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Phil Schiller is ending his long reign as Apple’s marketing chief

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In June, Schiller directed Apple’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference, which went off without a hitch. He’s one of the most public-facing people from Apple’s Steve Jobs era through today.

“I first started at Apple when I was 27, this year I turned 60 and it is time for some planned changes in my life,” Schiller said in a press release. “I’ll keep working here as long as they will have me, I bleed six colors, but I also want to make some time in the years ahead for my family, friends, and a few personal projects I care deeply about.”

Another notable, longtime Apple employee recently left the company — designer Jony Ive exited in late June after more than 20 years on the job. He launched his own company, LoveFrom, with Apple as its first customer.

Joswiak is taking over Schiller’s role amid turmoil at the App Store. Cook recently testified before Congress in an antitrust hearing concerning the size and operations of the nation’s four largest technology companies — Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon. There, he had to justify the App Store’s revenue-sharing model and potential monopoly on the iOS platform. Developers have been vocal about critical issues with transparency and equality on the App Store, and the time for an overhaul is nigh.

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T-Mobile switches on its standalone 5G network in thousands of cities

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The expansion is a big step towards broader 5G adoption throughout the country — you’ll probably want to be able to connect to a 5G network when you pick up a 5G-ready phone, after all. T-Mobile says it’s working with OnePlus, Qualcomm and Samsung to make sure compatible devices can access the standalone 5G network after a software update.

“Since Sprint became part of T-Mobile, we’ve been rapidly combining networks for a supercharged Un-carrier while expanding our nationwide 5G footprint, and today we take a massive step into the future with standalone 5G architecture,” Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s president of technology, said in a press release. “This is where it gets interesting, opening the door for massive innovation in this country — and while the other guys continue to play catch up, we’ll keep growing the world’s most advanced 5G network.”

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AirPods with wireless charging case drop to $140 at Amazon

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These AirPods differ from Apple’s standard ones only by their wireless charging case, which makes them easier to power up using a Qi-compatible wireless pad. While this method won’t be as quick as standard wired charging, it’s a convenient way to charge up your AirPods without worrying about having the right cable on you at all times.

Otherwise, these are the AirPods many people know and love. If you like the EarPods that came with past iPhones, you’ll like the fit of AirPods. We gave them a score of 84 for their improved wireless performance thanks in part to Apple’s H1 chip and their solid 5+ hour battery life. Sound quality is decent, but we recommend the AirPods Pro if you’re a stickler for that. Those who live within the Apple ecosystem will get the most use out of AirPods because the H1 chip helps them switch quickly and seamlessly between the Apple devices you’re using at any given time.

This is a great deal if you’ve been holding out for the AirPods with wireless charging case. We saw these drop to $140 once before at Micro Center, but the price was only available to those that picked up the AirPods in store. Now through Amazon, you can get them at their lowest price ever and have them shipped right to your door.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.



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‘CoD: Warzone’ season five brings big map changes and a mini royale mode

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Also new are Exterior Ascenders attached to the facades of some tall buildings. You might have encountered vertical ziplines in some structures’ elevator shafts, and these are similar except they’re on the exterior. They should get you to rooftops faster.

Call of Duty: Warzone season 5

Activision Blizzard/Infinity Ward

No prizes for guessing what the Mini Royale mode is all about. It’s a faster-paced version of the main battle royale mode with fewer players and shorter games — it includes only the typical events from the first and last five minutes of a regular battle royale match. In addition, there are weapon updates and tracks from Modern Warfare you can listen to while you’re in a vehicle. The songs unlock immediately if you buy the latest Battle Pass.

As for Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward is adding four free multiplayer maps at the start of the season, including an oil rig and the Verdansk International Airport from Warzone. The latter is a Ground War map. You can expect more game modes, missions, challenges, playlists and weapons as well.

There’ll be a few more Operators to unlock through the Battle Pass and store. A free trial of Modern Warzone multiplayer starts this Friday too, at 1PM ET, and will run until the same time next Wednesday.

Season five of Modern Warfare and Warzone will go live on August 5th, likely at 2AM ET. PlayStation 4 players can pre-load the patch, which is probably a wise idea if you’d like to play as soon as possible, given how hefty the update is yet again.

If you have the latest version of Modern Warfare and Warzone installed on your console, Activision and Infinity Ward say it’ll weigh in at 33.9GB on PS4 and 49.8GB on Xbox One. When it’s all done, the game(s) should take up less space on your console’s hard drive. On PC, the patch will be 54.2GB if you own Modern Warfare and 47.4GB if you’re a Warzone-only player.

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Motorola’s $399 One Fusion+ lands in North America tomorrow

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Motorola is bringing its One Fusion+ to North America tomorrow. The $399 phone was previously only available in India and Latin America, and the company hadn’t announced plans to introduce it elsewhere.

A few things make the One Fusion+ standout. Not only does it have a quad-camera set up — with a 64 megapixel high-resolution sensor, an eight megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, five megapixel Macro Vision camera and two megapixel depth sensor — it also has a 16 megapixel pop-up selfie camera.

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An OnlyFans creator is suing a site that hosts paywalled images for free

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Waidhofer and her attorney allege that Thothub has not been responsive to repeated requests to remove content, but Thothub told Motherboard that it “did not receive any valid DMCA request and no valid information for removals” via its takedown request form. Thothub did reportedly remove images of Waidhofer after Motherboard contacted the site to verify Waidhofer’s requests.

The lawsuit hopes internet infrastructure company Cloudflare and Chaturbate and BangBros, sites that advertise on Thothub, might help identify who runs Thothub. But Chaturbate and BangBros both say that ads are placed through third-party advertisers, and after being contacted by Motherboard, both said they would no longer allow their ads to appear on Thothub. Cloudflare did not respond to Motherboard’s requests for comment.

This suit goes beyond Thothub, Cloudflare, Chaturbate and BangBros, though. It could set a precedent for content harvesters outside of adult content. YouTube has tried to make it easier for creators to address copyright claims, but even that system isn’t perfect, and there are plenty of other sites scraping content without creators’ permission or knowledge.

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Google finally launches Nearby Share to rival Apple’s AirDrop

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After months of leaks and rumors, Google is finally officially unveiling its tool called Nearby Share that’s basically Android’s version of Apple’s AirDrop sharing feature. It’s rolling out today to select Pixel and Samsung phones, with Google saying it’s continuing to “work with our partners to bring Nearby Share to more smartphones in the Android ecosystem over the next few weeks.”

Nearby Share will let you quickly send and receive files with the people around you and uses a mix of protocols. It’ll show you a list of devices near you, and once you select your recipient, they’ll get an alert to accept or decline your file. The system will then pick the best protocol for the transfer — whether it’s Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC or peer-to-peer WiFi” which means you can share files even when you’re technically offline.

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Pepper the robot can politely suggest you wear a damn mask

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Using an image recognition AI and Single Shot Detector, Pepper can scan the faces of up to five people at once. On Pepper’s tablet, a green circle will appear around an image of anyone wearing a mask, and a red circle will appear around the image of anyone without a mask. Pepper can thank people for wearing masks or remind someone to put a face covering on.

According to SoftBank Robotics Europe, no personal data is used or stored, and the system works with masks that have complex patterns and color schemes. Pepper will provide daily analytics, like the percentage of people complying with mask requirements.

This isn’t the first use of Pepper in the coronavirus-affected world. Pepper and fellow bot Spot will perform at spectatorless baseball games in Japan. 

SoftBank hopes Pepper’s newest capabilities will help businesses as they begin to reopen. While Pepper’s previous tasks have been somewhat cutesy, helping businesses enforce face mask rules could give the robot a new level of responsibility. It’s also good to see that the now five-year-old robot is still receiving updates.

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‘The Alto Collection’ bundles two mobile classics for PC and console

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If you read Engadget often, you’ll know that we’re big fans of Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey. The relaxing games — which are predominantly about snowboarding, though the second title features sandboarding too — were instant hits on mobile thanks to their beautiful art style and simple one-touch control scheme. Now, Team Alto is preparing to launch both as The Alto Collection on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and the Epic Games Store. Alto’s Adventure was released on Windows 10 in July 2016. But Alto’s Odyssey has never been available on PC, and it’s been impossible to play either title on consoles until now.

The dual-game pack will hit the Epic Games Store, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on August 13th for $9.99. “It will soon follow on the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo Switch,” the team promised in a press release today. And, if you’re happy to use Epic’s divisive storefront, the game will be free to download until August 20th. It’s not clear if the developer collective, which includes artist Harry Nesbitt and the Toronto-based studio Snowman, has made any drastic changes to the gameplay or upgrades that you earn after each procedurally-generated run. Regardless, it’s sure to look great on a big screen, as this quick trailer demonstrates:

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EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google’s Fitbit purchase

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Google has long said it would not use Fitbit data for targeted ads and that the deal “was about devices, not data.” It pledged to silo Fitbit’s health data to keep it separate from its ad business, and it affirmed that plan to EU regulators last month in an attempt to stave off an antitrust review.

However, the European Commission was unconvinced. It said Google’s proposal to silo Fitbit data was “insufficient to clearly dismiss the serious doubts identified at this stage as to the effects of the transaction.” Among other reasons, “this is because the data silo remedy did not cover all the data that Google would access as a result of the transaction and would be valuable for advertising purposes.”

The EC said that at this stage of its review, the data collected from wrist-worn wearables appears to offer “an important advantage” for digital advertising. “By increasing the data advantage of Google in the personalization of the ads it serves via its search engine and displays on other internet pages, it would be more difficult for rivals to match Google’s online advertising services,” it said.

Beyond the potential use of Fitbit data for ads, the investigation will look into the possible impact of the deal on the “nascent” digital healthcare market in Europe. The EC will also look into “whether Google would have the ability and incentive” to downgrade how rival wearable devices interact with Android if and when the Fitbit deal closes. Following the formal announcement of the investigation, EC antitrust regulators have 90 days to make a decision about the proposed acquisition.

Soon after Google announced the deal, reports emerged that US antitrust officials were also concerned about the takeover for similar reasons. The company is currently a subject of a much broader review of competition in big tech in the country — CEO Sundar Pichai faced a congressional antitrust hearing last week.

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