News

Xiaomi unveils MIUI 12, here’s everything you need to know

Getting more focused on privacy

Published

April 29, 2020

Shivam Vahia

Xiaomi has revealed its latest iteration of MIUI — MIUI 12. The skin is the face of all Xiaomi phones worldwide, except for the Mi A-series which is part of Google’s Android One project. The brand started out as a software company thanks to MIUI and then shifted to hardware. Hence, it’s no surprise that every year an update is rolled out with much fanfare.

The update brings some useful features along with some appealing UI changes. The recently announced Mi 10 Lite Zoom Edition ships with it out-of-the-box and a range of existing Xiaomi phones shall be getting the update in the coming months. But the prime question remains, what’s new?

Privacy: To improve privacy, they’ve added three new features — Flare, Barbed Wire, and Mask System. Flare are icons that’ll indicate which permissions are being accessed by an app actively. Barbed Wire will destroy sensitive information when sharing documents. Lastly, Mask System will pull up dummy datasets for an app. This comes in handy in case you don’t want it to access your original content like contacts.
Smoother UI: The company says MiRender engine, Folme animation engine, and MAML illustration engine work together to create a fluid user experience. The smoothness comes along with efficient user interaction via the visualization of data.
Dark Mode 2.0: It now has the ability to automatically adjust the contrast and brightness based on lighting.
Super Wallpapers: It includes new live wallpapers of planets and always-on display. When the dark mode is on the planet will also enter the night time, and when a user unlocks the phone, the live wallpaper zooms in from the space view to the aerial view of the planet.
And more: Users will now be able to track activities like walking, running, cycling, and climbing stairs, by just keeping their phones in their pockets. It also gets a new AI calling feature that can also transcribe a particular call and suggest responses.

Devices that will get MIUI 12

The first set of devices that will get the MIUI 12 are: Mi 10 Pro, Mi 10, Mi 9 Pro 5G, Mi 9, Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, Redmi K30 Pro, Redmi K30 5G, Redmi K30, Redmi K20 Pro Premium Edition, Redmi K20 Pro, and Redmi K20.

Apps

Canva teams up with SB19 to turn A’TIN’s passion into creativity

Campaign lets fans access assets, editable templates, more

Published

August 8, 2026

GadgetMatch

Canva Philippines has joined forces with SB19 and Sony Music Entertainment to launch the “Kaya sa Canva” campaign.

This first-of-its-kind initiative is aimed at transforming the popular Filipino boy band’s fanbase into creators by giving them access to official design assets, exclusive templates, and powerful creative tools.

That’s of course as fans have a way of creating artwork, banners, and more outputs to honor their idols.

As such, the partnership enables the A’TIN (SB19’s fanbase) to access the Canva-exclusive SB19’s Creative Hub.

This dedicated space lets fans access assets, including SB19-inspired sticker packs, custom typography, and editable templates inspired by the group.

Fans around the world will initially have access to templates for photo-booth strips, wallpapers, posters, and videos.

The campaign will then expand with Canva-exclusive assets celebrating the group’s New Era, as well as their latest single, “Lawless”.

Meanwhile, the original song “KAYA” is accompanied with an upbeat music video, doubling as a love letter to A’TIN and a masterclass in Canva’s tools.

Every visual and animation is fan-inspired, a celebration of the creativity, passion, and dedication that’s defined in the community from day one.

News

The iPhone 18 might sell out for an unexpected reason

The ongoing shortage might play a part in the phone selling out earlier than expected.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

An iPhone selling out is not news. Because of how popular the phones are, it’s within the realm of probability that Apple runs out of stock at some point. According to a new report, this year won’t be any different… but it’s for an entirely different reason.

First reported by analyst Tim Culpan, Apple is reportedly struggling to meet its demand for semiconductors for the iPhone 18 and the foldable iPhone. The ongoing memory shortage is cutting off Apple’s ability to deliver the required supply of smartphones in a timely fashion. The report even claims that TSMC, which helps produce the iPhone, is sitting on a shipment of processors, worth US$ 1 billion, that don’t have memory chips.

Now, Apple is still confident that it can weather the launch. However, if the shortage persists, the iPhone 18 generation will likely sell out much more quickly than expected.

It’s an interesting time for Apple to experience such a shortage. It’s been heavily rumored that the company will launch its very first foldable phone next month, creating a new market for the brand. Apple definitely wants this attempt to succeed after the tepid response to its last new product, the Vision Pro.

News

These “smart” glasses just sold out in under a week

DuckDuckGo touts that these glasses have zero AI, zero cameras, and an infinite battery life.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While a chunk of the population views them as cool and innovative, another significant chunk sees them as a privacy nightmare. If you’re in the latter group but want to see what life is like on the former, DuckDuckGo has a new product: a pair of anti-surveillance glasses with no camera or AI, otherwise known as just normal sunglasses.

If it’s not obvious, yes, it’s a troll product. DuckDuckGo is a search engine famously known for pushing privacy as a priority, opposing Google’s penchant for advertising and AI. Now, the search engine is taking on the smart glasses market.

Partnering with Knockaround, DuckDuckGo released the Paso Robles, a pair of sunglasses touted as having zero cameras, an always-offline mode, and a battery life of infinity.

It’s a statement piece. The rims have a logo mark, similar to the Meta’s glasses. The packaging also states that the glasses are “designed to block the sun, not send data to the cloud.”

Now, if you want a pair, they cost only US$ 35, as opposed to Meta’s US$ 299 price tag, but they are already sold out.

Which says quite a bit about today’s sentiment against AI and for privacy. Of course, to be fair, DuckDuckGo’s supply is certainly less than Meta’s stock for their smart glasses. It does, however, prove that the sentiment is there.

As of now, the world is slowly realizing that unimpeded smart glasses aren’t such a good idea, leading to people concerned about their privacy. In fact, some states have already started banning the technology in certain public spaces.