Articles by Vishal Mathur
Apple MacBook Air 2024 ushers in a new era as a resounding response to AI PCs
An upgraded 13-inch MacBook Air’s performance is closer to the MacBook Pro than it has ever been, which adds value and longevity, as all important upgrades hide in plain sight
Published on Mar 29, 2024 09:45 AM IST
Apple iPhone’s new legal tryst, while Canva finds value in Europe to rival Adobe
Apple is restricting “super apps”, which according to the lawsuit, “can improve smartphone competition by providing a consistent...
Published on Mar 28, 2024 03:59 PM IST
Noise Buds Xero underlines a premiumisation aspiration for Indian tech brands
Intricacies of audio drivers and noise cancellation tuned well, a beautiful design language and consistent battery life must be matched with a companion app that’s sorely missing
Updated on Mar 28, 2024 08:51 AM IST
A new native Chrome browser for Arm-based PCs points to something even bigger
Qualcomm’s next PC chip arrives later in 2024, and must balance performance and battery life, as Windows PCs and Chromebooks need to keep pace with Apple’s M-series chips
Published on Mar 27, 2024 12:28 PM IST
Power cuts and no Wi-Fi? Annoying problem and its straightforward solution
A recent evolution of simple power backups for Wi-Fi routers and modems, solves a rather annoying reality of power cuts. Without having to spend significantly more on larger UPS boxes
Published on Mar 27, 2024 09:53 AM IST
Honeywell Air Touch U series keeps the air pure, but needs refinement elsewhere
After another data revision about the poor quality of air in our cities, a good indoor air purifier in homes, becomes essential
Published on Mar 26, 2024 12:21 PM IST
AI’s chip wars are just getting started
Tech companies are racing to dominate hardware for generative AI, with Nvidia leading the way with its Blackwell superchip. Competitors like AMD, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google are also in the game, aiming to reduce reliance on traditional chip makers. This shift in hardware focus is crucial as AI processing moves from the cloud to on-device, with companies like Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm integrating AI-specific chips into PCs and smartphones.
Updated on Mar 23, 2024 06:04 AM IST
Vishal Mathur, New Delhi
Tech Tonic | Bosses, optics and the refined art of the poker face
Amidst a sea of vague answers and optics being managed, is it right to criticise OpenAI’s Mira Murati for being honest?
Updated on Mar 22, 2024 09:56 PM IST
Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED rekindles the pursuit for an ultra slim, powerful laptop
Asus not just has the early mover advantage with the Intel Core Ultra chip upgrades, but also a significant price to value equation compared with what the competition offers
Published on Mar 22, 2024 11:53 AM IST
Nvidia's new AI chips take no prisoners, and EU moves forward with AI regulation
Regulating AI, Nvidia and Apple make everyone take notice and subscriptions
Published on Mar 21, 2024 04:43 PM IST
GaN chargers are relatively new and still expensive, but signify tech progress
The new technology, switching from silicon to gallium nitride, allows these chargers to deliver faster speeds in much smaller sizes, and can remain absolutely cool after hours of use
Published on Mar 20, 2024 09:53 AM IST
Tech Tonic | Bluetooth’s constancy has given us the soundtrack to life
After defining how we listen to audio at home, in the office and in the car, it is now time for the wellness space to derive simpler solutions from Bluetooth
Published on Mar 15, 2024 05:25 PM IST
As a concept, WatchOut’s watch and earbuds hybrid may prove a seminal moment
Indian tech start-up WatchOut has written a new template to meld smartwatches and wireless earbuds, into one
Published on Mar 12, 2024 09:55 AM IST
Wear next? The future’s calling: A look at the next-generation smartphone
The ‘phone’ to aspire to, in the age of AI, will likely be a tiny, multi-functional wearable device that looks nothing like what we‘re accustomed to.
Updated on Mar 09, 2024 06:43 PM IST
Tech Tonic | WWW disruptions can be more worrying than Instagram outages
Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini define undersea cables that carry much of the internet traffic as “unsung heroes”, and for once, AI chatbots are on point
Published on Mar 08, 2024 09:47 PM IST
Xiaomi 14 is a true flagship phone underlined by Leica’s photography expertise
Xiaomi 14 is simply some of the best camera hardware you’ll find on an Android flagship phone, for now. Excellent results are delivered with old-school optimisations, and little AI. Xiaomi may have given Samsung and Google some sleepless nights, with pricing too
Published on Mar 08, 2024 08:34 AM IST
Nothing’s resolute personality and value recipe defines an affordable Phone (2a)
There are the underpinnings from its more expensive siblings, the Phone (2) and indeed the Phone (1), which should allow Nothing something to mount a challenge against its rivals
Published on Mar 07, 2024 08:55 AM IST
Asus morphs this year’s ROG Zephyrus G16 into a more likeable gaming rig
A lot making up this gaming rig, has played its part in delivering performance. It’ll only make HP and Lenovo’s task difficult, as they prepare a response
Published on Mar 05, 2024 10:45 AM IST
Apple MacBook Air gets more power with M3 chips
There are three base specs each for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air that will go on sale in India, and Apple is talking about a Neural Engine that’s optimised for AI models
Published on Mar 04, 2024 08:21 PM IST
Tech Tonic | Adieu, Apple car! You prove it is not easy to make a motor vehicle
Whilst Apple exits its car project to refocus on things of immediate importance, Xiaomi’s energetic approach must draw warnings from the struggles of EV makers.
Published on Feb 29, 2024 05:06 PM IST
Mobile World Congress: More than phones and Leica’s history
The biggest attraction this year at a show that gets its name from a passionate interest in mobile telephony, is a car.
Published on Feb 29, 2024 02:43 PM IST
Xiaomi SU7’s in-house tech ingenuity is indicative of a shift in philosophy
There are 8 cameras all around the car as just one crucial part of the expected autonomous driving tech.
Updated on Feb 27, 2024 09:11 AM IST
From 1914 to now, Leica’s definitive history is Xiaomi’s photography trump card
In an era where artificial intelligence is being used extensively to define photography results in phones, Leica and Xiaomi are on the same page – optical hardware basics over artificially boosting photo results
Published on Feb 27, 2024 09:05 AM IST
Mobile World Congress 2024: Xiaomi SU7, AI progress and Android evolves
Better known for smartphones and smart home ecosystems, Xiaomi has taken an undeniably bold leap of faith by investing heavily on a powerful electric vehicle, the SU7 sedan
Updated on Feb 26, 2024 01:27 PM IST
Xiaomi 14 is likely what the premium journey needs, with Leica’s secret sauce
While specs are on point and Leica camera partnership is delivering results that’d worry flagship competition, Xiaomi’s pricing will have to put perceived value
Published on Feb 25, 2024 11:29 PM IST
Tech Tonic | Your phone camera is at a crossroads
Phones may be replacing cameras, but not camera makers. Would you trust their expertise, or hand over control to AI?
Published on Feb 24, 2024 06:07 PM IST
No escaping AI videos, but are we ready to answer tough questions about reality?
There’s no escaping AI videos, Xiaomi rediscovers form and gaming exclusives
Published on Feb 22, 2024 08:31 AM IST
ReMarkable 2 is a paper saving writing tab we think we need, but do we really?
This unique e-ink display tablet excels at taking handwritten notes and for creating documents, also, Cloud storage is sorted too
Published on Feb 21, 2024 12:29 PM IST
With washable MESP filter, Nirvana Being’s air purifier saves money and e-waste
An MESP filter has a life of 10 years or so. Average that with swapping out HEPA filters once a year, and assuming an average cost of replacement filters to be around ?3,000, you’ll be saving around ?30,000 over the same period
Published on Feb 20, 2024 03:55 PM IST
Dashcam footage is being recognized as valid evidence: SafeCams’ Vanesh Naidoo
As tempers often run high, video footage from ever-improving dashcams inarguably describing a road incident, can be quite helpful
Published on Feb 19, 2024 03:00 PM IST