Nest Thermostat gets colour-matched AAA batteries

Google's new budget-friendly thermostat hopes to attract different types of first-time smart home buyers by offering it in four different shades—Fog (mint), Sand (salmon), Charcoal (black), and Snow (White). One extra design touch it added is that the Nest Thermostat's included batteries match the units themselves. It doesn't add to the experience, but it's a nice aesthetic touch. Most variants match their exterior, except for the Charcoal, which gets the similar white AAAs as the Snow model. 

While the Nest Thermostat uses HVAC system wires as its primary power source, it has provision for two AAA 1.5V alkaline batteries. This isn't the first time Google colour-matched its smart home devices. The new Chromecast with Google TV has the same colour-matching batteries, too.

Source: 9to5Google

US govt. allows Qualcomm to sell 4G chips to Huawei despite ban

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Qualcomm has received permission from the US government to sell 4G mobile processors to Huawei, despite an ongoing ban from the Trump administration to conduct business with the Chinese company. The chipmaker didn't specify which products it is allowed to sell to Huawei, but it told Reuters these were related to mobile devices.

Huawei has admitted back in August that it was running out of processor chips because of the US sanctions. Richard Yu, the company's CEO of its consumer business unit, said that "this year may be the last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips."

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Some iPhone 12 mini units suffer from unresponsive lock screens

The newly launched iPhone 12 mini seems to be suffering from an issue. Some users are reporting that the phone is partly unresponsive while on the lock screen. Some can't launch the camera or flashlight or even just swipe up with their thumb to unlock the phone. Other fingers reportedly work.

A few users speculate the device is suffering from conduction or grounding issues. And it reportedly gets sometimes fixed when the phone is plugged into its charger and used without a case. It isn't clear how widespread the problem is, but we hope to hear more about it from Apple soon.

Source: Engadget

PS5's download bug has an easy yet troublesome remedy

Source: SonyThere seems to be a bug on the PlayStation 5 where downloaded software from the PlayStation Store gets stuck in the queue. You'll be informed that the game is queued for download or an error occurred, but then nothing will happen. The next logical step is to restart the download. However, when some users who encountered the issue tried to fix it, the software they're downloading is nowhere to be found. And when they try to visit the store, their purchase is wiped, and they're being asked to buy the title again. The issue seems to be happening with different titles, suggesting it's a problem with the PS5 itself.

One quick fix from your end would be to factory reset your console. Thankfully, the PS5 is new, and cloud saving is now available. But with the size of games to download, the process can be troublesome. Sony hasn't commented on the issue yet. But if this issue is more widespread, we're expecting to hear from them soon, hopefully with a better fix in tow.

Source: T3

Update on Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 8:11AM by Nicole Batac

Sony has released a better, and hopefully, more permanent fix to this issue. We detailed it in this post.