Category: Technologies

Just a month after Chinese automaker BYD set the bar for EV fast charging with its new Blade Battery 2.0 and flash charging system, rival Geely has already raised it. The company’s Lynk & Co brand has announced that its new 900V Energee Golden Brick Battery delivers even quicker results.

Geely edges ahead on charging speeds

Lynk & Co has unveiled the 10 and 10+ electric sedans, both built to showcase its latest fast-charging tech. According to CarNewsChina, official test data shared by the company shows the Lynk & Co 10 charging from 10% to 70% in 4 minutes and 22 seconds, and from 10% to 97% in 8 minutes and 42 seconds. In contrast, BYD’s flash charging tech achieved the same results in 5 minutes and 9 minutes, respectively. The difference is small, but it’s enough to put Geely in the lead, at least on paper.

The cars themselves are also worth paying attention to. The standard Lynk & Co 10 has a pre-sale price between $29,000 and $33,000, putting it in direct competition with the Xiaomi SU7 while undercutting BYD’s Z9GT. The 10+ is the performance variant, packing 912hp and hitting 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds, though Geely has yet to reveal pricing details.

What’s the catch?

As with most headline figures, Geely’s results come from controlled testing using Zeekr’s V4 ultra-fast chargers, so real-world results may vary. Geely’s public charging network is also much smaller than BYD’s. The company currently has around 2,100 stations across China, compared to BYD’s 5,000, with the latter targeting 20,000 stations by the end of the year.

The Chinese EV giants are competing on two fronts: battery technology and charging infrastructure. For now, Geely holds the speed advantage, while BYD leads on scale. If Geely can close the infrastructure gap, it could have a genuinely compelling answer to BYD’s dominance. Until then, having the fastest charging means little if there aren’t enough chargers to utilize it.

A tiny camera breakthrough could reshape how phones and wearables are built. Researchers at KAIST have developed an ultra-thin camera module that tackles one of the most persistent design problems in consumer tech, the camera hump.

The system delivers a 140-degree field of view in a structure under 1mm thick, thin enough to sit nearly flush inside modern devices. Current high-performance cameras rely on stacked lenses, which add bulk and force protruding modules or thicker hardware.

Instead, this design uses a microlens array inspired by insect vision, combining multiple captures into a single high-resolution image. The result keeps detail and wide-angle coverage while cutting down thickness.

Microlens trick replaces stacked optics

The core innovation comes from how the camera captures and processes light. The system uses multiple tiny lenses arranged in an array, each capturing a different part of the scene.

This design borrows from a parasitic insect’s visual system, which builds a complete image by stitching together partial views. The KAIST team adapted that split-and-merge concept, so the camera can deliver both a wide field of view and high resolution without increasing thickness.

That consistency matters in real use. Wide-angle cameras often blur at the edges, especially up close, but this design keeps the image stable from center to periphery.

Why this matters for device design

For device makers, this changes what’s possible in tight spaces. The camera keeps strong imaging performance while shrinking its footprint.

At 0.94mm thick, it fits where traditional modules can’t. That makes it well suited for wearables and medical tools like endoscopes, where size and clarity are critical.

Some gaps remain though, as the research does not detail low-light or video performance, which are key in real-world use.

What to watch next

The project is already moving toward commercialization. The team has transferred the technology to an optical imaging company, with plans pointing to market readiness as early as next year.

Early adoption will likely show up in specialized hardware first, especially where precision and space constraints matter most. Medical devices and micro-robots are the most immediate candidates before the technology moves into mainstream consumer products.

Several factors will determine how fast that happens. Manufacturing scale, cost, and compatibility with existing imaging systems remain open questions, and those details haven’t been shared yet.

If those pieces fall into place, the clearest signal will be early products that prove the design works outside the lab, followed by gradual expansion into larger device categories.

YouTube Premium is one of the few subscriptions I don’t mind paying for. Given how inundated YouTube is with unskippable ads these days, I’m glad a paid tier exists. 

In addition to an ad-free experience, a Premium subscription also includes background play and a handful of experimental features that regular users don’t get. Now, YouTube is rolling out a new experiment for Premium subscribers, and it might genuinely change how you watch videos.

It’s called “Auto Speed”, and it does what the name suggests. Instead of manually changing your playback speed , Auto Speed handles it for you. The feature automatically adjusts your video’s playback speed throughout your watch session, helping you get through content faster without losing track of what’s being said.

How to access the Auto Speed feature on YouTube

If you are a YouTube Premium subscriber, you can enable the feature from YouTube’s experimental feature right now. As of right now, even after enabling the Auto Speed experimental feature, I do not see the option to turn it on, so it appears the feature is rolling out in stages. 

But YouTube has detailed the steps, so here’s what you need to do. Tap the settings button when playing a video, open Playback controls, and turn on the toggle for Auto Speed. 

Now, YouTube will dynamically adjust the playback speed, allowing you to watch videos faster without any loss in comprehension. 

Is there a catch?

There are a couple of things worth knowing before you get too excited. Auto Speed is only available on Android and iOS, so desktop users will have to wait or stick to manually controlling the playback speed. 

It only works with English-language videos, which limits its usefulness depending on what you watch. It’s also available only until April 27, so you don’t have much time left to test it. 

That said, if you are a YouTube Premium subscriber, this is a nice bonus on top of the ad-free experience

Google Photos has finally caught up with a feature that iOS has had for years. A new Copy button is now rolling out in the Google Photos share sheet. It lets you copy an image straight to the clipboard, without having to download it to your device first (via Android Authority). 

What exactly does the new Google Photos feature do?

Until now, sharing a photo from Google Photos wasn’t as straightforward. First, you had to store the picture locally on your phone, which meant waiting for it to download before you could actually send it anywhere. 

Now, you can argue that a second of waiting doesn’t sound like much. However, Google Photos users had to go through the same process every single time. That’s a second multiplied by the number of times you try to share a photo each day. 

The new Copy button, spotted across multiple devices running the latest Google Photos version (7.71.0.895417930), eliminates that friction. You can simply tap Share on any image, hit the new Copy button, and the photo lands on your phone’s clipboard, good for pasting into a messaging app, a notes app, or wherever you want it to be. 

Does the new Google Photos feature have a catch?

Unfortunately, yes, and I’d prefer you know it upfront rather than realizing it later. The copied image isn’t a pixel-perfect copy of the original one. To keep things quick and efficient, Google Photos copies a compressed version of the picture, with a slightly reduced resolution. 

So, for casual sharing, the new Copy button does perfectly fine. However, I wouldn’t suggest relying on the feature for professional use or printing something. You’re better off spending those few extra seconds and downloading the entire file. 

On the brighter side, the new Google Photos Copy button works for videos too. Furthermore, if you’re using Gboard, copied media appears in the keyboard’s clipboard, remaining there even after you’ve copied something else.  

Skoda has introduced the DuoBell, a mechanical bicycle bell created to be heard even through active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones.

Skoda

Working with acoustic experts from the University of Salford, the car manufacturer developed this new bell to tackle a growing urban hazard: pedestrians who are so isolated by ANC technology that standard bells are ineffective.

Skoda

If you’ve ever plugged in a controller to your Android phone, jumped into a game, and immediately fumbled a button because the layout felt off, you’re not alone. Android has supported a wide range of gamepads for years now, which is great for flexibility, but not always great for consistency. Muscle memory is a stubborn thing. With Android 17, Google is finally fixing this.

Finally, your thumb gets a say in the matter

Android 17 introduces system-level controller remapping, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It can now tweak your controller layout at the system level. That means your preferences stick, no matter what game you’re playing. Using the new Game Controller settings menu, you can reassign buttons, triggers, and even thumbsticks. So if pressing down on a thumbstick feels awkward (because it usually does), you can move that action to a face button that’s easier to reach. And the best part is that your settings are saved on the device. 

This isn’t just about convenience; it’s also a big step forward for accessibility. Not everyone interacts with a controller the same way, and having the ability to remap inputs can make games far more comfortable, and in some cases, actually playable. It also solves the classic cross-platform confusion. Switching between consoles, PC, and mobile often means retraining your fingers to adapt to different layouts. With remapping, you can bring a sense of familiarity wherever you play.

Where to find it (and who gets it)

Before you rush to try it, there’s a small catch. This feature is currently available only in the Android 17 Beta, specifically Beta 2 and later. So you’ll need a supported device enrolled in the beta program to access it. Once you’re in, here’s how to find it:

• For wired controllers:

  Head to Settings > System > Game Controller, then select your connected device

• For Bluetooth controllers:

  Go to Settings > Connected devices, tap the menu next to your controller, and open Game Controller settings.