Articles by Michael Allison

Wiz is also expanding product availability to the UK and Europe.

What you need to know

Wiz today announced new products for its smart bulb line.
They’ll go on sale from September in Home Depot stores,
Wiz also announced an expansion to the UK and Europe.

Smart lighting company, Wiz Connected, today announced an expansion of its smart home products. The company had this year already introduced a new Wizmote and motion sensors for controlling compatible bulbs, and now these new products can also work with those as well.

Here’s what Wiz Connected is adding to its product portfolio:

100-watt-equivalent A21 light bulbs in dimmable soft white (2700K) and daylight (5000K) priced at $17.97 with a full color with tunable white version at $23.97.
Tunable white light in the B12 candle at $13.97 and for the PAR38 at $29.97.
Full color with tunable white light in the B12 candle ($15.97), GU10 spotlight ($15.97), a higher-output, 1100 lumen 6″ integrated downlight ($26.97), and a…

Google Meet came to TVs by way of Google Cast last week.

What you need to know

Google is expanding Duo to Android TV within the next couple of weeks.
It will roll out first as a beta, Google announced on Thursday.
Meet, Google’s business-focused video-conferencing app, also now supports TV via way of Google Cast.

While rumors of Google merging Duo and Meet into one product continue to swirl. the company continues to improve both tools independently.

Now, its adding support for Android TV to Duo its more consumer-focused service. As with many other Google products, this is coming out over the next few weeks as a beta initially.

Writing on the Google blog, Google’s TJ Varghese, Group Product Manager, Google Meet hardware, said:

The big screen isn’t just for work meetings, though: We also want to make video calling your friends and family better, too. In an effort to bring the video calling experience to more parts of your home, Google Duo is rolling out a Beta on Android TV …

Facebook announced Shops for the U.S. earlier in May.

What you need to know

Facebook is launching Shops worldwide.
It’s also launching a new Facebook Shop tab in the U.S. to enable customers to buy and sell directly from the app.
Facebook will also make Instagram Checkout available to all U.S. based businesses.

Facebook today announced Facebook Shop, a new experience for retailers and businesses on its mobile app. It will be adding a tab within the main Facebook app that will let users buy products directly from the app. This is distinct from Facebook Marketplace, a service that exists to facilitate peer to peer purchases.

Facebook is also bringing Facebook Shops (distinct from both) to a global market. Earlier this year, Facebook launched Shops in the U.S., saying:

Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a…

Let’s face it, you probably forgot this existed.

What you need to know

Google will no longer support Playground on future Pixel phones.
Playground was integrated with the Pixel camera app and allowed users to generate 3D Playmoji in their photos and videos.
The company says that other ARCore experiences deliverable through the main search app will serve a wider audience.

Google will no longer support Playground and its AR stickers feature on future Pixel phones, the company shared this week. Shipping with select Android phones since the Pixel 2, Playground allowed users to generate 3D Playmoji characters from the camera app. It featured fun characters from franchises like Pokemon and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, among others. Google would also let users add captions and stickers from Gboard into your pictures and videos.

Now, while the Playground app will remain on the Pixel 4a, likely as a support library of sorts, the integration with the camera app has already been strippe…

Zoom has confirmed the outage in a status update.

Update, August 24 (11:35 am ET): Zoom says a fix has been deployed and service should be restored for some users

What you need to know

Zoom has gone down for many this morning.
Confused users on social media have reported being greeted with a “no zuora account” error message when trying to access meetings.
Zoom has updated its status to note that it is currently suffering from a partial outage.

Video-conferencing service, Zoom, has gone down for users today, with many reporting a “no zuora account found” error on social media. The outage began at around 8am Eastern this morning going by Down Detector reports.

Zoom has confirmed the outage on their status page, noting:

We have received reports of users being unable to visit the Zoom website (zoom.us) and unable to start and join Zoom Meetings and Webinars. We are currently investigating and will provide updates as we have them.

The video-conferncing service recently shot t…

The overlap between the Galaxy Note and S lines is set to grow.

What you need to know

A new report shares some information on the upcoming Galaxy S21.
The flagship is said to ship in three variants, like with this year’s S20.
Samsung is also said to be adding an S Pen to one of those variants this year.

Samsung has just released the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra this weekend, but the rumor mill has already bubbled up some information on the next flagship. The rumor also states that the phone may be called the Galaxy S21, though we believe it will be called the S30 in line with Samsung’s recent +10 naming conventions.

The new rumor places the S30 as coming in three variants just like this year. However, one of those variants will steal a trick from the Note’s playbook and come with an S Pen on board.

Galaxy S21Codename Unbound— 에아 (@hwangmh01) August 24, 2020

O3 will have S-Pen— 에아 (@hwangmh01) August 24, 2020

The Galaxy Note line is currently Samsung’s onl…

YouTube Music’s desktop app starts catching up to the mobile experience.

What you need to know

Google has started rolling out lyrics support to YouTube Music’s desktop app.
It’s a server-side switch, so not all users have access to it yet.
Google introduced lyrics to the mobile app just a few months ago.

Google is rolling out an update to YouTube Music on the desktop that adds lyrics support. It’s not for everyone just yet, but some users on the r/YouTubeMusic subreddit have reported access to it (via Android Police).

Just like on mobile, users will have multiple tabs on the now playing screen and be able to navigate between the queue and lyrics view. Like we said above, it’s a server-side switch, so there’s nothing you can do to trigger the update on your end.

Google rolled out lyrics support on YouTube Music months ago alongside a small redesign to the mobile app. It has since then started the process of killing off Google Play Music for YouTube Music. The new service is s…

The classic quirky Google colors take the spotlight off Clearly White.

What you need to know

The Pixel Buds are now being sold in additional colors in the U.S.
Buyers can now grab them in Almost Black, Oh So Orange, and Quite Mint.
The Buds were previously sold in Clearly White, though Google had promised that the new colors would be coming by summer.

As promised, Google has now released the Pixel Buds in additional colors in the U.S. Aside from Clearly White which was available from launch, buyers can now choose between Almost Black, Oh So Orange, and Quite Mint.

The Pixel Buds looked nice already, but buyers of recent Pixel phones will appreciate being able to get a model that matches the colorway of their model (or its power-button in the case of the Pixel 4a).

Reviewing the Pixel Buds, Android Central praised the earbuds alongside some critique, noting:

[With] the earbuds themselves, Google did a fine job as well. They’re small, unassuming, and pretty comfortable, have…

Mobvoi’s new TicWatch aims for the budget market.

What you need to know

Mobvoi today announced the TicWatch GTX
It’s a basic affair aimed at the lower-end of the market
The GTX will set you back $59.99, though Mobvoi offers a 10% discount for those who pre-order.

Mobvoi has announced the new TicWatch GTX, a smartwatch for the people who don’t want to spend too much money on their smartwatches. Coming with a durable 20mm thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) band with only a black color-choice, it’s certainly going to be distinct from more expensive TicWatch smartwatches.

Inside, it’ll do everything you want, including apps for health and heart monitoring and sleep and step tracking. You’ll be able to track your activities like yoga, swimming, cycling etc. Obviously, as it’s a watch, there are stopwatch and timer functionalities built-in too. A 10-day battery life will minimize charging, and integration with iOS and Android via the Mobvoi app will give you the ability to download and…

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is Samsung’s most interesting phone this year.

What you need to know

Samsung is preparing to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, the sequel to last year’s attention-grabbing Fold.
A video on TikTok shows a live model of the upcoming foldable.
The Fold 2 is going to be revealed in detail sometime in September.

Samsung is preparing the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G for launch later this year. It’s already been announced, but the company will officially show it off later in September. A new video on TikTok (via Android Police) has just shown us a glimpse of the upcoming foldable from all angles.

The short 15-second clip shows off the display (folded and open), the much-improved cover-display, the software, and some of the apps like the camera and dialer. Even just looking at the cover screen, it’s clear that Samsung looked at what they did wrong with the first Fold and rapidly iterated on it.

Samsung will officially reveal more about the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in September, so we d…