Google may be working on turning Android phones into a hivemind capable of finding lost devices, similar to Apple’s Find My network, according to analysis done by 9to5Google. A toggle for the feature showed up in a beta of Google Play Services, with code referencing the ability for phones to help locate other devices, potentially signaling that Android phones could soon become easier to find.
According to Google’s support page, the current Find My Device system can only find phones that are powered on, have a data or Wi-Fi signal, and have location services enabled. At this early stage, it’s unclear which, if any, of those limitations the relay network feature — apparently called Spot — would solve, but when you’re looking for a lost phone any advantage is good to have.
Google has other projects that involve using a network of Android phones — notably, its earthquake detection feature. While the implementation is different, the underlying concept is likely very similar: there are more than 3 billion active Android devices, which is a large crowd to source information from, be it accelerometer data, or the location of a misplaced phone.
9to5Google did find a setting that would allow users to turn off the feature, making it so their phone wouldn’t help locate other devices. Given the limited information, it’s unclear whether the Find My Device network will be able to find things other than phones, like Apple’s Find My network or Samsung’s Galaxy Find network are capable of doing. And of course, this being unpacked code from a Beta release, these changes may never see an actual public release.
Google did not immediately respond to request for comment about the prospective feature.
The YouTube app on iOS will be getting picture-in-picture support, allowing all users to watch videos while doing other things on their iPhones and iPads. A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge that the feature is currently rolling out to Premium subscribers, and that a launch for all iOS users (including the free ones) in the US is in the works.
Apple added support for picture-in-picture video for iPads with iOS 9, and brought it to iPhones with iOS 14. Since then, YouTube’s support for the feature on iPhones and iPads has been spotty — it works for iPad if you’re using Safari (though some have reported it doesn’t work for non-Premium subscribers); iPhone users have only been able to access the feature periodically.
That complication seems to be going away, at least for those in the US: iOS users, with or without a YouTube Premium subscription, will soon have access to it using the YouTube app as Android users have for years. YouTube did not provide a timeline for when the feature would arrive for free users, but stated the rollout to Premium subscribes is in progress.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that PiP video came to the iPad with iOS 13. It in fact arrived with iOS 9. We regret the error.
Tribute to the Kings promises to be a historic pay-per-view event, featuring father and son boxing icons Julio Cesar Chavez Sr and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, plus UFC superstar Anderson Silva. The full fight is an exclusive Fite.TV PPV at $39.99 in the US – or just $14.99 in the UK. Read our handy guide and find out how to watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream from anywhere in the world.
Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream
Date: Saturday 19th June 2021
Main card: 9pm ET / 2am BST
Chavez Sr vs Camacho Jr: 11.30 ET / 4.30am BST
Venue: The Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Mexico
UK stream: Fite.TV ($14.99)
Watch anywhere: Try ExpressVPN
US stream: Fite.TV ($39.99)
The much-hyped Tribute to the Kings event will feature 12 bouts, the first seven of which will be streamed live on globalsportsstreaming.com. The main card is an exclusive Fite.TV PPV starting at 9pm EST / 6pm PST.
The headline fight will feature former middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr against former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a 10-round cruiserweight bout. The MMA great is considered by some to be UFC’s ‘Greatest Of All Time’ but his final MMA appearance was underwhelming and he hasn’t been in a boxing ring since 2005.
“When I look back at my journey, I see that nothing has been in vain,” said Former UFC middleweight champion Silva. “I am extremely happy for the opportunity to test my boxing skills with Julio César Chávez Jr. I train continuously, always am striving for resilience and to overcome obstacles. Fighting is my everlasting breath.”
Before that, 58-year-old boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr will make his last ever ring appearance when he battles Hector “Little Macho” Camacho Jr in an exhibition bout. Camancho Jr is son of Hector “Macho” Camancho Sr, who was defeated by unanimous decision in the legendary Chavez vs Camacho WBO light welterweight title fight back in September 1992.
The main card also features Omar Chavez, who fights Ramon Alvarez in their trilogy bout. Don’t miss this one – it looks to be a spectacular PPV put together by Borizteca Boxing and Tosacano Promotions.
Saturday’s Tribute to the Kings pay-per-view is exclusive to Fite.TV. You can watch on the Fite.TV website or via the app. Follow our guide to watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream from anywhere in the world.
Watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream on Fite.TV
(Image credit: Fite.TV)
There isn’t a way to stream the Tribute to the Kings main card free, sadly.
US boxing fans must pay the $39.99 PPV fee to watch the main card including a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream.
UK boxing fans need only pay $14.99 – less than half what the PPV costs in the States. So, even if you’re not a huge boxing fan, you’re guaranteed great bang for buck at this price.
Fite.TV is accessible worldwide but if you find yourself geo-blocked, simply use a VPN to access Fite.TV from anywhere in the world. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.
The Fite.TV app is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Roku TVs and players and Huawei App Gallery.
Watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream anywhere in the world using a VPN
Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream rights holders, you may find yourself geo-blocked if you’re away from your own country. If that’s the case use a VPN to make sure you can access the stream.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, such that the servers and services you’re accessing aren’t aware of what you’re doing. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted.
There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN.
Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch Lamar Odom vs Aaron Carter on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There’s 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up.
Tribute to the Kings main card
(Image credit: Fite.TV)
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs Anderson Silva – Cruiserweight
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr vs Hector Camacho Jr – Exhibition
It might be aimed primarily at creative types, but the new iPad Pro 12.9 is also the best tablet there’s ever been if portable cinema is your thing
For
Stunning picture quality
Great sound with headphones
Hugely powerful
Against
Expensive for a tablet
At this stage, each new iPad feels like an incremental improvement on the one before it. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – in practical terms, Apple is almost unchallenged in the tablet arena, so a nip and tuck is generally all that’s required, but it’s not exactly exciting.
That’s where the new iPad Pro 12.9 comes in. Despite being aesthetically similar to its predecessor, this is a big step forward for tablets.
The headline-grabber is the new, high-end laptop-derived processor, but the new mini LED-lit display is the real game-changer as far as we’re concerned. Ever wanted an OLED or QLED TV that you could fit in a backpack? The new iPad Pro 12.9 is that – and plenty more.
Pricing
The new iPad Pro 12.9 starts at £999 ($1099, AU$1649) for the 128GB wi-fi-only model. There are lots of storage options available, all the way up to a £1999 ($2199, AU$3299) 2TB version. Adding cellular functionality to any model adds £150 ($200, AU$250).
The smaller iPad Pro 11 starts at £749 ($799, AU$1199) but, as well as being 1.9 inches smaller, the screen uses different underlying technology, so picture performance won’t be the same.
Build
(Image credit: Apple)
There’s little difference between the physical design of the new iPad Pro 12.9 and its predecessor. In fact, other than the new model being 0.5mm thicker, the dimensions of the two models are identical.
It is a large tablet, as you’d expect of a device with a 12.9in screen, measuring 28 x 21 x 0.6cm (11 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches) in total. You have to be committed to the cinematic (or productivity) potential of the big display to opt for such a large device.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) tech specs
(Image credit: Apple)
Screen size 12.9in
Resolution 2732 x 2048 (264ppi)
Storage 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Finishes x2
Battery life 10 hours
Cameras 12MP + 10MP ultra wide on rear / 12MP front
Dimensions (hwd) 28 x 21 x 0.6cm
Weight 682g
Unlike the iPad Air, which is available in a number of subtle metallic hues, the iPad Pro 12.9 comes only in Space Grey or Silver. More variation would be nice, but both finishes are lovely and the new Pro both looks and feels utterly premium.
On the otherwise flat rear is a protruding camera array that will rest directly on a surface when the iPad is laid down. It’s designed to resist damage from such placement, but a case that physically raises the lenses will be a first add-on for many.
The top and bottom edges of the tablet each have two sets of speaker perforations so you’re listening in stereo when the iPad is oriented horizontally. Also along the edges are physical power and volume buttons, plus a USB-C socket that supports the much faster Thunderbolt standard, opening up the opportunity to connect higher-end storage devices and monitors.
The front is all glass, but there’s a 9mm black border between the display and the tablet’s edge. Embedded into this border is a new front-facing camera that can follow you around in the style of Facebook Portal. This is a great feature for FaceTime calls but the positioning of the camera on one of the shorter edges means you’re awkwardly off-centre when video calling in landscape mode.
Features
(Image credit: Apple)
Positioning aside, that front-facing camera is excellent in terms of image quality, thanks to a 12MP resolution and ultra-wide field of view. The rear camera array is solid, too, boasting a main 12MP wide camera, 10MP ultra-wide camera and a true tone flash.
If you’re the sort of person who’s considering buying a new iPad Pro, you may already have a top-end iPhone with an even better camera, but the iPad takes perfectly good photos and videos (the latter in up to 4K at 60fps) in its own right. It’s also of a high enough quality to enable lots of interesting and useful app-based features, such as document scanning and augmented reality experiences.
Apple positions its iPad Pro models as productivity and creativity devices, and the new M1 chip takes this to the next level. This is the same chip that Apple has just started putting in its MacBooks and has shaken up the laptop market thanks to its vast performance upgrade over previous processors.
Apple claims that it makes the new iPad Pro’s CPU performance 50 per cent faster than that of the already lightning-fast previous version, and GPU speed is up by 40 per cent. Frankly, that sort of power is overkill for those of us primarily interested in watching movies and listening to music but, needless to say, it makes the user experience smoother than Cristiano Ronaldo’s chest.
If you are looking to use the new iPad Pro for creating as well as consuming, you might want to consider combining it with the Apple Pencil (2nd Generation), which wirelessly charges when magnetically connected to the tablet’s edge, and/or the new Magic Keyboard, which essentially turns the iPad into a slick laptop, trackpad and all. Both accessories are expensive, though. In fact, adding the £329 ($349, AU$549) Magic Keyboard to the most affordable version of the iPad Pro 12.9 makes it more expensive than buying an M1-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro.
While content creators might be most excited about the new iPad Pro’s M1 power, we content consumers will be far more excited about the 12.9-inch model’s new screen. Apple calls it a Liquid Retina XDR display, with the ‘XDR’ standing for ‘eXtreme Dynamic Range’. This is the first mini-LED backlight in an iPad. There are 10,000 of the things, arranged into 2500 independent dimming zones – Samsung’s top mini LED-based 4K TV for 2021 (the QN95A) is thought to have around 800 dimming zones, so the iPad’s figure looks incredibly impressive.
The more dimming zones a display has, the more exact and precise it can be in terms of contrast, producing deep blacks next to bright highlights. Apple claims the iPad Pro 12.9 can maintain a full-screen brightness of up to 1000 nits and hit peaks of up to 1600 nits, which is around double the peak brightness of a modern OLED TV. Contrast ratio is claimed to be 1,000,000:1.
Picture
(Image credit: Apple)
Those screen specs should make the iPad Pro 12.9 a great performer with HDR content – and they do. It’s not so much that it goes vastly brighter than other iPad models, such as the iPad Air, it’s that it combines bright highlights with awesomely deep blacks to create a vastly more dynamic and exciting picture.
We play Blade Runner 2049 in Dolby Vision from the iTunes store and set both models to their highest brightness setting. The Pro’s peaks are noticeably brighter than the Air’s but not vastly so. However, to reach those levels the Air has had to entirely sacrifice its black performance, producing something clearly grey in hue. There’s no such sacrifice necessary with the Pro – its blacks are near-perfect.
That combination of deep blacks and very bright highlights makes for a supremely punchy image, particularly in the scenes around LA, which feature neon lights and holographic adverts lighting the city’s grimy gloom.
Thankfully, Apple hasn’t thrown away its reputation for colour authenticity while reaching for new heights in contrast. On the contrary, Apple claims that every iPad is calibrated for colour, brightness, gamma and white point before it leaves the factory, and it shows – there’s great consistency across iPad models, all of which come across as extremely authentically balanced. It’s the same with the new Pro.
There’s a little more vibrancy afforded by the greater dynamic range, seen in the yellow porch of Sapper Morton’s farm, for example, but there’s no hint of garishness or exaggeration. As we switch between films and TV shows from various streaming services and in various resolutions and formats (HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision are all supported), colours combine vividness and nuanced authenticity to an exceptional degree. Everything looks awesome, but it also looks correct.
Apple increases and decreases the resolution of its iPads depending on the size of the screen, so that pixel density is kept the same (all current models have 264 pixels per inch with the exception of the iPad Mini, which has a higher pixel density of 326ppi). As a result, the new iPad Pro 12.9 isn’t vastly sharper or more detailed than siblings such as the Air (although it does dig up more fine details in the brightest and darkest parts of the picture), but the deeper blacks help reinforce edges, making for a more solid and three-dimensional image.
That solidity is retained even during fast and otherwise tricky motion. The iPad Pro maintains a firm grip on the action at all times, sharpening and smoothing without adding any artificiality or shimmer. It doesn’t even get confused by K’s car moving behind a row of skyscrapers as he flies back to HQ at the beginning of Blade Runner 2049, or by the dogfighting planes in 1917. If this was a TV, in terms of motion handling it would be right up there with the superb Sony A90J.
In fact, that’s the underlying beauty of the new iPad Pro 12.9: it’s like having a miniaturised top-end TV you can take almost anywhere.
Sound
(Image credit: Apple)
With two speakers on each of the short edges, the iPad Pro is capable of producing proper stereo when in landscape orientation and, with some clever onboard processing, it’s even able to deliver some virtualised surround sound, with some of the radio chatter at the start of Gravity appearing to come to your left and right rather than being completely tethered to the drivers.
That effect is ramped up to astonishing degrees if you add a pair of AirPods Max or AirPods Pro headphones and take advantage of the spatial audio feature. It’s incredibly effective, particularly with the Max cans, and is like being in a personal Dolby Atmos cinema, with sounds coming from all around you. If the iPad Pro 12.9 is like having a top-end TV you can take anywhere, adding a pair of AirPods Max makes it like having a whole portable cinema. It’s genuinely amazing.
Of course, the tablet will also output sound to any standard wired and Bluetooth headphones, although you will need to buy a USB-C headphone adapter for the former. As with its approach to video, Apple has always favoured authentic, uncoloured sound, and so it proves here – movies and music are both presented with deft tonal balance, impressive rhythmic organisation, lots of engaging punch and detail, and dynamic shifts both big and small.
While it’s not a vast step up from the current Air in terms of its audio quality through headphones, the new iPad Pro does sound noticeably cleaner and more nuanced than its smaller, much more affordable sibling. It has added richness and dynamic subtlety, too. Play both out loud, meanwhile, and there’s a clear increase in available volume and weight from the Pro, although both models are fairly bass light, as you’d expect from drivers small enough to fit inside a tablet device.
Verdict
Apple’s Pro tablets have, as the name suggests, always been aimed at professional, creative types, and they will be delighted by the huge power brought to the new models by the M1 chip.
Our focus is on the picture and sound, though, and the iPad Pro 12.9 is at least as exciting here. The picture performance is superb – punchy and deep, vibrant and natural, exciting and nuanced. It’s right up there with that of the very best TVs you can buy. Sound, meanwhile, is great from the speakers, excellent via standard Bluetooth or wired headphones, and simply amazing with a pair of AirPods Max cans.
This is a hugely expensive tablet and the price is hard to justify for anyone who has no intention of taking advantage of its productivity potential, but it’s also the best tablet you can buy for watching movies on the move. Sure, this is a luxury device, but it’s an extremely persuasive one.
(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is not one for racing new products out for the sake of it. Its Playbar, for example, ruled the roost for seven years, being its only full-fledged soundbar in that time.
The Sonos Beam arrived in the meantime, but was more meant for smaller TVs and rooms, giving you a better alternative than the speakers on your flatscreen rather than cinematic experience. So, a replacement to the Playbar was long overdue.
That’s where the Sonos Arc came in. But it didn’t just replace the Playbar, it brought so many new bells and whistles to the party that it is an altogether different beast. One with Dolby Atmos – a first for the company – to deliver a virtual surround-sound experience from the single ‘bar.
Design
Dimensions: 87 x 1141.7 x 115.7mm / Weight: 6.25kg
Can be wall-mounted or laid on a TV cabinet
Black and white options available
Adjustable status LED
Putting its tech and audio prowess to one side for a minute, the Sonos Arc is a sleek looking soundbar that matches the aesthetic of the company’s One and Move standalones.
Best soundbar: Options to boost your TV audio
It is long – almost the length of a modern 55-inch flatscreen TV – but more subtle than its predecessor, with a plastic alloy build and grille to front and sides. Even the logo fades away when you’re not staring directly at it, whichever finish you choose (there’s black or white, nothing more outlandish than that).
Pocket-lint
We particularly like that there are no contrasting flourishes in the design, as there’s nothing worse than catching a soundbar out of the corner of your eye while watching an intense moment in a film. Unlike children, speaker systems – and especially soundbars – should be heard and not seen. The subtlety of Sonos’ bar ensures that is the case, whether it’s wall-mounted or laid flat on a TV stand.
There are a few touch buttons on the top for play/pause and volume adjustment, but the Sonos app is so simple to use we couldn’t see ourselves bothering with them. Plus, as it is HDMI eARC-enabled, you can mainly control the soundbar through your TV remote for general use.
What is HDMI eARC? Why is it different to HDMI ARC?
The only other distinguishable icon on the bar itself is a microphone symbol, indicating that it is voice-enabled, with support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can tap it to turn on/off the listening mode – signified by a small LED light.
Connections
Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g, 2.4GHz)
HDMI eARC (with optical digital audio adapter)
IR sensor on the front
Around the rear, hidden in an alcove, there are connections for power, HDMI and Ethernet. That’s it.
Pocket-lint
Those not wanting to connect the Arc through HDMI will be pleased to know that a digital optical audio adapter is included in the box, but that will effectively disable any Dolby Atmos support, as that requires hooking it up to an HDMI eARC/ARC port on a compatible TV. You’ll still get very effective multichannel surround sound, just not Atmos.
Also missing (if setup using the optical connection) will be the ability for full automation through your TV’s remote control. There is an infrared (IR) sensor, so you can set your remote to also adjust volume, but that’s a less elegant solution than using HDMI CEC (standing for Consumer Electronics Control) between TV and Arc. It also emits automated audio sync between them.
Still, if it’s all you’ve got then that’s fine – you’re still getting a superb sound system and are future-proofed to boot.
Plus, while there are plenty of TVs with at least one ARC-enabled HDMI port, only more recent models support Dolby Atmos decoding or passthrough. Even fewer support the full HDMI eARC standard, so it’s possible you might consider the soundbar with an eye on upgrading your TV somewhere down the line.
Pocket-lint
As well as 10/100 Mbps Ethernet for wired network connection, single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi is available too.
Features
Dolby Atmos support (through HDMI eARC/ARC)
Built-in Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants
Runs on new Sonos S2 software
Apple AirPlay 2 support
Sonos multiroom compatible
As well as Dolby Atmos – which we’ll come to in a bit – the Sonos Arc is quite a step up over the Playbar when it comes to features.
Support for Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant is wholly welcome, for starters, implementing in similar fashion to Sonos One and Move.
The Arc has a four far-field microphone array built in that detects voice from a fair distance. We walked around a decent sized living room, even stepped outside for a moment, and it could still hear and recognise our voice.
Pocket-lint
FEATURE UPGRADE
Both services are setup through the Sonos app and, subsequently, their own individual applications on iOS and Android, so once complete act almost exactly as they would on any other supported device.
You can only use one assistant, having to disable the other if you swap, but it’s great to be given the choice. And, depending on Amazon and Google’s compatibility, it means you can play and control music by vocal command, across streaming services, and your own digital library.
You can also technically use your Arc to control your TV, if it too is Alexa and/or Google Assistant-enabled.
Apple AirPlay 2 is also supported by the soundbar, to present the cleanest possible audio sent wirelessly from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. And, Sonos’ Trueplay audio tuning during setup ensures that the output matches your surroundings through very simple instructions.
What is Sonos Trueplay and how does it work?
Of course, the Arc’s biggest, most attractive feature is that it is a Sonos speaker.
Sonos has provided an integrated, connected multiroom solution for many years, and has refined the experience over time. Today it is compatible with all the big music streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, and more. There is also Sonos Radio, the brand’s own free service with ad-supported stations and curated playlists, so even if you aren’t a member of a third-party platform, you will still have plenty to listen to.
Pocket-lint
As Sonos products also connect wirelessly to each other, through your home network, you can sync the same songs playing on your Arc to, say, a Sonos Five speaker in another room, for example. You can group multiple speakers together and have them all play the same music. It’s great for house parties, that’s for sure.
Alternatively, you can use the interoperability to hook up a couple of Sonos One speakers to work as rear speakers, using your Arc as the front, centre and height channels. And adding a Sub for extra bass is made as simple as possible.
A decent feature set is all well and good, but the most important aspect of a soundbar is the sound itself. And the Arc does not disappoint when it comes to spatial performance.
Sonos
It effectively presents a virtual 5.0.2 soundfield with Atmos engaged, 5.0 when not. Dedicated centre, left and right channels provide the front-facing effects. Two other channels angled at either end of the bar provide virtual surround, while a pair of additional drivers point upwards to reflect Dolby Atmos height channels off the ceiling and back to the listening position.
There are eight woofers and three tweeters in all, each with its own Class-D digital amplifier, and when all are working in unison it presents a wall of sound that belies the simple, thin form factor.
We advise pairing the Arc with the Sonos Sub, as that will put extra growl into the bass, but we’re already impressed with the overall effect when it’s playing solo, including low frequencies.
As we’ve mentioned above, you can also add a pair of additional Sonos speakers for true rears/surrounds, but the reason why many invest in a soundbar is for its simplicity. Unless you are a true home cinema buff, you’ll already be impressed with the Arc’s out-of-the-box experience.
We tested the Arc using the latest Sonos software (Sonos S2) and several sources. We also used a Philips OLED754 TV, which has Dolby Atmos processing on board and passthrough – which we activated.
This allowed us to play a few Netflix shows that come with Atmos sound, plus several 4K Blu-rays: The Rise of Skywalker, John Wick 3 and Ready Player One. The second John Wick sequel is an especially good check disk for Dolby Atmos, with rain effects utilising the height channels throughout the first few scenes.
Pocket-lint
Perhaps the best test came via our Xbox One X. The Dolby Access app for the console (plus the One S) comes with a great collection of game and movie trailers featuring Atmos mixes, plus a few of Dolby’s own demo clips. They each gave the Sonos Arc a great workout, which it passed with flying colours. It provides a wall of sound, with clear precise spacing, even at extreme volumes.
When listening to the Arc you get an impression of audio above the seating position, plus a widening of the soundscape. But you also get a bold, cinematic presentation that seemingly comes straight from the TV screen. Having a dedicated centre also allows for clean vocal tracks.
In music terms, listening to high-res mixes of Price’s Purple Rain and The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want streamed over Tidal perfectly illustrated the bar’s ability with mid and high frequencies. Even bass response is more than acceptable for music playback.
You are still likely to want a separate Sub to get the most from genres utilising sub-bass – d&b and dubset heads, that’s you – but even without that additional cost the Arc’s neutral tones are a great starting point for all genres.
Verdict
The Sonos Arc is a highly-accomplished bit of kit. There are caveats: it only works with the Sonos S2 software, so cannot be part of the same multi-room setup as older legacy kit; and, without a separate source input on the bar, your TV needs to have Dolby Atmos and HDMI ARC/eARC support to use it at its fullest.
However, those are minor points really as, like the Playbar before it, this is a speaker with the potential to be relevant for the next seven years or more. Your surrounding kit will inevitably catch-up.
In the meantime, the Arc presents an exemplary sound experience even without Dolby Atmos – which accounts for 90 per cent or so of the audio you’ll pump through it anyway. And, with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, plus AirPlay 2 and Sonos’ own feature-filled music platform, you have yourself a very compelling speaker system to elevate your entertainment no end.
It’s pricey, granted, but you’re getting a tough-to-rival feature set and a very classy act all told.
Also consider
Samsung
Samsung HW-Q90R
squirrel_widget_189189
If you’re not bound to Sonos’ multi-room system idea, yet want a true surround sound system in the one box, Samsung delivers a 7.1.4 with ‘bar, sub, rear speakers and Dolby Atmos support out of the box. All for a very reasonable price considering.
Read our review
Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Britta O’Boyle.
Apple has slashed prices of its AppleCare+ plans for MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro notebooks based on its M1 system-on-chips (SoCs) by $20 – $50 in the USA without changing terms and conditions, such as coverage and accidental damage fees.
Apple’s AppleCare+ plan for an M1 and Intel Core-based MacBook Air now costs $199, down from $249, whereas an AppleCare+ plan for a 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 is now priced at $249, down from $269. Meanwhile, the price of an AppleCare+ plan for an Intel-based MacBook Pro 13 is still $269, reports MacRumours.
(Image credit: Apple)
In the U.S., Apple’s MacBook laptops come with a one-year warranty and up to 90 days of complimentary technical support. With an AppleCare+ plans, the warranty is extended to three years (from AppleCare+ purchase date). Furthermore, AppleCare+ customers get up to two incidents of accidental damage protection every 12 months, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax. Also, AppleCare+ customers can access Apple experts via chat or phone 24/7.
Apple reportedly also slashed prices of its AppleCare+ plans in Canada too, but a quick check of Apple’s European stores indicate that prices remain unchanged.
Spotify has acquired Podz, a startup whose technology generates preview clips of podcasts, the streaming service has announced. Unlike other services podcasters can use to manually create clips, TechCrunch says Podz automates the process of finding key moments from episodes using machine learning trained on over 100,000 hours of audio.
The acquisition is aimed at improving podcast discovery, letting users browse short clips rather than 30-minute plus podcast episodes. Spotify says this will make it “easier for listeners to find the content they want to listen to, and for creators to be discovered and build a fan base.” Podz tells TechCrunch that users on its platform typically follow up to 30 podcasts, up from an average of seven.
The acquisition follows Spotify’s subscription podcasting announcement, in which it would allow select partners to charge for access to their content. Although Spotify isn’t planning on taking its 5 percent cut of subscription revenue until 2023, eventually it’ll have a direct financial incentive to encourage its listeners to find and subscribe to as many podcasts as possible. Especially since it’s now competing with Apple Podcasts’ own in-app subscriptions, which launched this week.
Spotify says it plans to integrate Podz’ technology into its platform, and that some of the results should be visible before the end of the year.
There’s been plenty of excitement about Apple Spatial Audio in recent weeks but now it’s the turn of Deezer to step into the spatial audio limelight. The music streaming service has revealed it will offer HiFi subscribers a series of ‘360 Sessions’ – live performances reformatted in Sony 360 Reality Audio.
Using Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology, the 28 track playlist aims to provide a “unique immersive experience in which all audio elements – including vocals, individual instruments and audience – can be heard as if they are in different positions inside a 360 spherical space”.
The tracks include live performances from a slew of global stars and rising talents ranging from Dua Lipa and Anne-Marie, to Circa Waves, Lolo Zouai, Barrie, Fireboy Dml, Joesef, Half Moon Run and Georgia.
Anyone with a subscription to Deezer HiFi, the service’s CD-quality tier, can enjoy the 360 Sessions from today. No special hardware is needed but you will need to download the standalone 360 by Deezer app. Premium users can enjoy the playlist, but only in stereo.
Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format offers a 3D sound space by creating multiple virtual speakers and can be listened to via most standard headphones. That said, the experience has been optimised for Sony headphones that use the Headphones Connect app, such as the WH-1000XM4 over-ears and WF-1000XM4 wireless earbuds.
Deezer was the first music streaming service to offer 360 Reality Audio, but it has since been joined by Tidal, Amazon Music HD and nugs.net (a streaming service dedicated to live concerts).
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Apple took over a health clinic to test plans for a primary care service with its own employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. But efforts reportedly stalled as employees questioned the integrity of data collected through the services.
Tech companies including Apple and Amazon have spent the past few years looking to expand into healthcare, which is a $4 trillion industry in the United States. Amazon now offers its own telehealth and at-home healthcare program to other companies. But not all efforts have been successful. Amazon’s healthcare project Haven, co-founded with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan, failed and shut down in January.
Apple’s own plans for a primary care service focused on integrating data collected by devices like the Apple Watch with clinical care. A subscription-based program would offer patients personalized care. The company trialed the planned service by taking over an employee health clinic and using it as a test site.
If Apple could show the combination of monitoring devices and health services could improve health, it planned to offer the model to other organizations, according to documents reviewed by TheWall Street Journal.
The project hasn’t moved past the preliminary stage. Apple employees have raised concerns about the data collected at the clinic and the culture of the program. Sumbul Desai, vice president of health at Apple and head of the project, reportedly was angry when employees questioned the clinic’s data during a 2019 meeting. The incident led employees to believe that there wasn’t room for critical feedback,
An Apple spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the criticisms were not accurate and that the incident was investigated.
Desai’s team also worked on an app called HealthHabit, which gives people health challenges and lets them chat with clinicians. The app has a hypertension program used in the health clinic. Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams said during a meeting that 91 percent of patients at the Apple clinic with severe hypertension saw improvement, and that it was evidence for the app and clinic’s potential, The Wall Street Journal reported. But employees were concerned that data gave a misleading impression of how well the clinic was working.
An Apple spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the data announced in the meeting was from an internal pilot program.
Apple has other features that let people blend iPhone and Apple Watch data with their clinical care. A tool announced last week would let people send data from their iPhone’s health app directly to doctors.
After years of pop-up experiments, Google is finally dipping its toes in the physical retail waters with its first store, located underneath its offices in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. It will primarily feature Google’s own hardware products, including Pixel phones, Nest smarthome gadgets, Fitbits, and assorted other devices. There will also be a selection of third party accessories and Google-branded swag like hats or T-shirts.
Google characterizes this as its “first” store, but in a call with press yesterday declined to say when, where, or even whether other stores could open. Presumably one might, but it’s no sure thing. The retail space here is a relatively small way for Google to get into physical stores, not a big splashy entrance into competing with Apple Stores. Microsoft closed all of its retail stores last July amid the pandemic.
The Google Store is designed more like a show room (or a brand activation experience) than a retail space intended to move lots of product. There are stools and chairs scattered throughout the main space as well as rooms that Google calls “sandboxes” with product-specific experiences. In one room, customers will go through a little skit of using a Nest hub to answer the door for a delivery person, complete with haptics in the couch to simulate a knock on the door. The room for Pixel phones will showcase their low-light photography feature.
The aesthetic of the Google Store is a sort of less antiseptic, more homey Apple Store. It’s filled with a lot of light, but also a lot of warm wood tones. Google emphasized how it worked with a local artist to design the cork and wood furniture. It’s also proud of the fact that it earned a platinum rating from Leeds for its environmental design. Much of the furniture and flooring are made from recycled materials, for example.
Along the outside of the store are diorama boxes featuring various Google products. There’s a Stadia room for gaming, another room meant to showcase Google’s living room products, and so on. Google also built a circular glass booth that it will fill with exhibits showing off its technologies — starting with Google Translate.
Google says that it will offer on-site repair for Pixel phones and product support for all of its hardware devices. It’ll offer some software support as well — though only for its consumer products, not for enterprise users.
The store opens its doors at 10AM ET on June 17th. You can see more photos from the space below.
Apple’s big giveaway is coming to end in early July as it calls time on the one-year free trial of the Apple TV+ streaming service. There are still a few days to grab it if you’re quick, though.
The year’s gratis subscription to a host of Apple Original shows is still available to anyone who buys a qualifying Apple device and activates the trial before 30th June. After that date, the Apple TV+ free offer will be reduced to a far-from-ungenerous three months.
Apple TV+ was launched in November 2019 with just 17 titles: 14 TV shows and three films at the time of our original Apple TV+ review in April 2020. Now more than a year further down the line, the service boasts 30-40 million subscribers and will have closer to 80 TV shows and films by the end of 2021, according to 9to5Mac, who spotted the reduction of the free offer on the Apple TV+ website.
In fairness to Apple that’s a much more significant library compared to when the year-long trial first began. With Apple TV+ now much more attractive, it’s not quite so difficult to hook people in, although it’s unclear how many of those currently non-paying subscribers will convert to a £4.99 ($4.99, AU$7.99) per month subscription.
While Apple TV+ promises new originals every and has continuing success stories on its books, such as the Emmy-winning The Morning Show, Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest, it will need to push on if it’s to compete for direct debits along with the rest of the streaming establishment in what’s fast becoming a crowded market.
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Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, has announced plans to make its entire lineup either hybrid or all-electric by 2030 as part of its parent company’s new business plan. The brand will reveal its first all-electric vehicle in 2022, and it expects that half of its global sales will be zero-emissions vehicles by around 2025.
In addition, Lincoln vehicles are gaining a hands-free advanced driver assistance feature based on Ford’s BlueCruise system, though the luxury marque will call its version “ActiveGlide.” New Lincoln vehicles coming in 2023 will also feature Google’s native Android Automotive operating system, which is is being added to “millions” of Ford vehicles that same year.
Four of Lincoln’s electric vehicles will be built on the new flexible EV platform that Ford announced in May when it laid out its new $30 billion “Ford Plus” business plan. That platform can power vehicles with all- or rear-wheel drive setups, and it “allows [Lincoln] to reimagine the interior space, and deliver the power of sanctuary in a new way for our clients,” John Jraiche, the company’s global director for luxury vehicles, said in a briefing.
In April, Lincoln announced a concept car in China called Zephyr that the company said offers a good picture of what its future vehicles might look like, inside and out. It featured a dashboard-spanning screen and new user interface that Lincoln refers to as “Constellation.” Lincoln released a short video on Wednesday of what that new UI might look like. The company said its “designers and engineers are also experimenting with digital scenting techniques, exploring how warm, pleasant scents positively affect the mood and overall well-being of the passengers.”
Lincoln was previously working on co-developing its first all-electric vehicle with EV startup Rivian, of which Ford owns at least a 10 percent stake. But the luxury automaker announced last year at the beginning of the pandemic that the project was canceled. While it seemed at the time that Lincoln had said it was still working with Rivian on another EV, the company said this week that this was a miscommunication. Rivian is still working with Ford on a future product, but its involvement with the Lincoln brand ended last year.
In more near-term news, Lincoln announced that the 2021 Nautilus will receive its first over-the-air software updates starting this summer. Those will upgrade the onboard navigation system and improve the Apple CarPlay experience. Later this year, an update will add hands-free capability for the built-in Amazon Alexa digital assistant.
Harpreet Rai, the CEO of smart ring company Oura, often tells a story about a March 2020 Facebook post. An Oura ring user posted that the device said that his overall health score had dropped below his normal level, which prompted him to get tested for COVID-19 — and the test ended up being positive. The company heard from other users, too.
The anecdotal reports encouraged Oura to partner with research teams to try to figure out how well the ring could predict who might be sick with COVID-19. Their studies were part of a wave of interest over the past year in wearable devices as illness detectors. Now, flush with data, researchers and wearable companies are looking toward their next steps.
Research done over the past year showed that it’s probably possible to flag when someone is sick. But differentiating which illness someone might have will be much harder. Experts think it might eventually be possible, but in the near future, illness detection programs might look more like warning lights: they could tell a user that they might be getting sick, but just not with what.
“It’s just like the warning light for your car — take it into the mechanic, we don’t know what’s wrong, but something looks off,” Rai says. “I think that’s where the industry is heading.”
Illness signatures
Even before the pandemic, researchers were checking wearables’ data to see if they could find telltale signatures that might predict illnesses. One study published in early 2020 found that data from Fitbits could predict state-level trends in flu-like illnesses, for example. Other research found that wearable devices could detect signs of Lyme disease. A research team at Mount Sinai Health System in New York used wearables to predict disease flare-ups in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like Crohn’s.
When COVID-19 hit, many of those research teams adjusted their focus. “We decided to shift some of our emphasis to how we can evaluate and identify COVID-19 infections, using the same techniques and technology,” says Robert Hirten, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai who worked on wearables and IBD.
Hirten’s research showed that Apple Watches could detect changes in the heart rate variability of healthcare workers up to seven days before they were diagnosed with COVID-19. Heart rate variability, which tracks the time between heartbeats, is a good proxy for how the nervous system is working, he says. “Often it seems to be very telling of something going on in the body, even before people realize something is happening.”
Other types of data were also useful. A Stanford University study found that heart rate, daily steps, and time asleep as measured by smartwatches changed in a small group of users before they developed symptoms of COVID-19. The first report from the TemPredict study at the University of California, San Francisco found that the Oura ring could detect increases in body temperature before wearers developed COVID-19 symptoms. Through a partnership with New York-based Northwell Health, Fitbit showed that its devices tracked changes in heart rate and breathing rate in the days before someone started feeling sick.
The research is ongoing. Groups at UCSF and the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute continue to run studies with Oura ring, and Fitbit is still working on research with Northwell Health. Fitbit is also part of projects out of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and the Stanford Medicine Healthcare Innovation Lab. Apple launched a study on respiratory disease prediction and Apple Watch in April.
The big wearable companies have a good reason to pursue this line of research; the studies done so far are promising. “People are really learning better ways to identify and predict conditions,” Hirten says. “This has really taken the field of wearable technologies forward significantly.”
A warning light
That doesn’t mean that smartwatches will have apps that tell wearers when they have COVID-19. There’s a big difference between being able to detect a general change in the body that could be an illness and detecting a specific illness, says Jennifer Radin, an epidemiologist with the digital medicine division at Scripps Research Translational Institute who’s run studies on wearables and COVID-19.
“If your heart rate goes up compared to your normal rate, it can be caused by many other things besides just a viral infection. It could just be that you had too many drinks last night,” she says.
None of the metrics researchers pull from wearables are direct measures of a respiratory illness. “They’re all just markers of if the body is feeling good or not,” Hirten says. The systems are very different from the features on wearable devices that can detect atrial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm. In that case, the wearable is directly measuring the marker — heart rate — that changes in a clear, unique way when someone experiences atrial fibrillation.
“Something like COVID-19 is much more complicated. You’re trying to look for alternative markers in the body that track viral illness,” he says. “But it’s a lot more complicated because those markers also track other things going on in the body.”
Fitbit saw the overlap with other illnesses on one of its illness prediction projects this year, which asked participants to take flu tests. There were similar signals in the data when people had the flu as when they had COVID-19, said Conor Heneghan, a director of research at Fitbit. “My instinct is that it’s going to be hard to reliably distinguish between them,” he says.
The task gets even harder as the levels of coronavirus circulating in a community drops. The studies done on wearables and COVID-19 all ran over the past year when the coronavirus was the primary thing making people sick. Flu season hardly existed. There was a pretty good chance that, if someone had a certain signature on their wearable that tracked with respiratory illness, the respiratory illness could be COVID-19. As the disease becomes rare, that gets harder. “It’s not as specific anymore as the prevalence drops,” Hirten says.
But tools to alert people when they might be getting sick are still useful, even if they can’t say what someone is sick with. Heneghan says that’s the likeliest path forward for Fitbit. “It’ll be a general, hey, something has changed in your physiological signs, you might want to consider that you could be getting ill,” he says. “That’s probably ok from our point of view.”
Oura’s Rai says that the Oura ring serves that function already. The ring gives users a readiness score, which incorporates metrics like sleep quality, heart rate, and body temperature. If it detects that someone’s body temperature is elevated, it gives people the option to pause activity goals and enter a rest mode. That’s the product’s warning light, Rai says. He thinks it’ll be the main approach for the next few years.
“These devices cannot diagnose or treat, but what they can do is say that something’s off in your baseline,” he says.
Adding those types of features to more wearable devices will take good communication with users, says Radin. “We don’t want to scare people,” she says. It’d be a problem if people who wore smartwatches thought they had COVID-19 any time their data changed. But the devices could explain to users that there is a range of reasons someone might be seeing a change, including illness, she says. “It’s just a heads up that something is out of your normal range, and it could be something to keep an eye on.”
Apple Podcasts now offers in-app subscriptions in more than 170 countries, about a month after the feature was first scheduled to launch. With this feature live, listeners can pay to support shows and networks for access to ad-free content and, in some cases, other perks like early access to episodes. They can also pay for access to a channel, which is basically like supporting a podcast network and applying these paid perks to all the shows it makes.
A few big shows and networks are participating at launch. Luminary, which made its name selling subscriptions for its own in-app content, is now selling subs through Apple. NPR also sells ad-free subscriptions, as does Wondery, among many others.
Once people have paid for access, a “Subscriber Edition” label will show up on their feeds to signify that they’re able to hear everything. The process to sign up is seamless; listeners just have to tap a button to subscribe and everything runs through Apple’s built-in payment processing.
Apple’s biggest competitor, Spotify, is also eyeing subscription podcasts. In its case, the company hasn’t built an in-app button but rather requires podcasters to link out to an external Anchor webpage where listeners can pay. Of course, other platforms, like Patreon, have also focused on paid podcast content, but bringing the button into the Apple Podcasts app could be potentially huge, as listeners don’t have to struggle to find the place to listen and subscribe.
That’s the broader promise of the feature: a way to easily allow listeners to pay for podcast content in the place where they’re already enjoying shows. Soon we’ll see how this actually pans out for the podcasters themselves.
Smart lock company Level is announcing a new model in its lineup today, simply named the Level Lock. The new Level Lock is very similar to the model introduced last year (now known as the Level Lock Touch) but without the touch controls. It sits in the middle of Level’s lineup and is available starting today in matte black, satin nickel, satin chrome, or polished brass for $249.
Like the $329 Level Lock Touch, the Level Lock uses the core technology that first debuted in the Level Bolt to completely hide all of the smart lock’s electronics and battery in the bolt of the lock itself. This allows the design of the lock to be very discreet and modern — you wouldn’t know it’s a smart lock just by looking at it. Level says the single CR2 battery in the bolt can power the lock for up to a year.
The Level Lock’s smarts, battery, and motor are hidden entirely in the body and bolt of the lock itself, so there’s no attachment on the outside.Image: Level
Starting today, all of Level’s locks are now certified with the Works with Alexa program, so you can use Amazon Alexa to control them. They also work with Amazon’s Sidewalk network, as well as Apple’s HomeKit platform for control outside of the home. You can also control the lock with the Level smartphone app or a standard key.
There are many smart locks available, and few are as expensive as Level’s options. But all of them require large keypads, battery packs, or other obvious fixtures on the door that give away their smarts. For those that want a smart lock, but don’t want to advertise the fact, Level’s locks are the way to go.
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