Blog

Apple discontinues the ceramic Apple Watch (again)

[ad_1]

Every fall, Apple introduces a new Watch — and the nerds among us keep an eye on what case materials they are using for the luxurious “Edition” models. The first Apple Watch Edition was famously made of 18-karat gold and cost a whopping $10,000, but since then Apple has offered more affordable premium models made of ceramic and, as of last year, titanium. This year, with the Apple Watch Series 6, we’re once again saying goodbye to the ceramic Apple Watch.

This isn’t the first time, either. After making ceramic an option for the Series 2 and Series 3 (in 2016 and 2017, respectively), Apple unceremoniously dropped it in 2018 for the Series 4. It made a bit of a surprise return last year (as pictured above), though, along with those titanium models, as Apple seemed interested in expanding the case options.

[ad_2]

Source link

The Apple Watch doesn’t come with a power adapter anymore

[ad_1]

Leading into this fall, plenty of rumors swirled around Apple shipping its next iPhones without a power adapter brick. We don’t yet know if that’ll be the case, but today’s Apple event gave us a pretty good sign: all models of the Apple Watch, including the new Series 6, are being sold without the traditional 5W USB power adapter in the box. If you need one, Apple is still happy to sell you one for $19, and the Watch still comes with the magnetic charging cable you’ll need to power it up. Basically, if you’ve bought an iPhone or Apple Watch in the last decade or so, you should have the power adapter you’ll need already.

With that in mind, Apple said during its presentation that removing the power adapter would help it meet its environmental sustainability goals. It’s a valid point, as manufacturing millions of these things to go in the boxes of everyone iPhone or Watch that gets sold certainly adds up. Dramatically reducing the number of power adapters that need to be manufactured could make a positive environmental impact.

[ad_2]

Source link

iPad Air 2020 vs. the competition

[ad_1]

With so many adults and kids working at home, new iPads really couldn’t have come soon enough. And Apple more than delivered today with the announcement of the 8th-generation iPad and the latest iPad Air. There are plenty of great visual improvements to the latter, like more colors and a new, larger all-screen design. But the introduction of an A14 chip and other tech upgrades are also worth noting, so we’ve lined up the new iPad Air’s specs against its similarly-sized competition. However, for a full accounting of the new slate’s strengths, you’ll need to keep a look out for our full review later this fall.

Apple iPad Air

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

Amazon Fire HD 10

Microsoft Surface Go 2

Price

$599 and up

$200 / $280 / $380

$150 / $190

$400 and up

Dimensions

9.74 x 7 x 0.24 inches (247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1 mm)

9.99 x 6.51 x 0.25 inches (254 x 165 x 6.4 mm)

10.3 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches (262 mm x 159 mm x 9.8 mm)

9.65 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm)

Weight

WiFi: 1 pound (458g)

LTE: 1.01 pound (460g)

1.1 pound (499g)

1.11 pound (504g)

WiFi: 1.2 pounds (544g)

LTE: 1.22 pounds (553g)

Display

10.9-inch (276.9 mm) Liquid Retina

11-inch (278.1 mm) Super AMOLED

10.1-inch (256.5 mm) LCD

10.5-inch (266.7 mm) PixelSense Display

Resolution

2360 x 1640 (264 ppi)

2560 x 1600 (234 ppi)

1920 x 1200 (224 ppi)

1920 x 1280 (220 ppi)

Processor

Apple A14 Bionic

Qualcomm
Snapdragon 865 Plus
(3.09 GHz octa-core)

Mediatek 
MT8183 
(2 GHz octa-core)

Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y
(dual-core 1.7 GHz)

8th-gen Intel Core m3
(dual-core 3.4 GHz)

Memory

Not available

8 GB

2 GB

4 GB / 8 GB

Internal storage

64 / 256 GB

512 GB

32 / 64 GB

eMMC: 64 GB, SSD: 128 GB

External storage

None

microSD

microSD

microSD

Rear camera

12 MP

13 MP, 5 MP

2 MP

8 MP

Front camera

7 MP

8 MP

2 MP

5 MP

WiFi

802.11ax

802.11ax

802.11ac

802.11ax

Bluetooth

v5.0

v5.0

v5.0

v5.0

Battery

28.6 WHr (10 hours)

7,040 mAh (15 hours)

6,300 mAh (12 hours)

26.8 WHr (10 hours)

OS

iPadOS 14

Android 10

Fire OS 7.3 (Android 9)

Windows 10 Home

[ad_2]

Source link

CBS All Access will be rebranded as Paramount+

[ad_1]

CBS All Access will become Paramount+ early next year as ViacomCBS attempts to wrangle all of its series under a single streaming banner. The rebrand signals the culmination of an on-again, off-again relationship between Viacom and CBS, both of which operated proprietary streaming platforms before finally merging in 2019 in a $30 billion deal. Viacom had BET+, Showtime and Pluto TV, plus a deal with Netflix for Nickelodeon shows, while CBS had CBS All Access.

United at last, ViacomCBS has been beefing up CBS All Access this past year, adding a ton of Viacom content to the platform, including shows from Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, BET and Nickelodeon. Now, it’ll all be housed under Paramount+.

[ad_2]

Source link

Apple lets you manage a family’s worth of Watches from a single iPhone

[ad_1]

Apple is making it easier to keep tabs on your loved ones with Family Setup on the Apple Watch. This allows a user to pair multiple Apple Watches to a single iPhone, streamlining the setup process and and giving the main user extra control over how the devices are used.

The controlling user — namely, a parent — will be able to remotely restrict contacts and receive location notifications from the paired Watches. Essentially, parents will be able to hand a child or elderly loved one an Apple Watch with all of this oversight built-in.

[ad_2]

Source link

Follow our live coverage of Apple’s ‘Time Flies’ event!

[ad_1]

The days are starting to get shorter and there’s a distinct chill in the air here in New York this morning. That means fall is nearly here, and with it comes a slew of new Apple product announcements.

In the first of at least two live-streamed events, the company is widely expected to show off the latest version (or versions) of its the Apple Watch today, alongside a redesigned take on the iPad Air. It’ll almost certainly be a few weeks before Apple is ready to unveil its new 5G iPhones, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Tim Cook do some heavy teasing at some point during the show. And who knows — there just might be a few extra surprises thrown into the mix today, too. After all, nothing about 2020 has been business as usual.

[ad_2]

Source link

‘Fortnite’ will add ray tracing and DLSS on September 17th

[ad_1]

To help players explore the perks of RTX, NVIDIA worked with Fortnite content creators to develop “RTX Treasure Run,” a new map available in Creative Mode. Players will land at the entrance to a museum and be challenged to a scavenger hunt. As they explore halls of mirrors, a medieval castle, jungle and shrunken science lab, RTX Treasure Run will highlight ray tracing effects.

The upcoming improvements aren’t just surface level. In addition to generating beautiful, sharp images, NVIDIA’s DLSS tech will boost frame rates using its AI-powered deep learning neural network and Tensor Cores. Plus, the upcoming patch will add support for NVIDIA’s Reflex tech, which reduces latency.

[ad_2]

Source link

Fortnite’s anti-cheat solution comes to ‘Fall Guys’ in major update

[ad_1]

“Easy Anti-Cheat is used by the best in the business and will mean our jelly beans receive the very best protection from the bad eggs seeking to exploit them,” Mediatonic wrote in its announcement.

That’s not the only change coming to the game, though. Mediatonic is remixing levels, so you can expect round variations, new obstacles, random rotations and more tumbling fruit. Be on the lookout for a giant hammer obstacle named Big Yeetus, too. As Mediatonic says, the changes should keep the jelly beans on their toes.



[ad_2]

Source link

Grimes, FKA twigs and Twice’s Chaeyoung give art talks for Google

[ad_1]

After two million people listened to musician Maggie Rogers narrate an ASMRy video about Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Google has released a second season of Art Zoom. The project combines the Google Arts & Culture division’s photography with wispy narration from musicians, and the first set of videos last year also featured Feist on Bruegel, Jarvis Cocker on Monet and Girl in Red on Edvard Munch. 

The 2020 batch features a diverse range of artists and musicians. The 1975 frontman Matty Healy gets into Mondrian’s abstract art, K-pop group Twice’s Chaeyoung narrates Yoo Youngkuk’s Mountain, while Grimes covers Bruegel’s The Fall of Rebel Angels. There are also videos from English singer-songwriters FKA twigs and Ellie Goulding, and Colombian reggaeton star J.Balvin. Although the decision to highlight Bruegel for a second time is strange, it’s an interesting line-up with something for everyone.

[ad_2]

Source link

Walmart Plus signups officially begin today starting at $98 per year

[ad_1]

In addition to the unlimited free delivery, Walmart Plus also includes gas savings and mobile scan-and-go checkout. Members can save up to five cents per gallon when they fill up at Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy Express gas stations. Mobile scan-and-go lets you checkout in stores in a mostly contactless fashion just by using the Walmart mobile app on your smartphone.

Walmart has been planning to unveil its subscription service since the beginning of this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back the original summertime launch date. The company has been ramping up efforts to compete with Amazon for years — in fact, it already provided a Delivery Unlimited service, but Walmart Plus will now essentially take its place.

Walmart’s thousands of brick-and-mortar locations put it in a better position than Amazon to serve customers who live outside big cities or densely populated suburbs. Those retail locations will be key to Walmart’s ability to fulfill new members’ free deliveries, including same-day orders, quickly and efficiently.

But Amazon Prime has a different kind of ubiquity that’s only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began and caused many people to rely more heavily on online shopping. Prime became available in 2006, and with time and added perks, its rose in price from $79 to $119 annually. Free two-day delivery has been a mainstay for a while now and some areas in the US have free same-day delivery as well.

But Prime also has perks that have nothing to do with shipping: those who subscribe also get access to the Prime Video streaming service, limited access to Amazon Music, free books to read via Prime Reading and more. Walmart Plus may not have perks like that yet, but it’s safe to say the company will likely add more to its new service as time goes on.

[ad_2]

Source link