Google Fi adds support for a second 5G network, won't say which one

Google Fi adds support for a second 5G network, won't say which one

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Google has announced a "super network" upgrade for its Fi cell service. For the past few years, Google Fi has operated exclusively on the T-Mobile network, but now it's adding support for a second 5G network. Oddly, Google refuses to say which one.

Google's MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) launched in 2015 as Project Fi with support for both T-Mobile and Sprint service. The service initially only worked on Google's Nexus phones, which would switch between networks based on signal strength. After T-Mobile absorbed Sprint, Fi switched to being a single-network service in the US while continuing to hop between networks for international travel.

With the super network, Google Fi is again a dual-carrier service stateside. Phones connected to Fi will be able to hop between T-Mobile 5G and a different 5G network to provide the best possible connectivity. Google's blog post announcing the change conspicuously doesn't mention either network, saying only that it supports "two of America’s best 5G cellular networks."

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Pixel phones getting new icon styles, Create My Widget, and more in November Pixel Drop

Pixel phones getting new icon styles, Create My Widget, and more in November Pixel Drop

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Google's Pixel phones get an update every month, but most are just security patches and bug fixes. The bigger changes are bundled into quarterly Pixel Drops, and one is rolling out today. The update brings a few new things, and many of the Gemini features previously exclusive to the latest Pixel phones will also expand to Google's Pixel 10 lineup.

The Pixel 11 was Google's first foray into "Gemini Intelligence" branding, something we'll see a lot more of going forward. Some of the features under that heading were limited to Google's newest phones (and in some cases, Samsung's phones). The November Pixel Drop will expand these AI features to the Pixel 10 lineup, but importantly, that doesn't include the budget-oriented Pixel 10a.

For starters, the Pixel 10 series will get the improved personalized suggestions (previously known as Magic Cue) that debuted on the Pixel 11. This enables things like sending grocery lists to Google Keep from other apps and generating summaries from the context menu. Rambler, Google's AI-assisted voice input system, is also coming to the 2025 phones. Likewise, Gemini app automation will roll out on Pixel 10 with this update. This feature is still limited to select apps in rideshare, food delivery, travel, and a few other categories.

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Free video-streaming service Tubi lets users share curated watchlists now

Free video-streaming service Tubi lets users share curated watchlists now

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Tubi users can now create and share playlists of movies and shows available on the streaming service.

Tubi is a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service that has both live channels and on-demand content.

Today, the Fox-owned company announced “Mixtapes” as a way for users to make watchlists from Tubi’s “nearly 400,000 movies and TV episodes,” Tubi’s announcement said, adding:

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Steam Deck performance gets a reality check with Valve's new FPS data

Steam Deck performance gets a reality check with Valve's new FPS data

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Since Valve announced its Steam Deck Verified program in 2021, players have found that a game's "Verified" status doesn't always match how well it actually runs on the handheld. Now, new Steam Deck frame rate data being shared by Valve itself can help players dig deeper into the performance they can expect from many Steam Deck games.

Valve has been collecting anonymized frame rate data from Steam players who opt in since February. Yesterday evening, the company announced it has started sharing that data on many Steam Store pages as averages and histograms for both the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.

Valve acknowledges that players enabling VSync or frame rate limits can bias the collected data somewhat and that the measurements don't account for custom in-game settings that Steam Deck users may tinker with to get a game running. Regardless, Valve says it has nonetheless "found that the framerate data consolidates around relatively narrow ranges."

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Polestar has a new look with its Formula 2030 concept

Polestar has a new look with its Formula 2030 concept

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Perhaps only a small percentage of Ars readers will care about the Polestar 2030 concept, debuted today by the electric automaker. Spun out of Volvo—once upon a time, Polestar was a racing team—the brand has leveraged the resources of parent-automaker Geely to create electric vehicles that marry a modern minimalist style with rewarding driving dynamics. But you now can’t buy any Polestars in the US, since Geely is Chinese, and banning Chinese-owned car brands enjoys remarkable bipartisan support in Congress.

The Formula 2030 is about the same length as a Polestar 2 but with a very low roofline. If anything, the two-box shape reminds me of the Saab Aero-X, one of the final concepts from the then-terminal Swedish automaker. (In many ways, Polestar has adopted Saab’s mantle.)

Credit: Polestar

These rear lights will show up in production Polestars.

In 2008, Saab showed off the Aero-X concept. Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Polestar says the concept fits into its own segment somewhere between the next Polestar 2 and the Polestar 7—it numbers its cars chronologically (mostly), not based on size—although it’s not saying if the hatchback design will go into series production. Successfully packaging rear-seat passengers and a lithium-ion battery pack is something a concept needn’t worry about, after all. Rather, it’s a styling exercise, or more than one.

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Ukraine’s fiber-optic drones get squeezed by AI data center demand

Ukraine’s fiber-optic drones get squeezed by AI data center demand

fivenewscrypto    novembre 11, 2026   

Impervious to battlefield jamming, drones physically connected to human operators by miles of fiber-optic cables have become such a common weapon of war in Ukraine that trees and fields are strewn with tangled cables thinner than fishing lines. But importing such fiber-optic material from China has become more costly as drone warfare’s needs compete with global demand from AI data centers for the same limited supply—and so Ukrainian drone makers have been adapting.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the Ukrainians have been forced out of necessity to continually develop battlefield innovations involving first-person view (FPV) quadcopter drones and other heavier types of drones. But it was the Russian military that first deployed unjammable fiber-optic drones to repel Ukrainian forces’ cross-border incursion into the Kursk Oblast in 2024. The Ukrainians quickly followed suit in developing their own fiber-optic drones, given the drones’ capability to shrug off electronic warfare jamming that could neutralize radio-controlled drones.

Russia and Ukraine have relied on Chinese suppliers for some off-the-shelf drones and a wide array of drone components, including bulk orders of fiber wound around very large spools or sometimes small finished spools ready for installation on drones. The finished spools can hold enough fiber-optic cable for drones to regularly operate at ranges of dozens of miles, and sometimes up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) in extreme cases, as reported by the independent Russian publication The Insider.

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Review: Apple's M6 MacBook Pro is good, but it's missing all the exciting stuff

Review: Apple's M6 MacBook Pro is good, but it's missing all the exciting stuff

fivenewscrypto    novembre 10, 2026   

I've written more than once about the weird positioning of Apple's entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro, which has always occupied an uncomfortable perch between the MacBook Air and the higher-end MacBook Pros. The best versions of this laptop, like last year's M5 refresh, come with the same basic design and external features of the higher-end MacBook Pros, just with a more modest processor and a lower ceiling for specs like RAM and storage.

The lesser versions stick with older designs or other compromises, reserving Apple's most updated designs and screen technologies for the more expensive high-end models. Recall the 13-inch M1 and M2 MacBook Pros, which stuck with Apple's 2016-era MacBook Pro designs for everything, up to and including the now-abandoned Touch Bar. (If you're someone at Apple maintaining Touch Bar support into the 2030s for the sake of these two laptop models, I'd like to hear from you. Not for a story! I'd just like to know how you are.)

This year's entry-level MacBook Pro mostly falls into that latter category. It does get an Apple M6 chip, and the M6 is great—rumors suggest the M6 won't get Pro, Max, or Ultra configurations, so there are some fringe benefits here that you can't get in the top-tier MacBook Pros. But it uses the same MacBook Pro design Apple has been using since 2021. There's no touchscreen, no OLED panel, no Dynamic Island, no half-pound weight reduction, no glowing Apple logo on the lid.

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