Uber announced Tuesday that it’s struck a deal with Los Angeles Yellow Cab to deploy taxi fleets across Southern California. The multi-year partnership, also extending to five other SoCal affiliates, will allow traditional yellow taxis to pick up Uber passengers. The collaboration between the strange bedfellows follows similar trials in New York City and San Francisco.

Uber describes the alliance as mutually beneficial for all parties. Taxi drivers, struggling to recover from pandemic losses while competing with ridesharing, get access to Uber referrals. Meanwhile, riders could see faster pickups. (They can opt out of yellow taxis in the app if they prefer typical ridesharing cars.) And, of course, Uber gains a greater supply of rides.

The partnership stretches down the SoCal coast to the Mexico border. It includes 1,200 vehicles from Los Angeles Yellow Cab, San Diego Yellow Cab, California Yellow Cab, Long Beach Yellow Cab, Fiesta Taxi Cooperative, Inc. and United Checker Cab. Onboarding for taxicab drivers in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties begins this week. Once fully onboarded, drivers can start accepting trips at UberX prices.

The unusual pairing follows years of contentiousness between ridesharing and traditional taxi businesses. The two sides have often been at war since the early 2010s when Uber and Lyft’s existence began threatening the taxi industry. Uber claims cab drivers who took ridesharing fares in the NYC and SF pilots raked in an extra $1,767 per month from those trips alone and earned 23.8% more on average than taxi drivers who eschewed Uber.

“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Uber because it’s a clear win-win for drivers and riders,” said William Rouse, CEO of Yellow Cab of Los Angeles. “We anticipate that this partnership will have a positive impact for our driver-owners as the pandemic recovery continues. No longer will drivers have to worry about finding a fare during off peak times or getting a street hail back into the city when in the outer suburbs.”

The well-reviewed Beats Studio Buds + earbuds have fallen to an all-time low price of $100, beating a previous record discount by a whopping $30. All told, that’s a 40 percent discount, as the MSRP for these earbuds is $170. You can only access this deal at Amazon-owned Woot for the next five days or until the stock flies away into the loving arms of happy customers.

We gave these earbuds a score of 84 in our review and a primary ding was the price increase over the previous version, which this sale more than makes up for. Otherwise, the Beats Studio Buds + earbuds are a marked improvement over the previous gen, with larger microphones, acoustic vents added to the front and side and a 16 percent increase in battery life. The control button has also been moved to limit accidental presses during use.

All of these improvements combine to create a stellar pair of earbuds with top-notch sound quality and active noise canceling technology. Like many modern personal audio devices, there’s also a robust transparency mode so you can adjust the level of ambient noise you hear. The company’s custom acoustic platform has been designed to provide immersive sound when listening to music or when taking calls.

This Beats product ships with four pairs of silicone tips to suit different ear canal sizes, all while maintaining a comfortable seal. They are IPX4 rated for sweat and water-resistance, in addition to offering Bluetooth support and the capacity for spatial audio.

These earbuds are only four months old, so a refresh is still a ways off. It’s practically unheard of to get a discount this steep so early in the lifespan of a product, so take advantage if you need a new pair of buds. Remember, the Woot sale ends in five days or when the stock runs out, and the latter is likely to happen before the former.

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Apple officially released iOS 17 into the wild on September 18. The latest update packs a number of new tools that make engaging with your iPhone a more personal experience. One of those features, Contact Posters, allows you to create your own digital calling card that pops up on other people’s iPhones when you call them.

While a Poster is visual, it's linked to your contact information, such as your phone number or email address. There’s also the option to link a Medical ID through the Poster, which may be helpful for people who have allergies or serious medical conditions. If you're keen on jampacking your contact card with links to things like your Instagram profile, or if you simply are not sure how to digitally connect a Medical ID, just follow these instructions.

Select your sharing settings

To create your Poster open the Contacts app and navigate to My Card at the top of the screen, then select Contact Photo & Poster. Before editing or creating your Poster, you have the option to enable or disable sharing. If you toggle the green button to off, when you call or text a new number they won't see your Poster or associated info.

Malak Saleh

If you choose to keep the sharing feature on, you have two options. First, you can select to automatically share your contact photo with existing contacts only. Alternatively, you can enable the Always Ask feature, which will prompt you for approval before you share your contact with new people.

Edit your photo and Poster

After tapping Contact Photo & Poster and customizing your sharing settings, you'll be directed to a page that displays your current Poster if you had one previously set up. If not, it will be blank and prompt you to create a new one.

If you choose to create a new Poster, you have several options for a lead visual. You can select a main image from your recent photos, take a new photo using the camera button or use a straightforward monogram. Alternatively, you can opt to use a Memoji — a virtual avatar that you can design to resemble yourself as a human or a cartoon animal. Once you've chosen your Poster image or created an avatar, you'll need to crop it or select a different visual for your Contact photo, which appears in the circular bubble in Messages.

Malak Saleh

From there, you can insert whatever personal information you want available to your contacts. Besides the traditional options to share alternative phone numbers, emails and a home or work address, you can also add pronouns, social media profiles and personalized notes. You can also link contacts like family or loved ones to your own contact card, creating a clear digital association.

Malak Saleh

Create a contact card for your friends and family

Similarly, you can add or modify a contact's Poster right on the Contacts app landing page. By clicking the + button located at the top of your contacts list, you'll generate a blank card for a new contact. When you choose tap to Add Photo, you'll go through the same process you used to create your own Poster in order to complete the new contact's card. This feature becomes particularly handy if the other person either doesn't have a pre-existing Poster made or if the user does not have an iPhone with the updated iOS 17 software. Apple says Posters will also be available for third-party calling apps.

Malak Saleh

Create a Medical ID on your contact card

Through the contact card, you can now create a Medical ID that links to your name and phone number. This can include your medical history, specify allergies or list medications you're currently taking. You can also report your blood type, indicate whether you're an organ donor, and link emergency contacts.

This could be helpful for people dealing with chronic health issues or for those who have loved ones with chronic medical conditions. While it’s unclear how beneficial this would be during an actual emergency, you have the option to automatically send your Medical ID to either an emergency contact or emergency services if you initiate a crisis call. In other words, when and if you call 911 from your iPhone, it will instantly share your vital medical information.

Malak Saleh

AIAIAI, which is best known for its headphones, is moving into new territory with a set of wireless speakers. The Unit-4 Wireless+ studio monitors use the same low-latency tech as the Danish brand's headphones. AIAIAI suggests that they will enable folks "to create and mix music with accurate sound representation and powerful performance" wherever they might happen to be.

That suggests the speakers will be useful for those who like to make music while they're on the road, but would rather have studio monitors than headphones despite the extra bulk. (Even though they weigh a relatively paltry 2.5kg, the speakers will be more cumbersome than carrying around a set of cans.). The speakers may also be useful for garden DJ sets or any other environment in which latency is key and wired options are impractical. They will run you $800 for a pair.

These monitors employ W+ Link wireless technology, which requires the use of an X02 transmitter (you can also use Bluetooth 5.2 or a cable to connect them to an audio source). AIAIAI says they have 16ms of latency via W+ Link and deliver uncompressed audio. The system employs dual antennas and higher bandwidth than Bluetooth can handle in an effort to maintain a robust connection. The batteries will run for up to 20 hours on a single charge, the brand claims, and it will take two hours to fully recharge them.

AIAIAI

AIAIAI says these speakers offer reference monitor sound. You'll be snapping up a two-way active monitor that features a four-inch high-excursion woofer and one-inch silk-dome tweeter. Thanks to a bass vent (which can also be used as a carrying handle) and tuned boosting EQ, the monitors will deliver "a clean bass extension down to 40Hz," AIAIAI claims. Since they employ a stage monitor design, you can angle the speakers horizontally to optimize the audio for your surroundings.

Using the AIAIAI Unit-4 app, you'll be able to further align the sound field with the environment you're working in. There's a customizable five-band EQ and five presets. You can use the app to adjust the brightness of the LED ring too.

Meanwhile, AIAIAI has designed the Unit-4 speakers with sustainability in mind. The main plastic components are made with 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. The monitors have a glue-free design, so it should be easy to replace components such as the battery or speaker drivers when necessary. You'll be able to upgrade parts as well. On top of that, the Unit-4 is designed to be completely recyclable.

Xiaomi has a habit of releasing a mid-cycle flagship phone around this time of the year, mainly catering to markets outside of China. The good news with the freshly-announced Xiaomi 13T Pro is that, unlike last year's 12T Pro, this one comes with Leica's branding and photographic enhancements. This means fans in Europe will have another Leica-branded option for their next smartphone upgrade, in addition to the earlier — and more expensive — 13, 13 Pro and 13 Ultra.

The 13T Pro is, in fact, the global variant of China's Redmi K60 Ultra, which looks almost identical, but lacks Leica tuning and Google services. Another key difference is that the more expensive 13T Pro packs better photography hardware in order to get Leica's approval. The 24mm-equivalent main camera, for instance, is powered by a 50-megapixel sensor with a larger-than-usual 1.22um pixel size. While this is no match to the 1.6um pixels on the real flagships' 1-inch sensors, it's still more generous than what many other handsets offer, not to mention that it can achieve a 2.44um-equivalent effect by way of pixel-binning technology. 

You'll also find a 50-megapixel f/1.9 telephoto camera (50mm-equivalent) and a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (15mm-equivalent) on the Leica-branded camera island. All three cameras have access to both Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant color modes and, when in portrait mode, the telephoto camera offers a "Master-lens system" which can emulate a 35mm "Documentary" lens, a 50mm "Swirly" bokeh lens or a 90mm "Soft focus" lens. The 20-megapixel f/2.2 punch-hole selfie camera doesn't get any Leica love, but it does support night mode, portrait mode and HDR.

Xiaomi

Like the Redmi K60 Ultra, the 13T Pro packs MediaTek's flagship Dimensity 9200+ processor, with which it apparently has a 10 percent boost in both CPU and GPU performance over the 12T Pro (which had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, also based on a 4nm process). Xiaomi paired this with a 5,000mm² stainless steel vapor cooling plate — the company's biggest ever for a phone, allegedly — for improved thermal dissipation.

Xiaomi made a sensible decision with the 6.67-inch screen here: it's flat rather than curved, which makes photo viewing, video playback and gaming so much more practical. It's also a nice AMOLED panel, featuring a 2,712 x 1,220 resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, a 480Hz touch sampling rate, a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, DCI-P3 color gamut and support for both Dolby Vision plus HDR10+. For those with sensitive eyes, the display's fast 2,880Hz PWM (pulse-width modulation) dimming in lower brightness should induce less eye fatigue as well. This is shielded by a piece of Gorilla Glass 5, but more importantly, the entire device is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance.

Another noteworthy feature on the Xiaomi 13T Pro is its 5,000mAh battery, which supports 120W "HyperCharge." it only takes 19 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent, but if you're in a real hurry, even a mere 5-minute charge will apparently fill you up back to 36 percent. Such charging speeds aren't entirely new, of course, and likewise with Xiaomi's dual-chip system — the Surge G1 power management chipset plus Surge P1 fast-charging chipset — to ensure battery safety while prolonging its lifespan.

Xiaomi

The Xiaomi 13T Pro is now rolling out across Europe, starting from 799 euros (around $846) for the 12GB LPDDRX5 RAM plus 256GB UFS 4.0 storage model, with the top model maxing out at 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage for a yet-to-be-disclosed price. There's also an identical-looking Xiaomi 13T which starts from 649 euros (around $687; 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage), with the only differences seemingly being the lesser Dimensity 8200-Ultra processor, slower 67W charging and lack of 8K video recording.

Colors for both models include green or black which feature a glossy glass back, or "Alpine Blue" with a soft "BioComfort vegan leather" back. These dual-SIM devices run on MIUI 14 based on Android 13, and Xiaomi promises four years of Android updates along with five years of security patches. The company is also offering European customers one free screen repair within six months after purchase, and one out-of-warranty repair without labor cost within a year after purchase. It goes without saying that these freebies reflect Xiaomi's western ambitions, not to mention how it's strategically added more affordable options to its flagship lineup, in the hopes of putting up a better fight in the declining market.

Meta is gearing up for Connect, its annual event devoted to all things VR, AR and the metaverse. This year, the company is once again set to show off a new VR headset, with the Meta Quest 3, as well as its next-generation smart glasses.

It’s also an opportunity for Meta to showcase some of its latest AI advancements, which will reportedly come in the form of new generative AI chatbots. This year will also mark the return of an in-person component to Connect, which has been online-only since 2020. The main keynote will still be livestreamed for remote viewers, but the change will hopefully make for a more lively event than the largely pre-recorded sessions of the past few years.

Here’s a rundown of everything we’re expecting to hear about during Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, which kicks off at 1PM ET on September 26.

Meta Quest 3 and second-gen Ray-Ban Stories update

We already know quite a bit about the Meta Quest 3, thanks to a preview from Zuckerberg earlier this year. The $499 headset has been considerably slimmed down from its predecessors and comes with redesigned controllers. It will also have better graphics and run on a new “next-gen” Qualcomm chipset, which will power new mixed-reality features akin to last year’s high-end Quest Pro. But with an official reveal at Connect, we should finally get a lot more details about the Quest 3 and its capabilities.

The VR headset likely isn’t the only Reality Labs gadget we’ll hear more about. As UploadVR noted last week, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth recently hinted that a second-generation of Meta’s Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses are also in the works and coming "pretty soon." The new frames are expected to come with better cameras and some new features, like livestreaming, according to Janko Roettgers of the Lowpass newsletter. It’s not clear when the glasses could make an official debut — unlike the Quest 3, Meta has been fairly tight-lipped about its plans for the product — but considering Bosworth’s comments and earlier reports of a possible fall launch, it seems safe to say we’ll at least get an update on their plans.

Meta has at least one other major piece of hardware in the works, the augmented reality glasses it’s been teasing since 2020. Last year at Connect, Zuckerberg showed off a prototype for a wrist-based controller that could have AR applications, but didn’t offer a look at how the glasses themselves are progressing.

That could change this year. The Verge previously reported the company is readying a pair of smart glasses, which will use the wrist-based interface, for a 2025 release. Those glasses, however, would be something of a precursor to “full-fledged AR glasses,” which are slated for 2027. Given the timeframe, it seems more likely we’ll hear about the former, wrist-controlled frames, rather than the more ambitious AR ones, but it would make sense for the company to preview more details about the project.

Chatbots and AI

It looks like Meta is set to (once again) borrow a page from Snap’s playbook with a generative AI assistant. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Meta is readying dozens AI chatbots with distinct personalities in a bid to attract younger users.

Zuckerberg has been teasing the idea of “AI personas” for Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger for some time. But it now sounds as if Meta intends for these AI personalities to play a role in its VR applications as well. According to The Journal, these bots, which have names like “Alvin the Alien” and “Bob the Robot,” will also live in the company’s metaverse apps. While many aspects of the plan sound a bit cringey — and even some Meta employees are reportedly skeptical of the bots — it offers an interesting window into how Meta is using AI to boost interest in the metaverse. Which brings us to…

What about the metaverse?

The company once known as Facebook has now had nearly two years to sell the public on its vision for the metaverse. So far, that’s largely fallen flat. Reality Labs losses have ballooned to more than $20 billion since last year and are expected to climb further. Meta’s investors have been openly skeptical, while new metaverse features, like the addition of legged avatars, have proved underwhelming.

So it’s not surprising that in recent months Zuckerberg has spent more time publicly hyping the company’s AI investments than the metaverse (though he’s said the company remains committed to both). So while Meta will likely share updates on Horizon Worlds, which recently began rolling out to non-VR platforms, I expect Zuckerberg and other executives will highlight the role AI plays in its vision for the metaverse much more than they have in the past.

Though the current AI boom and rise of large-language models has drawn its share of critics, the technology has already generated much more enthusiasm than the metaverse ever has. That could end up working in Meta’s favor if it can recast some of its metaverse projects as cutting-edge AI innovation rather than a virtual world most people don’t really understand.

After October 25, YouTube users paying for Premium Lite will have to pay for the more expensive full-fledged Premium tier if they don't want to see ads in their videos without resorting to ad blockers. The video hosting platform is discontinuing the subscription option, it told users in an email, where it also said that it will be developing more versions of it in line with feedback from creators and viewers. 

YouTube never rolled out Premium Lite to all users around the world, and access to it remained limited after it first became available in select European countries in 2021. For those who did get access to it, though, it's been a great option to remove ads from the viewing experience, which is the only thing it can do, for only €7 ($7.42) a month. The regular Premium tier removes ads and comes bundled with YouTube Music, the ability to download videos for offline viewing, as well as the capability to watch videos in the background while using other apps. However, it's double the price at $14 a month. 

The website is giving current subscribers a month-long regular Premium subscription at no cost even if they've trialed it in the past in a bid to win them over. They have to either cancel their subscription right now or wait for their subscription to be canceled before they can redeem the offer. But based on responses from users lamenting the Lite option's impending removal on Reddit, a lot of people are unwilling to spend twice the amount of what they've been paying when all they want is to watch videos ad-free. 

The Meta Connect 2023 VR showcase event starts tomorrow and there are a couple of ways to watch it. It’s streaming live on Facebook, which is to be expected, but you can also access the showcase from Meta’s Horizon Worlds app with a Quest VR headset. The event itself is a two-day affair, but the keynote address starts on September 27 at 1 PM ET.

This should be a big one for Meta, as the Quest 3 headset is just around the corner. We’ll likely get an official release date, which is currently described as sometime toward the end of the year. The original Quest 3 announcement was also light on certain hardware specs, so expect announcements on RAM, CPU, battery life, lenses and more.

Here’s what we already know. The Quest 3 will cost $500 and feature full-color passthrough, with Mark Zuckerberg calling it "the first mainstream headset with high-res color mixed reality.” It’ll also boast redesigned ergonomic controllers, a more comfortable form factor when compared to the Quest 2, and a significant reduction in both weight and size.

Of course, any console is only as good as its games and experiences. We already know that the Quest 3 will be backwards compatible, so you’ll have access to every single title published for the Quest 2 and the OG model, but Zuckerberg and company are sure to announce plenty of new games exclusive to the forthcoming platform. It has already revealed some cross-platform titles, like Assassin’s Creed: Nexus VR and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, so we should get information on pricing and availability. There’s also a game based on the hit Netflix show Stranger Things launching sometime before the holidays.

The VR wars are starting to heat up, as the Quest 3 releases just a couple of months before Apple’s long-awaited Vision Pro headset. The massive price gap between the two, however, makes the Quest 3 much more affordable for regular people.

It’s the year 2023, so anything that can get an injection of AI will get an injection of AI. However, I doubt many people had the board game Pictionary on their artificial intelligence bingo card. Mattel just surprised us all and announced a new version of the game, Pictionary Vs. AI. It’s the brand’s first title to “incorporate AI technology” and marks the company’s “first major leap into the category.”

This isn’t a video game. It’s an actual analog board game with an AI-enhanced refresh. The difference between this and traditional Pictionary is that here everyone works to stump the artificial intelligence, instead of each other. You get a clue from a card, just like the regular game, and draw on the included whiteboard, just like the regular game. That’s where the similarities end.

The drawing is sent to a smartphone where it’s analyzed by a proprietary AI. This algorithm attempts to guess what you drew. Everyone else tries to predict whether or not the AI will be successful at guessing your attempt at an ice cream sundae that really looks like a sad, melty mountain. You make your predictions after seeing the source drawings, which should lead to some hilarious situations. Mattel says that “fun and laughter are sure to ensue with all drawings good and bad.”

Pictionary Vs. AI releases on October 2 and costs $25, which seems like a decent enough value. It ships with four whiteboards, a simple smartphone stand, a game board, game pieces, some pens and, of course, a stack of clue cards.

This may be one of the first board games to incorporate AI, but there are many analog titles with a digital twist. Mattel hasn’t announced if they’d be bringing this technology to other IPs in its stable, like UNO or Apples to Apples.

There's never been a better time to buy Apple's 10.9-inch 2022 iPad, as the 64GB Wi-Fi model has dropped down to $379 on B&H Photo Video, near an all time low. That's a savings of $70 off the regular $449 price on the blue and silver options, or $399 for the pink version. The 256GB versions (also blue and silver) have dropped $50 to $549. 

The 10.9-inch iPad earned an 85 Engadget review score this past October. It looks more modern than the cheaper and smaller 10.2-inch iPad, thanks to the flatter edges, thinner bezels, Touch ID button and USB-C port — similar to what's found on the more expensive iPad Air or iPad Pro. The A14 Bionic chip isn't the latest, but is easily powerful enough for media consumption, light work and other everyday tasks, while still delivering an impressive 10 hours of battery life. Its front-facing camera is positioned along the side, which is more convenient for landscape video calls. 

There are a few quirks, including a display that's not quite up to the iPad Air's level. It also lacks an anti-reflective coating, so it's a little more prone to glare. It only works with the original Apple Pencil, not the vastly improved second-gen stylus. Nor does it support the same Magic Keyboard as the iPad Air or iPad Pro; instead, it uses its own accessory called the Magic Keyboard Folio that, while good, isn't as stable on your lap. It also lacks a headphone jack.

As we note in our iPad buying guide, if you can afford to step up to the iPad Air, that's the best option overall. And if you just want a competent iPad for the lowest price possible, the 10.2-inch model can be a slightly better value. Still, at this price, the 10.9-inch iPad is a better value, so if you have your eye on one, now's the time to act. 

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