All seven members of Expedition 68 are now aboard the International Space Station following the arrival of Crew-5 last week. A cargo mission to replenish supplies is expected next week, prompting a necessary orbital adjustment to receive the Russian space hauler.
Apple rolled out a new round of iPads on Tuesday, upgrading the iPad Pro to the more powerful M2 chip and introducing a new 10.9-inch iPad that hews closely to the existing iPad Air, which launched this past March. While the new 10.9-inch iPad particularly complicates the latter’s value, those who were already thinking of treating themselves to a tablet upgrade should still note the 64GB version of the fifth-gen Air is currently down to $519 at Amazon.
Buy Apple iPad Air (2022) at Amazon – $519
Outside of a one-day drop to $479 in August, that’s the lowest price we’ve tracked for this SKU of the tablet, and it matches the deal we saw during Amazon’s Prime Early Access sale last week. In total, the deal is $40 off the typical street price we’ve seen online in recent months and $80 off Apple’s MSRP.
When we reviewed the new Air earlier this year, we broadly considered it to be the best Apple tablet for most people, what with its still-powerful M1 chip and significant design upgrades over the base 10.2-inch iPad, which Apple says will remain on sale going forward.
Compared to the forthcoming 10.9-inch iPad, however, the differences look to be more marginal. We’ll have to get our hands on the device to confirm, but the new iPad starts at $449 and appears to follow the Air’s design almost exactly, with the same 2,360 x 1,640 resolution, slim bezels, USB-C port, WiFi 6 support, Touch ID button, 12-megapixel front camera, and the like. With the new iPad, that front camera is also located along the right-side bezel, making it more suitable for taking video in landscape mode.
This new iPad utilizes Apple’s A14 Bionic chip, which is the same silicon that powered the fourth-gen iPad Air and the iPhone 12 lineup. This SoC should be plenty powerful for media consumption and most of the other tablet things most people do with an iPad. Our review did find the Air’s M1 chip to be noticeably faster across the board, however, and the M1 should be a bit more futureproof with games and more involved productivity tasks down the road, while also remaining overkill for lighter work, web browsing, and streaming.
Unlike the Air, the new iPad also lacks support for Apple’s second-generation Pencil stylus. That means creative types will need to use a USB-C dongle to charge the first-gen Pencil and omit the newer model’s magnetic charging and quicker settings-change features. The new iPad does support a new $249 Magic Keyboard Folio, however, which appears similar to the Magic Keyboard supported by the Air and iPad Pro, just without that model’s “floating” design. This accessory also adds a row of function keys.
It’s also worth noting that Apple doesn’t list the new iPad’s display as fully laminated, which means it will still have an air gap between its display and the glass itself, and thus can feel slightly more like you’re interacting with an image below the glass, rather than the screen itself, which many find irritating. Apple also doesn’t list this panel as having an antireflective coating. In terms of size, brightness, and resolution, though, it should be the same.
Beyond that, while the cost difference between the new 11-inch iPad Pro and the iPad Air is prohibitive for many—the former will start at $799—those who can afford the upgrade will still get twice as much default storage (a more robust 128GB), better built-in speakers, a more advanced camera system, a brighter display that supports a faster 120 Hz refresh rate, WiFi 6E support, and now an even more powerful chip. For most, the Air should remain a better value, but in a vacuum, the Pro is a better tablet.
All told, if the added horsepower of the M1, the laminated display, or second-gen Pencil support aren’t worth an extra $70 to you, it’s likely worth waiting to see how the new iPad stacks up. And if all you want is access to the iPadOS ecosystem for as little as possible, the 10.2-inch iPad is still a solid little tablet overall, and it’s still at an all-time low of $269 itself.
If you do need the M1’s power gains or improved stylus, though, or if you’re looking to upgrade from an entry-level iPad or a pre-2020 iPad Air, though, this deal still represents a good value for those who want a tablet upgrade without totally breaking the bank.
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The “Black-ish” actor is putting a mirror up to Black women and their unique hair journeys with her new docuseries.
Participating in the Downtown Benicia Main Street Scarecrow Contest, bakers Hanalee Pervan and her mother Catherine of One House Bakery in Benicia, California, created this lifesize ‘Pan Solo in Carbonite’ bread sculpture. Did it win the contest? I have no clue, but it certainly won my heart. And stomach. Now, where’s the butter and jam?
The sculpture is made entirely from dough and is currently on display in the front window of the One House Bakery but will make its way to the compost pile after Han has reached his best-by date. That’s a shame because I love stale bread. It’s like toast but without needing a toaster.
Obviously, what kind of Star Wars fan would I be if I didn’t include an “I loaf you,” “I dough,” joke in here somewhere, so consider this that joke. Now somebody bake me a Death Star cake, I’m so hungry I could eat a tauntaun.
[via BoingBoing]
Saving everyone the agony of a six-hour-long presentation, Apple has quietly announced a colorful new 10th-generation iPad with a relocated selfie camera and a sixth-generation iPad Pro upgraded with the company’s M2 chip that debuted in MacBooks earlier this year.
Dear Android tablet users, there’s some good news. There’s a Chrome update rolling out this week that includes a handful of tablet-friendly abilities, some of which were plucked right out of the desktop version of the browser app.
You’ve heard of Taco Tuesday, but what about new Star Wars toy Tuesday? No, it doesn’t have the same ring, but that’s what’s currently happening.
Google has turned its attention to tablets with today’s Chrome on Android update, which focuses on improving tab navigation. The update introduces a side-by-side tab design that makes swapping open pages easier, and an auto-scroll back feature that brings you directly to your previous tab. When tabs become too small, the new Chrome on Android will get rid of the close button on each one, hopefully preventing accidental exits. There’s also a new visual tab layout, which organizes tabs in a grid with a preview of each page.
Google is also adding drag-and-drop among apps, allowing you to take an image, text or link from Chrome and slide it into Gmail, Photos or other programs. Finally, today’s update brings desktop mode to Chrome on Android.
The update is live now on all Android tablets, and it’ll come to the Pixel Tablet when that lands next year. It makes sense that Google is trying to spruce up its tablet interface ahead of the Pixel’s launch, and this likely won’t be the last update in this space over the coming months.
Google has already confirmed that a future update will add tab groups, a popular desktop feature, to Chrome on Android.
The new Amazon Labor Union has lost two elections following its historic win in Staten Island earlier this year.
Aston Martin’s resurgence in the ’70s was marked by the Lagonda, a luxury car that sported a space-age interior. Here are the Lagonda’s five best features.
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