Apple’s colorful new M1-powered iMacs, refreshed iPad Pros, and updated Apple TV 4K (with a not-terrible-looking remote) are now all available to preorder today from Apple’s website.
The company says that the new products will be delivered starting on May 21st —at least for the first wave of orders, although that timing will certainly slip as stock sells out.
Customers interested in buying the new iMac should take note that only some of the color schemes will be available in stores: green, pink, blue, and silver models will be sold in-person at Apple Store locations, but the full seven-color spectrum will only be offered through Apple’s website, at least for now.
The new iPad Pro also features Apple’s new M1 processor (the same as the iMac and last falls updated MacBooks), in addition to an upgraded ultra-wide angle camera for better video calls. Additionally, the larger 12.9-inch model will feature a new Mini LED display, which promises a far brighter and more accurate screen experience — at the cost of a $100 price increase over the 2020 model.
iPad Pro (2021, 12.9-inch, M1, Wi-Fi)
$1,099
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Apple’s new 12.9-inch iPad Pro features an M1 processor, as well as a new Liquid Retina XDR Mini LED screen. It costs $100 more for the base configuration this year, starting at $1,099 for a 128GB Wi-Fi-enabled tablet. It starts at $1,299 if you opt for cellular service.
$1,099
at Apple
$1,099
at B&H Photo
$1,099
at Best Buy
Also of particular note: in addition to the preorders for the updated Apple TV 4K, preorders have also opened for the standalone $59 Siri Remote for existing Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K (first-gen) owners looking to replace the infamous first-generation Siri Remote with a (hopefully) better new design.
Alongside the preorders for the new Apple products, the first wave of last week’s AirTag and purple iPhone 12 and 12 mini devices should be arriving to both customers and in Apple Stores starting today.
(Pocket-lint) – The Amazfit T-Rex Pro is a sportswatch built for outdoor lovers. Its maker, Zepp Health, has sought to make it a better companion for trail runs, hikes and open water swims than the original 2020 T-Rex model – by making the Pro better suited to surviving in extreme conditions and adding new sensors to offer richer metrics too.
A core part of the T-Rex Pro is its affordable price point – it’s significantly cheaper than most outdoor watches, so could save you some money if you wanted something to take out on adventures. But while the price and feature set might read as appealing, does this T-Rex bring future goodness or is it a bit of a dinosaur at launch?
Design & Display
Measures: 47.7mm (diameter) x 13.5mm (thickness)
1.3-inch touchscreen display, 360 x 360 resolution
10ATM waterproofing (to 100m depth)
Weighs: 59.4g
The T-Rex Pro largely sticks to the same design formula as the T-Rex. There’s a similar-sized 47mm polycarbonate case, matched with a 22mm silicone rubber strap, all weighing in at 59.4g. To put that into perspective: the 47mm Garmin Fenix 6 weighs 80g, and the Polar Grit X weighs 66g. So the T-Rex Pro is a lighter watch thanks to that plastic case. We’d almost like a bit more weight to it, if anything.
Pocket-lint
There’s also a chunky bezel with exposed machined screws to emphasise its rugged credentials – and it’s passed more military grade tests than the original T-Rex to make it better suited to the outdoors. The Pro attains 15 military grade tests – up from the original’s 12 – and is built to handle extreme humidity and freezing temperatures.
Along with those improved military grade toughness credentials, it’s also ramped up the water-resistance rating – offering protection up to 100 metres depth (10ATM). The ‘non-Pro’ T-Rex can be submerged in water up to 50 metres.
At the heart of that light, rugged, chunky exterior is a 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, which can be set to always-on. Tempered glass and an anti-fingerprint coating has been used to make it a more durable and smudge-free display – and we can confirm it’s a screen that doesn’t give you that unattractive smudgy look as its predecessor suffered.
Pocket-lint
It’s a bright and colourful screen, with good viewing angles. In bright outdoor light, that vibrancy isn’t quite as punchy as in more favourable conditions, but it’s on the whole a good quality display to find on a watch at this price.
Around the back is where you’ll find the optical sensors and the charging pins for when you need to power things back up again. It uses the same slim charging setup as the T-Rex, which magnetically clips itself in place and securely stays put when it’s time to charge.
Fitness & Features
GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo satellite system support
Firstbeat training analysis
Heart rate monitor
SPO2 sensor
In true Amazfit fashion, the T-Rex Pro goes big on sports modes – and includes the kinds of sensors that should make it a good workout companion.
There’s 100 sports modes up from just the 14 included in the standard T-Rex. It still covers running, cycling and swimming (pool and open water), but it’s also added profiles for activities like surfing, dance, and indoor activities like Pilates.
The majority of these new modes will offer you the basics in terms of metrics, though modes like surfing and hiking will offer additional ones like speed and ascent/descent data in real-time. The addition of an altimeter here means you can capture richer elevation data, which is useful if you’re a fan of getting up high and hitting those mountains and hilly terrain.
For outdoor tracking, there’s support for four satellite systems with GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo all on board to improve mapping accuracy. You don’t have any type of navigation features to point you in the right direction, though, nor can you upload routes to follow on the watch.
For road and off-road runs, we found core metrics were reliable during our testing. GPS-based distance tracking came up a little short compared to a Garmin Enduro sportswatch, plus we had issues inside of the app generating maps of our routes as well.
Best Garmin watch 2021: Fenix, Forerunner and Vivo compared
By Chris Hall
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Swim tracking metrics were generally reliable and it was a similar story for indoor bike and rowing sessions. In the pool, it was a couple of lengths short of the Enduro’s swim tracking, though stroke counts for indoor rowing largely matched up to what we got from a Hydow rowing machine.
But when you dig a little deeper beyond core metrics, some of the T-Rex Pro’s data seems a little questionable. If you’re happy to stick to the basics, though, then the Pro does a good enough job.
Along with manual tracking, there’s support for automatic exercise recognition for eight of those sports modes. This is something we’ve seen crop up on Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung smartwatches with varying success. On the T-Rex Pro, you’ll need to select whether to automatically track activities like running, swimming and indoor rowing. As Zepp Health outlines: there can be instances where accidental recognition can happen with some activities when you jump on a bus or a car. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case for us.
Zepp Health’s newest BioTracker 2 optical sensor is included to power a host of heart-rate features outside of continuous monitoring and measuring effort levels during exercise. It’s also used for the PAI scores, which seeks to shift the attention away from counting steps to regularly raising heart rate through exercise. It’s also used for taking heart rate variability measurements to track stress levels and is used for training insights – like those found on Garmin watches – that will generate VO2 Max scores, training effect, training load, and recovery times.
As far as the reliability of that heart rate monitoring, the Amazfit is better suited to resting heart rate and continuous heart rate data as opposed to relying on exercise and those additional training and fitness insights. In our testing it generally posted higher maximum heart rate readings and lower average heart rate readings compared to a Garmin HRM Pro heart rate monitor chest strap. Those readings were enough to put us in different heart rate zones, which undermines the usefulness of those training insights and PAI scores.
That sensor also unlocks blood oxygen measurements with a dedicated SpO2 app on board to offer on-the-spot measurements. It can be used to offer alerts when you hit major altitude changes. We didn’t get up high enough to trigger those altitude alerts but did compare on-the-spot measurements against a pulse oximeter and they largely all matched up.
Pocket-lint
You’ll get those staple activity tracking features here too, such as capturing daily step counts and monitoring sleep as well as naps, capturing sleep stages and breathing quality, which is tagged as a beta feature and makes use of the new onboard SpO2 sensor.
We found step counts were at times well within the counts of a Fitbit smartwatch – but also some days where we registered longer step totals there was a much bigger difference.
When you’re not tracking your fitness, the Pro does do its duty as a smartwatch too. It runs on Zepp Health’s own RTOS software – and while it might not be the most feature-rich smartwatch experience, it will give you a little more than the basics.
Google Android and Apple iPhone users can view notifications, control music playing on your phone, along with setting up alarms, reminders and changing watch faces. You don’t have payments, the ability to download apps, a music player or a smart assistant, which has appeared on some Amazfit watches.
Pocket-lint
Notification support is of the basic kind, letting you view notifications from native and third-party apps, but not respond to them. They’re easy to read, but what you can read varies based on the type of notification. If you happen to have multiple notifications from the same app, it struggles to display them all and merely lets you know you have multiple messages. Music controls work well as they do on other Amazfit watches and features like weather forecasts and watch faces are well optimised to that touchscreen display.
Performance & Battery Life
Up to 18 days in typical usage
Up to 9 days in heavy usage
40 hours of GPS battery life
The T-Rex Pro features a 390mAh capacity battery – matching what’s packed into the T-Rex. That should give you 18 days in typical usage, 9 days in heavy usage, with an impressive 40 hours of GPS battery life.
Like other Amazfit watches, those battery numbers tend to be based on some very specific lab testing scenarios. In our experience, it’s always felt a little on the generous side. In our time with the T-Rex Pro, we got to around the 10 day mark on a single charge. That was with regular GPS tracking, continuous heart rate monitoring, stress monitoring, and the richer sleep tracking enabled. We had the screen on max brightness but not in always-on mode.
Pocket-lint
The standard T-Rex felt like it was good for a solid week using it in similar conditions, orring 20 days in typical usage by comparison – but the Pro can get you longer than a week even with some of the more demanding features in use.
Things seem to have improved on the GPS battery front as well. An hour of using the GPS usually knocked the Pro’s battery just under 10 per cent, while the T-Rex usually lost 10 per cent from 30 minutes using the GPS. It might not be the 40 hours that was promised, but the Pro does seem to hold up a little better than the T-Rex when it comes to tracking.
Verdict
The T-Rex Pro is a solid outdoor watch offering that’s missing one key ingredient that would makes it a great one – there’s no maps to point you in the right direction when you think you’re lost.
Otherwise, if you want something that offers a durable design and can track your outdoor activities, then the T-Rex Pro’s chunky-but-light design will no doubt appeal to adventurers on a budget. Its fitness and sports tracking features by and large do a good enough job too.
So if you’re hoping that you’ll be able to get an experience that rivals what the Garmin Fenix, Instinct, and the likes of the Polar Grit X can offer, then this T-Rex isn’t quite the full package. But that’s reflected in the price – which is so much less that you should be willing to accept such compromise.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Garmin Instinct Solar
Garmin’s outdoor watch that sits underneath the pricier Fenix does still cost considerably more than the T-Rex Pro, but will give you those navigation features and great long battery life too.
Read our review
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Pocket-lint
Polar Grit X
The Grit X will give you navigation features, a light design, and help you fuel for long runs and hikes to make sure you’re not running on empty.
VMware updated us on its progress on making Fusion compatible with Apple’s M1 chip this week. The company said it’s committed to “delivering a Tech Preview of VMware Fusion for macOS on Apple silicon this year,” but it’s not clear if that version of the tool will support Windows 10 on Arm, because of Microsoft’s licensing terms.
This isn’t the first time VMware has warned against M1-equipped Mac owners running Windows 10 on Arm. VMWare product line manager Michael Roy said earlier this month that “It’s uncharted waters, so everyone is treading lightly… Like, you can’t even BUY Windows for ARM, and folks using it who aren’t OEMs could be violating EULA… we’re not into doing that for the sake of a press release…”
So don’t expect VMware to follow Parallels in enabling Windows 10 on Arm support for M1-equipped Macs until Microsoft gives it the go-ahead. Roy said in the official announcement that VMware has “reached out to Microsoft for comment and clarification on the matter,” and that the company is “confident that if Microsoft offers Windows on Arm licenses more broadly, we’ll be ready to officially support it.”
For its part, Microsoft seems content not to commit to bringing Windows to the latest Macs. Apple said in November 2020 that its silicon is ready for Windows; it’s simply up to Microsoft to update the operating system to natively support the M1 chip. Now we have two leading virtualization software makers either moving forward without Microsoft (Parallels) or publicly calling for a verdict on the issue (VMware).
But this week’s announcement wasn’t all about Windows. The next major update to VMware Fusion is set to support Linux-based operating systems, and that progress appears to be going well. Roy said that he could boot seven Arm-based VMs—two command-line interfaces and five full desktops “configured with 4CPU and 8GB of RAM”—on a battery-powered MacBook Air that doesn’t even include a fan.
“Of course, just booting a bunch of VMs that are mostly idle isn’t quite a ‘real world experience’, nor is it the same as doing some of the stress testing that we perform in the leadup to a release,” Roy said. “Even with that said, and note that I’m using ‘debug’ builds which perform slower, in my 12 years at VMware I’ve never seen VMs boot and run like this. So we’re very encouraged by our early results, and seriously can’t wait to get it on every Apple silicon equipped Mac out there.” (Emphasis his.)
But there are some caveats. VMware Fusion doesn’t “currently have things like 3D hardware accelerated graphics,” Roy said, “and other features that require Tools which Fusion users on Intel Macs have come to expect.” The company also doesn’t plan to offer x86 emulation via Fusion—which means M1-equipped Mac owners won’t be able to install Windows or Linux .ISOs meant for the architecture.
Roy said VMware plans to release a preview of an M1-compatible version of Fusion “before the end of this year.” The company should offer more information about its progress toward supporting Apple silicon via the VMware Technology Network and Twitter “in the coming months.” Maybe that will give Microsoft enough time to publically decide whether or not it wants to make it easier to run Windows on the latest Macs.
Organising your digital music collection, you might be struck by the number of different audio file formats in your library. Almost everyone’s heard of MP3, but what about OGG, AIFF, MQA or DSD?
If the list leaves you wondering whether all those songs studied at different universities to get such official-looking letters after their names, don’t worry. We’re here to break down the meaning of the most common music file formats, the differences between them, and why you should care.
Whether you’re listening to low-quality MP3 files, probably slightly better AAC tracks, or hi-res audio in FLAC or WAV, it’s time to understand exactly what you’re getting – and which is the best file format for you.
Read on to learn about the pros and cons of each audio file format…
File formats and codecs at-a-glance
Want to cut straight to the chase? Here’s a handy guide to all the file formats and the differences between them. If you want to know more, read on below for a more in-depth look at the differences in size, sound quality and compatibility.
AAC (not hi-res): Apple’s alternative to MP3 – stands for ‘Advanced Audio Coding’. Lossy and compressed, but sounds generally better. Used for Apple Music streaming.
AIFF (hi-res): Apple’s alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes), but not hugely popular.
DSD (hi-res): The single-bit format used for Super Audio CDs. It comes in 2.8mHz, 5.6mHz and 11.2mHz varieties, but due to its high-quality codec, it’s (mostly) impractical for streaming. Uncompressed.
FLAC (hi-res): This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata. It’s royalty-free and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums. The downside is, it’s not supported by Apple (so not compatible with Apple Music).
MP3 (not hi-res): Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size, but far from the best sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods.
MQA (hi-res): A lossless compression format that packages hi-res files for more efficient streaming. Used for Tidal Masters hi-res streaming.
OGG (not hi-res): Sometimes called by its full name, Ogg Vorbis. A lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. The file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming.
WAV (hi-res): The standard format in which all CDs are encoded. Great sound quality but it’s uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information).
WMA Lossless (hi-res): A lossless incarnation of Windows Media Audio, but no longer well-supported by smartphones or tablets.
Best music streaming services 2021: free streams to hi-res audio
MQA audio: everything you need to know
What is DSD audio?
Compressed vs. uncompressed audio files
First, let’s talk about the three categories all audio files can be grouped into. It comes down to how compressed the data is (if at all) and as a result, how much quality or “loss” you’ll experience, as a listener.
If no compression algorithm (or codec) has been used to compress the audio within your file, two things happen: zero loss in sound quality, and soon-enough, a “startup disk full” warning on your laptop.
Essentially, an uncompressed track is a reproduction of the original audio file, where real-world signals are transformed into digital audio.
WAV vs AIFF vs FLAC: uncompressed file formats
WAV and AIFF are arguably the most popular uncompressed audio file formats, both based on PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), which is widely recognised as the most straightforward audio storage mechanism in the digital domain. Both WAV and AIFF files use similar technology, but store data in slightly different ways. They can store CD-quality or high-resolution audio files.
WAV was developed by Microsoft and IBM, hence it’s used in Windows-based platforms, and is the standard format all CDs are encoded in.
AIFF was developed by Apple as an alternative to WAV, and although not as widely popular, AIFF files have better metadata support, meaning you can include album artwork, song titles and the like.
The drawback? These babies are big. A CD-quality (16-bit, 44.1kHz) file will take around 10MB of your hard drive per minute in length.
ALAC vs FLAC vs WMA Lossless: lossless audio formats
Everyone loves a FLAC. A lossless file, the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is compressed to nearly half the size of an uncompressed WAV or AIFF of equivalent sample rate, but there should be no “loss” in terms of how it sounds. FLAC files can also provide a resolution of up to 32-bit, 96kHz, so better than CD-quality.
Other lossless audio file formats include ALAC (Apple Lossless) and WMA Lossless (Windows Media Audio). The former is a good iOS and iTunes compatible alternative to FLAC, although the files are slightly less compact than FLACs. Check for smartphone and tablet compatibility, though.
AAC vs MP3: lossy audio formats
Who’s heard of an MP3? Course you have. Steve Jobs famously pulled 1000 of them out of his pocket on 23rd October 2001. It is easily the most common audio format, and MP3s are convenient for storing music on portable players or tablets and work on almost all playback devices. But to do that, you have to lose a load of information in the process. In order to make audio files up to ten times smaller than CD quality files, some original data must be discarded, resulting in a loss of sound quality.
The bit-rate at which an MP3 is recorded also affects the sound quality. MP3s encoded at 128kbps will incur more sound loss than those encoded at 320kbps (kilobits per second, where each “bit” is essentially a “piece” of the song). Now that storage is so much cheaper, we’d avoid 128kbps at all costs, though 320kbps MP3s still have their purpose if your storage is limited – and they remain a standard on download stores.
Another lossy format is AAC (Apple’s Advanced Audio Coding) which is compressed much like an MP3, but it’s slightly more efficient and sounds better. AAC is used for Apple Music streaming (at 256kbps) and YouTube streaming.
The Vorbis format, often called Ogg Vorbis owing to its Ogg container, (the best way to think of this is that OGG is the can, Vorbis is the ring-pull) is a lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. Ogg Vorbis is the file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming.
If you’re sticking with lossy, it’s worth remembering this: while more “bits” usually means better sound, it depends on the efficiency of the codec in your file. Although you might notice that much of the music in your collection is encoded at 128kbps so should be much of a muchness, an MP3 will likely sound a fair bit (see what we did there?) worse than an AAC or Ogg Vorbis file, due to the inefficiency of the codec in an MP3.
What about high-resolution audio?
Unlike high-definition video, there’s no single universal standard when it comes to high-resolution audio.
However, in its simplest terms, hi-res audio tends to refer to music files which have a higher sampling frequency and/or bit depth than CD – which is specified at 16-bit/44.1kHz. Hi-res files therefore come in the form of 16-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz, for example.
So why should you care? Quite simply, hi-res audio files have a lot of extra audio information and thus sound a lot better than compressed audio formats, which lose information in the compression process. They will take up more storage space but we definitely think it’s worth the trade off.
Uncompressed files like AIFF and WAV are hi-res, as are those lossless FLAC and ALAC file formats. DSD (the somewhat niche format used for Super Audio CDs) is also hi-res, but it’s not as widely supported. When it comes to streaming, MQA is a file packing format used by the likes of Tidal Masters, which helps to bring hi-res audio to streaming services using as little bandwidth as possible.
As for playing hi-res audio, an increasing amount of products now support it. Premium portable music players such as the Award-winning Cowon Plenue D2 plus the newer and rather splendid Cowon Plenue D3 support 24-bit/192kHz WAV, FLAC, ALAC and AIFF files. Both players boast DSD128 file compatibility too – and that support is native, so DSD files aren’t converted to PCM during playback.
The Astell & Kern Kann Alpha and another 2020 Award-winner, the Astell & Kern A&futura SE200 digital audio players are like many A&K players (including the entry-level A&norma SR25) in that file support goes all the way up to 32-bit/384kHz and includes native DSD256 and MQA playback.
KEF’s new LS50 Wireless II speakers will play 24-bit/192kHz files in all their glory, and support for DSD256 is also onboard too this time, as is MQA decoding for the playback of compatible downloaded files and hi-res Tidal Masters.
Hi-res audio can also be played on most flagship Android smartphones, but you can’t play hi-res on a box-fresh iPhone. We’ve found ways around that, but it’s worth remembering that hi-res audio isn’t quite as portable as its lossy brethren – yet. You can find more info on which hi-fi products support hi-res audio here.
Which is the best audio file format for you?
The file format you choose will depend on whether storage or sound quality is your key concern, as well as which devices you intend to use for playback.
MP3s became hugely popular when storage was at a premium. Now that phones, music players and laptops have far more storage space, we think you really should be looking to use better-than-CD-quality files.
If you’re archiving your audio files, a FLAC or other lossless file might be a good shout for ripping your music, though. Lossless files strike a good balance between compression and sound quality, allowing you to listen to the best quality digital music without taking up all your storage space. Just make sure your devices are all compatible with your file format of choice.
High-resolution audio: everything you need to know
Best portable music players 2021: from budget to hi-res music
Home/Software & Gaming/Fortnite is not on Xbox Cloud Gaming due to competition with Epic PC offerings
Matthew Wilson 16 hours ago Software & Gaming
With the Epic Games V Apple trial set to get underway in just a matter of days, court documents are starting to reveal some interesting facts about both companies. One court document reveals that Epic Games is keeping Fortnite off of Microsoft’s xCloud streaming service, as Epic views it as a competitor to its own PC offerings.
The document, which was uncovered by The Verge, goes over deposition questions directed towards Epic Games VP of business development, Joe Kreiner. When asked about why Fortnite isn’t on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Streaming service, Kreiner said: “we viewed Microsoft’s efforts with xCloud to be competitive with our PC offerings”.
As a result, Fortnite isn’t available to stream on Microsoft’s service, although it is available elsewhere, including Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service.
On GeForce Now, all revenue made through microtransactions and in-game subscriptions goes straight to Epic Games, while on the Xbox, Epic has to use the Xbox Store for in-game transactions. However, Kreiner does admit that Epic Games hasn’t negotiated this with Microsoft.
This line of questioning is all part of the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple. Epic’s case against Apple is centred around iOS App Store policies, which prohibit rival app stores and payment processing methods from being used. Due to this, Fortnite was removed from the iOS platform last year.
KitGuru Says: We’re going to get some interesting looks behind the scenes of mobile, PC and console businesses during this case. The Epic V Apple trial is set to begin next week.
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Nvidia made a big splash when they announced their planned CPU named Grace at their recent virtual GTC event. We all know about Nvidia’s GPUs and we are sort-of aware of Bluefield which is described as a DPU. Now Nvidia also has plans for a CPU, so that means they have a Three Chip Strategy which surely merits a video from Leo.
Watch the video via our VIMEO Channel (Below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:15 Leo starts a rant
01:20 Jim @ Adored
01:50 Leo rant continues
02:47 Nvidia mobile
03:12 Acquisitions
03:55 bet against Jen-Hsun?
05:55 Graphics cards and Omniverse
07:41 Nvidia Compute and the future?
09:38 A feel for Nvidia’s ambition
ARM Alps
ARM Grace
Auto DRIVE Atlan
Enterprise AI BlueField 3
Enterprise AI Jarvis
Nvidia DGX SuperPOD
Leo’s notes:
Gamers have a distorted view of Nvidia as ‘that damned company that utterly fails to supply over-priced graphics cards.’
We know that Nvidia was ditched by Apple back in the days of Intel Core Duo after the bump gate shocker
Nvidia claimed design win after design win for Tegra yet I have never seen an Nvidia tablet, with the exception of their own Shield product.
Where are Nvidia powered smart phones?
Covering Nvidia drove Jim to quit doing tech analysis videos for AdoredTV.
And yet, the graphics cards I have bought over the past few years for my own PC have been an EVGA GTX 980, reference GTX 1080 and a Founder’s Edition RTX 2080.
Just look at Nvidia’s stock price and market cap!
Nvidia acquired Mellanox for $7 billion in April 2020 In September 2020 Nvidia announced they want to buy ARM for US$40 billion
Omniverse and Digital Twins Auto – Orin can replace many electronic control units with a single SoC with Atlan, due in 2024.
Hyperion 8 is a platform for cars. Nvidia DRIVE includes Grace, Bluefield and Ampere Next
Three chip strategy for data centres – GPU, CPU and DPU
GPUs generate a lot of cross-datacenter traffic, including Deep learning,
There is need for Nvidia’s networking processors, the Data Processing Unit (DPU)
The Bluefield family of DPUs comes from Mellanox, and is now a core part of Nvidia’s offerings
Bluefield is designed to offload a major part of network functions, including all the processing that goes with them, such as SSL and security analysis.
SuperPOD has been updated with Bluefield 2 and can include the A100 with 80GB
Enterprise AI A10 and A30, SuperPOD with BlueField 2 and EGX
SuperPOD starts at US$7 million and scales to US $60 million for a full system
Apple has added a new App Store search suggestions feature in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, that might make it easier to find apps. Now, after typing in a search term, the App Store will attempt to predict what you’re looking for and offer suggested words that, when tapped, will further narrow down your search results and speed up your hunt for specific kinds of apps.
Search suggestions actually appeared on some iPhones earlier in April as part of a test, according to MacRumors, but now the feature should be rolling out to all iPhones in the supported regions.
Introducing search suggestions on the App Store!
Select (or deselect) multiple suggestions to refine your search so you can find even more amazing apps and games.
Search suggestions roll out today starting with the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia. pic.twitter.com/viaZHlCZMb
— App Store (@AppStore) April 29, 2021
Using search suggestions is pretty simple. Let’s say I’m looking for an app to help me make some pizza from scratch: I can type “pizza” in the App Store’s search field and see additional words pop up like “maker,” “game,” “call,” “calculator,” or “order.” Selecting one of those suggestions filters the results further, so choosing calculator will pull up apps for calculating the correct ratio ingredients for pizza dough (surprisingly there’s a lot of those).
Hunting for “pizza calculators” using the new App Store search suggestions.
Currently, not every search allows you to select multiple suggestions. I was able to refine Apple’s example of “food” with “delivery” and “Indian,” but my other sample searches only gave me one filter each. Not every search brings up a suggested filter, either. We’ve reached out to Apple for clarification on when suggestions appear.
What does consistently show up in search are ads, which Apple originally added to App Store search in 2016. It’s easy to see how my plan to make pizza from scratch could get derailed by a big Uber Eats or Papa John’s ad above my helpful dough calculator app. Ordering delivery is so much easier than doing math.
Those ads are likely to inflame Apple’s App Store critics further — they’ll no doubt argue that an indie developer trying to make it easier to figure out the ratios of water to flour in pizza shouldn’t have to compete with Uber’s ad budget, the same way they think competing apps shouldn’t be buying ads in front of one another’s products while Apple profits from the result. But every change to a search engine has winners and losers, and it’s not yet clear whether this one will make it easier or harder for small developers to get more exposure. They could wind up being helpful for everyone who uses the App Store.
After months of preparation, Epic Games will finally take on Apple in court in a trial that could fundamentally change the makeup of the App Store. The fight dates back to August, when Epic added a direct payment mechanism to its hit battle royale game Fortnite in violation of Apple’s rules. The iPhone maker quickly removed the game from the App Store, and Epic responded shortly after with an antitrust lawsuit aiming to establish the App Store as a monopoly. The case will finally be brought to trial starting May 3rd.
The trial promises to deliver huge revelations about the inner workings of one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world, with testimony from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, and more. We’ve already made some fascinating discoveries from documents published ahead of the trial, and there’s sure to be a lot more news ahead.
Apple’s upcoming 2021 refresh of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro — which will feature an M1 processor and a new Mini LED display — will work with the 2020 model of the 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard case after all. But it’s not going to be a perfect fit.
According to a newly added note to an Apple support document (spotted by Chris Ball on Twitter) the first-generation Magic Keyboard (model number A1998) will be “functionally compatible” with the updated iPad Pro. But due to the slightly thicker dimensions of the new 12.9-inch model (which is 0.5mm thicker than the 2020 version), Apple warns that “it’s possible that the Magic Keyboard may not precisely fit when closed, especially when screen protectors are applied.”
Apple updated the document with clarification today (an earlier copy of the same document from last week does not contain the compatibility information). The Verge had reported earlier that the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro would not be compatible with the older case, but it appears Apple has decided it will narrowly work.
While the old Magic Keyboard will still work, it seems that Apple is trying to encourage customers toward buying the new case, which presumably has more room to accommodate the thicker tablet. But given that the Magic Keyboard accessory for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro costs $349, along with the relatively short time since its release, it’s easy to see why owners of the older model weren’t too excited about the prospect of having to shell out for a new accessory, especially when considering the $1,099 starting price of the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro model.
All of this confusion only applies to the larger, 12.9-inch iPad Pro hardware, however. The 11-inch model (which isn’t getting a new Mini LED display and features identical measurements to the 2020 model) is still fully compatible with the 2020 version of its Magic Keyboard accessory.
Earlier today, Microsoft released a blog post sharing the company’s thoughts on the gaming industry and its focus for gaming in 2021 and beyond. Microsoft’s goal has changed for the Xbox team and its gaming initiatives from focusing more on a specific platform (i.e the Xbox consoles) to being focused on multiple platforms, specifically the PC.
Microsoft’s end goal is to be a ‘player first’ company, focusing more on the game rather than the platform it’s on. This means that we’ll be seeing more and more features being focused on the PC platform, and not just the Xbox consoles alone.
This is good news for PC gamers is that Microsoft is now focusing more than ever before on the PC gaming ecosystem, which hopefully means more and more gaming optimizations for the PC and more cross-play potential, which is what Microsoft also highlighted in its blog post.
For example, Microsoft shares more details on Halo Infinite which is getting a significant amount of PC development time and will fully support features such as ultrawide (21:9) and super ultrawide (32:9) screens, triple keybinds, and higher fidelity graphics which will be PC exclusive.
Plus, Halo infinite will also have cross-play capabilities with PC and the latest Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Microsoft is also expanding its cloud gaming services to allow any device to stream over 100 console games to your PC. A few days ago, Microsoft announced the beta for its cloud gaming service, and it will work with both Windows 10 devices and Apple iOS devices through web browsers such as Edge, Chrome, and Safari.
As for developers, Microsoft is adding more features to give developers an easier time making games for PCs. Currently, there’s a new DirectX12 feature called the Agility SDK, allowing developers to push the latest DirectX 12 features and updates to their games without the end user (player) requiring an operating system update.
Microsoft is also working on other features like Auto HDR technology and continuing to work on DirectStorage technology, which was an Xbox exclusive feature but is now being developed for the PC.
These are just some of the features Microsoft addressed in its blog post, but overall it’s great to see Microsoft focusing on the PC player experience just as much as on the Xbox consoles.
Apple executives said Wednesday that roughly 50% of the Mac and iPad sales in the second quarter of 2021 were to people who’d never owned those devices before. Much of that growth has been attributed to the M1 system-on-a-chip, the release of which led the Mac to enjoy the best financial quarter in its decades-long history.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed the stat during an earnings call, 9to5Mac reported, and was followed by Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing that 66% of Mac and iPad sales in China were to new customers during that same time period. Both figures show that Apple’s products have started to appeal to new customers.
It’s not hard to guess why that would be the case for the Mac. Apple released new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models featuring its custom silicon in November 2020. Those models were all well-reviewed and—to some enthusiasts’ surprise—actually flipped the price-to-performance ratio in Apple’s favor.
The M1 chip outperforms much of its x86 competition in various benchmarks even though it’s more power-efficient and, in the MacBook Air’s case, might be throttled if it starts to get too hot. But in many types of workloads, that combination of performance and power efficiency is essentially unrivaled in notebooks equipped with x86 processors.
The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro also feature high-resolution displays and longer-than-expected battery life. They don’t beat every notebook in every benchmark—especially when it comes to gaming—but we noted in our review of the MacBook Pro that it was “putting every other laptop on notice.” And, well, people noticed.
Even more people might consider a Mac or iPad now that the M1 is available in the latest iMac and iPad Pro models. Apple’s planning to bring the rest of the Mac line into the fold by the end of 2022 as well. Those devices are expected to offer better I/O, support for additional memory, and other power user features.
Here’s the bad news: Maestri and Cook said the global chip shortage is likely to affect the supply of its Macs and iPads in the second half of 2021. Cook said that “We expect to be supply-gated, not demand-gated,” when it comes to sales of those products later this year. That’s a testament to these products’ newfound popularity.
Intel can have Justin Long. Apple has the satisfaction of watching its longest-running product line surge in popularity—even among people who’ve never purchased it before—practically the moment it switched from x86 processors to custom silicon. And that’s all with the first chip it designed for something other than mobile devices.
When Apple introduced its all-new iMac 24-inch all-in-one desktop and iPad Pro tablet based on its M1 system-on-chip earlier this month, it said that the new products would be available in the second half of May, but never revealed when exactly they were set to hit the shelves. On Thursday Apple finally unwrapped details about availability of its new devices.
Apple and its partners will start to take pre-orders on the latest 24-inch iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K starting April 30, 2021. Meanwhile, the new AIO desktop, professional tablet, and set-top-box will be available starting May 21, 2020, reports MacRumors citing UK retailer John Lewis. Since the date comes from an unofficial source, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Meanwhile, Jon Prosser, a tech analyst and a leaker, also states that the 21st of May as the launch date for Apple’s latest products.
Apple’s new M1-based iMac comes in seven colors and is equipped with a 23.5-inch display featuring a 4480 × 2520 resolution and a 500 nits brightness, a major upgrade for entry-level AIOs that previously featured a 21-inch LCD panel. The system can be equipped with up to 16GB of LPDDR4 memory and up to 2TB of solid-state storage. Pricing starts at $1,299.
Apple’s upcoming iPad Pro also represent a huge advancement when compared to predecessors as they are powered by PC-class M1 SoC and can be equipped with up to 16GB of memory. Meanwhile, the new iPad Pro 12.9-inch is the world’s first tablet to use a Mini LED display. The new iPad Pros start at $799 for 11-inch SKU and $1,099 for a 12.9-incher.
Spotify has launched its paid podcast subscription service. This lets podcasters who host their shows on Spotify’s Anchor platform to charge listeners for their podcasts. As rumoured, podcasters can choose to offer subscriber-only extras such as bonus content and no adverts.
Spotify has opened a waiting list that podcasters can join. Once their turn comes, they should be able to offer subscriptions.
For the first two years, Spotify won’t take a cut of podcasters’ earnings, but creators will have to cover the cost of transaction fees through Spotify’s payment partner Stripe. From 2023, Spotify will take five per cent of creators’ subscription revenue, which is less than Apple will take with its forthcoming podcast subscription service.
Spotify’s service is currently only available in the US, but will come to other countries “in the coming months”. It launched with 12 independent podcasts, including Tiny Leaps, Big Changes and Mindful in Minutes, offering subscriber-only content.
Broadcaster NPR will also offer subscribers ad-free versions of certain shows from 4th May. These include How I Built This with Guy Raz, Short Wave, It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Code Switch, and Planet Money, with more following in the coming weeks.
These NPR shows will be tagged as ‘Plus’ – for example, Planet Money Plus.
Spotify claims the new service will help podcasters grow their audiences.
“By enabling wide distribution of subscriber-only content, our aim is to help podcasters maximise their subscription audiences and grow them from their existing listener bases,” it said in a blog post. “Within Spotify, this content will be searchable and discoverable like any other podcast episode.”
Paid-for shows will show up with a lock on the Play button. Because subscribers pay through Spotify’s Anchor platform, Spotify won’t have to pay Apple any cut of in-app purchases.
Anyone hosting podcasts elsewhere will also soon be able to integrate them into Spotify, though it’s not clear exactly how this will work.
Apple announced last week that it was launching its own podcast subscription service next month. As well as setting the price, podcasters on Apple’s platform can decide what extras (if any) you get for paying – examples include bonus content, early access, and ad-free shows. Free trials and sample episodes are also options.
With the news that Spotify raised its UK prices this week, hopefully, this service will be worth paying that little bit extra for.
(Pocket-lint) – Apple and Samsung both offer their own wireless earphones. Apple’s earbuds come in the form of the AirPods, which now come in two flavours: regular and Pro. Samsung has multiple models too, but its bog-standard set is the Galaxy Buds.
If you’re trying to work out which entry level wireless earbuds are best for you, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s how the Apple AirPods 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Buds compare.
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Price
AirPods: From $159 / £159
Galaxy Buds: $129.99 / £139
The Apple AirPods start at £159. This is for the second generation model with the standard charging case. There is also the option of a wireless charging case, which will set you back £79 on its own or £199 for the AirPods with the wireless charging case.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds have been discounted quite heavily since launch. Originally they cost about £140, but now can be found for about £120. They come with a wireless charging case as standard.
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Design
AirPods: White only, optional wireless charging case
Galaxy Buds: White, Black, Yellow, wireless charging case as standard
The Apple AirPods come in white only and they look a little like a very small electric toothbrush head. Some will love the design, others will hate it. We sit in the former camp, though we’d like extra colours. The AirPods are a little larger than the Galaxy Buds in terms of overall size because of the extra part below the earpiece, but the earpiece itself is smaller.
The AirPods slot into a small, almost square, case that has a Lightning port at the bottom for charging. Whilst in the case, the AirPods will recharge providing the case itself has charge. There is a pairing button on the rear of the case and an LED indicator light is present in between the AirPods, which you’ll see when you open the case lid.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds meanwhile, come in three colour options including white, black and yellow. The Galaxy Buds fit snuggly into the inner part of your ear, providing a more subtle and perhaps more secure design than the AirPods, though a little bulkier.
Like the AirPods, the Galaxy Buds slot into a case, this time cylindrical in shape, and they will recharge whilst in the case. There is an LED indicator light inside the case, as well as outside the case and a USB Type-C charging port on the rear. As mentioned though, the Galaxy Buds case is wireless charging compatible as standard, while the AirPods wireless charging case is a more expensive option.
Features
AirPods: Siri, Auto pause, One or two AirPods can be worn, Double tap gesture
Galaxy Buds: AKG sound, Bixby Voice, One or two Galaxy Buds can be worn, double or triple tap gesture
The Apple AirPods have voice-activated Siri access that is powered by the H1 chip. There are also several other features that make the AirPods very easy to use for an Apple user once they are connected.
AirPods automatically recognise when they are in your ear, pausing when you take them out, while optical sensors and motion accelerometers work in tandem to engage the microphones for phone calls and Siri access, filtering out external noise when required.
It’s possible to wear one AirPod or both, and double tapping an AirPod will allow you to skip a track or play a song, depending on the action you have set up. You can read more about AirPod features in our tips and tricks, as well as the features available for Android users in our separate feature.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds have sound by AKG and they have adaptive dual microphone technology to recognise your surroundings, switching between inner and outer mics to filter out background noise when you’re on a call and allowing you to hear what’s happening around you when you’re not.
Like AirPods, you can choose to wear one or two Galaxy Buds and Samsung recently added Bixby Voice to the Galaxy Buds, allowing you to control ambient sound, battery status and equaliser controls with your voice. The latest update also offered improved touchpad controls, with options for double tapping and triple tapping, allowing for a little more flexibility than the AirPods in terms of gesture controls.
Apple AirPods tips and tricks
Setup
AirPods: One-tap setup for iOS users
Galaxy Buds: One-tap setup for Android users
Both Bluetooth
The Apple AirPods and the Samsung Galaxy Buds both connect via Bluetooth. For Apple users, the AirPods will recognise automatically as soon as you open the case, appearing on your display. After you tap the connect button, they will then connect to any Apple devices associated with your Apple ID including the Apple Watch, iPad or Macs.
For Samsung users, the Galaxy Buds will do the same as AirPods do for Apple users. They will be automatically recognised by your Samsung device when you open the box, giving you the option to pair the Buds to your phone with one tap.
If you’re an Android user looking to buy the Apple AirPods, or an Apple users looking to buy the Galaxy Buds, both will still work but you’ll need to perform setup via the Bluetooth settings on your device instead.
Battery life
AirPods: 3 hours talk time, 5 hours listening time
Galaxy Buds: 5 hours talk time, 6 hours usage time
The second generation of Apple AirPods offer up to three hours of talk time and up to five hours of listening time on a full charge.
The AirPods charging case holds multiple charges for up to 24 hours of listening time and placing the AirPods back in their case for 15 minutes should offer up to three hours of listening time and up to two hours of talk time.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds offer up to five hours talk time and up to six hours of usage time. Each earbud has a 52mAh battery capacity, while the Galaxy Bud charging case has a 252mAh battery capacity. The Galaxy Buds also claim to offer up to 20 hours of standby time.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Buds are quite a bit cheaper than the Apple AirPods, they promise a slightly longer battery life and they offer many of the same features, though not all are available for iOS users just like not all AirPod features are available to Android users.
If you have an Android device, specifically Samsung, then the Galaxy Buds are the better option for you out of these two wireless earphones being compared thanks to the seamless setup and the features offered, including Bixby Voice control. They also have a wireless charging case as standard.
If you have an Apple device, the AirPods deliver a more seamless experience, including one-tap setup to all your Apple devices and a range of features including automatic ear recognition and Siri control. They are pricey though, especially if you choose the wireless charging case option so you might consider the Galaxy Buds if you don’t mind sacrificing a few features for the extra pennies in your pocket.
If you’re stuck for something to watch this weekend, Netflix has you covered. The streaming giant is now rolling out its Play Something feature. Play Something (previously called Shuffle Play) picks a show or movie for you based on your viewing history. All you need to do is press play.
Netflix has been testing the feature for months. It’s rolling out now in certain regions on TV-based versions of the Netflix app, and will eventually roll out globally to all Netflix users who watch on a TV. The firm plans to start testing it on Android mobile devices, too.
We’ve tested it in the UK, and it’s working on LG TVs in our test rooms, but not yet on our Apple TV.
Open the Netflix app, and you should see a big Play Something button on your profile screen (it will also appear on the 10th row of the homescreen, and in the navigation menu to the left). Hit it, and the algorithm will pick something for you and start playing.
“Sometimes you just want to open Netflix and dive right into a new story,” Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Innovation at Netflix wrote in a blog post. “That’s why we’ve created Play Something, an exciting new way to kick back and watch.”
What happens if you don’t like what it picks? With another click, Netlfix will pick something else – this will either be from your queue, something you haven’t finished watching, or something else new based on your viewing habits. It could save you hours of scrolling through looking for something to watch. Or, it could fail spectacularly. There’s only one way to find out…
MORE:
Check out the 36 best TV shows to watch on Netflix right now
Here are 25 Netflix tips, tricks and features
Find out: Amazon Prime Video vs Netflix – which is better?
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