Amazon Echo Frames go live with 2nd-gen update, and more tech news today

Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Friday, November 20, 2020.

1. Amazon Echo Frames reach the second generation

Remember when Amazon tried out some new Echo wearables as part of its “Day One Edition” line of invite-only products?

Two of them see big changes.

• The first is the bad news, I think: the $ 130 Echo Loop ring is dead.
• The idea was that it had a tiny speaker and could vibrate on your finger when you received a call or notification.
• It was worth a try as receiving silent notifications is not a resolved issue and obviously it still isn’t. The ring was also quite thick and looked unwieldy.
• If you have bought one, existing customers will receive “Updates and Support” at least for the time being, but it is no longer produced and no longer sold.

But more importantly, that Echo Frames smart glasses have been updated and will be made available to the public.

• The second generation of Echo Frames can be pre-ordered for US $ 250 and changes from pure invitation to open pre-order for everyone.
• The basic requirements of the pilot product remain the same for the new second generation smart glasses.
• The updates include 40% longer battery life, an automatic switch-off if the glasses have been switched off for more than three seconds, better sound quality and intelligent volume controls that are automatically adjusted to take account of ambient noise.
• New colors: Classic Black, Horizon Blue and Modern Tortoise.
• I needed a reminder of what the glasses are actually doing, and just to get you up to speed, the frames aren’t about visuals as they offer Alexa for your ears.
• There’s a headset-like feature that pairs the microphone and speaker with smartphone apps and lets you connect to Alexa and use Smart Assistant features.
• This includes listening to music, listening to books or asking questions, as well as hands-free tasks like commanding smart home devices or reading a grocery list while wandering around a store.
• Amazon offers instructions and assistance for the adjustment of spectacle lenses by an optician, but does not offer these itself.
• I remember the original reviews, which went something like this, “You have to really love Alexa to want to wear her on your face” (Washington Post) and that almost no one wants to wear glasses when they don’t need glasses.
• I wouldn’t mind if some smarts were burned into my current glasses, but there is no way I am paying Amazon for them not to adjust lenses to their limited frame styles.
• And charging the glasses, which is still done through a special cable, seems annoying.

2. It’s official: Xiaomi’s new Redmi Note 9 series is coming next week (Android Authority).

3. After a two-year introduction (Android Authority), Google is introducing end-to-end encryption for RCS in the beta version of Android Messages.

4. Why is it so difficult to order a next generation console or a new Nvidia graphics card? (The Verge).

5. iOS players can now enjoy cloud streaming games. Google Stadia’s and Nvidia’s GeForce Now platforms now work in Safari via a web app and bypass the app store. Fortnite is effectively back on the iPhone / iPad. (TechCrunch).

6. Speed ​​test G: iPhone 12 versus OnePlus 8T (it’s not really a competition) (Android Authority).

7. iFixit intervenes in the M1 MacBooks and finds numerous similarities, with the exception of the M1 chip (Engadget).

8. Roblox files are published. Exceptional numbers: 31 million daily active users and 22.2 billion man hours. You may only know about it when you have kids, but the kids just love it (TechCrunch).

9. Don’t be concerned about the safety changes Boeing had to make, but about flying nerds: How to tell if you are flying a recently recertified Boeing 737 MAX (Jalopnik).

10. The Pope’s Instagram account liked a post from a model in a pose that was likely not seen as particularly … pious. Nobody fought, so the Vatican asks Instagram. Oops.

11. Space is not all black and scientists don’t know why (NPR).

12. Faced with the devastating collapse, the famous Arecibo observatory is demolished. This was once a major U.S. scientific achievement, and was and is vital to astronomy, and fell into dangerous tatters (The Verge).

13. Here are the award winning animal photos from 2020 (Agora).

14. Rocket Lab launched Electron in a major test to restore the booster and successfully parachuted the booster down (SpaceNews).

15. ELI5: Why are there “hot people” and “cold people” – like my mother who is always cold. Why?! (r / EXPLAIN likeimfive).

(Android Authority).

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