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Good news for Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 owners: the wait is over. Google Assistant is finally available for download starting today. Google Assistant for Wear OS 3 is available for download in the Google Play Store and can be launched from the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic’s app menu. However, you can also use voice commands to open Google Assistant or reprogram the watches’ home button as a shortcut. This update has been a long time coming. When Google and Samsung first announced Wear OS 3, the companies promised that the unified platform would give Samsung smartwatch users more choice in apps. Previously, Samsung’s Tizen-based smartwatches could only offer Bixby as a digital assistant. The idea was that Wear OS 3 would let consumers choose between Bixby and Google Assistant. The same would be true for apps like Google Pay. Google Assistant has been notably absent from the Galaxy Watch 4 since its launch last year. Despite user frustrations, Google and Samsung continued to … [Read more...] about Google Assistant is finally available on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Audio player loading… The Samsung Galaxy S line is made up of largely fantastic phones, but one issue that has long affected them is the use of a different chipset in different parts of the world, with one of those chipsets inevitably being weaker. Now though, it looks like Samsung might finally be addressing that issue. According to Naver (opens in new tab) (a South Korean news site), Samsung is creating a "dream team" of around 1000 employees to build a chipset designed specifically for Galaxy smartphones. Now, this apparently won’t be ready in time for the Samsung Galaxy S23 or even the Galaxy S24, but supposedly the resources required in developing this new chipset means Samsung won’t make Exynos chipsets for those phones, relying purely on Qualcomm Snapdragon ones worldwide. In other words, every model of the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24 might have a Snapdragon chipset, rather than some regions getting Snapdragon and others getting a Samsung-made … [Read more...] about Samsung Galaxy S23 might fix the S22’s biggest problem

Audio player loading… YouTube Music on Wear OS (opens in new tab) is finally able to stream music over LTE and Wi-Fi. Previously, you had to download an entire playlist to your smartwatch in order to listen to music. In a recent community post (opens in new tab) , Google explained that users will now have access to over 80 million songs and thousands of playlists on the YouTube Music platform. As part of the update, the app now comes with Smart Downloads, which refreshes downloaded songs every time your device connects to Wi-Fi. This way, your music isn’t interrupted as it switches connections. A new YouTube Music tile will be added to Wear OS for quick access to recent playlists or the browsing page. On top of that, the revamped software will offer tailored-made playlists according to your history. This all sounds like great news and are good additions to Wear OS, but there is a pretty big caveat attached. According to Google, you must be a … [Read more...] about YouTube Music app finally lets you stream music on Wear OS – but limits iOS in one key way

Audio player loading… The internals of the Google Pixel Watch might not be as underpowered as we expected, according to a new report. The latest rumor follows on from a previous leak that the wearable would use the Exynos 9110, a four-year-old chipset. However, according to sources speaking to 9to5Google (opens in new tab) , the Pixel Watch will apparently use a second chipset to help share the load (for reference, the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ does something similar). The full capabilities of this co-processor are still unconfirmed, but it could potentially take care of certain tasks like managing the always-on display and making sure health and fitness statistics are constantly tracked. More RAM too This latest leak also states that the Pixel Watch will have more RAM than any other Wear OS smartwatch on the market at the moment (so more than the 1.5GB of RAM that you'll find inside the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 ). Those upgraded internals should … [Read more...] about Google Pixel Watch tipped to be more powerful than we thought

Audio player loading… Less than two weeks after the initial announcement, the Galaxy Watch 4 has gotten the new Google Assistant (opens in new tab) as part of a previously teased update. According to Samsung, the new Google Assistant will be available to users in 10 different countries including the US, UK, Australia, and Japan. It will be in seven different languages and support regional varieties (think America English and Australian English). What’s interesting about the new Google Assistant is that its speech recognition has been improved to recognize more casual speech. You no longer need to announce “Hey Google” or touch a device to activate Assistant. All you have to do is simply ask the Watch 4 a question and Google Assistant will answer. Samsung’s Bixby AI will still be on the Galaxy Watch 4 , which means you have your options if you still want to say the activation command. However, neither Samsung nor Google clarify if Bixby will get in … [Read more...] about Galaxy Watch 4 gets the smarter Google Assistant early, but where’s the rest?

Audio player loading… Inside of hard disk drives are platters which hold all your data; these are all manufactured by one company in Japan called Showa Denko which has announced (opens in new tab) it expects to “realize near-line HDD having storage capacity of more than 30TB" by the end of 2023. Deciphering that statement, we’d assume it will provide platters with a storage capacity of more than 3TB, sometime in 2023, to partners such as Toshiba, Seagate and Western Digital, who will then produce the hard disk drives , targeting hyperscalers and data centers operators. We’d expect some of them to end up in NAS and 3.5-inch external hard drives , but that won’t be the main target markets, as performance is likely to be optimized for nearline usage. Race to 30TB Showa Denko has now started shipment of the platters that will go into new 26TB Ultrastar DC HC670 UltraSMR hard disk drives announced by Western Digital only a few days ago. … [Read more...] about Larger-than-30TB hard drives are coming much sooner than expected

At Google's recent I/O conference , we heard about a lot of upcoming Google hardware, including the Pixel 6a , Pixel 7 , Pixel Watch , and even a Pixel Tablet, which isn't due out until sometime in 2023. We didn't hear anything about a Pixel foldable , though. Still, we know something is in the works since the Google Camera app included the detection flag "isPixel2022Foldable" alongside flags for other Pixel devices. So what's the deal? The Elec reports that the Google foldable is delayed until 2023. This would mark the second time the foldable has been delayed, as it was originally due out late last year. It seems that the original plan was to release the product alongside Android 12L, aka 12.1, the tablet-and-foldables-focused Android release. Google often tries to develop Android builds and new hardware simultaneously, but making hardware is difficult. Google and Samsung are partnering up for Wear OS and the Google Tensor SoC, and the Pixel foldable is likewise … [Read more...] about The Google Pixel Foldable is reportedly delayed to 2023

Memorial Day is fast approaching, and a slew of bargains on major appliances have already hit retailers nationwide. We anticipate even more deals on appliances including refrigerators, ranges and ovens, dishwashers, washer and dryers, freezers and more as we get closer to Memorial Day weekend, but these early deals are pretty hard to beat. During large events like these, sorting the discounts and finding the best Memorial Day deals might be difficult, which is why we've compiled a list of some of the best bargains currently available from major appliance retailers across the web. Keep checking back because we'll keep this page updated on the best offers as the holiday approaches. Until then, have a look at our list of retailers offering early Memorial Day discounts on major appliances you can bring home right now. Retailers offering deals on major appliances Best Buy Best Buy Save up to 10% on appliance packages Best Buy is known for having the hottest … [Read more...] about Memorial Day Appliance Deals: Save on Ranges, Washers, Dryers and More

Although the long-rumored Pixel Watch has finally arrived , there’s still no sign of Google’s mysterious folding phone — and we likely won’t see it for another year. According to reports from Korean industry site The Elec and supply chain analyst Ross Young ( via Android Central ), the release of Google’s rumored folding phone has been delayed until next spring. Google was originally expected to reveal the device in 2021 , but that prediction was pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2022. This most recent delay could explain why we didn’t see the device at Google I/O earlier this month alongside the brief tease of a future Pixel tablet . Hearing from multiple sources in their supply chain that the Google foldable launch was delayed till next spring… pic.twitter.com/QXr7hhV3ZX — Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) May 25, 2022 Sources with knowledge of the situation reportedly told The Elec that the phone’s release date has been postponed simply because it isn’t … [Read more...] about Google’s folding phone has reportedly been delayed again

Further Reading Xbox unveils cloud-centric strategy: New hardware, servers, regional plans Last year, Microsoft officially confirmed years of rumors and announced plans for "standalone streaming devices" that could stream Xbox games through the company's xCloud service. Now, though, the company says it's essentially going back to the drawing board and "pivot[ing] away from the current iteration" of that streaming-focused hardware. In a statement to Windows Central , a Microsoft spokesperson reconfirmed that the company has "been working on a game-streaming device, codenamed Keystone, that could be connected to any TV or monitor without the need for a console." At the same time, that spokesperson suggested that it may be a while until we see that hardware being finalized and released: As part of any technical journey, we are constantly evaluating our efforts, reviewing our learnings, and ensuring we are bringing value to our customers. We have made the decision to pivot … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s plans for an Xbox streaming stick head back to the drawing board