iPhones could soon detect car crashes and auto-dial 911Blu-rays are so done. Using high-speed lasers, researchers have created new data storage tech that could write and keep 500TB of data on a CD-sized glass disc. The 5D storage tech has higher writing speeds that might make it feasible to large-scale archiving projects. Each file uses three layers of nanoscale dots. The dots' size, orientation and position within the three standard dimensions make up the five "dimensions."
This kind of optical storage isn’t new, but there were problems in the past, particularly slow writing speeds. The new technique has sped this process up substantially, to around 230 KB per second. And, yes, that sounds pretty slow, but it could provide a way to backup data, essentially forever. It's been estimated the storage medium could withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees C and last 13.8 billion years at room temperature without degrading.
So what is it? Well, it’s basically a tiny puck-shaped computer dedicated to remixing Kanye’s latest album. Using it, you can change the volume of different stems, or tracks, in the songs on Donda. For instance, if you’re wondering what “Off the Grid” would sound like as an instrumental, you can simply turn down the vocals. Terrence O’Brien begrudgingly tested it out.
Thanks to some early hints in iOS 15.1, Beats’ latest earbuds are hardly a surprise. The company officially debuted its latest model: the $200 Beats Fit Pro. With a similar design to the Studio Buds that arrived earlier this year, this new pair offers active noise cancellation (ANC) alongside almost all of the features from Apple’s third-generation AirPods. Its shape seals off your ear, so ANC and transparency mode are available. Bass levels are ample without overpowering for a sound profile that’s noticeably better than Beats’ previous model. Our headphones expert Billy Steele seems to like them.
Even though Black Friday is over three weeks away, some major retailers are getting in on the action early. Among them is Amazon, which has slashed prices on its own devices. One of the products you can save on at the minute is the Kindle, which is $40 off at $50. Kindle Kids, meanwhile, is on sale for $60 (usually $110).
Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is now the crime lord of Tatooine. The trailer shows Fett and his partner, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen, reprising her role from The Mandalorian), ruling the desert planet's underworld. The show is set to arrive at the end of December.
And you don't have to spend a fortune to buy a good one.
If you’re thinking of getting a laptop or tablet as a gift, you’ve got a wealth of options. In the latest round of hardware from Intel, Apple, AMD and NVIDIA, all of our portable devices have gotten steadily faster and more efficient. We’ve got wildcards, too, like the cheapest iPad or gaming laptops now have almost all of the power of their desktop siblings. And with the arrival of Windows 11, it's a perfect time to give someone a nifty PC upgrade. Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar, our go-to laptop guy, lays out the best options.
Apple is working on the same feature for its Watch, too.
Apple plans to unveil a feature called crash detection for both iPhones and Watches, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The feature would supposedly use sensors like the accelerometer built into Apple devices. Apple has reportedly been working on this for several years and testing it using real-world data.
Years ago, Google introduced a similar feature for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 via its Personal Safety app that can detect when you've been in a car crash and alert emergency services. Even GM has been offering it for years in its cars with OnStar and recently introduced crash detection to smartphones via the OnStar Guardian app.
So what is the metaverse? The big tech news last week was that Facebook — the company — is renaming itself Meta, which will apparently align it with its future goals and aims.
But what does it even mean? Judging from Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, it’s definitely about “experiences.” Meta’s take on the metaverse is “a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality.”
Other things that have been described as metaverse include: Snow Crash (where the term originates), Ready Player One, Second Life, The Matrix universe. Both Roblox and Fortnite even touch on a lot of the major points of the metaverse. Senior Editor Daniel Cooper tries to detangle Zuckerberg’s view of his business’ future, right here.
The company didn't pinpoint the cause until just hours earlier.
The gaming platform's developer said it was "incrementally" bringing regions back to service after having pinpointed the cause roughly three hours earlier. Some had blamed the outage on a Chipotle promo that launched half an hour before the failure. Roblox has over 40 million daily users. Maybe they really like burritos? The company, while it didn't detail the cause, has ruled out particular "experiences or partnerships."
NASA has delayed the launch of Crew-3 from early on Halloween to 1:10 AM ET on November 3rd. The agency pinned the setback on "unfavorable" weather. There probably won't be another delay, though. Officials say there’s an 80 percent chance of good weather for the new date. Live coverage of the launch on NASA's channel will start November 2nd at 8:45 PM ET.
Researchers have produced the first 3D view of Jupiter's atmospheric layers, showing in greater detail than before how its turbulent clouds and storms work. Most notably, it's clearer how its giant cyclones and anticyclones behave. They're much taller than expected, with the Great Red Spot (an anticyclone) running 200 miles deep.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed Apple is aiming for a headset with both fast chips and high-res displays that can handle "high-quality" VR games. While it's not certain just what chips would be involved, a previous leak mentioned a possible 8K resolution per eye.
The headset is still poised to arrive "as early as" 2022, Gurman said. He also suggested Apple would eventually follow up the mixed headset with an augmented-reality-only model, but that was "years down the road."
Apple has acquired companies and reportedly shuffled executives with mixed reality in mind. And you know what this means? Apple might dabble in the metaverse, too.
Well-known device leaker Evan Blass has shared what he said is an image of a 17-inch ThinkBook Plus model, and it includes a secondary screen that appears to work with a stylus. The 17-inch ThinkBook Plus seems to have an extra-wide main display and fit in a full keyboard along with a large trackpad.
While Facebook the social network is still Facebook, the overarching company that it created is now called Meta. Facebook Inc. is changing its name in order to distinguish its myriad parts from the social network, which has an increasingly poor reputation pretty much everywhere. Particularly in the last few weeks.
While the company hopes it’ll offer some degree of distraction from current sentiment (and political focus), it’s not going to stop people talking about Facebook Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name during his keynote for the company’s Connect event. He said: "From now on, we're going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook first."
The change appears very similar to how Google, the search and tech part, was bundled inside Alphabet — a bigger company to contain all the other parts.
The timing is, perhaps, even odder. The Facebook Papers — internal documents detailing the social network’s major failings and issues — encompassing misinformation, hate speech and censorship, are now public knowledge. Is this a distraction or Facebook wilfully forcing its own transformation at a time when most of us are more interested in how it’s going to fix its current state.
If I don’t want to use Facebook — why would I want to use its take on VR and the metaverse?
Facebook Portal will also be known as Meta Portal moving forward.
Following the above announcement, a Facebook post from incoming CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth revealed that Meta is retiring the Oculus brand. Beginning in early 2022, the Oculus Quest will instead be known as the Meta Quest. Similarly, the Oculus App will be called Meta Quest App. According to Bosworth, the intention is "to make clear" to consumers Quest is a Meta product. "We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make," Bosworth said. The name is trickling down to other physical products. Facebook Portal will also become Meta Portal.
Teenage Engineering is best known for its synths, but it likes to explore other avenues, from designing wireless buds to games consoles and even an IKEA collaboration. It has announced an ITX PC case it’s calling the Computer-1. The company says it has been working on the design since 2014. “It’s not a ground-breaking PC case, but we like it, and use it every day,” TE says on its website. Alas, iIt’s currently sold out, but you can sign up to get a notification once it is available — which is what I just did.
The company just reported its results for the quarter ending on September 30th, and Apple made 29 percent more revenue than a year ago — that's $83.4 billion, for those keeping track. While iPhone sales made up almost 47 percent of Apple's total revenue. While Mac revenue was only up two percent, that was just enough for Apple to say it was a new all-time high for the Mac.
A boost in third-party games helped offset a drop in first-party sales.
Sony's PlayStation 5 sales remain relatively steady and strong, despite widespread supply shortages, with 3.3 million units sold in fiscal Q2 compared to 2.2 million last quarter. That brought total sales up to 13.4 million units, Sony announced. Game sales were also up significantly at 76.4 million units compared to 63.6 million in the previous quarter. The company has already stated that it has enough components for 22.6 million units to be sold by March 2022. That would be enough to meet its sales projections, but if sales really explode during the holidays, that could mean shortages could continue.
Bloomberg has published an image showing a Facebook/Meta smartwatch with rounded corners. It also has a notch with a front-facing camera. App developer Steve Moser found the image inside the company's app used to control its Ray-Ban Stories AR sunglasses, hinting that it could also be used to control the watch in the future.
Google hasn’t given up on Android tablets. Even though, looking at the last few years, it probably should have. I’m (half) joking, but bigger-screened Android devices have felt like an afterthought for a while, as iPads or Windows-powered hybrids cleaned up at the high-end, and cheap devices for families and workplaces offered a mostly smartphone experience with more screen real estate.
Enter Android 12L. It’s designed for bigger screens, including foldables and even laptops. It boils down to a set of new features for the existing OS that are optimized for big screens. While Android can handle a (sort of) multi-window experience, parts of the interface still end up feeling like a blown-up version of a phone OS, rather than something that makes better use of the increased space. One of the things coming to Android 12L is a two-column layout for the notification shade and lockscreen when the system detects that the screen is above 600dps wide. Android is even adding a taskbar which is all very... Chromebook.
We've been hearing about Intel's powerful hybrid processors for so long, but finally the company is ready to launch those chips, previously codenamed "Alder Lake," as its 12th-gen desktop CPUs. And maybe, just maybe, it'll be able to steal the spotlight back from AMD and Apple.
Intel says 12th-gen chips are up to 19 percent faster than 11th-gen overall, and they're twice as fast in the Adobe After Effects Pulse benchmark. When it comes to multithreaded performance (tasks built specifically for more than one core, like video and 3D rendering), the company claims the top-end i9-12900K is 50 percent faster than last year's comparable chip from Intel while using less power. Better still, it can achieve performance parity using only around a quarter of the power. Basically, everyone who held off on upgrading over the last few years could be in for a treat.
The new hybrid core design will make Intel’s new chips look similar to AMD’s big.LITTLE technology found on smartphone CPUs, combining energy-efficient cores for lightweight tasks with heavy-lifting (but more energy-hungry) cores.
Apple's built a lot of tools into its new FaceTime feature.
iOS 15.1 was released yesterday, which means you can finally start checking out Apple's long-awaited SharePlay feature. The feature still only works with a small collection of apps at the moment, but it's coming soon to Disney+, while the NBA and TikTok apps will be updated today to support it. But, er, how do you use it? First step is: update your device.
The Xperia 1 III is another Sony phone aimed at camera fans. It sidesteps software processing tricks, popularized by phones like the Pixel series, instead showcasing Sony’s camera smarts in features like focus tracking and fine-grain controls. I put the phone through its paces, and while the gorgeous 4K screen can run at a smooth 120Hz, specs like this come at an almost prohibitive price ($1,300!), making it harder to recommend against the best smartphones from Samsung and Apple.
With four movies under its belt, the Toy Story franchise remains the crown jewel in Pixar's portfolio. But after Toy Story 4 seemingly wrapped up Woody's story, the focus is now shifting to Buzz Lightyear. The first trailer for Lightyear has just arrived, and it seems less about ‘toy’ Buzz, and more about the titular character himself.
The Xperia 1 III looks a lot like the smartphones that came before it. If it wasn’t for the matte finish, it would be almost identical to last year’s Xperia 1 II. Sony has stuck to its unusual elongated smartphone form factor while upgrading the screen itself, as well as the cameras.
Yet again, this phone is pitched at a particular kind of smartphone shopper. That’s no bad thing, especially in a time where most smartphones — if they don’t fold — lack anything particularly unique. At $1,300, the Xperia 1 III is also an expensive phone. That’s several hundred dollars more than an iPhone 13 Pro Max and creeping closer to prices typically held for Samsung’s flagship foldables. (Edit: Just as I wrapped up this review, Sony unveiled a new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Pro-1 with a bigger imaging sensor, several attachments and a $1,800 price tag.)
If you're tempted by the potential of unrivaled smartphone camera control — or just love the aesthetic of Sony’s hardware— there’s a lot to like here.
Hardware
Mat Smith/Engadget
I’m not sure whether it’s the similarities with Sony’s camera series or simply how sleek and understated the Mk.III is, but I love how this phone looks. A black oblong is far from exotic, but it’s definitely attractive. And that’s despite the unusual screen ratio (21:9), which makes the device more elongated than pretty much all other smartphones. In addition, a new almost-matte finish adds to the premium feel, something the Xperia 1 III demands at this price.
The Mk.III lays claim to being the world’s first 4K phone with a 120Hz refresh rate. I’m splitting hairs here, but it’s 1644 x 3840 — so it’s not quite 4K like your TV would show, which would be 2160 x 3840. Predictably, everything on the screen looked incredibly crisp, and my interactions with the phone were also buttery smooth.
The 6.5-inch OLED display continues to show Sony’s obsession with displays, and given the specs, you’d expect it to look as good, if not better, than Samsung and Apple’s top devices. If you decide to switch the high refresh rate on, the Xperia won’t dynamically change refresh rates to maximize battery life. There are a lot of times when you’re simply looking at the screen that you don’t need 120Hz refresh rates.
Whether it’s Samsung’s Galaxy S 21 and its dynamic refresh rates, or the iPhone 13 Pro’s ProMotion, both of those phones flit between refresh rates as needed, reducing the toll on the battery. Unfortunately, once set, the Xperia 1 III’s screen stays at 120Hz.
The phone houses front-facing stereo speakers, which sound good. That’s still a rarity for smartphones. As you might expect from Sony, there’s support for nearly all the cutting-edge audio formats, including its own 360 Reality Audio, Hi-Resolution audio, and Dolby Atmos.
You’ll have to figure out which apps and services offer these upgraded audio experiences, as it’s still a labyrinth of discovering out exactly how to play the highest-quality music files. On that subject, Sony is clinging onto the 3.5mm audio jack for one more year.
Mat Smith/Engadget
There’s a fingerprint sensor built into the phone’s power button on the right edge of the phone, a volume rocker, a two-stage camera shutter button and then yet another button, just because Sony could. It summons the Google Assistant but sadly can’t be assigned to other (more useful functions). In the early stages of using the phone, I’d often press the wrong one, power up the screen instead of launching the camera. Sometimes, I’d do the reverse.
Four buttons on one side is too many and while I eventually got used to it, a dedicated voice assistant button seems entirely redundant.
I might love how the Mk. III looks, but that tall screen will be a struggle for some smaller hands. I find it a bit of a reach for icons at the top of the screen, and drop-down menus usually demand two hands. This form-factor does feel more comfortable in my hands, though, and slides into pockets easier than Apple’s bigger Pro phones, or the Pixel 4a 5G.
Rounding out the list of specs you’d expect to see in a premium smartphone, the Xperia 1 III is running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It is also a little bit more 5G-friendly, working this time around with T-Mobile and Verizon bands. However, there is no mmWave support nor will it work on AT&T’s 5G offering.
Sony has increased the battery size to 4,500mAh, making it notably bigger than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 III struggles to last an entire day, if you keep the screen running at 120Hz, at least. On days of heavy use, I’d have to recharge the phone by early evening. After dropping the settings down from 120Hz I was typically getting just shy of a day and a half of use, which is a pretty standard figure for most high-end Android devices. The battery is big, yes, but so is the screen.
The cameras
Mat Smith/Engadget
It’s an open secret that Sony makes camera sensors for a lot of smartphone makers. But until recently, that didn’t translate to killer smartphone cameras for its own phones. So if the Xperia 1 II was Sony getting serious about its phone cameras, then the Xperia 1 III is Sony getting serious, focused and business-like, all at once.
As with the screen, Sony is taking its own approach with three 12-megapixel cameras of varying focal lengths. That includes a new telephoto lens that can switch between 70mm and 105mm equivalent zoom. Sony says the variable zoom lens helps it to focus faster, which was true in my experience, although I did find there was a little bit too much blur when using the optical zoom at its maximum.
With the Mk.III, Sony also added dual-phase-detection-autofocus pixels, which, paired with 20 frames per second shooting, should offer a better chance of catching crisp shots in hectic settings. You can tap to focus and the camera will track moving subjects, just like a digital camera touchscreen.
Sony has pulled together an intriguing mix of (relatively) low-megapixel sensors and infused it with what it’s learned from its camera series. Compared to what iPhones and Pixel phones do with computational photography and post-processing, Sony offers a more technical approach to capturing shots.
While testing out the phone, I leaned heavily on the “auto” shooting mode, which acts like any camera app on any smartphone. But like the Xperia 1 phones before it, the Mark III comes with a pretty expansive Photography Pro app. Beyond the basic mode, you can tinker with shutter speeds, ISO, color balance and pretty much anything else.
I’ll confess that I’m not the best photographer, and so anything that helps me get a better shot, whether that’s software assistance or higher light sensitivity, is appreciated. Outside of the automatic, simplified camera mode, the Xperia 1 III has a learning curve. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite match the experience of a Sony camera. I fumbled around for an aperture priority mode (so I could maximize bokeh effect at low f stops), but it doesn’t exist. I was tricked into thinking the Mk.III would work like a camera, but it’s still just a smartphone camera. You can adjust shooting speed and ISO, but not aperture. At times, I felt I wasn’t skilled enough to get the most from the Mk.III. I can take better photos on other flagship phones, but I think that’s due to my own photographic shortcomings.
Mat Smith/Engadget
The Xperia 1 III does great with face detection and often latches onto fast-moving people and pets. However, when you’re using the telephoto lens, the phone seems to hop between fore and background details a little too often. The usual curse of smartphone photography doesn’t escape Sony, either. Low light conditions will still mess up autofocus, no matter how smart Sony has made it. There’s no night shoot mode, either, which is curious in 2021.
The Xperia 1 III is excellent at ensuring faces in photos stay in focus. While most of the image is crisp, you can still clearly see the boat passengers even at this distance.
Mat Smith/Engadget
Video captured by the Mk.III was a pleasant surprise, whether shooting in 4K or 1080p. I took the phone with me during a trip to Amsterdam and recorded video both in daylight and night-time. The lack of rolling shutter, on a moving tram, and the accurate lighting as I recorded dark streets both impressed me. The footage wasn’t overly noisy or blurry either, which is something you often see from many smartphone cameras when they’re trying to accommodate a lack of light.
If you’re looking for finer control with video, Sony's Cinema Pro app returns again, offering equivalent pro controls but for video. You can select shooting modes like 10-bit color and high frame-rates while toying with built-in filters, shutter speed and even manual focus. You’ll need to come to Cinema Pro with at least a passing understanding of what all those things do. I found it a little too complicated, but at least the Mk.III offers enough screen space to tap between settings and adjust everything.
And a quick note on the front-facing camera: It’s terrible. Blurry, noisy and shockingly under-specced, at a time when we’re using selfie-cams more than ever. It’s an unusual camera miss for Sony.
Software
Aside from the camera app, Sony has played it relatively safe in its customization of Android software in recent years. While there are a few homemade apps that you won’t touch (like the news feed one), there are some tricks you won’t find on other phones, like the ability to use Xperia 1 III as an external monitor. The feature works with cameras capable of USB Video Class (UVC) output (such as, conveniently, Sony’s Alpha camera series), but it’s very much a simple, expansive display for your camera. Having said that, this 6.5-inch 4K display is almost definitely better than whatever’s on the back of your camera.
Sony has also simplified connecting a PS4 DualShock controller to the Mk.III, with a prominent connection option within the settings app. You will probably need to pick up some kind of mount to keep the Xperia 1 III attached to your controller. Oddly, as of the time of writing, you can’t pair the PS5’s DualSense controller.
Wrap-up
Mat Smith/Engadget
The Xperia 1 III is not for everyone, but for devoted smartphone camera (or Sony) fans, it’s another intriguing device, despite the prohibitive price. I can’t unequivocally say it’s the best smartphone camera, but, like its predecessors, it does things its own way, whether that’s the camera array, deeply customizable camera app or the slick, sharp 4K 120Hz screen. Does anyone need a 4K phone screen? I’m not sure, but Sony makes a better argument for it with its external display app.
The Mk.III, with its almost matte finish, looks and feels more like Sony’s family of alpha cameras, or perhaps more accurately, its high-end RX point-and-shoots, and when most other phones are backed with glass or glossy plastic, I think the Xperia 1 III has its own unique charm. Barring the iffy selfie camera, the latest Xperia 1 doesn’t do anything poorly and if you have the patience and the skill to master it, the Mk.III can take some stunning shots. For a lot of people, however, letting Apple, Google or Samsung's software take up some of the slack will lead to better pictures, no matter how technically impressive Sony’s proposition is.
Two US-China stories seemed to occur independently of each other yesterday. First up, Best Buy and Home Depot pulled security cameras made by some Chinese companies linked to Uyghur surveillance. Both US retail giants have stopped selling products from Lorex and Ezviz, while Lowe's no longer carries products by the former.
The US government added parent companies Dahua and Hikvision to its economic blacklist in 2019 for their role in the mass surveillance of Uyghur Muslims in the province of Xinjiang. Human rights groups believe over a million Uyghurs are being detained in internment camps, but China continues to deny the allegations. Home Depot told TechCrunch that it's "committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical sourcing and [it] immediately stopped selling products from Lorex when this was brought to [the company's] attention."
Within the same 24 hours, the FCC then revoked China Telecom's ability to operate in the US. Following proceedings that involved the Justice Department, the FCC found that China Telecom was likely to comply with requests from the Chinese government, and the commission believes there is the chance of the country affecting and disrupting US communications.
“Promoting national security is an integral part of the Commission’s responsibility to advance the public interest,” the FCC said in a statement. This follows the commission’s actions regarding networking infrastructure from Huawei and ZTE, two companies that bore the brunt of accusations of being threats to national security. The one-time Huawei subsidiary, phone maker Honor, is still waiting to see if it’s going to be labeled similarly. Officials at four federal agencies voted last month whether to place the company on the Commerce Department’s entity list. It was a tie.
China Telecom has 60 days to comply with the order.
You'll be able to do basic edits and collaborate with others.
Adobe has announced "a major step forward for collaboration" by bringing its Photoshop and Illustrator apps to the web, though it’s pretty limited to start with. The idea is not to let you do complex work from a web page, but to allow collaborators to open and view your work from a browser to provide comments and feedback. Think of it as Google Docs, but for graphics.
You should be able to review and add comments to files without needing to have a Creative Cloud account.
The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite improves on its predecessor in a number of key ways, most significantly its larger and more responsive display. The Signature Edition also adds a few “nice to have” features like wireless charging and more storage space, but the standard Kindle Paperwhite remains the e-reader for most people — this edition is expensive.
Legendary Pictures has confirmed plans to release Dune: Part Two, saying it was "excited to continue the journey." The studio expects the movie to premiere October 20th, 2023. The first movie only covered half of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic.
The creators of Pokémon Go have begun to roll out Pikmin Bloom worldwide, starting with Singapore and Australia. Similar to Pokémon Go, you'll have to go out and interact with the real world to enjoy the game. However, it’s likely to be a little more chill. Niantic CEO John Hanke said in the game's video announcement that the flowers the Pikmin make can be viewed by other players, so you can create shared gardens with your neighbors. Oh and there are no battles.
Pikmin is another iconic gaming franchise from Nintendo, but the appeal is likely to be a little limited in comparison to Pokémon.
In further proof that NFTs are going nowhere, Adobe is updating Photoshop with a beta Content Credentials feature that helps to establish the authenticity of NFTs. Once artists link their crypto wallets and social media accounts to Content Credentials, buyers can check that the wallet used to produce artwork is the same wallet that minted it.
Beyond NFTs, an opt-in Photoshop feature attaches edits and identity info to images, adding transparency and should allay some concerns about deception.
Sony’s smartphones have never quite set the world on fire. It’s one of the last storied tech companies still willing to try to sell phones, despite the dominance of Apple and Samsung.
The company seemed to turn a corner with its Xperia 1 series — phones that leaned into Sony’s camera knowledge, both when it came to sensors it’s made for years and software smarts.
We’ve got a review incoming for the Xperia 1 III, but that’s now been elbowed aside by the Xperia Pro-1, announced last night.
The big feature of the Xperia Pro-I is a 1-inch sensor last seen from the company's wonderful RX100 VII point-and-shoot camera. It’s a much larger sensor than you'll find on most phones (although Sony says the lens only actually covers a portion of the sensor). For comparison, the primary sensor on the just-released Google Pixel 6 Pro features a pixel pitch of 1.2µm. The Pro-I has 2.4µm-sized pixels. The device can capture RAW stills, 4K 120 fps video, and (like the last few Xperia 1 models) shoot images at 20 fps as well.
The phone will also arrive with all kinds of dongles and add-ons, including support for Sony’s “dead-cat” muffler to cut wind noise, a shooting grip and its very own add-on display, for self-recording and vlogging with the primary camera sensor.
As tradition dictates, Sony is demanding a premium, yet again. In the US, the Xperia Pro-I will cost $1,800.The company reasons that you’re getting a flagship phone and RX100 VII point-and-shoot all in one device, for less.
While we balk at that Sony phone price, Google’s Pixel phones have landed. A true blend of premium hardware and tempting prices. Yep, for hundreds less than the competition, the Pixel 6 Pro offers everything you’d expect from a flagship and more. It has a lovely 120Hz screen, excellent cameras and a beautiful UI. Plus, Google’s clever AI touches add some intriguing photography tricks and makes voice typing easier.
Torn between the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro? Given the similarity of specs (and size) that decision this year boils down to one key factor: price. Choose the Pixel 6 instead of the Pro and you’ll save $300. You'll only be missing out on the 120Hz screen and a telephoto camera. And the Pixel 6 has cooler color options anyhow...
Apple’s overhauled AirPods bring major changes to design and audio quality. The company expanded availability of key features from the AirPods Pro like spatial audio and Adaptive EQ to a more affordable set of earbuds, all while keeping all of the convenience of AirPods intact.
100,000 Teslas would be the largest EV purchase ever.
Hertz has ordered 100,000 Tesla EVs for its fleet, with plans to rent them out in major US markets and parts of Europe starting in November, according to Bloomberg. That would mark the largest electric vehicle order of all time and represent a major move by Hertz into electric car rentals.
It would be a pretty sharp turnaround for Hertz, considering that it filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
Apple has announced that Group Workouts are available starting today, so you can get up to 32 friends together to follow along with the company's exercise or meditation videos.
To use the new features, you'll need to update to iOS 15.1 or iPadOS 15.1, as well as watchOS 8.1, all of which are available today. Those who plan on watching the videos on their Apple TV will also need tvOS 15.1. SharePlay wasn't available when iOS 15 launched earlier this year, and during the iOS 15 beta it was buggy and unstable.
With Halo Infinite’s release date fast approaching, Microsoft has shared a new six-minute trailer that offers an in-depth look at the game’s single-player component. It’s another attempt after the divisive Xbox showcase appearance from 2020.
NASA now expects to launch its uncrewed Artemis I flight test in February 2022, with the liftoff window as early as February 12th. The space agency had initially planned for a November 2021 test flight, but, well, it’s been that kind of a year.
The Orion capsule has been stacked on top of the Space Launch System rocket, and blastoff now depends on testing results. The most important test is apparently the wet dress rehearsal, when the Artemis I crew will try loading and unloading the propellants weeks before launch. NASA won't set a firm launch date until after a successful rehearsal — so yes, that date could slip.
The eventual goal is to make the first crewed landings in 2024.
Hasbro has introduced a Nerf LMTD Halo Needler that looks and acts more like the iconic Covenant weapon. It still won't shoot homing rounds, unfortunately, but the motorized blaster will shoot 10 darts in a row from a rapid-fire drum, while the needles lighting up when you grab the handle. The blaster runs on a heady six AA 1.5V batteries at a time, like it’s still the ‘90s or something. The Nerf LMTD Halo Needler is available to pre-order from Amazon now for $100, but it's not set to ship until December 1st, 2022.
Tesla has hiked prices for all four of its in-production vehicles in the past two days. The base Model 3 and Model Y variants now cost $2,000 more, and respectively start at $43,990 and $56,990. Spring for the Model S and Model X, meanwhile, and you'll pay $5,000 more at respective prices of $94,990 and $104,990. Tesla hasn't explained the price increases, but it’s common knowledge the automaker is grappling with supply shortages.
It has 30 days to fulfill the terms, including releasing its source code.
Add a licensing misstep to the list of problems facing former President Donald Trump’s social media network. The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) says the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) violated a licensing agreement when it recently launched a test version of TRUTH Social. The website ran a modified version of Mastodon, a free and open-source platform for operating Twitter-like social media networks.
The SFC also shared details about how TRUTH Social was defaced earlier. It found no evidence anyone “illegally broke” into the website, but noted it was due to improper configuration. “People merely used the site legitimately to register accounts and use its features,” the organization said.
Legendary Resident Evil characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are making their debut in Fortnite, with alternate costumes that make nods to their appearances in Village and Nemesis, while the Back Bling offers three shades of Resident Evil's life-sustaining herbs.
After a long run of teasing the RGB-lit Zephyr mask, Razer is finally ready to sell it to die-hard fans — or possibly cosplayers. The Zephyr costs $100 or there’s a $150 Starter Pack with three replacement filter kits. Alas, the Starter Pack is already listed as "out of stock," and the mask by itself is still "coming soon."
Yes, you can customize the lighting through a companion app, but the highlight is a dual-fan active air filtration system with N95 filters — something I’d never thought I’d be writing about a Razer device.
Microsoft’s dual-screen ambitions continue to struggle. Upgraded hardware and a new Glance Bar don’t mean much when the Duo 2 is still plagued with inconsistent, finicky software. The new triple-camera array is held back by an atrocious camera app, and thermal issues cause the device to hang. All of this will cost you $1,500.
Yes, Sony is finally releasing an Uncharted movie after trying to make one for over a decade. Sony Pictures included a handy reminder at the end of the trailer about a remastered bundle of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that's coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2022.
Gaming chairs have proliferated over the past few years, and until now, they’ve tended to be overpriced and visually unappealing. Think: lurid colors, Bond villain lair aesthetics and giant drink holders. As Buyer's Guide Editor Kris Naudus puts it, Razer’s new Enki chair is still a bit over the top, but at least it’s a more affordable kind of over the top.
It costs $100 for six months, double the current premium tier price.
NVIDIA has unveiled its next-generation cloud gaming platform called GeForce Now RTX 3080 with "desktop-class latency" and 1440p gaming at up to 120 fps on PC or Mac. The service is powered by a new gaming supercomputer called the GeForce Now SuperPod and, at $200 for a year, costs double the price of the existing Priority tier, which recently doubled to $100.
Sony has finally revealed its mainstream $2,500 Alpha A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera, and it looks to have been worth the wait. Borrowing technology from the recent A1 and A7S III models, it has some substantial improvements over the A7 III introduced well over three years ago. There’s an all-new 33-megapixel sensor, 4K 10-bit 60 fps video, new AI autofocus tricks and a lot more, including some new live streaming and sharing features, though they're not quite up to the level we've seen on other recent cameras. You can do video and audio streaming over USB-C at up to 1080p 60 or 4K 15p if resolution is a priority over smooth video.
The A7 IV is clearly a massive leap forward for Sony's "basic" full-frame mirrorless camera series, putting it on par — or ahead of — most rivals. The only deterrent is the $2,500 price tag ($2,699 with a kit lens), which is $500 more than the A7 III cost at launch.
We help you narrow down the multitude of choices available.
With the pandemic still upon us and Work From Home directives continuing, a monitor is one of the most important computer buying decisions you can make. Luckily, there’s never been more choice, and we’ve seen vast improvements in color accuracy, size and resolution since our last update. Steve Dent is here to help with your buying decision. Do you need HDR, and if so, how bright should your monitor be? What size do you need? Let’s dive in.
So, will Facebook pull the trigger and change its name? Maybe it's an attempt to dominate the conversation around the, ugh, metaverse, which has been around for years, perhaps to follow Google’s own reorganization around Alphabet or to simply create some distance from all the negative publicity, sentiment and impressions that Facebook is now associated with.
If the change is metaverse related, it could be very important to the company’s unreleased social virtual reality world called Horizon Worlds.
The funniest take I’ve seen, from Time’s Alex Fitzpatrick, is that Facebook is doing it just to meddle with people that write about the company, like how we remind readers that Google is now just a facet of the bigger Alphabet entity, a bullet point that we sometimes have to mention.
This week’s Upscaled show is all about Apple’s promises with its newest chips. The new M1 Pro and M1 Max bump the core count to eight high-performance and two low-power cores and add 16, 24 or 32 GPU cores. With twice the high-performance CPUs and up to four times the GPU cores as the original M1, these chips should be incredibly fast. Could Apple offer a compelling laptop option for gamers?
But Ed Sarandos continues to stand by the Chappelle special.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he "screwed up" communication with employees following backlash over Dave Chappelle's The Closer, according to a report from Variety.
He also stood by the show, saying the company heavily values "artistic expression." His comments come just ahead of a planned walkout today organized by LGBTQ+ staffers, creatives and allies.
As part of the walkout, employees will reportedly have a list of demands for Netflix, and Sarandos has been meeting them to hear their views. He said that while the company is "deeply committed to inclusion," it's equally committed to "supporting artistic freedom with the creators who work at Netflix."
Microsoft has released an Insider Preview beta that enables the Amazon Appstore and support for running Android apps within Windows. Only 50 apps are available as part of the initial test (such as the Kindle app, Lords Mobile and Lego Duplo World), but Microsoft is promising more in the "coming months."
The aim, as before, is to make Android apps feel like they belong in Windows 11. You can multitask, check notifications and use Windows accessibility features. Mouse and keyboard input is available, but many apps will predictably benefit from a touchscreen.
DJI has revealed the Ronin 4D, a new cinema camera system with a built-in 4-axis gimbal, 8K resolution and LiDAR rangefinder that promises "sharper, faster and more reliable focusing." With a price starting at $7,199, it's clearly aimed at the professionals, but we can all dream, right?
The Zenmuse X9 camera is exclusively for the Ronin 4D. It's available either in a 6K model that can handle 6K at 60 fps and 4K at 120 fps, and there’s the 8K 75 fps version. It can capture files in RAW, ProRes or H.264, allowing maximum flexibility in production. DJI claims 14 stops of dynamic range, and it should be good in low-light thanks to the dual-native 800/5000 ISO.
CDPR also postponed its upgraded version of 'The Witcher 3.'
Despite CD Projekt Red insisting at the beginning of September it was still on track to release the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Cyberpunk 2077 by the end of the year, that's no longer the case. The developer now plans to ship the console and PC upgrades for the same game in the first quarter of 2022 (i.e. by the end of March).
In its financial report for the first half of 2021, CDPR included a chart suggesting that around a third of its development staff was working on Cyberpunk 2077 support and the current-gen version as of June 30th.
