feature, first noted back in November, are starting to arrive for Pix
Tim Cook addresses white supremacists in ADL address
Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t mince words when he took to the stage to accept the Anti-Defamation League’s first Courage Against Hate Award at an event in New York City today. The executive used the k
Apple launches online store with 10 percent discount for active military and veterans
Just in time for holiday shopping, Apple announced the launch of an online store offering a 10 percent discount off all products for active military and veterans. “At Apple we are deeply grateful to
Samsung will release a 5G phone in 2019
Samsung tipped its hand yet again, revealing another key piece of its 2019 road map. As it did with the foldable phone a few weeks back, the company will be revealing a proof of concept this week at t
E Ink debuts a new electronic drawing technology
E Ink — a name synonymous with e-reader screens — just debuted a new writing display technology called JustWrite. The tech offers the company’s familiar monochrome aesthetic — albeit i
The International Space Station’s new robot is a freaky floating space Alexa
Meet Cimon. The 3D-printed floating robot head was developed by Airbus for the German Space Agency. He’s been a crew member of the International Space Station since June, though as Gizmodo notes, th
The Arlo security camera goes 4K
The Arlo line was something of a surprise hit for Netgear, causing the networking company to spin it off into its own business earlier this year. The Arlo ecosystem is one of the most robust in the sm
Toyota taps Docomo 5G to remotely control its humanoid robot
Toyota introduced T-HR3 to the world right around this time last year. The humanoid robot is capable of mimicking the motions of a plugged-in human, à la “Pacific Rim” and countless other
Apple Music is coming to the Amazon Echo
Starting mid-December, Amazon Echo devices will be able to stream songs from Apple Music. A bit of a surprise, perhaps, given that Apple’s been a competitor in the space since launching the HomePod
Nine companies will compete to help NASA astronauts return to the moon
NASA is ready to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 40 years. It won’t be doing it alone, however. The agency is enlisting nine companies, large and small, to compete f