Oct 19
The 28-year-old teacher didn’t win with Bachelor Matt James. But on Tuesday’s premiere, the ball is in her court.
Oct 19
Lee hopes to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat.
Oct 19
The families of those killed, wounded and scarred in the massacre reached a $25 million settlement with the district.
Oct 19
The former State Department aide to Hillary Clinton unloaded on her ex-husband in a new memoir.
Oct 19
The 2022 Honda Passport is hitting the rally circuit as the Japanese automaker fortifies its motorsports pedigree. And similar to the Honda HPD Ridgeline that competed at the recently concluded Rebelle Rally, the Passport is going rallying with a team of Honda engineers led by suspension test engineer and driver Chris Sladek and chassis design engineer and co-driver Gabriel Nieves. … Continue reading
Oct 19
Oct 19
Did Apple just make its Macbook Pros interesting again? As expected, its high-end laptops were the star of its Unleashed event yesterday and are the first machines powered by Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. (The company is borrowing iPhone nomenclature, it seems.)
It’s been hard for me to get too excited about the MacBook Pro’s slow, cautious evolution over the last few years. The OLED Touch Bar was a misstep, nixing function keys for a light-up bar with customizable touch panels. There were fewer ports than older models, including the SD card slot. This added another dongle to my bag, alongside a USB-C converter for any devices that hadn’t caught up with the MacBook’s own USB-C ports — which were few and far between. And don’t get me started on the “butterfly” style keyboard that appeared in 2015.
Apple
The 2021 MacBook Pro literally brushes away most of my problems. Yes, there’s an SD card reader, more ports, no more Touch Bar to accidentally hit and close internet tabs, more ports and a blast from the past.
Yep, MagSafe is back. While the term returned on recent iPhones, it’s been years since Apple offered the magnetic cable safety feature on its computers. It’s different from the old connector, and, in worst case scenarios, you can still charge through USB-C.
The screens have been expanded, featuring micro-LED display tech first used on iPad Pro and also marking the first appearance of a notch on MacBooks. Long live the notch!
These machines are for power users — and Apple is seriously talking up the capabilities of its new chips, more on that below. But that’s not what intrigues me. It’s the fact that Apple is walking back some of its pretty major missteps in recent MacBook Pro history and making it more usable in the process, tempting me to buy myself a new MacBook for the first time in a decade.
The 14-inch base model and 16-inch base model are set to start at $1,999 and $2,499 respectively. You can pre-order both today, with machines arriving on October 26th. Expect our reviews of both the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros very soon — I should start saving.
— Mat Smith
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The M1 Pro and M1 Max are Apple’s high-end Mac chips
Finally, pro chips for the MacBook Pro.
It’s been almost a year since Apple unveiled its first custom chip for Macs, the ARM-based M1. As we saw in our review of the latest MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and colorful iMac, the M1 was a marvel, if not quite the pro-level of power many might have been expecting.
With the M1 Pro and M1 Max, the two chips underpinning the company’s new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, it’s making a renewed pitch for power users. Both chips have 5nm 10-core processors, with eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency units. Apple says the chips offer up to 1.7X faster performance than competing eight-core PC chips, which makes them particularly compelling for people doing heavy-duty 3D and video rendering.
Disney delays all of Marvel’s 2022 films
At least three major movies will all hit Disney+ later as a result.
Disney has shaken up its movie release calendar, with several Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks delayed. The revamped schedule, which Variety reports is due to a production-related snowball effect. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was penciled in for March 25th, but now it’s taking Thor: Love and Thunder‘s old date of May 6th. The next Thor movie will arrive on July 8th, in turn pushing back Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to November 11th.
The schedule shifts mean there will only be three Marvel movies next year instead of the planned four.
Apple’s redesigned AirPods bring Spatial Audio and Adaptive EQ for $179
The entry-level AirPods finally get an updated design and new features.
Apple
Alongside all the Mac Stuff, Apple debuted the third-iteration AirPods with an updated design, Spatial Audio, Adaptive EQ and one-touch setup. Apple says the newest AirPods are safe for workouts thanks to IPX4 sweat and water resistance. Hands-free Siri is back, while a skin sensor detects when you’re wearing the earbuds, automatically pausing when one is removed.
As for battery life, you can expect up to six hours of listening and 30 hours of total usage with the charging case. The third-generation AirPods are up for pre-order today for $179 and will begin shipping on October 26th.
‘Squid Game’ documents may show how Netflix rates the success of its content
The show reportedly created $891 million in ‘impact value.’
Netflix has always closely guarded the exact streaming metrics that may reveal why programs are considered a success… or cancelled. That black box has cracked open a bit with documents obtained by Bloomberg detailing the company’s scores for “impact value” and “efficiency.” One example was Squid Game, which generated $891.1 million in impact value on a budget of just $21.4 million. Other figures showed that around 132 million people watched at least two minutes of Squid Game in the first 23 days, beating a record set by Bridgerton.
Fisher-Price launches a working Chatter telephone for adults
Pick up the phone.
Fisher Price
Fisher-Price has made a special edition of the iconic Chatter telephone for its 60th anniversary — one that’s fully functional and can make and receive calls.
PS5 overtook Switch as the best-selling console in the US last month
A Sony system claims the top spot for the first time since November 2018.
For the first time in nearly three years, the Nintendo Switch wasn’t the best-selling console in the US. In September, that distinction went to Sony’s PlayStation 5 instead. According to NPD’s Mat Piscatella, the PS5 outsold Nintendo’s portable last month both in unit volume and dollar amount, thereby ending the Switch’s impressive 33-month streak as the best-selling console in the US.
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Oct 19
Sony test lets some PS5 owners quickly share screenshots and clips via mobile
Posted in: Today's ChiliSony has tweeted that it’s testing a beta that will let PS5 players share screenshots and clips via smartphone using the PlayStation app. That will match functionality the Xbox has offered for a while now, though so far, Sony is only testing it in a limited release.
A limited-release beta enabling PS5 players in Canada and Japan to share their captured screenshots and game clips through PlayStation App is starting to roll out today. For details, check out: https://t.co/afVHXLbJsZpic.twitter.com/WMVWqHP1GY
— PlayStation Canada (@PlayStationCA) October 18, 2021
One you turn it on, the new feature will automatically upload captures to the cloud. You’ll then be able to access them on the PlayStation app for 14 days to save on your camera roll, share on social media, or send to PSN friends and parties. It should be less clunky than the current system of direct sharing from the console.
On top of screenshots taken from the Create Menu or Create button shortcuts, you can share gameplay videos under three minutes in length up to 1080p (not 4K). For screenshots and videos to be auto-uploaded, make sure you’ve linked your PS5 console to the PlayStation app. It also needs to be left in rest mode and have the “Stay Connected to the Internet” setting enabled. For more details, check Sony’s (region-locked) article.
The update is now available in Canada and Japan only, and as with other beta features, “may not make it into the final version or may see significant changes,” Sony notes. However, it seems as likely as any new feature to come out of beta, so hopefully it will be released to everyone soon.
Oct 19
Have you seen that flyer claiming anytime you think about vaping maybe you should masturbate instead? It’s been going viral on right-wing social media thanks to commentators like Erick Erickson who say it’s part of a federal government program being unleashed in U.S. schools. But the flyer is completely fake.
Oct 19
Russia says it’s acting in retaliation to NATO’s expulsion of Russian diplomats.
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