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A couple of days ago I told you about an error message that some Project Fi users received erroneously.  The error message indicated that their data usage was being throttled due to high usage and, in some case, users SIMs were disabled for a period of time.  The Fi team indicated that they knew of the issue as it was a test of a new feature that was never intended to leak outside.

Now they are trying to make it up to users who were impacted.  Multiple Project Fi users have reported receiving an email from Google’s MVNO, apologizing for the error and providing them a $10 credit towards their next month’s bill.  It’s a small gesture but one that will likely go a long way for the majority of users out there for the trouble they encountered.

For you Amazon shoppers who are looking to get your hands on the new Google Pixelbook, you can now pre-order it on the site.  During the presentation on the new Chromebook, Google mentioned that it would be available at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy so it isn’t surprising.  In fact, the listing for the Pixelbook clearly states it is being sold by Google through their Amazon storefront.

Don’t look for any special pricing either.  The i5 equipped Google Pixelbook with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is $999, the same price as it is directly from Google.  And while pre-orders are now available, shipping won’t happen until October 31st, just like the Google Store.

Now that the dust has settled a bit from yesterday’s massive Google product event, we can start digging into the details.  One of the items in the afterglow that caught a lot of people’s attention has to do with Google Photos and the new Pixel 2 lineup.

As readers are likely aware, with the original Pixel and Pixel XL, users had unlimited uploading of original quality photos to Google Photos.  On every other device out there this counts against your Google Drive quota (remember, Google Photos leverages your Google Drive for storage) so it was a nice perk to have indeed.  Everyone else has to use High Quality, a compression process that allows Google to look at the content of photos to train their AI, in order not to use their Drive quota.  Frankly, I use HQ on my other non-Pixel devices because the compression is pretty lossless, especially if photos are under 16MP.  The original Pixel and the Pixel 2 both have 12MP cameras so technically, there is no reason not to use HQ.

In the fine print yesterday it was discovered that for owners of the new Pixel phones, the Original Quality uploads will be available until 2020.  After that, uploads will start counting against your Drive quota.  This cause a lot of consternation for some but frankly, it isn’t a surprise or a big deal.

In the ever increasingly crowded world of 2-in-1 Windows 10 PCs, there seems to be a large gap between the have’s and the have not’s.  The have’s are the Microsoft Surface Pro devices of the world with top-end specs but equally, have an impressive price tags.

The have not’s are the $200-300 devices with subpar displays that are usually around 10″, powered by Atom processor and have 64GB or maybe 128GB if you are lucky.

The problem is the gap between $300 and $1200+ dollars.  There are not a lot of choices and the choices that are there generally are lacking in some area.  Huawei, for their part, is trying to fill the gap.

The Huawei Matebook was released last year and it remains one of the best 2-in-1 Windows 10 hybrid devices on the market.  Powered by the Intel m series processors with ample RAM and storage, the Matebook has a lot going for it and is one to consider, as I did, when you are looking for one of these style of devices.  The Matebook isn’t perfect as I’ll cover in this review but it is certainly the solid foundation that Huawei needs in order to penetrate the Windows 10 PC market here in the US and globally.