The ‘Django Unchained’ star has been spotted with Alyce Huckstepp on a few occasions. Find out more about the mysterious woman here.
The ‘Django Unchained’ star has been spotted with Alyce Huckstepp on a few occasions. Find out more about the mysterious woman here.
Beyoncé was surrounded by all three of her children as she blew out her birthday candles in a sweet photo shared by her mom, Tina Knowles.
Beyoncé was surrounded by all three of her children as she blew out her birthday candles in a sweet photo shared by her mom, Tina Knowles.
By some estimates, it takes around 235 hours to see and do absolutely everything in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Some folks have already managed that and are eager for more, but unlike with Breath of the Wild, you shouldn’t expect Nintendo to release a major expansion this time around.
“There are no plans for additional content,” Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma told Famitsu. The reason for that, as Automaton notes, is because the developers reckon they already shoved all of their major gameplay ideas into the base game. Given the massive breadth and scope of Tears of the Kingdom and the wealth of possibilities it offers players to solve puzzles, take down enemies and torture Koroks, the team might be forgiven for taking that view.
And so, it’s onto the next game, whatever that may be. Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi said his team is pondering what its “next fun experience” may be, but he’s uncertain at this point what that will look like.
In any case, don’t bank on a return to 2D Zelda games or the format of any pre-Breath of the Wild title. “The series continued to evolve after Ocarina of Time, but I think it’s also fair to say now that we’ve arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords,” Aonuma told Game Informer in May. “Yeah, I think it’s correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from.”
It’ll be a disappointment to some that there won’t be any Tears of the Kingdom DLC. Still, you might want to start thinking about blocking out a couple hundred hours on your 2028 or 2029 calendar so you can fully experience the next big Zelda game ASAP.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-has-no-plans-for-a-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-expansion-142513007.html?src=rss
Maya had to shoot an intimate scene while her famous dad oversaw the production as the director.
Maya had to shoot an intimate scene while her famous dad oversaw the production as the director.
The talk show host made an early exit from the show to be there for her kids’ first day back to school, as Savannah Guthrie told her to hug them.
The talk show host made an early exit from the show to be there for her kids’ first day back to school, as Savannah Guthrie told her to hug them.
It’s been almost exactly four years since Sonos first introduce the Move, the company’s first portable speaker. The Move was a solid speaker when it was first introduced, but in the years that have passed, things like its lower-than-average battery life have made it harder to recommend. But even with the summer quickly fading, Sonos has a new portable speaker for powering autumn days outside, the Move 2. On the surface, the Move offers the same formula as the original. It’s a relatively large, loud speaker that you can lug around with you; it’s also quite durable, able to withstand drops, bumps, extreme temperatures, rain and snow.
But unsurprisingly, Sonos has taken some inspiration from the recent Era 100 and Era 300 speakers here for some improvements. The new top panel touch controls are the same as you’ll find on those speakers. There’s a volume slider as well as dedicated forward and back buttons. It also has a USB-C line-in jack, so you can connect the Move 2 to a turntable or other audio equipment.
Perhaps most importantly, its internal speaker design is similar to that of the Era 100, with two angled tweeters providing stereo sound, unlike the mono, single-tweeter design of the original Move. In my testing of the Era 100, I didn’t find that the two tweeters really give you a stereo experience like you’ll get with multiple speakers, but it’s still a definite improvement.
The other most significant change is that Sonos has more than doubled the quoted battery life on the Move 2, from about 11 hours to more than 24 hours. That’s a huge jump and should be enough to silence those who were unhappy with the original Move’s rather pedestrian longevity.
Oh, and there’s a new color this time, olive green. I wish that it also came in the lovely blue and orange shades you can get the smaller Sonos Roam in, but alas.
Like the original Move, this new speaker supports audio over Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi for when you’re away from your network. It’s also a quick way to let friends play music over the speaker, and there’s a Bluetooth sharing feature that pipes audio the Move receives over Bluetooth to the rest of your Sonos speakers. Of course, you can also group and share audio across other Sonos devices using the traditional multi-room audio controls, as well.
The Move 2 has microphones built in for automatic speaker tuning using the company’s Trueplay software — this adjusts the sound quality based on where you place the speaker. The microphones also work with the Sonos voice assistant as well as Amazon Alexa, and there’s a physical mute switch on the back that disconnects power to the mics entirely. And if you get two Move 2 speakers, you can pair them together in stereo. That should make for a potent audio setup, though you’ll need to re-pair the speakers if you take one on the go and remove it from your Wi-Fi network.
Unfortunately, Sonos is bumping up the price of its gear again — the Move 2 costs $449, up from the $399 it asked for the original model. For that price, Sonos is also including the handy ring-shaped wireless charger that lets you easily pick up the Move 2 and get going. Yes, there are a number of improvements here, but Sonos can’t go on raising the prices of its products every time it releases a new model, can it? We haven’t had a chance to hear the Move 2 yet, so it’s too soon to say whether it’ll be worth the cash, but hopefully the improvements here merit the price premium. The Move 2 goes on sale on September 20.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-sonos-move-2-portable-speaker-has-double-the-battery-life-of-its-predecessor-130010817.html?src=rss
Samsung is pushing forward the idea that bigger is better with the announcement of its new 98-inch Class QN990C Neo QLED 8K TV. It joins 2023’s 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch 8K QN900C Neo QLED TVs, with the latest addition debuting at the CEDIA Expo 2023 alongside its 4K counterpart (available in sizes ranging from 43-inch to 85-inch).
The 98-inch Class QN990C Neo QLED 8K TV is made up of Quantum Mini LEDs to produce over a billion colors and uses AI to enhance any content you watch up to 8K quality. It’s also equipped with an Anti-Glare screen and Ultra Viewing Angle technology, which Samsung says should allow you to see what’s going on from any angle without the need to block out light. The TV’s structure is made with a 360-degree All-Metal Design and has a Slim Fit Wall Mount to give the TV more of an appearance of being flesh to the wall. As for audio quality, the new 98-inch Class 8K TV has Dolby Atmos and Cinema Object Tracking Sound built in.
While the 98-inch 8K TV’s price has yet to be revealed, it’s likely to be nearing the $10,000 mark. Samsung priced the 65-inch Neo QLED 8K TV at $5,000, the 75-inch at $6,300 and the 85-inch at $8,000. In contrast, the Neo QLED 4K TVs start at $1,200 and still offer features like Quantum Mini LEDs and Dolby Atmos.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-unveils-its-largest-8k-tv-yet-130018695.html?src=rss
Today, GoPro unveils its latest camera: The Hero 12 Black. This time around, the updates are mostly on the user experience, with a slight focus on pro users and creators. Perhaps the most exciting new “feature” for regular GoPro users will be the claimed extended battery life. The company says “Up to two times” the runtime of previous cameras. Battery life has long been a pain point, so we’ll be keen to see what that looks like in real terms.
There are some new shooting modes, with 8:7 (full sensor) recording now available across the board, including TimeWarp and the Night Effect modes for the first time. Recording in 8:7 allows you to “punch out” different aspect ratio content from the same source material while maintaining a high resolution. The camera’s HDR mode has also been tuned for even better handling of mixed lighting conditions. Hypersmooth, GoPro’s in-camera stabilization is now on its sixth iteration —- but it’s been solid right from the start, so we’re interested to see what difference this makes in practice.
For the pros (or the aspiring ones) two new additions will be of particular interest. First there’s “GP-Log” which is GoPro’s take on logarithmic shooting mode — which makes color grading in post much more flexible. Secondly, there’s the addition of Timecode Sync, so if you’re recording with multiple GoPro Hero 12’s, they can easily be synchronized for airtight edits in post.
As for creators, again there’s a brace of updates that will be of interest. Interestingly, the Hero 12 Black now works with Bluetooth headsets for both playback and recording — including AirPods. Now, videos can use Bluetooth headphone microphones which can be blended with the in-camera mic recordings as you wish. You can even use your headset to use GoPro’s voice activation, opening the door for more creative shots taken without having to be near the camera or use the app/remote accessory.
The second creator-friendly feature is vertical capture. You’ve always been able to hold a GoPro at 90 degrees, and on later models the menus would also rotate for ease of use. This time around, you can simply activate vertical mode even while the camera is mounted horizontally. It takes advantage of the new sensor introduced with the Hero 11 that’s big enough to punch out a full 9:16 vertical video at 4K/30FPS without having to re-mount or re-orient the camera.
If it’s important to you for other people to know you have the newest camera, this year that’ll be a little easier as the Hero 12 Black has a speckled faceplate in a break from the usual monochrome design. But there’s one other physical change that will elicit a small peep of joy from long-time users: The camera now has a regular tripod mount (1/4 inch 20 thread ) built-in on the bottom, nestled right between the fold out mounting fingers. No more adapters needed for all those other camera accessories you might have lying around.
One last change this time around is that GoPro seems to have dropped the need to sign up for its cloud subscription service to get a better price on the camera — the Hero 12 Black will simply cost $400 for everyone. Pre-orders open today and the camera lands in retail September 13.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gopro-announces-hero-12-black-with-airpods-support-and-better-battery-life-130027283.html?src=rss
After introducing the generative AI capabilities it was developing for Slack at World Tour NYC earlier this year, Salesforce has revealed as part of its Dreamforce announcements that it’s now gearing up to pilot the new features this winter. Slack AI, as the capabilities are collectively called, is built natively into the platform to make it easy to access. One of its abilities is to instantly generate channel highlights that can immediately tell users the most important part of conversations, which they can then use for reports or to simply read what they might have missed.
Slack AI can also generate summaries for threads in just one click for people who just want to get the gist of specific conversations and not the channel a whole. As shown in the image above, AI-generated summaries don’t just come with highlights, but also lists of what next steps users can take based on concerns, comments and suggestions posted by people in the conversation. In addition, Slack AI can produce elaborate answers when people search for information on the platform. At the moment, searching on Slack can only bring up messages, files and channels with the keyword, but Slack AI can wrap all those information up in a package with a summary that makes them easier to parse.
Salesforce’s latest announcements come nearly a month after it started rolling out a new look for its business-focused messaging app. The redesigned interface is meant to help users focus more by removing clutter that may be distracting to some people. Slack’s new sidebar, for instance, collapses all of a user’s workspaces into a single tile and adds buttons for Home, DMs and Activity, as well as buttons for Search and Create. The dedicated DM tab lists a user’s private chats and allows them to preview the most recent message for each conversation without opening it. Users can also toggle on an option to only see unread messages if they want to get rid of more clutter.
The company is expected to reveal more about Slack AI and other new products at its Dreamforce event, which will take place from September 12 to September 14 and will be available to stream on Salesforce+.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/slack-ai-will-summarize-your-work-chat-starting-this-winter-130046724.html?src=rss
China has widened a ban on the use of iPhones and other imported devices by government officials, according to The Wall Street Journal. State employees were reportedly told in chat groups and meetings not to bring foreign-branded device into the office or use them for work, according to “people familiar with the matter.” The aim is reportedly to reduce reliance on foreign technology and improve cybersecurity.
If you’re experiencing deja vu, it’s because Beijing has previously blacklisted Apple and other foreign products for government departments, most recently in 2019. Back then, the government was planning to phase out western gear over a three year period in favor of local alternatives. The aim at the time was to keep data within its borders and ensure tech was “secure” and “controllable,” all as part of the 2017 China Internet Security Law.
Apple has managed to stay above the fray, likely because Foxconn and other suppliers in the nation employee millions of people. It also has followed China’s laws, removing thousands of illegal apps like VPNs. However, it’s also more vulnerable than other companies. On top of the manufacturing dependence, the country accounts for around 19 percent of Apple’s total revenue.
Following bans by the US against Huawei and other Chinese companies, Beijing followed suit with a similar embargo on chip-maker Micron. The story had a further plot twist earlier this week, when Chinese electronics company Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro smartphone using 7-nanometer homegrown chips found by a teardown to be more advanced than expected. China also unveiled a $40 billion fund for its chip industry, following continued trade sanctions with the US.
Tesla is another US company vulnerable to changes in China’s policies. The nation reportedly accounted for a large chunk of its sales in its first quarter, and it’s the only foreign automaker to gain market share in the first half of 2023. China recently restricted the use of Tesla vehicle by military staff and employees of state-owned companies, according to an earlier WSJ report.
Apple is set to release the iPhone 15 in less than a week, reportedly with thinner bezels, a titanium frame, USB-C charging and more. Apple has not responded to this story, but Engadget has reached out to the company for comment.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/china-intensifies-its-crackdown-on-officials-using-iphones-132419856.html?src=rss
