Jeep's Wagoneer is back and big in every sense of the word, including the amount of technology found inside. The beloved large luxury SUV brand (which surely inspired the Simpson's "Canyonero") has multiple touchscreens, support for both Apple and Android entertainment systems and even video streaming via Amazon's Fire TV.
The big daddy Grand Wagoneer packs up to no less than four touch displays to fill out that enormous dash. That includes a 12.3-inch digital dash cluster, along with a 12-inch infotainment system. The latter uses the latest version of Chrysler/Jeep's Uconnect 5, and also supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Sitting directly below that is a 10.3-inch comfort display that lets you control climate and the seats. (On the regular Wagoneer, you get smaller 10.3- and 10.1-inch displays for the digital dash and infotainment display, respectively.)
Stellantis
Those are just for the driver — the front passenger gets their own (optional) 10.3-inch touchscreen that allows them to watch movies, monitor the vehicle and more. Rear passengers get a pair of matching 10.1-inch displays, also optional. All three of those screens let passengers control navigation and media, monitor the external cameras, and play your own content via the aforementioned Android Auto/Apple CarPlay or Uconnect.
As we detailed last week, you can also stream video using Amazon's Fire TV for Auto with Alexa, giving passengers access to Amazon's library of Prime Video shows. You'll also be able to play games, use apps and access Alexa on the road through Fire TV for Auto.
The rest of the interior is a lux as you'd expect in such an SUV, equipped with what Jeep calls an "American premium" design (the word "American" appears no less than 32 times in the Wagoneer press release). You're coddled with wood, aluminum and leather throughout and the Grand Wagoneer has 24-way adjustable power seats. Both offer lumbar support and memory settings. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer offer 94.2 and 116.7 cubic feet of storage space, respectively. Pricing starts at just under $60,000, but to get all the tech bells and whistles, you'll pay up to $105,995 for the Grand Wagoneer Series.
Tiktok users in Pakistan won't be able to access the app yet again after the Peshawar High Court issued an order to ban the short-form video sharing platform in the country. According to Al Jazeera, Ary News TV and other local news outlets, the court made the ruling during a hearing into a petition against the app. TikTok had around 33 million users in Pakistan (out of a total of 100 million users) as of last month, App Annie told TechCrunch. After receiving the order from the court, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) published a statement on Twitter confirming that it has issued directions to service providers "to immediately block access to the TikTok App" in compliance.
In respectful compliance to the orders of the Peshawar High Court, PTA has issued directions to the service providers to immediately block access to the TikTok App. During the hearing of a case today, the PHC has ordered for the blocking of App.
Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan said TikTok videos "are peddling vulgarity in society," Ary News TV wrote, and that the platform hosts unethical and immoral content. He also decided that the app should remain blocked until TikTok cooperates with authorities after PTA told the court that it approached the company to have "objectionable and indecent" content removed to no avail.
In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, a spokesperson defended the platform and its moderation practices:
"TikTok is built upon the foundation of creative expression, with strong safeguards in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform.
In Pakistan we have grown our local-language moderation team, and have mechanisms to report and remove content in violation of our community guidelines. We look forward to continuing to serve the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity and fun."
This isn't the first time the app was banned in the country, which recently rolled out digital laws that give regulators the power to censor content. As Financial Times notes, the new laws require companies to remove offensive content, including ones that threaten the "integrity, security and defense of Pakistan." The first time TikTok was banned was before the new laws came out, though, after authorities decided that it hosted "immoral and indecent" videos. That said, PTA lifted the ban a few days later after TikTok promised to moderate clips according to Pakistani "societal norms" and laws.
The ideal way to watch Tenet, according to director Christopher Nolan (and many others), is in a cinema. "This is a film whose image and sound really needs to be enjoyed in your theaters on the big screen," he said last year amid the throes of a pandemic. That inspired YouTuber Bob Wulff, who runs the WulffDen channel, to stuff the time-bending blockbuster onto Game Boy Advance Video cartridges.
Wulff freely admits this is "quite possibly the worst way to view Tenet." He split the movie across five cartridges because it's two and a half hours long. According to Wulff, "30 minutes is the maximum time you can have for a Game Boy Advance Video [cartridge] and still have it in somewhat of a watchable state." He even made custom labels.
There are tradeoffs, of course. Wullf had to crush the video down to six frames per second with a resolution of 192x128 and a whopping 8 KB/s bitrate. The software Wulff used also speeds up video by a third by default. The result is not exactly the pristine IMAX cinema experience Nolan would have hoped for. Many viewers already found it hard to hear much of the dialogue in Tenet due to the questionable sound mix, so can you imagine trying to watch the film with a GBA speaker?
Most Game Boy Advance Video cartridges had a few episodes of a show like Pokémon or SpongeBob SquarePants, but there were a few full-length movies such as Shrekand Shark Tale. With the 20th anniversary of the GBA fast approaching, it seems like the perfect time to order some GBA Video cartridges, a device to flash them with and ruin your favorite movie by watching it in a terrible format.
Starting tomorrow, Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have access to a new wave of Bethesda games to play. In all, Microsoft is adding 12 new titles, including Fallout 4, Morrowind and The Evil Within, for people to check out. They'll join eight other Bethesda games such as Dishonored 2, Fallout 76 and Doom Eternal that were already available through the service, making for a total of 20 available titles. You'll be able to play 16 of the games across every platform where Microsoft offers Game Pass. That means that they'll be playable on Xbox and PC, as well as through cloud streaming for those who have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. You can see the full list at the bottom. According to Microsoft, a "handful" of the games will take advantage of Microsoft's FPS Boost tech, allowing the Xbox Series X and Series S to render them at higher frame rates.
The list represents nearly every great game Bethesda and its satellite studios have released over the last decade and beyond. And that's exactly why Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire the company. Moving forward, Game Pass subscribers can expect more Bethesda titles to make their way to the service. "If you're an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists," Xbox chief Phil Spencer said during the recent Xbox-Bethesda roundtable.
Dishonored Definitive Edition (Console, PC and Cloud)
Dishonored 2 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Doom (Console, PC and Cloud)
Doom II (Console, PC and Cloud)
Doom 3 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Doom 64 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Doom Eternal (Console, PC and Cloud)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Console and PC)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Console and PC)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (Console, PC and Cloud)
The Elder Scrolls Online (Cloud and Console)
The Evil Within (Console, PC and Cloud)
Fallout 4 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Fallout 76 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Fallout: New Vegas (Console)
Prey (Console, PC and Cloud)
Rage 2 (Console, PC and Cloud)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (Console, PC Cloud)
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Console, PC and Cloud)
GM has released more details about its next-generation Ultium batteries, including plans for lithium-metal (Li-metal) technology to boost performance and energy density. The automaker announced that it has signed an agreement to work with SolidEnergy Systems (SES), an MIT spinoff developing prototype Li-metal batteries with nearly double the capacity of current lithium-ion cells.
As a reminder, Li-metal batteries replace carbon anodes with lithium metal, allowing for lighter and more powerful cells. The challenge with the technology is increased resistance and "dendrite" filaments that tend to form on the anodes, making batteries short-circuit and heat up.
Previous lithium-metal batteries would only work when heated up to 175 degrees F, but SolidEnergy developed an electrolyte coating for lithium metal foil that works at room temperature. The company also created a non-flammable liquid electrolyte with lower resistance that won't create dendrites when in contact with lithium metal. Using those advances, it developed prototype batteries with the same storage capacity as a lithium-ion cell in half the size. The company has also developed AI-powered battery management software designed to optimize EV performance and safety.
GM's first-generation Ultium battery pack
General Motors
GM invested in SES in 2015 and has had a "close working relationship" with the company ever since. The automaker itself has 49 Li-metal-related patents (with 45 more pending) and showed off its own lithium-metal battery cells last year, saying today that it has completed 150,000 simulated test miles with the initial prototype.
As part of the new development agreement, "GM and SES plan to build a prototyping line in Woburn, Massachusetts, for a high-capacity, pre-production battery by 2023." It said that the energy density increase could allow for more range than current batteries in a similar size, or comparable range in a smaller pack. That could help it to reduce vehicle weight and size, while freeing up space for additional technology.
“With this next-generation Ultium chemistry, we believe we’re on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation increase in energy density and cost," said GM President Mark Reuss. "There’s even more room to improve in both categories, and we intend to innovate faster than any other company in this space."
GM's first-generation Ultium batteries don't add any significant improvements to current battery tech, but along with Ultium motor tech, they represent GM's EV future. The company plans to introduce its first Ultium-based EVs later this year, starting with the Cruise Origin shuttle and followed by EVs from Cadillac, Hummer and other brands. The next-generation Ultium battery tech is still a number of years away, but as we've learned with any new battery technology, a lot could go wrong along the way.
If you own a Mac, there’s a good chance you spent quite a bit of money to buy it. If for no other reason than that, you should take care of your computer. Not only will it work better over its life, but you’ll also be able to potentially sell it for more money if you ever decide to part with it. In this how-to, we’ll share some tips on how to take care of your Mac. It’s impossible to cover the topic of computer maintenance from every angle, so think of this guide as more of an introduction to some organizational features and apps you may not have known about.
How to clean your Mac’s screen and body
While there are a lot of products you can buy that are specially made to help you with cleaning your computer, I’ve found the simplest approach works best — and it’s the one Apple recommends. To start, all you’ll need is some water in a spray bottle and a clean microfiber cloth. You can use either regular or distilled water. The advantage of the latter is that it’s far less likely to leave any residue on your Mac, particularly on the display. You can buy distilled water at a grocery store or make it yourself with some simple cookware. Either way, it’s more affordable than dedicated cleaning solutions and more versatile. If you don’t already own any microfiber cloths, Amazon sells affordable 24-packs you can get for about $15.
Two other products I’ve found that can make the job easier are Whoosh screen cleaner and a Giottos Rocket Blower. I can’t say enough good things about the latter. It will save you from buying expensive and wasteful cans of compressed air. Lastly, if you want to disinfect your computer, Apple recently said it’s safe to use isopropyl alcohol and Clorox wipes.
As for the process of cleaning your Mac, the most important tip to remember is to start with a clean cloth (that’s part of the reason we recommend buying them in bulk). You’ll save yourself time and frustration this way. Begin by turning off your computer and unplugging it. If you went out and bought a Rocket Blower, use it now to remove any dust. If not, take a dry microfiber cloth and go over your computer. Take special care around the keys, particularly if you own a Mac with a butterfly keyboard.
At this point, you can wipe down your computer with a disinfecting wipe. Otherwise, dampen one side of your cleaning cloth with either water or Whoosh. Never spray any liquid directly on your computer. You’ll have more control this way and you’ll avoid getting any moisture into your Mac’s internals. I always clean the display first since the last thing I want to do is create more work for myself by transferring dirt from some other part of my computer to the screen. The last step is to buff and polish your computer with the dry side of the cloth. That’s it. Your Mac should be looking clean again.
How to organize your hard drive
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
One of the hardest parts of cleaning your Mac’s hard drive is knowing where to start. After all, most of us have apps on our computers we don’t even remember installing in the first place. Thankfully, macOS comes with a tool to help you with that exact issue.
Navigate to the “Storage” section of the “About This Mac” menu and click the “Manage…” option. Here you’ll find a tool that sorts your files into broad categories and offers recommendations on how to free up space on your hard drive. You can use those in combination with the handy “Show in finder” button at the bottom of the interface to quickly navigate your hard drive. No need to search for files manually.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
The section dedicated to applications is particularly helpful since you can see the last time you used a program, as well as if it’s no longer supported by the operating system or if it’s outdated thanks to a more recent release.
You don’t need me to tell you to uninstall programs you don’t use, but what you might not know is that there’s a better way to erase them than simply dragging them to the trash can. A free program called AppCleaner will help you track down any files and folders that would get left behind if you were just to delete an application.
After deleting any apps you don’t need, move to the documents section. The name is somewhat misleading here since you’ll find more than just text files and excel spreadsheets. Documents, in this case, turns out to be the tool’s catch-all term for a variety of files, including ones that take up a large amount of space and DMGs you may have forgotten to dismount. The other sections on the sidebar are self-explanatory. The only other thing I’ll mention is if you’ve been using an iPhone for a while, there’s a good chance you’ll have old iOS backups stored on your computer. You can safely delete those too.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
By this point, your hard drive should be in pretty good shape. If you want to take some additional steps to clean it, there are dedicated apps that can help. I like one called CleanMyMac X. At $51 per year, it’s on the expensive side, but will save you the time and trouble of doing everything I mentioned above (and then some) on your own. It also doubles as a malware removal tool.
Tips and tricks for keeping a neat Desktop and Finder
Igor Bonifacic
Let’s start with the menu bar. It may not technically be part of the desktop, but a tidy one can go a long way toward making everything else look less cluttered. My recommendation here is to download a $15 app called Bartender. At first glance, it’s a simple program allowing you to hide unwanted menu bar items behind a three dots icon. However, the strength of Bartender is that you get a lot of customization options. For example, you can set a trigger that will automatically move the battery status icon out from hiding when your computer isn’t connected to a power outlet.
While we’re on the subject of the menu bar, take a second to open your Mac’s System Preferences menu and go to the “Users & Groups” section. Now click on the “Login Items” tab at the top of the interface and take a look at all the apps that launch when you boot up your system. You can speed up your system by paring this list down to only the programs you use most often.
When it comes to the desktop itself, the best advice is less is more. Nothing will make your computer look like a cluttered mess more than a busy desktop. Folders and stacks can help, but, for most people, I suspect part of the problem is they use their desktop as a way to quickly and easily find files that are important to them.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
If you’ve ever struggled to find a specific file or folder on your computer, try using your Mac’s tagging capabilities instead. Start by opening the Finder preferences menu(“command” + “,”) and click the “Tags” tab. You can use the default ones provided by macOS or make your own. Either way, drag the ones you think you’ll use most often to the favorites areas at the bottom of the preferences window. This will make it so that they’re easily accessible when you want to use them. To append a tag to a file or folder, click on it while holding the ctrl key and select the one you want from the dropdown menu. You can also tag a file while working on it within an app. Keep in mind you can apply multiple tags to a single file or folder. You can even apply them to applications.
What makes tags so useful in macOS is that they can appear in the sidebar of the Finder and are easily searchable either directly through the Finder or using Siri. As long as you have a system for organizing your files, even a simple one, you’ll find it easier to keep track of them. As one example, I like to apply an Engadget tag to any files related to my work. I’ll add an “Important” tag if it’s something that’s critical and I want to find quickly.
How to organize your windows and tabs
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
There’s one last app I’d like to suggest in closing out this article. If you’ve used both macOS and Windows 10, you’ll know that Apple’s operating system doesn’t come with the best window management tools. You can click and hold on the full-screen icon to tile a window to either the left or right side of your screen, but that’s about it and the feature has always felt less precise than its Windows counterpart.
My suggestion is to download an app that replicates Windows 10’s snapping feature. You have several competing options that more or less offer the same functionality. My go-to is a $5 program called Magnet. If you want a free alternative, check out Rectangle. Another option is BetterSnapTool, which offers more functionality than Magnet but doesn’t have as clean of an interface. All three apps give you far more ways to configure your windows than what you get through the built-in tool in macOS. They also come with shortcut support, which means you can quickly set up your windows and get to work.
There’s a lot to learn when you have a child in the NICU, and one tip I picked up from the nursing staff was the importance of having a white noise machine at home. Babies often find white (or brown or pink) noise soothing as it recreates some of the ambient sounds they heard in the womb. NICU graduates in particular become accustomed to an assortment of noises from various hospital machines, which means white noise can actually help them feel at ease when they arrive home. Also, let’s be real, anything that will help your infant sleep is worth trying.
In fact, my household is no stranger to white noise machines — we’ve had one kicking around for years now because of my partner’s tinnitus, and we’ve both kept white noise apps on our phones for when we travel. Having a consistent, gentle hum of waves, rain or static helps mask outside noises from airplanes or hotels. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous stories, accidentally stumbling across the Hatch Rest was a stroke of luck as it doubles as a night light and white noise machine, all of it controllable from a phone. While there’s no shortage of white noise machines available (for adults or children), few have the kind of smart features that made the Rest truly indispensable. I tried out four different soothers to see what each has to offer.
Hatch Rest and Rest+
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can control all features from smartphone
There’s a good selection of sounds and lights
Cons
No storytelling feature
No projection light
Can’t double as a Bluetooth speaker
It’s easy to explain why the $60 Hatch Rest and $90 Rest+ are popular with parents on the Engadget staff: Both devices sport a clean, minimalist design and allow you to combine any of 12 sounds or colors to act as a night light, white noise machine or time-to-rise reminder. And all these actions can be controlled from your smartphone, so it’s easy to adjust the volume or change the light color from a different room. Using the Hatch app, you can set favorite combinations and program them to start and stop at specific times. There are also physical controls on the device itself so you’re not out of luck if you forget your phone in another room. After a year of using the Rest, the only thing I wish it had was the ability to fade out of a sound when you turn it off.
The Rest+ has some additional features, too, including a rechargeable battery (not just AC power); two-way audio so it can also act as an audio monitor; a digital clock display; and the ability to control it with Alexa. Hatch sells separately $12 printed coverlets that can cover the Rest to match a nursery design. The company also recently released a “Mini” version, which offers a storytelling feature and white noise but no lights. There’s also a Restore version of the machine intended for adults.
VTech Wyatt the Whale Storytelling Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can record your own voice
There's a storytelling mode
Starry projection
Cons
The app is bare-bones and you can’t use it to control audio playback
AC power only
Wyatt the Whale is one of three storytelling soothers from VTech; the other two, a monkey and a turtle, offer slightly different features than Wyatt. The $50 whale comes preloaded with 10 lullabies, 10 ambient white noise sounds and 10 stories, which can be updated and switched out through the app. You can also use the app to record your voice reading a story (the app provides scripts to help), or a message for your child.
The selection of sounds is pretty standard for a white noise machine: nature sounds like birds and rain, along with household noises like traffic or a washing machine. The lullabies have a range of children's songs (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and classical tracks (Bach’s Ave Maria), while the stories are shortened versions of fairy tales (Alice in Wonderland in 3:48). Throughout, the sound quality is decent and the voices clear. Wyatt can also project a starry night scene, courtesy of the shaped cut-outs on the top of the device, but this feature can only be controlled through physical buttons on the device.
The lullabies, sounds and stories can get swapped out and reordered within the app. Unfortunately, though, that’s all the app was designed to do. As I discovered after several frustrating moments, it doesn't play, pause, skip tracks or adjust volume; all of that has to be done using the physical buttons. Attempting to play a sound through the app will just default to it playing on your phone. There’s also no battery; it only works when connected to AC power, which limits the places you’ll be able to use it.
Project Nursery Dreamweaver with Bluetooth
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Adorable firefly design
Doubles as a Bluetooth speaker
Portable
Cons
Only three sounds or lullabies
No app to control preset sounds
No projection
Project Nursery’s Dreamweaver is designed to look like a jar carrying fireflies, which is honestly pretty charming. The $40 machine has the shape of a large mason jar with a brass colored top and handle and physical controls near the bottom. There are six buttons in total: volume up and down, power/Bluetooth, preloaded tracks/skip tracks, a timer and one for the lights, which flicker on and off in one of four patterns to resemble captured fireflies. Below the power/Bluetooth button is an input for a USB-C cable, which you’ll need periodically for recharging the battery.
The menu is admittedly pretty limited: three lullabies (Brahms’ Lullaby, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), two natural sounds (waves and a heartbeat) and plain white noise. However, because the Dreamweaver connects to your phone via Bluetooth you can stream anything you want through it. It was certainly loud enough during my testing to double as a portable speaker for picnics or beach days. And my twins were crazy about the fake firefly lights.
Fisher Price Smart Connect Deluxe Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Robust app
Three levels of lights
Cute design
Cons
AC power only
No storytelling
Can't double as a Bluetooth speaker
The $50 Smart Connect Deluxe Soother is a tall cylindrical device with three levels of lights: a ring of various sized holes near the bottom, various animal shapes etched through the opaque sides in the middle and cut-outs of animals and stars for projection on top. At its base are seven touch-activated buttons to control the lights on each level, plus the colors and the sounds. The top portion of the Soother can shift what colors it projects, while the middle and bottom portions emit a soft warm glow. The Soother can also play lullabies or nature sounds. Touching the buttons on the base will cycle through the various options, and when a feature is activated the button stays lit so you can easily find it again in the dark.
The Soother connects via Bluetooth, so you can control all the lights and sounds from your phone. Indeed, the app is full-featured. You can shift the speed at which the star projection changes colors and select which colors it uses. You can also choose from six sounds or 10 music tracks; adjust the night light or the animal projection light; set a timer; or save a favorite combination as a preset. I also really like how the lights and the sounds fade gently when turned off. However, it does require AC power so it'll need a spot near an outlet.
My studio setup, like many bedroom producers’, is a hodgepodge of random nonsense. Honestly there are a lot of pain points in my current workflow, but one of the biggest is mixing. I use a Tascam 424 Portastudio (yes the kind that records to cassette tapes) as a submixer, before moving over to Ableton where I do most of the heavy lifting. You can’t beat a modern DAW for its expansive set of controls and automation but, clicking and dragging knobs and sliders just feels disappointing. Solid State Logic’s (SSL) UF8 gives all those virtual controls a physical incarnation. It’s not the first mixing controller, nor is it the cheapest, but it’s definitely one of the more comprehensive and premium options on the market.
At $1,299 the UF8 is not for casual hobbyist musicians. You need to take your craft fairly seriously to drop that amount of money on something relatively niche. Remember, it’s just for mixing and transport controls, you’ll still need a separate controller to actually, you know, play music on. But I will say that, after a week with the UF8 on my desk, I get the appeal.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Physically this thing is nothing but pure pleasure. The entire device is encased in metal, and the top has a nice brushed texture. The motorized faders are smooth and quiet, and the encoders offer just a hint of resistance — they definitely make my Tascam feel like a toy. The faders definitely aren’t silent, but they’re not distracting as long as you’ve got the speakers at a reasonable volume. This is definitely a pricey luxury to have on a controller, but not a useless one. If you’re bouncing back and forth between your screen and the faders, you want the two to mirror each other.
The buttons also make it quick and easy to select and arm tracks for recording, to mute or solo them and even tackle things like send effects or control your various plugins. Training myself to stop relying on my mouse and keyboard has been hard, but when I remember to reach for the UF8 first it’s always an enjoyable experience from a tactile perspective.
The basics are pretty obvious if you’ve used a mixing console or DAW. There are eight faders (one for each channel); with select, mute and solo buttons next to them; eight encoders across the tops of the faders that default to controlling the pan of each track; and a small display that gives you information about each track, feedback about parameters and indicate what the encoders and soft keys along the top are controlling at any given time.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The problem is that some of the more advanced tools (like controlling plugins) might be a few button presses away, and it’s not always immediately clear how to get there. The eight screens give you a good amount of information, but the controls and labels are constantly changing. I’m sure I’d get used to it in time, and it’s an unavoidable byproduct of putting so much power in a relatively compact form factor, but it can be a bit disorienting.
For instance: Let’s say I have a simple session set up with drums, a soft synth and bass on tracks one, two and three respectively. All the tracks also have a compressor and an EQ plugin on them. If I want to tweak the settings for the EQ on track two, first I have to select the channel in normal mode, not record mode. Then, all of the indicators under each channel will change to list the various plugins on that channel. Meaning that, even though the large label on the screen over track one says “Drums” the small text underneath it will say “ANLG”, because Ableton’s Analog synth is the first plugin on track two which is currently selected. And while the fader on track one will still control the volume of the drums, the encoder that normally controls panning now won’t do anything when you turn it.
From here I’ll have to find the EQ plugin (which, for the sake of argument we’ll say is after the compressor and under track three) and press the encoder under it. At which point all the labels for the encoders will change again to reflect the controls of the EQ plugin. From here you’ll turn those knobs to find the settings you want. And you may even have to flip through multiple pages of parameters. Again, this puts comprehensive control at your fingertips, but it can be a bit confusing while you’re still finding your footing.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The depth of the controls is truly impressive, though. Out of the box the UF8 works pretty seamlessly with Ableton, Logic, Studio One, Cubase and Pro Tools. There are templates for each DAW that you can select and then customize to your needs. There are three “quick” keys on the top left that you can program to perform certain tasks, like switching between arrangement and session view in Ableton, or opening your plugin browser. On the top right corner are six softkeys which change what the row of eight buttons across the top do. The first spot is set in stone, but the other five banks of controls are user assignable, so they can start and stop playback, set punch in points, turn on looping or even trigger keyboard shortcuts.
Tweaking all of those settings too is super easy with the SSL 360 app. It even has its own dedicated button on the face of the UF8. So if you suddenly wish you had one-button access to save your project or go full screen, you can immediately hop into the configuration tool and do that. (Honestly, one-button save should be in the default selection of controls, but I digress.)
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
If you take the time to learn the UF8 and customize it to your workflow, I could see it being a big asset. As much as I’m used to doing most of my mixing and such with a keyboard and mouse, having faders that I could push around in real time and control multiple tracks at once was amazing.
But price will be a limiting factor here. While SSL says the UF8 is designed with both the professional and the hobbyist in mind, I have a hard time seeing too many weekend warrior musicians picking one up. $1,299 is a lot to ask even for something this premium feeling. Instead I imagine this will fit better in the homestudios of professional producers and as an add-on to SSL’s massive professional consoles, like the $50,000 Origin (which the UF8 just happens to slot perfectly into the center of).
Following the teaser way back in November, Oppo is finally launching the Find X3 series today, starting with the flagship Find X3 Pro. The main focus of this Snapdragon 888-powered device is photography. It packs the same flagship sensor in both the main camera and the ultra-wide camera, as well as the addition of a rare 30x "microscopic" camera.
Oppo calls this the "Billion Color Phone," as it supports 10-bit color across the primary cameras and display for more faithful color reproduction. While we've seen this combo on some high-end phones like the iPhone 12 Pro, it goes without saying that this is an upgrade from the 16.7 million colors of most smartphones.
The front side of the Find X3 Pro is very much a carbon copy of its predecessors', featuring a 6.7-inch curved LTPO AMOLED panel with a sharp QHD+ resolution (3,216 x 1,440), a 120Hz variable refresh rate, 1,300-nit peak brightness and 100-percent coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. You'll also find a 32-megapixel f/2.4 selfie camera in the top-left punch hole here, as well as an in-display fingerprint reader in the usual spot. Everything here is, as you'd expect nowadays, IP68 rated for water and dust resistance.
Things get a lot more interesting on the back. Rather than cutting out a corner to form a "camera island" like most phone makers do these days, Oppo crafted a single piece of glass — a 40-hour process per piece, apparently — that flows naturally over the camera bump and tapers into the metallic frame. The "Gloss Black" unit I got does look elegant, and the curvature of this 8.26mm-thick body feels good in hand, though the glass is also a huge fingerprint magnet. Good thing the phone comes with a soft case.
The camera bump contains four cameras, three of which are laid out in a similar manner as the recent flagship iPhones, but mirrored. When I pointed out this awkward similarity, Oppo explained that a triangular arrangement is the most efficient way to place the cameras as close together as possible, which is key to seamless zooming and accurate portrait mode. The spokesperson added that he believes more manufacturers will eventually follow this practice.
Building on top of the impressive cameras on the Find X2 Pro, Oppo stuffed a new flagship sensor — the 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 — into both the main camera (f/1.8, with optical stabilization) and the ultra-wide camera (f/2.2, 110 degrees) on the Find X3 Pro, so that they would perform similarly and support 10-bit color capture (HEIF format only).
Many of my 10-bit sample shots from both cameras look very realistic on the phone's screen, to the point where close objects such as food and ornaments almost pop out. But even when viewed on other devices, photos still benefit from Oppo's natural color reproduction. Low-light performance is also pretty good, though I wish the phone went a little easier on the noise reduction to better preserve fine details.
The beefed up ultra-wide camera also came in handy when I wanted to record my friend's singing recital in a small hall. To my surprise, the 4K video came out nicely with accurate colors and little distortion, as if it was taken with the main camera. This is also thanks to the freeform surface lens and anti-reflective coating, both of which reduce distortion and color fringing.
The third big camera on the hump is a rare 3-megapixel f/3.0 microscopic camera, which does 30x magnification natively (Oppo's "60x" claim here applies to the 2x zoom) and supports FHD video recording. Since the focal distance is between 1mm and 3mm only, this camera is equipped with a small ring light to illuminate your subject.
I was surprised by how much fun I had with this pocket microscope. Despite the relatively low resolution, the photos turned out sharp, so long as I kept my hands steady. I was able to capture impressive shots of the sub-pixels on my laptop's LCD, my phone's OLED screen, flowers, wooden blocks, sponges and more. I'm not sure how useful this microlens comes into our daily lives, but if you have children, this feature may keep them entertained for a while.
Richard Lai/Engadget
For reasons unknown, Oppo ditched its 5x periscopic telephoto camera in favor of a 5x hybrid zoom shooter, and the results were disappointing. Like before, hybrid zoom often washes out fine details, namely text on one's badge, lines on hair and patterns on clothes. In those cases, I'd rather use the main camera's 2x digital zoom to shoot, and then use my fingers to zoom into the photos. Had the Find X3 Pro kept a 5x optical zoom camera or, better yet, a 10x version like the Huawei P40 Pro+, then it'd easily cover all bases.
As with other Oppo phones from recent years, the Find X3 Pro supports VOOC fast charging. Using the bundled 65W SuperVOOC charger, the 4,500mAh battery takes just 10 minutes to go from zero to 40 percent. It also supports AirVOOC wireless charging, with a 30W output being able to fully charge the battery in 80 minutes. The phone itself can do 10W reverse wireless charging as well, should you need to help a friend out.
Richard Lai/Engadget
On the software side, the Find X3 Pro comes preloaded with the Android 11-based ColorOS 11.2, which feels well oiled thanks to the 120Hz display and lean coding (a source told Engadget that OnePlus' software team had been helping Oppo since the Find X2 Pro). This build offers some new wellness features, including Oppo Relax 2.0 which helps you unwind using sound and games, plus a comprehensive built-in color vision test for color vision enhancement.
One last thing to talk about is a bit unexpected: A set of ringtones and notification sounds created by award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who was quoted by Oppo as saying that "ringtones should not bring anxiety." These will arrive at the end of the month in an OTA update, and should be quite interesting, considering Zimmer's dramatic film scores in the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy.
Given Oppo's track record in recent years, chances are the Find X3 Pro won't be headed to the US, but the company has announced that it'll be available in the UK on April 14th starting at £1,099, which is around $1,250 before sales tax. The company also said it'll have more information on global availability early next week.
We're still staring at Canoo's unusual electric pick-up that looks set to take on Tesla's Cybertruck. We're also thinking on why Apple's iPhone 12 Mini has struggled. But today we're starting with some sad news. The former Philips engineer who invented the first compact cassette tape, Lou Ottens, has passed away at the age of 94. Cassette tapes had a major impact on music culture, offering listeners the ability to easily create their own albums and playlists, recording from different sources, like other tapes and live radio. Like a lot of people in my generation, I owned a dual-cassette boombox in my childhood, just please don’t ask me about my musictastes.
Cassette tapes were subsequently usurped by compact discs (which Ottens also helped develop) and then digital music and streaming services. Having said that, tapes persist. In 2016, sales of cassettes increased by 74 percent.
The company will build several electric vehicles on one platform.
This design certainly takes a different approach to Tesla's edgy Cybertruck and is even going to stand out as electric pickups from Rivian, Ford and others start to hit the streets. The specs promise more than 200 miles of range on a charge, with up to 600 HP and 550 lb-ft of torque in a dual-motor configuration and a payload capacity of up to 1,800 pounds.
At 76 inches, it's one inch taller than Tesla's Cybertruck but notably shorter than GMC's 81.1-inch tall Hummer EV. It's also short in length compared to those competitors at just 184 inches, but a pull-out bed extension brings the total length to 213 inches. Continue reading.
Reports suggest Apple is slashing production by at least 70 percent.
Apple is slashing production of the iPhone 12 mini through the first six months of the year, according to Nikkei. The company will reportedly produce at least 70 percent fewer units than it planned and backs previous suggestions that the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini isn't selling as well as other models. There are certainly drawbacks to the mini, like its battery life, but there are also few phones as small and as high-specced as the mini iPhone 12 — it might just be a niche proposition. Continue reading.
It's only been a little over seven months since ASUS launched its ROG Phone 3 gaming smartphone, but the company is already releasing a follow-up model, the ROG Phone 5 (skipping 4 due to tetraphobia). There are some minor cosmetic changes, but also better heat dissipation, weight distribution and audio performance. Those audio improvements seem to be the focus: Better component choices mean there’s more space inside the ROG Phone 5 for the front-facing speakers. Continue reading.
It looks like a spiritual successor to ‘Turtles in Time.’
TMNT
If cassettes weren’t nostalgic enough, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is sure to delight anyone who remembers ‘90s arcade scrolling beat-em-ups. The new game, developed by Dotemu (Streets of Rage 4) and Tribute Games (Mercenary Kings), is a four-player brawler that looks like a natural successor to Turtles in Time. No quarters needed. Continue reading.
What will the show look like when it kicks off on June 28th?
The GSMA is sticking to plans for an in-person Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this June — just without a few marquee names. A handful of companies, including Oracle, smartphone maker Sony and networking firms Nokia and Ericsson, have all confirmed they will not attend the show.
There are also strict travel restrictions for would-be attendees. The website for the US Embassy in Spain and Andorra says that entry into the country is not allowed unless they meet “very specific requirements or have already obtained special permission from the Government of Spain.” Continue reading.
It promises "the best still and video performance in Nikon history."
Nikon
Nikon has announced it's developing the Z9, a flagship full-frame mirrorless Z mount model with "the best still and video performance in Nikon history." The new model will ship in 2021 with 8K video and other advanced features. Expect the very best from Nikon and a price tag to match. There's no word yet on pricing, but Nikon has promised more information in the months to come. Continue reading.
