Pocketnow Daily: iOS 15.4.. Face ID with a MASK 😷, Google LEAKS the Pixel 6a & more! (video)

The official news today are coming, so let’s talk about an interesting twist of events that involves two things that don’t really mix well, Chromebooks and gaming. Stop looking at me funny. Yes, believe it or not, we have a new rumor claiming we might be getting some gaming Chromebooks by the end of this year. A new report claims that companies like Lenovo and HP are working on Chromebooks that would be powered by Intel’s 12 Gen Alder Lake chip and they would also include RGB keyboards.. That lets you know it’s official. If you’re wondering how this is even possible. Well, last year NVIDIA announced their plans to introduce DLSS and Ray Tracing technology to Chromebooks, with them even showing demos of games like Wolfenstein and The Bistro running on a Chromebook with a MediaTek chip and RTX graphics. Sadly, the report doesn’t really mention any other specifications other than the codenames for these projects which are Taniks and Vell… Let’s see what we get by the end of this year because, I think that’d be interesting to see

Let’s shift gears on to Apple and products I’m really excited for, the upcoming AirPods Pro. We’ve been hearing rumors for a long time and now that we have a possible release date this fall, we start hearing about new features. A new patent that was recently granted to Cupertino describes a new system that would allow AirPods Pro to automatically interrupt noise cancellation mode by using a hot word or keyword. Kind of like the Google Assistant works when you say “Hey, G”. With this system, users would be able to pre-set “interrupt and authorized” words that would trigger the AirPods Pro to switch between ANC and Transparency mode once you say your keyword, in order to hear your surroundings whenever you need to. The system would also be able to figure out false positives which I hope works well, whenever somebody else manages what your hot word is. Of course, there’s no way of telling if this will actually make it to the final product, but it does seem like a genius feature that would help in certain instances.

Moving on, let’s talk about Google who just pulled a Samsung… You’ll see why. We know that Mountain View is prolific for their leak cycles but, we never really get leaks from them. According to a new Droid Life report, Google sent out some coloring books and Nest devices to some of their fans, with some of their products drawn in outline form but, someone just spotted something interesting in the products listed. In the featured product s list, Google accidentally added the Pixel 6a in the table of contents. For those of you thinking this was intentional, when you turn to the page listed, there’s nothing there. The page doesn’t even show any smartphones. The coloring book was available online and showed the Pixel 6a listed as well but, Google has corrected the page ever since the original report came out. So yeah, the Google Pixel 6a is definitely in the works and we’re reportedly getting it as early as May this year which means it’s going back to it’s original release schedule. We’re expecting a Pixel 6-like design with the Tensor chip and the Pixel 5a’s camera so… Let’s wait for the hands on video.

Finally, for the hottest and official news today, let’s talk about Apple once again and their latest software update. I know, we don’t cover these much let alone in this segment but this is a major one because it finally completes the iOS 15 promise. Earlier today the company just released the beta for iOS 15.4, which also includes iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3. If you’re wondering why it’s such a big deal if it’s still in Beta, it’s because it brings some major features we’ve been waiting and even a pleasant surprise. Starting with that pleasant surprise, you can now use Face ID with a mask on without the need of having an Apple Watch. It let’s you set your Face ID up again and it takes a couple of extra scans to pick up more detail in the area around your eyes in order to authenticate your face while you’re wearing a mask, and it works with Apple Pay too. Universal Control is now available as well, which let’s you use your iPad and other Mac devices seamlessly while using the keyboard and trackpad on your Mac. Users online are claiming that it actually works pretty well as advertised, with this video demo getting a ton of likes on twitter. It also brings about 37 new emojis and iCloud Keychain notes but, probably the biggest other feature is that it will allow third-party developers to run animations at 120Hz, letting them take full advantage of this feature.