myASUS update will enable extending your PC screen to your Android smartphone

It is no secret that most Windows laptops come with manufacturer-installed ‘bloatware’, as we so like to call it. Though, some of them sometimes turn out to be quite useful as they often add proprietary functionality to the device. myASUS is one such app. As the name implies, it comes pre-installed on ASUS laptops. The application is used for diagnosing and solving problems on the devices it comes installed with. You can download or update software and drivers from the myASUS app. At the ongoing CES 2020 event, ASUS announced an update to this application, which will let users extend the laptop’s screen to the Android smartphone.

For the feature to work, you first have to make sure that myASUS app is installed both on your PC and your Android device. You will need an ASUS PC and an Android device running Android 9 or later to do so (your smartphone can be from OEMs other than ASUS). Then you can just turn on Screen Extender or Mirror feature. Moving the cursor and windows between the screens is seamless. The app also lets you initiate file transfer or phone calls. You can watch the hands-on demo from our own Mishaal Rahman at CES.

Users will be able to take advantage of the feature starting from January 19, 2020. You will have to update the myASUS app from the Microsoft Store, as well as some drivers. I expect the process to be pretty straightforward and most likely automated. I personally would find this feature more useful for tablet users. Though, given the current state of Android tablets, I understand why this feature emphasizes smartphones. You can download the myASUS app on your Android device from the link below.

MyASUS - Service Center (Free, Google Play) →

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The Razer Kishi is an extending game controller for your Android or iOS smartphone

Back in October last year, Razer unveiled the Junglecat gaming controller for smartphones. The Bluetooth powered controller consists of two parts that can be attached to either side of a smartphone, giving users access to two analog joysticks and bumper action buttons on each side. At a price of $99.99, the controller offered pretty much everything a mobile gamer might need, but it has one major shortcoming. The Junglecat controller requires a special smartphone case in order to attach to a smartphone, which means that it would require users to purchase the case for multiple devices if they wished to change phones. At the ongoing CES 2020 trade show, Razer has now addressed this issue with the new Razer Kishi game controller for Android and iOS.

Compared to the Junglecat, the Razer Kishi is a more universal controller and doesn’t require any additional hardware. The controller can work with most Android or iOS devices and our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, was able to use it with both his OnePlus 7 Pro and the Pixel 3a XL. However, the OnePlus 7 Pro seems to be near the upper limit of how big a phone you can fit in the Kishi, so it might not work with phones that are any wider. Mishaal tried playing Devil May Cry 5 over Microsoft’s Project xClound on the Pixel 3a XL. Check out his first impression in the video linked below:

Much like the Junglecat, the Razer Kishi features two analog joysticks that are clickable for L3/R3 inputs and a directional pad. Along with that, it features two left (L1/L2) and two right (R1/R2) shoulder buttons, A/B/X/Y buttons, and lastly, a home button, back button, and forward button for UI navigation. All the buttons on the Kishi can be remapped using the Razer GamePad app, allowing players to customize the controls as per their needs.

Unlike the Junglecat, however, the Kishi controller uses a wired connection to connect to your device. Therefore, Razer will offer the controller in two models: one for Android (USB Type-C port) and one for iOS (Lightning port). Thanks to the wired connection, users won’t face any latency for button presses and offer a much better gaming experience than the Bluetooth-powered Junglecat. Additionally, since the controller makes use of a wired connection, there’s no need for a battery and it can draw charge straight from your smartphone. Powering the Kishi from your phone shouldn’t cause much battery drain as it’s just like any other standard HID input device.

The Razer Kishi features an additional USB Type-C port on the bottom right side of the controller which supports passthrough charging. This means that you’ll be able to charge your smartphone even with the controller attached. We’re quite excited about the product because there’s a serious lack of good gaming controllers for Android devices. Most users settle for products from less known brands like iPEGA, but if Razer starts to offer a more premium product that works well, the Kishi could really catch on. Razer plans to launch the Android version of the Kishi next month, with no information from the company regarding the iOS version or the pricing.

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Google Chrome’s form controls are getting a revamped UI and touch support

Chrome is undoubtedly one of the most used browsers out there. It’s fast, packs in a ton of features, and keeps receiving new ones with each successive update. Over the last few weeks, Google has added a new notification prompt style to the browser to make it less intrusive, tested a custom share sheet in Chrome Canary, added a new media control tool on PCs, and added a screenshot editor to the browser. Now, according to a recent post on the Chromium forums, the company is pushing a refreshed design for the browser’s form controls.

As per the post, the Form Control Refresh feature (chrome://flags/#form-controls-refresh) has already been enabled by default in Chromium 81 for Windows, ChromeOS, and Linux as of last week. The feature completely changes the look and feel of form controls, giving them a refreshed appearance with better accessibility and touch support. The design refresh is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Microsoft and Google, and it brings design changes to a variety of elements including checkboxes, buttons, text, progress bars, meters, etc. You can see all the changes introduced in the refreshed design by following this link.

As mentioned earlier, the Form Control Refresh has been enabled in Chromium 81 by default, but it’s also available in Chrome v79 as an experimental flag. You can enable it by following this link, enable the Web Platform Controls updated UI flag, and then restart the browser for the changes to take effect.

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Source: Chromium forums

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[Update 2: Enabled in Chrome 80] Google Chrome’s annoying notification prompts will be less intrusive soon

Update 2 (1/7/20 @ 5:20 PM ET): Google’s less annoying permission prompts are now enabled in Chrome 80.

Update 1 (11/18/19 @ 10:45 AM ET): The flag in Chrome for Android for making prompts less intrusive is now working in Canary.

Browsing the web in 2019 isn’t always a pleasant experience. Websites are constantly asking you to accept cookies, get your location, and, maybe most annoyingly, send notifications. Google is working on making those prompts less annoying in Chrome.

A lot of people may not know that you can disable all notification prompts in Chrome (Site Settings), but if you prefer to keep it enabled, Chrome will soon make them less intrusive. A flag in Chromium nightly called “Quieter notification permission prompts” is the answer.

This flag is currently not working, most likely because the code isn’t there yet, but it should be in Chrome Canary soon. It gives you a few different options: Default, Enabled, Enabled (Heads-up notifications), Enabled (mini-infobars), and Disabled. Since the flag isn’t functional right now, we don’t know exactly what these different modes look like. However, heads-up notifications are the typical pop-ups we’ve had in Android for a while. The “mini-infobar” may be a small overlay on top of the address bar.

As mentioned, we should see this show up in the Chrome Canary channel soon (though that doesn’t guarantee it will work). We’ll then get a look at how much “quieter” the prompts appear. Anyone who has been annoyed by these notification requests will want to enable this flag as soon as it shows up. Google created the problem by allowing sites to send notifications in the first place, but at least they recognize the problems.

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Update 1: Now Working

The flag that wasn’t working back in August is now live in the latest build of Chrome for Android on the Canary channel. When enabled, notification prompts are less intrusive, so you can still see them, but they don’t get in the way so much. The flag is titled “Quieter notification permission prompts” and you’ll want to select Enabled (force quiet notifications), Enabled (force heads-up notifications), or Enabled (force mini-infobars). The browser must be relaunched to apply the changes.

Chrome Canary (Unstable) (Free, Google Play) →

Via: Techdows

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Update 2: Enabled in Chrome 80

Desktop (Left), Mobile (Right)

Google’s “quieter” notification prompts have finally made their way to prime time in Chrome 80. Notifications in Chrome can be useful, so to protect that value, Chrome 80 will show a new notification permission UI in certain conditions. Users will be able to opt-in to this after updating to Chrome 80. However, if you’re a user who typically blocks notification requests it will be automatically enabled. The new UI will also automatically appear on websites with very low opt-in rates.

Users can enable the quieter notification prompts by going to Settings > Site Settings > Notifications, then the check the box or toggle for “Use quieter messaging.”

Source: Chromium

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Sonos is suing Google for allegedly stealing patented speaker technology

The smart speaker space is one of the hottest battlegrounds in the tech world right now. These devices have slowly made their way into millions of homes across the globe, giving the companies behind them ecosystem lock-in power and access to tons of information. Google has become a major player in this market and Sonos is claiming they stole technology to do so.

The New York Times is reporting that Sonos has filed two lawsuits against Google. Sonos claims Google stole its multiroom speaker technology after a 2013 partnership. On top of that, the company is asking for a sales ban on the products that have benefited from Google’s alledged stealing, including phones, laptops, and speakers.

The 2013 partnership allowed Sonos speakers to support Google Play Music, but Sonos is claiming Google used patented technology in the Chromecast Audio, Google Home devices, and Pixel devices. Sonos also says Google used the technology and subsidized its own products, which greatly undercut their own more expensive products. The company says it warned Google about this in 2016, 2018, and last year, accusing the company of infringing on 100 patents.

In the lawsuit, Sonos points out similarities between new Google products and its existing technologies. They mention things like synchronizing audio across speaker groups, adjusting group volume, and setting up services on a local wireless network. Sonos is also accusing Google and Amazon of sabotaging their attempts to make a device that would have allowed users to use both Google Assistant and Alexa. In fact, Sonos claims Amazon has also violated its patents, but the company doesn’t want to be “battling two tech giants in court at once.”

Google and Amazon have both already responded to the lawsuit, denying infringement. Google says they dispute the claims and “will defend them vigorously.”

Sonos v. Google by Russell Brandom on Scribd

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Source: New York Times | Via: The Verge

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OnePlus announces new Optimized Charging feature to save battery health

You don’t need to be a genius to know about OnePlus’s Warp Charge technology, formerly known as Dash Charge. At first sight, it is little more than a rebrand from OPPO’s SuperVOOC charging technology, but it is outstanding nonetheless. Unlike USB-PD and other fast charging methods that increase voltage, Warp Charge increases the current of the charger, and it allows for insanely fast charging speeds while still maintaining the safety of slower charging methods and keeping overheating at bay whenever possible. The concern of battery health degrading over time, though, remains, and OnePlus is launching a new feature to help improve this factor as well.

“Optimized Charging,” as OnePlus calls it, has already been available since the OxygenOS Open Beta 7 on the OnePlus 7 series and is made for overnight charging: it will charge your battery up to 80% before temporarily stopping. Then, it will take information from your alarms or your calendar (your next alarm or the first event in your calendar) in order to continue charging 100 minutes beforehand so it’s ready to go by the time you wake up. Over time, it will also be able to learn your usual wake-up time by itself thanks to machine learning so it’s ready right before you take it off the charger.

This feature might seem slightly unnecessary: after all, the battery already charges insanely fast, so there’s not even a need for overnight charging. However, some people still do, and keeping it constantly connected and at 100% during the whole night can take a toll on your battery life and even your battery itself over time. OnePlus hopes that this feature will somehow mitigate this. This feature is now available for the OnePlus 7 series users currently rolled into the OxygenOS Open Beta, and it is expected to roll out to other OnePlus devices sooner or later.

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Source: OnePlus

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TiVo is making a cheap Android TV dongle with an emphasis on live TV

Android TV dongles are used very conveniently to turn any standard television device to a smart TV. It gives you the ability to connect to the internet, stream your favorite content from various platforms like YouTube and Netflix, browse social media, and install thousands of apps from the Play Store. Though, there are some unique dongles that do more than that. TiVo’s new Stream 4K gadget is the next one to do so.

TiVo is most commonly known for making DVR devices. Now, they are releasing the TiVo Stream 4K. As the name implies, this little piece of hardware can stream content with the quality of up to 4K. What’s so different about it is that it has a heavy emphasis on live TV. TiVo Stream 4K comes with proprietary software, Stream+, that fires up at device launch and lets you stream live TV via the internet. It uses its own TiVo+ subscription as well as Sling TV channels to let you stream them effortlessly.

As you can see in the picture, the remote comes with all the standard buttons like channel switcher and a number pad. It also includes shortcuts to Google Assistant and Netflix apps. The dongle itself uses a microUSB port for charging, but also includes Type-C for storage expansion or direct ethernet connection. Outside of the Stream+ app, Android TV on the device includes a standard set of apps, including Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and others. TiVo Stream 4K also supports 4K HDR with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio.

The company is aiming to launch the device in April with the starting price of just $50. Though, after a short time, it will be priced at $69, which will be its official price.

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Source: TiVo

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