Top 2020 innovations: PS5 DualSense, Samsung Adapative Display, and more tech news

Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Thursday, December 3rd, 2020.

1. The 100 greatest innovations of 2020

Popular science publishes the Best of What’s New Awards annually and we reached the 33rd edition in 2020.

It’s an amazing list of things, a lot, that you can actually buy – PopSci says months of work go into the list and it shows! There is a multitude of devices, devices and ideas here.

• Exposure Notifications was selected as Innovation of the Year, a system developed by Apple and Google to track viruses but not track you.
• Some of the “Grand Award Winners” you know include the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller with Sony’s clever tremor and haptic feedback as winners and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, although Nvidia doesn’t get any awards for getting so many for the vocal public made available.
• The gadget awards also included Android 11 Voice Access for its much better voice command systems (first tested in 2016), Samsung’s adaptive frequency display for power saving, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold (in the GIF above), One R from Insta360, and MagSafe from Apple wireless charging and the iPad Magic Keyboard. Withings’ ScanWatch also won the award for the sleep apnea smartwatch.
• Apple also received a safety nod for the clipboard notification in iOS 14, which dramatically changed the way apps like LinkedIn and Reddit work with your copy and paste text.
• Other Security Winners: Hey from Basecamp for Spam (also a winner on my books for being a catalyst for Apple’s App Store changes) and Signal’s Blur tool for privacy for activists.
• Some of the good ideas listed, like Quibi’s Turnstyle, went nowhere. Tear up the quibi.
• Other winners in different categories: a redesigned airbag from Acura, custom jeans from unspun that you can use to quickly scan your smartphone to get tailored jeans, synthetic insulation from PrimaLoft, which uses 48 percent less carbon dioxide to manufacture
• There are tons of things out there about better telehealth, a custom makeup printer, a custom curling cream for unique hair, and so much more – it’s a great list!

2. More Snapdragon 888 News: Dive into the Specs, Interview with Qualcomm by my colleague David Imel, which explains how the Snapdragon 888 changes camera play, and all of the confirmed Snapdragon 888 phones and brands – Xiaomi looks first and could announce something by December (Android Authority).

3. Here’s our first look at the upcoming rounded Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro (Android Authority).

4. The Samsung Galaxy F series with large batteries could get a new member in a reported Galaxy F62 (Android Authority).

5. Should Samsung keep the Galaxy Note? Here are the pros and cons of something that is more likely not to happen in 2021 (Android Authority).

6. Discovery Plus announced: A new streaming service with 55,000 episodes and of course Discovery as well as HGTV, The Food Network, TLC, OWN, Animal Planet and more – from USD 4.99 per month, ad-supported (Android Authority).

7. MKBHD’s blind smartphone camera test was announced with an unexpected winner that is not really available for purchase in the US, and also revealed how much Twitter and Instagram are changing photos on their platforms (Youtube).

8.Apple will be forced to sell iPhones with the included power adapter in Brazil (9to5Mac).

9. Google illegally spied on workers before they were fired.The edge).

10.Amazon seems to be on the right track to add the Wondery (Engadget).

11. A defective piece of internet backbone may be permanently repaired (Wired).

12.South Africa’s lottery was tested with 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 ties – and 20 people won (BBC).

13. A chain just cut through a capsized cargo ship with cars, and the photos of the process and the process itself are damn cool. Think of 38-tonne eyelets welded on and lifting ropes made from “ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene” slings. ((Jalopnik).

14. It happens: The SpaceX spaceship can already fly 15 km on Friday (Ars Technica).

15. China’s Chang’e 5-moon mission takes incredible pictures of the moon’s surface: a zoomable picture with 15,000 × 7,947 pixels! ((Ars Technica).

16. “How the hell does a laser / infrared thermometer actually work?” (r / askcience). … And a repost here because the link was missing: “Why do joints make a” cracking “noise during certain activities such as climbing stairs, but have no actual pain associated with it?” (R / comparelikeimfive) (Sorry!).

And something else…. Relapse Thursday!

The first Segway was announced today in 2001, an exciting new product that has advanced personal mobility, but likely not with the power originally perceived like the later hoverboard, and more useful personal electric scooters now in every major city you can see.

• Segway sold just 140,000 copies of the original model, which was finally discontinued in 2020 by Chinese owner Ninebot. He bought Segway in 2015 and produced a number of similar Segway Ninebot devices, including the one above.

But the Segway had ambitions. There is a wonderful book called “Code Name Ginger” by Steve Kemper, also known as “Reinventing the Wheel: A Story of Genius, Innovation and Great Ambition” by Steve Kemper.

An excerpt published here shows a meeting between some members of Segways’ team, including inventor Dean Kamen, and two of the brightest minds you may have heard of: Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.

• Various greats, including Steve Jobs, have spoken of the Segway being more important than the Internet, but the book excerpt shows where Jobs thought he fell off.
• Jobs was quoted as saying it was “as big a thing as the pc,” but the book excerpt showed that Jobs thought it “sucks”, both in design (“Its shape isn’t innovative, it’s not elegant, it doesn’t. “I don’t feel anthropomorphic,” Jobs said, ticking three of his design mantras.
• And the $ 5,000 price tag when it launched in 2001 was insane. Jobs again: “You are for sure Your market consists of upscale transport consumers? “
• Ouch. Segway “didn’t want to sell a toy or a fad” was its defense.
• Segway eventually sold an expensive toy and fad. It also tragically killed its one-time owner Jimi Heselden, who bought the US company in 2010, and fell off a cliff after trying to avoid someone in the UK (The guard).
• More humorous, Usain Bolt was knocked over by one in 2015 (YouTube) after a cameraman hit a barrier and lost control. It’s just because Bolt was perfectly fine!

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