Hardware

As infections from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continue to climb, hospitals around the world are struggling with a potentially fatal shortage of ventilators, the bedside machines that help patients breathe when they’re unable to do so on their own. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of lower-grade breathing devices known as continuous positive airway pressure machines sit idle in closets or warehouses because their manufacturers say they can’t perform the same life-saving functions.

Dell introduced today a new security offering designed to help protect PCs from cyber attacks at the BIOS level. The company notes that cybercriminals are "altering their attack methods to compromise endpoints and access critical data" as more people are increasingly resorting to the work-from-home program due to coronavirus-related concerns.

The time has come to start covering your face. As we reported April 3, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends all citizens voluntarily wear a cloth face mask for essential trips out of the house to the grocery store, doctor, or other public places where the 6-foot social distancing rules may be difficult to maintain. In short, most places.

While we still don't know what the PlayStation 5 console will look like (or whether it will really still hit its "holiday 2020" release window), we at least know about its controller. The PS5's gamepad, dubbed the DualSense, largely resembles previous DualShock models, but it appears to have just enough changes under the hood to merit a mostly new name.

Apple wants people to fall back in love with its latest MacBook Air. For many users, the pre-Retina, 13-inch MacBook Air was one of the best laptops ever made. For too long, though, it fell behind the curve as Apple introduced better performance and higher-resolution screens to the rest of its lineup. Finally, Apple brought the high-res Retina display and some other improvements to the Air in 2018. Maybe the world's best laptop was back?

The upcoming Apple Watch Series 6 set to be released this fall could include a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the crown of the device, according to Israeli site The Verifier, which cites "senior sources" who have worked with its staff for a "number of years" as the source of the rumor.

It's not clear how the alleged ‌Touch ID‌ fingerprint sensor would be implemented, as the Digital Crown is already used for capturing an ECG in the current ‌Apple Watch‌ models with an included electrode.

I struggled to write about this new iPad. It’s not because it isn’t a good iPad. Technologically, it’s the best iPad you can buy. It’s an iPad Pro, one with a brilliant display, a superfast chip, and cameras that are improved from the last iPad. The new iPad even has a lidar scanner—remote sensing technology that’s typically used in aircraft, mapping vehicles, and self-driving cars. Now, for the sake of AR apps that Apple tries earnestly to push, lidar is in a tablet.

Some years back, not content with sitting at a computer all day for work and not happy just to stand in one spot, I embarked upon a quest to walk while working. Since then, I built two of my own "treadmill desks" for a few hundred bucks each and logged thousands of miles on them.

They certainly aren't flashy kit, but they keep me happier and healthier when I work from home. And in the midst of our global quarantine, I thought my setup might prove inspirational to some of my fellow geeks.

Citing sources familiar with Apple's plans, Fast Company reports the tech giant has tapped San Jose-based Lumentum to supply the lasers that will sit at the heart of the "world-facing" 3D depth sensor. Apple currently relies on Lumentum for the lasers in TrueDepth, the front-facing camera system which powers Face ID, Animoji and other features on iPhone and iPad.

Unlike TrueDepth, the forthcoming system is expected to calculate depth with time of flight (ToF) technology.

The world might finally wave goodbye to Apple’s controversial and much-hated MacBook butterfly keyboards by summer, according to a new report by respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In his latest research note, Kuo writes that Apple will launch new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models featuring the scissor switch keyboard design. Apple laid the groundwork for the return of the scissor switch Magic Keyboard when it ditched the butterfly keyboard for its 16-inch MacBook Pro upgrade late last year.