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vendredi 11 décembre 2020

Get access to over 800 tech and design courses for $89 with Stone River eLearning

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Twitter code teardown hints that it may down Periscope in 2021

Twitter video-sharing app Periscope hasn’t been on the tip of anyone’s tongue recently – apart from in the context of phone cameras. With TikTok being the flavor of 2020, and Twitter’s focus on its disappearing Tweet service Fleets, it’s clear that time has moved on. Indeed, when Twitter decided to buy the site before it even launched in 2015, it was as a spoiler to a similar app, Meerkat, and when was the last time we heard about that? (Actually, it was this year, it’s now video-call service House Party).

As time, technology and zeitgeist move on, it’s quite common to see these “next great hope” apps fall by the wayside. Heck, that’s basically Google’s business model. So it’s not a huge surprise that we’re getting the first hints that Periscope is not long for this world. A developer by the name of Jane Machun Wong (@wongmjane) has been exploring a teardown of the latest Twitter app code and discovered an ominous thing.

Periscope Close Code

Hidden in a currently orphaned line of code is a (dead) link under the string “ps_app_shutdown_learn_more_url”. It could be seen as something of a “smoking gun”, though we’ve got no further details, and nothing official from Twitter so far. That said, it does feel like Periscope has served its purpose. Twitter Live has been active in the main app since 2016, long enough that it has now seen itself used for its second US Presidential Election. Live streaming in Twitter is still referred to as being powered “by Periscope”, but these days, it is more of a nod to history than an active partnership.

Whatever happens now, it’ll seem like something of a hollow end to Periscope. Twitter killed off another acquisition, Vine, in order to focus on Periscope, a fact much maligned at the time. If Periscope is near the end too, it’ll mark a sad end to two projects that could, in the right hands, have given TikTok a run for its money.

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Nubia is working on a phone with an electrochromic back

Nubia, the former offshoot of ZTE and now an independent OEM, looks to be working on making its phones even more beautiful on the outside if a tease posted on Chinese site Weibo are to be believed. A video posted to the site and captioned “The new technology of the Red Devils [Red Magic] gaming phone has been exposed, and the back shell seems to be able to switch back and forth between transparent and colored. Are you looking forward to mass production?” seems to be pointing to Nubia as the latest company to experiment with ‘electrochromic’ properties on the back. In other words – a handset that can change color.

The teaser video was posted on AnTuTu’s official Weibo account, indicating that they probably have access to a unit for benchmarking purposes or have one for marketing needs. Either way, the source has a lot of reputation, and we’re inclined to believe what we are seeing in the video.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen manufacturers dabbling with electrochromic casing. Earlier this year, we saw BBK brand Vivo demonstrate a phone that can change from blue to silver, while sister-brand OnePlus used it in their 2019 concept handset to hide the rear cameras from view.

The Nubia handset being teased is expected to be part of the Red Magic series of gaming phones, one of the only phone ranges to use active cooling fans on mobile devices, and that could make the use of electrochromic glass far more tenable in a mainstream release. One of the challenges for designers of electrochromic phones has been finding a way to keep the power consumption down to a level that wouldn’t deprive other components. If the battery is being kept cool, it should mean less likelihood of being overworked and overheated. The handset being teased is likely to be the successor to the Nubia Red Magic 5G, released in 2020, but we’ve got no official confirmation of that, so far.

The question yet to be answered, however, is whether the advent of phone shells that change color will mark the beginning of the end for phone cases? It’s going to be a lot more difficult to show off your phone’s party trick in a leather case.

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OPPO Leads Charging Innovation with ColorOS

Innovation in charging technology is an essential part of moving smartphone capabilities forward. To allow for more powerful internal components, batteries have to be able to accommodate this. In conjunction with larger batteries, faster charging can make this process less intrusive. With different ways of charging your phone, whether it’s wireless or connected, it’s important to make sure your battery stays healthy as long as possible. All of these things matter when it comes to creating the best battery experience on a phone.

Between 2010 – 2017, smartphone manufacturers focused on providing larger batteries to give the user a longer battery life. This worked for so long because as screen sizes got bigger, so could batteries. So increasing the size of a battery was the primary way to improve battery life. Smartphones saw a decent increase in the amount of time in between charges, but eventually, this way of increasing our battery capacity began to max out.

Companies then looked to other means to innovate in this area. This is when we saw a big focus on fast-charging solutions. If companies could no longer continue to increase the size of the battery, then reducing the time it takes to charge your phone, was the next step. OPPO was one of the first companies to start to offer real solutions in this area.

OPPO has been working hard at making better software, hardware, and charging methods to improve the way our smartphone batteries operate. With OPPO’s Super VOOC technology, they’ve been able to achieve a 40% charge in just 10 minutes, on the OPPO Reno4. With 10V/5A charging which delivers 50W, while a 4000mAh battery phone takes just 30 minutes to reach a full charge.

This type of innovation from OPPO inspired many other companies to implement their own brand of fast charging technology, which lead to it becoming an industry standard. One of the specific technologies that really pushed the capabilities of smartphone batteries was dual-cell design, which ensures safety by avoiding the need for voltage reduction during the charging process. This type of system can take the 10V that is fed to the battery and share it between two 5V batteries at the same time. This ensures safety by avoiding the need for voltage reduction during the charging process, which can cut your charging time in half.

OPPO Fast Charging Hardware in 2020

When smartphone companies began the race to faster charge speeds, OPPO was the first to bring 65W charging to consumers. Now they reached another milestone by being the first to 125W fast charging.

How ColorOS 11 Makes Fast Charging Better

The ability to fast charge your phone comes at a price. Higher temperatures have always come as a package deal with faster-charging speeds. These high temperatures can affect your internal battery, as well as the charging adapter itself. OPPO saw an opportunity to improve this situation and implemented new features in ColorOS 11.

Battery Guard is a feature that will help minimize wear on your battery, as well as prevent high temperatures while charging. This feature will let you toggle the “Optimized night charging” setting, which will make your phone begin to learn your daily routine. After you enable this function, ColorOS will stop your charging process when your battery reaches 80% capacity. Then, based on what time you wake up via AI learning technology, your phone will resume charging and reach 100%.

By using this feature, you’ll be protecting the health of your phone’s battery. Over time you’ll have a battery that degrades at a much slower rate. You’ll have a healthy and long-lasting battery with this improved charging method.

It’s important that the user understand how their battery is being used, and what habits can cause it to drain faster or slower. To help users see this information, ColorOS 11 has a phone battery usage overview, where users can get this information at a glance.

ColorOS 11 takes it a step further and will show you details usage stats for specific apps. In the photo on the far left, you’ll see the power consumption report for PUBG Mobile. You can see the Foreground active time, service time, background time, and the total amount and power consumed. After reviewing this data, you can toggle restrictions to improve your battery life.

One way that users can greatly improve their battery life is by using the aggressive Super Power Saving Mode. This will greatly extend the life of your battery in situations where you’re not able to charge. Casual phone usage is barely affected by this mode, while unused features are shut off to save as much juice as possible. With Super Power Saving Mode, the phone can be on standby for 12 hours, text for 90 minutes, or make phone calls for 1 hour with just 5% battery, allowing users to stay connected and find a charger.

Many people who play games on their phone will notice their device getting hot after long gaming sessions. OPPO’s Hyper Boost technology is a system that is able to allocate or restrict resources to your gaming experience. While prioritizing the bast gameplay, Hyper Boost will also monitor the heat from your phone’s battery. If your device gets too hot, Hyper Boost will balance your game performance with the heat of your device. This results in a cooler phone, and a healthier battery.

Battery usage can be optimized on an app-by-app basis, giving the user more control over the power consumption of their phone. All of these ColorOS 11 features work together to make your battery experience as good as possible.

ColorOS 11 Battery Menu

OPPO Eyes Further Innovation While Creating Better Battery Health Tools

While all of these new tools in ColorOS 11 are impressive, OPPO is still moving to improve on these features. While the new hardware allows for faster charging, it is equally important to keep up with the software features that make this possible. This is why ColorOS Battery Guard will continue to see improvements with new updates.

The Hyper Boost technology found in ColorOS 11 is what helps your phone deal with the heat problems that could come from fast charging. Now, this feature is being opened to third-party developers, which will allow this to be implemented on a larger scale.

All of this makes for a more exciting future for smartphone batteries. We are seeing massive improvements in this department, all across the smartphone industry. OPPO continues to lead the way in this department, so it’s worth keeping an eye on what they’ll come up with next.

We thank OPPO for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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Among Us is getting a new map called ‘The Airship’ next year

InnerSloth, developer of the popular online multiplayer social deduction game Among Us, has officially announced the arrival of a new map. ‘The Airship’ will be available to players sometime early next year and was announced at this year’s Game Awards where it won the award for the best multiplayer title of the year.

Teased last month, this will be the fourth map added to the game and will be introducing new tasks and skins, the ability to decide where you start a match, and the addition of ladders and elevators to access certain areas of the ship. It is expected that the map is going to be far more extensive than the existing ones. Notably, the game recently received an update that introduced a bunch of new features including the ability to vote anonymously.

Adding a new map would freshen up the game for further periods of engagement from its audience. Most of the draw of this game is from its social engineering aspects. But having a coat of fresh paint every now and then will keep many users satisfied.

Among Us was originally launched in 2018 but only gained popularity in 2020. One of the reasons for the game’s popularity is said to be due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it allowed for friends and families to socialize despite social distancing. The game is available on both Android and iOS as well as Windows PC. The multiplayer game can be played with four to ten players out of which one to three players (depending on the host) is chosen to be the Impostor(s) while the others are Crewmates. Crewmates are given tasks in the form of minigames to complete around the map which includes maintenance work like electrical rewiring, engine refueling, and so on. Impostors are also given tasks however their main objective is to covertly work with other Impostors to kill Crewmates as well as destroy vital systems. Apart from completing the tasks, Crewmates need to identify the Impostors and successfully eliminate them. This can be done by calling for an emergency meeting or when a dead body is reported after which each player has to vote to cast out a player. Crewmates win if all Impostors are eliminated or all tasks are completed while Impostors win if the number of Impostors is equal to the number of Crewmates, or if a critical sabotage goes unresolved.

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Best Docking Stations for Chromebooks you can get right now!

Chromebooks are known for their lightweight and portable construction. While this makes them great travel companions, it introduces some hurdles when you’re using one at home. For instance, most Chromebooks don’t have a substantial array of ports, which can prove to be a major hurdle for those who wish to use several accessories. This is where a Chromebook docking station can help you out.

With a good docking solution, you can greatly expand your Chromebook’s versatility. You can use it to connect a mouse, a mechanical keyboard, external storage devices, multiple monitors, or all of them at once. On top of that, with some docking stations, you can even keep your Chromebook charged as long as it has a compatible USB Type-C port.

I use a Chromebook docking station when I’m working at my desk, as it lets me connect my monitor, keyboard, mouse, and hard drive to the Chromebook at all times. And it even goes a long way in keeping my setup clean. If you also want to enjoy all these benefits, you should invest in a quality docking station for your Chromebook. To help you with your purchase, I have curated a list of the best Chromebook docking stations that you can buy right now.

    Tiergrade USB C Docking Station

    Maximize connectivity

    The Tiergrade USB C Chromebook docking station is perfect for power users. It offers the widest selection of ports, including two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, two USB 3.0 Type-C ports, two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort port, an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks, a S/PDIF audio port and a USB 3.0 Type-C port with 60W power delivery. On top of that, the dock also includes a full-size SD card reader and a microSD card reader.
    Baseus 16-in-1 Docking Station

    A cheaper alternative for power users

    The Baseus 16-in-1 Chromebook docking station is a cheaper alternative to the Tiergrade dock with a slightly different port selection. It includes three USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, two USB 3.0 Type-C ports, a USB type-C port with pass-through charging support, an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, a 3.5mm headphone/mic combo jack, a microSD card slot, and an SD card slot. For display connectivity, it features a VGA port and an HDMI port. Hpwever, it only supports screen mirroring for dual external displays.
    Anker PowerExpand+ USB C Hub

    Most portable

    If you're not a power user and just need some basic connectivity options, then the Anker PowerExpand+ is a great option. It features two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB Type-C port for data, a USB Type-C port with pass-through charging support at up to 100W, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. This will get the job done if you have basic needs, and is great for carrying around too. Afterall, Chromebooks are powerful mobile machines, and this product complements them.
    Sabrent Universal Docking Station

    Best for Chromebooks with a detachable keyboard

    The Sabrent Chromebook docking station is a good choice for Chromebooks with a detachable keyboard as it features a stand that you can use to prop up your Chromebook when you're not using the included keyboard. In terms of ports, it offers two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, two USB Type-A 2.4A fast charging ports, an HDMI port, a DVI port, a USB 3.0 input, 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks, and a RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port.
    Targus USB-C Dual Video Docking Station

    Doubles up as an ergonomic stand

    The Targus Chromebook docking station is a good 2-in-1 option that not only offer a decent selection of ports but also doubles up as an ergnomic stand. It includes 4 USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two DisplayPort ports, 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, a USB Type-C port with 60W pass-through charging support, a headphone/mic combo jack, and a RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port.
    Plugable USB C Cube Mini Docking Station

    Aesthetically pleasing

    For those who want an aesthetically pleasing docking station with a small form factor, the Plugable Mini Cube is a good choice. Despite its tiny footprint, it features a USB 3.0 Type-A port, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, an HDMI port, and an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port. Sadly, it doesn't support pass-through charging, so you do get limited on that end.
    Kensing Dual Display Docking Station

    USB Type-A overload

    In case you own several USB Type-A accessories, the Kensignton Chrombook docking station is a good pick. It includes a total of six USB Type-A ports, with two USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports. Additionally, it offers an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a DVI port, and 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks.

Which Chromebook docking station will you pick? If you have a limited budget and/or can’t accommodate a large docking station on your desk, I’d recommend picking up the Anker PowerExpand+. It’s tiny, it offers a decent selection of ports, supports pass-through charging, and it even includes an SD card reader. Sadly, it offers only one HDMI out port.

So, if you’re planning on connecting two or more monitors to your Chromebook, I’d recommend the Targus USB-C Universal Dual Video docking station. Not only does it offer a good selection of video out ports, but it also doubles up as a Chromebook stand with its rubberized top finish. In case you have a Chromebook with a detachable keyboard, you can also consider getting the Sabrent Universal Docking Station, as it features a convenient stand that you can use to prop up your Chromebook without using its detachable keyboard cover.

Which Chromebook docking station is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Amazfit GTR 2 with AMOLED display, blood-oxygen monitoring goes on pre-order in India

After launching the Amazfit GTR 2 in China earlier in September and subsequently bringing it to the US and the UK a month later, Huami is now set to launch its latest flagship smartwatch in the Indian market. The company has already confirmed an online launch event for December 17 where it will take wraps off three new smartwatches, including the Amazfit GTR 2, GTS 2, and GTS 2 Mini.

Although the official “launch” is still a week away at this point, the company has now opened up pre-orders for the Amazfit GTR 2, a device we already knew pretty much everything about. The pricing starts at ₹12,999 ($176) for the regular Sports model, while the Classic Edition will set you back ₹13,499 ($183). Interested users can pre-order the smartwatch starting today from Flipkart and Amazfit India’s website. Amazfit says those who pre-order the watch before the launch date will receive an additional replaceable strap for free.

Amazfit GTR 2 Classic Edition and Sport Edition on black background

The Amazfit GTR 2 is a follow up to the last year’s critically acclaimed Amazfit GTR and adds several exciting new features in a similar form factor. The new watch continues to use a circular dial, packing a 1.39-inch AMOLED display with a 450 nits peak brightness. The Amazfit GTR 2 comes in two models: Sports and Classic — the Sports model features an aluminum alloy body with a silicone strap, while the Classic model has a stainless steel body and a leather strap.

The blood oxygen monitoring feature is one of the major highlights of GTR 2, enabling users to measure and monitor blood-oxygen saturation in real-time. The smartwatch also comes equipped with Huami’s PPG bio-tracking optical sensor for 24-hour heart rate monitoring and Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) that gives users a health score based on their physical activity and data derived from sensors.

Other highlights of the Amazfit GTR 2 include stress level monitoring, sleep tracking, built-in GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, Alexa support, water-resistance up to 5ATM, and a 471 mAh battery that can last up to 14 days.

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