Chevy Making a Bolt Electric SUV; iPhone 13-Always On Screen & Matte Back; Graphene Microchips = Thousand Times Faster; Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming on Web

With a splashy video made in conjunction with Disney…complete with Disney characters and special effects…Chevrolet has showed off its new Bolt EVs. Yes, plural. Theverge.com reports that the Bolt EV has gotten a refresh…AND been cut $5,000 in price to $31,995. The big excitement? There is a new model small SUV which Chevy has dubbed an EUV. The Bolt EUV has more rear legroom and good rear space for hauling your precious ‘stuff.’ The EUV will sell for $33,995. Fully tricked out, there isn a special Launch version, with GM’s amazing Super Cruise, it will chew up $43,495 of your hard earned cash…or credit. It also has unique wheels, special badging, and an illuminated charge port…be still my heart. Honestly, watch the video…the Super Cruise is just unbelievable. Here’s the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHqUzys0bU&feature=emb_logo

More rumors popping up about the iPhone 13. A couple over the weekend point to an always-on display like the Apple Watch (or like Android has had for years.) According to 9to5mac.com, the display would only show clock and battery charge at all times. You will be able to customize notifications to pop up then go away. The matte back glass will apparently be ‘more grippy’ than on the present iPhone 12 series. For the very few people who don’t use a case, a nice feature. Except for tech writers doing tests, this seems rare. In the Bay Area, I have yet to see a single soul who carries an iPhone and doesn’t have it in some sort of case. Another feature rumored is the ultra-wide lens going from a 5 element to 6 elements. It will still be lower quality than the other two lenses, although Apple is apparently working to correct this. One cool new feature….portrait mode VIDEO! Apple has apparently been working on this for quite a while now. As previously reported, Touch ID will return, but be under screen…no external button, and Face ID will remain, giving you two biometric unlocking technologies. 

Ok, this is nerdy, but really exciting. Researchers in the UK are working on super tiny graphene microchips that will be able to make your laptop and phone thousands of times faster…THOUSANDS! Zdnet.com says the trick is folding the graphene, which unlocks electronic properties that effectively enable the material to work as a transistor. The researchers say it kind of resembles nano-origami. Chips have been getting smaller and faster already, but getting to 1000 times or more faster and smaller…would be astounding. Graphene is only one atom thick!

Microsoft has started testing Xbox cloud gaming on the web. Engadget.com reports that the streaming in browsers will feel a lot like the Android experience. A launcher helps you launch recent games or find new ones via your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription (required.) Of course you will still need a controller. Right now, the testing out is just on Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and it’s closed…although MS says they will add iOS and PC streaming over the web later in the Spring. The Game Pass? It’s $15 a month.