Lenovo is coming to Mobile World Congress 2022 with a small flood of IdeaPad tablets, including one of the relatively few Windows tablets on the market. The IdeaPad Duet 5i (shown above) mates a 12.3-inch Surface-style detachable tablet with Windows 11 and Intel's 12th-gen Core ultraportable chips. It won't have the 13-inch 120Hz display of the Surface Pro 8, but the size and refresh rate might be worth the tradeoff if you're more interested in CPU power or portability.

The Duet 5i supports up to a Core i7-1255U chip, 16GB of LPDDR4x memory (sorry, no DDR5 here) and 1TB of SSD storage. The two USB-C 3.2 ports, 11 hours of claimed battery life and 5MP front and rear cameras won't stand out, but you might appreciate the color-accurate 1600p screen, optional pen input and a relatively light 1.8lbs body.

The Windows tablet won't ship until July, but it will start at $750 with a keyboard cover included. Even with baseline specs (a Pentium 8505, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage), it may represent a better value than some Windows slates.

Lenovo

There are plenty of choices if you prefer Google-powered devices. Lenovo is trotting out three Chrome OS IdeaPad devices, including the 14-inch Flex 5i Chromebook (middle), 15-inch Flex 3i Chromebook and 11-inch Duet 3 Chromebook. The Flex 5i convertible is a clear step up from past models with up to 12th-gen Core processors, a 16:10 ratio full HD display, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 1080p webcam. The more modest Flex 3i peaks with a Pentium N6000 chip, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of eMMC storage and a 720p camera. And the Duet 3 detachable may be worth noting if you're looking for an upgrade from its predecessors — you'll find a Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 chip, up to 8GB of RAM and as much as 256GB of eMMC storage.

The Flex 3i and Duet 3 Chromebook models will arrive in May, both of which start at $400. Wait until June and you can buy the Flex 5i Chromebook starting at $500.

There is one Android model in the mix. The third-generation Tab M10 Plus you see below is a solid budget Android 12 tablet with either a Snapdragon 680 (with 4GB or 6GB of RAM) or MediaTek G80 (3GB or 4GB of RAM), a 10.6-inch 2,000 x 1,200 pen-optional display and up to 128GB of expandable storage. You'll also find 8MP front and rear cameras and a lone USB-C 2.0 port. It doesn't ship until June, but the $190 entry price could make it a relatively easy choice.

Lenovo

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Huawei’s top laptop series has gone through a few iterations, but the company has made some notable upgrades to its 2022 MateBook X Pro, without losing what we’ve liked from these laptops over the last few years. Yes, it’s still slim, yes it’s still understated. Yes, we don’t know if it’ll ever appear in the US.

The 2022 model will land with 11th gen Intel U series processors (a spokesperson added that 12th-gen MateBooks would arrive later this year), and a bigger screen. Huawei has expanded the screen up to 14.2 inches from the 13.9 inches of its predecessor, while simultaneously making the body even slimmer. Above the 3,120 x 2,080 display, there’s a HD micro camera – fortunately Huawei hasn’t moved it back to the peek-a-boo webcam keyboard button.

This is also Huawei’s first laptop to support the P3 color gamut and over 1 billion colors and reaches refresh rates of 90Hz too. And for those into touch displays, there's 10-point multitouch compatibility too. 

Inside the new wedge design, there are now triple air intakes, up from a single intake last year, including one built into the keyboard. Huawei says this results in 60 percent more airflow through the device. And it might be put to use. The new MateBook X Pro has a new 'performance mode' — accessed through a keyboard shortcut. Huawei says this boosts the CPU's thermal design power (TDP) to 30W for a "performance uplift". 

The MateBook X Pro comes with a 90W SuperCharge function that can give 3 hours of use on just a 15-minute charge. (And this all comes from a tiny 180-gram charger that looks more like a phone charger.) 

Plug a phone into one of the four USB-C ports and you’ll get up to 50 watts of charge, too. Huawei has also upgraded the sound in its latest laptop, with six speakers dotted around the MateBook X Pro. That's a lot. There are also four mics dotted around the perimeter to improve audio recording and conference calls. 

These are the big changes, but a lot is staying the same. There’s still a large trackpad (with some new “free touch” gestures, including one for swiftly scrobbling through video), a chiclet keyboard and Huawei’s Mobile App engine (for running Huawei’s mobile… apps on your laptop). 

Huawei

Alongside a new e-ink device, Huawei is also launching a new OLED hybrid PC. The 2-in-1 MateBook E comes with two keyboard options — alas likely to be sold separately or bundled with the PC, depending on region.

Alone, the 12.6-inch MateBook E weighs just over 700 grams (1.5 pounds) and is a slender 7.99mm thick. It will run on 11th-gen Intel Core processors with Intel's embedded Iris X graphics. Huawei's second-generation stylus will also work with the hybrid — the first time it's been compatible with the MateBook series — supporting 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and 2ms responsiveness. A magnetic keyboard folio, seen above, will allow you to adjust the view of the 2-in-1 while working, while a new Glide keyboard peripheral, adds an extra USB port to the device and will, according to Huawei, allow you to hold it in one hand. For spreadsheets on the go? 

The company is holding onto other details – including, crucially, price – for its big MWC reveal. We’ll update this story when it’s streamed this weekend. 

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Twitter has admitted that it mistakenly removed accounts sharing Russian military activity in the midst of the Ukraine invasion. As TechCrunch notes, the deleted accounts, which have since been reinstated, included an aggregator of user-generated posts from Ukraine and accounts owned by people doing open source intelligence investigation (OSINT) to debunk fake news and claims. 

While users first blamed mass reporting for the account deletions, Twitter Head of Site Integrity Yoel Roth said it wasn't a factor at all. Instead, the removals were a result of errors made by human moderators who are proactively addressing manipulated media on the website. 

In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson explained to TechCrunch:

"We've been proactively monitoring for emerging narratives that are violative of our policies, and, in this instance, we took enforcement action on a number of accounts in error. We're expeditiously reviewing these actions and have already proactively reinstated access to a number of affected accounts."

In addition to proactively monitoring manipulated media coming from the region, Twitter has also responded to the Ukraine crisis with tips on how to secure accounts. Ukraine's websites have been hit by cyberattacks over the past few weeks, and social media accounts, especially those sharing news and images from the country, might also be targeted. 

Twitter Safety has posted a series of tweets in Ukrainian with tips on how to protect accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication. It also included links to its support page for those whose accounts had been compromised and for those who got locked out. Twitter has linked users to instructions on how to disable location info and how to remove it from previous tweets, as well. Finally, it's advising users to deactivate their account if they feel that the safest option is to delete it completely.

Mark Zuckerberg may still be explaining exactly what the metaverse is, but the Meta CEO just showed off another technology he says will be crucial to the company’s vision of creating immersive environments. Meta's AI researchers are working on a voice-powered bot that allows users to change their virtual surroundings with voice commands. 

Zuckerberg demoed an early version of the concept, called Builder Bot, at a virtual event detailing the company’s latest AI research.

“It enables you to describe a world and then it will generate aspects of that world for you,” Zuckerberg said. In his demo, he and another Meta employee used voice commands to create a very basic beach scene with a picnic table, clouds, and, yes, Zuckerberg’s signature hydrofoil. They also added some sound effects of seagulls and ocean waves.

Facebook

For now though, the technology seems to be in a relatively early stage. The environment Zuckerberg generated looked much flatter and lower-res than past metaverse demos, though his legless avatar was present much like other recent demos. “As we advance this technology further, you're going to be able to create nuanced worlds to explore and share experiences with others with just your voice,” he said.

The builder bot is part of a larger AI project called Project CAIRaoke that aims to create the kind of conversational AI necessary to create these virtual worlds. Facebook isn’t the first to experiment with this type of research. OpenAI showed off a neural network capable of generating images from text last year. But Zuckerberg said that project CAIRaoke would be central for the Meta’s future.

“In the metaverse, we're going to need AI that is built around helping people navigate virtual worlds as well as our physical world with augmented reality,” Zuckerberg said. “When we have glasses on our faces, that will be the first time that an AI system will be able to really see the world from our perspective: See what we see, hear what we hear and more.”

Zuckerberg’s comments come as he is trying to pivot the company from social networking to metaverse technology, a move that has so far proved to be incredibly expensive. But as the core Facebook service starts to lose users for the first time ever, Zuckerberg has said “metaverse” experiences like the company’s VR Horizon Worlds will drive future growth.

Apple's iOS 15.4 will bring more than AirTag anti-stalking messages and direct iPhone contactless payments. Axios has confirmed the latest iOS 15.4 beta includes a less gendered Siri voice option for English speakers. The voice, recorded by a member of the LGBTQ community, was meant to increase the diversity of Apple's assistant. This should give users more choices for a "voice that speaks to them," Apple said in a statement.

It's not certain if or when the voice will be available in other languages. Apple also didn't say when the finished iOS 15.4 might be ready, although the company is rumored to be holding an event in early March that might provide a fitting opportunity to release the new software.

The move comes roughly a year after Apple's last big push to make Siri more inclusive. As of iOS 14.5, Siri no longer defaulted to a female voice — you had to pick during the setup process. Apple also added two Black voice options to supplement existing choices. This latest update builds on that formula — it's not clear how long Apple will continue to expand Siri's horizons, but we wouldn't be surprised to see more changes.

Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Calgary have developed a modular robot system that can morph into different shapes. ElectroVoxels don't have any motors or moving parts. Instead, they use electromagnets to shift around each other.

Each edge of an ElectroVoxel cube is an electromagnetic ferrite core wrapped with copper wire. The length of each ElectroVoxel side is around 60 millimeters. The total cost is just 60 cents.

When the polarity of a magnet is changed, the edges either attract or repel each other. That causes the cubes to shift into a different orientation. Printed circuit boards and electronics inside each cube control the direction of each electromagnet's current.

The robots have two basic types of movement. They can pivot around the edge of another cube, or traverse from one ElectroVoxel to the next. A software planner can be used to program reconfigurations. A user can highlight specific magnets, control the speed of cube's movements and ensure they won't collide with each other.

The researchers say possible to control up to 1,000 ElectroVoxels with the software. Users can tell the blocks to shift into different shapes, such as turning from a chair into a couch. They can decide which cube should move in which direction, and the software will determine the electromagnetic assignments needed to carry out the task.

The scientists tested ElectroVoxels in microgravity on a parabolic flight. They found the robots can operate in low-gravity environments. As such, the researchers say ElectroVoxels could be used to alter and create structures in outer space.

MIT CSAIL

They suggest the robots could change the inertia properties of a spacecraft, which might mitigate the need for extra fuel for reconfiguration. That, the scientists say, remedies many challenges linked with launch mass and volume. They hope the system will eventually enable a range of space-related use cases, such as augmenting and replacing structures over a series of launches, and building temporary structures to assist astronauts and help with spacecraft inspections.

A future version of ElectroVoxels could allow the creation of self-sorting storage containers. However, to allow the robots to more easily reconfigure in Earth's gravity, the researchers say more detailed modeling and optimization would be required.

"While the potential benefits in space are particularly great, the paradox is that the favorable dynamics provided by microgravity mean some of those problems are actually also easier to solve — in space, even tiny forces can make big things move," said Martin Nisser, a PhD student at CSAIL and lead author on a paper on ElectroVoxels. "By applying this technology to solve real near-term problems in space, we can hopefully incubate the technology for future use on Earth too."

Apple's latest anti-stalking features for AirTags announced earlier this month have started to appear in iOS, MacRumors has reported. The latest beta 4 version of iOS 15.4 now includes a warning shown to users when they first set up an AirTag. "Using this item to track people without their consent is a crime in many regions around the world," it reads. "This item is designed to be detected by victims and to enable law enforcement to request identifying information about the owner."

Apple noted earlier that it has already worked with law enforcement on multiple occasions to trace misused AirTags back to their original owners, so it's not an idle threat. At the same time, it obviously wouldn't necessarily stop any stalkers willing to use fake identities . 

Another issue has been an "unknown accessory detected" error message that has been confusing users. It's actually caused by certain AirPods models, along with third party devices, but many folks thought it meant that someone had planted an AirTag tracker on them. The latest beta of iOS 15.4 will now make clear that you're traveling with someone else's AirPods, for instance, to reduce confusion. 

In addition, there's no longer an option to toggle off "Item Safety Alerts." Rather, the update now offers "Customize Find My Notifications" and "Customize Tracking Notifications" options. Some of these changes may or may not appear in the final version of iOS 15.4, due sometime next month. 

The update is part of a larger measure to improve AirTags safety and reduce stalking. Last year, Apple shortened the period of time when an AirTag can be separated from its owner without making noise from three days to between eight and 24 hours. That change was designed to reduce the time a potential victim can be tracked.

Later this year, Apple will update recent iPhone models to add a precision tracking feature that will allow individuals to more easily locate an unknown AirTag. It also plans to change unwanted tracking alerts to notify people earlier. Lastly, the AirTag sound is being tweaked to make it as loud as possible, with a backup iPhone visual alert.

Apple's 2021 MacBook Pros offer incredible performance thanks to the latest M1 Pro and Max chips, while the return of certain key ports makes them more practical than ever. If you've been looking for one but have been put off by the price, the 14-inch 1TB model just fell to a new all-time low at Amazon. You can pick up the 1TB M1 Pro model with a 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU and 16GB of RAM for just $2,229, or $270 off the regular price. 

With an Engadget review score of 92, the 2021 MacBook Pros were among the best laptops of the year. That's due in large part to the 2nd-gen M1 Pro/Max CPUs that can keep up with and even outperform models equipped with Intel and AMD chips, while delivering up to 12 hours of battery life. They also offer good GPU performance for content creation and light gaming. 

Along with the three Thunderbolt 4 ports, you get HDMI, MagSafe power, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. Apple has also ditched the butterfly keyboards in favor of more reliable ones, while adding in a high-resolution 1080p Facetime webcam. Finally, the 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display delivers 3,024 x 1,964 resolution, up to 1,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. Some folks may not like the screen's notch, however, and the lack of upgradeable memory and storage are also downsides.

If you don't need 1TB of storage (Thunderbolt 4 certainly makes upgrading that easy), Amazon is also offering a deal on the base 512GB model. Apart from the smaller SSD and a slightly less powerful M1 Pro CPU and GPU (8-core CPU and 14-core GPU), it has similar specs to the 1TB model and is considerably cheaper — just $1,799, or $200 off the regular price. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Google Chrome hasn't been the greatest password manager, in part because you couldn't add passwords yourself — you've had to wait until the browser offered to do it for you. You might soon have reasons to reconsider, though. Android Policenotes the latest stable version of Chrome includes a buried flag (chrome://flags/#add-passwords-in-settings) that lets you manually add passwords. If you know you'll frequently sign into a bank or favorite store, you can add the credentials without having to visit that site first.

Reddit user Leopeva64-2 first spotted the manual password feature in Canary builds of Chrome at the end of 2021. The feature is common in other password managers, but this should still be welcome if you'd prefer to use Google's built-in functionality instead of installing software and extensions.

More recently, that same user noticed a Chrome Canary 101 feature that lets you add notes for passwords. This again isn't new for password managers, but could be vital if you want to remember the last time you changed a password or want a clue for any security questions. While this and the manual password function might take a while to reach easily accessible settings, they should be worth the wait if you rely on Google's password tools.

When Microsoft announced it would spend $68.7 billion to buy Activision Blizzard to bolster its Xbox gaming division, the news came as a surprise to many. For months, the troubled publisher had been in headlines stemming from the workplace sexual harassment lawsuit filed by California’s fair employment agency in July. The bad press hit a fever pitch on November 16th after The Wall Street Journal published a report that asserted Activision CEO Bobby Kotick had not only known about many of the incidents of sexual harassment that had occured at the company but had also acted to protect those who were responsible for the abuse.

Days after that article came out, Xbox chief Phil Spencer reportedly told employees he was “distributed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions” that allegedly took place at Activision Blizzard and that Microsoft would re-evaluate its relationship with the publisher. It’s one day after that email that Spencer called Kotick to start the process that would end with Microsoft announcing plans to buy Activision Blizzard some two months later, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing first spotted by CNBC.

Starting on page 31 of the document, Microsoft devotes nearly 10 pages detailing the timeline of its talks with Activision. According to the filing, Spencer told Kotick during their November 19th phone call that “Microsoft was interested in discussing strategic opportunities” between the two companies and asked if he had time to talk to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the following day. That Saturday, November 20th, Nadella made it clear Microsoft hoped to purchase the publisher, stating the company was “interested in exploring a strategic combination with Activision Blizzard.”

It turns out the quick pace at which the talks moved was mainly due to all the other companies interested in buying up Activision Blizzard after its stock dived in November. At least four other companies contacted the publisher about a possible acquisition. None of them are named in the SEC filing. However, one notably wanted to just buy Blizzard. Activision didn’t move forward with that option because the company’s board of directors deemed the sale would have been too difficult to pull off.

The document also details the terms of the purchase agreement. If the deal doesn’t go through due to antitrust complications, Microsoft has agreed to pay Activision Blizzard a termination fee of up $3 billion. A few years ago, that’s a possibility Microsoft probably wouldn’t have had to worry about too much, but 2022 finds the company in a very different regulatory environment. At the start of the month, NVIDIA abandoned a $40 billion bid to buy ARM after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the purchase. President Biden appointed Lina Khan, the Commission’s current chair, to the position on the strength of her experience in antitrust law. When the NVIDIA-ARM deal fell through, the agency specifically noted it was "significant" because it "represents the first abandonment of a litigated vertical merger in many years."