Google's addiction to leaking their own phones is so bad now they couldn't even
wait 1 hour for the Pixel 10 launch event to start at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
The company just dropped all their major announcements at noon. And while I think
they officially have a problem and should seek help, that did mean I could
start looking at the new Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL, 10 Pro Fold, and Pixel
Watch 4 right away instead of sitting through the prestream and being
subjective to an onslaught of AI videos
depicting pigeons dragging pizza the wrong way. But I was subjected to
Google's latest desperate attempt to capture some of Apple's RZ in the form
of a never-ending stream of celebrities and influencers at the event, who I
don't know, probably just showed up because they love talking about Pixels
when Google pays them to. All the new Pixels share some common features with
the hot new one being Google's answer to Apple's MagSafe, new Pixel Snap magnetic
wireless charging based on the updated Chi 2 standard with an accompanying
magnetic charging pad and stand as well as the ring stand, which doesn't charge,
but it is very pretty. Even if it looks like it would be somewhat unstable,
those things often go together. Every Pixel 10 variant supports charging via
Pixel Snap at at least 15 watts. And they also all feature the new Tensor G5
chip. >> Tensor, come on. You know, the Tensor nerds out
there know what I'm talking about. Tensor G5, >> which Google says is 34% faster than the
G4 on average. They'll all get 7 years of software updates, and none of them
will have a physical SIM card slot in the US, just like iPhones now. So, what
do you think? Google's wondering if that looks like an Apple logo to you yet.
They're pretty similar. I mean, you
know, they're equally cool. So, so cool.
Right onto the phones themselves. The Pixel 10 uses the same overall design as
the Pixel 9, but it gets a third camera like the Pro models, although they're
not as good as the Pros. And two of the three cameras on the Pixel 10 are in
fact worse than the ones on the Pixel 9. They had to borrow some of the pixels,
but the battery is a tad bigger and the screen is a tad brighter, and you should
not pre-order it before it hits shelves August 28th, starting at 800 USD. Then
there's a Pixel 10 Pro, which is nearly identical to the 9 Pro, minus the new
chip and charging support, and the same is true for the 10 Pro XL, except the XL
is the only model in the lineup to supportQCQI 2.2 2 charging at up to 25
watts instead of 15. The Pixel 9 Pro could reach 21 watts, but only with the
official Pixel stand. Also, please don't pre-order these when they launch August
28th at 1,000 bucks for the Pixel 10 Pro and 1,200 for the Pro XL. Okay, but the
new Pixel 10 Fold, that has something
new. It's the first foldable display phone to achieve an IP68 water and dust
resistance rating. and it can only pixel snap charge at 15 watts. And it's coming
a bit later, so you'll have until October 9th to not pre-order it for
1,800 USD. Now, the Pixel Watch 4 might
be the most updated device here. It's got a 50% brighter, more curved display
for 10% more screen space, smaller bezels, 25% longer battery life, and a
new sidemounted charger to accommodate its apparently more repairable design.
And it starts at 350 bucks for the smallest Wi-Fi only model, which you
should also not pre-order before it ships October 9th, even though it's got
a tiny AI Fitbit Coach slowly going mad
while it sits on the shelf inside it. Lastly, there's new A series PixelBuds,
the PixelBuds 2A. They've got active noise cancellation now, and when that's
on, they'll last 7 hours or 10 hours
when A&C's off. But even if you completely trash the battery in the
charging case, it's replaceable. Ah, so
I can forgive these ones being 130 bucks. $30 more expensive than the first
A series buds. Ah, what the hell? Pre-order these if you want. Let's go
crazy. Now, to wrap up the Pixel stuff, I must also mention a few software
things. The Pixel 10s will feature magic Q, which will pop up relevant details
that it's gathered from closely watching your every move, like suggesting an
address when you get a message asking about it. It could just take care of
your stuff. Do I need to be here for this? The Pixel 10 Pro models have their
own special ProRes zoom, which has nothing to do with ProRes, the video
codec. It's different. It applies a latent diffusion model that makes photos
taken at 30 to 100 time zoom look less
like they were taken at 30 to 100 time zoom. Google announced that Gemini is
finally coming to Google Nest and Home devices. The Pixel Flex dualport 67 watt
charger can charge two devices at once, but will prioritize Pixel phones and
seems designed to help Pixel users trick iPhone users into thinking iPhones are
worse. Uh, whoops. That wasn't a software thing, but this is Pixel 10's
get a new AI enhanced Pixel Journal app
for when you need AI to help with a task that I'm pretty sure is supposed to be
valuable because you just take a second and come up with your own uh thoughts,
but I don't know. Okay, no more Pixel
stuff. A YouTube rep has replied on Twitter to a re-uploaded Techlink clip
from Monday's episode in which we talked about YouTube seemingly upscaling shorts
so they look like AI video compared to the original. Shout out to Dooosaurus
for reposting the re-uploaded clip and tagging YouTube liaison and former
YouTuber Renee Richie who said this is an experiment that does not involve
generative AI or upscaling but does
unblur dn noiseise and improve clarity
using traditional machine learning techniques passed down for generations.
It's AI that your grandpa would be okay with. He says the test is only running
on select YouTube shorts. Uh but I'm
thinking they selected a lot of shorts because every random short I picked uh
had the same effect. Renee went on to further explain his terms which is
genuinely helpful. AI genai upscaling
these terms are thrown around very casually. So, we should know what
specific kind of neural networkbased techniques we're talking about when we
say that the ones YouTube is using to try and make shorts look better are
making them look worse. Uh, I'm not mad
because you're using generative AI. I'm mad because you're making real video
look like it oozed out of some robot's orifice. Don't succumb to the ooze.
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on me. We're doing the quick bits now.
Focus up. A test result for a system called Valve Fremont has shown up on the
Geekbench database as spotted by person who spots such things, Brad Lynch. The
specs of the system seem to be consistent with prior leaks that point
towards Fremont being a TV settop
console of some kind, but they're still kind of weird. For one thing, it's got
an AMD Hawk Point APU from the Ryzen
8000 mobile uh range, but with the integrated GPU removed in favor of a
Radeon RX7600. It's also running Windows 11 instead of
Steam OS. It's all quite mysterious, but
I'm sure if you do the math right, you can get a HalfLife 3 confirmation from
this somehow. Ooh, maybe Fremont's running Windows 11 because Valve is
giving up its OS war with Microsoft because Microsoft announced that the
Xbox Ally and Ally X handhelds will launch October 16th. They are going to
come alongside a handheld compatibility
program, which actually sounds like it improves a bit on Valve's Deckverified
program, giving games ratings based on expected FPS and other factors like
whether it has seamless controller support or small screen friendly UI. A
leak claims the price will be 550 USD for the Xbox Ally and 900 for the Xbox
Ally X, but nothing's officially confirmed on that front. No doubt due to
the challenging economic environment that Sony blamed for the $50 price hike
it's applying to the PS5, PS5 digital edition, and PS5 Pro, which will now be
550, 500, and 75 7050 USD respectively.
The news comes after a similar price hike in Europe, Australia, and New
Zealand was announced in April. But sadly, we have no idea why any of this
is happening. The economy is like the weather. It's challenging out there
right now. It's like it's raining. Uh, just wear a coat. And Intel has gotten
some help with its challenges. Not only has it gotten a $2 billion investment
from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, the US government has confirmed rumors that
it will give Intel the Chips Act funding
previously allocated to the company as long as the government gets that value,
about 5.4 billion, I think, in Intel
equity. Some are concerned about the US government's uh having a stake in a very
important private company such as Intel. But you know who's not concerned? Bernie
Sanders. He's all for this. Apparently uh
confusing everyone except me, the only
one who understands the economy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik
confirmed the investment to CNBC, not to be confused with MSNBC, which is not to
be confused with its new name, MS Now,
which stands for my source, News Opinion World, which sounds like a theme park
for the AI they'll eventually replace me with. But not yet. Haha.
Sorry, Zuck. I'm going to be right back here on Friday with more tech news. Even
if you give me and my whole family free tickets to my source news opinion world
because okay, I'm through the gate and what I'm gonna spend $100 on lunch now.
Come on.