Author: batteryforpc

Qualcomm has unveiled two new Bluetooth audio systems-on-a-chip (SoC) aimed for use in true wireless headphones. The QCC514X and the QCC304X are ultra-low-power chips designed for mid-tiered and entry-level headphones, respectively, with both supporting Qualcomm’s TrueWireless Mirroring technology.

This technology allows just a single earbud to connect wirelessly to a handset via Bluetooth, which the other ‘bud can then mirror. This allows the user to remove the connected ‘bud and still continue listening without interruptions via the mirrored one.

The new chips also feature active noise cancellation (ANC), which could make the feature standard in the more affordable true wireless ‘buds that end up using these chips. They also bring better battery life to the table – offering up to 13 hours of playback based on a 65mAh battery, according to Qualcomm – and could enable the use of ANC for extended periods without making a huge impact on battery life.

Qualcomm says that the noise-cancellation tech (dubbed “hybrid ANC”) also allows for “leak-through” for outside noise, which seems to be equivalent to the transparency (or ambient) modes available on the current crop of more premium noise-cancelling headphones. This means that headphones using the new Qualcomm chips will allow external sounds to pass through the ‘buds so users know what’s happening around them.

The chips also bring voice assistant support with them, but this is where they differ from each other. The more premium QCC514X features always-on voice support, while the entry-level QCC304X has push-button voice activation. Either way, the new SoCs could see voice assistant support become more accessible on low-cost earbuds.

So if you’ve been hankering after a set of Apple AirPods Pro or Sony’s WF-1000XM3 true wireless ‘buds, you may want to wait as these new Qualcomm chips will soon be making their way into upcoming headphones and could save you a pretty penny.

Forget the Cyberpunk 2077 Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti, there’s a new kid in town. This LEGO 3Dfx Voodoo 3D graphics card is up on the LEGO Ideas site, just waiting to get turned into a real kit you can buy in the store.

Posted on Twitter by @Bhall_Spawn, “the weirdo who brought you the LEGO Sound Blaster…” (her words, not mine!) the blocky little GPU might just be the start of a whole range of LEGO PC gaming components. It might not make our best graphics card list, or even run Crysis, but I’m a sucker for a LEGO build. I’ve very fond memories of trying to jam a Raspberry Pi into a chassis made of bricks…

But wait, 3Dfx? Okay, Boomer… For the uninitiated 3Dfx was the forerunner to Nvidia, and was responsible for some of the most incredible visuals seen at a 640 x 480 resolution. The original Voodoo graphics card was released way back in 1996 with a mega 4MB of non-LEGO memory and a 50MHz clock speed. Mmmm. 

Bhall_Spawn has also made a LEGO Sound Blaster and a Gravis Ultrasound, and there’s bound to be more to come… “I have a feeling I might do some more pieces,” she told us, “what with all the home time I have on my hands suddenly!”

Can I ask for an Nvidia 8800GT? I frickin’ loved that card. The shiny black, single-slot shroud…

If you head over to the LEGO Ideas page you can actually vote for the 3Dfx Voodoo to be made into a real LEGO set. You just need 10,000 votes to get it considered, only another 9,900 to go!

It’s probably going to be a while before we get another new graphics card launch, and there’s nothing we can do about that. Jen-Hsun has announced that Nvidia is holding back any shiny GTC announcements until there are less important things going on, and the postponement of Computex means we might lose the AMD Big Navi June release too. But this is one graphics card that we might actually be able to help get made.

Huawei is set to launch its next-gen mid-range SoC, the Kirin 820, soon. The chipset will succeed the impressive Kirin 810 from last year, and is already making the rounds across benchmarks—destroying the competition while at it.

The Kirin 820 was already revealed to outperform the Kirin 980 on the Mate 20 Pro and P30 Pro, and match up to the Snapdragon 855—and the SoC has now also been seen laying down the law to its current rivals, the Snapdragon 765G and Exynos 980.

In AnTuTu’s CPU test, the Kirin 820-powered Honor 30S recorded a score of 130,080. That puts it at the top of the pile, with the Snapdragon 765G only managing to put up a score of 104,223. The Exynos 980, residing in the Vivo X30 Pro, earns a score of 116,836, better than the Snapdragon 765G but still about 11% worse than the Kirin 820.

In the GPU test, the Kirin 820 once again leads the pack with a score of 116,516. The Snapdragon 765G comes in second this time around, though, with a score of 92,536. The Exynos 980 is third, as it makes do with a score of 88,459. 

It’s easy to see that the Kirin 820 takes the crown for this generation; although there’s a dire lack of MediaTek’s new Dimensity chipsets in this comparison. The Kirin 810 also outperformed the Snapdragon 730G last year, and the Kirin 820 can be expected to carry that mantle.

The Core i7 processor is no longer the top dog in Intel’s CPU family but it remains a formidable component even if the Core i5 models have been upgraded to quad-core status. Even compared to the i9, It packs a powerful punch, as it shares plenty of higher end features with its more expensive brethren.

The most affordable laptop that carries an Intel Core i7 processor right now is the HP Laptop 15T (7fq32av) and it’s a great choice for those that are currently remote working. Other than the fact HP should have chosen a more memorable name, there’s not much to dislike about it.

At the heart of this laptop is an Intel Core i7-10510U CPU and, at $520 direct from HP, it costs less than most Core i5 devices we’ve seen but will likely deliver a far smoother computing experience.

The Laptop 15T is equipped with 8GB of DDR4 memory (upgradable) and a 128GB M.2 SATA SSD. Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11ac connectivity are supplied by Realtek, while the operating system is Windows 10 Home.

There are two microphones to enhance calls and video conferencing (thanks to advanced noise reduction software), plus a card reader, a GbE port, three USB ports, an HDMI connector and an HD video camera.

Note, despite the machine’s entry level status, it comes with HP’s fast charge which allows its 41WHr battery to reach 50% charge in 45 minutes.

The screen remains its weak point; it’s HD only rather than full HD, and uses SVA technology rather than the superior IPS. On a 15.6-inch display, that is likely to be a sub-optimal experience.

At 3.84 pounds, it is not the lightest laptop around and its natural silver finish will certainly not turn heads.

Over the weekend, I received a message from a reader who was desperately trying to get Viber working on his Chromebook. What is Viber you ask? Yeah, I wasn’t exactly familiar with it either but over 1 billion people around the globe depend on Rakuten’s messaging platform for chat, calls and even video conferencing. The app itself looks really inviting and it appears to offer similar features to WhatsApp and many other chat apps.

Where Viber stands out is its ability to make voice calls internationally for quite less than standard phone plans and calling cards. You can chat with people on the Viber app or you can make calls that are referred to as “Viber Out” by adding money to your account balance and dialing just as you would with most applications. The one shortfall of Viber is that it does not offer a web-based interface like WhatsApp, Android Messages, Hangouts and the list goes on. I don’t know the reason for this but it is likely due to the fact that Viber prides itself as the “most secure” messenger on the planet.

That’s not to say Viber isn’t cross-platform. In order to use Viber, you will have to install the Android or iPhone application, link your phone number and then, you can install the desktop client on your Mac, PC or Linux device and sync them with a QR Code. Sadly, that does not include Chrome OS because there isn’t a web client. If your go-to device is mobile, this is really a non-issue but with so many people now working from home, installing Viber on a desktop can be a big productivity boost for tan eams using the messaging app.

That brings me back to my weekend conversation with the user of an HP Chromebook x360 14. After a little back and forth about the specifics of his situation, he told me he needed Viber for work and really wanted to use it on his Chromebook. My initial question was “why not use the Android app?” After installing and attempting I confirmed what was told to me by my inquisitor. The Viber Android app installs just fine. It even works just as you’d expect. The problems arise when you attempt to minimize the app. My poor Pixelbook Go immediately started freaking out and Viber went into an endless loop of opening and closing from which there was no recovery. My only option was to power down my Chromebook. Not a great experience especially if you’re multitasking and using the app for business purposes.

While I’d love to tell you that the Linux approach is a quick fix for this problem, it’s not quite that straightforward. If you absolutely need Viber on your Chromebook, you can do so and I will gladly walk you through the steps. (It’s super simple, really) The caveat is that you will only be able to use the Linux version of Viber for messaging. Crostini has yet to active microphone access by default (even though you can turn it on with a crosh command, it still doesn’t work for Viber) and camera access isn’t a thing either. Still, if you know this going in and you still want the desktop Viber chat experience, let’s get down to business.

There is a .deb file available for Viber but unfortunately, it throws an error when you try to install it on a Chromebook. Thankfully, we know that Linux on Chrome OS plays fairly well with Flatpaks. To get started, you will need to make sure you have Linux apps enabled and that your container is up-to-date. You can find those steps here. Now we will install Flatpak, the Flathub repo and the Viber Flatpak. You can do so by inputting the following three commands into the Linux terminal.

Once the installation is complete, you should have a Viber desktop icon in your launcher and you’re all set. Just open the app and sync it to your mobile device. Honestly, I’m very impressed with Viber and I think I’m going to take it for a test-drive for a few weeks. If you’re interested in trying it out with me, head over to Viber and download whatever versions are applicable to your devices. Stay tuned for more installments of the Command Line. We’ve got a lot more Linux stuff to cover.

If you have an older iOS device and were feeling left out when all the newer stuff got iOS 13.4, don’t worry as Apple hasn’t forgotten about you.

No, you’re not getting 13.4 but you will still get a security update. Apple also rolled out iOS 12.4.6 alongside 13.4 for older iOS devices that don’t support iOS or iPadOS 13. This includes the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, iPod touch (6th generation), iPad Air (1st generation), iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3.

As mentioned before, the update merely includes security patches against any new exploits and doesn’t add any new features. That is understandable, however, as some of these devices are quite old at this point. The oldest device here, the iPhone 5s, was released back in 2013. The fact that it is still getting software updates at all is probably a record of some sort.

So for those still holding on to these devices, we suggest you go to Settings and install the update. It might seem trivial but Apple wouldn’t have released it if it wasn’t necessary.