Google Maps on iOS gets For You recommendations tab

We’re well into the holiday season and thinking up places to visit when family and friends are in town might be harder than you think. At least iOS users and some more Android users are getting some help from Google Maps. The company just brought its For You recommendations tab to iOS users in over 40 countries and it’s expanded to 130 new countries for Android users. For those who aren’t familiar with the feature, it provides a personalized feed of places you might want to try in your area (or wherever you are where the feature is live) as well as updates on those stores and other places you’ve visited. You can follow places to keep tabs on them, like if they get a new menu item or there’s a new store opening. It can even help you plan trips. The feature has begun to rollout to users.

Source: Google

Pixar announces its newest original movie, ‘Onward’

Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios announced its upcoming feature-length film. Called Onward, it stars Chris Pratt, Tom Holland (who teased the movie on his Instagram page), Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer. It takes place in a “suburban fantasy,” populated by creatures like elves, centaurs, trolls, and the like. But there is no magic here, in its place we get machines. So, you’ll see things like elves using cellphones. And instead of these creatures being considered magical, unicorns are considered raccoon-like pests. The story will follow two teenage elf brothers (presumably voiced by Pratt and Holland) as they go on a quest to discover if there’s still magic left in the world. According to director Dan Scanlon (Monsters University), the film is inspired by his own relationship with his brother. Onward comes to theatres on March 6, 2020.

Source: Polygon

Skullcandy launches Push wireless earbuds

The new Skullcandy Push is the company’s first ever wireless earbuds. It comes in Psychotropical Teal and like other wireless earbuds from its competition, it comes with a touch button you can use to answer calls, switch tracks, and control the volume. It can also activate your phone’s voice assistant. The earbuds are said to have six hours of listening time with its carrying case adding an additional six hours of battery life. Unfortunately, these earbuds aren’t for working out as they’re neither sweat- nor water-resistant. It’ll be sold exclusively at Target for US$129.99 until the end of the year and will come to select retailers starting January 15^th. If you lose the earbuds or charging case, Skullcandy will offer these at a reduced price of US$49 under its “Fearless Use Promise” deal.

Source: The Verge

Samsung Galaxy A8s debuts sans headphone jack

There are a bunch of firsts happening with the new midrange Samsung device the company just launched in China. It’s the first to feature the new 6.4-inch Infinity-O display with its distinctive “hole-punch” design for the phone’s 24-megapixel selfie camera located at the top left of the display. It is also the first Samsung phone to not have a headphone jack. With manufacturers dropping the headphone jack left and right, we forget that Samsung is one of the last remaining phone makers that still puts a headphone jack in their phones. But this might be the start of a change.

Samsung is trying out a new strategy of bringing new features into midrange devices first. The Galaxy A8s is a prime example for this. It runs on a Snapdragon 710 processor with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage, which can be expanded up to 512GB via microSD. You get the same triple-camera setup as the Galaxy A7 in the back. Samsung will be offering pre-orders for this phone in China starting December 21^st. There is no word yet if the handset will be made available outside of said country. But we might be seeing this form factor in the upcoming Galaxy S10 (both the Infinity-O display and headphone jack-less state). Nothing is confirmed yet but we’ll update when we hear more.

Source: The Verge