After confirming the EOS R3, Canon is bringing pro-grade video features to a trio of existing cameras by way of a firmware update. Both the EOS R6 and EOS-1D X Mark III are getting C-Log 3, which provides an expanded dynamic range and offers more color space options for high-quality video.
The updates also mean the two cameras, along with the full-frame mirrorless EOS R5, will be able to simultaneously record movies on two memory cards, giving you a backup of your footage. While the EOS-1D X Mark III and EOS R5 can now support CFexpress VPG400 cards, which feature a minimum write speed of 400 MB per second that makes them ideal for shooting in 8K or recording RAW footage.
Updating the R5 also makes it compatible with two Canon Cine servo zoom lenses, the CN-E18-80mm T4.4 L IS KAS S and CN-E70-200mm T4.4 L IS KAS S, and the EOS utility and Camera Connect software. You'll also be able to shoot 5K cropped ProRes RAW when connected to the Atomos Ninja V monitor/recorder and, in addition, 8K ProRes RAW and 8K AT 30 fps on the Ninja V+.
Google has rolled out an update for the Meet video calling app that could make personal calls more enjoyable. The Meet app for Android and iOS now has filters and masks you can play with — simply tap the sparkle button at the bottom right corner of your video call to bring up the Effects options. You'll find Blur effects and backgrounds in there like you would on enterprise and education accounts, but you'll now also find "Styles" and "Filters" among the options in the carousel.
Under Styles, you'll see lens flare effects and color overlays you can apply to your video. If you want to see the truly fun options, though, look under Filters for cute animal masks and virtual accessories you can virtually put on your face and head. These new effects are already live, and based on our tests, they're available for use even if you start a meeting through Gmail instead of through the Meet app itself.
Add cats, astronauts, jellyfish and more to your Meet calls. New filters, masks and effects are now available for Meet on Android and iOS. Try it today → https://t.co/DDSvWFxDG8pic.twitter.com/hylhsCcUuj
As 9to5Google notes, Google has been releasing a number of features that would make the service a more veritable Zoom rival. This time, the tech giant is hoping to win over personal users with a feature that could convince them to use Meet for calls with friends and family. The publication previously reported that Google will eventually replace its Duo app with Meet entirely. This move could be a step towards that, as well, seeing as some of Meet's new masks and filters came straight out of Duo's library.
Hygear, a smart fitness tool maker that launched in 2020, has introduced a smart jump rope that can provide users with real time feedback. The Hyrope can pair with the company's official app to track the user's jump count, speed, pace and calorie burn as they go along. Hygear's app picks the interactive workouts they can follow based on their fitness goals and uses AI tech to adjust them based on actual performance.
While gyms have started reopening in recent months after coronavirus restrictions loosened up, some may still choose to continue exercising in their homes. A lot of people purchased expensive machines in the middle of the pandemic last year, after all, and may have gotten used to following video workouts from the growing number of digital fitness subscriptions out there. Hyrope may have a been a bit late to the game, but it could still find its audience in those who now prefer working out at home, or those who just want a handy exercise tool they can bring anywhere they go.
The company says it chose to introduce Hyrope, because "because mixing cardio with strength training is one of the best, most effective ways to burn calories for weight loss," and rope jumping is "excellent cardio activity that can be performed in limited space." Hyrope is now available for pre-sale for $39. It comes with the device itself and a year-long Hygear app membership. The jump rope is launching with a 90-day weight loss program that's accessible through the app, and the company is also rolling out 45- and 60-day cardio programs in the coming weeks.
For the third time in its short history, OnePlus finds itself embroiled in a controversy over the performance of its phones. This week, AnandTech published a report in which it said it found the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 throttle the capabilities of their Snapdragon 888 processors when running popular apps like Chrome, Twitter and WhatsApp. AnandTech wasn't able to sus out a complete list of all the applications where the two phones limit their CPU output, but what's notable about the outlet's findings is that the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 don't throttle any benchmarking tools.
It's disappointing to see OnePlus handsets making performance decisions based on application identifiers rather than application behavior. We view this as a form of benchmark manipulation. We've delisted the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro from our Android Benchmark chart. https://t.co/G40wmWeg7o
After AnandTech published its report, GeekBench, one of the more popular tools for benchmarking, completed a separate investigation and went on to delist the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro from its charts. "It's disappointing to see OnePlus handsets making performance decisions based on application identifiers rather than application behavior," the company said. "We view this as a form of benchmark manipulation."
OnePlus has since responded to the report. It toldXDA Developers it tweaked the behavior of the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 in response to complaints people had about the battery life.
Our top priority is always delivering a great user experience with our products, based in part on acting quickly on important user feedback. Following the launch of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro in March, some users told us about some areas where we could improve the devices' battery life and heat management. As a result of this feedback, our R&D team has been working over the past few months to optimize the devices' performance when using many of the most popular apps, including Chrome, by matching the app's processor requirements with the most appropriate power. This has helped to provide a smooth experience while reducing power consumption. While this may impact the devices' performance in some benchmarking apps, our focus as always is to do what we can to improve the performance of the device for our users.
If you've been following OnePlus for a while, you'll know the company is no stranger to this type of controversy. Back in the days of the OnePlus 3T, the company included code in OxygenOS that would artificially boost the clock speeds of the phone's Snapdragon processor when running certain benchmark apps. XDA caught the company doing something similar with the OnePlus 5.
On the face of things, the situation here is different. OnePlus is throttling the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 to save on battery life. And while most people won't notice unless they have another Snapdragon 888 device next to their phone, the company was still mispresenting the capabilities of those devices based on the fact they it throttle benchmarking apps.
The long-rumored OLED-equipped Nintendo Switch is finally real! But it’s not quite the upgrade we were expecting. For months, reports claimed a “Switch Pro” would also deliver some sort of 4K upscaling capability and faster performance. But this new model, which will sell for $350 when it’s released on October 8th, doesn’t go nearly that far. Instead, it’s more of a minor step forward that fixes a few of the Switch’s original design flaws, but doesn’t dramatically change the system. And you know what? That’s fine.
If you’ve been following Nintendo for any amount of time, it shouldn’t be surprising that the company isn’t really interested in joining a spcs race. Let Sony and Microsoft duke it out for 4K dominance — Nintendo can show there’s still plenty to love about games in 1080p and below. Sticking with the same hardware also means developers don’t have to worry about splitting the Switch user base, an issue that’s plagued Nintendo systems over the last few decades (was the New 3DS actually worth it?).
The global chip shortage may have foiled Nintendo’s plans to stuff better hardware in this Switch, as well. The system currently uses a custom version of NVIDIA’s Tegra X1 system-on-a-chip, which was quietly updated in 2019 to increase the console’s battery life. According to various reports, Nintendo was exploring docked 4K upscaling using NVIDIA’s DLSS technology, which uses AI processing to bump lower-resolution textures up to something that looks far sharper. But that technology would have required an updated Tegra chip that brought over some of the hardware from NVIDIA’s recent RTX GPUs. That’s not an impossible task, but it’s one that may have required more work than NVIDIA was able to accomplish during the hellscape of 2020 (at least, while keeping the final cost reasonable).
Nintendo
That doesn’t mean dreams of a 4K-capable Switch are dead, it’s just something we’ll have to wait a year or two to see. Nintendo would also need to add more RAM to the Switch so it could better handle the 1080p textures required for DLSS upscaling. That’s not easy to do with the system’s meager 4GB of RAM, so a future console would need 6GB or 8GB. And don’t forget, Nintendo also needs to balance delivering solid battery life with the Switch in handheld mode, so it needs to be careful about shoving in demanding new hardware.
For owners of the original Switch, or newcomers to the platform, this OLED model still seems like an enticing upgrade. The larger screen makes the system look more modern, with less of a chunky display bezel. OLED will also make games look dramatically better, especially while playing outside in direct sunlight. There’s also a wider kickstand, similar to the one of the Microsoft Surface tablets, which should make portable play a lot more stable. There’s also 64GB of internal storage, instead of 32GB, and “enhanced audio,” which could just refer to better speakers — Nintendo isn’t getting very specific.
Nintendo
And if you’re really into online multiplayer, you’ll likely appreciate the Ethernet port built into the OLED Switch’s dock. (And if that’s the main draw for you, Nintendo says the dock is also compatible with the old Switch models.) Due to the larger screen, though, Nintendo says the OLED Switch may run into issues with some Labo kits and other games.
I get it, $350 is a lot to shell out for a slightly better Switch. That’s particularly true when you can get the disc-less PlayStation 5 for $399, or the full PS5 and Xbox Series X for $499. But for Nintendo diehards, the improvements are definitely tempting. Just don’t be surprised if the company ends up dropping the 4K-capable Switch during the 2022 holiday season.
Grubhub is teaming up with Russian tech giant Yandex to deliver food to students and others on US college campuses with the help of autonomous robots. The companies have agreed a multi-year partnership, and the robots will start dropping off orders on select campuses this fall. Grubhub works with more than 250 colleges across the country.
Yandex says its robots can access areas and navigate obstacles that cars cannot. It will be able to deliver food in mainly pedestrian areas and the robot delivery service will be integrated into Grubhub's app. When the robot gets close to its destination, the customer will receive a notification. They can retrieve their order by using the app to unlock a hatch on the robot.
The machines use the same self-driving tech as Yandex's autonomous cars, and they can operate in a variety of weather conditions. Yandex has been using the robots for its own food and grocery delivery services in Russia. The rovers have also been fulfilling restaurant orders in Ann Arbor, Michigan, since April.
Nintendo’s new, long-rumored Switch has arrived — and it’s not what many of us were hoping for. Still, the OLED Switch is the most grown-up-looking Switch so far, with smaller bezels, a new off-white dock and matching Joy-Cons. The core upgrade is — shockingly — the screen: a new seven-inch OLED panel that should offer crisper graphics when played as a handheld. However, the resolution hasn’t changed, so it’s been stretched a little wider than the original 6.2-inch LCD Switch.
I can run through the rest of the changes, as there aren’t all that many. There’s now 64GB of internal storage — another grown-up upgrade — while a wider, more solid-looking kickstand replaces the flimsy plastic tab on the original Switch. You can adjust this to multiple angles for more comfortable table-top / airplane-tray-table gaming. The new off-white dock also has an Ethernet port built-in, while the core OLED Switch has improved speakers. Otherwise, there’s no newer processor and, seemingly, no battery-life improvements. (The company hasn’t offered any battery estimates yet on its official site.)
The OLED Switch is not for current Switch owners looking to upgrade — although I don’t doubt some of us will buy one. It’s a refined version of the original (or maybe I’m easily tricked by monochrome color schemes), but seems expressly aimed at handheld players, who are the ones that’ll benefit from the bigger OLED screen. That’s odd when the cheaper, non-hybrid Switch Lite was geared at the same crowd.
Nintendo could have squashed the more aggressive rumors of a powerful version capable of 4K and upscaled gaming, but it didn’t. Because it’s Nintendo, meaning it has a mercurial vision for hybrid consoles, iconic games, detachable controls and, at the same time, ignores Bluetooth audio support and in-game chat functionality. And there was no mention of any changes to fix Joy-Con drift.
If you’re looking for a comparison from console history, consider this a Gameboy Pocket-style twist on the GameBoy, rather than a more powerful PS4 Pro to replace the PS4.
And will we ever see the 4K-capable Switch Pro? Does it even exist? Only Nintendo knows.
The policy will probably target farmers more than phone companies.
The right to repair movement in the US could soon see a significant breakthrough. According to Bloomberg, President Joe Biden will “in the coming days” direct the Federal Trade Commission to draft new regulations to empower consumers to repair their devices.
While there aren’t many details on the executive order just yet, it will reportedly mention phone companies as a possible target of regulation. However, farmers are expected to be the primary beneficiary. During Tuesday's White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the order would give them "the right to repair their own equipment how they like.” Continue reading.
Roblox is rushing to strike official music deals in the wake of a $200 million lawsuit over alleged copyright violations. Roblox has announced a team-up with Sony Music that will bring more of the label's artists to the game platform. The company reached a similar agreement with BMG in June, and Warner before that. It does represent Roblox's largest music pact to date, however. The one music giant left is Universal.
The music industry sued Roblox for allegedly not doing enough to stop gamers from making virtual boomboxes that stream copyrighted music. Continue reading.
Building on Sony’s neck speakers of the past, like the SRS-WS1, the company announced a new $150 model, the SRS-NB10. It's a neckband speaker that Sony says is designed for remote workers, “optimized for your ears alone” with drivers angled upward.
This should mean you’ll be the primary target of your podcasts and embarrassing playlists, but others in the same space might still catch whatever you’re listening to. You’ll be able to take calls on them, and the device can switch between two Bluetooth connections so it can perform double duty with your phone and PC. The band lands in September. Continue reading.
Verizon (Engadget’s parent company for now) has revealed the Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response, THOR — a modified Ford F650 truck. The front of the vehicle has seats for a driver and five passengers, while the “command center” you see at the back has room for three individuals. THOR can bring 5G and satellite connectivity to an area where a natural disaster may have knocked network access out or there wasn’t any connectivity in the first place.
When Texas was hit by an extreme cold snap earlier this year and the state’s independent power grid failed, many people couldn’t use their phones to access the internet and get information about the situation as it developed. Verizon envisions THOR assisting first responders and the military “under nearly any conditions,” whether that’s severe cold that Texas recently experienced or wildfires out in California. Continue reading.
Yesterday, Twitter shared four concept features that could give users more control over who can see, read and find their accounts, and it wants feedback from the public.
“If you have a protected account and reply to someone who isn’t following you, you may not know they can’t see your reply,” Lena Emara, Twitter People Experience Designer, wrote in a thread. These features could help streamline and clarify exactly who can see your interactions. Regardless of feedback, these concepts may never mature into features that Twitter adopts. Continue reading.
Microsoft has released an emergency patch to address a critical flaw in the Windows Print Spooler service that bad actors are actively exploiting, as noticed by The Verge. A few days ago, the tech giant has published a security advisory to notify users about the flaw called PrintNightmare, though it didn't name the bad actors currently using it to infiltrate victims' computers.
Attackers taking advantage of the vulnerability can remotely run code with system-level privileges, giving them the ability to install programs in the victims' computers, delete or change data and create new accounts with full user rights. The vulnerability impacts all versions of Windows, and the company advised users to disable Print Spooler to deactivate local and remote printing to prevent hackers from getting in. They can also disable just the inbound remote printing capability through Group Policy.
Now, after investigating the vulnerability, Microsoft has issued patches for several versions of the Windows Server, Windows 10, Windows 8 and even Windows 7 — security updates for this OS ended in January 2020 — platforms. The vulnerability has been classified as "Critical," which means its "exploitation could allow code execution without user interaction." Microsoft is asking users to install the updates immediately or to take steps towards protecting their systems if they can't.
Longer videos aren't the only new feature coming to TikTok. The short-form video app has begun allowing some users to pay creators for custom clips in the vein of startup Cameo. With Big Tech copycats in hot pursuit, it seems TikTok isn't against the idea of borrowing features itself, as long as they help it to maintain its grip on Gen Z. For now, only users in Turkey and Dubai appear to have access to the test, according to social media posts spotted by BuzzFeed.
The new feature is reportedly called "Shoutouts" and essentially lets you request and pay for a video from a creator using TikTok coins, the in-app currency purchased with real money and used to tip others. It seems creators can set a rate for their services, with the final product delivered to your inbox. In all, your custom video could take longer than a week to arrive as TikTok appears to be reviewing the clips first. After all, it doesn't want the feature to become the new OnlyFans.
TikTok seemingly views shoutouts as way for users to request happy birthday greetings and pep talks from popular creators. Though, it's currently unclear how many followers a person needs to have in order to make money from shoutouts. Based on the ingenuity of its talent base, you can probably expect some of the results to be more creative than direct-to-camera chats.
TikTok isn't the only social app emulating Cameo. Facebook is also working on "Super," a service that lets users pay to interact with influencers in live streams. Meanwhile, Cameo is doing gangbusters, according to its management. Last year, the video requests service raked in gross revenue of $100 million, 75 percent of which was paid to talent, reports Variety. That was up 4.5 times from 2019, with the app's celeb users delivering 1.3 million shoutouts in 2020 alone.
Cameo was recently valued at $1 billion after raising $100 million from the venture capital arms of Google, Amazon and Japanese tech giant SoftBank.
Smart grill maker Traeger has bought wireless meat thermometer company Meater, which it says marks the next step in creating the "ultimate connected grilling experience." Traeger allows users to monitor and control connected grills through a smartphone or Apple Watch. Bringing Meater on board will help people to get an accurate temperature reading for their food from just about anywhere, Traeger said.
Meater makes several Bluetooth and WiFi-enabled thermometers, while Traeger currently only sells wired thermometers. Traeger said the acquisition will enable it to "accelerate entry into the adjacent accessories market with a highly complementary technology-enabled product." It's unclear whether Traeger plans to bundle Meater products with its grills or sell them separately — Meater will continue to run as a standalone company. Still, it wouldn't be surprising to see Traeger integrate Meater readings into its own apps for a more seamless outdoor cooking experience.
