Apple has unveiled its latest iPad Pro, which is powered by the company's M2 silicon chipset. The tablet will offer faster connectivity thanks to WiFi 6E support and it has a new "hover" experience for Apple Pencil. The latest iPad Pro will offer ProRes video capture as well.
As was rumored, the new iPad Pro comes in 11-inch and 12.9-inch versions. It's available in silver and space gray with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB of storage.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 for WiFi only and $999 for Wi-Fi and Cellular. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,099 for the WiFi variant and $1,299 if you want cellular connectivity. Orders are open now and the new iPad Pro will be available in stores on October 26th.
The rumors were true — Apple has unveiled a redesigned version of its entry-level iPad. The new model borrows the thin-bezel form factor of higher-end models, including the switch to USB-C and a fingerprint reader built into the sleep/wake button. You can expect a familiar 10.9-inch display with a 2,360 x 1,640 resolution and True Tone color adjustment. However, there's a twist for the 12MP ultra-wide front camera. This is the first iPad with a landscape-orientation selfie cam, making it far better for group chats or laptop-like use.
Rolls-Royce has officially begun its transition to electric cars. 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 (apart from a low 0.25 drag coefficient), but promises to be even quieter and smoother thanks to its powerplant. The brand is still finalizing specifications. However, it expects the all-wheel drive machine to make a 0-60MPH dash in 4.4 seconds and achieve an EPA range of 260 miles. Those aren't exceptional figures, but the emphasis here is on a pampered ride, not absolute performance.
That decision is reflected in the interior. The design includes the now-obligatory instrument and infotainment displays, plus a digital fascia for the passenger. In keeping with Rolls-Royce's bespoke design philosophy, you can even have the company customize the color of the on-screen dials. An "Eleanor" assistant can handle in-car tasks, and a Whispers app can both send curated location recommendations (such as restaurants) as well as remotely control basic car functions like the locks and heating.
This isn't just a reworked version of the company's existing designs, either. The Spectre uses a new aluminum platform (the "Architecture of Luxury") tuned for EVs, and boasts "starlight" doors with 4,796 points of light. It's very large for a coupe at 16ft long and 6.6ft wide, and even required the company's first 23-inch wheels in over a century. This is for leisurely soirées and trips to the golf club, not all-out blasts down country roads.
The Spectre is available to order now, with first deliveries expected in the fourth quarter of 2023. Pricing starts at $413,500 in the US, but that's before the customization process — expect to pay considerably more to get the design just so, right down to the colors of the signature in-door umbrella. Even more so than rival ultra-luxury EVs like the Cadillac Celestiq and expected Mercedes-Maybach EQS, this is aimed at customers who will spend whatever it takes to get their dream car.
Apple only just released the highest-end version of its smartwatch a few weeks ago, but you can already get a discount on the device — albeit a modest one. You can get $20 off the Apple Watch Ultra, which usually costs $800, if you're willing to plump for a specific model. This one has a titanium case with a green alpine loop band and cellular connectivity. The discount only applies to the small version of the wristband. It'll fit those with a wrist measuring 130mm to 160mm (5.1 inches to 6.3 inches). While this model, nor the device in general, obviously won't be suited to everyone, it's still notable that the Apple Watch Ultra is on sale for the first time.
The device is all about outdoor activity. Apple baked in more refined navigation and compass-based features, such as the ability to set waypoints and guidance for retracing your steps should you get lost. There's a new depth gauge and dive computer too. So, the Apple Watch Ultra may be a good fit for hikers and divers.
There are also features geared toward endurance athletes, such as more accurate route tracking and pace calculations, thanks to the dual-frequency GPS. You can expect all the health features from other Apple Watch models too — such as sleep tracking, temperature sensing and electrocardiogram readings — along with functions like messaging, audio playback and Apple Pay. Apple promises up to 36 hours of battery life as well (and up to 60 hours with an upcoming low-power mode).
On the downside, the Apple Watch Ultra has a chunky (though rugged) case that you may not find comfortable to wear to bed. Moreover, the positioning of the action button is a little awkward, because it's right where many people will go to steady the Apple Watch Ultra with one finger while they press the digital crown or side button. In the end, we gave the Apple Watch Ultra a score of 85 in our review.
Meta will have to unwind one of its significant acquisitions. 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. While the CMA reviewed the decision in July after the tribunal sided with Meta on one issue (sharing sensitive third-party information), it found that the deal could still hurt competition by limiting rivals' access to Giphy GIFs, requiring unfavorable terms and reducing digital advertising choices.
Meta bought Giphy in May 2020 at an unofficially estimated price of $400 million. The company hoped the purchase would improve finding GIFs and stickers in Instagram's Stories and direct messaging. While the firm maintained that Giphy would be "openly available" to others, the CMA launched an investigation a month later and determined in August that year that the buyout would harm competition in social media and advertising. Meta rejected those claims and appealed the November 2021 order to sell Giphy, arguing that the improvements would ultimately offer "more choices for everyone."
A Meta spokesperson told Engadget the company was "disappointed" with the CMA's decision, but that it would honor the outcome and cooperate on selling Giphy. The social network operator added it would still consider acquisitions to provide more "innovation and choice."
The failure of the Giphy deal won't necessarily damage Meta's business. However, it comes as officials reexamine the company's purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp. The Federal Trade Commission has gone so far as to sue over the acquisition of VR workout app developer Within over concerns it might stifle the virtual fitness market. Meta's habit of snapping up companies is under close scrutiny, and the Giphy deal reversal certainly won't alleviate the pressure. You can read Meta's full statement below.
"We are disappointed by the CMA’s decision but accept today’s ruling as the final word on the matter. We will work closely with the CMA on divesting GIPHY. We are grateful to the GIPHY team during this uncertain time for their business, and wish them every success. We will continue to evaluate opportunities - including through acquisition - to bring innovation and choice to more people in the UK and around the world." — Meta company spokesperson
Adobe's annual design and technology conference begins today, so the company is making updates across much of its software lineup as part of the fall event. When it comes to Photoshop, Adobe has a host of new features for desktop and iPad as well as an update on the progress of the web version. With additional tools for selections, Neural Filters, collaboration and working on a tablet, there could be something to make everyone's workflow a bit easier in the latest releases.
First, Adobe has refined the Object Selection tool to improve the accuracy of automatic selections and expanded the list of items that Photoshop can recognize on its own. This builds on the selection abilities the company first brought to the app in 2020, allowing you to hover over an item in an image while Photoshop automatically detects and then selects it. With this update, Objection Selection can now recognize complex things like sky, buildings, water, plants, flooring and the ground — even mountains, sidewalks and streets, according to Adobe. There's also a new one-click delete and fill shortcut (Shift + Delete) that combines Object Selection with Content-Aware Fill for those items the app can automatically detect and highlight in photos.
Adobe also introduced Neural Filters in 2020, using AI to handle major edits in seconds. The technology allows for things like smoothing skin, changing facial expressions and transferring styles from famous works of art. This time around the company is adding a Photo Restoration filter that leverages machine learning to revive old or damaged photos. The AI can recognize and fix "scratches and other minor imperfections," Adobe says.
Adobe
For Photoshop on iPad, Adobe is once again bringing more desktop tools to the tablet version of the app. With one tap, you can now Remove Background or Content-Aware Fill. Using the same tech that powers Select Subject, Photoshop on iPad can quickly isolate the main item or person in an image and apply a layer mask automatically to nix the background. Content-Aware Fill works just like it does on the desktop, removing unwanted objects or people, only this time you can do with with a single tap. Additionally, Adobe has improved Select Subject for portrait images and added one-tap Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color editing options to the Filters and Adjustments panel.
Lastly, Adobe says its still working to expand the abilities of Photoshop on the web. This version that launched last year is still in limited beta, but the company plans to add tools like Object Selection, Remove Background, Adobe Camera Raw edits and Content-Aware Fill to the browser-based app. Photoshop on iPad was extremely limited when Adobe first introduced it, sparking a huge backlash that the company has worked to rectify since. That app is now full of powerful features, so it's probably best that Adobe fine tune the web version with limited participants for a while. Creative Cloud subscribers can try it by visiting the beta section of Creative Cloud home.
Eighteen months ago, Adobe announced the "Camera to Cloud" (C2C) feature for its Frame.io cloud collaboration platform that would allow users to upload videos and photo directly from cameras. Now, it's unveiled the first cameras to support the feature, the RED V-Raptor cinema camera for RAW video, and Fujifilm's new X-H2S mirrorless camera for RAW photos.
Frame.io is a cloud service that can handle large files, giving subscribers instant access to photos and video on TVs, mobile devices and PCs. The C2C service allows users to transfer those files directly from a camera, rather than having to wait until the material is physically transferred to a computer.
Until now, you needed third-party hardware to upload content from supported cameras. Now, the C2C integration is built directly into the cameras, with "no additional hardware and no hard drives required," Adobe said.
With the RED V-Raptor and V-Raptor XL, users can directly upload 8K RAW files to the cloud from the camera (this requires access to high-bandwidth WiFi or ethernet networks, of course). With the system in place, "[Video] files can be automatically delivered right to production offices... for immediate editing," Adobe wrote in its blog.
In addition, RAW video audio files can be synced, color corrected and transcoded in the cloud, allowing for "proxy" workflows. Translated to English, that you could transfer small, easy-to-send video files around the world, then link those automatically to much higher-quality RAW video for the final output. Adobe demonstrates this (above), by automatically transmitting an 8K RAW file, proxy, audio and color correction "LUT" file, all at once.
On the photo side, C2C will soon work (nearly) directly with Fujifilm's $2,500 X-H2S camera, as well. You will need to buy Fujifilm's $1,000 FT-XH file transmitter that supports 802.11ac wireless and 600Mbps wired connections. With that connected, photographers will be able to send high-resolution RAW files straight from the camera, letting a photographer transmit breaking news photos directly to an agency, for instance.
The new system is aimed at professionals, but it could also let YouTubers send content directly to an editor for a quick turnaround. Adobe isn't the only company doing this, as Blackmagic Design's DaVince Resolve 18 includes a suite of collaboration tools that allow editors, colorists, VFX artists and audio engineers to work together in real time on the same project. The new features will arrive to RED's V-Raptor lineup by the end of 2022, and come to the Fujifilm X-H2S in spring 2023.
Adobe Lightroom 2022 has arrived, and the latest features are all about making it easier to select people or objects to adjust their colors or remove them completely. The key features, AI-powered masking and content-aware remove, are available on Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera RAW.
Where Photoshop has been the usual way you'd go in and tweak or remove objects, Adobe introduced AI-powered masking to Lightroom last year. Now, it's expanding on that with more specific tools that allow you to easily select people and even individual body parts, objects or the background in a single click.
Adobe
The first of those is "Select People," which uses Adobe's AI Sensei to select individuals and groups, or even specific body parts like face skin, body skin, eyes, teeth, lips, hair and more. It's surprisingly simple to use: with a photo loaded, Adobe's AI automatically identifies and lists each person in a scene as "All People," and "Person 1," "Person 2," "Person 3," etc. You can then choose, say, Person 2, and it will let you select their facial skin, body skin, teeth and so on. From there, you can tweak hues, boost clarity or whatever else you want to do.
Select Objects, meanwhile, makes it easier to do just that in a couple of ways. To select a rose, say, you can just paint over it with the brush, or draw a rectangle around it and the AI will automatically refine the edges to create a precise mask. In a similar vein, you can easily select an entire image background with a single click, rather than having to invert a subject selection as before.
Adobe
And if you're more interested in removing things altogether (aka "healing"), that's now easier than before with Content-Aware Remove. To do that, you just draw a mask roughly around the object to be removed, and the AI will adaptively fill in the background based on the surrounding content. It includes a Refresh option and lets you pick the sampled area for finer control.
As usual with this kind of thing, it can work well with some images and not so much with others. The masks may also require hand tweaking, particularly with complex backgrounds that are hard for the AI to distinguish from the foreground. Still, it gives you a good head start in those cases and often selects the entire subject correctly on the first try.
Other new features for Lightroom on desktop include "Compare while editing" that lets you load two images to better match them, along with GPU performance updates. Lightroom Classic gets a new left-right panel swap feature if you'd rather see your color controls on the left, plus faster imports from mobile devices (Windows only). On Camera Raw, Adobe's introducing masking curves and HDR support for displays, though the latter is in a tech preview for now. The updates should be rolling out on Adobe's Creative Cloud now — for more, check out the Lightroom blog.
Players can choose different colors for the body, back case, D-pad, bumpers, triggers, thumbsticks, buttons and, for the first time in the Design Lab, the thumbstick base and ring. Other customization options include a choice between a cross-shaped or faceted D-pad and a laser-engraved message of up to 16 characters on the rear.
What's more, you'll be able to swap in different components. You might opt to have metallic paddles or thumbsticks with different shapes and sizes. The thumbsticks also have adjustable tension. In addition, you can remap the buttons and change the color of the Xbox button light in the Xbox Accessories app. Microsoft says the controller has up to 40 hours of battery life on a single charge and it should easily pair with an Xbox console or Windows PC, as well as smartphones and tablets.
An Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 that you customize in Design Lab will start at $150. You can also buy personalized accessory packs. A bundle of the controller and all Elite components will run you $210. You'll be able to customize an Elite Series 2 controller in any market where Design Lab is available, including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and other countries in Europe and Asia Pacific.
You only have a bit over a week left to get Nothing's Ear 1 wireless earbuds for $100. Carl Pei, the company's founder and CEO, has announced on Twitter that Nothing is raising the Ear 1's price to $149 on October 26th due to increased costs. In follow-up tweets, Pei talked about how Nothing has expanded since it started developing the device. He revealed that the company had three engineers during the initial stages of the earbuds' development and had 185 a year later. Pei also said that Nothing has sold almost 600,000 Ear 1 units so far and that it had paved the way for the company's first smartphone, the Phone 1. The executive didn't say whether the company has any plan to raise the Phone 1's prices.
When we started developing it, we only had 3 engineers. A year later, we have 185. During this time, the Ear (1) has received 15 firmware and tuning updates, and is a completely different product to when we launched it.
Nothing is but one of the tech companies raising the prices of its products due to inflation and the rising costs of components. Meta added $101 on top the Quest 2 VR headset's original price and is now selling the standalone device for $400. We praised it for being a steal at $299 in our review, but Meta explained in a blog post that the "costs to make and ship [its] products have been on the rise." Apple raised App Store prices across Europe and Asia, as well, and one possible reason is that the Euro is weak against the dollar. The tech giant is also selling its devices like the iPhone 14 Pro at much higher price points in Europe, most likely due to the same reason.
