Gadgets & Tech Spoken Edition

The real Space Force may be going down in flames against the fictional Space Force: According to the Hollywood Reporter, the newly founded military branch appears to be losing a trademark battle with the Netflix comedy show of the same name. Netflix “has outmaneuvered the U.S. government to secure trademark rights to ‘Space Force’ in Europe, Australia, Mexico and elsewhere,” according to the Reporter, while the Air Force—under which the Space Force is organized—simply has a pending application stateside. This mostly has ramifications for merch. Consumers won’t have trouble discerning between the military branch and Space Force when it comes to which one stars Steve Carrell, but they might not be able who is selling a line of Space Force shirts. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office relies on a “first-to-use” system when assigning rights, and Netflix has been submitting trademark applications for the Space Force across the globe since the start of 2019. On the other hand, the Air Force filed a trademark applica

As mask-wearing becomes the new norm around the world, researchers from the EPFL and Empa in Switzerland have come up with a way to improve at least one of the many challenges of wearing face protection with a new transparent design that no longer completely hides and obscures the wearer’s mouth.

The covid-19 pandemic has many of us working and learning from home, which means access to fast internet is more important than ever. Unfortunately, despite being the richest country in the world, the U.S. has fallen out of the top 10 list for the countries with the fastest broadband speeds. Based on recent data from Speedtest.net’s Global Index, first highlighted by DecisionData.org, for the past few years the U.S. has typically hovered between No. 7 and No. 10 among countries with the fastest broadband speeds. But in the last year, average broadband speeds in the U.S. haven’t improved as quickly as other developed nations. In April 2019, average broadband download speeds in the U.S. were about 118.6 Mbps, placing America at No. 7 on the list of countries with the fastest internet speeds. A year later, average download speeds had only risen to 132.6 Mbps, placing the U.S. 11th—behind Macau, Denmark, and Sweden. Meanwhile, despite the lack of any huge gains in broadband speeds, with average download speeds

The sun is a great source of free lighting if you’re in a home with lots of windows. But in the summer months, natural lighting can also quickly turn your home into an oven. Instead of spending all your waking hours opening and closing blinds to block direct blasts of the sun’s rays, Lutron’s new automated smart blinds can make all of those adjustments for you. With companies like Ikea finally making the technology more affordable, smart blinds are joining smart lighting as an accessible home upgrade. But being able to simply remotely open or close your blinds from a mobile, app, or asking your smart assistant to do it for you, isn’t as smart as it could be. Lutron’s new window blinds feature “Natural Light Optimization” functionality which takes into account the location and orientation of your house (using GPS and a smart device’s built-in compass, presumably) as well as the location of all the blinds in your home to automatically open and close them individually throughout the day to let in natural light—b

It can be difficult to return to business as usual during America’s first phase of reopening with federal social distancing recommendations still in effect. But a new patent from Apple gives us a glimpse into how one bit of normalcy—group selfies—might work even when we’re all at least six feet apart.

The economic crisis stemming from the coronavirus pandemic has hit countries all over the world, costing millions of jobs and putting a freeze on a lot of non-essential spending, like upgrading your old phone or computer. Apple knows this, and that’s presumably why it’s reportedly planning to launch an installment program for its products. Bloomberg reports that Apple is planning to roll out this monthly installment program—which will be tied to its Apple Card credit card, issued by Goldman Sachs—over the next few weeks. The service will let customers buy a product through Apple and split the cost over several months with interest-free payments. The Bloomberg report states that Apple will offer a 12-month, interest-free payment plan for iPads, Macs, Apple Pencils, iPad keyboards, and Mac XDR Display monitors. Meanwhile, AirPods, Apple TVs, and HomePods will be offered at zero interest for six months. The program aims to increase enrollment for the Apple Card and boost sales of Apple products by letting use

The Winklevoss twins—the brothers Mark Zuckerberg allegedly stole the idea for Facebook from—are making a movie about themselves, Deadline reported this week. If that doesn’t seem masturbatory enough, rejoice: said film is about how they amassed a net wealth of more than $1 billion by getting really into Bitcoin.

A popular painting app for the Nintendo DS and 3DS that relied on each handheld’s stylus is finally coming to the Switch. But instead of forcing users to paint with their fingers, Colors Live will include a stylus that cleverly uses the Switch’s headphone jack for pressure sensitivity and a better painting experience.

Every September, almost like clockwork, Apple releases a new iPhone. Based on recent comments from an unlikely source, the CEO of wireless component supplier Broadcom, the iPhone 12's release might get delayed until much later in the year. According to Bloomberg, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan made the prediction during a recent earnings call, though he didn’t quite spell it out.

You step outside, finding the usually bustling streets peaceful and empty. Despite a weather forecast pushing 80 degrees, the air is refreshingly cool. And while your schedule is filled with work, errands, and work that’s basically just one big errand, in this little moment you have no responsibilities at all. What is this strange magic? Well, it’s a lesser-known time of day I’d like to turn you on to.