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Berg’s Little Printer, an adorable internet-connected box that printed out tiny snippets of news, Instagram photos, and to-do lists, stopped working when the studio and its servers shut down in 2014. Now, design consultancy firm Nord Projects has brought it back to life with a brand-new app, and it added the ability to send messages between devices, as reported by Core77. A group of Little Printer enthusiasts on GitHub collaborated to get the device back online through an open-source server called Sirius. Nord Projects then designed a Little Printers iOS app that re-created old favorite features like poster fonts and dithergrams, while adding a few more modern touches. The app lets you print photos and notes via the iOS Share sheet, and it has its own API so you can connect it to IFTTT services and have it print whatever is on your RSS feed. Setting up messaging on the app is easy. You just create a username and device key, which is a unique URL that grants access for printers to … [Read more...] about Little Printer returns as an open-source messaging device

You’d be forgiven for writing off HTC’s smartphone business as over. The Pixel 3A that Google just released was developed by its Taiwan team, which Google acquihired from HTC over a year ago, and HTC itself has been quiet about new flagships since last summer’s U12 Plus. Well, HTC has shown some small signs of life this week by announcing its release schedule for the overdue updates to Android 9 Pie. The HTC U11 will be updated first, around the end of May, to be followed by the U12 Plus in June, and the U11 Plus starting at the end of June. Owners of other HTC phones are likely out of luck. There was once a time when HTC was among the first Android vendors with the latest version of Android, both in terms of updating its existing flagships and offering it on its latest releases. But those years are now long behind us, and HTC’s focus and future path are now fixed squarely on making the Vive virtual reality hardware ecosystem a success. The present Android 9 … [Read more...] about HTC isn’t dead yet, promises Android 9 updates this month

Samsung has announced a new image sensor for mobile phones with a higher resolution than anything comparable on the market. The ISOCELL Bright GW1 is a 64-megapixel sensor that uses the same 0.8μm-sized pixels as Samsung’s current 48-megapixel component, meaning it’ll be a physically larger sensor that can capture more light overall. The Bright GW1 will produce 16-megapixel images by merging four pixels into one, like how existing 48-megapixel sensors turn out 12-megapixel photos by default. Samsung’s new sensor will also be able to descramble the color filter for full-resolution 64-megapixel shots in good light. Sony’s IMX586 48-megapixel sensor has a similar capability, but Samsung’s doesn’t; today the Korean company is also announcing an updated 48-megapixel part that offers the same feature. 48-megapixel cameras are now a common sight on phones: Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and others have all shipped devices with the sensors. … [Read more...] about 64-megapixel phone cameras are coming

As good as Android 9 Pie has been since its release, the one universal pain point it has thrown up for users has been its multitasking system, which is a weird mix of gestures and buttons that just doesn’t work well. At Google I/O today, Google made it known that it’s building an all-new gestural navigation for Android 10 Q that ditches the buttons and makes swiping in from either edge of the phone act as a back button. It combines the iPhone’s basic swiping interactions with Huawei’s EMUI edge-swiping back gesture. I’ve reviewed a number of Huawei and Honor’s recent phones, with both brands running EMUI atop Android 9, and I find the side swipe for back to be a really good solution. I got so accustomed to it while reviewing the excellent P30 Pro, in fact, that I found myself repeating the gesture on Pixel and OnePlus devices that didn’t recognize it. What’s really good about swiping in from either edge is that it uproots your back button … [Read more...] about Android Q replaces the back button with a side swipe

Urbanears has been making headphones and home speakers for years, and now it’s making a move to the last area of personal audio: portable speakers. It’s starting with the Rålis, the company’s first battery-powered speaker. Launching today for $199, the Rålis has a similar aesthetic as Urbanears’ other speakers, albeit with a battery that allows you to take it on the go. That battery can also be used to recharge other devices on the go using a built-in USB-A port. (Urbanears won’t say how large the battery is, beyond a promise of 20-plus hours of battery life.) The Rålis also supports Bluetooth 5.0, allowing up to two phones to be wirelessly connected at once for when you’re fighting with your friends over what song to play. There’s a wired 3.5mm aux jack for connecting a third device, too. It’s also IPX2 water resistant, so it’s good enough to protect from a splash, but not nearly as waterproof as the Ultimate Ears … [Read more...] about Urbanears announces the Rålis, its first portable speaker