GoKawiil
Tech News
IEEE held educational workshops in February in Nairobi, at the University of Rwanda, and at Makerere University in Uganda, drawing more than 120 attendees. The sessions, led by IEEE staff and volunteer authors, covered how to prepare, submit, and get papers peer-reviewed, along with guidance on using IEEE Xplore and ensuring research integrity.
The CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter's rotor blades contain a spar filled with pressurized nitrogen gas, which leaks out if a crack forms, causing a visible barber-pole indicator to shift as a ground-check warning. Because engineers in the 1960s couldn't rely on wireless electronics surviving inside a spinning rotor head, they developed IBIS, an Inflight Blade Monitoring System that uses a small radioactive source within the same pressure indicator to alert pilots mid-flight if a blade is failing.
Aurzen showed off the Zip Pro at IFA, a follow-up to its pocket-sized Zip Cyber projector, now offering 1080p resolution and roughly twice the brightness in the 200-lumen range. The device is larger and heavier than its predecessor but still folds via a trifold hinge design, and battery life has grown to 2.5 hours with USB-C charging.
A developer released wg-admin, a self-hosted web interface designed to manage WireGuard VPN servers that are already configured and running. Rather than generating new configs or replacing wg-quick, it reads existing files in /etc/wireguard, lets admins add, rename, rotate or remove peers, and applies changes using wg syncconf so the tunnel doesn't restart. It also generates client config files and QR codes, shows live handshake and traffic data, and backs up configs before writing changes.
WIRED's Labor Day sales roundup highlights discounts on gadgets its reviewers have personally tested, spanning headphones, vacuums, and AirTags. The standout deal cuts the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 laptop to $1,200, a $700 reduction, offering 32GB of RAM in a machine praised for its OLED display and battery life. The list was refreshed on September 5 with additional vacuum and smart home discounts.
Apple's CarPlay, which mirrors iOS onto compatible car infotainment screens, is designed to reconnect automatically to a paired iPhone every time the driver gets in the vehicle. For those who prefer to skip it occasionally—whether to save battery or just take a break from the interface—there are several settings-based methods to disable that automatic reconnection without fully removing the device pairing.
Sony has released the WH-1000XM4C, a refreshed version of its popular 2020 WH-1000XM4 headphones, priced at $300. The update adds Bluetooth 6.0, a 10-band equalizer with gaming EQ, a new lavender color option, and revised sound tuning, while keeping the same QN1 noise-canceling chip and four-microphone array. Battery life drops slightly to 27 hours from the original's 30, and Sony launched it alongside two new midrange models, the WH-CH730N and WH-CH530.
Huawei unveiled the Mate XT2, a tri-folding smartphone that unfolds from a 6.5-inch display into a 10.2-inch 3K screen, now paired with an optional built-in privacy display. The device runs HarmonyOS and uses Huawei's new Kirin 9050 Pro chip, said to be 42 percent faster than its predecessor, alongside a four-camera setup led by a 50-megapixel main sensor and 3.5x periscope zoom. Pricing starts around $2,980 and climbs to roughly $4,470 for a 2TB collector's edition.
Amazon is discounting the Acer Gadget 4K 3-Channel Dash Cam to $149.99, a deal that includes a 64GB memory card so buyers don't need to purchase extra storage. The device simultaneously records front (4K), rear, and cabin (2.5K/HD) footage, and comes with GPS, a 3.2-inch IPS screen, Wi-Fi 6, and app connectivity.
An internal Microsoft email from January 2003, later made public, shows Bill Gates recounting his own frustrating attempt to download Windows Movie Maker and a Digital Plus pack from Microsoft.com. He describes a slow, timing-out download page, a confusing list of 45 unfiltered download names, failed searches for 'moviemaker' and 'movie maker,' and being redirected to Windows Update to solve what he called a puzzle just to get the software.
An internal Microsoft email from January 2003, later made public through litigation records, shows Bill Gates recounting a frustrating attempt to download Windows Movie Maker and a Digital Plus pack from Microsoft's own website. Gates described slow load times, a confusing list of 45 unfiltered download options, failed searches for 'moviemaker' and 'movie maker,' and being redirected to Windows Update just to find the software.
Sony has begun pushing Android 17 to the Xperia 1 VIII, with the update also arriving for the Xperia 1 VII and Xperia 1 VI. The release adds a Desktop mode for connecting phones to external displays like a PC, along with new wallpaper and icon customization, a redesigned Quick settings panel, and upgraded screen recording that captures full-screen or single-app video with audio. The Xperia 1 VIII also gains the ability to save and name up to three custom looks in its AI Camera Assistant.