Light Start: Non-E3 version, featuring Galaxy S21 FE, Apple gamepad, a robot dog and Musk’s crypto promise

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Galaxy S21 FE production suffering from chip shortage

The global chip shortage may have another victim: Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S21 FE device slated for August 2021. Remember the Galaxy S20 FE? It turned out to be one of the brand’s best-performing devices in the previous cycle. So obviously plans to roll out another knockout device may hit a brick wall due to the microchip shortage.

A now-deleted post on ETNews detailed that Samsung have halted production of the incoming device completely. Apparently, it’s opted to use its supply of Quallcomm chips for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 foldable devices. “Samsung has allocated Qualcomm APs to foldable phones and suspended the FE model because there are not enough semiconductors. After getting approval for mass production, each company started production, but there was an unprecedented issue of stopping.”

According to Bloomberg, Samsung acknowledged the report was published, but mentioned that it hasdn’t made any decisions on suspending the FE’s production. We’re taking this report with a grain of salt, but the global chip shortage is a real threat to tech production for the foreseeable future. 

Source: 9to5Google[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

On-screen game controller coming to iOS15

Recently, we saw Apple reveal all of its software updates for 2021 at WWDC 2021. During the past week, Apple continued the festivities with its Platforms State of the Union at WWDC — the part aimed at developers, and not necessarily consumers. 

Sometimes, interesting things come out of these keynotes, like the fact that Apple’s making on-screen game controllers available to developers for iPhone and iPad. The new API for its incoming operating systems, iOS15 and iPadOS15, will enable game and app developers to implement virtual game controllers on-screen with just a few lines of code. An API is like a digital pack filled with assets needed to build a certain function into an app or a game. What this means is we’ll likely see more native in-game on-display controls built into existing and new apps on the platforms. 

We know that many iPhone and iPad games already offer on-screen controls, this will allow devs the ability to adjust controls for a variety of layouts, with up to four buttons and a thumbstick, d-pad, or touchpad available per left and right side.

Source: MacRumours[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Need water? This expensive robot dog will bring you some

If you ever want a quick reality check regarding what robots are currently capable of, we’ll recommend checking out anything that Boston Dynamics has been up to. It’s built quad- and bi-pedalled robots capable of traversing just about any terrain, opening doors and even scaling gates. Now the Chinese firm Unitree Robotics developed the Unitree Go1 — a robotic dog that’s cheaper than Boston’s creations, and it’ll bring you a bottle of water if you ask it to. 

According to a demo video on the robot, it’ll help its human with normal daily tasks like “following someone on a run” and “carrying a single bottle of water.” Of course, it’s hard to determining its actual worth if it’s just doing one or two things that… aren’t particularly useful. The world is still figuring out exactly how to apply the talents of our robotic counterparts. 

What makes the Unitree Go1 so interesting, however, is its price. The robotic dog will only cost a consumer around $2,700 (around R37,000), compared to Boston Dynamics’ $74,000 (over R1 million). The first step to making something mainstream is making it affordable for the masses, we guess?

Source: The Verge[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Elon Musk will consider crypto payments if mining is sustainable

These days, if you’re not on the green train, you’re not even worth mentioning in a headline. Self-proclaimed emperor of Mars, Elon Musk, has dropped a few more details on his plan to suspend Bitcoin payments for his electric car firm Tesla. And it’s got everything to do with being more environmentally friendly. 

Musk took to the only platform worth his time to tend to some of the questions that followed his comments on crypto: According to Musk, Tesla only sold roughly 10 percent of its Bitcoin holdings, “to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market.” This tweet followed his announcement that Tesla sold some of its Bitcoin assets. Then, Musk announced that Tesla will only resume accepting crypto payments once Bitcoin is ‘reasonably’ green. He tweeted, “when there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.”

As expected, the tweets caused a small social media storm, with many standing alongside the billionaire’s comments and many opposing it. Guess that’s what you sign up for when you’re a rich person on a social media platform?

Source: Twitter

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