We all knew it was coming. The next phase of Netflix's months-long crackdown on password sharing — which itself follows the company's first quarterly subscriber loss in a decade — is soon upon us. The company announced during its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that it will charge customers an added monthly fee to people who share their login credentials beginning in early 2023.
This move is an expansion of a pilot program currently running in Latin America which charges extra fees for "extra user" subaccounts, users outside of your immediate household who use your login to access the service. Basically, every listing on the "Who's Watching?" screen is going to cost you extra money if they don't also live with you.
Netflix has not yet announced pricing for the punitive charges though if they follow the pilot program's "one quarter of the basic rate" scheme, it should work out to around US$3-4. For folks wanting to avoid those fees, Netflix unveiled on Monday an account migration tool that will transfer a user's subaccount data (viewing history, recommendations and the like) to their new, independent subscription.
In addition, the company recently announced a less expensive, ad-supported tier that will cost $7 a month when it launches on November 3rd. The new tier will be available in a dozen countries, including the UK, Canada, and Mexico, by November 10th.
Google's flurry of hardware launches may be part of a larger defensive strategy. Sources speaking to The Information claim CEO Sundar Pichai sees hardware as the best way to be "protected" against the pitfalls of a changing mobile market. According to Google Assistant VP Sissie Hsiao, Pichai is concerned Apple is taking share from Android partners like Samsung, and that antitrust regulators might nix Google's long-standing deal to make its search engine the default on iPhones.
This may be coming at the expense of support for non-Google products. While Android support apparently remains intact, the company is said to be investing less in Assistant for cars and third-party hardware in general. Hsiao and other execs have reportedly explored moving employees away from Assistant and Google TV.
Google declined to comment, The Information said. However, the company may have reason to take risks with its hardware business. While Android isn't about to lose its dominance, any continued shortfalls could eat into Google's all-important mobile ad revenue even if its iPhone search deal continues unchallenged. In contrast, Hsiao supposedly noted that the Android Automotive platform in use at BMW, Volvo and other companies is only now approaching $1 billion in revenue — a tiny fraction of the $257.6 billion Google made in 2021.
The main question is whether or not Google can grow its hardware efforts enough to serve as a hedge against any problems. While Google revitalized its phone lineup with last year's Pixel 6 and the just-launched Pixel 7, it's not yet clear this has translated to improved sales. Google moved just 4.5 million phones in 2021 where Apple and Google shipped well over 200 million each. And while Google-powered smart speakers have done well (they're second only to Amazon in lifetime sales), the company is only just making its first in-house smartwatch. It's also reentering the tablet space after a years-long hiatus.
There's also a worry Google might play favorites. The Information maintains that Google is concentrating on providing the best services to "premium" Android partners like Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi. That could hurt other brands that might not get equal access to Assistant and other key features. If you're concerned about the long-term health of the Android ecosystem, the reported focus shift might not be very reassuring.
Today, Apple introduced a new crop of iPads alongside a refreshed Apple TV 4K. The new gear was announced through a trio of press releases, not the usual pomp and circumstance of a livestreamed event. For the most part, that makes sense: the new iPad Pros and Apple TV 4K don't bring many sweeping changes, while the all-new iPad largely takes after the existing iPad Air, albeit with a few compromises.
That said, new is new, and all of the updated devices are available to pre-order as of today through Apple's online store. If you're curious about upgrading to a new tablet or high-end media streamer, here's a quick rundown of what's new, how much everything costs and how you can pre-order everything announced today.
Apple iPad (10th gen)
Apple
The 10th-generation iPad represents the most significant revamp of the gadgets unveiled today. It's available to order now in four finishes: blue, pink, silver, and yellow. Prices start at $449 for a 64GB model or $599 for a 256GB model. You can add cellular connectivity to those storage counts for $599 and $749, respectively. Apple says the tablet will be available in stores starting on October 26.
Design wise, the 10th-gen iPad follows closely in the footsteps of the iPad Air. It features a similar 10.9-inch IPS display with a sharp 2,360 x 1,640 resolution and 500 nits of rated max brightness. The design has flatter edges, slimmer bezels, no dedicated Home button, a USB-C port, and a Touch ID sensor located in the sleep/wake button. Battery life is still rated at up to 10 hours of video viewing and web browsing on WiFi.
There's a 12MP wide camera—up from the 8MP sensor in the ninth-gen, 10.2-inch iPad—which Apple says can take 4K video and utilize the company's "Center Stage" frame-centering feature. Notably, the front-facing camera is located along the landscape edge of the tablet, which should make it particularly accommodating for group video calls. The device supports WiFi 6, too, while the cellular version works with 5G networks. Like other new iPad models, it also ditches the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The new iPad is powered by Apple's A14 Bionic system-on-a-chip, which was previously found in the 2020 iPad Air and the iPhone 12 family of phones. This should be a handy upgrade over the 10.2-inch iPad's A13 Bionic chip and give more than enough post for most uses, but it'll still be a few ticks behind the M1 chip found in the iPad Air. The new iPad's display also remains non-laminated—so you'll see a small air gap between the image and the glass layer covering it—and it only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil, not the second-gen stylus with more convenient magnetic charging.
Alongside the 10th-gen iPad, Apple is rolling out a $249 Magic Keyboard Folio case, which looks to work similar to the existing Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air and Pro, but includes a 14-key function row, but doesn't let the tablet "float" over the top of the keyboard, instead relying on a built-in kickstand.
Apple says it will continue selling the 9th-generation iPad at the same $329 MSRP (but frequently less than that online) for those who want a more affordable option, albeit with an aged design.
11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with M2
Apple
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros are a bit more familiar, with the main upgrade being internal: both slates now run on Apple's M2 SoC, which is also found in the latest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Both devices are again available in either silver or space gray finishes. Like the 10th-gen iPad, the new iPad Pros are available to order now and will hit stores beginning on October 26.
When we reviewed those M2 Macs, we found the M2 to bring a nice performance bump over the M1, though you'll likely need to go well beyond basic tablet uses to see a major difference in real-world use. Still, for those who want a tablet for video editing and other intensive tasks, it should be more futureproof all the same.
The new Pros will also support speedier WiFi 6E networks, Bluetooth 5.3, and, according to Apple, "more 5G networks around the world." For those with second-gen Apple Pencils, there's also a new "hover" feature that lets the tablets detect the stylus when it's up to 12mm away from the display, similar to past Samsung phones and tablets. Apple says this will allow you to preview of marks you can make before you actually apply the pen.
That's about it, though. Both tablets still support up to 120 Hz refresh rates, though the 12.9-inch model remains the only one with a brighter and more vibrant Mini LED panel, while the 11-inch model has a lesser (by comparison) IPS display. The ports, cameras, accessory support, and overall design is largely the same as before. Perhaps strangely, Apple has decided not to move the front camera to the side on the more expensive Pro models, leaving that feature to the far cheaper 10th-gen iPad alone.
The Pros should remain the best tablets in Apple's lineup nevertheless, though their pricing will likely keep them limited to the most involved iPad users. The 11-inch model again starts at $799 for 128GB of storage, while the 12.9-inch model will begin at $1,099 for the same amount of space.
You can also upgrade to 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, with the 1TB and 2TB models also doubling the included RAM from 8GB to 16GB. For the 11-inch model, those'll cost $899, $1,099, $1,499, and $1,899, respectively. For the 12.9-inch Pro, those jump to $1,199, $1,399, $1,799, and $2,199. Adding cellular connectivity to whatever option you pick costs an extra $200.
Apple TV 4K (3rd gen)
Apple
The new Apple TV 4K also gets a performance bump, jumping from 2018's A12 Bionic SoC to the faster A15 Bionic chip introduced last year and seen in the iPhone 13 family of phones and the latest iPad Mini. The set-top box also supports HDR10+ playback in addition to the usual Dolby Vision HDR, and the included Siri Remote now charges over USB-C instead of Lightning. Physically, the box itself is 50 percent lighter and slightly thinner, too.
The rest is largely the same as before, but the most notable (and welcome) change is the price: the new Apple TV 4K now starts at $129 for 64GB of storage. That's still a good ways more expensive than a Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but it's a nice drop from the previous model's $179 starting price and 32GB of storage either way. (Though we've seen a number of deals on that device in recent months.)
If you need more storage space for Apple Arcade games and the like, you can order a model with 128GB of storage for $149. This version adds a Gigabit Ethernet port and support for the Thread mesh networking protocol for certain smart home devices, too.
The new Apple TV 4K is available to order now at Apple's online store, though Apple says it won't be available until November 4. It's also worth noting that, with the introduction of the new streamer, the company has also discontinued the 1080p-only Apple TV HD.
Former NASA astronaut James McDivitt (pictured above, on the left) has died at the age of 93. The Apollo 9 commander passed away in his sleep in Tuscon, Arizona, last Thursday, the agency said.
NASA selected Air Force veteran McDivitt, who flew 145 combat missions in the Korean War and was an experimental test pilot, as part of its second astronaut class in 1962. His first trip to space was in 1965, as the commander of Gemini IV. During that mission, astronaut Ed White conducted the first spacewalk by an American. The four-day mission was the longest NASA spaceflight at that point.
McDivitt returned to space four years later as the commander of Apollo 9, an important precursor to landing humans on the Moon. The mission, which launched on March 3rd, 1969, took the lunar module and the full set of Apollo hardware to space for the first time.
The Apollo 9 crew conducted an engineering test of the lunar module in Earth's orbit, including a simulation of maneuvers that would be carried out during missions to the Moon. McDivitt and lunar module pilot Russell Schweickart carried out a spacewalk during the mission, which returned to Earth on March 13th. Four months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module on the Moon.
After the Apollo 9 mission, McDivitt became NASA's manager of lunar landing operations. McDivitt, who held a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan, and his team planned the lunar exploration program and redesigned the spacecraft to ensure it landed on the Moon safely. Following the success of Apollo 11, he became manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program and led it through the Apollo 16 mission.
McDivitt retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1972. Among other honors, he received two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals.
Now that Apple has introduced a lower-priced Apple TV 4K, it's apparently getting rid of the entry-level model. MacRumorsnotes the company is no longer selling the Apple TV HD through its online store. It's not clear if the device will still be available at retail or through other online shops, but you may want to act fast if you find it at a discount. We've asked Apple for comment.
A move like this isn't surprising. The Apple TV HD launched in 2015 and stayed at an official $149 even as later 4K models offered much more power for as little as $30 extra. Now that the 2022 Apple TV 4K starts at $129, there isn't much point to keeping the legacy player around — certainly not when it uses an iPhone 6-era A8 chip that limits its theoretical capabilities.
There are catches. The new Apple TV 4K doesn't include Ethernet or Thread support in the base 64GB model, so you'll still have to pay $149 for the 128GB version if you want that connectivity. Also, this still leaves Apple without a truly low-cost living room media player. You'll have to turn to competition like the Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max if you just want an alternative to your TV's built-in features.
You are getting much more for that $149, though, including support for all the major HDR standards, a far brawnier processor and more storage. If nothing else, Apple is clarifying its focus — it's staking out the high end of the market, and seems content to let rivals battle for the rest.
It has been eight years since EA released The Sims 4. While it seems there's still plenty of life left yet in the game as it goes free-to-play, many fans have been wondering about the future of the series. During a showcase on Tuesday, the publisher and developer Maxis announced the next entry in the franchise, and offered a sneak peek into what's ahead.
The next-gen Sims game is currently dubbed Project Rene. Maxis opted for that working title "to be reminiscent of words like renewal, renaissance and rebirth to represent the developer’s renewed commitment for The Sims’ bright future," EA said in a press release.
Maxis is in the very early stages of building Project Rene, which probably won't arrive for another few years. However, it did offer some details during the Behind the Sims Summit, including a look at more in-depth customization. You'll be able to change the patterns, colors and shapes of objects, including various elements of each item. For instance, you could adjust the shape and size of a bed's footboard or tweak the cushion layout and pattern on a couch. It seems that you'll have more freedom over how to place objects without having to rely on the grid system that The Sims has long employed.
You'll be able to play Project Rene by yourself or with your friends (there's the option to share furniture sets, for instance). What's more, it will be a cross-platform game with cross-progression, so you'll be able to continue playing when you move to a different device. That's also a possible hint that Project Rene is being eyed as a free-to-play-title.
EA/Maxis
EA said it was providing its earliest-ever look at a Sims game. As such, some of these planned features may change in the coming years, and there's still a lot more to come. Maxis wants input from players as it develops Project Rene. As such, it's taking a similar approach to sibling studio Full Circle, which has invited fans to try very early versions of the new Skateand offer feedback to help guide its work.
Elsewhere, the stream offered some details on updates for the current games. Maxis is working with Overwolf, which is behind mod repository CurseForge, to build a destination that The Sims 4 fans can visit to find trusted mods and player-created content for the game. More details on that will be revealed later this year.
Meanwhile, the next wave of expansion packs is coming in 2023. The showcase included a teaser related to infants, who may no longer be confined to cribs. One was shown crawling around before an adult picked them up.
Starting Tuesday, The Sims FreePlay will allow players to use all hairstyles, earrings and glasses on Sims of any gender. Maxis is upgrading characters' faces as well as part of a drive to make the franchise more inclusive. The Sims FreePlay will also gain a superyacht that your Sims can live in early next year. As for The Sims Mobile, balconies will be available in the build and buy catalog sometime this holiday season.
Apple rolled out a new round of iPads on Tuesday, upgrading the iPad Pro to the more powerful M2 chip and introducing a new 10.9-inch iPad that hews closely to the existing iPad Air, which launched this past March. While the new 10.9-inch iPad particularly complicates the latter's value, those who were already thinking of treating themselves to a tablet upgrade should still note the 64GB version of the fifth-gen Air is currently down to $519 at Amazon.
Outside of a one-day drop to $479 in August, that's the lowest price we've tracked for this SKU of the tablet, and it matches the deal we saw during Amazon's Prime Early Access sale last week. In total, the deal is $40 off the typical street price we've seen online in recent months and $80 off Apple's MSRP.
When we reviewed the new Air earlier this year, we broadly considered it to be the best Apple tablet for most people, what with its still-powerful M1 chip and significant design upgrades over the base 10.2-inch iPad, which Apple says will remain on sale going forward.
Compared to the forthcoming 10.9-inch iPad, however, the differences look to be more marginal. We'll have to get our hands on the device to confirm, but the new iPad starts at $449 and appears to follow the Air's design almost exactly, with the same 2,360 x 1,640 resolution, slim bezels, USB-C port, WiFi 6 support, Touch ID button, 12-megapixel front camera, and the like. With the new iPad, that front camera is also located along the right-side bezel, making it more suitable for taking video in landscape mode.
This new iPad utilizes Apple's A14 Bionic chip, which is the same silicon that powered the fourth-gen iPad Air and the iPhone 12 lineup. This SoC should be plenty powerful for media consumption and most of the other tablet things most people do with an iPad. Our review did find the Air's M1 chip to be noticeably faster across the board, however, and the M1 should be a bit more futureproof with games and more involved productivity tasks down the road, while also remaining overkill for lighter work, web browsing, and streaming.
Unlike the Air, the new iPad also lacks support for Apple's second-generation Pencil stylus. That means creative types will need to use a USB-C dongle to charge the first-gen Pencil and omit the newer model's magnetic charging and quicker settings-change features. The new iPad does support a new $249 Magic Keyboard Folio, however, which appears similar to the Magic Keyboard supported by the Air and iPad Pro, just without that model's "floating" design. This accessory also adds a row of function keys.
It's also worth noting that Apple doesn't list the new iPad's display as fully laminated, which means it will still have an air gap between its display and the glass itself, and thus can feel slightly more like you're interacting with an image below the glass, rather than the screen itself, which many find irritating. Apple also doesn't list this panel as having an antireflective coating. In terms of size, brightness, and resolution, though, it should be the same.
Beyond that, while the cost difference between the new 11-inch iPad Pro and the iPad Air is prohibitive for many—the former will start at $799—those who can afford the upgrade will still get twice as much default storage (a more robust 128GB), better built-in speakers, a more advanced camera system, a brighter display that supports a faster 120 Hz refresh rate, WiFi 6E support, and now an even more powerful chip. For most, the Air should remain a better value, but in a vacuum, the Pro is a better tablet.
All told, if the added horsepower of the M1, the laminated display, or second-gen Pencil support aren't worth an extra $70 to you, it's likely worth waiting to see how the new iPad stacks up. And if all you want is access to the iPadOS ecosystem for as little as possible, the 10.2-inch iPad is still a solid little tablet overall, and it's still at an all-time low of $269 itself.
If you do need the M1's power gains or improved stylus, though, or if you're looking to upgrade from an entry-level iPad or a pre-2020 iPad Air, though, this deal still represents a good value for those who want a tablet upgrade without totally breaking the bank.
Sony has revealed when you'll be able to get your hands on its premium DualSense Edge controller for PlayStation 5, but be prepared to shell out a pretty penny for it. The $200 peripheral will be available on January 26th in the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Pre-orders will open on PlayStation Direct on October 25th.
The DualSense Edge is "built with high performance and personalization in mind," Sony says. You can swap out the standard thumbstick caps, for instance, and use the included high dome caps or low dome caps instead. Replaceable stick modules will be sold separately for $20. For the back buttons, you can opt for half-dome or lever versions, both of which are included with the controller.
You'll be able to adjust the thumbstick sensitivity to your liking and remap the controls (including the back buttons) as you wish. Trigger stops and dead zones are adjustable as well. Those could come in handy if you play games that demand twitch reactions, since you'll be able to reduce the travel distance.
There's the option to save these settings to unique profiles you can switch between by using shortcuts. You can adjust audio levels via shortcuts too. What's more, the controller comes with a braided USB-C charging cable that you can lock into place.
The DualSense Edge is clearly geared toward serious gamers, particularly given that price. It's almost three times the cost of the standard $70 DualSense. However, it's in the range of the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, which starts at $150, and as of Tuesday is customizable through the Xbox Design Lab. The DualSense Edge is the same price as Scuf's Reflex gamepad for PS5. Scuf also offers more expensive models, which may cast the initial sticker shock of Sony's latest offering in a slightly less harsh light.
Google has turned its attention to tablets with today's Chrome on Android update, which focuses on improving tab navigation. The update introduces a side-by-side tab design that makes swapping open pages easier, and an auto-scroll back feature that brings you directly to your previous tab. When tabs become too small, the new Chrome on Android will get rid of the close button on each one, hopefully preventing accidental exits. There's also a new visual tab layout, which organizes tabs in a grid with a preview of each page.
Google is also adding drag-and-drop among apps, allowing you to take an image, text or link from Chrome and slide it into Gmail, Photos or other programs. Finally, today's update brings desktop mode to Chrome on Android.
The update is live now on all Android tablets, and it'll come to the Pixel Tablet when that lands next year. It makes sense that Google is trying to spruce up its tablet interface ahead of the Pixel's launch, and this likely won't be the last update in this space over the coming months.
Google has already confirmed that a future update will add tab groups, a popular desktop feature, to Chrome on Android.
Last year's Apple TV 4K wasn't much of an update internally, though the new Siri remote made up for that. But now, Apple finally has some worthy upgrades for its streaming box. That includes faster performance with its A15 Bionic chip, as well as support for HDR10+, which uses metadata to dynamically optimize HDR10 content (similar to Dolby Vision). Best of all, the new Apple TV 4K has a lower starting price of $129 (down from $179!), as well as double the base memory (64GB instead of 32GB).
If you want more storage, you can also snag the 128GB Apple TV 4K for $149. That model also adds gigabit Ethernet, as well as support for the Thread IoT standard. Both new Apple TVs also support Wi-Fi 6, which should greatly expand their wireless reception. They can also act as smart home hubs for HomeKit devices, like previous Apple TVs. The Siri Remote has all of the features we loved last year, except it now charges over USB-C.
No matter which Apple TV 4K you're looking at, they're both significant upgrades from the previous model. Apple says the A15 Bionic is around 50 percent faster, with 30 percent better GPU performance. That should come in handy if you're the rare person actually playing Apple TV games.
You can pre-order the revamped Apple TV 4K today, and it'll be available on November 4th.
