Apple-New M2 MacBook Pros; Google Working on AirTag Clones; Pixel Fold on Horizon; Mill’s Recycling Food Waste Bin

After delaying the release last Fall, Apple has rolled out new MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Macrumors.com reports that the upgraded Pros also can be loaded up with up to 96 gigs of RAM, they support 8K HDMI monitors, and sport Wi-Fi 6E. The new chips are supposed to make the latest MacBook Pros up to 20% faster than the M1 chipped laptops. The storage remains the same…you can configure them with up to an 8 terabyte SSD drive. They can be ordered today in both the 14 and 16 inch sizes, and start at $1999 for the 14 incher, and $2499 for the 16 inch model. 

Google is apparently jumping into the tracker business, working on its own version of Apple’s Air Tags. The project is code named, Grogu, after the baby Yoda character in the Mandalorian series on Disney Plus! According to Androidpolice.com, Google would use their installed base to help with locating devices like Apple does. They will be joining not only Apple but Tile…the original, and Samsung with trackers to keep track of your stuff. No word on whether they are building in safety measures to cut down on stalking as Apple has had to do. 

A Pixel Fold may be in the works. 9t05google.com says a YouTuber has obtained what appears to be a case model of a Google Pixel Fold, which is claimed to be ‘dimensionally accurate’ to the actual phone Google has in the works. The screen is wider than Samsung’s folding units, but it has a bit thicker bezels inside. It appears that a cam will be mounted in a bezel, instead of under the screen. The hinge folds neatly…no gap between the two screens when it’s closed, so it will have a ‘water drop’ hinge like Oppo has and Samsung is putting into the Fold 5. No info has leaked as to when the Google folder might be released.  

Co-founder of Nest and former Apple engineer Matt Rogers has brought Mill Industries out of stealth today. They offer a $33 per month service in the US that includes rental of a digitally connected waste bin and free shipping of the dried waste to a plant that turns it into feed. Geekwire.com notes that the gadget can turn food scraps into dried, odorless grounds over night. Rogers points out that about 30% of food that’s grown gets tossed and food rotting in landfills releases methane gas that is bad for the atmosphere. What with the egg shortage right now and bird flu that has cut chicken population, you can be turning your food scraps into…chicken feed.

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.