Elon Musk’s Boring Company started shuttling passengers through the twin tunnels it built underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) this week, as part of a test to get the system ready for its full debut in June.
Videos, images, and accounts shared around the internet by the people who showed up for the test offer the most coherent glimpse yet at Musk’s solution for traversing the LVCC campus. It is quite literally just Teslas being driven through two 0.8-mile tunnels — a far cry from the autonomous sled-and-shuttle ideas that Musk once proposed for The Boring Company.
There are three stops to the “LVCC Loop” system. The stations at either end are above ground, while the one in the middle is at the same 30-foot depth as the tunnels. The Boring Company used a few dozen Tesla vehicles — including Model 3 sedans, and Model Y and Model X SUVs — during the test. While the company has talked about making riders call for cars using an app, the test only required them to walk up to the next available car. Test riders then hopped in, went to one of the other two stations, and repeated. It appears most riders got between seven or eight to a dozen rides during the test.
Schlepping from one end of the LVCC campus is no quick feat on foot, especially after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently added a whole new wing. Taxi lines and ride-hailing wait times are notoriously long, too. So any solution that makes it easier to get around the grounds will likely appeal to convention-goers, even if the amenity cost the LVCVA $52.5 million ($48.6 million of which went to The Boring Company).
The Boring Company says the Loop will ultimately turn a 45-minute walk into a two-minute ride, though it’s not down to that level of efficiency yet (hence the test). In one video, one of the test riders said they had to wait about three to five minutes for a few of the rides, though even with a top speed of around 40 miles per hour, trips between stations appear to have taken about a minute to a minute-and-a-half.
One of the things increasing that total travel time was the underground station. There were times when test riders pulled into the station only to run into some congestion. The drivers have to maneuver around other parked Teslas, people getting in and out, and cars queueing up to reenter the tunnels. It’s a tight fit.
There was also just some general confusion as people got used to how the system worked. Passengers were being constantly reminded to leave the doors open when exiting the vehicle to speed up the transition to the next ride. One person got bonked on the head by one of the Model X’s Falcon Wing doors.
The big question with The Boring Company’s efforts in Las Vegas is pretty much the same as it always is with Musk’s ideas: how will it scale? The company says it wants to eventually transport 4,400 people per hour through the LVCC Loop’s tunnels, though TechCrunch discovered documents late last year that seem to show it will only be able to transport 1,200. Beyond the LVCC Loop, The Boring Company wants to build a massive tunnel system that runs under the whole city, including the Las Vegas Strip and the airport. It claims this massively scaled-up version of its underground highway will be able to handle a little more than 50,000 passengers per hour.
The Boring Company has claimed it plans to allow a max speed of 150 miles per hour in these tunnels but has limited speeds during the tests so far. And while the goal is to ultimately have the Teslas drive themselves, the system will rely on human drivers for the foreseeable future.
Reaching that top speed is one of the key things The Boring Company says sets its “Teslas in Tunnels” idea apart from, say, a subway system. (Another is cost, which we’ve seen the company tout in its most recent proposal in Miami.) It likely won’t be attainable unless the company is able to automate the driving, as the tunnels are too tight for a human driver to continuously (and carefully) navigate at such high speeds — another thing that was obvious from videos of the test.
In Facebook’s protracted efforts to be remembered as something other than the largest misinformation megaphone in history, it’s employed a number of strategies, from spinning its own misleading PR narratives to actual UI changes. Today, it announced a new tactic: not only will posts with misinformation in them be made less visible, but so will the individual users who share them.
For several years, the social giant has plugged away at fact-checking partnerships meant to disincentivize the spread of viral misinformation, using the results of those checks to label offending posts rather than removing them. In some cases, it’s taken small steps toward hiding things that are found to be false or polarizing — ending recommendations for political groups, for instance, during the 2020 election. Users, however, were free to post whatever they wanted with no consequences to speak of. No longer!
Image: Facebook
“Starting today, we will reduce the distribution of all posts in News Feed from an individual’s Facebook account if they repeatedly share content that has been rated by one of our fact-checking partners,” the company wrote in a press release. While demonstrably false posts are already demoted in the News Feed rankings, users who share misinformation regularly will now see all of their content pushed down the dashboard’s endless scroll.
It remains to be seen exactly what the tangible impact of this expanded enforcement will be. While individual Facebook users were previously immune to this sort of scrutiny, Instagram users were not. Nevertheless, vaccine misinformation has proliferated on the photo-sharing app. No matter how sophisticated its systems, as I’ve argued before, Facebook is simply too large to monitor.
If you use 1Password in your browser, it’s getting a big upgrade: support for biometrics — like Touch ID or Windows Hello (and even some Linux biometrics systems) — dark mode, and a new password-saving and updating UI.
The biometric support will require the desktop version of the app to be installed, but the UI updates, along with the list of other improvements featured in 1Password’s blog post, should be coming even if you’re browser-only. (This also includes a welcome language change, where the term “Master Password” has been replaced with just “password.”)
It’s beautiful.GIF: 1Password
If you’ve been reading this and thinking, “I’ve had most of these features for a long time,” that could be because you’re a Safari user: 1Password for Safari seems to be a different extension from the one that’s compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave. If you use any of those browsers, this update is bringing some very nice changes, which should automatically appear the next time you launch your browser.
Waze has a new CEO: Neha Parikh, the president of Hotwire and a board member of Carvana. Parikh replaces Noam Bardin, who stepped down as CEO of the Google-owned navigation service last November after leading the company for 12 years.
Parikh will join Waze as CEO starting in June, the company says. She is a veteran of online hospitality brand Expedia, having served in a variety of positions at two of the corporation’s subsidiaries: Hotels.com, where she ended as senior vice president for global brands and retails, and flight and hotel booking service Hotwire, where she is currently president.
As Hotwire’s youngest and first female president, Parikh “led a return to growth by revamping the business model, reshaping the product, and rebuilding the team and culture,” Waze says. The aim is for her to do the same at Waze.
Neha Parikh is the youngest and first female president of Hotwire.Photo: Carvana
“As Neha leads Waze into the future, she will remain hyper-focused on our passionate community, beloved brand, and best-in-class products,” a spokesperson for the company said.
She was appointed to the board of Carvana in April 2019. The online car marketplace praised Parikh for her focus on customer service. “On my first visit to the Carvana offices, I took a picture of their prominently displayed values, one of which is ‘Your next customer may be your mom,’ which I love,” she said in the press release. “Relentless customer focus has been central to my career, so I’m thrilled to align with a company that puts their customers first.”
Waze was founded in Israel in 2008 by Ehud Shabtai, Amir Shinar, and Uri Levine. The crowdsourced navigation app quickly grew in popularity, praised for its ability to take into account traffic and construction in real time. The app quickly emerged as a top choice among Uber and Lyft drivers. And today, it has 140 million monthly active users who drive more than 24 billion miles (40 billion kilometers) every month.
The company was acquired by Google in 2013 for a reported $1.1 billion. And the app continued to flourish, as Google refrained from absorbing it into its Maps division and allowed it to stay independent.
Like most companies, Waze hit a rough patch during the pandemic. Its number of monthly active users, or the number of customers using the app each month, and driven kilometers, the metric by which the company measures how far its customers drive while using Waze, both decreased significantly. The company laid off 5 percent of its global workforce, or 555 people, in September. Its nascent Carpool service was hit especially hard, as people stopped commuting to work.
App developer and scam app hunter Kosta Eleftheriou’s latest discovery is a real doozy, an iOS app that refuses to function before you give it at least a 3-star review in the App Store. Although the UPNP Xtreme app — which claimed to let users stream video to their TVs — now appears to have been pulled, we were able to verify that it generates the App Store rating box the second it opens. You can’t dismiss the ratings box, nor can you tap the 1 or 2-star ratings, Eleftheriou said. We verified this behavior, but some other users report they were able to dismiss the dialog box or leave a lower rating.
This is just the latest scammy app to have been unearthed by Elefheriou, who’s been waging a war against them after his own Apple Watch keyboard app, FlickType, was overtaken by expensive apps with fake reviews. Eleftheriou says Apple has removed over 100 apps as a result of his reports, but it’s concerning that the multi-billion dollar company isn’t catching these scams during its App Store review process.
If you think you can trust App Store ratings, you haven’t been paying enough attention.
This is the iOS *system* rating prompt, not a custom look-alike one.
The worst part? This trick is EXTREMELY easy for any developer to do, and not limited to this app.
— Kosta Eleftheriou (@keleftheriou) May 25, 2021
The UPNP Xtreme app’s behavior directly contradicts one of the best practices Apple lists on its developer site, which states that developers should “avoid showing a request for a review immediately when a user launches your app.” Generally, developers are allowed to prompt for a rating up to there times in a 365-day period.
Apple’s review process has been under particularly intense scrutiny recently because of Epic Games’ lawsuit against the company. Central to the dispute is the 30 percent commission Apple takes on many App Store payments and in-app purchases. Apple argues it needs the commission to run the App Store and create a safe environment for users. But that argument gets undermined pretty quickly if obvious scammy apps are able to slip through Apple’s review process.
Apps like the ones discovered by Eleftheriou not only harm customers who end up downloading scammy software and can get tricked into paying for difficult-to-cancel recurring subscriptions. It also harms legitimate developers who have to contend with apps that are willing to play dirty to get the good reviews needed to rise up the App Store’s rankings.
Eleftheriou filed a lawsuit against Apple earlier this year, arguing it exploits its monopoly power over iOS app to make money at the expense of app developers and consumers.
Last week we reported on a new Spotify app for Google-powered smartwatches that gives users the option to listen offline when on the go. Today, the Apple Watch gets a new native music streaming app of its own – Tidal.
The new Tidal app for Apple Watch works without an iPhone nearby, so you can download all your favourite playlists and then listen without a wi-fi or cellular connection.
Spotify and Deezer have both announced similar offline listening features for the Apple Watch, giving you a fair amount of choice if you want to stream music when you head out for a run or hit the gym for a workout.
Tidal is known for its high-quality streams but they won’t be available through the Apple Watch app, with data rates being limited. Spotify has also confirmed that its audio streams will be limited to 96Kbps when listening via its wearable apps. It’s unclear whether Apple, which just announced plans to add lossless tracks to Apple Music from June, will follow that playbook.
Subscription to Tidal’s ad-free Premium plan costs from £9.99 ($9.99, AU$11.99) a month and includes access to 70 million songs, many of which are offered in lossless and high-resolution quality via the iPhone and other media streamers
MORE:
Level up your listening: 27 Tidal tips, tricks and features
Our verdict on the best music streaming services
Spotify HiFi is missing something – but will it matter?
Panasonic today announced an updated version of its venerable LUMIX GH5 camera. The new GH5 Mark II is a relatively modest upgrade over its predecessor but if you look at the other thing Panasonic announced today, you’d realize it’s just a stop-gap.
The GH5M2 features a revised set of specifications, largely due to the upgrade to the newer and latest generation Venus Engine processor. The camera is now capable of internally recording 4K 60p in 10-bit at 4:2:0, which is an improvement over the GH5 that could only do 8-bit internally. The GH5M2 will also be able to simultaneously record in 4K 60p in 10-bit 4:2:2 to an external recorder.
The GH5M2 comes with the Panasonic V-Log L log profile pre-installed, which was an optional paid extra on the GH5. This allows you to color match the camera to other Panasonic cameras using V-Log (S1/S1H) or V-Log L (GH5/GH5S). The GH5M2 also adds two Cinelike presets (D2 and V2) along with MonochromeS and L.ClassicNeo.
The 20.3-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor is nearly identical to the one on the GH5. The GH5M2 sensor features anti-reflective coating, which should reduce the amount of flare around bright objects.
The use of a faster processor has enabled some improvements to autofocusing. While the GH5M2 still uses the same contrast-based DFD system, it is not faster to lock focus and 2x faster at detecting eyes and faces than the GH5.
The GH5M2 also features improved in-body image stabilizer and is capable of 6.5-stop slower shutter speed.
The GH5M2 features a smaller 3.0-inch display compared to the 3.5-inch display on the GH5. However, this new display has higher 1840k dot resolution and is also brighter outdoors.
The connectivity hasn’t changed much but the microUSB port has been ditched in favor of USB-C with USB-PD charging.
Finally, the GH5M2 is capable of live streaming to YouTube or Facebook directly through the camera. All you need is the camera and an internet connection, either through home Wi-Fi or through your phone’s data connection and the Panasonic app and you’re good to go. Aside from the two services mentioned above, you can also stream to any other RTMP/RTMPS protocol compatible streaming service and stream at 1080p 60fps at 16Mbps. A future update will also add wired IP streaming (RTP/RTSP).
Aside from that, this is basically the same camera as the GH5. All you get to differentiate externally are some red accents and a reassigned F1 button. However, this isn’t a bad thing, as the GH5M2 is being launched at $400 lower than the launch price of the GH5 and starts at $1699.
However, the thing to look out for is Panasonic’s upcoming GH6, which the company also teased today. The camera is said to be in development and will be launched by the end of 2021. The GH6 will be able to do 4:2:2 10-bit DCI 4K 60p internal recording without any time limits and also 10-bit 4K 120p HFR recording. The Gh6 will also be able to do 10-bit 5.7k 60p video with the new Micro Four Thirds sensor.
The Panasonic LUMIX GH6 will be priced around $2500.
Over the last couple of years, Valve has been working on Steam Cloud Gaming, allowing users to connect their Steam libraries to services like GeForce Now. Valve’s cloud ambitions may not end there though, as evidence is pointing to a new handheld streaming device currently known as ‘SteamPal’.
SteamDB creator, Pavel Djundik, brought attention to this today. After some datamining, code strings were found referring to “SteamPal”, “SteamPal Games” and “Neptune”, which is the codename for a controller Valve is also working on. There were also references to a “NeptuneGamesCollection” and a separate string for “Device Optimized Games”.
What this appears to be alluding to is a handheld streaming device with its own dedicated controller, which would be used for streaming Steam games. Not all games on Steam support gamepads/controllers, so that is where the ‘device optimised’ list comes into play.
Valve dropped the Steam Controller and its Steam Link streaming device in favour of an app-focused approach for smartphones. It seems that Valve isn’t done with ideas to deliver Steam games in a more streamlined, console-style format.
KitGuru Says: Valve works on new projects all the time, a lot of which don’t reach the public announcement phase. Still, with cloud gaming finally beginning to gain some ground, this is a concept that has a lot of potential, especially as a replacement for the Steam Link concept. Would you like to see Valve bring out its own console-style streaming device for Steam games?
Microsoft claims that as of a new release this week, its Edge browser will be the “best performing browser on Windows 10.” The announcement was made at the company’s annual Build developer conference, being held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Edge version 91 releases, it will include two new features in startup boost and sleeping tabs that should boost performance. Startup boost makes the browser launch more quickly. Microsoft says “core” Microsoft Edge processes will run in the background and won’t need more resources when you add additional Windows. This should, Microsoft says, make for far faster launching.
The second feature, “sleeping tabs” sounds like it will address a bigger issue in the browser market. It aims to boost performance of the browser by “freeing up system resources from unused tabs,” including putting ads to sleep in background tabs. This month, Microsoft intends to enhance the feature to allow for up to 82% memory savings, per its internal testing using preview builds of the browser.
Since last year’s Build, Microsoft has made more than 5,300 commits to the open-source Chromium project, so that other browsers using the project can also see improvements made to Edge. Microsoft has also added a Progressive Web Apps, or “PWAs” build on Edge to the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft Edge is taking on an increasingly important role as part of Windows 10.
Microsoft is retiring Internet Explorer
on June 15, 2022, for most versions of the operating system. At Build, the company is pushing developers to transition away from IE11 websites and apps, though Edge’s Internet Explorer mode is expected to last through at least 2029.
At Build, Microsoft will discuss the WebView2 embedded web control and Edge in a session about apps for hybrid work, while the Edge team will also have a session to take questions directly from attendees.
Other Windows-based announcements include the ability to use Windows Terminal as the default emulator, along with a “Quake mode” to open a new terminal with a keyboard shortcut. Additionally, there will be GUI app support on the Windows Subsystem for Linux. More will be announced at Build throughout the week.
Eight of the artist’s favorite sketches from the three-week court proceeding
On Monday, lawyers gave final statements in the Epic v. Apple case, finishing up just over three weeks of in-court proceedings that gave an unprecedented look at how Apple manages the iOS App Store. Both images and audio from the proceedings were tightly controlled (as is often the case in federal courtrooms), so the only images came from courtroom artist Vicki Behringer, who saw much of the trial from an assigned seat to the right of the jury box. We invited Behringer to share eight of her favorite sketches from the trial, showing off both her skill as an artist and her unique perspective on the case. -Russell Brandom, policy editor
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
This shows opening statements by Epic Games attorney Katherine Forrest. It was my first day at the trial and my first sketch. There were plexiglass barriers all around the courtroom as a COVID precaution, and the attorneys wore plastic shields covering their faces. When I saw this graphic, showing a wall being built around the iPhone, I started to understand what was at stake in this trial.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is the one that started this whole case, so I knew his testimony was going to be interesting. I just loved listening to how he started the company and what the game Fortnite is all about. I had no idea. Once again, I realize there is another entire world that I know nothing about. The programming, creativity, and talent it takes to create these games absolutely amazes me.
I try to finish all my sketches within one to one and a half hours. Some take longer. I have to budget my time while I am sketching in the courtroom. I have very strict deadlines and since the news is now a 24-hour cycle with the internet, my media clients need their sketches as soon as possible to go with their stories.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
I’ve sketched Phil Schiller two or three times now in the Apple v. Samsung trials, so his face feels like an old friend. I always love hearing him talk about the history of Apple. I took my time here and decided to sketch the entire courtroom. Obviously it is not to scale. The number of people allowed in the courtroom was severely reduced, but there were still many, many attorneys to sketch, and every time a witness changed, they would play musical chairs.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
This is Mike Schmid, the head of Apple’s gaming department, questioned by Apple attorney Jay Srinivasan. Seeing as I am not a gamer, all of the wonderful artwork that goes into the games is quite delightful for me, but I had to move so fast that there wasn’t time to sketch it. Schmid was grilled pretty hard on the cross-examination by Epic’s attorney, but at the break they both relaxed and seemed to be happy to see each other. Maybe they were just happy to have gotten through it.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
Craig Federighi was a wonderful subject with his perfect white hair and dark eyebrows. People with subtle features are far more difficult, but Craig was a joy. He discussed the precautions that Apple takes to prevent its users from malware, viruses, and the like. I make a mental note to always update my software!
Drawn by Vicki Behringer
I like this sketch because not only did I get a different angle on Tim Cook’s face (which is fantastic), but it was an important moment in his testimony. Judge Gonzalez Rogers was asking some really interesting questions of him which didn’t sound very favorable toward Apple. His confidence seemed to waver just a bit, but he answered the questions clearly and did his best to justify Apple‘s position. It felt like a pivotal point in the trial.
I wanted to put in a gesture with the judge’s hand, but didn’t feel I had enough time. Sometimes hands can take as long as drawing the face.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
The second week was mostly expert witnesses. I like the sketch because this professor had some interesting things to say about how safe Apple devices were. I know he is an Apple witness, but if his statistics are correct, it’s quite amazing! In the sketch, I added a couple of other people in the courtroom that I usually don’t have time to include. The court reporter and the judge’s deputy. When I am doing an actual trial, I try to make sure I get a sketch of everyone in the courtroom at some point. Everyone is important, even if they are not one of the main attorneys or witnesses.
Image courtesy of Vicki Behringer
This is when Tim Cook first took the stand, being questioned on direct by Apple attorney Veronica Moyé. I was so nervous while sketching him because I knew it had to look exactly like him; everyone knows what Tim Cook looks like. I had studied some photographs of him and thought I was ready. Unfortunately, when he took the stand there was a huge reflection on his face shield. I could not see some of the important details. I kept peering through my binoculars waiting for him to turn his head. Finally he did and I was able to get a good view of his face. That was such a relief!
I had heard this was his first time taking the stand, but I would never know it. He was quite calm, confident, and charismatic. He said so many positive things about Apple it was easy to like him. Later, I had the opportunity while finishing a sketch of him in the hallway to meet him. He seems to be a very nice man. I was shocked to see he has beautiful blue eyes. I did not realize that while sketching him — between the shadow from the light above, the reflection of his visor, and his glasses, his eyes were obscured. Something tells me I will be sketching him again since there could be more Apple trials in my future.
Microsoft isn’t talking about its big Windows plans at Build 2021 this week, and that’s because the company is preparing to detail what’s next for its PC operating system separately. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella teased this announcement during his Build keynote this morning, revealing he has been testing “the next generation of Windows” in recent months.
“Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months, and I’m incredibly excited about the next generation of Windows. Our promise to you is this: we will create more opportunity for every Windows developer today and welcome every creator who is looking for the most innovative, new, open platform to build and distribute and monetize applications. We look forward to sharing more very soon.”
Microsoft has been working on a new app store for Windows in recent months, alongside some significant UI changes to the operating system. Nadella appears to reference the store changes here, with a promise to unlock a better economy for developers and creators within Windows itself.
This will likely include some significant changes to the Windows Store, allowing developers to submit any Windows application — including browsers like Chrome or Firefox. Rumors have suggested Microsoft may even allow third-party commerce platforms in apps, so developers could avoid Microsoft’s own 15 percent cut on apps and 12 percent cut on games.
Nadella’s specific mention of a “next generation of Windows” is interesting, too. Microsoft typically refers to everything as “Windows 10,” and this language could suggest the company is preparing a more significant shift with Windows branding than just the user interface alone.
Windows 10X was supposed to ship this year before it was canceled.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Microsoft confirmed last week that Windows 10X, its OS originally built for dual-screen devices, will no longer ship. The software maker is now bringing the best bits of Windows 10X, a simplified version of Windows, into the main version of Windows 10 instead. We’re expecting to see some significant UI changes to Windows under something codenamed “Sun Valley.”
Some of that work has already started, with new system icons, File Explorer improvements, and the end of Windows 95-era icons. Microsoft is also focusing on improving the basic foundations of Windows, with fixes for a rearranging apps issue on multiple monitors, the addition of the Xbox Auto HDR feature, and improvements to Bluetooth audio support.
Nadella says we’ll hear more about the future of Windows “very soon,” so we’d expect some type of announcement or event in the coming weeks ahead.
Sonos is refreshing its One SL speaker, which doesn’t have always-on microphones or integrated voice controls, to make it more power efficient and recyclable, the company confirmed to The Verge. However, the new model won’t have any additional features or functionality. The updated speaker first appeared in FCC filings published Monday.
The primary change in this new One SL is a “more efficient” wireless radio, according to Sonos. The base of the speaker has also been redesigned to remove extra plastics and “stickering,” and the product packaging has a “more sustainable design” like what’s used with the recently released Sonos Roam. And while there won’t be any new functionality, Sonos says that this updated One SL will only work with its newer Sonos S2 app.
Here is exactly what Sonos shared with us:
We continually seek opportunities to make our products more efficient and sustainable. In this case, we’ve made updates to One SL that reduce waste, improve recyclability and deliver efficiencies in power consumption. The principal change is a new, more efficient wireless radio (hence the need for an FCC filing). In addition, we’ve redesigned the base of the speaker to remove extra plastics and stickering as well as refreshing the packaging to the new more sustainable design introduced with Roam. These changes don’t deliver new features or functionality so it won’t be labeled and sold as a new product, but it will only be compatible with S2.
The refreshed One SL is now available on Sonos’ websites and from third-party retailers, the company tells The Verge.
Update May 25th, 12PM ET: Added confirmation that the updated speaker is available now.
Music streaming service Tidal is now available on the Apple Watch, allowing subscribers to stream music directly to Apple’s wearable or download it for offline listening. Instructions on how to get set up can be found on Tidal’s site. Spotify and Deezer both announced similar offline listening features for the Apple Watch last week. Subscription prices for Tidal start at $9.99 a month.
Tidal has historically sold itself on the quality of its audio streaming, offering features like lossless playback and even hi-res streaming before many of its bigger rivals. But this year, some of its biggest competitors are starting to catch up. Spotify’s lossless HiFi tier is set to launch later this year, and Apple Music will introduce support for lossless and hi-res streaming next month. Tidal’s high audio quality won’t translate to its Apple Watch app however. The music service has confirmed audio will be limited to 96Kbps on the wearable, like Spotify.
The service’s other major selling point is the amount it pays artists in royalties to stream their music. Analysis from Digital Music News puts Tidal’s rates ahead of Spotify, Apple, and Deezer, and it looks like this artist-supporting trend is set to continue after Jack Dorsey’s financial services company Square recently acquired a majority stake in the streaming service for $297 million. Dorsey specifically cited wanting to find “new ways for artists to support their work” as the reason for the acquisition.
“Square created ecosystems of tools for sellers & individuals and we’ll do the same for artists,” the CEO tweeted at the time, “We’ll work on entirely new listening experiences to bring fans closer together, simple integrations for merch sales, modern collaboration tools, and new complementary revenue streams.”
Tidal’s Apple Watch support requires a Series 3 model or later running watchOS 7.1.
Compared to competitors like YouTube TV and Hulu, Sling TV has never had the flashiest app, and the overall user experience leaves something to be desired. It’s been easy enough to overlook these faults since Sling TV undercuts those rivals on price, but today the company announced a completely redesigned app that focuses on more polish and personalized recommendations.
The new Sling TV app is rolling out first to “select customers” using Amazon’s Fire TV devices, and other platforms will be added as the year stretches on. (It’ll arrive on Roku sometime this summer, for example.) The Dish-owned company describes this as the “most comprehensive update in Sling TV’s history.” And based on screenshots and the GIF above, it does look like a significant makeover.
“After a year of talking to customers and working with our design and advanced engineering teams, we’re happy to roll out the new Sling TV app to deliver the best in live sports, news and entertainment, at the same unbeatable low price point,” Michael Schwimmer, group president of Sling TV, said in a press release.
The redesign comes with a lot of changes, including a left-side navigation column and a new homescreen that focuses on content recommendations. The channel guide has been “reimagined” to make favoriting channels and filtering easier, though it will still feel familiar to customers who want that traditional cable-like grid.
A dedicated DVR section provides easy access to your cloud recordings.Image: Sling TV
Sling TV’s cloud DVR now gets its own tab, which should make it easier to sort through your recordings. By default, the service comes with 50 hours of DVR space, but you can expand this to 200 hours for an extra $5 per month.
“If a streaming app is done right, it should be practically invisible, allowing the user to get to the most relevant content quickly and easily — the new Sling TV experience does just that,” said Jon Lin, Sling TV’s VP of product.
Panasonic has announced not one but two follow-up cameras to the Lumix GH5, a camera that’s been popular with videographers since it launched in 2017. There’s the GH6, which Panasonic says features a brand-new sensor and will launch by the end of the year for $2,500, and the GH5 Mark II, which is going up for preorder today, with a body-only package coming in at $1,700.
The GH6 will feature a new image engine along with the sensor and will have the capability to record 10-bit 4K at 120fps and 10-bit 5.7K at 60fps. The camera also promises DCI 4K60 at 4:2:2 without a recording time limit. The GH6 is currently in development, so Panasonic didn’t provide many more details, but it did say that the camera would feature a Micro Four Thirds sensor. The impressive video capabilities might sound familiar, as they’re very similar to the full-frame Sony A7S III (which also has a much heftier price tag).
While the details on the GH6 were light, we got a very good look at the GH5 Mark II. It’s, as the name implies, an improved version of the GH5, and Panasonic’s idea for it seems to be that it’s built to serve people who aren’t looking to spend $2,500 on a GH6 but want something more capable than a G7 or older GH4. When the GH5 originally launched it was $2,000, so it seems like Panasonic is trying to split the difference with the Mark II and GH6, offering cameras on both sides.
There’s also a kit that comes with a 12-60mm f/2.8-4 image-stabilized lens for $2,300.Image: Panasonic
The GH5 Mark II has the same body as the GH5 (making it compatible with any previous accessories or cages), but it packs internals that make it an even more powerful video camera. While the original did support 4K recording at 60 frames a second, it was only 8-bit — the Mark II supports it at 10-bit 4:2:0, which can simultaneously be recorded internally and externally (with some HDMI recorders supporting 4:2:2). The cinema 4K mode, which provides a wider-than-16:9 aspect ratio, also now supports 30p and 25p, where the GH5 only supported 24p.
The color profiles have also gotten a revamp in the Mark II, with the camera including Cinelike D2 and V2 profiles. It also now includes the V-Log L profile for free, which was previously a $100 upgrade to the GH5. In addition to the improved color, the sensor (which is the same as the one found in the GH5) has also gotten an anti-reflective coating to avoid unwanted lens flares, and Panasonic claims it has 25 percent wider dynamic range.
The GH5 Mark II’s in-body stabilization is getting a bump in performance, too: the original could provide five stops of compensation, according to Panasonic, while the Mark II will be able to compensate up to 6.5 stops (though for longer lenses, achieving this number will require the lens to also have optical stabilization).
Panasonic is also saying that the autofocus system will be improved — a good sign, given the GH5’s lackluster performance in the area. The GH5 Mark II will feature head and body detection, as well as support for tracking animals, in addition to the eye and face detection found on the previous camera. The tracking will also be twice as fast, with the system looking for objects 60 times a second, while the GH5 tracks at 30 times a second. Panasonic also says that the system should lock on to subjects better and will have better support for tracking people who are farther in the distance.
Panasonic says the screen is 1.5 times brighter.Image: Panasonic
The Mark II also has some creature comfort improvements and really nerdy additions. The rear LCD is both higher-resolution and brighter, and the USB-C port is now compatible with the Power Delivery standard so it can run the camera and trickle-charge the batteries at the same time. It also takes higher-capacity batteries, though the older batteries the GH5 used will still work in the camera, and vice versa. There’s also now the option to add a red border around the screen when recording, and the ability to have two levels of zebra patterns to help determine exposure.
When shooting with supported lenses, creators will now be able to change the focus ring mode, setting it to be linear if that’s what they prefer, and even setting a specific focus throw if their use case calls for it. Panasonic has also updated its in-camera anamorphic de-squeezing feature (which allows people shooting with the special lenses to get a non-distorted preview of their picture) to include more lenses: the GH5 supported lenses with 1.33x and 2x aspect ratios, while the Mark II also supports lenses at 1.3x, 1.5x, and 1.8x. There’s also now support for image stabilization with anamorphic lenses.
The GH5 Mark II can, of course, also shoot pictures, but it seems like Panasonic knows its audience is mostly made up of video people: new photo features were largely absent, apart from a brief mention of improved color science and some new profiles. But while Panasonic doesn’t seem to be putting in a lot of work to entice photo shooters to its platform, it does seem to be trying to make the GH5 Mark II appealing to a different breed of video creators: the livestreamers.
The GH5 Mark II’s presentation for journalists focused heavily on its livestreaming capabilities: it can stream to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch directly over Wi-Fi, with compression being done on-camera. The streaming compression can be done at various levels and resolutions, depending on the requirements of the platform. Streamers can either input their streaming URLs and keys manually, for platforms like Twitch that support RTMP (or RTMPS), or they can directly sign on to Facebook or YouTube if they’re using the Lumix Sync smartphone app to set up the stream. Panasonic says that the ability to hardwire to a phone or even directly to a LAN via USB will be coming in a future firmware update.
I was shown a live demo of the streaming, which was conducted over YouTube, and to my eye it looked about as good as a stream can be expected to. Panasonic also said that the XLR microphone adapter built for the camera would work while streaming, and that an HDMI recorder could be used to capture a full-quality recording of any stream (though internally recording stream footage isn’t possible).
It’s hard to find a direct competitor to the GH5 Mark II, especially in its price range: Fujifilm’s X-T4 is no slouch when it comes to video, but it doesn’t have the heaps of options the Panasonic does (for example, you probably won’t get a custom menu for your most-used frame rates and resolutions, or filters to help pare down that information in the main menu like the GH5 Mark II has). The story is similar with Sony’s A7C, and the A7S III has similar specs but costs almost twice the price. And while BlackMagic’s Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has comparable video power as well as RAW video support, there are some places it falls way short when compared to the GH5 Mark II: the lack of a flip-out screen and autofocus spring to mind.
Panasonic has also announced that its G9 and GH5S cameras would also be getting firmware updates, bringing some of the new features from the GH5 Mark II. Both cameras will be getting the autofocus performance improvements, along with the frame indicators and markers, as well as support for vertical video detection. The GH5S will additionally be getting 12-bit raw over HDMI support when outputting to an Atomos Ninja V.
Panasonic also announced that it was working on a new lens, the Leica DG 25-50mm f/1.7. The aperture is constant throughout the 50-100mm full-frame equivalent focal range, and while there weren’t any additional details announced, Panasonic has emphasized it as a companion to the existing 10-25mm f/1.7. That lens features dust and moisture resistance and produces some lovely images, so it’s exciting to hear that the more tele-oriented version in the works will likely be similar in terms of build.
Panasonic is still, for better and worse, dedicated to Micro Four Thirds. In its presentation to journalists, it said that the format was necessary to get all the features and readout speeds it wanted at the price point it was looking to hit. It’s obviously invested a lot into these cameras, with the addition of livestreaming and the upcoming GH6’s monster specs, but the limitations of the format are something aspiring cinematographers will have to keep in mind when choosing their next video camera.
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