Now that Apple has introduced a lower-priced Apple TV 4K, it's apparently getting rid of the entry-level model. MacRumorsnotes the company is no longer selling the Apple TV HD through its online store. It's not clear if the device will still be available at retail or through other online shops, but you may want to act fast if you find it at a discount. We've asked Apple for comment.
A move like this isn't surprising. The Apple TV HD launched in 2015 and stayed at an official $149 even as later 4K models offered much more power for as little as $30 extra. Now that the 2022 Apple TV 4K starts at $129, there isn't much point to keeping the legacy player around — certainly not when it uses an iPhone 6-era A8 chip that limits its theoretical capabilities.
There are catches. The new Apple TV 4K doesn't include Ethernet or Thread support in the base 64GB model, so you'll still have to pay $149 for the 128GB version if you want that connectivity. Also, this still leaves Apple without a truly low-cost living room media player. You'll have to turn to competition like the Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max if you just want an alternative to your TV's built-in features.
You are getting much more for that $149, though, including support for all the major HDR standards, a far brawnier processor and more storage. If nothing else, Apple is clarifying its focus — it's staking out the high end of the market, and seems content to let rivals battle for the rest.
It has been eight years since EA released The Sims 4. While it seems there's still plenty of life left yet in the game as it goes free-to-play, many fans have been wondering about the future of the series. During a showcase on Tuesday, the publisher and developer Maxis announced the next entry in the franchise, and offered a sneak peek into what's ahead.
The next-gen Sims game is currently dubbed Project Rene. Maxis opted for that working title "to be reminiscent of words like renewal, renaissance and rebirth to represent the developer’s renewed commitment for The Sims’ bright future," EA said in a press release.
Maxis is in the very early stages of building Project Rene, which probably won't arrive for another few years. However, it did offer some details during the Behind the Sims Summit, including a look at more in-depth customization. You'll be able to change the patterns, colors and shapes of objects, including various elements of each item. For instance, you could adjust the shape and size of a bed's footboard or tweak the cushion layout and pattern on a couch. It seems that you'll have more freedom over how to place objects without having to rely on the grid system that The Sims has long employed.
You'll be able to play Project Rene by yourself or with your friends (there's the option to share furniture sets, for instance). What's more, it will be a cross-platform game with cross-progression, so you'll be able to continue playing when you move to a different device. That's also a possible hint that Project Rene is being eyed as a free-to-play-title.
EA/Maxis
EA said it was providing its earliest-ever look at a Sims game. As such, some of these planned features may change in the coming years, and there's still a lot more to come. Maxis wants input from players as it develops Project Rene. As such, it's taking a similar approach to sibling studio Full Circle, which has invited fans to try very early versions of the new Skateand offer feedback to help guide its work.
Elsewhere, the stream offered some details on updates for the current games. Maxis is working with Overwolf, which is behind mod repository CurseForge, to build a destination that The Sims 4 fans can visit to find trusted mods and player-created content for the game. More details on that will be revealed later this year.
Meanwhile, the next wave of expansion packs is coming in 2023. The showcase included a teaser related to infants, who may no longer be confined to cribs. One was shown crawling around before an adult picked them up.
Starting Tuesday, The Sims FreePlay will allow players to use all hairstyles, earrings and glasses on Sims of any gender. Maxis is upgrading characters' faces as well as part of a drive to make the franchise more inclusive. The Sims FreePlay will also gain a superyacht that your Sims can live in early next year. As for The Sims Mobile, balconies will be available in the build and buy catalog sometime this holiday season.
Apple rolled out a new round of iPads on Tuesday, upgrading the iPad Pro to the more powerful M2 chip and introducing a new 10.9-inch iPad that hews closely to the existing iPad Air, which launched this past March. While the new 10.9-inch iPad particularly complicates the latter's value, those who were already thinking of treating themselves to a tablet upgrade should still note the 64GB version of the fifth-gen Air is currently down to $519 at Amazon.
Outside of a one-day drop to $479 in August, that's the lowest price we've tracked for this SKU of the tablet, and it matches the deal we saw during Amazon's Prime Early Access sale last week. In total, the deal is $40 off the typical street price we've seen online in recent months and $80 off Apple's MSRP.
When we reviewed the new Air earlier this year, we broadly considered it to be the best Apple tablet for most people, what with its still-powerful M1 chip and significant design upgrades over the base 10.2-inch iPad, which Apple says will remain on sale going forward.
Compared to the forthcoming 10.9-inch iPad, however, the differences look to be more marginal. We'll have to get our hands on the device to confirm, but the new iPad starts at $449 and appears to follow the Air's design almost exactly, with the same 2,360 x 1,640 resolution, slim bezels, USB-C port, WiFi 6 support, Touch ID button, 12-megapixel front camera, and the like. With the new iPad, that front camera is also located along the right-side bezel, making it more suitable for taking video in landscape mode.
This new iPad utilizes Apple's A14 Bionic chip, which is the same silicon that powered the fourth-gen iPad Air and the iPhone 12 lineup. This SoC should be plenty powerful for media consumption and most of the other tablet things most people do with an iPad. Our review did find the Air's M1 chip to be noticeably faster across the board, however, and the M1 should be a bit more futureproof with games and more involved productivity tasks down the road, while also remaining overkill for lighter work, web browsing, and streaming.
Unlike the Air, the new iPad also lacks support for Apple's second-generation Pencil stylus. That means creative types will need to use a USB-C dongle to charge the first-gen Pencil and omit the newer model's magnetic charging and quicker settings-change features. The new iPad does support a new $249 Magic Keyboard Folio, however, which appears similar to the Magic Keyboard supported by the Air and iPad Pro, just without that model's "floating" design. This accessory also adds a row of function keys.
It's also worth noting that Apple doesn't list the new iPad's display as fully laminated, which means it will still have an air gap between its display and the glass itself, and thus can feel slightly more like you're interacting with an image below the glass, rather than the screen itself, which many find irritating. Apple also doesn't list this panel as having an antireflective coating. In terms of size, brightness, and resolution, though, it should be the same.
Beyond that, while the cost difference between the new 11-inch iPad Pro and the iPad Air is prohibitive for many—the former will start at $799—those who can afford the upgrade will still get twice as much default storage (a more robust 128GB), better built-in speakers, a more advanced camera system, a brighter display that supports a faster 120 Hz refresh rate, WiFi 6E support, and now an even more powerful chip. For most, the Air should remain a better value, but in a vacuum, the Pro is a better tablet.
All told, if the added horsepower of the M1, the laminated display, or second-gen Pencil support aren't worth an extra $70 to you, it's likely worth waiting to see how the new iPad stacks up. And if all you want is access to the iPadOS ecosystem for as little as possible, the 10.2-inch iPad is still a solid little tablet overall, and it's still at an all-time low of $269 itself.
If you do need the M1's power gains or improved stylus, though, or if you're looking to upgrade from an entry-level iPad or a pre-2020 iPad Air, though, this deal still represents a good value for those who want a tablet upgrade without totally breaking the bank.
Sony has revealed when you'll be able to get your hands on its premium DualSense Edge controller for PlayStation 5, but be prepared to shell out a pretty penny for it. The $200 peripheral will be available on January 26th in the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Pre-orders will open on PlayStation Direct on October 25th.
The DualSense Edge is "built with high performance and personalization in mind," Sony says. You can swap out the standard thumbstick caps, for instance, and use the included high dome caps or low dome caps instead. Replaceable stick modules will be sold separately for $20. For the back buttons, you can opt for half-dome or lever versions, both of which are included with the controller.
You'll be able to adjust the thumbstick sensitivity to your liking and remap the controls (including the back buttons) as you wish. Trigger stops and dead zones are adjustable as well. Those could come in handy if you play games that demand twitch reactions, since you'll be able to reduce the travel distance.
There's the option to save these settings to unique profiles you can switch between by using shortcuts. You can adjust audio levels via shortcuts too. What's more, the controller comes with a braided USB-C charging cable that you can lock into place.
The DualSense Edge is clearly geared toward serious gamers, particularly given that price. It's almost three times the cost of the standard $70 DualSense. However, it's in the range of the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, which starts at $150, and as of Tuesday is customizable through the Xbox Design Lab. The DualSense Edge is the same price as Scuf's Reflex gamepad for PS5. Scuf also offers more expensive models, which may cast the initial sticker shock of Sony's latest offering in a slightly less harsh light.
Google has turned its attention to tablets with today's Chrome on Android update, which focuses on improving tab navigation. The update introduces a side-by-side tab design that makes swapping open pages easier, and an auto-scroll back feature that brings you directly to your previous tab. When tabs become too small, the new Chrome on Android will get rid of the close button on each one, hopefully preventing accidental exits. There's also a new visual tab layout, which organizes tabs in a grid with a preview of each page.
Google is also adding drag-and-drop among apps, allowing you to take an image, text or link from Chrome and slide it into Gmail, Photos or other programs. Finally, today's update brings desktop mode to Chrome on Android.
The update is live now on all Android tablets, and it'll come to the Pixel Tablet when that lands next year. It makes sense that Google is trying to spruce up its tablet interface ahead of the Pixel's launch, and this likely won't be the last update in this space over the coming months.
Google has already confirmed that a future update will add tab groups, a popular desktop feature, to Chrome on Android.
Last year's Apple TV 4K wasn't much of an update internally, though the new Siri remote made up for that. But now, Apple finally has some worthy upgrades for its streaming box. That includes faster performance with its A15 Bionic chip, as well as support for HDR10+, which uses metadata to dynamically optimize HDR10 content (similar to Dolby Vision). Best of all, the new Apple TV 4K has a lower starting price of $129 (down from $179!), as well as double the base memory (64GB instead of 32GB).
If you want more storage, you can also snag the 128GB Apple TV 4K for $149. That model also adds gigabit Ethernet, as well as support for the Thread IoT standard. Both new Apple TVs also support Wi-Fi 6, which should greatly expand their wireless reception. They can also act as smart home hubs for HomeKit devices, like previous Apple TVs. The Siri Remote has all of the features we loved last year, except it now charges over USB-C.
No matter which Apple TV 4K you're looking at, they're both significant upgrades from the previous model. Apple says the A15 Bionic is around 50 percent faster, with 30 percent better GPU performance. That should come in handy if you're the rare person actually playing Apple TV games.
You can pre-order the revamped Apple TV 4K today, and it'll be available on November 4th.
Workers are still struggling to unionize Amazon warehouses in New York State. Staff at the company's Albany-area ALB1 warehouse have voted 406-206 against joining a union. The 31 challenged ballots aren't enough to alter the outcome. Don't expect a repeat of the Alabama vote, where there were enough disputed ballots to potentially alter the results.
As with past votes, Amazon conducted an anti-union campaign that included discouraging posters and displays in prominent locations around the ALB1 facility. While the extent of the campaign isn't yet known, the company has also been accused at other warehouses of blocking pro-union pamphlets, retaliating against labor organizers and generally interfering with elections. ALB1 employees have been trying to form a union since at least May, and succeeded with an August petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold an election.
We've asked Amazon for comment. In a statement, the ALU said this was a "sham election" and accused Amazon of violating labor law through tactics that included intimidation and retaliation. While the union didn't outline its formal response to the vote, it stressed that this "won't be the end" of the organization at ALB1.
Pro-union forces haven't had many victories at Amazon buildings. While those at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island voted to unionize, others at the nearby LDJ5 opted against it. That's on top of the failed Alabama vote and Amazon's reported attempts to quash labor movements in places like Maryland's DMD9 facility. While there's still a mounting labor movement that has prompted walkouts and impromptu strikes, they haven't had much practical impact.
You'll finally be able to get your hands on iPadOS 16 next Monday, October 24th, Apple announced this morning. The new OS includes support for Apple's Stage Manager multi-tasking feature, which should make it easier to move between multiple apps on your iPad. That feature is also headed to macOS Ventura, which launches on the same day. iPadOS 16 is landing alongside Apple's new iPad Pro, equipped with an M2 chip and Wi-Fi 6E, and will also later arrive on the revamped (and more expensive) standard iPad. You'll need a fifth-gen iPad or iPad Mini, any iPad Pro, or a third-gen iPad Air to install the new OS.
In our preview of iPadOS 16, we found that Apple is doing a better job of marrying it's excellent hardware with better software. It's no wonder the new iPad also has a redesigned Magic Keyboard Folio—iPad OS 16 will make Apple's tablet a far better laptop replacement for some users. As for macOS Ventura, it's a more significant update than last year's OS, though Stage Manager will likely be a controversial feature for some users. Personally, I found it better than moving between icons on the macOS dock, and I appreciated that it was easy to turn Stage Manager on and off as necessary.
Look, there’s no shortage of affordable MIDI controllers out there. And if you stick to the big brands, it’s kinda hard to go wrong. Arturia itself even has multiple budget offerings that are all pretty solid in their own right. One of its most popular, the MiniLab is getting a pretty major update that includes changes to the controls, an arpeggiator, and the addition of a MIDI port – and full-sized one at that.
The MiniLab 3 doesn’t look terribly different from its MKII predecessor. Its corners are slightly more rounded and it ditched eight of its 16 encoders for four sliders. But otherwise, it keeps the same general setup. You still get 25 velocity sensitive keys, eight velocity sensitive RGB pads, as well as mod and pitch touch strips above the keyboard. And there’s still faux wood panels on the side that give it a little bit of a unique flair.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The hardware itself is what you’d expect for $109. It’s plasticky, but not cheap feeling. The knobs and sliders have a decent amount of resistance and the keybed is slightly springy. All of this is basically par for the course, and other similarly priced controllers have their own pros and cons. The pads and keys on the MiniLab are better than the LaunchKey Mini MK3, but its arpeggiator isn’t as unique and its integration with Ableton Live isn’t as tight. While the Akai MPK Mini MK3 has far and away the best pads of the bunch, its keybed is nothing to write home about and its integration with DAWs is extremely basic.
The integration with DAWs has been improved on the MiniLab 3, though. Arturia has put additional effort into improving this over the last couple of years and we’re starting to see some of the fruits of that labor. The available controls have been greatly expanded for many apps with scripts that are customized for specific DAWs like Ableton Live or FL Studio.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The arpeggiator is pretty solid. I don’t think it’s quite as interesting as the one on the LaunchKey Mini MK3, but it’s hardly barebones. It has six different playback modes, swing and gate controls, as well as your standard octave and time division options. There’s also a chord mode that lets you play full rich chords with a single finger.
If you’re tight on space and don’t plan to drag your controller out and about with you, the MiniLab 3 is an excellent option. While Arturia calls it portable, it’s just big enough to be a little unwieldy in a bag. And I have some concerns about how those faders would hold up getting jostled around with other stuff. If portability is your primary concern either Novation’s LaunchKey Mini or Arturia’s MicroLab are probably better bets. But if you just want the most controls in the smallest amount of space while also getting solid software integration – especially with Arturia’s Analog Lab – then the MiniLab is the way to go.
When people ask what their first hardware synth should be, I often recommend Arturia’s MicroFreak. Unless you absolutely have your heart set on an analog instrument, I think it offers the most versatility and the best bang for your buck. It has over a dozen different synth engines, an analog multimode filter, a mod matrix for putting together complex patches, plus it’s routinely updated with new features. Sure, it needs the assistance of external effects to really and its touchplate keyboard is a bit controversial, but there’s no denying it offers a lot for just $349.
The little digital weirdo has proven so successful that Arturia decided to make an even more powerful synth, built on the same core. The MiniFreak has double the oscillators, six voices instead of four, built-in effects and a more traditional keyboard. It’s a robust midrange offering with a reasonably low $599 price. That puts it right up against other offerings like the Hydrasynth Explorer ($599) and the Korg Minilogue ($530). But, as is usually the case with music gear, there’s no one right choice here. So let’s explore who might want the MiniFreak and why.
If you’re at all familiar with the MicroFreak, then you already have a pretty good idea of what to expect here – just bigger and more complex. The oscillators on the MiniFreak are the same, just now there are two per voice so your pads can be a little thicker. And you can add some evolution by layering two different engines – say Bass from Noise Engineering for some upfront punch, and a virtual analog voice that comes in after.
Just like its predecessor, the MiniFreak is a digital / analog hybrid synth that combines digital oscillators with an analog filter and digital effects. As solid as the virtual analog engine and analog filters are though, it’s not going to fool well trained ears. You can coax some decent warmth and instability out of it, but it’s decidedly digital. For some, that might be a deal breaker – those people are frankly wrong and missing out. But, if you’re 100-percent convinced only analog will do, feel free to bail out now.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The multi-engine synth core of the MiniFreak is incredibly versatile, covering everything from basic FM, to Karplus-Strong string modeling, to vocal synthesis and rave-ready superwaves. There are a couple of notable omissions from the MicroFreak though, that will hopefully make their way over in a firmware update. As of now there is no vocoder or custom wavetables available on the MiniFreak.
That being said, it can process other instruments by connecting them to the audio in jack on the back and feeding that through the built in filter and effects. Plus there’s a wave folder and bitcrusher specifically built-in to the incoming audio “oscillator.” Oscillator two also has a handful of unique digital filters and effects that you can use to shape sounds from oscillator one, including Destroy, ring modulation, a comb filter and more. This makes the MiniFreak not just a versatile synth, but also a pretty solid effects processor. You could easily connect a Moog, a guitar, or even a microphone and create entirely new textures that weren’t possible before. You can go completely overboard too, using the bit crusher on the incoming audio, then use the destroy module to bit crush your signal further, then filling up all three effects slots with more bit crushers!
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The digital engine does have its strengths and weaknesses. It can handle bass and leads just fine, but it really shines on keys, plucks and weirdo sound effects. The MicroFreak was a passable pad machine, but it always sounded a bit thin. By adding a second oscillator, the MiniFreak is able to beef those up and pads become one of its strong suits. It can get a little muddy at lower frequencies, but in general it sounds great, especially if your tastes err towards cold and gritty textures.
The new digital effects section really helps complete the package. Whereas the MicroFreak often sounded a little lonely without some external effects, its big sibling is able to create thick epic atmospheres right out of the box. There are three independent effect slots, with 10 effects to choose from including multiple reverb types, several distortion styles, chorus and compression.
In general Arturia plays things pretty conservative here, sticking to bread and butter effects. You won’t find crazy pitch shifting delays or super sparkly reverb. But that’s ok. My one wish is that there was some sort of equivalent to the lo-fi effect found on the Hydrasynth. You can create something similar by patching up a random LFO to the chorus and or pitch, and messing with the EQ, but having it as an easy-to-use one stop effect would be great.
The ability to patch all these various parts together is another thing that makes the Freak line easy to get lost in. The mod matrix on the MiniFreak is quite powerful, allowing you to quickly connect either of the two LFOs, two envelopes or various other modules to each other. In addition to the seven sources and four standard destinations in the mod matrix there are nine assignable destinations that can be almost anything. You can use the LFO to change the ratio in FM engine, or the delay time, for example.
The patching and modulation possibilities aren’t as robust as they are on the ASM Hydrasynth with its five LFOs and envelopes, but they’re still pretty robust. And definitely more flexible than what you’d find on most analog synths in this price range (at least ones with a keyboard).
Building patches from scratch and connecting things in the mod matrix is incredibly straight forward. Arturia’s interface feels intuitive and rarely overwhelming, even with its large collection of shift functions. Most things are labeled clearly and laid out in a way that (mostly) makes sense. There are a few head-scratchers though, like the lack of an obvious way to unassign parameters from the two macro controls, or what in hell the images of increasingly large frogs have to do with the octave range of the arpeggiator.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The arpeggiator is excellent, by the way, with a host of different modes, the ability to repeat or ratchet notes in the arp, and a mutate function for adding a dash of randomness. The 64-step sequencer feels more polished than the one on the MicroFreak, but I do wish that you could access the mutate, ratchet and repeat functions. At least there’s still Spice and Dice, which also randomize certain elements of your sequences and arpeggios. These are really great ways of coming up with new melodic ideas when you’re feeling stuck. Just play in a simple arpeggio, then start rolling the dice, pressing mutate and messing around with the various modes until you have something new and unique.
While not unimportant, I did save the physical hardware itself for last because, well, I can forgive a lot if the sound engine is satisfying. For the most part, the MiniFreak looks like what you’d expect from a super-sized MicroFreak. The white, dark gray and orange motif is here, though some of the graphical flourishes have been subdued – there’s no floral pattern over the keyboard. While the case is mostly plastic, it feels solid and is actually a little heavier than I anticipated. I remain indifferent to touchstrips in place of actual mod and pitch wheels, but I’ve learned to accept them.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
One of the most obvious changes for the MiniFreak though, is graduating to a 37-key traditional keyboard, as opposed to the touch plate on the MicroFreak. I know that I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m a little sad to see it go. Sure, it made it a little tougher to play just by feel, but it was a unique playing experience and I really enjoyed its implementation of polyphonic aftertouch.
The MiniFreak’s keyboard is fine. It feels similar to the KeyStep Pro, but a little springier. It has aftertouch, but not polyphonic aftertouch. And with the move to a traditional keyboard, Arturia decided to ditch the CV controls on the back of the synth. So you’re not going to be integrating this into your Eurorack rig. There are full-sized five-pin MIDI In / Out / Thru ports on the back at least. And stereo outs for taking full advantage of the digital effects.
One last thing to mention: There is going to be a MiniFreak V – a dedicated VST plugin that integrates the instrument into your DAW. At least at first though, it won’t be available separately. It will only be available to owners of the MiniFreak.
The MiniFreak is, at the end of the day, a beefed up MicroFreak. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a quirky digital synth with a ton of versatility and multiple sound engines. If you want to get lost in sound design and want as many modulation options as possible, then the Hydrasynth might be the better choice for you – though the MiniFreak is certainly not lacking in those departments. And if you simply must have an analog synth, then go for Korg’s Minilogue. But if you’re looking for the broadest range of sounds, and a little instant gratification, then the MiniFreak is certainly a strong contender for your synth dollar.
