It feels like companies are trying to get their news out ahead of the Labour Day Weekend as well as the Apple event coming next week. There is much to talk about today. ARM is suing one of its biggest customers, Snap is laying off a huge chunk of its workforce, we have folding PC’s, new controllers, and the Twitter edit button is finally coming… eventually. That and a couple more things I’ve been interested in.
ARM Sues Qualcomm… One Of Its Biggest Customers
This one sounds weird on the surface, but gets slightly less weird with some context. As a reminder, ARM as a company does not actually make any of the processors it designs. It instead licenses its design, technology, and instruction sets to other companies to build products. Perhaps the two most famous customers are Apple and Qualcomm, who together make the processors that run virtually every mobile phone and tablet on the planet.
Qualcomm recently completed the purchase of a company called Nuvia, which was designing ARM based processors for datacenters. ARM is alleging that Qualcomm’s purchase of Nuvia violated Nuvia’s license agreement to use ARM technologies, and Qualcomm cancelled the licenses upon purchase. ARM also alleges that Qualcomm is continuing to leverage those Nuvia developed products in violation of what are supposedly cancelled contracts.
I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but this one screams to me that the eventual endgame here is a settlement where Qualcomm agrees to pay ARM more money to make this go away. From ARM’s side, losing a customer in Nuvia represents a significant revenue hit that it will try to recoup by getting more money out of Qualcomm. But hey, it makes for a fun headline.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/arm-sues-qualcomm-over-its-1-4-billion-nuvia-acquisition/
Snap Lays Off 20% of Workforce
Snap, Inc, the company we all know of as Snapchat, is laying off 20% of it’s workforce. That represents a little over 1,200 people losing their jobs. Snap is cancelling many in development projects, including shuttering the hardware division responsible for the Spectacles glasses and the recently released drone built for Snapchat. Other projects being cancelled include original programming and in-app games. The company says it will focus on community growth, revenue growth, and augmented reality.
Twitter Begins Testing Edit Button
Twitter is finally starting to test the promised Edit button. Certain users, likely mostly limited to higher profile users at this point, are getting the functionality enabled on their accounts. Twitter says that later in September it will begin testing with a wider range of users. That wider range will be subscribers to the $6.50/month Twitter Blue service. Twitter has said that the subscription service will get new features first, and this seems to be the case for the edit button.
The process of editing a tweet seems fairly straightforward. Users can edit a tweet “a few times” up to 30 minutes after it is posted, with a note that the tweet is edited under the text. That is a clickable link that lets anyone see the edit history of that tweet, and see what it originally said. After 30 minutes, the tweet is no longer editable. Being able to see the edit history as well as time limiting the edit functionality seems like a reasonable solution, allowing users to correct typos or clarify a tweet shortly after it is written, while protecting against a tweet being completely re-written to a different context after the fact. Hopefully this rolls out widely sooner rather than later.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/09/01/twitter-finally-getting-edit-button-coming-to-canada-first/
Lenovo’s New X1 Fold Improves The Folding Windows Computer
Folding phones are starting to become mainstream, but computers with folding screens have been few and far between. Part of that is scaling up the screen technology in phones to a laptop sized display is difficult, and expensive. The ultra thin glass found on Samsung Z series phones, for example, is not practical at the size of a large tablet or laptop screen.
But, technology always moves on. The new X1 Fold aims to overcome the first model’s shortcomings. It features a gigantic 16.3” display, a 12th generation Intel processor, and Windows 11. The screen is supposed to be more durable, and the larger size makes for a larger keyboard accessory that looks much more usable than the model on the first X1 Fold.
The X1 Fold can be used unfoled with a kickstand to take full advantage of of the big display, folded at a 90 degree angle using either the lower half of the touchscreen as a keyboard, or placing the Bluetooth keyboard accessory right on the device, turning it into a small laptop, or as a standalone tablet, albeit a big one.
And the price is also big. When it releases later this year it will start at $2500 USD, so this is definitely not for everyone.
But I want it.
Phillips Hue’s New Lightbulbs Look Great, Cost A Lot
Phillips is getting further into the fancy light bulb game with its new line of Lightguide filament bulbs. Designed for open fixtures, these look vaguely like Edison bulbs, just much more fancy, and have the ability to change colours, like many Hue products. The bulbs do not come cheap, however, starting at $90 in Canada for a single bulb. For $90, I will continue to appreciate them from afar.
Phillips also announced the Hue Play gradient light strip, designed to be mounted to the back of a monitor for a slick looking desktop setup. The Hue Play starts at $200 in Canada
The last product are some low profile pot lights designed for low ceilings, not as exciting as the other products, but functional. But still expensive at $80 per light.
All of these products will be available in Q4.
GameSir X2 Pro Controller Announced
The Gamesir X2 controllers for mobile devices have been around for a bit, I reviewed the Bluetooth version last year. GameSir recently released the X3, which features analog triggers and a massive fan that needs its own power connection. The design of the X3 made it much less portable.
Well, there’s a new version of the older X2 controller out, and it is actually a Microsoft licensed product. The X2 Pro has the same formfactor as the X2 line, but also features the analog triggers from the X3. Being Xbox branded there is an Xbox button as the home button, and it is designed to work with Xbox Cloud Gaming. People who purchase this $80 USD controller even get a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to try out the cloud gaming functionality.
The X2 Pro will also work with any game that supports controller input on Android. The X2 Pro is limited to Android phones that will fit into the grip while plugging into the USB C port. Most phones should work, but iPhone owners will need to look elsewhere.
https://www.androidpolice.com/gamesir-x2-pro-hands-on/
Jabra Launches Elite 5 Wireless Headphones
Jabra has filled the middle of its wireless headphone lineup with the Elite 5s. The new model will sit between the Elite 3 and Elite 7 in the lineup. While the Elite 5’s do not have all the bells and whisles of the more expensive Elite 7, they do feature active noise cancelling, something the Elite 3’s lack. These look like a solid middle of the road option with good features for the price, though the Elite 7 has notoriously bad microphone quality, so that aspect remains to be seen.
The Elite 5’s launch soon for $200 CAD. To compare, the Elite 3’s are $100, and the Elite 7 Pro is $260.
https://www.androidpolice.com/jabra-elite-5-announcement/