The Morning After: Apple reveals a new MacBook Pros, M3 chips and a new iMac

During its Scary Fast product event last night, Apple officially debuted its new M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. The company is positioning the M3 chips as major upgrades over its M1 hardware — if you bought an M2 system, you’re probably not itching for a replacement just yet.

The M3’s GPU is the biggest leap forward, delivering new features, like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, enabling more realistic lighting and better geometry handling. If you’re into chip architecture and other fun endeavors, the M3 chips are also notable for being the first PC chips built on a three-nanometer process — both the M1 and M2 families are based on a 5nm process. This means more transistors packed into the same space, which helps with power efficiency, as well as providing better overall performance. The M3 series will feature in the revamped MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch (more on those below), as well as the 24-inch iMac.

That new chip will make the new iMac up to twice as fast as its predecessor, but there aren’t too many upgrades elsewhere in the latest Mac. Apple is sticking with a 4.5K Retina display, for instance. There are some handy changes on the connectivity front, now with support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 The new iMac starts at $1,299 and ships on November 7.

— Mat Smith

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Apple kills off the 13-inch MacBook Pro

But it has new 14- and 16-inch models, don’t worry.

Apple

Apple’s updated line of 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros features a range of new M3 chips and a new Space Black chassis. Was that the spooky part of Apple’s event?

The 14-inch MBP with a base M3 processor will cost $1,599 — the first time the 14-inch laptop has hit that low of a price. The M3 Pro iteration will still cost you $1,999, and prices go up from there for M3 Max options. Meanwhile, a base 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip will have the same $2,499 starting price as its M2 Pro predecessor. Alas, the 13-inch version is no more. Farewell, Touch Bar. 

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Lenovo Smart Paper review

A solid e-ink tablet spoiled by the cost.

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In the last few years, we’ve seen Amazon get into e-ink scribes, while startups like ReMarkable have carved out their own niche with capable hardware for a reasonable price. Lenovo, having dabbled with e-ink on devices like the Yoga Book, has joined the fray with a dedicated device, the Smart Paper. While the product hasn’t yet launched in the US, the Smart Paper has launched elsewhere, including the UK. At around $400 (or £500 in the UK), it’s expensive. The hardware is impressive (and useful), but it’s all tainted by a subscription service that demands even more money.

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X won’t pay creators for tweets that get fact checked with community notes

The ‘slight change’ is the latest attempt to address misinformation.

X will no longer pay creators for tweets promoting misinformation. Elon Musk said the company is making a “slight change” to its monetization program, and tweets fact-checked via community notes will no longer be eligible for payouts.

The latest change comes as researchers, fact-checkers and journalists have raised the alarm about the amount of viral misinformation spreading on X amid the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. Recent analysis from NewsGuard, a nonprofit that tracks the spread of misinformation, found 74 percent of “the most viral posts on X advancing misinformation about the Israel–Hamas war are being pushed by ‘verified’ X accounts.”

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apple-reveals-a-new-macbook-pros-m3-chips-and-a-new-imac-111552483.html?src=rss 

The Beats Fit Pro earbuds drop back down to a record low ahead of Black Friday

Calling all Beats fans — or anyone considering an earbud upgrade, really — the Apple-owned tech brand has major sales going right now across its lineup. Notably, a 20 percent discount on the Beats Fit Pro brings the noise-canceling earbuds back down to their all-time low price for newer colors, coral pink, volt yellow and tidal blue. The earbuds have dropped to $160 from $200, a deal last seen on October Prime Day.

When the Beats Fit Pro launched in 2021, we were impressed with its comfortable fit and inclusion of spatial audio, hands-free Siri and solid noise-canceling abilities. The earbuds work on Apple’s H1 Platform, come with dynamic head tracking and can hold up to seven hours of battery without noise canceling, 30 hours with the case. 

The Beats Studio Buds + are also $40 off, down to $130 from $170. They don’t have all of the Fit Pro’s features — the Studio Buds + use the company’s Proprietary Platform and don’t offer dynamic head tracking, ANC that adapts to external noise or bright colors. However, they do have a better battery life, lasting for nine hours when noise canceling is off and 36 hours with the case. 

If you’re more of a headphone person, the last — and best — deal is for you. The Beats Studio Pro headphones are down to $200 from $350 — a 43 percent discount. These headphones offer ANC and transparency modes, lossless audio and a range of on-ear controls. Plus, they have the longest battery life, lasting up to 40 hours and offering a 10-minute Fast Fuel charge for another four hours of listening time. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-beats-fit-pro-earbuds-drop-back-down-to-a-record-low-ahead-of-black-friday-101752253.html?src=rss 

Our favorite smart electric toothbrush is cheaper than ever in an early Amazon Black Friday deal

We’re still a few weeks away from Black Friday, but if you’re looking to get a new electric toothbrush, you can get a deal on one of Oral-B’s models as early as today. The Oral-B iO Series 7 electric toothbrush that comes with two brush heads is currently on sale at Amazon for $150, which is a record low for the device that typically sells for $200. Even better, you can get it for $140 if you apply the website’s $10 coupon, so don’t forget to tick that little box right next to it. 

We named the Oral-B iO Series 7 as our best overall smart electric toothbrush for the year because its price sits right in the middle of the category’s price spectrum. With this discount, it’s become an even more appealing option. The device is equipped with an internal gyroscope and accelerometer, giving it the capability to detect its position inside your mouth while you brush. If you switch on guided brushing in the app, you’ll see a 3D illustration of your teeth turn blue as you brush — the app can even tell you if you’ve missed specific areas by the end of the two-minute session. 

The app tracks unguided brushing sessions, as well, taking note of their time and durations. On the toothbrush itself, you’ll see a built-in LED screen that displays a time and the mode you’ve chosen, so you don’t always need to have the app open nearby. Take note that the device comes with five cleaning modes, including one you can use if you have sensitive teeth. And if you tend to press down on your toothbrush, one useful feature is that the ring of light at the base of the brush flashes red if you push too hard and glows green when you exert just the right amount of pressure. 

As we mentioned in our best electric toothbrush list, the Oral-B iO Series 7 is nearly identical to the higher-tier iO Series 9. The only difference is that the latter comes with extra modes, a full color screen and an even more detailed app-guided brushing. Still, if you want give the Oral-B iO Series 9 a try, it’s also currently on sale at Amazon for $250, which could go as low as $230 with its clippable coupon. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/our-favorite-smart-electric-toothbrush-is-cheaper-than-ever-in-an-early-amazon-black-friday-deal-074549994.html?src=rss 

Samsung credits strong smartphone and mobile display sales for income growth

Samsung has been reporting steep profit declines and record-breaking losses over the past quarters, and while it has yet to go back to its previous numbers, it sounds optimistic for the future in its latest earnings report. The company credited the strong sales of its mobile flagship devices and its premium displays for doing better the past three months than the previous quarters. Samsung also said that its Device Solutions (DS) division, which includes its memory and foundry businesses, has narrowed its losses. It even expects demand for memory chips to recover gradually with the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence. 

The company has posted a consolidated revenue of KRW 67.40 trillion ($49.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2023, which shows a respectable 12 percent increase from the previous quarter’s. It reported KRW 2.43 trillion ($1.80 billion) in profit, as well, and while that’s a third of what it earned in the same period of 2022 — KRW 10.85 trillion or $7.6 billion — that figure still much better than the $527 million profit it reported for the second quarter. 

For its mobile and network business, in particular, it reported KRW 30 trillion ($22.17 billion) in consolidated revenue, as well as KRW 3.30 trillion ($2.44 billion) in operating profit. There was a higher demand in the third quarter compared to the second, Samsung said, thanks to the global smartphone market showing signs of recovery. If you’ll recall, the company mostly blamed its drop in revenue for the second quarter to a decline in smartphone shipments. For this period, it says the Galaxy S23 series has maintained “solid sales momentum,” while its foldables, tablets and wearables recorded strong sales. It expects smartphones sales to grow next quarter due to the holiday season and for the market to bounce back next year “as consumer sentiment stabilizes in anticipation of a global economic recovery.”

Another segment that did well in the third quarter is Samsung’s mobile panel business, which “reported a significant increase in earnings on the back of new flagship model releases by major customers.” As Bloomberg notes, those new flagship model releases could include Apple’s iPhone 15. Samsung intends to continue focusing on OLED panels for its mobile display business and plans to establish a supply chain catering to the augmented and virtual reality market. 

Finally, the company’s semiconductor division posted KRW 3.75 trillion ($2.77 billion) in operating losses for the quarter, which is slightly better than its KRW 4.36 trillion ($3.23 billion) losses in the previous one. Samsung expects the demand for PCs and mobile devices to improve next period, and it’s anticipating strong server demand from cloud service providers thanks to generative AI applications. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-credits-strong-smartphone-and-mobile-display-sales-for-income-growth-053947279.html?src=rss 

Justin Timberlake Heads Out on Family Vacation After Disabling Comments Amid Britney Spears Memoir Revelations

The ‘SexyBack’ singer was seen jetting out of town after remarks from angry Britney Spears fans forced him to disable his Instagram comments.

The ‘SexyBack’ singer was seen jetting out of town after remarks from angry Britney Spears fans forced him to disable his Instagram comments. 

Matthew Perry Revealed How He Felt About Becoming a Father Someday During Sweet Interview Before His Death

The actor admitted to having ‘a tremendous amount of fear’ about love but was hopeful for the future.

The actor admitted to having ‘a tremendous amount of fear’ about love but was hopeful for the future. 

How to pre-order the new Apple MacBook Pros and iMac with M3

Apple’s “Scary Fast” event is in the books, and a new set of Macs have arrived in its wake. The company unveiled three new computers on Monday, including refreshed versions of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro and an updated 24-inch iMac. Each device is mostly a spec bump, but all of them run on one of Apple’s new 3nm M3 chips, which the company claims will deliver “dramatically increased” CPU and (especially) GPU performance compared to past Apple silicon. We’ll have to put the new hardware through its paces to verify just how true that is, but if you’re already sold on Apple’s latest, here’s where you can pre-order the M3 MacBook Pros and iMac.  

Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch)

As noted above, the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros‘ biggest upgrades come on the inside. Apple is introducing three new M3 chips alongside the notebooks: the standard M3, the M3 Pro and the M3 Max. The 14-inch Pro will be available with all three, with prices starting at $1,599 for the base M3 configuration and rising all the way up to $6,899 for a fully specced-out M3 Max model. The notebook is available to order now at Apple’s online store. The company says the M3 and M3 Pro models will begin shipping on November 7, while the M3 Max models will start later in November.

Here’s an overview of the configurations available for the new notebook:

$1,599: M3 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified memory (configurable up to 24GB), 512GB SSD (configurable up to 2TB), 2x Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, 70W USB-C power adapter

$1,999: M3 Pro chip with 11-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 18GB unified memory (configurable up to 36GB), 512GB SSD (configurable up to 4TB), 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 70W USB-C power adapter

$2,199: M3 Pro chip with 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 18GB unified memory (configurable up to 36GB), 512GB SSD (configurable up to 4TB), 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 96W USB-C power adapter

$3,199: M3 Max chip with 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 36GB unified memory (configurable up to 96GB), 1TB SSD (configurable up to 8TB), 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 96W USB-C power adapter

$3,699: M3 Max chip with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 48GB unified memory (configurable up to 128GB), 1TB SSD (configurable up to 8TB), 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 96W USB-C power adapter

The new 14-inch Pro technically starts at a lower price than its predecessor, though that model started with an M2 Pro chip instead of the base M2. Instead, the M3 config replaces the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which we’ve long considered an awkward middle child in the Mac lineup. To that point, Apple claims the M3-powered Pro is up to 60 percent faster than the 13-inch M1 model in terms of render performance in Final Cut Pro, with larger gains compared to older Intel-based models. (More broadly, Apple is heavily pushing all of its new devices as worthy upgrades for those hanging onto Intel-powered Macs ahead of the holidays.)

Higher-end configs powered by the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips promise similar performance leaps. For example, Apple says a M3 Pro model is up to 40 percent faster than an equivalent M1 Pro config when it comes to filter and function performance in Photoshop. M3 Max systems, meanwhile, now support up to 128GB of unified memory, which Apple says can help it deliver more than twice the speeds of an M1 Max model with certain pro-level software like Maxon Redshift. In general, Apple is positioning M3 systems toward the likes of students and aspiring editors, M3 Pro systems toward coders and creative types and M3 Max systems toward 3D artists, video editors and those with more extreme workflows.

Almost everything else about the notebook is virtually identical to before, with the main differences being a new “space black” color option for the M3 Pro and M3 Max models — which Apple says is particularly resistant to fingerprints — and a higher peak brightness of 600 nits with SDR content (up from 500 nits on the last model). Other than that, you’re still looking at a Liquid Retina XDR display, a six-speaker sound system, a 1080p FaceTime camera and a similar port selection. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as we liked the previous MacBook Pro’s design, but it means owners of that 10-month-old device shouldn’t feel any pressing need to upgrade.

Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch)

Just about all of the details above apply to the new 16-inch MacBook Pro as well, only this notebook won’t be available with the base M3 chip. Instead, it’ll start at $2,499 for a config with an M3 Pro chip and go up to $7,199 for a fully decked-out M3 Max model. That’s the same starting price as the previous generation. Alongside its larger display, the 16-inch Pro is still rated for up to 22 hours of battery life. That matches the 14-inch M3 Pro’s rating but comes in a few hours higher than the 18-hour estimate of the 14-inch M3 Pro and M3 Max models.

Again, the 16-inch Pro is available to order today directly from Apple. M3 Pro models will start shipping next week, while M3 Max shipments will commence later in November. Below is an overview of the configurations on sale. Note that, unlike the 14-inch model, each 16-inch Pro option includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 140W USB-C adapter.

$2,499: M3 Pro chip with 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 18GB unified memory (configurable up to 36GB), 512GB SSD (configurable up to 4TB)

$3,499: M3 Max chip with 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 36GB unified memory (configurable up to 96GB), 1TB SSD (configurable up to 8TB)

$3,999: M3 Max chip with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 48GB unified memory (configurable up to 128GB), 1TB SSD (configurable up to 8TB)

Apple iMac (24-inch)

As with previous iterations, the new 24-inch iMac is aimed at a more casual audience than the MacBook Pro. The all-in-one PC is only available with the base M3 chip, but Apple says that still makes it up to twice as fast as the last-gen model, which arrived in 2021 and runs on an M1 chip. The M3 supports up to 24GB of memory as well, up from the previous max of 16GB. 

The rest of the hardware is largely unchanged. There’s still a 4.5K Retina display that can reach up to 500 nits of brightness; four USB-C ports, including two Thunderbolt ports; a 1080p front camera and a similar range of color options (green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver). Wireless support has jumped to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, though.

The 24-inch iMac starts at $1,299 for a config with an eight-core CPU, eight-core GPU, two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports and Apple Magic Keyboard. It’s still saddled with a paltry 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD by default, though you can upgrade those up to 24GB and 1TB, respectively.

Starting at $1,499, you can get a model with a 10-core GPU, two extra non-Thunderbolt USB-C ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Magic Keyboard with a Touch ID reader. That one is configurable with up to 2TB of SSD storage as well. Like the new MacBook Pro, the updated iMac is available to order now and will begin shipping on November 7.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s “Scary Fast” October event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-pre-order-the-new-apple-macbook-pros-and-imac-with-m3-013325603.html?src=rss 

Zoë Kravitz & Channing Tatum Reportedly Engaged After 2 Years Together

The ‘Magic Mike’ star and the actress are reportedly set to say their ‘I Dos’ soon, after a new October 30 report revealed that they’re engaged.

The ‘Magic Mike’ star and the actress are reportedly set to say their ‘I Dos’ soon, after a new October 30 report revealed that they’re engaged. 

Taylor Swift Reportedly Heading to Kansas City to See Travis Kelce Before Halloween

The singer apparently feels ‘awful’ for the NFL player after he and the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Denver Broncos on Sunday and wants to ‘comfort’ him.

The singer apparently feels ‘awful’ for the NFL player after he and the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Denver Broncos on Sunday and wants to ‘comfort’ him. 

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