Tech

It’s been in beta for a little while, but Samsung’s new foldables mark the official launch, together with an expansion to more than 40 apps.

Samsung Smart Switch will make it easier to jump from iOS to a Galaxy Z Flip 8 or Fold 8, sharing photos, videos, contacts and more with just a QR code, no iOS app install required. Similar features are already rolling out on some Pixels with Android 17.

Its $299.99 Acton III Bluetooth speaker is now dramatically more groovy to celebrate the brand’s 60 year anniversary of working with the musician. But it’s not just about the new aesthetics. When you power the speaker on or off it also plays unique sounds sourced from Hendrix’s recordings.

A fancy person detection algorithm picks subjects to focus on, and crops video to track your favorite. Samsung is pitching it for fans and stans, but I suspect it’ll get more use at kids’ ballet recitals.

For the first time, Samsung’s three new foldables use silicon-carbon batteries, meaning higher capacity in a smaller space. Samsung says it’s focused on maintaining longevity and stability, sometimes worse with silicon cells, but that’s stopped it hitting the enormous capacities of rivals like Oppo and Honor.

The smart glasses come with Google’s Gemini AI on board and will debut this fall with the designs we first saw in May — plus these two new ones from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

That’s the premise of OverpAId, a satirical website proclaiming that AI is a more effective cost-cutting tool for replacing CEOs than other human employees. It’s a fun read that jabs at how the technology is impacting real workplaces and economics, and can’t be held accountable for making catastrophic decisions.

In what seems very much like a desperate attempt to save face after failing to convince the world that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a bad film, Elon Musk says that Grok Imagine will generate a “historically-accurate” adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. One can only imagine what “historically-accurate” means here.

We’ll be live shortly after the event ends, talking phones and watches and foldables and flippables and AI and everything else Samsung has to share today. Come hang, bring thoughts and questions, tell us whether wide fold or tall fold is the way. See you there!

By leveraging data sourced from a Galaxy smartphone, smartwatch, or smart ring, the new Samsung Health Assistant can help users better understand their health while also providing guidance and recommendations on how they can improve it through “meaningful changes in their lifestyle.” The assistant is now in beta for eligible users in the US.

So far it’s mostly teasing novel ways of slicing pizza, but presumably it’ll all make sense soon.

The 10-inch Touch Display 2 is available for $80, joining the existing 7-inch and 5-inch variants of Raspberry Pi’s refreshed display lineup. It has a pixel resolution of 1200×1920, support for ten-finger touch, and draws power from its host device , but it’s only compatible with Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Modules.

The ESPN, National Geographic, and Pixar divisions are among the most impacted according to Deadline, making this the second round of cuts this year since Josh D’Amaro took over the Disney CEO role in March. That Pixar blow comes despite Toy Story 5 earning almost $1 billion so far.

I’m no fan of the feature creep invading power banks but I can still appreciate these adorable portable batteries from Orico, available in both 5000mAh ($37.99) and 10,000mAh ($45.99) capacities.

Android Authority spotted that a new version of the Galaxy Wearable app is rolling out with a simplified three-tab layout, refined UI, and new home tab with useful shortcuts to key watch settings. It’s presumably no coincidence that it lands the same day Samsung is due to launch new Galaxy Watches at Unpacked.

Reddit has discussed shutting off Google’s access to data used to train its Gemini AI models. Or maybe it’s just a renegotiation bluff now that its $60 million-a-year deal is coming to an end. According to The Wall Street Journal:

We’re just hours away from Samsung Unpacked and the leaks keep coming. The Z Fold 8 Ultra retains the Z Fold 7’s slim and tall design, but is said to come with an upgraded 5,000mAh battery promising up to 27 hours of video playback.

Both houses of France’s Parliament voted to approve a new law that could restrict under-15s from social media as soon as September 1st, while also banning cellphone use in high schools. Australia began restricting kids under 16 from social media last year, though a recent study found that many underage users can still access the platforms.

The “revamped” homepage, rolling out starting today, lists all of your upcoming meetings with links to notes and calendar attachments for each one. It also has options for navigating through weeks and months to see past and future meetings.

As Microsoft continues its Xbox “reset,” the pared-down Game Pass bundle that arrived recently as a benefit for Discord Nitro is now also included in the 7.99 monthly / $59.99 annually Quest subscription. The starter edition also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming access to try some of the 50-plus games it unlocks before downloading them.

Block’s new open-source app “Buzz” is a self-hosted Slack-meets-GitHub built on a Nostr relay. I don’t have enough characters to explain what that all means, but think of it like a private Slack alternative. Oh, and you can vibe-code in it.

The Moment Pro Camera II app was already my go-to app for RAW phone snaps, but Moment’s new Action Plates feature lets you configure your UI exactly how you want. Plus, who doesn’t love a little skeuomorphism?

Last year’s RG34XXSP added a pair of thumbsticks but Anbernic’s new RG SP looks like an update to 2024’s RG35XXSP that more closely matched the GBA SP. The new model has a “refined tactile button feel,” a smaller screen bezel, and a body that’s about 10 percent thinner

Starting next week, Meta’s Family Center will have options for parents to adjust their teens’ Threads account privacy and content settings, similar to parental controls on Meta’s other apps.

The Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic marks MSI’s 40th anniversary by maxing out the already-pricey Titan with a flashy dragon design, 96GB of DDR5 RAM, an Nvidia RTX 5090, and an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus. At least the $6,999 price tag also includes a bundled copy of LEGO Batman.