Microsoft has built a new media playback app for Windows 11 to supplant both Windows Media Player, which hasn't really changed since 2009, and the Groove Music app. Windows Insiders can start testing the creatively named Media Player for Windows 11 now.
The app is designed for both music and video playback. If you've been clinging onto the Groove Music app to manage your library of tracks, even after Microsoft axed Groove Music services in 2017, you'll be able to update it to the new Media Player. Your library and playlists will automatically migrate over, as Gizmodo notes.
Microsoft
Microsoft says users will be able to quickly browse their library to find what they want to listen to, and create and manage playlists. During playback, you'll see album art and "rich artist imagery" in both full screen and mini-player modes. The app will add files from your PC's music and video folders too. Through the settings, users can tell Media Player where else to look for things to bring to the library.
There are accessibility-focused options in the app too. Microsoft says those include "improved keyboard shortcut and access key support for keyboard users and with other assistive technologies."
Media Player currently has a couple of issues, Microsoft notes, including ones that affect playback from some network locations, editing album metadata and library content with accented characters. You'll still be able to access the old version of Windows Media Player through Windows Tools.
Of course, the Media Player design reflects the clean aesthetic of Windows 11. The app looks nice and it's the cherry on top of a long, long-awaited overhaul of Windows Media Player. It's a bit of a shame that Microsoft chose such a boring name for the new app, but at least users shouldn't be confused about what it does.
Most portable recorders come with an array of physical buttons, switches and toggles. It’s part of what makes them practical and charming to use. But with its new Portacapture X8, Tascam wants to make the case for a touchscreen interface.
The X8 isn’t the first portable recorder to go down the smartphone route. Zoom’s H8 has a touchscreen display too, but it’s smaller and the interface isn’t as modern as the one offered by Tascam. The X8’s software has an emphasis on presets that the company says help to simplify the process of picking the optimal settings for a specific situation. You can also control the device remotely with your smartphone if you purchase Tascam’s AK-BT1 Bluetooth adapter.
The Portacapture X8 features two 14.6mm condenser microphones that support 32-bit float point recording. Since you can detach the microphones from the device, there’s the possibility Tascam will release optional capsules down the road. It’s possible to reposition the microphones in either an A/B or X/Y orientation. With four XLR/TRS inputs (and two mix tracks), you can use the X8 to record up to eight tracks simultaneously. You’ll also find a dedicated headphone jack on the device, in addition to external in and line-out connections. A built-in USB-C port also allows you to use the device as an audio interface.
Tascam hasn’t said how much the X8 will cost. But as an H8 competitor, we imagine it will fall somewhere in the $400 range. That’s a lot to spend on a portable recorder, but for prosumers, it comes with a lot of desirable features.
Apple just became much friendlier to do-it-yourself repairs. The company is launching a Self Service Repair program that will let you repair products yourself using official Apple parts and tools. The option will be available in the US in early 2022 (later that year for other countries) and will initially give the resources to fix an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 (you're looking at iFixit's iPhone 13 Pro teardown above), with M1-based Macs eligible soon afterward.
The first "phase" of Self Service Repair will focus on core components like the battery, camera and display, with other parts eligible later. Apple will ask customers to review a repair manual and the norder relevant parts through a Self Service Repair Online Store. The company didn't say how much parts would cost, but did offer credit to customers who return used parts for recycling.
Not surprisingly, Apple stressed that the program was meant for people with experience repairing electronics. The "vast majority" of people were still better off getting service from professionals, whether at Apple stores or authorized providers.
The company didn't say what prompted the openness to self servicing. However, it may be a matter of government pressure. The White House, the Federal Trade Commission and multiple states have backed right-to-repair measures that could force Apple and others to allow customer maintenance. This theoretically heads off some of the major complaints by letting any skilled person fix a device themselves without resorting to unofficial parts.
Motorola is refreshing the Moto G lineup with an updated Power model. Like the phone itself, it’s not the most exciting update. The 2022 Moto G Power once again features a 5,000mAh battery Motorola claims can provide up to three days of continuous use. This time around, the company has gone with a 6.5-inch display that features a panel with 720p resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate.
New to this latest model is a tweaked triple camera array highlighted by a 50-megapixel main camera. Motorola claims low-light performance is significantly improved. The 2022 Moto G Power trades the ultra-wide camera of its predecessor for a 2-megapixel macro camera and 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, there’s an 8-megapixel with an f/2.0 aperture lens. With Motorola’s dual capture feature, you can record video footage with both the front- and rear-facing cameras.
Internally, the phone features an octa-core MediaTek Helio G37 processor supported by 4GB of RAM. Motorola will sell the phone in two storage configurations, with the 64GB model costing $200 unlocked, while the 128GB variant will set you back $250. A MicroSD slot allows you to add up to 512GB of additional storage.
Other notable features include IP52 waterproofing and a fingerprint sensor for authentication. One thing the Moto G Power doesn’t include is a NFC chip, so you won’t be able to use it with Google Pay to make mobile payments. One other thing to note is the Moto G Power is limited to 10W charging. That means it will take a while to charge its 5,000mAh battery. The phone will ship with Android 11 out of the box.
In the US, the Moto G Power will go on sale “in the coming months” at Republic Wireless and T-Mobile’s Metro flanker brand. At a later date, Verizon, Boost Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, AT&T, Cricket, USCellular and Google Fi will also carry the device, with unlocked availability at Best Buy and Amazon to follow sometime in 2022.
Apple expanded its HomePod mini lineup with three new colors back in October, and now we're seeing the first discount on the entire family. B&H Photo has all of the HomePod mini colors, including the new orange, blue and yellow configurations, for $95 each. That's $5 off their normal price and, while a modest discount, it's one of the best we've seen on the tiny smart speaker.
The HomePod mini is Apple's main smart speaker now that it discontinued the original HomePod (although the company still supports that speaker with software updates). It's also the most compact of the $100 smart speakers, its competition being the Amazon Echo and the Google Nest Audio. It's a capable device and, like other Apple accessories, arguably best for those who have many Apple products and use services like Apple Music. In addition to its cute design, we liked it for its easy setup and Siri's prowess with music controls. The voice assistant promptly plays Apple Music albums, playlists and tracks when you ask it too, and you can AirPlay audio from almost any other app (like Spotify and Prime Music) to the HomePod mini. So while the speaker is most convenient for Apple Music subscribers, anyone can use it pretty easily.
Despite being the smallest of the $100 smart speakers, the HomePod mini holds its own against the Nest Audio when it comes to sound quality. Mids and highs are clear and the speaker's passive radiators help deliver forceful bass. Its "computational audio" feature helps out by adjusting sound accordingly based on what type of music you're playing. You can also pair two HomePod minis together for stereo sound, and they sound even better this way.
However, if you're looking for the best sounding device at $100, we recommend going for Amazon's Echo instead. Siri also lags a bit behind Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant when it comes to smart home control — it's harder to find HomeKit-supported gadgets than it is to find devices that support either Amazon's or Google's voice assistants. But those are relatively small cons if you're looking for a solid, compact smart speaker, particularly one that shines with Apple Music and works well with Apple devices. And if you've been holding out for one of the latest colors, we expect B&H's sale to be one of the better options this holiday shopping season.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
You can now access your Apple Music account on LG smart TVs even if you don't have an Apple TV. The music streaming service is now available for all the brand's TVs running webOS version 4.0 and higher, over a year after it made its debut on TV platforms with Samsung. Since webOS 4.0 only rolled out in 2018, the Apple Music app will most likely be accessible on newer models.
If your TV can run Apple Music, you'll find yourself faced with an interface and navigation similar to what you'll see if you were using an Apple TV. They're also visually similar to the Apple Music experience on iPads, iPhones, Android devices and PC. The service's app for LG can access all its songs, playlists, 4K music videos and livestreamed Apple Music Radio. It supports tracks with time-synced lyrics, as well, so you can sing along while reading the lines on a big screen.
The app's release on LG smart TVs stays true to Apple's strategy of focusing more attention on its services and making them available on non-Apple hardware. That way, the tech giant can reach more potential customers who aren't married to Apple devices and can work towards making its services more veritable rivals to competitors like Spotify and Netflix.
I’ve been obsessed with Balmuda’s fancy toaster for years. As some readers might know, I used to live in Japan while working for Engadget, and I’d browse around electronics superstores like Yodobashi Camera and Yamada Denki, gawping at high-level cameras, weird 3DS games that would never make it to the West and touring floors upon floors of home appliances and gadgets. There are entire shop floors dedicated to rice cookers, water boilers and the rest. And it is amazing.
Balmuda’s premium toaster oven was the apex, though. Fortunately, the company’s steam-based toaster has made it to the US in recent years and now, for $329, you can have the fluffiest slices of toasted bread you can imagine. But for those in Japan, Balmuda has now announced its first-ever smartphone.
It's a petite device with a full-HD 4.9-inch display. The company teamed up with Kyocera to manufacture the Android device, which has 5G and wireless charging. It comes with a 48-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera and a fingerprint sensor. The Balmuda Phone is powered by a Snapdragon 765 processor and, as you might tell, the device packs relatively middleweight specs. The company may be banking on its premium status to convince smartphone shoppers.
At the moment, the company doesn’t have plans to release the phone outside Japan.
Fender's acoustic-electric hybrid guitars are technical marvels — with a price to reflect that. Now, the instrument brand has unveiled its $1,200 Acoustic Player Telecaster with a simpler design with a three-way voice selector (versus five on other models) and one blend knob.
And yet Gmail and Hangouts were working fine, ugh.
A Google Cloud networking issue took down a handful of prominent websites late yesterday, including Spotify, Snapchat, Etsy and Discord. As one colleague put it: “Annoyed that my fun stuff is down, but Slack remains miraculously up, as does other work stuff.” Google announced the issue was partially resolved as of 1:17 PM ET but a full fix didn’t occur until around 3:15 PM ET. Google said it “will publish an analysis of this incident, once we have completed our internal investigation."
A new report says Kotick knew about the company's sexual harassment problems for years.
Employees at Activision Blizzard are calling for the resignation of CEO Bobby Kotick following new revelations about the role he may have played in creating the toxic workplace culture that has mired the company. A Wall Street Journal report outlined Kotick's handling of the sexual harassment lawsuit from California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The newspaper claimed Kotick not only knew about many of the worst instances of abuse at the company, but in some cases, he may have also acted to protect employees accused of harassment.
"We have instituted our own Zero Tolerance Policy," Activision Blizzard employee advocacy group A Better ABK said on Twitter after the report came out. "We will not be silenced until Bobby Kotick has been replaced as CEO and continue to hold our original demand for Third-Party review by an employee-chosen source."
Having slowly rolled out its OS update to the most powerful (and up-to-date) PCs, Microsoft is accelerating the rollout of Windows 11, making it more broadly available. Provided your system is running version 2004 or later of Windows 10 and you recently installed the September 14th, 2021 servicing update Microsoft released, you can now upgrade directly to Windows 11. When Microsoft first released the new OS on October 4th, the company said it expected to offer the upgrade to all eligible devices by mid-2022.
It’ll feature a library of ultra-high definition nature documentary videos.
Roku's added its first premium 8K channel to its platform: The Explorers. The only 8K Roku TVs on the market right now are from TCL, in 65- and 75-inch formats. TCL first showed off the TV at CES, and would you know it, the next CES is just around the corner. I’m sure there are more 8K TVs waiting to be revealed in January.
Ultra-high-definition premium content from The Explorers (which also offers free content through its channel) will typically cost $3/month. A tenth of that fee will be donated to The Explorers Foundation, which aims to preserve biodiversity. The channel will also offer 8K content at a time when it’s still rare. YouTube remains the main place for 8K footage.
Google has released a surprise mid-month update for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones that's specifically designed to improve the performance of the fingerprint scanner, XDA has reported. Google changed the location of that sensor on the new model, and it's been a sore point for owners because of slow and finicky performance.
On top of being slow, the fingerprint scanner occasionally fails to read fingerprints, and has even allowed phones to be unlocked with someone else's fingers, according to Android Police. Google defended the problem at the time by saying the reduced performance was due to "enhanced security algorithms" that took longer to verify identities.
According to some Reddit users, the update makes the scanner more consistent with fewer failures, particularly if you're using a screen protector. However, it's still slower than some models with similar under-screen fingerprint sensors like the Galaxy S21 Ultra, according to several of those owners.
Google has issued the update in two builds for Verizon-specific and international models — they should roll out to your device soon, or you can download them directly from Google here.
If you're looking to pick up multiple Apple AirTags, now might be a good time. Amazon-owned Woot is offering a rare deal on a four-pack of the item trackers, selling them for $93, plus an additional $5 off for Amazon Prime members. That takes them down to $88, or just $22 per tag — a tempting offer if you have multiple items to keep safe. Just remember that Woot's return policy is stricter than Amazon's.
Airtags offer several advantages over Tile and other rival trackers, provided you're in Apple's ecosystem. Setup is relatively fast, and the ultra-wideband functionality delivers precision tracking with iPhone 11 and newer devices when you get close — useful for searching in a cluttered room. It's also good over long distances if you lose a bag or wallet, thanks to the AirTag network enabled by all Apple device users.
As mentioned, AirTags only work with Apple devices, so Android users should look for something else. Battery life is limited, and you'll need to buy an additional accessory to attach them to a bag or keychain. If you're in Apple's ecosystem and want some extra piece of mind with certain items, though, you can now pick them up at a discount — just remember to sign in with the Amazon button to get that extra $5 off.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Fujifilm has unveiled the Instax Mini Evo, its new flagship instant film camera with a premium build, higher resolution than previous models and improved smartphone integration. As with other Instax cameras, you can take photos and instantly develop them to Fujifilm's credit card-sized Instax Mini film, but it offers a number of features not available on previous models.
As a hybrid camera, you can review photos on the LCD monitor and choose the ones you want to print. However, the new model is the first Instax camera with a print lever and lens/film filter dials. That lets you take a picture then choose among 100 combinations of effects (including "Soft Focus," "Light Leak," "Monochrome" and "Retro") and print the image afterwards by pulling the print lever. Fujifilm said the camera also delivers better quality prints as it has twice the exposure resolution of previous models.
Fujifilm
The Instax Mini Evo is also effectively a mini-printer for your smartphone. You can transfer images from your phone to the Evo Mini wirelessly, then print them using the "Direct Print" button. And for the first time, you can transfer snaps you take with the Mini Evo back over to your smartphone, complete with the film border. Finally, you can use your smartphone to take pictures remotely with the camera.
Fujifilm also unveiled a new Instax Mini film format called "Stone Grey" with a gray background. The new camera arrives in Japan on December 3rd and will come to the US in February with a price of $200.
