Good lighting that flatters the subject is an essential element of production for streamers and video creators in general. Logitech (under the Logitech for Creators brand) has just launched a new lighting device made for streamers called Litra Glow, and it says the product is capable of providing a "natural, radiant look across all skin tones."
Litra Glow delivers a glare-free light that's supposed to be gentle on the eyes and is safe for all-day streaming. It also features Logitech's TrueSoft technology, which promises cinematic color accuracy and enables a soft, flattering light that can apparently make streamers look less, well, tired.
Jasmine Apolinar, Product Manager for Logitech For Creators, said:
"We designed Litra Glow to solve common challenges faced by streamers and content creators, including light quality, harsh shadows and eye fatigue from long hours of streaming."
Whether it can truly provide a "radiant" look across all skin tones remains to be seen. Different skin tones require different approaches to lighting on video — using the same lighting for white actors, for instance, had made Black actors look ashy or barely visible during dimly lit scenes in movies and shows for a long time. One of the creators Logitech got to talk about Litra Glow, however, is Black visual artist and photographer Aundre Larrow, who once shared tips on how to photograph darker skin tones in an article he wrote for Adobe. Larrow said of Litra Glow:
"The lighting looked natural. It looks good on my skin and works for people of different skin tones without looking blown out. The warm to cool is super accurate and I found light to be strong and soft enough to use on its own."
Logitech designed Litra Glow to be plug-and-play, and streamers can choose between five presets with different brightness and color temperature. If they want to customize it further, they can adjust those settings on their own. They can also connect it to Logitech's G HUB software to create their own presets and assign them to the G Keys on a Logitech G keyboard or mouse. The Litra Glow will come with a monitor mount that has adjustable height, tilt and rotation when it starts shipping sometime this month. It will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia and select European countries on Logitech's website and from Amazon, Adorama and other retailers for $60.
Did you know that you could hail an Uber using your Apple Watch? No? Well it doesn't really matter anyway, because the Uber Watch app has effectively been discontinued, according to Apple Insider. If you try to use it, a message pops up asking you to switch the mobile app instead. It further states "we no longer [sic] supporting the Apple Watch app. Sorry for the inconvenience," with a crying emoji to drive the point home.
The app has yet to be pulled from the Watch App Store, but all you'll get is the error message if you try to use it. When it did work, it let you hail a ride, see the status of your request, and show the location of the vehicle. More advanced functions like fare-splitting were reserved for the smartphone app.
The grammatically challenged message suggests that the app may have been pulled with some haste, though neither Uber or Apple have commented. The App Store listing (above) touts the app as a way you can leave home without your smartphone and still hail a ride, provided you had a cellular-enabled Watch. To be fair, Uber also pulled its WearOS app back in 2019, likely due to a lack of usage.
AirTags are some of the most affordable Apple gadgets you can get, which is probably why deep discounts on them are hard to come by. Last week, we saw one of the trackers drop to $24 and a four-pack fall to $96 on Amazon, but Woot's latest flash sale makes the bundle even cheaper. Today only, you can get a four-pack of AirTags for $94, which is five percent off its normal price. Woot's dropped the price to as low as $88 in the past, but that all-time low happened during the holiday shopping season, making it unlikely to come back around anytime soon.
Much like Tile devices and other Bluetooth trackers, AirTags are designed to help you keep track of your stuff. The coin-sized gadget can slip into your wallet or backpack, or attach to a holder that you can clip to your keys, allowing you to keep track of your things using the Find My app on your iOS device. When you do misplace something, you can force the AirTag to emit a chime or, if you have an ultra-wideband supporting iPhone, the Precision Finding feature can lead you directly to your missing stuff using directions on your phone's screen. And if you're not the in vicinity of your belongings anymore, you can check out the AirTag's last location in the Find My app and even turn on Lost Mode, which will ping you when the AirTag gets detected by the network again.
Keep in mind that you'll have to be an iPhone user to get the most out of AirTags. Apple recently released an app that allows Android users to see if an AirTag is nearby, but its goal is detection, privacy and returning the lost AirTag to its rightful owner. Also, we recommend checking out Woot's return policy before buying because it is much different from that of its parent company, Amazon.
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Apple might use its now-customary spring event to update its most affordable smartphone. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed in his latest newsletter that Apple is expected to introduce a third-generation iPhone SE this spring through a virtual presentation "likely" happening in March or April. In an echo of past rumors, Gurman understood the new SE would still cling to the iPhone 8-era design but add 5G and a new processor — possibly the A15 from the iPhone 13, if Apple's history of using last year's high-end chip is any indication.
There was no mention of other changes. It wouldn't be surprising if Apple increased the storage to 128GB or updated the camera sensors (again borrowed from the iPhone 8), but those aren't guaranteed given Apple's low-cost focus for the iPhone SE. A larger battery might be necessary to compensate for 5G's typically higher energy drain.
If the leak is accurate, the new iPhone SE would be disappointing for those wanting a modern nearly-all-screen design. You'd still have a relatively small screen, thick bezels and a button-based fingerprint reader. As we just mentioned, though, price is everything for the SE. The current model's $399 price helps Apple reach some customers who otherwise couldn't justify an iPhone. The company might not want to do anything that could prompt even a small a price hike, if just to maximize the SE's potential audience.
Google wants to do for Android and Chrome users what Apple does for people in its ecosystem. It's announcing a set of news today at CES 2022 that are designed to help those using non-Apple devices easily set up, connect and share seamlessly across platforms. That involves expanding its existing Fast Pair and Chromecast capabilities to more products, as well as improving the sharing of data between Android phones and laptops. In fact, Google said that "for the first time with Android, we're also focused on building for other platforms, like Windows."
First, Fast Pair. Google is working with Acer, HP and Intel to bring Fast Pair to Windows PCs so you can quickly connect your Android phone to your laptop. You can then set up Bluetooth accessories, sync your text messages and easily share files via Nearby Share. This feature will arrive on select Windows PCs later this year.
Meanwhile, Google is also bringing Fast Pair to devices beyond wearables, cars and Bluetooth audio accessories, to include things like TVs and smart devices. It already works with the Pixel Buds and some Fitbit watches, enabling easier setup on those devices. In a few weeks, your Chromebook can automatically detect your Fast Pair-enabled headphones when you turn them on, allowing you to connect to them in a single click. New Chromebooks arriving later this year will be easier to set up, too. You can connect your Android phone and port over saved data like your Google account and Wi-Fi password.
Google
The company said it'll let you connect headphones to Google TV or Android TV in the coming months, and that Fast Pair will work with new Matter-enabled smart home devices as well. That should make adding connected appliances to your home network easier than before. It doesn't sound as simple as Apple's HomePod setup where you can just hold your iPhone near your speaker to trigger the installation process, but we'll have to wait to see Google's solution in action to know for sure.
After your gadgets are all set up and synced with each other, Google also wants to enable convenient connections a la Apple's AirPlay or AirDrop. It's bringing Cast support to more brands, starting with all Bose smart speakers and soundbars, so you can stream music and audio from your Android phone to compatible speakers.
The company is also "building a technology for Bluetooth-enabled headphones" that will let them automatically switch audio output depending on what device you're using. Say you're wearing earbuds while watching a show on your Android tablet and a call comes in on your phone. The system will pause your movie and the headphones will switch over to your phone, then go right back to your tablet when your conversation is over. This will work for all audio playing through your devices at a system level, rather than on a supported-app-only basis. For Apple users, this is similar to how AirPods can automatically switch between iPads, iPhones and Macs.
Google
Google says compatible headphones will also get spatial audio support so you can hear directional sound based on your head's movements for more immersive experiences. These features are coming in the next few months.
Later this year, Phone Hub on Chromebooks is also getting new features to make it more useful. For example, you won't have to install separate apps like Signal or WhatsApp on your laptop to message your friends via your phone anymore. Messages from chat apps will show up on your Chromebook and you can reply to them from there. Google is also adding Camera Roll to the Phone Hub so you can view your media without opening photos.google.com.
Locking and unlocking devices and vehicles is also getting easier. Just like you can with Apple Watch (and some Samsung devices), in the coming months you'll be able to use your paired Wear OS 3 watch to keep your Chromebook and Android devices unlocked when you're close by.
Google
Cars are also getting an Android update. Compatible Samsung or Pixel phones will now be able to lock, unlock and start supported BMW vehicles. Later this year, too, phones with ultra wideband support can open car doors without leaving your pocket or purse. Google is also adding support for key sharing, in compliance with the Connected Car Consortium interoperable standard, so you can remotely share access to your vehicle right from your phone. The company said it's "working to bring digital car keys to more Android phones and vehicles later this year."
Finally, you'll also be able to tell the Google Assistant to warm up, cool down, lock and unlock your car and ask it for the amount of battery left in your EV. This is coming first to Volvo Cars vehicles in the coming months, "with more to follow," according to Google.
Everything Google announced today fits in with the vision of ambient computing the company has talked about for years. "This is sort of a foundational element for us to achieve the vision of ambient computing," vice president of multi-device experiences Erik Kay told Engadget. It does seem like when these updates do roll out, non-Apple users may have less reason to envy the seamless ecosystem that iPhone or Mac users enjoy.
Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
Like many other PC manufacturers, MSI is refreshing its gaming laptops this week with the new CPUs and GPUs Intel and NVIDIA announced at CES 2022. Among the models the company is updating are its popular Stealth GS77 and Stealth GS66 laptops. New to the 2022 versions of the laptop is a more durable zinc alloy hinge. They also feature larger trackpads and keycaps for a more comfortable typing experience. Between the Stealth GS77 and Stealth GS66, MSI will offer 10 different configurations.
With the latter, the most affordable model will cost $1,799 and feature an Intel Core i7-12650H processor, NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of NVMe storage. It also comes with a 17-inch 360Hz Full HD display. If you want MSI’s most powerful GS77 model, you’ll need to set aside $4,199. That gets you a computer with a 14-core, 20-thread i9-12900H; NVIDIA’s new flagship laptop GPU, the RTX 3080 Ti; 32GB of RAM; and a 1TB M.2 drive. Instead of a Full HD or QHD panel, it comes with a 4K 120Hz display that covers the entire Adobe RGB color gamut.
Moving to the smaller GS66, your most affordable option here is a $2,499 model with an i9-12900H, RTX 3070 Ti, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of internal storage and a 15-inch 360Hz Full HD display. For $1,000 more, you can get the computer with an RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of RAM and 4K display.
MSI
If one of MSI’s new computers comes with at least an RTX 3070 and Core i7 processor, it will feature a “Meta-Ready” sticker on its case to tell you you’re ready to experience the Metaverse at its best. The company doesn’t say who decided you need one of NVIDIA’s latest GPUs for a technology that is more an idea than a reality at this point.
One of the ways MSI hopes to differentiate its laptops from all the other Intel 12th-gen machines you’ll have the chance to buy in 2022 is through its new cooling technology. The Core i9 Stealth GS77 will come with a metal pad that melts when the computer reaches a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit. The liquid fills the space between the CPU and thermal block, leading to a more efficient transfer of heat, according to MSI. The company claims the technology allows for an up to 10 percent increase in performance.
MSI
MSI is also updating its Creator series of laptops, including the Z17, Z16P and M16. The highlight of the line is the Z17. It features a 17-inch 16:10 display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. The base model comes with an RTX 3070 Ti, i7 12700H processor and 32GB of RAM for $3,249. We’re waiting on details for when MSI plans to release all the laptops it announced today.
Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
With the pandemic now almost in its third year, it’s fair to say video calling won’t become a smaller part of our lives anytime soon. So it’s surprising we haven’t seen more monitors like the new U3223QZ from Dell. It has a webcam built directly into its frame. And judging by the spec sheet the company shared, it’s a pretty good one too.
It features a Stravis CMOS sensor from Sony that can capture 4K HDR video at 30 frames per second or 1080p footage at 60 frames per second. It also features an adjustable field of view you can switch between 65, 78 or 90 degrees depending on how much your environment you want your contacts to see. The camera automatically closes its shutter when you don’t have a video conferencing app open. On the front, there’s also a toggle to disable it entirely. But best of all, the webcam works seamlessly with Windows Hello, so no need to type in your PIN each time you want to unlock your PC.
Dell
As for the display itself, it’s a 31.5-inch 4K IPS panel that is DisplayHDR 400 certified and covers 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Dell claims the U3223QZ is the first monitor in its class to feature IPS Black technology. As a result, it has a 2,000:1 contrast ratio. For context, most IPS panels have contrast ratios of 1000:1, so they don’t display blacks as deeply as VA panels and OLEDs do.
As with most Dell monitors, the U3223QZ comes with plenty of ports. You’ll find Display Port 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 connections, as well as five USB-A ports capable of 10Gbps data transfers. If you need to power other devices, there’s one USB-C port capable of 90W PD and another capable of 15W PD. What you won’t find here is an HDMI 2.1 connection. If it wasn’t already clear, this is not a monitor Dell designed for gaming. So don’t expect FreeSync support or a faster than 60Hz refresh rate.
Dell will begin selling the U3223QZ on March 29th. The company said it would share pricing information closer to release.
Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
Even the stand for Apple's 32-inch, $5,000 Pro Display XDR is famously expensive, but its next external monitor might be more reasonable, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, he said that Apple's next external monitor is "destined to be about half the price of the Pro Display XDR."
Gurman also said that he's "hoping" it launches in 2022, so it's not super clear if that's from an informed source. Previously, he said that the cost of building that monitor (which uses LED backlit but not mini-LED technology) "has likely come down, and with a few tweaks and perhaps a slight drop in brightness, Apple might be able to get to a similar quality monitor (at a slightly smaller size) at perhaps about half the price."
Apple is reportedly working on some smaller 24- and 27-inch displays along with a successor to the Pro Display XDR, as 9to5Mac pointed out. The latter could use an A13 Bionic chip and Apple's Neural Engine to accelerate learning tasks. Apple was forced to ditch its "far beyond HDR" claim for the current Pro Display XDR model and was ridiculed by display expert Vincent Teoh for comparing it to a professional Sony reference monitor.
What if you could could start playing Halo Infinite on your TV, continue mowing down grunts during a bathroom break, and finish your session on a laptop when you're supposed to be working? That's the basic idea behind Alienware's Concept Nyx, a server that's powerful enough to run all of your games throughout your home network. Think of it like Plex for gaming, but instead of opening up your video library, it's all about bringing your games to all of your devices.
Given the push towards game streaming from Google Stadia and Xbox, Alienware may have stumbled on an interesting solution for multi-gamer homes. You could conceivably run two games at once on your television, as we saw during a recent demo in NYC. Or you could play Cyberpunk while someone else perfects their Rocket League skills on another device. Since all of the rendering and network processing is happening in your home, Nyx would also be a lower latency experience than traditional cloud gaming, which relies on servers hundreds of miles away.
Concept is the key word here, though. Alienware representatives wouldn't tell us what's powering the mysterious Nyx server, which looked like an enormous gaming desktop. And while Engadget's Cherlynn Low and I were able to play Cyberpunk 2077 and Rocket League simultaneously on a single TV, the games were running in tiny windows. It wasn't anywhere near the sleek half-screen experience Dell is showing off in promotional pictures.
Much like Alienware's Concept UFO, a Switch-like portable gaming PC that was first demoed two years ago, Nyx may never see the light of day. But we could see elements of it in future products, much like the way the UFO controller is being used demonstrate Nyx. The game server concept could eventually simplify streaming from your rig. That's something we can already do with Steam's Remote Play feature, but perhaps Dell could make it a bit easier to play all of your titles throughout your home. The company says it's also exploring ways to run four games at once, as well as methods of collecting all of your titles, no matter where you installed them.
Microsoft is starting 2022 with a flashback to Y2K bugs. Bleeping Computerreports the company has released a temporary fix for a bug that broke email delivery for on-premises Exchange 2016 and 2019 servers on New Year's Day. As users discovered, Exchange was trying to store version date checks for its antivirus scanning engine in a 32-bit integer variable — a big problem when any date from January 1st, 2022 onward was too large. Any new checks made the malware engine crash and left email stuck in a queue.
The emergency fix uses a PowerShell script to pause two services, replace the older antivirus engine files with newer ones that use a new number sequence, and restart operations. The fix requires manual input and could take a long time to implement for larger companies, but an automatic solution is in development.
This shouldn't affect other Exchange customers. The timing is also 'ideal' as a holiday weekend likely limited the demand for email. Company IT managers probably didn't want to start 2022 patching servers, though, and it's unclear why Microsoft didn't foresee a date issue with software released just a few years ago. Whatever the reasoning, this serves as a clear lesson about anticipating date bugs.
