change

The Android 11 features that will actually change your phone

By Nancy L. Germann 2 months ago

Android 11 will be released later in 2020 like clockwork, but developers and anyone happy to put up with a half-finished operating system – bored much? – can try it out now. A beta of the software is available here for Pixel 2, 3, 3a and Pixel 4s. It has some, but not all, of the features of the final version.

We’ve taken a look at the beta on one of Google’s Pixel smartphones to see what progress has been made. On reflection, some changes are long overdue, the kind of tweaks a 2016 buyer might expected to see in

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Trump’s feud with Twitter might change the internet as we know it

By Nancy L. Germann 2 months ago

Donald Trump should be careful what he wishes for. He wants to do away with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a piece of legislation that shields internet companies from liability for user-generated content on their platforms. But while the move is chiefly intended to antagonise Twitter, with which the US president is engulfed in an ongoing flame war, the consequences of tampering with Section 230 would be way more far-reaching.

“Section 230 says that websites aren’t liable for third-party content. And that basic legal principle has provided the legal infrastructure for the modern internet,” says Eric Goldman, a

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How Apple’s U1 chip could change the iPhone forever

By Nancy L. Germann 3 months ago

Despite much fanfare around its other recent silicon creations, Apple didn’t give any stage time to its new U1 chip when it was introduced in September 2019 alongside the iPhone 11. The chip didn’t didn’t get much press coverage, either – in part because it is currently used only for the company’s local file-sharing system, AirDrop.

But in space-limited handsets like the iPhone, a new component isn’t introduced unless it has a significant role to play: the U1 chip could be the basis for applications that will be core to future Apple products and services.

The U1 utilises a wireless

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