Google has announced it will end Chrome support on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 early next year. Chrome 110, which is scheduled for release on February 7th, will not work on either of the operating systems. You'll still be able to use older versions of Chrome on Windows 7 and 8.1, but you'll no longer be able to install newer builds, which will include new features and security updates.
On a support page that revealed the news, Google suggested upgrading to Windows 10 or Windows 11 to keep getting Chrome updates. That might be difficult for those whose systems don't support more recent versions of Microsoft's OS, businesses that are still stuck on Windows 7 or 8.1 and folks who can't afford to buy a new computer. Still, Google had to wind down support at some point. The company pointed out that its timeline matches up with Microsoft ending extended support for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on January 10th.
As it turns out, however, Google will support Chrome on Windows 7 longer than planned. It previously said it would stop offering Chrome updates for the OS in 2021, then this year.
It's a major Apple update day, as the company is rolling out new versions of its iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. While iPhone users at large have already had a taste of iOS 16, this will be the first time that most folks will get their hands on iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura.
Apple delayed the release of iPadOS 16 amid reports suggesting it needed more time to polish up the Stage Manager multitasking feature (which we felt was unrefined in an early iPadOS 16 beta). In fact, Apple said it was skipping a public release of iPadOS 16 and going straight to version 16.1 — just in time for the company's latest iPad Pro and entry-level iPad shipping this week.
The latest version of the iPad operating system will include many of the same updates as iOS 16, including significant changes to Mail, Safari, Messages and other key apps. There are more collaboration-centric features, while the Weather app is finally coming to iPad.
As for iOS 16.1, that offers shared photo libraries through iCloud and a clean energy charging function, which optimizes iPhone charging times depending on when the power grid is using greener energy sources. Apple Fitness+ is now available on iPhone without the need for an Apple Watch. Also new are an improved battery life icon, Live Activities and per-app copy-and-paste permissions, which should mitigate iOS 16's irritating paste prompts.
PayPal has started rolling out passkeys for users in the US, on the same day Apple is bringing the technology to its computers and tablets with macOS Ventura and iPadOS16. That means you'll be able to log into your PayPal account without having to type in your credentials, which in turn makes its quicker to check out your online shopping carts. PayPal says the option will first be available to users with iPhones, iPads and those visiting its website on Macs, but it will expand to additional platforms as they add support for the technology. Google released initial passkey support for Android and Chrome earlier this month and will launch the stable version, as well as an API for native Android apps, later this year. PayPal will also make passkeys available in other countries starting in early 2023.
Passkeys use your biometrics to log into your accounts, but it's different from using your face or or fingerprints to auto-populate username and password boxes. With passkeys, you become the login. When you activate the option for an app, it creates a cryptographic key pair associated with your account. One of those keys is public, and that's what apps and services save to confirm your identity. The other key is private and is only stored on your devices, so hackers can't steal them if they ever get into the servers of apps you use. Apps and websites that support passkey then match the public key they have with your private key to make sure that it's you who's logging in.
You can switch the feature on by logging into your account with a browser on desktop or mobile — the old way, with your user ID and password — and then choosing "Create a passkey." After you authenticate using Apple Face ID or Touch ID, your passkey will be automatically generated. And since passkeys are synced with iCloud Keychain, you only need to do that once. If you're logging into your account on another device that doesn't have passkey yet, you'll have the option to generate a QR code after entering your user ID. You can then scan that QR code with an iPhone that does support passkey to be able to log in.
Evaluating the new iPad Pro is a simpler task than the basic iPad that Apple announced alongside it last week. That iPad has been completely redesigned. But the 2022 iPad Pro is a minor iteration of the model released in early 2021, which was powered by the M1 chip. Now, with M2 Macs out in the wild, Apple decided its best tablet needed one, too.
That new chip is by far the most notable change here. Otherwise, the design, screen, cameras, storage options, accessories and price are all the same. That’s not a big problem, though, because the iPad Pro was already an outstanding device — and the Liquid Retina XDR display Apple introduced on last year’s 12.9-inch model is still a simply outstanding screen. There are a couple new tricks here, like the Apple Pencil “hover” feature and the ability to shoot video in Apple’s ProRes codec, but by and large this iPad Pro isn’t angled at people who bought that M1 model. Instead, it’s just a case of Apple flexing its muscles by making the most powerful, spare-no-expense tablet that it can.
In the short time that I’ve been testing the latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro, I can say that it’s far more responsive than my personal 11-inch iPad Pro from 2020 as well as the new iPad I’ve also been testing. Those other devices aren’t slow by any stretch of the imagination, but the M2-powered iPad Pro responds to everything almost instantaneously. Of course, the same can be said about the M1 iPad Pro, especially given my modest workflow.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
In a demo last week, Apple showed how the new iPad Pro can chew through apps like the forthcoming DaVinci Resolve and Octane X. The former is an intense video application that combines things like professional-level color correction, color grading, visual effects and much more, while Octane X is meant for 3D rendering. Both apps are pretty far outside things I’d use, but in the demo it was pretty easy to see how responsive the new iPad Pro was scrubbing through and editing frames from an 8K video or applying different effects.
One thing I can tell is that the new Stage Manager multitasking feature in iPadOS 16 is working much better on this new iPad Pro than it did in my testing on last year’s model using various beta releases over the last four months or so. Again, my needs are modest, but I never had any app crashes or moments where the interface just shut down and threw me back to the Home Screen. In a sign of Apple’s confidence, Stage Manager was even enabled out of the box, whereas it was turned off by default when iPadOS 16 was in beta.
Conceptually, I’m still struggling a bit with how Stage Manager decides what apps (or groups of apps) show up on the left-side switcher, and I feel like the experience of using it on any iPad smaller than the 12.9-inch Pro is not going to be much better than just using two apps in Split View, but it does seem a lot more stable now. I don’t know if that’s thanks to software optimizations, the more powerful hardware or some mix of both, but it’s a welcome change.
If you’re an Apple Pencil aficionado, the M2 enables a pretty cool new feature called Hover. As the name suggests, the iPad Pro can detect when the Pencil is within 12mm of the screen, and elements will start to react. For example, if you hold the Pencil over the apps in your dock or on the homescreen, the one that the Pencil is over will zoom in slightly to show you what you’re targeting. It’s similar to what happens when you use the trackpad to move the pointer over apps. It’s not the most essential trick, but it’s a good example of what Hover can do. But this is just a trick that doesn’t really change the iPad experience; developers will need to build Hover functions into their apps for it to be really useful.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
That said, I was able to see a few potential use cases for it. In the Notes app, there’s a new watercolor brush, and when you hover the Pencil over the screen you’ll get a little preview of the color you’ve selected. And when you select a new color, you can hover the Pencil over your existing sketch to see how the watercolor interacts with it before actually drawing. In a demo of the illustration and animation app Procreate, hovering the Pencil over a project brings the animation to life or shows a 3D view of your creation. It’s one of those features that is clever but doesn’t have an essential use case yet, but I’m definitely curious to see how developers implement it.
Otherwise, most of what we said about the iPad Pro in 2021 still applies here. Performance is outstanding, the screen is one of the nicest that we’ve seen on any device, the Pencil and Magic Keyboard are great but expensive add-ons, but iPadOS 16 still feels like it occasionally holds back the hardware here. Over the next few days, I’m going to do more detailed performance testing to see how the M2 compares to the M1, though we already have a good idea of how that’ll play out thanks to how M2-powered Macs stack up to older models. Even after a few days, I’m pretty sure that people who own the M1 iPad Pro don’t need to worry about upgrading. If you really push your iPad Pro to the limit, and it’s a few years old, these new models should offer a pretty significant upgrade.
Among the new computers Apple plans to announce in the coming months is an M2 variant of the Mac Pro, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports the company has been testing a version of its high-end desktop that features a chipset with a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU, as well as 192GB of memory. He predicts Apple will ultimately let customers choose between two different chipsets when configuring the Mac Pro. For the moment, Gurman has taken to calling those the “M2 Ultra” and “M2 Extreme.”
“My belief is that the Mac Pro will be offered with options for 24 and 48 CPU cores and 76 and 152 graphics cores — along with up to 256 gigabytes of memory,” he writes. Gurman adds those chips will be “at least twice or four times as powerful as the M2 Max,” a processor Apple has yet to announce. To put those core counts in perspective, the base M2 features 8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores. Meanwhile, the unannounced M2 Max is expected to feature 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores.
Before the new Mac Pro arrives, Gurman expects Apple to announce updated versions of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, as well as a new Mac mini. According to him, Apple’s latest high-end laptops will feature the company’s new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, while the Mac mini will ship with the same M2 silicon found in its 2022 MacBook Air. Gurman notes Apple has also internally tested an M2 Pro variant of the Mac mini, though he doesn’t mention if the company plans to release that version of the computer. Those devices should arrive sometime in the coming months.
After nearly three weeks of escalating rhetoric, The Wire is retracting its reporting on Meta. On Sunday, the nonprofit publication said it had discovered “certain discrepancies” with the material that had informed its reporting on the social media giant since October 6th. “The Wire believes it is appropriate to retract the stories,” the outlet said, pointing to the fact it could not authenticate two emails that were critical to its previous coverage of Meta. One of the emails The Wire said it could not verify includes a message the outlet had attributed to Meta spokesperson Andy Stone.
“Our investigation, which is ongoing, does not as yet allow us to take a conclusive view about the authenticity and bona fides of the sources with whom a member of our reporting team says he has been in touch over an extended period of time,” The Wire said. “We are still reviewing the entire matter, including the possibility that it was deliberately sought to misinform or deceive The Wire.”
Before Sunday’s retraction, The Wire claimed Meta gave Amit Malviya, an information technology official with India’s ruling BJP party, the power to remove posts from Instagram, an assertation Meta has consistently disputed. Rather than backing down after the company shared a comprehensive rebuttal on October 12th, The Wire kept publishing stories that claimed Meta was misleading the public, culminating in an October 15th article that featured a screen recording the outlet claimed showed proof of the original takedown request that kicked off the entire saga. One day later, Meta said an internal investigation found the video showed a Workspace account created on October 13th, suggesting someone made the account to back up The Wire’s reporting.
Meta did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. Amid all the back and forth, Instagram eventually reinstated the post that prompted The Wire’s investigation in the first place.
Microsoft and Discord plan to make joining a voice channel from an Xbox console easier. If you’re a frequent Discord user, you may recall the companies recently launched Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S integration. Following a beta test in July, Discord started rolling out the feature to all Xbox users in September. Unfortunately, in its current iteration, the integration isn’t as straightforward as one would hope; joining a voice chat involves a transfer process that requires the Xbox mobile app.
That’s about to change. In a blog post spotted by The Verge, Microsoft announced it was removing the need to use a phone to join Discord voice chats as part of a beta update Xbox Insiders can try out right now. The new software adds a server browser that allows you to join a voice channel directly from your console. You’ll still need your phone handy if you want to call a specific friend over Discord, but the update otherwise simplifies what was an overly complicated process previously. While the feature is currently in beta, Microsoft will likely roll it out to all Xbox users sometime over the next few weeks.
Apple's main replacement for Jony Ive is leaving. The company has confirmed to Bloomberg that industrial design head Evans Hankey is departing after three years. There's no named replacement as of this writing, but Hankey will reportedly remain in her position for six months as part of a transition. Alan Dye, who took the software design reins from Ive in 2019, will stay in his role.
The shuffle may not be strictly negative. Bloomberg's sources claim Gary Butcher, one of Dye's former top designers and currently Airbnb's design VP, is returning to Apple. It's not clear what responsibilities Butcher might take upon his return.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Apple stressed that its design unit has "strong leaders with decades of experience" and creates products that are "undeniably" representative of the company. There's no explanation given as to why Hankey is leaving.
Hankey had many expectations placed on her when she took over. Ive was responsible for many of Apple's most iconic hardware designs, including the iMac, iPod and iPhone. While it's not clear exactly how much Hankey has shaped product design (Ive only completely parted ways in July), she has overseen a mix of appreciated reworks and subtle evolutions during her tenure. The company dropped the unpopular butterfly keyboard-era MacBooks in favor of more practical models and introduced a few major redesigns, such as the iMac M1. At the same time, caution has sometimes been the order of the day — witness an Apple Watch that, apart from the Ultra, hasn't changed much since 2018.
This doesn't necessarily spell trouble for Apple. It does, however, raise the potential for a change in design direction, particularly for products in unfamiliar categories. The firm is still widely rumored to be developing a mixed reality headset, augmented reality glasses and even an electric car. Although Hankey's influence may still be felt with any major introductions, there's a chance her successor will add a new spin to those devices.
Apple has just launched a new Apple TV 4K that's powered by an A15 chip, but it won't start shipping until November 4th. If you absolutely must get Apple's digital player right now, though, you may want to check out Amazon. The 32GB version of the 2021 model is currently on sale for $100, which is the lowest we've seen it go for on the website. That's 44 percent or $79 less than its original price. The 2021 Apple TV 4K is powered by the tech giant's A12 Bionic chip and supports Dolby Vision HDR imaging technology.
It also comes with a Siri Remote that has a touch-enabled clickpad, so you can issue voice commands while watching, such as "Pause this" or "Turn on closed captioning." The device can pair with up to two sets of AirPods for private listening, and it can display photos and videos from your other Apple devices via AirPlay. Plus, it can show you a live view of your HomeKit-enabled cameras, as well as let you control your smart home accessories. If you need a bigger storage space, the 64GB version is also on sale for 40 percent off at $120.
However, that's just a bit lower than the 2022 Apple TV 4K, which you can pre-order right now. The 64GB WiFi-only version will set you back $130, while the 128GB version with WiFi and an Ethernet port will cost you $150.
Google's iOS 16 lock screen widgets are officially available. As outlined in September, the widgets give you at-a-glance info and shortcuts for some of the company's core apps. Gmail can show your new message counts, while Maps can either provide a link to favorite trips (like the commute home) or searches for destinations like restaurants. Widgets for Chrome and the Google app, meanwhile, can help you start web searches, issue voice commands or launch features like Lens translation and Chrome's Dino game.
Other widgets are more specialized, but still helpful. Google News can show the latest headlines. Drive provides quicker access to suggested and starred cloud files. It's also much easier to listen to YouTube Music, as you can quickly start a playlist when you're heading out for a walk.
YouTube and YouTube Music also have home screen widgets. You can quickly browse your YouTube video subscriptions, or search for a YouTube Music tune.
The widgets should automatically surface when you're customizing your lock screen. As usual, they make the most sense for the always-on display of the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max. Regardless of the device you use, they could make Google's apps more compelling. In some cases, they'll even provide an edge over those Android phones that only show a limited amount of info before you unlock the device.
