The removal of Soli also means the Pixel 5 has a fingerprint sensor and a notch-less design, with a clean pinhole punchout adorning the phone’s 6-inch, 2,340 x 1,080 display. Thankfully, the screen still includes the 90Hz refresh rate of last year’s model. Anyone who has had to put with woeful battery life on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 will also be happy to learn the Pixel 5 comes with a larger 4,000mAh capacity battery.  

Some other notable tweaks include a rejigged primary camera system made up of 12-megapixel and 16-megapixel sensors capturing photos from wide and ultra-wide lenses. It wouldn’t be a Pixel launch without new software features for those cameras and Google didn’t disappoint. One new feature is a panning tool that there’s to help you capture smooth video. Rounding out the Pixel 5’s spec list is support for Qi wireless charging, a water-resistant design, 128GB of storage and a price tag that starts at $699.

Pixel 4a 5G

Google

Pixel fans will notice we didn’t mention an XL model above. That’s because there’s isn’t one this year. Instead, Google plans to release a more premium version of the Pixel 4a — or a more affordable take on the Pixel 5, if that’s how you want to look at things. The $499 Pixel 4a 5G surprisingly has many of the same marquee features as its more expensive sibling. Both phones feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor. They also have the same front and rear camera arrays. What you won’t get with the Pixel 4a 5G is support for Qi wireless charging, waterproofing and a 90Hz display. But it does come with a headphone jack. 

Chromecast

Google

Google’s new Chromecast comes with a remote. Yes, Google has finally listened to its customers, but there’s a lot more to its latest streaming puck than merely a new way to control things. Google has gone with an updated design that borrows from both the Chromecast Ultra and its colorful Nest Mini speakers. Inside, the puck features a new processor that allows it to play 4K HDR content at up to 60 frames per second. Additionally, there’s support for Dolby Vision and surround sound.  

As for that remote, it has a built-in microphone for quick and easy Assistant access. In terms of buttons, there are Back, Home, Mute, Power and Input keys, as well as a dedicated volume rocker. It also comes with shortcuts for YouTube and Netflix. Handy that. 

Where things get somewhat confusing is that the new Chromecast runs Google TV. The platform runs on top of Android TV and adds a new interface to the mix that borrows features from Google’s Play Movies and TV app. 

You can grab the Chromecast starting today for $50. 

Nest Audio

Google

Lastly, Google announced a new smart speaker called Nest Audio. Like the Nest Mini, the Nest Audio is covered in fabric. Google outfitted it with a 19mm tweeter and 75mm mid-woofer. The company says those components allow the Nest Audio to get 75 percent louder than the Google Home. It also produces 50 percent more bass than that speaker. 

On the device, you’ll find LED lights that turn on when you speak to Assistant. But there’s also a mute switch on the back of the speaker if you don’t want the digital helper turning on by accident. It also comes with a Media EQ feature that Google says will automatically tune your Nest Audio depending on what you’re listening to, and there’s support for multi-room audio.

You can also pair two Nest Audios to get stereo imaging, which will be tempting since a single speaker only costs $100.

The gist this time around is that Zack faces some resistance after he closes too many underfunded high schools in California. He suggests sending kids who’ve been affected by the move to some of the more affluent schools in the state, including his alma mater, Bayside High. Hijinks, I assume, ensue. Zack, Kelly and Jessie all have kids at Bayside, where Slater is a PE teacher.

It’s too early to tell whether the Saved By The Bell reboot will be good, but it at least has a strong pedigree behind the scenes. Tracey Wigfield, the mastermind behind the terrific Great News, is the creator and executive producer of the series.

Netflix has more Resident Evil programming in the works than its live-action show. The streaming giant has revealed Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, a “CG anime” series due to premiere sometime in 2021. While the foes of the show (apart from zombies) are still mysterious, the production will revolve around iconic characters Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy. The teaser has Claire investigating what looks to be a chemical-obsessed horror, while Leon is rescuing an unknown man.

Capcom’s Hiroyuki Kobayashi will produce and supervise the series. Veteran anime studio TMS Entertainment (the company that released Akira and Lupin the 3rd) will also produce. Quebico, whose leader Kei Miyamoto produced the Resident Evil: Vendetta movie, will handle the animation production.

If you own a Vizio TV, you may have felt left out watching sets from manufacturers like Samsung and LG get access to Apple TV. But now you too can use the software on your television. Starting today, the Apple TV app — through which you can access Apple TV+ — is available on Vizio SmartCast TVs in the US and Canada (via Variety). If you’re new to Apple TV+ and own a Vizio SmartCast TV with SmartCast Home from 2016 or later, you can get three free months when you sign up for the streaming service.  

Besides allowing you to watch originals like Greyhound and The Morning Show, you can also use the TV app to subscribe to premium networks like Showtime and Starz through Apple’s Channels feature. With the company’s family sharing system, up to six people in a household can share a single Apple TV channel subscription. The TV app also allows you to buy and rent movies and TV shows.  

The Indian government has been hesitant to censor streaming services and would rather they keep themselves in check. This theoretically keeps officials happy — they don’t have to worry as much that parents will inadvertently play inappropriate movies for their kids, or that there will be no way to report a TV show.

Services like Netflix already honor age ratings in other countries. However, it’s rare for these internet-focused outlets to unite on a rating system — they’ve clearly determined that it’s easier to work with each other than to have the government step in.

After news broke of Chadwick Boseman’s passing last week, ABC aired a special tribute to the late actor during the episode of its 20/20 show the Sunday after. If you missed it the first time around, you can now catch Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute For A King on Disney+, according to the streaming service.

Disney+ is also the home of some of Boseman’s shows like Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. According to Deadline, ABC’s special tribute features testimony from castmates like Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo. Avengers director Joe Anthony Russo, Marvel chief Kevin Feige, Disney executive Chairman Bob Iger as well as Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg also shared their memories.

It’s almost time to get obsessed with Baby Yoda all over again. Season two of the live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian will start streaming on Disney+ on October 30th.

This is the day. New episodes start streaming October 30 on #DisneyPlus. #TheMandalorian pic.twitter.com/w7PIQfwrBm

— Disney (@Disney) September 2, 2020

There aren’t any more details about the release schedule yet, including whether Disney will follow the same track it did for season one by debuting episodes weekly instead of making all of them available at once. You can probably expect at least one trailer before the premiere date to whet your appetite for more bounty-hunting (or Child-protecting) adventures.

According to Variety, Netflix doesn’t plan to produce a third season of Altered Carbon. Citing a source with “knowledge of the decision,” Variety reports Netflix canned the show for one of its usual reasons. The company didn’t see the series build enough an audience to justify its production budget. Netflix canceled another lavishly produced sci-fi series, the Wachowskis’ Sense8, for the same reason. Deadline adds that the coronavirus pandemic, which played a part in the recent cancellation of The Society and I Am Not Okay With This, didn’t factor into the decision.   

Netflix released the second season of the series, which stared Anthony Mackie as protagonist Takeshi Kovacs, in February following an almost two-year gap between the first season in 2018. In March, it also released an anime spinoff called Altered Carbon: Resleeved.  

This isn’t Scorsese’s first Apple partnership — he starred in a Siri ad way back in 2012 and remotely directed a shot in The Departed via iChat in 2007. This isn’t Apple’s first big movie signing, either. Tom Hanks’ WWII naval drama Greyhound premiered on the service last month.

According to Reuters, Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, will land on Apple TV+ after it’s distributed in theaters by Paramount Pictures. Based on a book by the same name, the film (which has a $180 million budget) portrays an investigation into the murders of Osage Nation natives in Oklahoma in the 1920s, as well as a subsequent investigation that led to the creation of the FBI as we know it today.

We don’t know yet what other projects Scorsese will bring to Apple TV+.

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, Xiaomi revealed a transparent TV, the Mi TV Lux OLED Transparent Edition. When it’s turned off, the display looks like a piece of glass. When it’s turned on, images appear to float in thin air, or so Xiaomi says.

The 55-inch transparent OLED panel is likely based on LG’s 55-inch transparent 55EW5TF-A display. It has the same 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color depth and 1ms response time.