The future was in sight
Just about 20 years ago, Honda kicked off the hybrid electric car segment with this sort of… oddball machine, the Insight. It seated just two people, was so light it tended to get blown around on freeways and made just enough power to achieve highway speed limits – and not much more. But it got nearly 70 miles to the gallon – impressive even now – so it was snapped up by the thousands.
Two decades later, and Honda has refined the design considerably, to the point that the insight looks essentially like an optioned Civic. Not a bad thing, but we kind of miss that buzzy little pioneer. The 2019 Insight has just been announced, and Honda says it’ll get 55 miles to the gallon on the open road, and even more in the city where its electric motor and battery will help get you where you need to go. And with over 150 horsepower all told, it can hold its own on the freeway with the big kids. Check out our first look.
And here’s HAL with the latest news…
In the business of news, it seems like everyone is getting in on the news business. Microsoft is the latest player with the launch today of a re-worked Microsoft News app for iOS and Android. The app can be custom configured of course, and includes a dark mode so you can soak up the latest developments while shorting yourself on sleep.
But Microsoft says the real secret sauce for the app is their A.I. tech, which parses stories from over a thousand publisher and then passes the most popular along to a team of 800 editors around the world, who then curate posts for the app. And of course, the app ties into the Windows 10 News feature and MSN.com. Check out more details at the link, and the app is free, of course.
We anticipate some interesting cases
So it seems Apple has started a trend with their notch at the top of the screen of the iPhone X, and everyone seems to be in copycat mode lately. But Chinese phone maker Oppo is taking a different approach. Instead of a notch, the top of the new Find X phone where the camera and a facial ID system resides is motorized and pops up for photos and unlocking. OK, despite the idea being somewhat mechanically complicated, it’s kind of cool.
The Find X doesn’t have a print reader so the facial ID system is the sole security measure, and we’ll have to see if it’s up to snuff security wise. Otherwise, the phone is rocking some great specs, including a big OLED display, 8 gigs of RAM, the new SnapDragon 845 CPU and up to 256 gigs of memeory. Best of all, it’s headed to markets worldwide, including the US – at least for now. You can order yours starting today.
Gotta play to win to play
Hey, quick note about a huge DT Giveaway you’ll want to get in on: We going to load up one lucky winner with an HP Omen desktop gaming system, and we don’t mean some stripped-down budget box; we’re talking about the same rig used in the Fortnite Pro-AM that went down at E3 this year. You’ll get an HP Omen PC880-125 SE with an unlocked Intel i7 chip, 2TB hard drive and 16 gigs of RAM, and an Omen 25 monitor. We’ll need your email and some boxes checked, and the drawing is happening on June 26th.
We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
