Administrator – Prizewinningzone

Pink Pixel 9 surfaces again in new video, this time it’s powered on

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 13:35:47 +0000

The pink-coloured Pixel 9 has leaked once again in a new video.

This may not be the exact handset from yesterday’s pictures, but it’s now turned on in this new video showcasing the handset’s home screen.

The video shows the handset from all angles, including its flat iPhone-like frame, large camera visor with two sensors and a 6.34-inch display.

There isn’t much to see from the handset’s screen, but it continues to feature a lovely Pixel UI.

Google will officially unveil the Pixel 9 series on August 13th, alongside the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The event will probably showcase Google AI and its artificial intelligence features.

Distributed also on: GSMArena

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AI caused Google’s greenhouse gas emissions to jump 50 percent in five years

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:32:49 +0000

Google revealed in its 2024 Environmental Report released this week that the company’s greenhouse gas emissions jumped nearly 50 percent in the last five years. The culprit? Energy-hungry artificial intelligence (AI).

The annual report details Google’s progress (or, in this case, lack thereof) toward its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. This year’s report revealed that Google released 14.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023. That’s up 48 percent from 2019 and 13 percent higher than 2022.

“This result is primarily due to increases in data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions. As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment,” the report said.

Of course, Google isn’t alone in this. Microsoft recently revealed that its greenhouse gas emissions had increased almost 30 percent since 2020 due to the construction of data centres. And other tech giants, including Apple, Meta and Amazon, are investing heavily in AI, which will likely see further emissions increases from those companies too. It’s not just training AI or operating data centres — using AI also consumes significant amounts of energy. As pointed out by Engadget, researchers at AI startup Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University found that generating a single image with AI could use as much power as charging a smartphone.

Water use is also of concern, with Google’s report highlighting that its data centres and offices used 24 billion litres of water in 2023, up 14 percent from 2022, “primarily due to water cooling needs at our data centres.”

All this raises some serious questions about the proliferation of AI. Is it really worth all this just so Google Search can tell people to put glue on their pizza or for Google’s Gemini to generate images of ethnically diverse Nazis?

Google’s report says the company expects emissions to rise (no surprise, given it plans to incorporate Google AI into the Pixel 9 series) “before dropping toward our absolute emissions reduction target.” But the company doesn’t explain why it will drop.

Distributed also on: Google Via: Engadget

CMF by Nothing teases Phone 1 alongside July 8 launch date

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:30:48 +0000

CMF by Nothing is the Nothing company’s more affordable brand, which is now offering a smartphone. This handset, called the Phone 1, is supposed to provide a more customizable and functional experience.

The engineer’s aesthetic.

CMF Phone 1 celebrates technical craftsmanship with its uniquely adaptable nature. Customisable. Functional. Yours.

Learn everything at the next Nothing Community Update on 8 July 2024, 10:00 BST. pic.twitter.com/0fqYkaf4OX

— CMF by Nothing (@cmfbynothing) July 3, 2024

CMF will show off Phone 1 on July 8th, and you can watch the reveal on YouTube.

According to leaker Ishan Agarwal, the handset will offer four swappable back plates in Black, Light Green, Orange and Blue. The Orange and Blue backings also have a vegan leather layer and come with a lanyard.

Rumours indicate the CMF Phone 1 will feature a Dimensity 7300 chipset, a 50-megapixel primary shooter, a 6.7-inch 120Hz refresh rate AMOLED panel, a microSD card slot, a 5,000mAh battery and more.

CMF will introduce the Phone 1 on July 8th alongside the Buds Pro 2 and Watch Pro 2.

Distributed also on: CMF, Android Authority

Boston Pizza adds the Nintendo Switch to its menu

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:28:49 +0000

Nintendo of Canada and Boston Pizza are partnering up again for a slew of video game centric promotions.

The strangest element of this crossover will only happen at select Boston Pizza locations in Ontario, B.C., Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec. On Sundays in September, some of these stores will allow patrons to order a Nintendo Switch from the menu that they can use while in the restaurant. The Boston Pizza press release doesn’t mention anything beyond the fact that this console will come pre-loaded with Mario games. I’d expect Mario Kart, Mario Party and maybe the new Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

At all Boston Pizza locations, there will be a new kids menu item featuring a pepperoni and mushroom pizza to celebrate Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom. Some locations will also have a draw that people can enter to win a Switch prize pack or some Nintendo merch.

Distributed also on: Boston Pizza

Walmart Canada is offering almost $900 off the iPhone 13 Mini

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:26:50 +0000

For a limited time, the iPhone 13 mini will be available for $499 at Walmart Canada — an $860 drop from its regular $1,359 price tag.

While the phone is a little under three years old, this is still a pretty low-cost way to get an unlocked and relatively modern iPhone. (At least it’s not considered “vintage” like 2017’s iPhone X!) Note that the deal only applies to the 512GB model and it’s exclusive to Walmart.ca.

The deal is part of Walmart Canada’s ‘Big Save’ promotion, which runs from July 4th to 10th. Other notable tech deals include:

Walmart’s full ‘Big Save’ flyer can be found here.

Via: RedFlagDeals — 22GDealdone

Nintendo Switch Online gets seven more NES games

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:24:02 +0000

Nintendo has added seven more NES games to its Nintendo Switch Online service.

The highlight is Donkey Kong Jr. Math, an educational title featuring everyone’s favourite gorilla. The full list of new Switch Online titles is as follows:

Cobra Triangle — 1989 vehicular action game
Donkey Kong Jr. Math — 1986 educational platformer
Golf — 1990 sports game
Mach Rider — 1985 vehicular combat game
The Mystery of Atlantis — 1986 side-scrolling adventure
Solar Jetman — 1990 multidirectional shooter
Urban Champion — 1986 fighter

All seven games are now available on Nintendo Switch Online.

A base Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which includes NES games, is priced at $4.99/month or $24.99/year. The $63.99/year Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership is required for N64 games.

Image credit: Nintendo

Bell knocks 50GB off Essential and Ultimate plans, keeps same prices

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:22:25 +0000

Bell changed up a couple of its wireless plans, dropping the data bucket from 200GB to 150GB while keeping prices the same.

Both Bell’s Essential and Ultimate plans now offer 150GB of data at the company’s “fastest available 5G+ speeds.” Additionally, the plans still offer unlimited data throttled to 512Kbps beyond the data cap. The Essential plan costs $90, but currently, there’s a $10/mo credit for 24 months available that drops the price to $80. The Ultimate plan costs $110/mo.

Beyond price, there are two main differences between the two plans. The Essential plan only includes Canada-wide calling and texting, while the Ultimate plan features calling, texting, and data use in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. That makes it a better option for frequent travellers, though you’d have to travel enough for the increased plan cost to be more cost-effective than Bell’s high roaming fees.

The other big difference is that Bell caps video streaming on the Essential plan to 480p, while the Ultimate plan is capped at 1080p. Customers can purchase a $5/mo add-on to boost Essential plan streaming to 1080p.

It appears that Bell followed Rogers and Telus in bumping its plans up to 200GB in early May. At the time of writing, however, Telus and Rogers still had 200GB plans.

Header image credit: Shutterstock

You can find Bell’s plans here.

Virgin Plus jacks prices of most plans by $5 to $10

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:20:44 +0000

Bell-owned Virgin Plus changed its 4G plans once again, removing its 40GB plan entirely and raising the prices of other plans.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Virgin’s plans:

$54/60GB 4G (previously $49/mo)
$50/50GB 4G (previously $44/mo)
$44/20GB 4G (previously $34/mo)

It’s worth noting that the now-removed 40GB plan cost $39/mo. There is, however, a new ‘Basic’ plan with 3GB of 3G data and unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting available for $39/mo. Speaking of basic plans, Virgin also increased the cost of its talk and text plan from $30 to $35.

Virgin’s $65/75GB 5G plan has remained unchanged so far.

Overall, these price increases are quite disappointing, though not unsurprising. The Bell flanker brand has been all over the place with pricing in recent weeks. For example, Virgin hiked the prices of several plans by $5/mo in June only to walk back the changes the next week. Some of the latest increases are even great, for example, the 20GB plan is now $10/mo more than before.

You can check out Virgin’s plans here, though I’d strongly recommend against getting any of these plans right now. They weren’t exactly good deals before and after the price hikes, the value is even worse. At the time of writing, Koodo and Fido still offered plans that matched Virgin’s old pricing (though when one changes, the other three usually follow quickly). Plus, Freedom Mobile and Public Mobile still have $34/50GB 5G plans with Canada/U.S. calling, texting and data use, making them both the best value options right now.

Fido ending $34/20GB plan on July 8

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:19:04 +0000

Rogers flanker brand Fido has added an end date to its $34/20GB 4G plan. The plan will now end on July 8th, so you’ve got a few more days to get the plan if you were thinking about it.

That said, Fido’s $34/20GB plan isn’t exactly the best value out there, considering Freedom Mobile and Public Mobile have $34/50GB 5G plans with Canada/U.S. calling, texting and data use. Notably, Fido’s plan actually costs $39/mo but drops to $34 if customers sign up for automatic payments.

It’s not clear what will happen to the 20GB plan on July 8th. Fido could remove the plan entirely or change the price. Considering Bell’s Virgin Plus just increased the price of several of its plans, including bumping the 20GB plan from $34 to $44, I could see Fido following suit. However, none of Fido’s other plans are marked as ending on July 8th, so it’s not clear if those will change, too.

You can check out Fido’s plans here.

Pixel 9 series will have ultrasonic fingerprint sensor: report

Administrator — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:16:21 +0000

Google’s upcoming Pixel 9 series will reportedly sport a welcome upgrade to the under-display fingerprint scanner.

According to a report from Android Authority, all three Pixel 9 devices will sport an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner instead of the optical sensor Google has used since the Pixel 6 series. Specifically, the Pixel 9 series will use Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Gen 2 sensor, which is also used by Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The move to an ultrasonic sensor should improve the unlock experience on the Pixel 9 series since those types of sensors tend to be faster and more accurate than optical sensors. Plus, optical sensors are more sensitive to dirt or moisture and require adequate lighting to work, which means they flash a bright light on the screen where the sensor is. That bright light can be quite annoying when using your phone in the dark — I’ve flashed myself a few times now trying to unlock my Pixel at night.

While there are a lot of factors that go into the unlock experience, the upgraded ultrasonic fingerprint scanner should go a long way in making the Pixel 9 series easier to unlock. It’s also worth noting that the next-gen Pixel Fold won’t get an ultrasonic sensor since its fingerprint sensor is in the power button, not under the display like other phones.

Distributed also on: Android Authority