Don't worry if you missed out on initial discounts for the Apple Watch Series 8 — they're back. Amazon is once again selling the 41mm GPS smartwatch at the all-time low price of $349 that you saw during the Prime Day Early Access sale. The deal only applies to this smaller case size and rules out cellular models, but you'll have your choice of colors.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is a slight step up from the Series 7, but that's not necessarily a bad thing at this price. The new wristwear adds crash detection that could prove useful in an emergency, while temperature monitoring can help track ovulation cycles if you're trying to conceive. The features we liked from Series 7 are still intact, including an excellent always-on display, brisk performance (including charging) and a robust operating system.
That does mean some hitches remain. Apple's sleep tracking is relatively limited even with watchOS 9. And while the new low-power mode can stretch battery life, you'll likely still want to charge every day. And if you don't need the always-on screen or advanced health tracking, the Apple Watch SE offers much of the core experience for less. When the price difference is down to $100, however, the Series 8 is considerably easier to justify.
SpaceX has revealed the official details of its Starlink satellite internet service for aviation, and it promises to deliver speeds of up to 350 Mbps for each airplane. Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian admitted earlier this year that the airline conducted "exploratory tests" of Starlink's internet technology for its planes. Hawaiian Airlines also announced that it will start deploying Starlink internet with "select" aircraft in 2023 around the same time. Shortly after that and after launching Starlink for RVs, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the company to provide satellite internet services to vehicles.
Starlink Aviation, according to the company's FAQ page, will be available worldwide, as long as the plane equipped with its Aero Terminals has an unobstructed view of the sky. The service's satellites are moving in Low Earth Orbit, so there's almost always one or a few overhead. SpaceX says that means passengers will have consistent access to the internet, whether the plane is over land or water and even while it's taxiing or landing.
If Starlink Aviation can truly deliver on SpaceX's promises, that would make it a lot faster than other satellite options that only offer speeds of up to 100 Mbps per plane at most. The company claims the service will allow passengers to do things they couldn't do so mid-flight, such as making video calls, playing online games and using VPN.
The service will initially be available for select airplanes, but the company plans on developing support for more airframes in the future. SpaceX intends to start deliveries for the Starlink Aviation Aero Terminal kits in 2023, so the first airlines to offer the service as an in-flight WiFi option will likely announce it in the coming months.
There were rumors of an M2 iPad Pro, but they were just the start of Apple’s announcements yesterday. The company dropped a bunch of new hardware, but let's start with its most powerful new tablet. The iPad Pro ($799), powered by its M2 chip, offers up to 15 percent faster performance than the M1, according to Apple. It also gets WiFi 6E support and a new "hover" experience for Apple Pencil. With a second-gen Apple Pencil, the iPad Pro will detect the peripheral when it's up to 12mm away from the display. Hovering above the display, you’ll be able to preview any mark you want to make before you actually apply it. When you place the Apple Pencil near the Scribble app, text fields will expand automatically. The updated Pro arrives on October 26th.
The new entry-level iPad got a major redesign, including USB-C charging and a landscape camera. The new model borrows the thin bezel of higher-end models and embeds the fingerprint reader built into the sleep/wake button. No more home button here. It’s more expensive, however: The redesigned iPad starts at $449 for the 64GB WiFi model. It also launches on October 26th. Alongside these new models, after a slight delay, Apple has also revealed that iPadOS 16 lands on October 24th.
Rounding out the barrage of Apple announcements, there’s a new $129 Apple TV 4K model. It has an A15 chip, 64GB of storage and HDR10+ support, with a 128GB Apple TV 4K option adding gigabit Ethernet. Both new Apple TVs also support WiFi 6. We’ve got all the pre-order details here.
– Mat Smith
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We've seen rollable phone concepts from companies like Oppo and TCL, and LG was even working on a commercial rollable smartphone until it quit making mobile devices last year. Now, Lenovo is showing off a laptop with a rollout display, while its mobile division, Motorola, has a roll-out smartphone — and they look like some of the more practical efforts yet. The phone starts out at a very pocketable 4 inches high, but with the click of a button, the OLED panel extends to a more normal, in 2022, 6.5 inches.
We’ve not seen a rollable laptop until now. The prototype starts with a typical landscape display and then rolls into a square, making it better for documents or vertical TikTok-style videos.
So you'd better hurry up and boot your ex from your account.
The next phase of Netflix's months-long crackdown on password sharing – which itself follows the company's first quarterly subscriber loss in a decade – is soon upon us. The company announced during its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that beginning in early 2023, it will charge customers an added monthly fee to people who share their login credentials. The news comes as Netflix attempts to return to growth after losing subscribers earlier in the year. With help from Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and the latest season of Stranger Things, the company was able to add more than 2.4 million subscribers in its third quarter. Netflix has not yet announced pricing, though if it follows the pilot program, it could work out to around $3 to $4 per month.
The luxury British manufacturer has unveiled its first ground-up EV, the Spectre coupe. The "spiritual successor" to the Phantom looks much like its stately gas-powered counterparts but promises an even quieter and smoother ride. Although it’s still finalizing specifications, the company expects the all-wheel drive machine to make a 0-60MPH dash in 4.4 seconds and achieve an EPA range of 260 miles. Not particularly notable, but this isn’t about numbers. This is about luxury.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator has ordered Meta to sell Giphy after it lost its battle at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The authority reviewed the decision in July after the tribunal sided with Meta on one issue (sharing sensitive third-party information). But it found the deal could still hurt competition by limiting rivals' access to Giphy’s library of GIFs, requiring unfavorable terms and reducing digital advertising choices. Meta bought Giphy in May 2020 at an unofficially estimated price of $400 million.
Lyft now lets driver's search, reserve and pay for a parking spot on its app, The San Francisco Chronicle has reported. It has partnered with parking company SpotHero to offer the service, promising "guaranteed parking, quick-find locations and transparent pricing."
The company will offer the service in "select locations," including San Francisco, but Lyft didn't list any other regions — but SpotHero is available in 300 US and Canadian cities in 47 states/provinces. All Lyft says in its FAQ is that you need to "tap the steering wheel icon in your app to see if parking is available near you."
Lyft
To use the feature, you'll need to add your vehicle license plate and other details. If you tap the parking icon, it shows the locations of various spots on a map, including the closest one. From there you just hit the "Reserve Now" button, and you'll see the final price before you tap "Reserve and Pay." It then shows the details, including your car license plate, facility info and more.
It's an odd tie-up, as using Lyft means you don't need to worry about parking. Still, a lot of people have Lyft on their phones, so it's more convenient than downloading yet another app. At the same time, it's likely a big boost to SpotHero and a new source of revenue for Lyft.
All Mac users can now take DuckDuckGo's browser and its built-in privacy protections for a spin. The company first gave us a glimpse of its desktop web browser in December last year before launching it as a closed beta in April. Now, the beta browser is finally open to the public and can be downloaded — clicking this link will automatically load its DMG file — from DuckDuckGo's website. The company has also bundled the browser with new features, some of which were requested by testers who've been using it over the past few months. One new feature is the Duck Player, a YouTube player that prevents the website from serving the viewer targeted ads.
While YouTube will still register a user's views, the videos they watch will not add any information to their advertising profile. The company says that had prevented most ads from showing up in videos during testing, but any ad that does pop up for viewers will not be personalized. Another new feature is integration with Bitwarden, an open-source password manager, on top of DuckDuckGo's own manager and support for 1Password's autofill feature.
When it's switched on, DuckDuckGo's Email Protection can shield the user's inbox with email tracker blocking. The company has also upgraded its Cookie Consent Pop-Up Manager to be able to block more cookies on more websites. Other features that were added after testers requested them include the bookmarks bar, pinned tabs and a way to view locally stored browsing history.
We tried out the browser for Mac and found it easy and quick to import passwords and bookmarks from other browsers like Chrome. It loaded quickly, as well, and the Fire Button that can instantly clear browsing data with one click is easily accessible at the top right corner of the app. Those who try it out and find themselves wanting to see features that aren't available for the browser yet can simply click at the ellipsis (...) menu next to the URL box to send the company their feedback.
To note, DuckDuckGo hasn't forgotten its Windows users. Its Windows browser is still in early friends and family beta, though the company is planning to make it available to more people through a private waitlist beta launch in the coming months.
Ikea has teamed up with Kodiak Robotics, a company that's working on self-driving technology for long-haul trucking, to test driverless deliveries from its warehouses. Since August this year, an autonomous heavy-duty Kodiak truck has been delivering furniture from an Ikea distribution center near Houston to a retail store near Dallas every single day. While the truck has a backup driver behind the wheel who's in charge of picking up the loaded trailer and of overseeing the delivery, the truck runs autonomously over long stretches of highway during its 300-mile, one-way journey.
With this partnership, Ikea is hoping to have a better grasp of how autonomous deliveries can make long-haul trips safer and could lead to better working conditions for truck drivers. While Kodiak's trucks aren't electric, it's worth noting that a previous study by the UC San Diego (PDF) using another company's vehicles show that autonomous trucks are around 10 percent more efficient than their traditional counterparts. According to Forbes, the two companies agreed to a three-month pilot program, but if it all goes well, they could sign a multi-year deal that would cater to a number of Ikea stores and warehouses.
The Swedish home furniture brand also embraced other types of technological advances over the past few months. In June, it launched a new AI-powered app that can scan rooms using LIDAR so that it can create 3D replicas you can design with Ikea furniture. It also made EV owners feel more welcome by signing a deal to install Electrify America's fast chargers in more than 25 of its stores in the US.
We all knew it was coming. The next phase of Netflix's months-long crackdown on password sharing — which itself follows the company's first quarterly subscriber loss in a decade — is soon upon us. The company announced during its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that it will charge customers an added monthly fee to people who share their login credentials beginning in early 2023.
This move is an expansion of a pilot program currently running in Latin America which charges extra fees for "extra user" subaccounts, users outside of your immediate household who use your login to access the service. Basically, every listing on the "Who's Watching?" screen is going to cost you extra money if they don't also live with you.
Netflix has not yet announced pricing for the punitive charges though if they follow the pilot program's "one quarter of the basic rate" scheme, it should work out to around US$3-4. For folks wanting to avoid those fees, Netflix unveiled on Monday an account migration tool that will transfer a user's subaccount data (viewing history, recommendations and the like) to their new, independent subscription.
In addition, the company recently announced a less expensive, ad-supported tier that will cost $7 a month when it launches on November 3rd. The new tier will be available in a dozen countries, including the UK, Canada, and Mexico, by November 10th.
Google's flurry of hardware launches may be part of a larger defensive strategy. Sources speaking to The Information claim CEO Sundar Pichai sees hardware as the best way to be "protected" against the pitfalls of a changing mobile market. According to Google Assistant VP Sissie Hsiao, Pichai is concerned Apple is taking share from Android partners like Samsung, and that antitrust regulators might nix Google's long-standing deal to make its search engine the default on iPhones.
This may be coming at the expense of support for non-Google products. While Android support apparently remains intact, the company is said to be investing less in Assistant for cars and third-party hardware in general. Hsiao and other execs have reportedly explored moving employees away from Assistant and Google TV.
Google declined to comment, The Information said. However, the company may have reason to take risks with its hardware business. While Android isn't about to lose its dominance, any continued shortfalls could eat into Google's all-important mobile ad revenue even if its iPhone search deal continues unchallenged. In contrast, Hsiao supposedly noted that the Android Automotive platform in use at BMW, Volvo and other companies is only now approaching $1 billion in revenue — a tiny fraction of the $257.6 billion Google made in 2021.
The main question is whether or not Google can grow its hardware efforts enough to serve as a hedge against any problems. While Google revitalized its phone lineup with last year's Pixel 6 and the just-launched Pixel 7, it's not yet clear this has translated to improved sales. Google moved just 4.5 million phones in 2021 where Apple and Google shipped well over 200 million each. And while Google-powered smart speakers have done well (they're second only to Amazon in lifetime sales), the company is only just making its first in-house smartwatch. It's also reentering the tablet space after a years-long hiatus.
There's also a worry Google might play favorites. The Information maintains that Google is concentrating on providing the best services to "premium" Android partners like Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi. That could hurt other brands that might not get equal access to Assistant and other key features. If you're concerned about the long-term health of the Android ecosystem, the reported focus shift might not be very reassuring.
Today, Apple introduced a new crop of iPads alongside a refreshed Apple TV 4K. The new gear was announced through a trio of press releases, not the usual pomp and circumstance of a livestreamed event. For the most part, that makes sense: the new iPad Pros and Apple TV 4K don't bring many sweeping changes, while the all-new iPad largely takes after the existing iPad Air, albeit with a few compromises.
That said, new is new, and all of the updated devices are available to pre-order as of today through Apple's online store. If you're curious about upgrading to a new tablet or high-end media streamer, here's a quick rundown of what's new, how much everything costs and how you can pre-order everything announced today.
Apple iPad (10th gen)
Apple
The 10th-generation iPad represents the most significant revamp of the gadgets unveiled today. It's available to order now in four finishes: blue, pink, silver, and yellow. Prices start at $449 for a 64GB model or $599 for a 256GB model. You can add cellular connectivity to those storage counts for $599 and $749, respectively. Apple says the tablet will be available in stores starting on October 26.
Design wise, the 10th-gen iPad follows closely in the footsteps of the iPad Air. It features a similar 10.9-inch IPS display with a sharp 2,360 x 1,640 resolution and 500 nits of rated max brightness. The design has flatter edges, slimmer bezels, no dedicated Home button, a USB-C port, and a Touch ID sensor located in the sleep/wake button. Battery life is still rated at up to 10 hours of video viewing and web browsing on WiFi.
There's a 12MP wide camera—up from the 8MP sensor in the ninth-gen, 10.2-inch iPad—which Apple says can take 4K video and utilize the company's "Center Stage" frame-centering feature. Notably, the front-facing camera is located along the landscape edge of the tablet, which should make it particularly accommodating for group video calls. The device supports WiFi 6, too, while the cellular version works with 5G networks. Like other new iPad models, it also ditches the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The new iPad is powered by Apple's A14 Bionic system-on-a-chip, which was previously found in the 2020 iPad Air and the iPhone 12 family of phones. This should be a handy upgrade over the 10.2-inch iPad's A13 Bionic chip and give more than enough post for most uses, but it'll still be a few ticks behind the M1 chip found in the iPad Air. The new iPad's display also remains non-laminated—so you'll see a small air gap between the image and the glass layer covering it—and it only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil, not the second-gen stylus with more convenient magnetic charging.
Alongside the 10th-gen iPad, Apple is rolling out a $249 Magic Keyboard Folio case, which looks to work similar to the existing Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air and Pro, but includes a 14-key function row, but doesn't let the tablet "float" over the top of the keyboard, instead relying on a built-in kickstand.
Apple says it will continue selling the 9th-generation iPad at the same $329 MSRP (but frequently less than that online) for those who want a more affordable option, albeit with an aged design.
11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with M2
Apple
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros are a bit more familiar, with the main upgrade being internal: both slates now run on Apple's M2 SoC, which is also found in the latest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Both devices are again available in either silver or space gray finishes. Like the 10th-gen iPad, the new iPad Pros are available to order now and will hit stores beginning on October 26.
When we reviewed those M2 Macs, we found the M2 to bring a nice performance bump over the M1, though you'll likely need to go well beyond basic tablet uses to see a major difference in real-world use. Still, for those who want a tablet for video editing and other intensive tasks, it should be more futureproof all the same.
The new Pros will also support speedier WiFi 6E networks, Bluetooth 5.3, and, according to Apple, "more 5G networks around the world." For those with second-gen Apple Pencils, there's also a new "hover" feature that lets the tablets detect the stylus when it's up to 12mm away from the display, similar to past Samsung phones and tablets. Apple says this will allow you to preview of marks you can make before you actually apply the pen.
That's about it, though. Both tablets still support up to 120 Hz refresh rates, though the 12.9-inch model remains the only one with a brighter and more vibrant Mini LED panel, while the 11-inch model has a lesser (by comparison) IPS display. The ports, cameras, accessory support, and overall design is largely the same as before. Perhaps strangely, Apple has decided not to move the front camera to the side on the more expensive Pro models, leaving that feature to the far cheaper 10th-gen iPad alone.
The Pros should remain the best tablets in Apple's lineup nevertheless, though their pricing will likely keep them limited to the most involved iPad users. The 11-inch model again starts at $799 for 128GB of storage, while the 12.9-inch model will begin at $1,099 for the same amount of space.
You can also upgrade to 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, with the 1TB and 2TB models also doubling the included RAM from 8GB to 16GB. For the 11-inch model, those'll cost $899, $1,099, $1,499, and $1,899, respectively. For the 12.9-inch Pro, those jump to $1,199, $1,399, $1,799, and $2,199. Adding cellular connectivity to whatever option you pick costs an extra $200.
Apple TV 4K (3rd gen)
Apple
The new Apple TV 4K also gets a performance bump, jumping from 2018's A12 Bionic SoC to the faster A15 Bionic chip introduced last year and seen in the iPhone 13 family of phones and the latest iPad Mini. The set-top box also supports HDR10+ playback in addition to the usual Dolby Vision HDR, and the included Siri Remote now charges over USB-C instead of Lightning. Physically, the box itself is 50 percent lighter and slightly thinner, too.
The rest is largely the same as before, but the most notable (and welcome) change is the price: the new Apple TV 4K now starts at $129 for 64GB of storage. That's still a good ways more expensive than a Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but it's a nice drop from the previous model's $179 starting price and 32GB of storage either way. (Though we've seen a number of deals on that device in recent months.)
If you need more storage space for Apple Arcade games and the like, you can order a model with 128GB of storage for $149. This version adds a Gigabit Ethernet port and support for the Thread mesh networking protocol for certain smart home devices, too.
The new Apple TV 4K is available to order now at Apple's online store, though Apple says it won't be available until November 4. It's also worth noting that, with the introduction of the new streamer, the company has also discontinued the 1080p-only Apple TV HD.
Former NASA astronaut James McDivitt (pictured above, on the left) has died at the age of 93. The Apollo 9 commander passed away in his sleep in Tuscon, Arizona, last Thursday, the agency said.
NASA selected Air Force veteran McDivitt, who flew 145 combat missions in the Korean War and was an experimental test pilot, as part of its second astronaut class in 1962. His first trip to space was in 1965, as the commander of Gemini IV. During that mission, astronaut Ed White conducted the first spacewalk by an American. The four-day mission was the longest NASA spaceflight at that point.
McDivitt returned to space four years later as the commander of Apollo 9, an important precursor to landing humans on the Moon. The mission, which launched on March 3rd, 1969, took the lunar module and the full set of Apollo hardware to space for the first time.
The Apollo 9 crew conducted an engineering test of the lunar module in Earth's orbit, including a simulation of maneuvers that would be carried out during missions to the Moon. McDivitt and lunar module pilot Russell Schweickart carried out a spacewalk during the mission, which returned to Earth on March 13th. Four months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module on the Moon.
After the Apollo 9 mission, McDivitt became NASA's manager of lunar landing operations. McDivitt, who held a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan, and his team planned the lunar exploration program and redesigned the spacecraft to ensure it landed on the Moon safely. Following the success of Apollo 11, he became manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program and led it through the Apollo 16 mission.
McDivitt retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1972. Among other honors, he received two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals.
