HP promoted their Dynamic Security System to their customers as a way to “upgrade their experience and maintain the integrity of its printing systems.” Instead many consumers found their Internet connected HP printers turned into an expensive paper-weight when their devices refused to work. According to a US Class Action Lawsuit: In or around late October and early November, 2020, HP caused to be transmitted a firmware update containing malware designed to lock out then-compatible third-party supply cartridges. HP wrote, designed, and transmitted the firmware or a portion thereof solely for the purpose of disabling third-party supply cartridges, which were…
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Announced back in 2017, Volkswagen has released in Europe the long awaited electric version of the classic VW Type 2 or Bus. A US version will be released sometime in 2023. The primary (and at this time known) differences between the European and US versions of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Microbus are primarily the wheelbase length and seating configuration. The European version is more of compact SUV with two rows of passenger seating and a (small) cargo area in the rear. The US version will be more like the original Type 2 or Bus with a longer wheel base allowing…
With the forthcoming USB 4 2.0 spec being announced earlier this month Thunderbolt users were wondering if Intel would followed suit. The answer appears to be yes with a prototype 80Gbps Thunderbolt demo shown in Intel’s Israel facility. Intel is the key developer of Thunderbolt, which was co-developed with Apple. The I/O specification is the foundation of a small but growing ecosystem of Thunderbolt docks, which connect to a USB-C/Thunderbolt port on a PC and use the I/O bandwidth to connect to various peripherals, including displays and storage. Displays, not surprisingly, suck up the most bandwidth. The current Thunderbolt specification, known as…
While the future iPhone 14 does not include a charging brick and the battery replacement is going to run you $99 ($30 more than previous generations) at least you battery is replaceable. Most Android phones after 2010 switched to a non-removable battery mainly to make the phones thinner (by not having a removable back cover). Despite the name, non-removable batteries are removable, but not very easily. Most consumers will need to purchase specials tools or take their device to a repair shop.. However, many Android owners may not be aware of this or don’t want to bother with the hassle and…
Almost two-year ago (October 23, 2020) Apple released the iPhone 12. The first iPhone not come packaged standard with ear buds and a charging brick. Apple’s justification for excluding these was for environmental reasons. Without these accessories Apple could use a smaller packaging with less of a carbon footprint. Sounds logical, especially since they also wouldn’t be manufacturing as many of the charging bricks and ear buds as well. However, you could say this would be the same as selling Electric Vehicles (EV) and not including the charging cable in the MSRP. Seems silly right…oh wait Tesla already did that…
The USB Promoter Group announced USB4 Version2.0 on Thursday, a specification that will allow for up to 80Gbps to be transferred over the USB-C connector that is commonly in use on PCs and smartphones. The standard will be backwards compatible with USB4 Version 1.0, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt 3 — but not USB 1.0 or Thunderbolt 4. Until now, USB and Thunderbolt have basically co-existed in parallel worlds. Because of somewhat murky licensing issues, Intel-based laptops have used a Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 port and laptops powered by AMD’s Ryzen have used USB4. As we discussed in our USB4…
The European Union (EU) and the State of California has some of the toughest consumer and privacy rights rules and regulations. The legislative arm of the European Union has proposed new rules for mobile phone and tablet reparability. It says manufacturers should make at least 15 components available for at least five years after they release a new phone in the EU. Within that timespan, consumers would be able to replace parts such as batteries, displays, chargers, back covers and SIM and memory card trays, as The Verge notes. The European Commission is also eyeing improvements to battery durability. It says that phone…
Last week when I posted the article about Microsoft’s Biggest Release and seeing the image of all those floppy disks it took me back to my childhood. I honestly have thought floppy disks have gone the way of landlines, VHS and Betamax tapes. Especially considering many kids today only know the floppy disk as the ‘save icon’ not as removable media that was the standard of any PC up until the mid/late 90’s when CD-ROM’s took over. Then I come across an article today discussing how Japan is declaring war on floppy disks for ‘government use‘. Wait Japan?! I would…
Yet another ‘if it sounds too good to be true’ deal (such as the Free Microsoft Office Professional Plus in the UK). This time around we have a 30 TB ‘Portable SSD’ for the incredible low price of $39 USD. First red flag besides being unbranded is the $39 price. If this were real you would be spending around $4000 USD for that amount of space. This ‘deal’ appeared on AliExpress as well as WalMart.com (third-party seller). A too good to be true 30 TB SSD Twitter user @RayRedacted (Ray) opted to purchase this ‘deal’ just out curiosity to see…
There has been a lot of news recently involving two of the three big US Wireless (cellular phone) providers, AT&T and Verizon in regards to fully activating their 5G networks and impact on commercial aircrafts worldwide. First off a little background on ‘5G’. 5G or fifth generation is the newest technology standard for broadband cellular networks. It was introduced as a standard in July 2016 with deployment beginning in 2019 and full implementation planned by AT&T and Verizon for early December 2021. Speeds are up to 100 times faster than that of the previous generation (4G,) with a maximum speed…