Hello, Moto

Motorola plans on upgrading its devices to the latest Android 11 OS

DECEMBER 23, 2020 It's December 23, 2020. We'll be going home for the holidays (more like staying home), so you won't see this newsletter until the new year. We wish you a joyous and safe season with all our best wishes for the coming year!     ⏰ Today's Big Stories... in 30 Seconds Today We Watched, Read, and Listened to (so you don't have to): 398 articles, 9 podcasts, 10 press releases, 428 tweets, and 6 YouTube videos 1. Motorola Promises to Upgrade to Android 11, Too It's Android upgrade season, with handset makers like Samsung (and Google) getting the latest operating system onto your phone. Now, it's Motorola's turn with its plans to upgrade 21 of its devices (including Razr, Edge, and Moto G models) to the latest and greatest Android OS. 2. Apple Wants to Teach You How to Protect Your Privacy All the privacy features in the world won't protect you or your data unless you use them correctly. To that end, Apple's created a new site to help you learn how to do it (even though Facebook is mad at the coming privacy changes).   3. Steam's Winter Sale is Here The premier online source for video games (for PC, Mac, and Linux) is offering up yet another annual Winter Sale this year, where you can find deep discounts on all the fun games to entertain yourself over the long holiday at home. Game of the year Hades is on sale, as is Halo: The Master Chief Collection.   🦑 Go Deeper Apple's new M1 plans haven't just sped up its Macs. Charlie Sorrel argues that the team has found a way to speed up the upgrade process for all its apps from the last time they switched chips.      🎱 By the Numbers Where's Moto? Data: Counterpoint Research Apple and Samsung continued to dominate in the second quarter of 2020, and show no signs of slowing down, even with sales slowdowns across the board. If you're wondering about Lenovo on the chart, that's Motorola.     🎁 Lifewire Holiday Gift Guide 2020 Need a last-minute gift idea? Check out our top picks for the best holiday gifts and stocking stuffers for family and friends from the editors and experts at Lifewire. See the Guide 🤓 Nerd Out "Hear the forest through the trees." -Bob Schulties, Senior Editor If you're looking for some deeper calm this holiday season (or heck, just for 2020 in general), check out the sounds of a random forest on Tree.fm. (Share on Twitter) 💎 You Know You Want It  Does this hologram make my nose look big? Image: Looking Glass Factory For the person who has everything: Your own personal hologram display. Yes, it's only a Kickstarter project for now, but you know you want one of your own to send 3D images like the ones you see in Star Wars, right? May the Force be with you as you wait for production of this lovely little gadget to begin.  🙈 Wait, What? I'll huff and I'll puff, but that house is strong. The three little pigs got nothing on this Stanford designer who's found a way to turn fungal mycelium (the mostly underground network of mushroom fibers) into strong, sturdy, weight-bearing bricks for construction. No one's gonna blow this house down.      🗞 Extra! Extra! We've got you covered with the best in daily tech news! See the latest on our site or follow us on Google News. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Have something you'd like us to write about? We're always open for suggestions, too. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the Tech Today newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here .   Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. A Dotdash Brand 1500 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10036 2020 Dotdash • All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.   [View in Browser]

I Want to Believe

The Apple electric car could be coming soon

DECEMBER 22, 2020 It's December 22, 2020. It's National Date Nut Bread Day, for some reason. It could be that they're running out of things to celebrate this late in the year.     ⏰ Today's Big Stories... in 30 Seconds Today We Watched, Read, and Listened to (so you don't have to): 499 articles, 4 podcasts, 13 press releases, 379 tweets, and 8 YouTube videos 1. Apple's Electric Car Could Show Up Next Year Sources from Taiwanese auto execs are saying that they're getting orders from Apple for parts to make the long-rumored Apple electric car as soon as 2021. It's a rumor, sure, but at least it's a juicy, exciting one! 2. Samsungs Galaxy Buds Pro to Get Spatial Audio Samsung become a winning smartphone company by leveraging great design that echoes Apple for a while now. Now their new upcoming Galaxy-branded earbuds are set to have a similar feature to one also in AirPods: Spatial audio.  3. Get Unique Digital Challenge Items for Super Smash Bros If you're a Super Smash Bros Ultimate player and also a Nintendo Switch Online member, you're set to receive a sweet set of digital items useful for in-game Spirit Board Challenges, like reduced damage and enemy health drains. 🦑 Go Deeper Twitter is testing a new feature that lets you literally talk to your followers via audio instead of 280 characters. Allison Matyus takes a deeper look at the upcoming option for audio with Twitter Spaces.     🎱 By the Numbers Millions of games Data: Business Insider The Switch console has been an unvarnished success, and titles like Animal Crossing have taken over during the pandemic. Fighting game Smash Bros sits comfortably in the middle of the top sales list, showing that it's not all villagers, pocket monsters, or karting at the company.     🎁 Lifewire Holiday Gift Guide 2020 Our top picks for the best holiday gifts and stocking stuffers for family and friends from the editors and experts at Lifewire. See the Guide 🤓 Nerd Out "The bionic man/woman ain't got nothing on this." -Rob LeFebvre, Senior News Editor Researchers in the Netherlands have published a paper discussing a new implant that bypasses the eyes to help bring sight to the blind. (Share on Twitter) 💎 You Know You Want It  Gonna need one to just launch Cyberpunk 2077. Image: NVIDIA NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 is the beast every PC gamer wants in their stocking this year, with enough power to run graphics-heavy games like Cyberpunk 2077 at their eye-bleeding best. Starting at $699, this GPU is the one to beat. 🙈 Wait, What? "My voice is my passport, please verify me." -Sneakers, 1992 You might think that you don't need secure passwords (or, better yet, a solid password manager) if you've got nothing to hide. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong: A hacker with access to your social media accounts or bank balance can cause a lot of damage, even if you're not protecting state secrets.      🗞 Extra! Extra! We've got you covered with the best in daily tech news! See the latest on our site or follow us on Google News. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Have something you'd like us to write about? We're always open for suggestions, too. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the Tech Today newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here .   Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. A Dotdash Brand 1500 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10036 2020 Dotdash • All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.   [View in Browser]