Nevada has a new helper in its quest to plow through a backlog of unemployment claims: Google AI. Gizmodo reports that the initiative will task one of the company's cloud-based AI models with analyzing appeals hearing transcripts and suggesting whether cases should be approved. Welcome to the future, where a robot weighs in on whether you get the government money you requested.The Nevada Independent wrote in June that the AI model, trained on the state's unemployment law and policies, will analyze transcripts of virtual appeals hearings. It will then spit out a ruling, which a state employee will review for mistakes and decide whether to honor.It replaces the current Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) process, which averages three hours for a real-life human to complete. Carl Stanfield, DETR's IT administrator, told the Nevada Independent that Google's AI (which uses the company's Vertex cloud system) can rule within five minutes. The time saving is pretty phenomenal," Stanfield said.It's easy to understand why Nevada would be eager to lean on the emerging tech. As recently as June, the state reportedly had a backlog of over 10,000 unprocessed appeals, about 1,500 of which were left over from the pandemic. And if the tech's reviews are accurate - or the human reviewers catch its mistakes -it could be an enormous timesaver.However, there could be psychological pressure for the employees reviewing the cases to rubber-stamp the AI's conclusions. If a robot's just handed you a recommendation and you just have to check a box and there's pressure to clear out a backlog, that's a little bit concerning," Michele Evermore, a former deputy director for unemployment modernization policy at the Department of Labor, told Gizmodo.Stanfield told Gizmodo that a governance committee will meet weekly while the state is fine-tuning the model and quarterly after it goes live to monitor for hallucinations and bias. The stakes could be high for claimants as the AI-powered system could affect their ability to appeal bogus decisions. In cases that involve questions of fact, the district court cannot substitute its own judgment for the judgment of the appeal referee," Elizabeth Carmona, a senior attorney with Nevada Legal Services, told Gizmodo. In other words, if the human reviewing the decision misses the AI's mistakes, a court may not have the legal standing to overturn it.One Nevada politician put it a bit more bluntly. Are we out of our ever-loving minds?" NV state senator Skip Daly (D-Reno) said to the Nevada Independent this summer. I'm just dubious of the whole concept of overreliance on algorithms and computers. I hope that we are cautious about it, and think before we just say, We got to be faster or better than the next guy.'"This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nevada-will-use-google-ai-to-process-a-backlog-of-unemployment-cases-202718427.html?src=rss
It's easy to forget that there's another social network besides Threads for people tired of Elon Musk's totally normal X platform. Bluesky is a fine alternative, as it definitely feels" like Twitter. However, it has been lacking some of the features that made Twitter such an internet hotspot back in the day. Well, we just got a big one. The company just announced that users can now upload video content.There are some caveats. First of all, the videos have to be under a minute. That's a fairly huge hurdle for just about every piece of content other than TikTok-style shorts. As a comparison, Meta's Threads allows for five minute videos. Also, the videos autoplay by default, though that can be handled in the settings. Finally, there's a hard limit of 25 videos per user each day, though the company says it could tweak that in the future.The platform supports most of the major video file types, including .mp4, .mpeg, .webm, and .mov files. Users can also attach subtitles to each video, which is a nice little bonus. There are some guardrails in place to protect against spam and abuse." Only users who have verified their email address can upload videos and illegal content will be purged" from the infrastructure. There's also a way to submit reports to the moderation team. Additionally, each video will be scanned for CSAM by Hive and Thorn.Update to version 1.91 of the mobile app to get started, though it also works via the desktop client. Not every user will be able to access this feature right away, as version 1.91 will be a gradual rollout to ensure a smooth experience."Bluesky recently added direct messages into the mix, which is something Threads doesn't have. The platform may be a distant third, when compared to X and Threads, but it's certainly growing. A massive influx of Brazilian users recently joined the social media site after X was banned in the country.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-now-lets-you-upload-videos-but-there-are-some-caveats-185702403.html?src=rss
On Wednesday, Adobe unveiled Firefly AI video generation tools that will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work its prized user base is paid for today. Echoing AI salesmanship found elsewhere in the tech industry, Adobe frames it all as supplementary tech that helps take the tedium out of post-production."Adobe describes its new Firefly-powered text-to-video, Generative Extend (which will be available in Premiere Pro) and image-to-video AI tools as helping editors with tasks like navigating gaps in footage, removing unwanted objects from a scene, smoothing jump cut transitions, and searching for the perfect b-roll." The company says the tools will give video editors more time to explore new creative ideas, the part of the job they love." (To take Adobe at face value, you'd have to believe employers won't simply increase their output demands from editors once the industry has fully adopted these AI tools. Or pay less. Or employ fewer people. But I digress.)Firefly Text-to-Video lets you - you guessed it - create AI-generated videos from text prompts. But it also includes tools to control camera angle, motion and zoom. It can take a shot with gaps in its timeline and fill in the blanks. It can even use a still reference image and turn it into a convincing AI video. Adobe says its video models excel with videos of the natural world," helping to create establishing shots or b-rolls on the fly without much of a budget.For an example of how convincing the tech appears to be, check out Adobe's examples in the promo video:Although these are samples curated by a company trying to sell you on its products, their quality is undeniable. Detailed text prompts for an establishing shot of a fiery volcano, a dog chilling in a field of wildflowers or (demonstrating it can handle the fantastical as well) miniature wool monsters having a dance party produce just that. If these results are emblematic of the tools' typical output (hardly a guarantee), then TV, film and commercial production will soon have some powerful shortcuts at its disposal - for better or worse.Meanwhile, Adobe's example of image-to-video begins with an uploaded galaxy image. A text prompt prods it to transform it into a video that zooms out from the star system to reveal the inside of a human eye. The company's demo of Generative Extend shows a pair of people walking across a forest stream; an AI-generated segment fills in a gap in the footage. (It was convincing enough that I couldn't tell which part of the output was AI-generated.)AdobeReuters reports that the tool will only generate five-second clips, at least at first. To Adobe's credit, it says its Firefly Video Model is designed to be commercially safe and only trains on content the company has permission to use. We only train them on the Adobe Stock database of content that contains 400 million images, illustrations, and videos that are curated to not contain intellectual property, trademarks or recognizable characters," Adobe's VP of Generative AI, Alexandru Costin, told Reuters. The company also stressed that it never trains on users' work. However, whether or not it puts its users out of work is another matter altogether.Adobe says its new video models will be available in beta later this year. You can sign up for a waitlist to try them.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-previews-ai-video-tools-that-arrive-later-this-year-172021715.html?src=rss
Most early impressions of the Apple Watch Series 10 are quite positive. Not only does it have the biggest display yet on any Apple Watch (despite a smaller overall case size than the 49mm Ultra 2), but it weighs less and is somehow thinner than before. The display isn't just bigger, either - it has improved brightness when viewed at an angle, and the always-on screen can refresh once a second when at rest, rather than once a minute as it did before.Beyond the updated display and some lovely new case options (the new polished titanium and jet black aluminum look pretty fabulous), the Apple Watch is also getting a new health feature: sleep apnea detection. It's not exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 10, as last year's Series 9 will also get it as well, but it was still a main highlight of Apple's presentation and another example of how they want you to wear the Watch all day and all night.The only problem with that? Battery life is still rated for 18 hours, or 36 in battery-saver mode (half of what Apple claims for the Watch Ultra 2). That means if I get up and strap my watch on at 7AM, it'll be dead overnight. Of course, the reality of this isn't as extreme as I'm making it sound. While Apple has quoted an 18-hour battery since the Apple Watch was first released in 2015, recent models have easily exceeded that, despite changes like an always-on display. It's not unreasonable to wear it all day and overnight to track your sleep, and then give it a charge in the morning to get set for the next day. Apple has focused on quick charging in the last few models to make that more feasible - the Series 10 can be charged to 80 percent in just 30 minutes.The problem, at least in my experience, comes a year or so into an Apple Watch's life. I had a Series 7, and its battery health had dropped to below 90 percent capacity after less than a year, and under 85 percent capacity after about 14 months. That made a noticeable difference; if I wanted to wear my watch overnight for sleep-tracking purposes, it would have needed a mid-day charge. Things were even worse if I used LTE on a run and left my phone at home, as streaming music and tracking a workout could easily use more than 25 percent of my battery. My Series 9 that I got last December, however, appears to be doing much better, with battery health still at 100 percent. Maybe my Series 7 was a lemon, but I think Apple has done some solid charging optimization to keep things fresher here.Getting a day and change from the Apple Watch is in line with the Pixel Watch 3 that we just reviewed, though it lags behind Samsung's Galaxy smartwatches. But the comparison gets worse when you look at Garmin's line of fitness-focused watches, basically all of which can be used for well over a week without needing a charge. Granted, they're different from Apple and Google wearables that are tightly integrated with all aspects of your phone's OS, but that's not the point. If you want to use your watch to the fullest, wear it overnight to track sleep and not have to think about it the next day, the Apple Watch is far from your best option.That brings me back around to the Series 10. How psyched would we all be if Apple said this thing got three days of battery life? Even matching the 36-hour rating of the Apple Watch Ultra would be a win, as chances are good you'd get closer to two days in real-world use. Instead, though, Apple did what it often does and made the Series 10 thinner. Sure, comfort is crucial when you're talking about a wearable, but I personally would have traded a 1mm reduction in thickness (about a nine percent change) for a bigger, longer-lasting battery.Instead, we'll just have to make do with faster charging, which, don't get me wrong, does make a difference. It's pretty easy to imagine a world in which you wake up, drop your Apple Watch on the charger for 45 minutes while you get ready for the day and then don't think about it again until the next morning. But that's just another time you have to think about this thing that's supposed to live on your wrist. Charging overnight isn't necessarily the best option anymore, but having to charge every day without fail is still a bummer. I just wish I had an Apple Watch that I could forget about and just drop on a charger every couple days to top it up. Maybe next year.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-apple-watch-series-10-deserves-more-than-18-hour-battery-life-170410297.html?src=rss
Earlier this year, Google said goodbye to its cached web page feature, saying it's no longer needed. While many were sad to see it go, we can now rejoice as Google is partnering with the Internet Archive to bring something substantially similar back. Thanks to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, you can now look at archived web pages easily.Clicking on the three dots beside any search result will let you begin to access cached pages. Next, look for the About this Result" panel and click More About This Page." Doing so will lead you to the Wayback Machine, allowing anyone to see snapshots of webpages from various times.Director of the Wayback Machine Mark Graham said some archived web pages won't be available because their rights holders have opted out of having their sites archived by the Internet Archive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/google-searches-now-link-to-the-internet-archive-164814487.html?src=rss
Ultimate Ears has a history of building loud and rugged portable Bluetooth speakers with features to simplify the listening experience. Whether it's a party mode that supports over 100 speakers at once, or the ability to remotely power off the unit with your phone, the company's devices have consistently been among the best. Enter the Everboom ($250), a new option from UE that sits in the middle of its lineup in terms of size and power. Those handy Ultimate Ears features return, but so does the company's lack of clarity and fidelity. Design The Everboom is slightly smaller than the midpoint of Ultimate Ears' Bluetooth speaker lineup. The compact Wonderboom and cylindrical Boom 4 and Megaboom 4 are the smaller options, while the Epicboom and Hyperboom are larger. The Megaboom 4 is actually taller than the Everboom, but the latter is wider, making it bigger overall. Aesthetically, the Everboom is most like the Epicboom: an oval-shaped, cylindrical device with a rubber base. Where the two differ, other than size, is that the Epicboom has an attached strap around back while the Everboom has a loop. You use the included carabiner or opt for a clip or hook. And, like all recent UE speakers, large +" and -" buttons are part of the look, putting the volume controls right on the face of the speaker. Up top, there are buttons for power, Bluetooth, Outdoor Boost and play/pause. That last control also skips tracks with a double (forward) or triple press (back). Like most recent UE speakers, the Everboom is plenty rugged. The IP67-rated unit can survive being fully submerged, but you probably won't have to worry about that because it also floats. While UE highlighted this aspect in the announcement, I should point out that the Wonderboom also floats. The company says it drop-tested the Everboom at heights up to one meter (about three feet), so the occasional stumble shouldn't be an issue beyond scuffs or scratches. The UE Boom app and features Billy Steele for Engadget In order to use the Everboom's advanced features, you'll need to access them in the UE Boom app. Once the speaker is connected, the main interface displays battery status above controls for power, Outdoor Boost and a megaphone tool. There's a volume slider too, as well as a media player and tabs for PartyUp and EQ. The megaphone allows you to make announcements via your phone's mic and Partyup is Ultimate Ears' nomenclature for pairing multiple speakers together. You can actually sync up to 150 units in the same setup, so long as they're either Boom, Megaboom, Epicboom or Hyperboom models. A dive into the detailed settings menu reveals even more handy tools. There's the option to add playlists from either Amazon Music or Apple Music so you can start them directly from the Everboom's play/pause button (long press). You can add as many playlists as you want and cycle through them without picking up your phone. When one collection is playing, you'll also have access to playlists from the media player inside the app. There are a few more items in the settings that I'll point out. You can enable so-called Sticky PartyUp to keep speakers grouped if you change locations and you can also disable the ability for other people to add your device to their PartyUp arrangement. Bluetooth Standby is on by default, and it's how the app can remotely turn the speaker on or off. But it impacts battery life, so the company gives you the option to extend play time by disabling it. Sound quality Billy Steele for Engadget One of the best things about the Everboom is that the driver arrangement beams sound 360 degrees. You can clearly hear music when you're sitting on the side of the device, although the tuning there favors treble over bass. My main gripe with Ultimate Ears speakers is that it always seems like the company favors volume over fidelity. The speakers typically sound fine, and the Everboom is more of the same, but there's a lack of overall depth and detail that other Bluetooth speakers muster. Songs consistently sound compressed, noticeably lacking in the mid range, despite punchy highs and rumbling bass. There's just a lack of overall clarity on bluegrass tunes from Nickel Creek and the open, atmospheric instrumentation on Phantogram's Come Alive." Vocals always cut through clean, but the sound stage is confined to the two high and low extremes. Saosin's Live From The Garden Amphitheater is one of the better-sounding live albums I can remember, but the Everboom subdues the energy of the show with a lack of dynamics in its tuning. Of the EQ presets, Bass Boost is the only one that improves things, but not dramatically. Unlike most bass-heavy profiles, this one doesn't further muddy the audio quality. However, for some genres, like the brooding alt-rock of Balance and Composure, the added low-end makes the constant, rhythmic bass lines overbearing. In wide open spaces, Outdoor Boost can help improve the listening experience. According to the company, this increases the volume by one decibel (from 90dB to 91dB), and that's it. However, if you happen to activate it indoors, you'll be able to hear that the tuning also changes slightly. Outside though, all you'll notice is slightly louder, better-projected sound. The feature makes an obvious difference when you're no longer in a confined space, addressing a problem that typically plagues Bluetooth speakers when used outdoors. Battery life Billy Steele for Engadget The Everboom has enough juice to keep the tunes going for a good long while. Ultimate Ears promises up to 20 hours on a charge, more than enough for a full day's worth of music. After my tests, I can confidently say that the speaker will outperform that, unless you're running it at full volume for hours on end (you won't, trust me). After 12 hours, the UE app was still showing 70 percent battery remaining. These trials were mostly conducted indoors where a volume around 40 percent is plenty loud. Also, I didn't notice that the Bluetooth standby mode for turning the speaker on with the app had any impact on battery life like the company warns. The competition As I already mentioned, there are plenty of alternatives in the Ultimate Ears lineup if you're looking for similar features in a slightly different package. However, my recommendation is the Marshall Middleton ($250), a selection from our best portable Bluetooth speakers list for a speaker at this price and size. Right now you can get it for the same cost as the Everboom and it has several handy features the UE speaker doesn't offer. First, there's a joystick control knob up top, with a visual indicator for battery and volume levels. You can also make bass and treble adjustments on the device and there's a 3.5mm jack for wired input. Of course, you get all of the stylings of the iconic Marshall guitar amps and a Stack Mode allows you to use multiple units as a more robust setup. The Middleton is rated IP67 for water-resistance and offers 20 hours of battery life. Both of those specs are the same as the Everboom. Also, don't sleep on the new Beats Pill ($150). Sure, it's a smaller speaker, but it still delivers a big sound. The bass performance can vary depending on the album or genre, but overall there's nice low-end tone from the compact unit. What's more, angled drivers project sound better than previous versions and you have the option of lossless tunes via wired USB-C connection. And perhaps best of all: you'll save $100. Wrap-up Ultimate Ears are typically a solid bet for the price, even though the best value lies with the company's smaller speakers. The mid-sized Everboom brings the UE's best features to yet another new design, maintaining its robust dust, moisture and drop protections. All of the conveniences are offset by a sound profile that's deafeningly loud, but lacks the polish for detailed, immersive listening. For all of the punchy highs and deep bass, the overall sonic effect is murky and subdued in the absence of mids. Still, the fact that the speaker floats and the dedicated outdoor sound boost makes this a decent option for adventures. And one that will certainly annoy the people in the next campsite. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/ultimate-ears-everboom-review-a-floatable-outdoor-speaker-that-packs-a-punch-161532961.html?src=rss
With even Fox News and senior Republican figures admitting that Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday night's presidential debate, some supporters of former president Donald Trump are desperately seeking crumbs of comfort. Cue the predictable conspiracy theories.A frequent refrain that has emerged from conservatives (but curiously, not Democrats) over the last decade or so is that their guy's opponent was wearing an earpiece during debates. These baseless accusations were slung at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. The theory was debunked on each occasion.In Harris' case, conspiracy theorists have claimed on X and other social media platforms that her earrings had earpieces built in. In search of an earpiece that resembles pearl studs, these sore losers declared Harris was using Nova's H1 Audio Earrings.The earrings are said to have directional sound that remains audible only to the wearer. Per their Kickstarter page, they "are placed on the earlobes and project the sound from inside the pearl straight into your ear canal." Sure, they look a little like the pearl earrings Harris wore on stage but they're not the same. Style bloggers have already identified the pair of Tiffany earrings Harris wore to the debate and at previous events (as well as noting that she has worn a chain from the same collection).The main trouble is that the Nova H1 Audio Earrings barely exist.As Newsweekpointed out, the device was part of a Kickstarter project that faded into the ether. The earrings aren't available to buy anywhere online and never have been. Nova Products, the company behind the campaign, hasn't logged into Kickstarter since May 2023, and backers have posted on the page asking for a status update on the earrings they were supposed to receive in exchange for their pledge.The URL for Nova Products' website, as listed on Kickstarter, now redirects to that of another company, Icebach Sound Solutions. That website showcases a pair of audio earrings with a different design and, in the wake of the debate, a message stating "special edition for presidential debates - soon available to everyone" was added to the site sometime between 7AM and 11:25AM ET, according to caches on The Wayback Machine. That presumably tongue-in-cheek claim added links to the CES 2025 website.Icebach Sound SolutionsBoth Icebach and Nova's website's list their domain registrar as one Stephan Berendsen of BBG Entertainment GmbH, an apparent mobile games developer based in Germany. What such a company has to do with audio products or the US presidential election remains a mystery, but we've reached out to BBG - as well as the Harris campaign - for comment."We do not know whether Mrs. Harris wore one of our products. The resemblance is striking and while our product was not specifically developed for the use at presidential debates, it is nonetheless suited for it," Icebach Sound Solutions managing director Malte Iversen told Engadget in a statement, in what we assume is an attempt to cash in on some sudden if unusual publicity. "To ensure a level playing field for both candidates, we are currently developing a male version and will soon be able to offer it to the Trump campaign. The choice of color is a bit challenging though as orange does not go well with a lot of colors."In any case, this seems like another straightforward job for Occam's razor. Harris almost certainly did not wear an earpiece because the earrings she wore look noticeably different and the product she's accused of wearing doesn't exist. By the same token, it's simply more plausible a seasoned politician can win a debate being extremely well-prepared and ready to throw an opponent with a notoriously fragile ego off their game without requiring a team to feed them information via an earpiece.The Nova H1 Audio Earrings show all the classic signs of being vaporware, right down to being shown off for the first time at CES 2023, though perhaps we'll see a new version under different branding somewhere on the show floor in January.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-audio-earrings-kamala-harris-didnt-wear-during-the-debate-barely-even-exist-161526009.html?src=rss
On Tuesday, Chief US District Judge Robert Shelby granted a preliminary injunction to block Utah from limiting the social media usage of minors. Republican Governor Spencer Cox had signed the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act earlier in March. It was supposed to take effect on October 1, but the court's decision to block the law is a victory for young social media users in Utah.This isn't the first time Utah's governor has attempted to limit social media use among the youths in the state. Last year, he signed two bills that required parents to grant permission for teens to create social media accounts, and these accounts had limitations like curfews and age verification. He replacing the older laws in March due to lawsuits challenging their legality.Under the law, social media companies would have been forced to verify the age of all users. If a minor registers for an account, they are subject to various limitations. The content they share would be seen only by connected accounts. Additionally, minor accounts could not be searched for or messaged by non-followers or friends, effectively nonexistent to strangers.The primary reason for the preliminary injunction is due to NetChoice's claim that the law constitutes a violation of the First Amendment. NetChoice is a trade association formed by tech giants such as X (formerly Twitter), Snap, Meta and Google. The association has managed to win in court battles and block similar laws entirely or in part in states like Arkansas, California and Texas.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/utah-judge-blocks-law-preventing-youth-from-accessing-social-media-freely-160008587.html?src=rss
Apple did not announce the Apple Watch Ultra 3 during its iPhone launch event, but right now, you can save big on the Apple Watch Ultra 2. The company's high-end, performance smartwatch is down to $689 at Amazon right now, much cheaper than what it was during Amazon Prime Day in July. That represents a savings of $110, which is one of the best discounts we've seen. Keep in mind that October Prime Day will be returning this year (although specific dates haven't been announced yet), so there's a chance this smartwatch could go on sale again in a few weeks' time. This high-end watch is geared toward serious athletes and others with specialized fitness-tracking needs, so the sensors are on point and the exterior is incredibly durable. It still features the same 49-millimeter form factor as the original, so it's not too chonky. The screen is much brighter than the OG Ultra, up to 3,000 nits. This should make it easier to read in low light conditions, which is another boon for extreme athletes who do early morning training sessions. As for power, the smartwatch includes Apple's new S9 chip, which allows for the aforementioned Double Tap gestural controls and upgraded Siri functionality. The battery can last up to 72 hours on a single charge, so long as it's in low power mode. Otherwise, it'll brick out after around 36 hours. This is a whole lot of smartwatch. Not only is it double the price of the Apple Watch 9, but it's chock full of features that most people don't need. This is a machine for serious fitness enthusiasts or those who go off the grid for long periods of time. With that being said, today's sale makes this thing pretty darn attractive for the rest of us. October Prime Day 2024 is around the corner, serving as Amazon's (un)official kickoff to the holiday shopping season. If you're eager to snag some early holiday deals for those on your list (or yourself), here's what we know so far about the next Prime Day shopping event. When is October Prime Day 2024? Amazon has not announced the dates of fall Prime Day 2024 yet, but we do know it will be returning sometime in October. What is October Prime Day? October Prime Day is an extension of the regular Prime Day sale held annually in July. It features exclusive deals on Amazon for Prime members, although not quite on as big of a scale as the main summer Prime Day. How long is October Prime Day? In years past, October Prime Day has been two days long, just like Prime Day in July.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-watch-ultra-2-is-cheaper-now-than-it-was-during-amazon-prime-day-163255367.html?src=rss
September is here and, like clockwork, so are new iPhones. Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models at an event in Cupertino today, and as expected, the iPhone 16 handsets are largely iterative of last year's models. While the smartphones, standard and Pro versions, took center stage, Apple also showed off the new Apple Watch Series 10, two new pairs of AirPods and detailed hearing aid features coming to the second-generation AirPods Pro. The company also went into detail on its latest mobile chipsets that power the new iPhones, and reminded folks what they can expect when iOS 18 launches later this month with Apple Intelligence. If you weren't able to catch the announcements live, Engadget has you covered; here's everything announced at Apple's iPhone 16 event. iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus Apple Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at the event, which feature a water- and dust-resistant design and new colors including ultramarine, teal and pink. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both of those can achieve up to 2,000 nits of brightness, and can go all the way down to 1 nit in the dark. The Action button has found its way to this series of iPhones as well, and it's just as customizable as the one we saw on last year's Pro-model iPhones. There's also a new easy-access camera control "button" of sorts, which allows you to quickly control the camera with a slide of your finger. This tool can also tap into Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered feature coming in iOS 18 that can tell you more about anything you point your camera at. It appears similar to Google Lens, and can do things like add live event dates to your calendar after you point your camera at a flyer you see on the street. The camera array on the standard iPhone 16 models includes a 48-megapixel main Fusion camera, a 12MP telephoto lens and a new ultrawide camera with autofocus. This array will also be able to capture Spatial Photos that can be viewed on Apple's Vision Pro. We confirmed in our hands-on text of the iPhone 16 that it has the same style of camera control button as the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. It's a physical button, but haptics add another layer of feedback for when you make a "light press" rather than fully pressing the button down. Both standard iPhone 16 models run on the new A18 chip, which has a 16-core neural engine optimized for generative models. The internals feature a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, both of which will be crucial for powering all of the new Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18. According to Apple, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have larger batteries than their predecessors, and when combined with the efficiencies added from the A18 chipset and iOS 18 improvements, should make for a much longer-lasting battery lives overall (although Apple did not provide an exact estimate). Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are available for pre-order today starting at $799 and $899, respectively, and will be widely available on September 20. Read more:
It's always exciting when one of our favorite items goes on sale. This time, it's our choice for the best budget Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+. The device is down to $170 from $220 on Samsung - a 23 percent discount. This model includes 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM and is also available for the same price on Amazon. In fact, this deal brings the tablet's price to only $20 more than its Prime Day offer. Samsung's Galaxy Tab A9+ is an 11-inch tablet with 1900p x 1200p resolution. The LCD screen has a 90Hz refresh rate and 480 nits. The device also has quad speakers that are powered by Dolby Atmos and a 7,400 mAh battery. Plus, it has optional 5G connectivity. If you want a bit more storage (and power), check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That model is currently down to $220 from $270. There's also the Galaxy Tab A9+ Kids Edition, which is available for $230, down from $270 and has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. October Prime Day 2024 is around the corner, serving as Amazon's (un)official kickoff to the holiday shopping season. If you're eager to snag some early holiday deals for those on your list (or yourself), here's what we know so far about the next Prime Day shopping event. When is October Prime Day 2024? Amazon has not announced the dates of fall Prime Day 2024 yet, but we do know it will be returning sometime in October. What is October Prime Day? October Prime Day is an extension of the regular Prime Day sale held annually in July. It features exclusive deals on Amazon for Prime members, although not quite on as big of a scale as the main summer Prime Day. How long is October Prime Day? In years past, October Prime Day has been two days long, just like Prime Day in July.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-samsung-tablets-is-back-on-sale-for-close-to-its-prime-day-price-141030465.html?src=rss
Americans utilized more wireless data last year than ever before, using over 100 trillion megabytes throughout 2023, Reuters reports. This record number represented a 36 percent or 26 trillion MB boost from 2022, according to an industry survey. The number of wireless connections also grew in 2023 to 558 million - a six percent jump over 2022.Interestingly, these increases were fuelled more by new advancements than traditional outlets. Americans spent about 100 billion fewer minutes talking on the phone than the year prior and maintained a similar amount of text messaging. Instead, technology such as drones, space missions, self-driving vehicles and precision agriculture seemed to have moved the needle.However, in the US, there is continued uncertainty over how to find new spectrum for wireless communication. According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) CEO Meredith Attwell Baker, "to continue to meet the insatiable demand for wireless, drive innovation, and support America's economic competitiveness, the wireless industry needs access to more full-power, licensed spectrum." In November 2023, the White House established the National Spectrum Strategy to improve spectrum access and management.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/americans-used-100-trillion-megabytes-of-wireless-data-last-year-123025183.html?src=rss
In a government inquiry about AI adoption in Australia, Meta's global privacy director Melinda Claybaugh was asked whether her company has been collecting Australians' data to train its generative AI technology. According to ABC News, Claybaugh initially denied the claim, but upon being pressed, she ultimately admitted that Meta scrapes all the photos and texts in all Facebook and Instagram posts from as far back as 2007, unless the user had set their posts to private. Further, she admitted that the company isn't offering Australians an opt-out option like it does to users in the European Union.Claybaugh said that Meta doesn't scrape the accounts of users under 18 years old, but she admitted that the company still collects their photos and other information if they're posted on their parents' or guardians' accounts. She couldn't answer, however, if the company collects data from previous years once a user turns 18. Upon being asked why Meta doesn't offer Australians the option not to consent to data collection, Claybaugh said that it exists in the EU "in response to a very specific legal frame," which most likely pertains to the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).Meta had notified users in the EU that it will collect their data for AI training unless they opt out. "I will say that the ongoing conversation in Europe is the direct result of the existing regulatory landscape," Claybaugh explained during the inquiry. But even in the region, Claybaugh said that there's an "ongoing legal question around what is the interpretation of existing privacy law with respect to AI training." Meta decided not to offer its multimodal AI model and future versions in the block due to what it says is a lack of clarity from European regulators. Most of its concerns centered around the difficulties of training AI models with data from European users while complying with GDPR rules.Despite those legal questions around AI adoption in Europe, bottom line is that Meta is giving users in the bloc the power to block data collection. "Meta made it clear today that if Australia had these same laws Australians' data would also have been protected," Australian Senator David Shoebridge told ABC News. "The government's failure to act on privacy means companies like Meta are continuing to monetise and exploit pictures and videos of children on Facebook."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-scraped-every-australian-users-account-to-train-its-ai-120026200.html?src=rss
2024 might just be Google's year - for its Pixel-branded hardware, at least. After impressing us with the Pixel 9 phones, the company is ready to release the Pixel Watch 3. Spoiler alert: It continues the trend of this year's Pixel hardware feeling more mature and ready to take on the competition than ever. With the introduction of a new larger size and serious battery life improvements, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like a smartwatch worthy of the Fitbit and Google partnership. There are still some quirks the company has to iron out, but for now, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like the final evolution of a Pokemon that is ready to battle the big beasts from Samsung and Apple. Editor's note: At the time this review was first published, Apple had just begun its "It's Glowtime" event, where it's expected to unveil new versions of its smartwatch. Our review of the Pixel Watch 3 was largely conducted in comparison to the latest available model - the Series 9, and was also scored as such. We updated this piece on September 10 to include more details on Wear OS, navigation and the Pixel Watch 3's companion apps. None of that experience affects our score for the device. The Pixel Watch 3's design: A new size One of the biggest developments with the Pixel Watch 3 is the fact that Google has finally introduced a larger size. The previous 41mm size lives on, but it's now joined by a 45mm one, which is nice for people who always felt the original was just a little too dainty. You'll also be able to see more on the bigger screen, though the 41mm variant also has a bit more real estate since Google managed to shave the bezels down a tad (16 percent, to be exact). My colleague Sam Rutherford tested the 45mm model for us, and his exact words were, It's SOOO much nicer to have the big one." Sam adds that this is the size I wanted all along," and it's nice to see my bigger-wristed peers get considered at last. Fans of a more conventional-looking timepiece will appreciate that the Pixel Watch's face is circular like it's always been. Compared to the Pixel Watch 2, this year's smartwatch doesn't look noticeably different. It has shiny edges and, in the right light, the crown on the right side sparkles. Some of my more stylish reviewer friends paired their Pixel Watch 3 with a stainless steel mesh band, making it look right at home as part of their designer-decked outfit. I used the basic silicon sport band that came with my review sample, which I loved because I got the lovely pink color this year that goes with some new pants and bags I recently acquired. I remain an ardent fan of Google's soft elastic loop straps that make putting the watch on super easy. They're available in more colors and patterns this year, which is always nice. Sam goes as far as to call this the best-looking mainstream smartwatch," and, depending on our definition of mainstream," I'd have to agree. I still wish the company was able to reduce the size of the knob just a bit, or at least make it jut out less. It still pushes into the back of my hand whenever I do a pushup or a plank, unless I turn the watch to the inside of my wrist first. Though you'd also get this issue with the Apple Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch Ultra, it's not as prominent on the regular Apple Watch and I have a bit more space before accidentally triggering my Series 9. I also found the Pixel Watch 3 a little too thick. The Apple Watch Series 9 is 10.7mm (0.42 inches) tall, while Samsung's Galaxy Watch 7 is even thinner at 9.7mm. Google's smartwatch is the chunkiest at 12.3mm, and at these sizes, every millimeter feels like a lot. Cherlynn Low for Engadget The Pixel Watch 3's display: Bigger, brighter, dimmer and slower Every fraction of an inch also feels outsized when we're talking about displays that are just 41mm and 45mm (the screens themselves are actually 32.2mm and 36.2mm respectively). In comparison, the Pixel Watch 2's panel was just 30.5mm. While I didn't feel like I gained a ton comparing my 41mm Pixel Watch 3 to its predecessor, I certainly saw a lot more on the 45mm model's screen. Some of that is obvious - a larger display has more room for content or bigger fonts. But the improvements in readability cannot be understated, especially for anyone that needed something more legible. Google didn't simply enlarge the Pixel Watch's panels - it upgraded them. These watches feature the company's Actua displays that debuted on the Pixel 8 phones last year, which means they can get as bright as 2,000 nits or as low as 1 nit. That latter made a huge difference when I was in a theater watching Alien: Romulus. While I had to turn on Theater mode on my Apple Watch Series 9 to prevent its screen from scorching my retina during the show, the Pixel Watch 3 automatically dropped to the lowest brightness and remained readable without bothering me or fellow cinemagoers. The Pixel Watch 3's screen is also capable of a variable refresh rate of between 1Hz and 60Hz, so it can deliver smooth animations when, say, you're watching the live feed from your Nest camera. But when you're not doing anything, the system can drop down to a battery-friendlier 1Hz. This isn't something I really noticed in my daily use, but I'll tease right now that it probably has a significant impact on battery life. Cherlynn Low for Engadget The Pixel Watch 3 as a health and fitness tracker I was probably the most impressed by the Pixel Watch 3 as a health and fitness tracker. It does a lot of things that competing products like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch do, like automatically detect certain workouts, prompt you to move if you've been idle for too long and keep tabs on your pulse and calorie burn as you're exercising. But importantly, it does some of those things a lot better than its rivals. As someone who likes to track every single walk I take, no matter how short the distance, I found the Pixel Watch 3 a dream. It consistently caught on that I had been out for a stroll, usually prompting me to log a workout once I hit the ten-minute mark. This also worked well on the many Citi bike rides I reluctantly took in New York City, and the Pixel Watch 3's GPS tracking matched the Lyft app's log every time. Only twice in about a dozen walks and bike rides did the Apple Watch Series 9 I was also wearing record these activities, probably because it has a higher threshold of about 20 minutes of activity to hit before it would register something. Of course, the Galaxy Ring was the best at this, logging every little walk I took even if it was a mere quarter-mile journey that took just five to seven minutes. But that's a completely different gadget that served a different purpose, so I won't mention it much more in this piece. With the Pixel Watch 3, Google introduced a few new features around running and cardio activities. You can now create custom running workouts, with specific segments for sprinting and resting. I found this very easy to use, and had no trouble setting up a short session with a 5-minute warmup, one-minute sprint, one-minute rest, a repeat of the run and rest segments, followed by a 5-minute cooldown. (I know, that's the best running workout ever, very productive and demure.) Screenshots For the sprint segments, I had the choice of setting targets for pace, heart rate, distance or duration. When I eventually got into those windows when I was on the treadmill, it was clear I had overestimated my ability to hit an 8-minute mile speed, even for just a minute. I had pushed the treadmill to the 8 mph speed setting and was still getting alerts from the Pixel Watch 3 to hurry it up. I could barely guess what number I needed to be at to meet the mark that the watch helpfully displayed on a spectrum on the left of the screen. This is certainly not a tool for running newbies, who would be better served with some of the coaching tools in Fitbit Premium (or an app like Couch To 5K). But for runners with cadence and speed goals or those who only want to go fast enough to be in a fat-burning heart rate zone, this would be a useful tool. I liked letting the watch tell me when to run for my life and when I could catch my breath, but otherwise as a casual runner I was less impressed and more intrigued by its potential. Digging into the data was fun and insightful, and I have a general sense of what I could do better if I wanted to improve. When I was back to my regularly scheduled training program, I used both the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Pixel Watch 3 in my F45 HIIT, cardio and weight-training classes. During every session, both watches were never more than a beat or two from each other when it came to stats like my heart rate, cardio zone and calories burned. At the end of each workout, both devices delivered recaps on my performance, and I have a slight preference for how Apple lays out the information. I appreciate that Google congratulates and encourages me for having completed a workout, but its little celebratory graphic at the top just takes up space. I also like that the words on Apple's interface are slightly easier to read. Screenshots The Pixel Watch 3 also delivers a new stat called Cardio load," which can be used in tandem with your daily readiness score to help you train at a level that's suitable for your energy expenditure. If you've already done a lot that week, you might get a high Cardio Load number, which could mean a lower target the next day, depending on how well you've recovered. The latter figure is determined primarily by your sleep, and you'll only start seeing your readiness scores after having worn the Pixel Watch 3 to sleep on at least seven nights. I am a fussy sleeper and wearing anything on my wrist keeps me awake, and I wasn't able to test the Pixel Watch 3's sleep-tracking or readiness scores. But Sam has been wearing his 45mm model to bed and in his experience the Pixel Watch 3 remains as accurate a sleep tracker as its predecessors. Daily readiness is a feature that used to be limited to Fitbit Premium subscribers, and it's now available for free to all Pixel Watch owners, which is nice. Like the cardio load number, this score is not something I can easily evaluate. Not only is it a somewhat nebulous idea (how should I go about counting my cardio load during a HIIT session, for example), its utility is also dubious. Cherlynn Low for Engadget I'm not saying this is a bad feature, particularly since I haven't spent much time with it. I have used other sleep trackers in the past that would assign sleep scores and similar readiness results. The most I've ever done with that data is try to get a day off when I was told I had an awful night's sleep. And that didn't even work in my favor since none of my managers ever cared about that type of info. I like the idea of balancing activity and recovery, and applaud Google for making a more concerted effort to encourage that with the Pixel Watch 3. This is one of those features that's up to the user to make the most of, and is highly subjective, depending on each person's thirst for data and validation. Another metric that's notoriously difficult to verify and do anything with is stress-tracking. On multiple occasions during my testing, the Pixel Watch 3 buzzed and told me it detected potential signs of stress or excitement," along with the time it noted that reaction. These alerts typically came in ten minutes after the fact, by which point whatever was exciting or stressing me out was usually over. One time, I remembered to look at the clock after I was agitated by a bad driver in an extremely congested lane going into the Holland Tunnel. Ten minutes later, I was greeted by the Pixel Watch 3, saying it noticed my frustration, exactly when I checked the time earlier. Cherlynn Low for Engadget I was impressed by the accuracy of the observation, but otherwise didn't quite know what to do with the information. The alerts were vaguely worded (probably deliberately so), and you have the option of logging your mood or starting a mindful activity in the moment. It's not always easy to remember why I was annoyed or excited ten minutes ago, so I ended up either guessing or simply shrugging. Even if Google were to tally up the number of times I had these reactions, I have to wonder if having emotional reactions might just be a normal part of life. There is something useful to be observed here, I'm sure, but I'm not certain that this feature is fully baked just yet. One more thing that Google brought with the Pixel Watch 3 is loss of pulse detection" - a feature that is supposed to sense when the wearer has a heart beat. If you're having a cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, the device can check if you're responsive and ping emergency contacts if necessary. Thankfully, I didn't have a cardiac anomaly during the two weeks I've had the Pixel Watch 3, and never had a chance to test this feature out. But I can also say that it hasn't been triggered inaccurately or accidentally so far. In use - Wear OS 5 still needs some work If you're already familiar with Wear OS, the latest version of the software won't feel foreign. Swiping up, down or sideways will still bring up notifications, settings and tiles. Pressing the crown will pull up all apps, where you'll find icons laid out in a grid not unlike that on watchOS. There are a few new features on the Pixel Watch 3 that other Wear OS watches like the Galaxy Watch won't have. For one, the Fitbit-powered morning briefing is supposed to appear every day with details on your readiness and cardio load scores and targets. But Sam and I both wish it was more obvious. Instead of just appearing when you first put the watch on every day, you'll just see a small icon at the bottom of the home screen. It would even be preferable if the briefing showed up at the top of the notifications list each morning. This isn't a major gripe though, seeing as neither Apple nor Samsung surface this data either. Wear OS could also use some tweaking. Sam wishes basic functions like timers and stopwatches were easier to get to, though personally I don't mind relying on asking the Assistant for those tasks. And though many of the available watch faces are nice, Sam wishes there were more options, as nothing really stood out." I used both the Pixel Watch 3 and the Apple Watch Series 9 to navigate to a brewery in Red Hook, and the two devices fared similarly. I will say that Apple's GPS seemed more responsive, pinging me earlier than Google's to take upcoming turns. It even alerted me when I was basically at the entrance to the bar, whereas the Pixel Watch didn't seem to realize I was at my destination even after I was seated inside the establishment. Finally, an area you'll be spending a lot of time as a Pixel Watch 3 wearer is the Fitbit app on your phone. And the Watch app as well. Neither of these have changed much, and they're clean and easy to use. I feel like there's a lot of blank space that makes the interface feel sparse, and could possibly be put to better use and improve readability. But, again, that's not at all a complaint and, as it is, the app functions fine. The Pixel Watch 3's battery life: Huge improvement The Pixel Watch 3's biggest win is arguably its battery life. Google managed to prolong its runtime by quite a lot, ostensibly by doing a few things. First, the Actua displays' ability to drop to 1Hz when a high refresh rate is unnecessary probably helped conserve some battery. Wear OS 5 might actually be more power-efficient as well and combined with the watch's dual-chip architecture there were some gains made. Throw in the new auto bedtime mode that turns off notifications and the Always On Display when you're asleep, and you've got a watch that finally lasts well into the morning after a full day and night. According to Sam, the auto bedtime mode is effective, and the screen has stayed off for me reliably every night." To be clear, even in auto bedtime mode, the Pixel Watch 3 will still track your sleep, so you're not sacrificing precious data in exchange for battery life. It's also nice to not have to panic about putting the device on its charger the second you wake up. Both Sam and I found our review units typically lasted at least a day and a half, with the 45mm version staying around a few hours longer in general. My 41mm model was neck and neck with my Apple Watch Series 9, with both wearables hitting about 15 percent at about 11pm after a day out. This number depends on how much you've actively used the Pixel Watch 3, of course. A day of numerous Citi bike rides tracked later and my unit was down to 30 percent the next morning, and though the Apple Watch had a bit more juice that same period, it barely logged any of the activity. If you're in a pinch, you should be able to squeeze a couple of hours more juice when you turn on Battery Saver mode. According to Google, you should be able to get 24 hours of use on a Pixel Watch 3, and the power-saving mode should extend that to 36 hours, by disabling the Always On Display and limiting background app activity. One of the best improvements to the Pixel Watch 3 is its charging speed. The 41mm Pixel Watch 3 has basically the same size battery as its predecessor, but as it charges 20 percent faster, it'll get to 100 percent in 15 minutes less time than before. That's even if you place it on last year's charger, meaning the tweaks happened on the watch itself, not on the charging cradle. Cherlynn Low for Engadget Wrap-up It only took three generations. But for the first time, the Pixel Watch feels ready to unseat Samsung's Galaxy Watch as the best smartwatch for non-Apple users. Those on iPhones will probably find it easier to continue to stay in their ecosystems, but if you're looking for an Android answer to the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch 3 might be it. People who own Samsung devices will likely benefit from the integrations with Galaxy phones, of course. So part of the Pixel Watch's success here has to do with whether people have already bought into Google's brand Which brings me to what this means for Google's greater hardware plans. One of the main reasons it's hard to leave Apple for Android has been the former's seamless vertical integration. Features like AirDrop and AirPlay make inter-device interaction so easy that there's no good substitute elsewhere. Then there's the RCS vs iMessage, green-bubble-blue-bubble stigma that locks people into iPhones, keeping many from switching. Getting the Pixel Watch 3 to a point that's as good as an Apple Watch is a major step towards vertical product integration parity, and could give Google a better shot at gaining and retaining new users. A lot of this will have to do with awareness and marketing, sure, but at the very least, Google finally has a solid smartwatch with which to start.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/pixel-watch-3-review-google-finally-got-it-right-especially-with-the-battery-life-170005758.html?src=rss
Oh, this week isn't just new Apple product announcements. No. Sony has elbowed its way in to officially introduce the long-awaited PS5 Pro, with more power and seemingly less compromise.Sony wants to narrow the gap between the fidelity and performance modes players are accustomed to choosing between - either high frame rates or high resolution, and you could switch between the two in most AAA games on the PS5.To do that, the PS5 Pro's GPU has 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster RAM than the standard PS5. According to the console's lead architect Mark Cerny, the new console will deliver up to 45 percent faster graphic rendering. Ray-tracing performance could be up to three times as faster - often an optional feature toggle on games as it can also hamper frame rates.Meanwhile, Sony's AI-upscaling tech (i.e., its take on the likes of NVIDIA's DLSS) is called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR, which should sharpen up in-game assets without the need to remake them. The new console includes a game boost tool to improve the performance of more than 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games.SonyThe PS5 Pro is the same size as the not-small original launch model, but there's no disc drive model. That's another paid extra, on top of that $700 price. The good news is it does have a decent 2TB of storage built in.Interested? Pre-orders start on September 26, and it will arrive on November 7.- Mat SmithWe're having some issues with new subscriptions to the newsletter version of TMA, but our form should be back online soon! Thanks for reading!The biggest stories you might have missedApple needs to remember what the iPhone 16 is foriPhone 16 hands-on: More Pro than I expectedWhy AirPods 4 block sound better - and just sound betterAustralia's prime minister wants to ban social media for childrenThe government hasn't determined an age limit yet.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that would prevent children under a certain age from using social media. Reuters reported that Albanese issued his statement in a TV interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The Australian government would start by testing age verification technology sometime this year. He also didn't state a specific age limit but estimated he'd like the ban to be for children younger than 14 to 16 because we know that social media is causing social harm."Continue reading.Huawei's triple-fold smartphone is almost triple the price of a smartphone$2,800, depending on the exchange rate.EngadgetHuawei's flagship foldable, the Mate XT, is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market and will debut in China, starting at 19,999 yuan (approximately $2,800). That's enough to buy an 11-inch iPad Pro, M3 MacBook Air and an iPhone 16. The device folds up accordion-style, with one hinge bending outward and the other inward, leaving one panel available to use as a 6.4-inch exterior display. Unfolded, it creates a 10.2-inch screen, more like the tablets we use. It's technically impressive but financially prohibitive.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111514318.html?src=rss
The US government has noticed the potentially negative effects of generative AI on areas like journalism and content creation. Senator Amy Klobuchar, along with seven Democrat colleagues, urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Justice Department to probe generative AI products like ChatGPT for potential antitrust violations, they wrote in a press release."Recently, multiple dominant online platforms have introduced new generative AI features that answer user queries by summarizing, or, in some cases, merely regurgitating online content from other sources or platforms," the letter states. "The introduction of these new generative AI features further threatens the ability of journalists and other content creators to earn compensation for their vital work."The lawmakers went on to note that traditional search results lead users to publishers' websites while AI-generated summaries keep the users on the search platform "where that platform alone can profit from the user's attention through advertising and data collection."
The first-person shooter Doom has so many ports on so many different consoles and computers that modders have had to find new places to port the game like autonomous lawnmowers, digestive bacteria and even in Doom II itself.One port that's not nearly as popular or playable as the others is the Sega Saturn port that came out nearly four years after the game's release. Gamespot's Jeff Gerstmann called the Sega Saturn Doom port just about everything you can call a bad game without straying over the the boundaries of good taste: completely worthless," drab," jerky," to be avoided at all costs."Bo, a self-described reverse engineer of Sega Saturn games, gave the Sega Saturn port of Doom another chance and he discovered a cheat code in the game that's been laying dormant for more than a decade. He posted the secret cheat code he found on X.
Google announced that it has entered a partnership with Holocene to support its direct-air capture technology for collecting and removing carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. Under this $10 million deal, Google will purchase carbon removal credits from Holocene at a rate of $100 per metric ton. This is the price the US Department of Energy set as a goal for direct-air capture technology to make it a viable part of efforts to reduce the rate at which we emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.As the name implies, direct-air capture can collect carbon dioxide out of the air, then concentrate the gas to be stored in underground reservoirs. It sounds great in theory, but the technology has proven expensive and difficult to scale. Google said its support should allow Holocene to capture and store 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the early 2030s, in addition to helping the company further refine its DAC technology. Holocene has a more detailed explanation of its DAC approach on its website.Sustainability has become an important talking point for a lot of big tech. Google has made a big investment in buying carbon offsets, enough that it claims to have eliminated its entire "carbon legacy," and it aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. But its greenhouse gas emissions have risen almost 50 percent in the past five years thanks to the intensive data center demands of AI usage.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-announces-deal-with-direct-air-capture-startup-to-remove-carbon-emissions-225627149.html?src=rss
It's the day after Apple launched the iPhone 16, and though I published my hands-on with the iPhone 16 Pro right after the event, I didn't have a lot of time to spare for the base models until today. With that extra time, I've been able to learn more about the differences between the standard iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro, and honestly I'm pleasantly surprised that there aren't that many.One of the most obvious ways to tell the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro apart is in their color selections. The entry-level series has a pleasant, vibrant array of colors this year, with the teal, pink and blue options really catching my eye. These hues are saturated and punchy, compared to the light pastel shades from recent years. I especially like how deep the "ultramarine" blue is - the pictures don't do any of these finishes justice.The entire iPhone 16 series has the new camera control, meaning you can use the hardware switch to launch the camera app, and then tweak settings like zoom, depth and tone. Having played with them both, I can confirm that they're equally clicky and satisfying to use. Unlike last year, where only the Pro models got the Action button, the iPhone 16 has similar controls, so you're not missing out on a dedicated key by opting for a cheaper model.You also gain the ability to record spatial video and audio, thanks to the iPhone 16's updated cameras. In addition to a new ultrawide camera with autofocus and support for macro shots, the sensors have been realigned and are now vertically stacked atop each other. Most intriguing is that the iPhone 16 will also support the new Audio Mix feature that lets you more finely control the voices and sounds in your footage after capture.Cherlynn Low for EngadgetIt'd be easy to assume that the "four new studio-quality mics" on the iPhone 16 Pro are what's behind Audio Mix, but it appears to just be the ability to record spatial audio that enables the new feature. With this you can go into the iPhone 16's video editing interface, tap the tab for Audio Mix and choose between "In-frame," "Cinematic" and "Studio" options. The first one isolates the sound from subjects in the scene and cuts out background noise, while Studio mimics the acoustic environment of a recording studio, complete with dampening walls. Cinematic, meanwhile, consolidates all the sounds in the front and center of the space.I was able to get a demo of the Audio Mix feature, and was really impressed that the iPhone 16 was able to isolate voices of people it recorded speaking in an echoey outdoor deck in Apple's new Observatory space. Not only did switching between the different mixes effectively change how loud the various sources of sound were, but it was also nice to learn that you can tune the volume of specific streams in each profile. This is something I'm going to want to play with a lot more to better understand it, but for now I'm very intrigued by the possibility of using an iPhone 16 for future Apple event videos.One disappointing exclusion from the iPhone 16 is the multi-track recording feature coming to iPhone 16 Pro. That Voice Memo update is only going to be available on the Pro models.In fact, here are the main upgrades if you spring for a Pro: ProMotion screens with higher refresh rates and Always On Display, as well as superior camera hardware with a 48-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 5x telephoto option. The premium handsets also have support for 4K120p high-quality slo-mo footage and professional formats like ProRaw. The Pros also have the A18 Pro chip, compared to the iPhone 16's A18, and the differences mostly lie in GPU performance, so you might have a better time gaming on the more premium model.Other differences are fairly minimal, like the titanium build and faster USB speeds on the Pros. In general, though, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus feel like much less of a trade off for the cost savings, and you're also getting more fun colors. They also seem like a greater improvement from their predecessors, which is a welcome change after years of incremental changes.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-16-hands-on-more-pro-than-i-expected-222843896.html?src=rss
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to introduce legislation that would prevent children under a certain age from using social media. Reuters reported that Albanese issued his statement in a TV interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC).Albanese says the Australian government would start its social media initiative by testing age verification technology sometime this year. He also didn't state a specific age limit but estimated he'd like the ban to be for children younger than 14-16 because we know that social media is causing social harm."Meta issued a statement in response to the PM's proposal noting that Facebook and Instagram already have a minimum age requirement of 13 years for users. The social media company also noted it wants to empower young people to benefit from social media with parental controls and monitoring instead of just cutting off access."Lawmakers in the US and other countries have suggested and tried to implement a federal age limit on social media access. Last year, US Senator Josh Hawley introduced two bills to Congress that would prohibit teenagers under 16 from using social media. The state of Utah also passed laws in 2023 requiring teens to have parental consent and provide a copy of an ID instead of just inputting their birthday to access their accounts. The following year, Utah repealed the ID requirements.Social media use has become a greater health issue as experts raise concerns about its effects on younger users' mental well being. An open letter signed by 42 US attorneys general supported US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's proposal to require social media websites to post visible health warnings the way that cigarette makers are required to do so on their products' packaging.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/australias-prime-minister-wants-to-ban-social-media-for-children-212139064.html?src=rss
The Xbox Game Pass Standard plan is available starting today. Microsoft announced a revamp to its Game Pass subscription plans in July, introducing the Standard option alongside a price increase for the Ultimate tier. The Standard plan costs $15 a month, while Ultimate will run you $20 a month.The Standard subscription tier will offer the essential features of the Game Pass program: online multiplayer gaming, access to a large library of games, and discounts on select game purchases. The big difference between Standard and Ultimate is that Standard plan members will not be able to play some blockbuster releases, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, on day one. The wait time on Standard varies by title, but can last up to or longer than 12 months. Ultimate plans also include membership to EA Play and access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.Xbox has been struggling to compete with PlayStation in this console generation. That's partially due to hardware differences: Microsoft offered an underwhelming refresh to its console lineup this summer whereas Sony managed to build lots of hype for the announcement of its expensive new PS5 Pro. But the Game Pass plan has also been struggling to generate continued revenue for Microsoft, with just 34 million subscribers reported in February.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/game-pass-standard-is-now-available-on-xbox-202451946.html?src=rss
As I write this, I'm listening to tunes on my 2020-vintage AirPods Max. Yes, that makes me a bit of an Apple fanboy, and we currently recommend at least six pairs of headphones over them. But for me, they still sound outstanding, have great active noise cancellation and work well with my most-used devices. They also are missing a few features compared to the second-generation AirPods Pro that came out in 2022. That doesn't bother me, given that they're almost four years old - but the idea of spending the $550 that Apple is asking for the refreshed version of these headphones announced yesterday is ridiculous, even if it is a relief that they finally have USB-C. For context, Apple wasn't even expected to introduce an AirPods Max update at the iPhone 16 event - but the day before, Apple prognosticator Mark Gurman at Bloomberg surprisingly said that the headphones would receive their first significant update. However, the update involved replacing the Lightning charging port with USB-C and some new colors. That's it. Nothing to inspire an upgrade from Apple nutjobs like me (though I sorely wish my headphones did in fact have USB-C, now that I've mostly moved away from Lightning devices). I'm a fan of the new colors and would love to switch to USB-C, but not enough to spend $550 - or even half that to be honest. On the other hand, Sony has updated its flagship headphones regularly, with the WH-1000XM3 arriving in 2018, the XM4 in 2020, the XM5 in 2022 and the XM6 expected in 2025. Most Sony users aren't going to upgrade from the XM4 to the XM5, or even a future XM6, as high-end headphones should last for years. But when you're buying a company's flagship headphones, you're getting the best product they could possibly make. Sony has made sure that's the case by refining the design, offering better battery life or improving ANC. What's most frustrating about the AirPods Max update is that they had to do at least a modicum of internal redesign to drop in USB-C, so why not upgrade the chips to the H2 processors? The H1 varient inside the AirPods Max was first released in early 2019, as part of the second-generation AirPods. And now, all AirPods, including the just-announced $129 fourth-generation model, use that H2 processor. It enables useful improvements like adaptive audio, which essentially blurs the lines between traditional transparency and noise-canceling modes depending on the ambient sound around you. It also lets you nod or shake your head to respond to Siri rather than having to speak out loud. These features would certainly be welcome by potential AirPods Max buyers, but instead the incredibly expensive headphones are stuck with a five-year-old chip for the foreseeable future. I can't get over how silly that is considering the fact that entry-level AirPods are getting some of the benefits of the H2 processor. Of course, the AirPods Max have speaker quality and tuning that far exceeds what you'll get from a $129 pair of earbuds. But as Apple's top-tier headphone (in cost, if not features), they're a tough sell given they're missing features you can get on the AirPods 4 with ANC for a third of the price. Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event! This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/why-are-apples-airpods-max-still-saddled-with-2020-hardware-200506426.html?src=rss
If you grew up in the 1980s, then you probably remember the Carmen Sandiego games and how they turned learning boring old geography into a fun, criminal-catching adventure. Netflix, Gameloft and HarperCollins Productions are bringing the Carmen Sandiego franchise back with a brand new game that lets you play as the famous, fedora festooned felon.Netflix Games announced today that Carmen Sandiego will be released sometime in the first quarter of 2025 starting on the Netflix mobile streaming app for iOS and Android. The game will also be released on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation and Xbox consoles and for PC on Steam sometime later. Carmen Sandiego will be free for Netflix subscribers to play without any in-game purchases or online play.The new Carmen Sandiego puzzle-adventure game is based on the 2019 interactive Netflix cartoon series with Jane The Virgin star Gina Rodriguez voicing the titular thief. The new game picks up where the series left off but it's more than just an interactive TV show. Netflix, GameLoft and HarperCollins will send players on an adventure across the world as Carmen Sandiego through a series of puzzle, clue gathering, flying and stealth missions. They'll track down members of the evil organization VILE based on clues that reveal each villain's identity in various cities to obtain warrants and arrest them.Of course, prior to being rebooted on Netflix, Carmen Sandiego was a classic educational game series that started on computers in 1985 with Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego? The geography puzzle games asked players to track down Carmen and her den of appropriately named thieves who stole some of the world's rarest cultural artifacts.The Carmen Sandiego games went through several variations and inspired the iconic kids' game show on PBS in 1991 that ran for five seasons. The series also spawned a Saturday morning cartoon on FOX and a Netflix animated series. Netflix is also producing a live-action Carmen Sandiego film starring Rodriguez in the lead role, according to Entertainment Tonight.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-new-carmen-sandiego-game-will-let-you-play-as-carmen-sandiego-194540530.html?src=rss
Every year, the calculus of choosing which iPhone to get feels increasingly frustrating. Do you opt for the standard iPhone? Do you splurge for the latest and greatest Pro model, something that might take two years to pay off completely? Or should you just buy a slightly older used or refurbished model to get the best deal possible? And of course, there's always the safest bet: Save your money and keep your current phone for as long as possible. After sitting with Apple's announcements for a day, one thing has become clear: The plain $799 iPhone 16 is a pretty solid deal, at least compared to basic iPhones from the last few years. It actually has a new processor, Apple's A18, instead of reusing an older chip. It brings over the Action button from the iPhone 15 Pro and it also has Apple's new camera button. The iPhone 16 is also relatively future-proof since it supports Apple Intelligence, something that doesn't work on the non-Pro iPhone 15 and older models. Apple While the $999 iPhone 16 Pro has an additional camera and supports more powerful photography and filmmaking features, the line between that device and the standard iPhone 16 is blurrier than ever before. It certainly makes more sense to invest in the iPhone 16 today, instead of the poor, beleaguered iPhone SE. That device sports an aging A15 chip, the tiny 4.7-inch screen of yore and it still costs $429 like it did in 2022. It's rumored that we'll see a new iPhone SE sometime next year, but the current model is simply a terrible option in Apple's current lineup. If you don't care about Apple Intelligence and you'd like to replace an older device, you can currently find a refurbished iPhone 15 on Amazon and elsewhere between $500 and $600. But really, if you're willing to shell out that much money for a used device with a limited warranty, it might make more sense to grab an iPhone 16 and pay it off over time via your carrier. Trade-in deals can also shave off a significant chunk of a new phone's price. Verizon, for example, is currently offering $800 off a Pixel 9 or iPhone 15 when you swap out an older device. To be clear, all of the preceding advice only applies if you need to replace a trashed iPhone, or you're excited to play with Apple Intelligence. Judging from the latest rumors, we'll likely see an ultra-thin iPhone model next year (similar to the latest iPad Pro), so it might just make sense to hold onto your existing device. And don't forget, Apple's AI features won't be immediately available at launch - you'll have to wait until an October update for the first batch of features, and Siri won't get all of its new smarts until the first half of 2025. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/its-a-good-year-to-buy-the-vanilla-iphone-16-and-avoid-the-se-at-all-costs-192919611.html?src=rss
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an op-ed in June calling for social media to come with a warning label about its negative health impacts, similar to the warnings placed on cigarettes and tobacco products. Now, 42 attorneys general have drafted an open letter to Congress to signal their support for Murthy's plan."This ubiquitous problem requires federal action-and a surgeon general's warning on social media platforms, though not sufficient to address the full scope of the problem, would be one consequential step toward mitigating the risk of harm to youth," the group's letter reads. "A warning would not only highlight the inherent risks that social media platforms presently pose for young people, but also complement other efforts to spur attention, research, and investment into the oversight of social media platforms."Almost every state's AG signed the letter; the only holdouts are Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia. Attorneys general from American Samoa, District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands also signed.The attorneys general cited the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, which both recently passed in the Senate, as other important measures for protecting young people's mental health. The measures took multiple tries to get to a floor vote in the Senate, and it's unclear whether they have the support to pass in the House of Representatives.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/majority-of-attorneys-general-support-a-warning-label-for-social-media-platforms-184138728.html?src=rss
Meta's Oversight Board has weighed in on its first Threads case and reversed the company's initial decision and first appeal. Regarding a post about the outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, using a phrase that translates to drop dead / die" in English, the board determined the phrase was used figuratively and not as a literal threat or call to violence.The case was sparked by a Threads post showing a news article about Kishida and his reaction to his political party's (ahem) fundraising irregularities." The caption criticized the Prime Minister, accusing him of tax evasion. The user's reply demanded an explanation from the government leader and, calling him a tax evader, used the phrase ," or drop dead / die." The post also included hah" and derogatory language about people who wear glasses. (Watch yourself there, partner!)The post went largely unnoticed, with no likes. But someone reported it under Meta's Bullying and Harassment rules. After three weeks, one of Meta's reviewers determined it instead broke the Violence and Incitement rules. The user appealed, and another reviewer agreed with the first that it violated the policy. One more appeal teed up the issue for the board, which accepted the case and overruled the two human reviewers who removed it.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio KishidaThe Government of JapanIn this case, the threat against a political leader was intended as non-literal political criticism calling attention to alleged corruption, using strong language, which is not unusual on Japanese social media," Meta's Oversight Board wrote in its explanation. It was unlikely to cause harm." The board considered the poster's use of hah" to help determine its figurative sense.The board said that, despite speaking Japanese and understanding local content, the moderators who removed the post were in error." It recommends Meta clarify its internal guidelines and offer more guidance for reviewers on how to evaluate language and local content."Meta's Oversight Board added that the Violence and Incitement policy includes a rule prohibiting the phrase death to" against high-risk persons" isn't clear enough. It said that while the company's policy rationale suggests context matters in threat evaluation, its reviewers aren't empowered to assess cases involving the death to" phrase. The board echoed its 2022 recommendation for Meta to explain that rhetorical threats using the phrase are generally allowed, except when directed at high-risk individuals, and to provide criteria on when threatening statements directed at heads of state are permitted to protect rhetorical political speech."Further, the board recommended that Meta clarify how the policy differs for public figures" vs. high-risk persons." It calls out the confusion over why threats against public figures are only removed when credible." In contrast, those against others are axed regardless of credibility."The Oversight Board has had a busy September after deciding on only 53 cases last year. Last week, it ruled that the phrase From the River to the Sea" shouldn't be banned and, in a case with some parallels to this one, it separated death threats from aspirational statements" in Venezuela.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/in-its-first-threads-case-metas-oversight-board-asked-for-clarity-on-death-threats-170630647.html?src=rss
Amazon's Fire HD 8 tablet is more than half off, bringing the cost down to just $55. The original asking price is a whopping $130, so this is quite a bargain. As a matter of fact, it's just $5 shy of the Amazon Prime Day price. This is a decent tablet, even at the original sum. It boasts a hexa-core processor, 13 hours of battery life per charge, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a microSD slot for up to 1TB of additional storage. It's fairly thin and light, making it a budget-friendly option for a kick around the house" tablet. Just plop it on the nightstand and use it for emergency Netflix sessions. We recommended the tablet in our official review, calling it a great communal device." It's not going to win any design awards, but it gets the job done. There are two caveats. First of all, this is an ad-supported model. There are ads on the lockscreen. I hate advertisements with the heat of 1,000 suns, but this never bothered me. The whole thing is fairly innocuous. The other potential downside involves the app store. This tablet can only access the Amazon Appstore and not Google Play. You'll be able to find all of the big apps and games, but the more niche titles may not be available. Amazon is also selling the slightly beefier Fire HD 10 tablet for $90, which is close to its Prime Day price. This one boasts a 10.1" FHD screen, an octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. October Prime Day 2024 is around the corner, serving as Amazon's (un)official kickoff to the holiday shopping season. If you're eager to snag some early holiday deals for those on your list (or yourself), here's what we know so far about the next Prime Day shopping event. When is October Prime Day 2024? Amazon has not announced the dates of fall Prime Day 2024 yet, but we do know it will be returning sometime in October. What is October Prime Day? October Prime Day is an extension of the regular Prime Day sale held annually in July. It features exclusive deals on Amazon for Prime members, although not quite on as big of a scale as the main summer Prime Day. How long is October Prime Day? In years past, October Prime Day has been two days long, just like Prime Day in July.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazons-fire-hd-8-tablet-is-more-than-half-off-and-close-to-its-prime-day-price-164258054.html?src=rss
The headline feature of the AirPods 4 may be active noise cancellation (ANC), but Apple has done well to improve the overall audio quality in addition to blocking environmental sounds. For the first time on the "regular" AirPods ANC is on the spec sheet, at least for one model, and there are a few key components that allow the earbuds to effectively cancel noise. And that's despite the fact that your ears aren't completely sealed off with a flexible tip. There are also specific changes to the AirPods 4 that improve overall sound quality, a feat that's impressive in its own right for open design earbuds.When it comes to the ANC setup on AirPods 4, the combination of a refined earbud shape, the power of the H2 chip and upgraded microphones work in unison for useful noise cancellation. Apple isn't the first to offer ANC on open-type earbuds. I've reviewed dozens of sets of earbuds over the years, and after a few minutes with the AirPods 4, I would argue the company is the first to actually employ noise cancelling in a way that's actually helpful while not fully sealing off your ears. The ANC setup here obviously blocks noise, which isn't always the case with this type of buds.Apple has amassed a database of thousands of ear scans and 50 million data points, both of which contributed to the tapered design and reduced proportions of the AirPods 4. Those changes mean the earbuds fit better in more people's ears. A better fit means the ANC tech is less reliant on a complete seal to do its thing, but also it means that the earbuds should be more comfortable to wear.The updated microphones have both a lower noise floor and higher frequency bandwidth. This means that the system can detect a wider range of sounds that it may need to block out. Plus, there's advanced computational audio at work for the ANC here, powered by the H2 chip. This component also enables the features from AirPods Pro to be available on AirPods 4, from Voice Isolation to Siri Interactions and more.Billy Steele for EngadgetThe addition of ANC arrives alongside transparency mode on the regular AirPods for the first time. I want to note that while I did observe less than ideal performance in a brief trial in the busy hands-on area after the event, the sound quality here should be just as natural as what's on the AirPods Pro. There could be a number of reasons why I couldn't hear my voice come through as clearly on this new model, including the fact that the demo room was wall-to-wall with journalists all raucously vying for the same limited real estate.Apple also sought to drastically improve the overall sound quality on the AirPods 4, and a key way it did so is really quite simple. Rather than having the driver pointed towards the side of your ear, the company repositioned it so that the audio is pointed directly into your ear canal. That change also reduced the number of audio reflections inside the AirPods housing, which allowed the company to enhance performance at higher frequencies. The result is increased overall clarity. There's also new acoustic architecture, a new low-distortion 11 millimeter driver and a new high dynamic range amp.The result of all of those sonic changes on the AirPods 4 is an obvious boost in overall sound quality. After a brief listening session, I can vouch for the increased clarity the company described in its announcement, as well as a deeper, fuller effect on the audio. You'll notice a big difference between these and the third-gen AirPods, even if you don't spring for the ANC version.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/the-key-updates-that-make-airpods-4-block-sound-better--and-just-sound-better-160744010.html?src=rss
The second-generation AirPods Pro have had hearing health features for a while now. However, those tools are being expanded in iOS 18 with Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection that will soon be available on the earbuds. Apple's three-prong approach to hearing health now covers awareness, assistance and prevention, but it all starts with the "clinically validated" hearing test you can take on your own.Apple has created its version of the hearing test we all probably took as kids. The one where you sit in a booth and raise your hand when you hear a sound. The company offers an alternative to the booth, bulky equipment and trip to the doctor with AirPods Pro and the iPhone. In any quiet environment, the earbuds and the phone can now offer a similar test to what you'd get in a physician's office. Here's how it works.From the Settings menu on your iPhone, you'll tap into the AirPods Pro settings to find the Hearing Health section. First, the software will check to make sure the fit of your AirPods provides a good seal for the test and that your location is quiet enough for the tech to offer reliable results. Once Hearing Test begins, active noise cancellation (ANC) will be enabled and you'll tap your iPhone screen when you hear tones on both the left and right sides. Apple employed 150,000 real-world audiograms and millions of simulations to develop a test that's quick and easy. But most importantly, the company says, it created one that's accurate.Once the test is completed, you'll get immediate results on your phone, telling you the level of hearing loss (if any) in each ear. If you have minimal hearing loss but could maybe benefit from help in certain frequencies, the software will recommend some tweaks in the Media Assist settings for entertainment audio and calls. If you have mild to moderate hearing loss, Hearing Test may suggest you use the AirPods Pro Hearing Aid feature to improve every day life.AppleI got a brief walkthrough of Hearing Test following the iPhone 16 event, and it seems to be as quick and easy as Apple describes. To be clear, I didn't actually take a real test, just a simulated version with fake results, but every step in the process was accounted for in my abbreviated session. All told, you should be able to complete Hearing Test in about five minutes.Hearing Test results will be stored in the Health app, allowing you to see changes over time. You can retake the test as often as you want, with access to hearing health articles and the ability to download results just a tap away. I should also note that Hearing Aid is designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. If Hearing Test determines that you have severe hearing loss, the software will recommend that you visit an audiologist for further guidance.Hearing Aid is a software-based solution that boosts certain frequencies so certain sounds are enhanced on AirPods Pro. It's a first of its kind submission to the FDA, and a tool that allows you to customize the amplification, balance and tone at any time in the settings. The feature should help people with mild to moderate hearing loss better hear conversations and environmental sounds, but also improve what they hear in music, videos and calls.Both Hearing Aid and Hearing Test should be available this fall, pending FDA approval, as part of an iOS 18 update.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/how-apples-hearing-aid-and-hearing-test-will-work-on-airpods-pro-154814439.html?src=rss
Sony has officially announced the much-anticipated PS5 Pro. You'll need to dig deep into your pocket for it, though: the new console has a price tag of $700 and it will arrive on November 7. Pre-orders start on September 26. As with the PS5 Slim, if you want a disc drive or a vertical stand, you'll have to shell out extra.The Pro offers some notable improvements on the specs of the original PS5, which was released in 2020. Sony is hoping to narrow the gap between the fidelity and performance modes that players have become accustomed to choosing between. The idea is to offer improved graphical performance at more consistent frame rates across the board. To do that, Sony focused on three core upgrades: a larger GPU, advanced ray-tracing and AI-driven upscaling.That GPU has 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster RAM than the standard PS5. As such, according to the console's lead architect Mark Cerny, the new console will be able to deliver up to 45 percent faster rendering. Ray-tracing performance could be up to three times as faster than on the PS5. Meanwhile, Sony's AI-upscaling tech (i.e. its take on the likes of NVIDIA's DLSS) is called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR.Of course, Sony's own studios have been updating their games to take advantage of these upgrades. Cernys presentation highlighted The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as some of the games that will benefit from improved visual fidelity and/or frame rates. Third-party partners are planning to tap into the PS5 Pro's extra power too, with patches on the way for the likes of Alan Wake 2, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Demon's Souls, Dragon's Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Games that have been patched or developed for the new system will have a PS5 Pro Enhanced label.Other features include a game boost tool that could improve or stabilize the performance of more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games, Sony says. The feature could boost the performance of PS5 games that aren't explicitly enhanced for the Pro as well. The company adds that its Enhanced Image Quality tool will improve the resolution of certain PS4 games as well. Other features include Wi-Fi 7, variable refresh rate and support for 8K resolutions.Sony managed to make the PS5 Pro more powerful without making it larger than the colossal original model. It has the same height as the original PS5 and the same width as the discless model. Along with a DualSense controller and the brilliant Astro's Playroom, the PS5 Pro comes with 2TB of built-in storage, which is a nice upgrade from the 1TB on earlier models.That $700 price may put many folks off of buying a PS5 Pro. But hey, at least Sony is offering gamers a tangible hardware upgrade. The newest Xbox systems either change the console's color, add some storage or remove the Series X disc drive.It's hard to keep many secrets around new gaming hardware, so today's announcement is hardly a surprise. There have been several leaks this year, one from a YouTube channel in May and then again in August from a Dealabs user.The PS5 has been a big seller for Sony, with 61.7 million units sold as of June 2024. With the PS5 Pro joining the original hardware and the PS5 Slim, Sony is in good shape to continue its dominance of this console cycle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-unveils-its-ps5-pro-console-which-will-cost-you-a-whopping-700-151636487.html?src=rss
Analogue's retro handheld console, the Pocket, now has six colors available for a limited time besides the standard black and white. They will be available on September 12 at 11AM ET and will be shipped out between 24 and 48 hours after your order is confirmed. These aren't the only limited runs from Analogue, as the company did release aluminum, transparent and Glow in the Dark Pocket consoles in the past (just to name a few).The six colors are based on the classic Game Boy Color's original shell hues, being color-matched to the handheld consoles sold from 1998 to 2003. The colors are Berry, Dandelion, Gold, Grape, Kiwi and Teal. You can get one of these limited consoles for $250.Those who prefer the regular Pocket handhelds can rejoice, as they will be restocked and available for purchase on the same day. These will ship immediately as Analogue wishes to keep the standard versions in stock steadily as possible." This has been something that has been a challenge since the console launched, as it often feels like they're more concerned with building expensive limited-edition options rather than keep the main product in stock.In addition to these two announcements, Analogue promised a software 2.3 update, but we don't have all the details yet, aside from the fact that it'll be available on September 12. We'll update this post when we get more info.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/analogues-latest-limited-edition-pocket-consoles-are-inspired-by-the-game-boy-color-150048157.html?src=rss
If you thought the price of a fully specced iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was high, Huawei has a new flagship that might require some folks to pull off a bank heist to afford. The Mate XT, which the company claims is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market, will debut in China and start at 19,999 yuan (approximately $2,800). That's enough to buy an 11-inch iPad Pro, M3 MacBook Air and an iPhone 16 - and still have cash to spare.It took Huawei five years to develop the Mate XT, according to the chairman of its consumer business, Richard Yu. As part of that process, the company is said to have made breakthroughs in screen and hinge technology. The device folds up accordion-style, with one hinge bending outward and the other inward, leaving one of the panels available to use as a 6.4-inch exterior display.Huawei Mate XT is the world's first triple-fold smartphone, and the largest and thinnest foldable handset globally," Yu said during a launch event, according to CNN. We are the first in the world to achieve outward folding (in smartphones) and the first to create an inward-folding phone with no gaps."Despite the high price, the Mate XT has already caught the imagination of Chinese consumers. By early Tuesday, Huawei had received 3.7 million preorders.It's no surprise as to why Huawei formally revealed the device hours after Monday's iPhone event - it's looking to steal some of Apple's thunder. Given its pre-order numbers and the relatively modest iPhone hardware updates this year (Apple is banking on the delayed Apple Intelligence features as a key selling point), Huawei may have just pulled that off.When completely unfolded, the Mate XT has a 10.2-inch 3K display with a 92 percent screen-to-body ratio. Buyers can use one, two or all three panels at once (the size of the two-panel display is 7.9 inches). It comes in red or black with a leather finish on the rear and gold trim on the edges and folds. When they're out of range of a cell network, owners will be able to communicate with the rest of the world via satellite.As you might imagine, there are a bunch of generative AI features too, including a voice input function that can polish and translate a transcript. There's the option to have a chatbot open on one side of the screen to answer questions and summarize articles. There's an AI photo-editing tool too. On that note, Huawei says the triple-camera system (which features a periscope telephoto camera and an ultra-wide-angle camera) includes an approximate optical zoom of 5.5x.Huawei isn't the first company to show off a tri-fold device, however. We had some hands-on time with a tri-fold TCL tablet back in 2020.The rollout plans for the Mate XT outside China are not yet clear. The Mate XT is unlikely to officially come to the US, given sanctions that have been in place against the company over the last few years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/huaweis-first-tri-fold-phone-starts-at-an-eye-watering-2800-145113669.html?src=rss
There's a meme that comes around when people are urged to see a movie on the biggest screen as the filmmaker intended. People then mock up images of them watching it on the worst, least-immersive devices possible, from iPods to Game Boys. It came to mind during the iPhones 16 launch event, Apple said its new models have CPUs that can challenge even high-end desktop PCs" and desktop-class GPU architecture." And it made me wonder if anyone is actually playing AAA games on a 6-inch smartphone for any real length of time?Look, we all know this is just Apple flexing the power of its homegrown silicon, given even its A-Series SOCs run almost as fast as a flagship Intel CPU. We also all know that if you tried to run your iPhone with the same load as you could put on a desktop, you'd quickly burn it out. (Case in point, Resident Evil Village caused GamesHub's iPhone 15 Pro to run uncomfortably hot" and burned through 30 percent of its battery life in an hour.) All of that power is great for the sort of tasks an iPhone needs to do which are only demanding in short bursts. Processing audio and video, or the odd blast of generative AI (when it arrives) that Apple is understandably proud of being able to do on-device.But this emphasis on raw power suggests the company has lost sight of what the iPhone is for, and what its limitations are. Yes, I'm sure some people love playing Death Stranding on the bus into school, or work. I'm sure there are some people who will try and use the Notes app to write their term papers, and one or two filmmakers who will use the iPhone instead of a Red, but those can't be massive constituencies of the overall user base.It's hard to see people using their iPhone to get the sort of Serious Work done that you'd need a better user interface to achieve. iPhones are great for photography, social media, communication, casual gaming, but they can't be a comprehensive replacement for a laptop or games console. Well, you can use them for those purposes, but I'm not sure anyone should.Another telling example was the demo showing a person using Voice Notes to record a new vocal over a backing track they'd previously recorded. It's a great way to show the iPhones 16's ability to isolate audio even when the sources are so close together. Apple added the feature to Voice Notes because it has seen user feedback that it's become a valuable tool in a musician's arsenal. But it's also something of an own-goal given Apple's own multi-track recording platform, Garageband, has been left (deservedly) ignored and unloved for the last decade.I suspect all of this points to the fact that Apple, with its key strengths of merging hardware and software, has run out of worlds to conquer in the former. After all, as glorious as the new iPhone is, the upgrades have been incremental for a long while now. As fancy and high-tech as the new camera shutter button is, it's not as if adding a dedicated button for capture is groundbreaking - I had one of those on my Sony Ericsson K750i. I'm also curious how many iPhone users actually harness those extra camera features (like adjusting the focal length, or shooting in RAW) when they're snapping clips for TikTok. And if you, like me, don't really value Apple Intelligence, or just think those features aren't really compelling, then there's little reason to rush out and upgrade.It doesn't help that I was also reminded of what Steve Jobs said in 2010, describing personal computers as trucks" whose prominence would fall as people switched to the cars" of phones and tablets. Trucks were go-anywhere, do-anything tools that were vital a century or more ago but were phased out when people started using more specific tools suited to their needs. The iPhone 16 launch event, however, felt like Apple showing everyone that it'd managed to cram a Big Rig engine into a Porsche.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-needs-to-remember-what-the-iphone-16-is-for-134535338.html?src=rss
We likely won't have to wait much longer to get all the official details on the PlayStation 5 Pro. Sony has announced a PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation that it will stream at 11AM ET on September 10 on the PlayStation YouTube channel.All indications point toward this being the official unveiling of the PS5 Pro. Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS5, will host the stream, which will focus on the "PS5 and innovations in gaming technology." This comes just a few days after Sony teased a redesigned PS5 in an image that lines up with various PS5 Pro leaks. It was also expected that the company would unveil the PS5 Pro in mid-September ahead of the holiday shopping season.Add all that up, plus a tagline that reads "The Journey Continues" in a teaser video, and it's pretty clear what's in store. For what it's worth, Cerny detailed the PS5's specs from behind a lectern in a 2020 livestream (Sony had to pivot from a planned Game Developers Conference talk after COVID-19 took hold).The PS5 Pro rumor mill suggests that the mid-cycle refresh will deliver improved and consistent frame rates at 4K resolution as well as an 8K performance mode in supported games. Game rendering is said to be 45 percent faster than on the standard PS5, while the Pro's ray-tracing capabilities are reportedly two to three times faster.
Glorious Gaming just released its latest flagship keyboard, the GMMK 3. The company didn't skimp on the bells and whistles with this one. As a matter of fact, it's calling the GMMK 3 the world's most customizable keyboard."To that end, the keyboard offers nine points of modularity, from the keycaps to the switch plates, cables, accent pieces and, well, every aesthetic part of the keyboard, from top and bottom." Glorious Gaming says there are so many ways to customize this model, that it's actually over one billion keyboards in one."Gaming keyboards, however, are about way more than aesthetics. Fortunately, the GMMK 3 checks all of the boxes for premium keyboard features. There are Hall Effect sensors, support for a rapid trigger feature and up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate. There's also customizable actuation and 4:1 dynamic keystroke mapping. There's even a modular gasket system to adjust the precise sound and feel of keystrokes.Some of the customization comes into play during the ordering process. The online configurator lets you select the color scheme and make other adjustments. There are also a bunch of accessories available, including key capsules, badges, rotary knobs and more. Additionally, each keyboard is available in three sizes.Glorious Gaming Beyond sizing, the keyboards are split into three different versions. There's the standard GMMK 3, which includes everything mentioned above, but the max polling rate shoots down to 1,000 Hz. The GMMK 3 Pro ships with a durable full aluminum body, but keeps that max polling rate of 1,000 Hz. The baddest of the bunch, the GMMK 3 Pro HE, includes the advertised 8,000 Hz polling rate, along with a revamped RGB lighting system and other goodies.Finally, there are barebones" versions of each keyboard that don't include switches or keycaps, so you can hit the ground running when it comes to customization. All of the keyboards come with tools to help remove switches and keycaps, but it's nice to have that part of the job finished already.The GMMK 3 is available now in all of its many configurations. Prices range from $120 to $260.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/glorious-gamings-gmmk-3-is-a-flagship-keyboard-with-tons-of-premium-features-130100429.html?src=rss
Apple Intelligence is coming next month. The company has revealed that its artificial intelligence platform is arriving on iPhones, iPads and MacBooks with the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates rolling out in October. It will only work on Apple's newer and more powerful devices, though, including the iPhone 15 Pro and the upcoming iPhone 16 models, as well as MacBooks and iPads running on M-series chips. In addition, the first batch of Apple Intelligence features will only be available in US English. Support for English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK will be available in December, while for other languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish is coming next year.One of the first Apple Intelligence features you'll be able to use is Writing Tools, which can rewrite, proofread and summarize text for you in Mail, Notes, Pages and even in third-party apps. The Memories feature will give you a way to easily create movies in Photos when you type a description for the kind of images you're looking for. You'll even be able to search for specific photos and videos by using natural language. And if you want to quickly remove background objects in images without damaging the rest of the photo, you can use the Clean Up tool.There's also a feature you can use to record, transcribe and summarize audio in Notes and Phone. If you initiate a recording while on a call, for instance, Apple Intelligence will generate a summary after it ends. A new Focus feature called "Reduce Interruptions" will surface only notifications that need immediate attention, while Priority Messages in Mail will put time-sensitive messages at the top based on the contents of those emails. You'll also see summaries of an email's most important information across your inbox and then use Smart Reply, which identifies questions and suggests quick responses, to fire off a quick message.Apple says its AI technology will make Siri more natural and more integrated into its platforms, as well. The voice assistant will apparently be able to understand your inquiries, even if you stutter or stumble over your words, and it can follow your train of thought even if you switch between text and voice. Apple says it's releasing more AI features over the next few months, including one that can generate an image using context when you circle an empty space and another that can create original emoji (or "Genmoji") based on a description you type.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-intelligence-for-iphone-ipad-and-mac-arrives-in-october-120502268.html?src=rss
If you're looking for a device that can do it all, a 2-in-1 laptop might be just what you need. These versatile machines combine the power of a laptop with the flexibility of a tablet, making them great options for everything from note-taking and sketching to full-on work or entertainment. Whether you're a student, creative or just want a more flexible setup, a 2-in-1 gives you the best of both worlds without having to carry multiple devices.
You'll have to pay a bit more for a PS5 DualSense controller that you might be expecting if you're getting a new one. As IGN reports, Sony has raised the controllers' prices worldwide by $5, even in its own shop. The standard DualSense controllers in the basic colors will now cost you $75 instead of $70, while the more expensive metallic variants - sterling silver, cobalt blue and volcanic red - will set you back $80. Retailers selling the controllers have already changed their prices upon checking, including Amazon, Best Buy and Target. The new prices seem to have taken effect in other regions, as well, including the UK, EU countries and Australia.Back in August, Sony raised PlayStation 5 prices in Japan by 19 percent due to "challenging economic decisions." The company didn't elaborate, but it is expecting fewer PS5 sales in 2025, even though the console is still outselling the Xbox Series X/S. It also raised the prices of PS5 accessories in Japan at the time, and now the rest of the world has followed suit.Sony will hold an event today, September 10, for a PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation that will stream live on its YouTube channel starting at 11AM ET. It didn't say what the event is about, but all signs point towards the unveiling of the PS5 Pro. PS5's lead architect, Mark Cerny, will lead the event, which will focus on "PS5 and innovations in gaming technology." We'll be covering the presentation and let you know the latest PS5 news when it comes out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-raises-ps5-dualsense-controller-prices-by-5-120030046.html?src=rss
If you missed it, Apple unveiled all the new iPhones we expected, a new Apple Watch that might steal a lot of the headlines (bigger, thinner, better!) and a surprising new push for its wireless headphones, with three new models and a software update for AirPods Pro that brings the company into a new product category, through software alone.We'll chew over those below, but first up: the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro. There's a surprising parity of new features in the two devices this year. The iPhone 16 gets an action button (left edge, above the volume buttons) and a new camera button, too.Well, it's more than just a button. With all sorts of sensors and tech crammed inside, you can adjust controls and settings in the camera - think zoom, exposure and aperture - with gentle slides and presses. Apple is already planning an update for a half-press to focus the camera and a full press to capture.AppleWhy did Apple redesign the iPhone 16 camera module? The cynic in me thought this change, with lenses stacked vertically, was just a desperate indicator to show that folks had the newest iPhone, but there's a reason. Apparently, this arrangement means the cameras can work in tandem to capture spatial video and photos.The iPhone 16 Pro (and Pro Max) both get an array of upgraded shooting features. There is (thankfully!) parity between the 6.9-inch Pro Max and 6.2-inch Pro, with the smaller Pro getting 5x optical zoom this year. The ultra-wide-angle camera has been upgraded from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels in both Pro models. The iPhone 16 Pro can shoot video in 4K at 120 fps, so you can switch to and from slow-mo footage after the fact - no slow-motion recording mode necessary.The iPhone 16 Pros have a larger battery, delivering us that perennial line: the best iPhone battery life ever." However, on Apple's own specification cheat sheet, it gets a little more specific, saying it was the Best iPhone battery life on Pro Max." That's something to scrutinize in reviews. But after last year's shift to USB-C, the lightness of a titanium build and an action button is not quite as convincing an upgrade.Having said that, what am I doing? I currently juggle an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and a Pixel 9 Pro XL, which are too big for me. Last year, I leaned on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, instead of the iPhone 15 Pro, for 5x camera zoom... and nothing else.This time around, like the iPhone 14 series, there are pretty much identical specs across the iPhone 16 Pro duo - which is how it should be - so I'm lining up a pre-order for a black iPhone 16 Pro, with 1TB of storage. I might change my mind.If you're a Pro Max kind of iPhone owner, I think you could probably wait a year, but it's also a great time to upgrade to the base iPhone 16. It gets those new buttons, it'll work with Apple Intelligence in a few months and it has a pretty gorgeous lineup of colors.We've got hands-on impressions on everything below.- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedApple Watch Series 10 hands-on: Bigger, lighter and thinner than everiPhone 16 Pro hands-on: How does a faux camera control button feel so real?Apple's AirPods Pro update turns them into a clinical grade hearing aidEverything Apple revealed at the iPhone 16 launch eventApple Watch Series 10 has a bigger screen and is even slimmerCan you notice 9 percent?AppleApple's wearable had the biggest spec jump at its event yesterday, with the biggest display and thinnest design ever on an Apple Watch. The wide-angle OLED display is even a bit larger than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Apple claims the screen is 40 percent brighter when looked at from an angle, thanks to that new OLED tech, and it'll show a second hand ticking away even when your wrist is down. The company claims an 18-hour battery life, which someone needs to remind Apple is not a full day.Continue reading.Apple announces AirPods 4 with a more comfortable fitAnd an extra ANC option to confuse shoppers.Apple launched its fourth-generation AirPods this week, as rumors suggested. They have a redesigned bud shape that's supposed to fit more ear shapes. The new entry-level AirPods also have the H2 chip to power features like Spatial Audio. The charging case has a USB-C port, and it's the smallest AirPods charging case to date. To throw a wrench into the works, Apple announced a second model supporting active noise cancellation and Transparency mode. Not to be confused with the AirPods Pro, which still exist.Continue reading.Google Pixel Watch 3 reviewGoogle finally got it right, especially with the battery life.EngadgetSpare a thought for Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low. As we bundled her into a plane for Cupertino to report on all that Apple stuff, she was wrapping up her review of Google's Pixel Watch 3. While we had compared Google's latest wearable to Apple's Watch Series 9, we think Apple has some wearable competition here, thanks to solid battery life and a comprehensive and intuitive suite of health-tracking features.Continue reading.It looks like Sony will announce the PS5 Pro later todayIn under 9 minutes.Sony has announced a PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation stream at 11AM ET today on the PlayStation YouTube channel. All indications point toward this being the official unveiling of the PS5 Pro. Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS5, will host the stream, which will focus on the PS5 and innovations in gaming technology. For less than 10 minutes.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-should-you-upgrade-to-an-iphone-16-111524098.html?src=rss
It's a bad day for big tech in the EU. After rejecting Google's appeal of a $2.7 billion antitrust fine, Europe's highest court ruled that Apple must pay back its 13 billion ($14.4 billion) Irish tax break deemed illegal by the EU Commission way back in 2016.The decision by the European Court of Justice overturns an earlier 2020 decision by a lower court in Apple's favor. "[The decision] confirms the European Commission's 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover," the judges wrote.In a statement to the Financial Times, Apple said the EU was "trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US."Apple's effective tax rate for revenue earned in Europe was an effective 1 percent on European profits and as low as .005 percent in 2014. Because the deal gave Apple a "significant advantage" over the competition, the EU Commission ordered it to pay back "illegal state aid" over the ten-year period before it began investigating its tax practices.The decision follows several setbacks for the European Commission against US corporations. Last year, the ECJ ruled that Amazon wouldn't be required to pay 250 million ($276 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg and lost a similar case to Starbucks in the Netherlands. So despite today's wins for the EU, those decisions could haunt future EU cases against big tech around tax havens in individual member states.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-ordered-to-pay-back-its-illegal-144-billion-irish-tax-break-110041387.html?src=rss
A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the four private astronauts of the Polaris Dawn mission has launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early hours of September 10 after a few weeks of delays. The mission was scheduled to lift off at the end of August but was postponed first due to technical issues, then because of poor weather conditions forecasted for the crew's return. On board are Jared Isaacman - the billionaire who funded the mission - retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Kidd" Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. They'll attempt several firsts during the five-day flight, including the first-ever commercial spacewalk.That attempt will also mark the first spacewalk from a Dragon capsule. Among Polaris Dawn's other goals is to send its crew farther than anyone has traveled since the Apollo program, targeting an altitude of about 870 miles from Earth. The journey will take the capsule and its crew briefly into the Van Allen radiation belt.
Google has lost a seven-year battle with the European Commission as the EU's highest court upheld a $2.7 billion antitrust fine against the search giant, Reuters reported. Antitrust regulators originally levied the penalty against Google in 2017 for favoring its own shopping service against local rivals."Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals," EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at the time. "Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors."Google lost its first appeal with a lower court in 2021, sending the appeal to Luxembourg's Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The company argued that it was being punished for its dominant position in the market and that the original decision "erred in law by treating quality improvements... as abusive."However, the CJEU judges upheld the lower court's decision that the company is allowed to have a dominant position but not to abuse it. "In particular, the conduct of undertakings in a dominant position that has the effect of hindering competition on the merits and is thus likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers is prohibited," they noted.An unnamed Google spokesperson has already responded to the decision, saying the company is "disappointed" with the judgment. They added "this judgment relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission's decision. Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services."Google is also fighting a legal battle in the EU that could force it to sell parts of its adtech businesses over similar arguments that it favors its own services over those of competitors. The EU commission found preliminarily that since Google is unlikely to change its behavior, only the "mandatory divestment" of part of its services would address competition concerns. All told, Google has accumulated 8.25 billion euros ($9.12 billion) in EU antitrust fines over the last ten years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-loses-its-seven-year-fight-against-27-billion-eu-antitrust-fine-090638804.html?src=rss
The new AirPods that Apple just announced at its iPhone 16 event come with cases that have USB-C ports, but they will not ship with USB-C charging cables in the box. As 9to5Mac has noticed, the new devices' official page states that USB-C charge cables are sold separately for both the basic AirPods 4 and the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. Apple didn't reveal the lack of cable in the earbuds' package in the event, but perhaps the company's assumption was that most people already have a bunch of USB-C cables in their possession. Still, it has just switched out the AirPods' cases lightning port, so current users got lighting cables with their previous models.Apple started selling its devices without charging bricks years ago, and it also stopped shipping the Apple TV with a USB cable for its Siri charger in 2022. So, no, this isn't unprecedented, but those who don't have an extra cable to use with an AirPods 4 will have to buy one. The latest version of the AirPods Max does come with a cable, though, so those looking to get a pair don't have to put an extra one in their shopping cart.For those now undecided whether to get the AirPods 4: We did find the ANC version's performance impressive. Engadget Senior Reporter Billy Steele got to try it at Apple Park's chaotic hands-on area, and the active noise cancellation nearly silenced the room full of event attendees. Apple also called the new models the "best fitting AirPods ever."Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-airpods-4-dont-come-with-a-cable-to-charge-them-035629606.html?src=rss
Apple's latest attempt to slightly differentiate the iPhone 16 series is... a faux button it's calling Camera Control. But unlike last year's new button, this one doesn't actually physically depress, and uses a mix of sensors and haptic feedback to simulate the sensation of movement. And in my brief hands-on right after Apple's iPhone 16 launch event, I have to say I actually thought it was a real button.Editors' Note: After some investigation, it turns out that at least part of the camera control is a real, depressable button. You'll feel the actual movement when you push all the way down, but the half-press is what's simulated by the iPhone 16's haptic feedback. It does a remarkably good job of simulating a two-stage button.I got a quick look at the iPhone 16 Pro here in Apple Park, and got a deep walkthrough of the new camera control and its corresponding interface. When I first picked up the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I felt like it looked sleeker and thinner than my iPhone 15 Pro Max, which was nice. My fingers were then drawn to the new "button," which has a groove that surrounds it, which helps with identification by touch.From the home screen, I pressed down on the camera control and the camera app quickly opened. The Apple rep guarding these phones encouraged me to push the camera control with varying pressures, as a lighter touch changed the dial that popped up onscreen next to where the button sat. I dragged my finger on this surface, and the digital knob moved along with me, although I at first found the direction of the movement slightly counterintuitive. I am, however, one of those gamers that needs to flip the direction of my controllers when looking around and navigating any environment though, so that might be just me.There is no way to change the direction of camera control's direction when you're swiping, but you can tweak the settings to adjust pressure sensitivity. When the Apple rep asked me to push harder on the control, I was shocked at what felt like a real button moving below my fingertip. I confirmed again with the Apple rep that this was not a mechanical button that actually moves, and was met with reassuring nods. Next to me, fellow reviewer Brian Tong echoed my sentiment that the camera control feels remarkably like an actual button.Cherlynn Low for EngadgetAside from marveling at the physical sensation on the iPhone 16 Pro, I also took a closer look at the changes to the interface. When I first light-pushed on the camera control, a selection of options came up, allowing me to select Exposure, Zoom, Camera, Styles and Tone. Pressing harder down on each of these locked those modes and a different dial with more markings came up, and swiping on the sensor would move the wheel. In the Camera mode, I was able to quickly switch between the ultrawide, main and zoom options, similar to how the viewfinder currently operates. If you prefer to use the existing interface to switch cameras, you can still do so.When you pick the Styles option, you'll swipe between the new Photographic Styles that Apple introduced this year. In each of these, you can tap an icon on the top right of the app to edit them with the new touchpad-ish interface. Dragging your finger around this square at the bottom will adjust color temperature and hue settings. You can also make changes to the Photographic Style in your picture after it's been taken, so you don't have to worry too much about not liking the way something looks.Cherlynn Low for EngadgetI also got to hold the iPhone 16 Pro Max in portrait mode and take a selfie. At first, my thumb was placed too high on the device's edge, and pressing down did nothing. I shifted the phone in my hand slightly, which felt a little precarious, then found the camera control and quickly took a shot. I'm not sure of the position here just yet, but it feels like something I'll figure out in time.Some of the camera improvements on the iPhone 16 Pro are new video editing features, but I didn't quite get to recording 4K120 footage yet. I did get to peek at the updated video-editing interface, which has a tab on the side for Audio Mix, which lets you isolate the voices of people on camera or make the shot sound like it was recorded inside a studio. It's all so very cinematic. I don't know that I believe people can shoot IMAX-friendly films on any iPhone ever, but the idea that you can is certainly intriguing.The iPhone 16 Pro Max vs the iPhone 15 Pro Max displayPart of the reason I found the iPhone 16 Pro slightly sleeker than its predecessor is likely to do with its display. It's 6.9 inches large now, compared to its predecessor's 6.7-inch screen. However, Apple has managed to keep the handset at the same size as before, shaving the bezels down even further to do so. It's not something you'll notice without putting the two devices side by side and really scrutinizing the borders, but it makes a small difference in making this year's Pro Max feel new.Whether that makes a meaningful difference in maneuvering the phone or reading more content at once is something I'll wait till I can scroll Reddit for hours on my couch before judging. I'd also need more time to see if Apple Intelligence and the new A18 Pro chip will improve the iPhone 16 Pro experience and battery life. I know I'm super stoked for the update to the Voice Memo app and will be loudly singing into my iPhone 16 Pro whenever I get the chance. If you want the most comprehensive review from an aspiring singer, definitely come back to check out our full impressions soon. If not, well, you have been warned.Update, September 09 2024, 8:04PM ET: This story has been updated to clarify that there is a real button in Camera Control, and that the half-step is what's simulated by haptic feedback.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-16-pro-hands-on-how-does-a-faux-camera-control-button-feel-so-real-191406863.html?src=rss
In this bonus episode, Devindra and Engadget Contributing Reporter Kris Holt break down everything new (and not so new) in the iPhone 16 lineup. Is Apple Intelligence alone enough to entice iPhone owners to upgrade? Does anyone actually need the camera button? And why are we so intrigued by the Apple Watch Series 10 (which is undoubtedly the most interesting product Apple launched today)?Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!Subscribe!
Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop), a game where you send real letters to real people and then wander around a cozy town, is due to hit Steam on October 7.It's the sequel to Kind Words (lo-fi chill beats to write to), an award-winning 2019 game from independent Boston studio Popcannibal. Players in the original game had a single bedroom where, backdropped by a sweet lo-fi soundtrack, they wrote and responded to letters from other players. There were small bits of room customization and sticker collection in the game, but it was truly just about connecting with strangers in a warm and nice way. This was a prescient idea: Just six months after Kind Words came out, the coronavirus pandemic locked down the globe. Connecting with people safely and from a distance suddenly became a top priority, and Kind Words carried this responsibility well. In the five years since launch, hundreds of thousands of players have sent more than 6 million messages in-game.Kind Words 2 imports your letters, room changes and stickers from the first game, and it allows you to leave the bedroom and explore a small town of shops, cafes and parks. On top of the standard letter-writing loop, you can customize your avatar with new clothes, scream (in written form) into the void, wish on a star, perform poetry and interact with other players in public spaces. The endlessly chill soundtrack comes from Slay the Spire and Kind Words composer Clark Aboud. It all looks - and sounds - incredibly adorable.In terms of game design, Popcannibal faces a unique and impossible-sounding challenge with the Kind Words series. Instead of having to build innovative environments or ultra-responsive controls, developers have to create a world that encourages anonymous online strangers to be nice to each other. The original game excelled in this regard, using visuals, mechanics, mood and music to foster friendly conversations among thousands of anonymous players worldwide. Kind Words 2 is bigger, but the vibe seems just as snuggly, and this time around Popcannibal has years of experience moderating and vibe-curating under its belt. If anyone can create a troll-free anonymous social network, it's these folks.Kind Words 2 was announced in a Day of the Devs stream in December 2023, and it's available to wishlist on Steam right now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/kind-words-2-takes-cozy-letter-writing-to-the-city-on-october-7-215127953.html?src=rss
Two models of AirPods were largely expected at today's iPhone 16 event, one of which would add active noise cancellation (ANC) to the "regular" AirPods for the first time. There are other upgrades for the $179 version, but after a brief demo of the ANC setup on the AirPods 4, I wager the noise-blocking tools will be the key selling point for most people.Apple is using this version of the AirPods 4 to bridge the gap between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro. As such, this model has some features that were previously exclusive to the company's priciest buds. Those include Siri interactions that allow you to accept or reject calls with a head nod, Adaptive Audio, Voice Isolation and more - all thanks to the H2 chip that powers the Pro model. All of these will be welcome improvements for people who prefer the open fit of the AirPods 4, but the ANC is the most impressive addition in my book.I got a brief demo of the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation in the chaotic hands-on area at Apple Park. Honestly, it's a perfect place to test ANC. Once I had the AirPods 4 in my ears and I got some music going, I activated noise cancelling to silence the room. And it nearly did. I was blown away by how effective the ANC is on these earbuds that don't completely seal off your ears. Most open-type designs with ANC barely put a dent in ambient distractions, but do affect battery life. Here, I might as well have been in a room on my own, and I was only aware of the environmental noise when transparency mode jolted me back to reality.Billy Steele for EngadgetApple updated the design for the AirPods 4, calling them "the best-fitting AirPods ever." This refined shape, in addition to some software tricks and acoustic performance, helps boost passive noise isolation while keeping your ears open for that default audio mode. ANC is yet another place Apple is able to flex the muscle of the H2 chip, and the AirPods 4 performance in that regard is a testament to the component's abilities.I will note that transparency mode on the AirPods 4 didn't sound as natural as it does on the AirPods Pro. That's mostly due to the fact that I didn't feel like the earbuds were piping in as much of my own voice as that pricier model. In fact, I felt like it hardly did so at all. An Apple rep explained that the difference could be attributed to a number of factors, including the fact that my ears weren't completely closed off.Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-airpods-4-hands-on-seriously-impressive-anc-performance-211526269.html?src=rss
At its big iPhone 16 event, which also included a new Apple Watch and AirPods, the company snuck in a new MagSafe charging cable. Although there's nothing to see here if you're standing pat with an older handset, the new magnetic accessory will boost charging speeds for iPhone 16 owners. 9to5Mac spotted that the new MagSafe charger supports maximum charging speeds of 25W when paired with an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro and a 30W (or higher) wall charger. The OG MagSafe charger only offers speeds of up to 15W, the same max speed the new accessory will give you when used with an iPhone 15 or older. So, other than future-proofing, there's no reason to get the new charger if you have an older handset and already own the original MagSafe charger. The new MagSafe accessory comes in two variants: One with a 1m (3.3 ft) cable and another with a 2m (6.6 ft) cable. The shorter cable costs $39 (the same as the original), while the longer one will set you back $49. The new MagSafe charger is available to order now at the Apple Store with standard shipping times. The iPhone 16 series is available for pre-order with a September 20 release date. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apples-new-magsafe-charger-will-juice-up-the-iphone-16-faster-than-the-old-accessory-can-203435004.html?src=rss
Apple unveiled a quartet of iPhones on Monday, including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. As expected, the updates are largely iterative. The standard models now have the programmable Action button from last year's Pro series, slightly improved battery life and an updated camera module that's stacked vertically instead of diagonally. The Pro phones, meanwhile, feature bigger displays with slimmer bezels, improved battery life and a handful of camera upgrades, including a 5x optical zoom for the smaller Pro and a sharper ultrawide camera. The standard models run on Apple's new A18 silicon, while the Pro models, fittingly, use a faster and more efficient chip called the A18 Pro. The most notable hardware change across the board might be a new touch-sensitive "Camera Control" button that makes capturing photos and video a little more DSLR-like. Mostly, though, these phones don't look to be massive departures from the iPhone 15s before them. Much of Apple's sales pitch will come down to how helpful its "Apple Intelligence" AI tools are out in the wild. We already have a hands-on preview for the iPhone 16 Pro up on the site, and we'll have full reviews for the entire iPhone 16 lineup in the near future. But if you're thinking about pre-ordering right away, we've broken down how the new iPhone 16 Pro compares to two of its most prominent rivals in the $1,000 price bracket, the Google Pixel 9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24+, on the spec sheet. Per usual, raw specs won't tell the full story - you'd probably buy an iPhone because you want iOS and an Android phone because you prefer Android - but if you're wondering what a $1,000 smartphone gets you in 2024, here's how Apple's latest handset stacks up. Apple iPhone 16 Pro Google Pixel 9 Pro Samsung Galaxy S24+ Pricing (MSRP) $999 (128GB), $1,099 (256GB), $1,299 (512GB), $1,499 (1TB) $999 (128GB), $1,099 (256GB), $1,219 (512GB), $1,449 (1TB) $1,000 (256GB), $1,120 (512GB) Dimensions 5.9 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches 6.2 x 3 x 0.3 inches Weight 7.03 ounces 7 ounces 6.9 ounces Screen size 6.3 inches 6.3 inches 6.7 inches Screen resolution 1,206 x 2,622 (460 ppi) 1,280 x 2,856 (495 ppi) 1,440 x 3,120 (512 ppi) Screen type OLED Up to 120Hz (1-120Hz) Up to 2,000 nits (peak brightness) Ceramic Shield LTPO OLED Up to 120Hz (1-120Hz) Up to 3,000 nits (peak brightness) Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Dynamic AMOLED 2X Up to 120Hz (1-120Hz) Up to 2,600 nits (peak brightness) Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 SoC Apple A18 Pro (6-core) Google Tensor G4 (8-core) NA/China: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (8-core) Int'l: Samsung Exynos 2400 (10-core) RAM Not specified 16GB RAM 12GB RAM Battery "Up to 27" hours video playback 4,700 mAh "24+ hours" with mixed usage 4,900mAh "Up to 29" hours video playback Charging Wired: not specified 25W wireless (with MagSafe charger; up to 15W with Qi2 chargers) 27W wired 21W wireless (with Pixel Stand; up to 12W with other Qi chargers) 45W wired 15W wireless Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB (1TB only available with Obsidian model) 256GB, 512GB Rear camera Main ("Fusion"): 48 MP, f/1.78 Ultrawide: 48 MP, f/2.2, 120 FOV Telephoto: 12 MP, f/2.8, 5x optical zoom Main: 50 MP, f/1.68, 82 FOV Ultrawide: 48 MP, f/1.7, 123 FOV Telephoto: 48 MP, f/2.8, 5x optical zoom Main: 50 MP, f/1.8, 85 FOV Ultrawide: 12MP, f/2.2, 120 FOV Telephoto: 10MP, f/2.4, 3x optical zoom Front camera 12 MP, f/1.9 42 MP, f/2.2, 103 FOV 12 MP, f/2.2, 80 FOV Video capture Rear: 4K at 24/25/30/60/100/120 fps, 1080p up to 240 fps Front: 4K at 24/24/30/60 fps, 1080p up to 120 fps Rear: 8K at 30 fps, 4K at 24/30/60 fps, 1080p up to 240 fps Front: 4K at 30/60 fps Rear: 8K at 24/30 fps, 4K at 30/60 fps, 1080p up to 240 fps Front: 4K at 30/60 fps Water and dust resistance rating IP68 IP68 IP68 Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 7 Wi-Fi 7 Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 5.3 OS iOS 18 Android 14 Android 14 Colors and finish Glass front, glass back, titanium frame Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, Desert Titanium Glass front, glass back, aluminum frame Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, Obsidian Glass front, glass back, aluminum frame Cobalt Violet, Amber Yellow, Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Jade Green, Sandstone Orange, Sapphire Blue Catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-iphone-16-pro-vs-the-competition-bigger-with-more-buttons-194622608.html?src=rss
AppleThe full details on Apple's new iPhones are finally available, and the dates align with our earlier predictions below. The new iPhone 16 series will arrive in stores on September 20, starting at $799. Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 will open online on Friday, September 13. The iPhone 16 Pro will start at $999, with the larger iPhone 16 Pro Max starting at $1,199. The baseline storage on all the 2024 iPhones is 128GB, and they'll all run iOS 18 with the full range of Apple Intelligence features once they begin becoming available in October in the US.This is a developing story. While we update the details, check out the earlier version of the story below, and catch up on all the news from Apple's iPhone 16 event!Ready to set your eyes on the iPhone 16 lineup? You can in just a few hours because the Apple iPhone event is happening today, Sept. 9. You can watch the Apple video stream live starting at 1PM ET, and follow the Engadget iPhone event liveblog in real-time, too. And if you plan to get your hands on one of the new devices after the event, we're here to save you time because the new iPhones won't be available to buy yet.Apple is pretty consistent when it comes to releasing new products and we don't expect that to change this year. We'll tell you when we expect Apple to release the iPhone 16 after its event. We'll also let you know when you can expect to download iOS 18 - Apple's latest software - on your current iPhone.We don't yet know how much the iPhone 16 lineup will cost. Currently, the iPhone 15 models start at $799 and range as high as $1,599 for the 15 Pro with 1TB of storage. It will be interesting to see if Apple holds the line on pricing, or plays around with different storage capacities and price points, as it sometimes does.Want to follow along with us during Apple's big event? Here's how to watch the iPhone 16 announcement. (We'll post our liveblog link closer to the event start time.)When can I buy the new iPhone 16?While we won't have a set date for when the iPhone 16 will become available until the iPhone event, we can predict the date based on Apple's past consistency. Here's what we expect:
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