Tech Archive

In the waning months of Democratic control, the Federal Trade Commission is getting ready to probe Microsoft for alleged anticompetitive behavior, The Financial Times reports.

We’ve got portable CD players on the brain this week, but did you know Sony once made a wearable DVD player that let you watch movies while out for a stroll? YouTube’s Techmoan recently tested Sony’s D-VM1 from 2001 which looked like a chonky CD player, but had an inline remote with a lightweight 3.5-inch screen for watching DVDs away from home.

If you thought step counting and activity tracking was a new-ish thing, apparently not! This excerpt from Numbered Lives: Life and Death in Quantum Media goes into how wealthy people in the 1800s used pedometers as a form of surveillance — tracking naughty spouses, and checking to see if soldiers were properly patrolling... or just taking a nap during the night shift.

The company recently partnered with Kith for its Ultra Open Earbuds, but this time Ronnie Fieg is helping to redesign Bose’s 901 speakers which originally debuted in 1968, but were discontinued in 2016.

Audi’s A6 e-tron series, Q6 e-tron series, and A5 series vehicles in Europe will get the feature this month before it rolls out globally based on the “launch timeline of Audi vehicles.” Samsung Wallet already supports various Genesis, Kia, Hyundai, and BMW vehicles.

As promised, the smart lock that doesn’t look like a smart lock now supports the new smart home standard, bringing better connectivity options without needing Level’s bridge.