Zac Efron may have stolen hearts with films like ‘High School Musical,’ but his brother Dylan is commanding the dance floor on ‘DWTS.’ Meet the Efron siblings here!
Zac Efron may have stolen hearts with films like ‘High School Musical,’ but his brother Dylan is commanding the dance floor on ‘DWTS.’ Meet the Efron siblings here!
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The reality star and comedian were one of the hottest couples when they dated from 2021 to 2022. Find out why they broke up here.
Every now and then, you review a product you can’t get along with in any way, shape or form. Sometimes, it’s about the quality of the hardware, but more often it’s about the philosophy of its makers. Imagine trying to review a toilet built by, and for, aliens from the planet Zog: You can appreciate the intention behind it, but you’ll never be able to praise it. That’s the issue I’ve had with Halliday’s smart glasses, because almost every design decision made by its creators feels, to me, like the wrong one. Cofounder Carter Hou conceded that some people love Halliday’s approach and others haven’t taken to it anywhere near as much. Sadly, I’ve found myself in the latter category.
Halliday announced itself to the world at CES in January, dragging behind it a truckload of promises about its Wayfarer-style smart glasses. It said the glasses would be “invisible to onlookers,” styled to be as close to a regular pair of specs as it could manage. There’d be no outward facing camera or sensors, just a tiny interior display projecting data into the wearer’s view. It talked up its “proactive” AI assistant that was always listening and would pipe up with an answer when asked a question. It would be discreetly controlled with a touchpad ring, so you’d not need to visibly fiddle with your phone or the glasses’ touch-sensitive arm to use it. Plus, it would weigh just 35 grams. What’s not to like?
The company launched a Kickstarter at the end of January, earning $3,305,917 from more than 8,000 backers. The company has already shared its first product with backers, and it’s now ready to share it with retail customers. I’ve been testing the hardware for around a month with regular software updates. Halliday assured me that the last few issues, like inconsistent Bluetooth connectivity, should be ironed out by the time it’s available to the masses.
Halliday’s chunky Wayfarer-style glasses are made out of plastic, with thin plastic lenses set to your prescription. Plastic is obviously easy to work with and affordable, but it also can give the appearance and feel of looking a bit cheap and flimsy. Even the temple tips are made of solid plastic, which means they can’t be adjusted to suit your head shape and comfort levels.The only way to modify how they sit on your face is by contorting the nose pads, which you’ll be told to do during setup.
On the underside of the right temple tip, you’ll find a rubber gasket covering its built-in USB-C charging port. Follow it towards the front and you’ll find one of two speakers (its twin sits on the opposite arm), the touch surface for control and the power button. Sitting over the right lens is a little plastic cantilever arm, on the end of which is a 3.6mm round microLED display module. The arm can be pulled in or out and tilted up and down to put the display into your peripheral vision.
The aim, as stated, was to make a small and light pair of glasses that wouldn’t draw attention to themselves. Sadly, Halliday couldn’t avoid the issue that plagues all smart glasses, which is that they have to be bigger to accommodate all the electronics. But, to my eye, they only just about register as a bold style choice rather than as a comically-oversized pair of specs.
I keep flip-flopping on this: Half the time, they’re bold, half the time, I feel like I’m wearing faux Marx-brothers glasses from a Halloween store.
The control ring is available in US sizes 8-15, and is made of silver plastic with a small clickpad section embedded. Continuing Halliday’s focus on subtlety, the ring’s only distinguishing mark is a small black line on one side of the clickpad to indicate the right hand side. Slide the ring on without remembering to check its orientation and you’ll be trying to use the menus upside down and back to front. Like a lot of smart rings, it’ll certainly stand out on your hand if you’re used to thinner, daintier adornments.
The control ring is available in US sizes 8-15, and is made of silver plastic with a small clickpad section embedded. Continuing Halliday’s focus on subtlety, the ring’s only distinguishing mark is a small black line on one side of the clickpad to indicate the right hand side. Slide the ring on without remembering to check its orientation and you’ll be trying to use the menus upside down and back to front. Like a lot of smart rings, it’ll certainly stand out on your hand if you’re used to thinner, daintier adornments.
Closeup image of the Halliday Smart Glasses display
It’s easy enough to put a teeny-tiny display close to your eye, ostensibly tricking it into thinking it’s much larger. The 3.6mm microLED module is meant to project the equivalent of a 3.5-inch display into your field of view. It’s the same sort of barebones green monochrome display found in a lot of wearables since green is easy to read and not too power-hungry. Again, the focus on invisibility means you’re meant to flick your eyes toward it, read what you need and flick back before anyone’s really noticed.
There are many reasons why this is a smart choice compared to companies using waveguide prisms embedded in the lenses itself. It saves a lot of weight, makes what you’re looking at far more private and cuts down the cost. Since, after all, you can just use cheap regular or prescription lenses in the frame, rather than specialist ones with the built-in prisms.
But the use of a tiny-display-close-to-your-eye is a problem if you are already a glasses wearer. After all, the screen is behind the prescription, so it’s not as simple as just glancing or catching it in my peripheral vision. In my experience, I’d get a notification, look up, and then have to wait for my eyes to refocus before I could see what was going on. That’s not a big deal if it’s just the time or an icon telling you there’s a new WhatsApp, but it’s hard to read full sentences of text.
Personally, I found the display to be too close and too unnaturally placed for me to comfortably use it. I tried every adjustment possible to make it easier to use, even wearing them in silly ways to no avail. And this gets worse when you’re being asked to engage with the lengthy responses produced by its “Proactive” AI. Reading paragraphs of text on a 3.6mm screen is a one-way ticket to the sort of eye pain you’d normally only experience after downing a pint of ice cream.
If you struggle to use those sorts of displays, then you’ll also struggle with the other text-heavy features the glasses offer. Most notably, its “reactive” AI, translation and Cheatsheet — its teleprompter-esque service for presentations.
Image of the rear temple tips of the Halliday Smart Glasses
Once you’ve followed the YouTube clip guiding you through setup, you’ll control your glasses via Halliday’s app. Set that up, make sure it’s connected, and it’ll be easy enough to run things just with the ring. You’ll need to memorize a cumbersome control scheme, which has to work to overcome its limited inputs. For instance, it’s easy enough to think that a click would be the dominant action, with the tap acting as the secondary one — but it’s the other way around. Initially, I was clicking (which activates the notification center) rather than tapping to access a menu item. That the clickpad is so small means you’ll do a fair bit of scrolling, too.
Halliday’s focus on lightness extended beyond what you’d wear on your face, but how much you’d need to carry in your bag on the go. Rather than build a charging case, the USB-C charger is on the temple tip, hidden behind a little rubber gasket. Except, the gasket is very difficult to actually flick out of its recess and often gets pushed further in. It got to the point where I keep a paperclip on hand to flick it out when it’s time to recharge.
Close up of the Control Ring and charger for the Halliday Smart Glasses
The control ring is charged magnetically, so you will be carrying around a little dongle and USB-C cable. It’s not much extra weight to carry, but it is yet another thing to deal with. Plus, if you’re in a hurry for power, you’ll need to charge two devices simultaneously rather than just putting both in a charging case. Look, maybe this is a gripe too far, but it feels like Halliday attempted to reduce complexity and, in doing so, made things a hell of a lot fiddlier when it comes to charging.
Image of how Halliday pitched its proactive AI.
Halliday pitched its glasses as being the “first” with a “proactive” AI running in the background of your day to offer context-based assistance. In one of the company’s examples, the system is listening to a conversation, enabling its wearer to act like a know-it-all. Certainly, it was this feature that most intrigued me as I’m sure we’ve all hoped for an electronic version of Gary from Veep every now and again.
Image of a conversation between me and Halliday’s Proactive AI
The Star Trek-esque promise of such a system clashes with its reality, since the proactive AI is just a constantly-running chatbot which treats everything as a prompt. Here’s the app’s own record of a conversation I had in which every line it heard gets its own response. It will even try to respond to the ums, ahs and other non-speech glue that holds speech together, saying that the line “doesn’t contain any factual claims.” And, don’t forget, all of this is being pushed into your peripheral vision for as long as the AI is active. Bear in mind you only have a limited amount of time credits with which to use the AI. So you can’t have it running in the background 24/7, but on this evidence, I’m not sure that you would ever want to. Hou says the company is working on improving this but, at this point, it doesn’t feel like a feature you’d want to use on a regular basis.
The glasses’ reactive AI, meanwhile, is in dire need of some sort of help, since it often refused to answer my questions and, when it did, it often got its facts wrong. On September 18, I asked it who the current manager of (Portuguese football team) Benfica was, since it had just hired a new manager. But it told me the name of the old one, who’d been fired on August 31 — which isn’t ideal. Similarly, questions around basic facts concerning geography and science were either met with blank responses or lackluster answers. I know that plenty of AIs aren’t perfect for up-to-the-minute information, but what else would you want to use it for?
You can record audio memos through the glasses if you need to express an idea in a hurry. It’s worth noting, however, that the microphone quality is poor. It sounds like the sort of crunchy radio microphone audio you last heard in a live news broadcast from the 1980s. Given how much of the interaction with these glasses is through speech, the poor microphone quality is baffling. Sure, save on weight as much as possible, but not for the thing the glasses need to do one of their most critical jobs.
Once recorded, you can then listen back to the memo in the app, and can even ask the system for a transcription. Bafflingly, you can’t just press the button and then go do something else in the app. If you want your words turned into (an approximate) text record, you’ll need to leave that specific pane open while it runs. I found this out after pressing the button a third time and, rather than moving to the next memo to get that transcribed, I was distracted by something on my laptop and then saw the transcript finally appear before my eyes.
Halliday’s app claims it’s possible to use the glasses’ built-in speakers in place of your wireless headphones. And, yes, it is technically possible to do this, in the same way that it’s technically possible to steer a motorcycle with your feet or carve a block of marble with an iPhone. I’m no audiophile, but if you’re looking for a better listening experience, listening to a broken record player from a mile away with two paper cups and some string is probably better. It’s very much the sort of option you’d go for if you had to listen to something in the direst of emergencies — and then never again.
If you opted to back Halliday’s glasses on Kickstarter, you could pick them up for $399. For the rest of us, it will be available to order through the Halliday website for $499, with shipping due to begin at the end of October. It is available in one of three colors: Black, Gradient or Tortoisehell, with prescription lenses included in the price, at least at the time of publication. If you order now, you will also get the control ring for free, but it will eventually cost $69.
In terms of rival smart glasses, the closest competitor is likely Brilliant Labs’ Halo, which uses a similar standalone microLED display with the same focus on AI. Given the display option, if you think you’d struggle with Halliday, it’s easy to assume you won’t be happy with these either. Halo will set you back $299, although it’s worth mentioning that it’ll only be sold in limited quantities.
One alternative is Rokid’s forthcoming Glasses, which are equipped with the sort of waveguide display lenses I prefer. The company promises it’ll offer real-time translation, a built-in AI assistant and an outward-facing camera. Would-be backers can pick them up for $549 on Kickstarter at present, with a retail price likely closer to $750 when they launch toward the end of this year.
But if I was looking for a product that did a lot of what Halliday offered, albeit in a much more polished package, it’d be Even Realities G1. There’s a lot to like about the G1, as it offers a more limited feature set, but one in which things actually work a lot better. The one downside is the price, since you’ll need to fork out $600 for the glasses and another $150 for the lenses.
The big tech elephant in the room, of course, is Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses that seem to pay off on the promise of smart glasses’ premise. They’re obviously pricey, retailing for $799, but have all of the gadgets and gizmos you are likely to want and need. It ships with a 600 x 600 full color display in the lens, letting you engage with notifications a lot more like you would if you were using your phone.
Close up of the Halliday Smart Glasses ring
My issues with the display certainly didn’t endear Halliday to me. But I think that the product is less than the sum of its parts, both from a hardware and software standpoint. The “proactive” AI is perhaps the biggest disappointment, given it’s just a chatbot responding to every interaction like a prompt. In every facet, the company prioritized things that weren’t worth the effort. What appeared to be a series of great ideas on paper is, in reality, not all that.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/halliday-glasses-review-ambitious-smart-glasses-with-frustrating-flaws-130000207.html?src=rss
Xbox is at a crossroads. While the PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 continue to gain popularity, multiple price hikes for the Xbox Series S and X have killed their momentum. And with several big box retailers like Costco deciding to drop Microsoft’s console from their shelves, the current-gen Xbox may be dead in the water. So what should the company do?
Microsoft’s most straightforward option would be to simply punt the end of the Xbox’s lifecycle, regroup and come back strong with a brand new console in a year or two. On the flipside, the company could follow in Sega’s footsteps after the untimely demise of the Dreamcast and become a cross-platform game publisher with a large stable of first-party studios. However, there’s a third route that could fill the gap between now and whenever the next Xbox arrives that could potentially expand its reach to a whole new segment: Give handheld gaming a go.
Engineering and building a new portable gaming device isn’t cheap or quick. So instead of doing everything itself, Microsoft teamed up with ASUS to create the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X — a pair of Windows 11-based portable gaming PCs enhanced with Microsoft’s DNA. And while it’s too early to say if these handhelds will help save Xbox itself, they’re more than solid portables that could have a big impact on portable gaming going forward.
Editor’s note: This review is focused on the ROG Xbox Ally X, primarily because that’s all we have at the moment. However, the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X share many features including the same basic design , display, button layout and software (the only difference is their color). That said, the base Xbox Ally has less impressive specs as it comes with a slower AMD Ryzen Z2 chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a smaller 60WHr battery. It’s also a touch lighter (1.48 pounds vs 1.58) and has a lower price of $600 instead of $1,000.
When you look at the ROG Xbox Ally X, it might appear as if ASUS bolted larger grips to its previous handheld — the Ally X — and called it a day. However, the company says the Xbox Ally was redesigned from the ground up, in large part to include a number of signature features that will make Xbox faithful feel right at home. This includes things like the classic ABXY button layout, Impulse triggers with tons of travel and, of course, the requisite Xbox home button. Then smack dab in the middle of everything is a 7-inch IPS LCD screen.
Speaking of the display, ASUS picked a FHD IPS panel with a 120Hz refresh rate that appears to be the exact same screen used on the Ally X. While it doesn’t deliver pure blacks like you’d get from OLED, contrast was still surprisingly good. With a brightness of 500 nits (the one on our review unit was actually a touch higher at 510 nits), this display delivers almost everything you want without feeling like you need to upgrade to something like the huge 8.8-inch OLED panel on the Lenovo Legion Go 2.
Around back, there are two customizable paddles while the top edge houses a fingerprint reader and all of the Xbox Ally X’s connectivity: two USB-C ports, a microSD card reader and 3.5mm audio. Notably, while both ports support charging and display capabilities, the one furthest to the left is also Thunderbolt 4 compliant. This means it has enough bandwidth to support external GPUs like ASUS’ recently updated XG Mobile graphics dock.
Ultimately, the ROG Xbox Ally might not look all that different from ASUS’ previous handhelds, but between its buttons, triggers and those big new grips, it really does feel like you’re holding a portable version of Microsoft’s console. Even without Hall Effect sensors, the Xbox Ally X’s joysticks are tight and responsive, while the triggers offer a ton of travel. The only thing I wish ASUS and Microsoft had paid a little more attention to is the handheld’s haptics, which are fine, but they’re a far cry from the expressive rumble motors you get from a DualSense controller or the Switch 2’s Joy-Con.
As the higher-end model in ASUS and Microsoft’s new joint handheld lineup, the ROG Xbox Ally X features a AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip with 24GB of memory (which is shared with its GPU) and 1TB of storage that can be expanded via microSD. However, thanks in part to the new full-screen Xbox experience, Microsoft tweaked a number of the handheld’s background processes and services for the first time on a Windows 11-based handheld. The result is a slightly more optimized device even when compared to its closest rivals.
In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1,920 x 1,080, medium graphics and FSR set to performance, the ROG Xbox Ally X hit 62.1 fps while plugged in and set to its max 35-watt Turbo mode. That’s almost five fps higher than what we got from the Lenovo Legion Go 2 (57.5 fps) when its settings are similarly maxed out. Admittedly, this might not sound like a huge improvement, but it ends up being an extra seven percent performance from the same chip, which ain’t bad. Meanwhile in Returnal, I got similar numbers after switching to the Ally’s more energy-efficient 17-watt Performance Mode (unplugged), where it produced 42 fps at full HD on medium versus 39 fps for the Lenovo.
That said, it’s important to note that the Ally’s performance changes depending on whether it’s plugged into the wall or not. If you want its full 35-watt Turbo Mode, you’re going to need to use a power adapter, while its 17-watt Performance and 13-watt Silent modes stay the same no matter what you do. There’s also a manual performance customization tool, but to access it, you’ll need to switch over to ASUS’ Armoury Crate app, as there isn’t a place to change things directly inside the Xbox app.
Getting excited about the software on a gaming handheld is usually pretty difficult. However, between the aforementioned tweaks to background services and the new full-screen Xbox experience, Microsoft has managed to remove a ton of the clunkiness that typically plagues other Windows-based gaming handhelds.
Instead of having to wade your way through the traditional Windows desktop before booting into a game, now you’re greeted by the Xbox app upon startup (and even during initial setup), so there are fewer steps to get between you and your favorite title. Furthermore, Microsoft has come up with a revamped layout that makes core features super easy to find. The Home tab is where all your installed software is, while there are other dedicated sections for Game Pass downloads (assuming you have a subscription) cloud gaming/remote play (also via Game Pass) and the Microsoft Store. If you prefer other digital marketplaces like Steam or Epic, there are shortcuts to download installers for those stores (and a few more like GOG and Ubisoft) in the My Apps tab. You don’t need to open a web browser and do things manually.
To switch between apps in Microsoft’s new full-screen Xbox experience, all you need to do is swipe up from the bottom of the ROG Xbox Ally X’s screen.
Furthermore, hitting the Xbox button summons a handful of quick settings for all sorts of things, including the Command Center for performance, toggles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, your Xbox friends list and a whole lot more. It’s kind of like a do-everything button and it makes accessing almost all of your most important tools and features quick and easy.
On top of that, there are new gestures that you can access by swiping in on the screen in different directions. Dragging your finger in from the left calls up the Xbox Game Bar overlay, even when you’re in the middle of playing a game, while swiping in from the right opens your Windows notifications. But my favorite command is swiping up from the bottom, which is a new way to switch between apps (or a cooler version of Alt + Tab, depending on how you look at it). From there, you can even scroll through any programs that are currently open just by tapping the Xbox Ally’s shoulder buttons. If you want to use the handheld like a real PC, you can also activate the Windows desktop from there too.
Microsoft has also thoughtfully included compatibility tags on a number of games in its store to give buyers a sense of how well a game will run on the ROG Xbox Ally X.
The redesigned Xbox experience is very breezy and handles 90 to 95 percent of your traditional gaming functions, but there are still times when some of Window’s underlying awkwardness shows through. Most often, I found this happens when exiting a game from a third-party store, where the Xbox Ally will spit you out into your Steam library (for example), where you’ll often have to rely on touchscreen controls instead of the joysticks or the desktop mode’s mouse cursor to navigate around. It’s not a big deal compared to other Windows-based handhelds, and even though Microsoft has taken a big step forward on the Xbox Ally, there is still a little polishing to be done.
One of the biggest benefits of going with the ROG Xbox Ally X is that it comes with a larger 80WHr battery than the base model (60Whr). When that is combined with improved energy efficiency from its new chip, you get very solid battery life — just as long as you don’t max out the power settings.
I tested this by playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at full HD on medium settings and max brightness (Protip: don’t do this at night if you want to get to sleep on time) and the Xbox Ally X lasted just shy of three and a half hours. That’s 30 minutes longer than what I got from the Legion Go 2, although considering the latter has a much larger screen (with the same 500 nits of brightness), that difference wasn’t a big shock. The bigger revelation is that when compared to the original Ally X, ASUS and Microsoft’s new jointly-made device provided an extra hour of runtime, which could make a meaningful difference on a long trip.
While Microsoft’s first real foray into PC gaming handhelds isn’t upending the status quo and it’s way too early to say if this gadget will save Xbox as a whole, it is bringing some notable advancements. The new full-screen experience makes launching and playing games on Windows-based devices so much more seamless that it’s kind of wild it took so long to get here. Sure, there are still a few edge cases where you’ll have to tap the screen or flip between the Xbox app and ASUS’ Armoury Create to tweak certain settings, but compared to most of its rivals, the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X is a massive upgrade in general usability.
Here is a size comparison between the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X (bottom) and the Lenovo Legion Go 2 (top).
The bigger grips and a familiar button layout will instantly make longtime Xbox fans feel right at home. And thanks to the new chip and more processes and services that run in the background while you’re gaming, you get class-leading performance and battery life.
Aside from lackluster haptics, the ROG Xbox Ally X’s biggest issue is its price. I totally get that there’s a growing number of gamers who constantly crave better performance from their portable PCs. However, the trade-off for all this is a much bigger hit to your wallet. It wasn’t that long ago when the going rate for a premium handheld was more like $500, which made it easier to afford. After all, those devices weren’t really designed to be your main gaming rig like a laptop or desktop.
Ultimately the biggest deciding factor for purchasing the ROG Xbox Ally X may be how much someone is already invested into the Xbox ecosystem. If you’re a fan of other game stores or you don’t have a subscription to Xbox Game Pass or a ton of friends on the platform, you won’t get the full benefit of everything Microsoft has integrated into the handheld’s new software. This goes double for devotees of Valve’s digital store and Linux-based OS that don’t need bleeding edge performance, who can safely stick to much more affordable Steam Decks or the Legion Go S.
Alternatively, if you want a versatile portable with a giant OLED screen and detachable controllers, the Legion Go 2 is worth consideration as well. Though at $1,300 for the model with a Z2 Extreme chip, it’s even more expensive than this new handheld Xbox. Still, despite some minor caveats, Microsoft has finally put its spin on portable PC gaming (with an assist from ASUS) and brought some welcome upgrades to the space that have made the ROG Xbox Ally X a top shelf device.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/asus-rog-xbox-ally-x-review-an-extra-life-for-xbox-130050224.html?src=rss
Apple’s latest 11- and 13-inch iPad Pros have arrived, and though they’re the first with the company’s all-new M5 chip, they’re otherwise largely identical to last year’s models. The main reason to buy one, then, would be for the extra performance over the M4 — something that may be worthwhile to content creators and other power users looking for a tablet instead of a laptop.
Last year Apple decided to debut its M4 chip with the iPad Pro lineup and not its laptops. The reason? Only the entry-level M4 was ready (and not the M4 Pro and M4 Max), so Apple decided to wait before putting in its MacBooks so it could launch the entire lineup at once. With updated Magic Keyboards, It also showed that Apple was marketing the iPad Pro as a feasible MacBook replacement for power users.
The same applies with the M5, except this time the company also launched its entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro at the same time. As before, the new M5 processor uses TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, as Apple reportedly decided against 2-nanometer chips due to cost considerations. The entry-level M5 comes in a couple of versions. The iPad Pro with either 256GB or 512GB of storage gets an M5 with a 9-core CPU (3 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores), 10-core GPU and 12GB of RAM. The 1TB and 2TB models get a fourth performance core and 16GB of RAM.
The big upgrade here appears to be to the GPU; Apple says each of the 10 GPU cores have a Neural Accelerator on board, which will allow GPU-based AI processing to run significantly faster than on the M4. Apple claims it has more than four times the peak GPU compute performance of the M4 (which is only about 18 months old, mind you). Graphics performance should be about 45 percent higher than on the M4, as well. Overall multithreaded performance is 15 percent faster than the M4, and Apple says that video transcoding is six times faster than what the old M1 iPad Pro from 2021 delivered.
As for battery life, Apple claims the same 10 hours that basically every iPad has ever been rated at. But for the first time, the iPad Pro supports fast charging — you can get up to 50 percent in 30 minutes using a 60W USB-C power adaptor.
Apple is also using the C1X modem that it originally introduced last month in the iPhone Air; that’ll provide the optional 5G service that Apple has offered on iPads for a few years now. There’s also an N1 chip (also found in the iPhone Air), which is an Apple-designed networking chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread connectivity. Apple claims this new chip will make features like Personal Hotspot and Airdrop more reliable while also offering improved performance on 5GHz Wi-Fi networks.
As before, the 2025 iPad Airs are extremely thin and light. The 11-inch model is 5.3mm thick and tips the scales at just under one pound, while the 13-incher is just 5.1mm thick weighs 1.29 pounds. Both feature “tandem” OLED Ultra Display XDR screens that hit up to 1,000 nits brightness and peak at 1,600 nits — so they’re perfect for viewing and editing HDR content.
The new iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model with 256GB of storage ($1,199 with 5G) and $1,299 for the 13-inch ($1,499 with 5G). Those are the same prices as last year — still extremely expensive, but at least not more than before. You can pre-order the new iPad Pro now, and it’ll be available on October 22.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apples-latest-ipad-pro-get-a-power-boost-with-the-new-m5-chip-131036435.html?src=rss
In a change of strategy compared to last year (and as it teased earlier), Apple has announced its new entry-level 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro separately from the upcoming M5 Pro and M5 Max versions. The new model, starting at $1,599, arrives alongside the new 11- and 13-inch iPad Pros that share the same M5 processor.
In the past, Apple has favored launching its entire MacBook Pro lineup at once, as it did in 2024 with the M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max models. However, it may have decided to release the M5 model now so it could get a jump start on sales, since the M5 Pro and M5 Max versions are reportedly still several months away. Apple may have also decided on a low-key release since the M5 MacBook Pro is largely unchanged from the previous model.
With that, the emphasis is squarely on the M5 chip and its extra performance. Reportedly due to cost reasons, Apple decided to use the same 3-nanometer fab process for the M5 as it did for the M4. The new chip has 10 GPU cores and 10 CPU cores.
The 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro is now available for pre-order starting at $1,599 with 16GB memory and 512GB storage. Shipping will start October 22.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/apples-first-m5-laptop-is-the-14-inch-macbook-pro-131314446.html?src=rss
Apple has introduced an upgraded version of its Vision Pro headset that’s powered by the company’s M5 chip, its latest silicon that will also come with the new iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. The first generation of the headset was equipped with Apple’s M2, so you can expect this device to be faster and come with more capabilities. Apple hasn’t budged the price from $3,499 with 256GB of storage, but at least it comes with a Dual Knit Band, which adds a top strap for extra security and comfort. (Existing Vision Pro users can also buy the Dual Knit Band separately for $99.)
As you’d expect, Apple claims the refreshed Vision Pro should be faster while loading apps, browsing the web and doing just about everything. The M5 chip also includes a new 10-core GPU, with better support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, “enabling developers to add remarkable detail to lighting, shadows, and reflections in games like Control,” according to Apple. The company also says the M5 Vision Pro renders 10 percent more pixels on its micro-OLED displays, which should make everything look a bit sharper.
The M5 Vision Pro should last a bit longer than the original model, as well. Apple claims it supports up to two and a half hours of typical usage, and up to three hours of video playback. The previous model was rated for two hours of general usage and two and a half hours of video viewing.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported a few days ago that Apple was due for another wave of product announcements. He wrote back then that the new iPad Pro and Vision Pro are already being mass produced and that Apple is “gearing up for an imminent release.” Apple had originally wanted to launch a a lighter and cheaper version of the Vision Pro headset, as well, but it reportedly decided to shift its focus on the development of smart glasses. The company pulled people working on the lighter Vision Pro, Gurman said in another report, and moved them to its smart glasses project.
Apple is reportedly working on a smart glasses model with no display and is meant to pair with iPhones, along with another model that’s equipped with a built-in screen and can directly compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban Display. The company is aiming to release the model with no screen in 2027 and the one with a screen in 2028, Gurman said.
“The Vision Pro is a flawed product, but it’s certainly not empty,” we noted in our review of the original headset. “It’s as if Apple has compiled everything it’s learned from building the Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods into a single device, all in a bid to avoid the Innovator’s Dilemma.” At first glance, the M5 Vision Pro doesn’t seem to change that conclusion much, not without more content and apps built around spatial computing. A price drop and more storage on the base model would certainly make the Vision Pro more compelling, until that happens it’ll remain more of a developer kit than a full-fledged consumer product.
The M5 Vision Pro is now ready to pre-order and will once again set you back $3,499. Apple will start shipping the device on October 22.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/apples-new-vision-pro-gets-an-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band-but-its-still-3499-132123957.html?src=rss
Japan’s government has asked OpenAI not to infringe on anime and manga content that it called “irreplaceable treasures,” according to a report from ITMedia seen by IGN. The request was made by a key minister in charge of AI and IP in response to numerous videos from OpenAI’s Sora 2 generator that use copyrighted material from Japanese studios.
“We have requested OpenAI not to engage in any actions that could constitute copyright infringement,” said cabinet minister Minoru Kiuchi at a press conference last week. “Anime and manga are irreplaceable treasures that we can be proud of around the world.”
Launched on October 1, OpenAI’s Sora 2 can generate 1080p videos up to 20 seconds long with sound. The company also released the Sora app that uses Sora 2 to generate TikTok-style videos of nearly anything. Anime has been a key theme, with many short videos replicating copyrighted materials from franchises like DragonBall and Pokémon.
Despite the demand, Japan has been one of the more progressive nations when it comes to artificial intelligence. The nation’s AI Promotion Act aims to boost the use of AI as an economic growth driver, while also outlining guidelines around copyright infringement. However, the topic of enforcement is still fuzzy so the government is trying to get a better grip on it. “Japan bears a responsibility to take the lead on making rules [around AI and copyright], precisely because we are a country… [that creates] anime, games, and music,” said parliament member Akihisa Shiozaki on his blog.
Last month, OpenAI said it had contacted studios to give them the option of opting out of Sora 2 training on their materials, Reuters reported. The new process requires movie studios and other content owners to explicitly ask OpenAI to exclude their copyright material from videos generated by Sora. It’s not known which, if any, Japanese studios the company has contacted.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/japan-asks-openai-not-to-infringe-on-irreplaceable-manga-and-anime-content-120008580.html?src=rss
DirecTV will begin replacing your TV’s screensaver with AI-generated ads thanks to a new partnership. The entertainment brand is working with Glance, an AI company that has received backing from Google and developed an on-device AI tool alongside the tech giant. The new AI-powered screensavers will begin rolling out to DirecTV Gemini devices early next year.
Glance’s press release about the deal presents the tech’s capability in lofty language: “Shop smarter by discovering and engaging with products and brands in an AI-led virtual and visually immersive shopping experience that feels native to TV.” In practice, however, it sounds like a viewer can use the Glance mobile app to do things like insert themselves or other people into AI-generated videos appearing on their televisions. Then they can use the voice remote to alter the person’s wardrobe and then buy items similar to the AI-generated images from your phone.
“We are making television a lean-in experience versus lean back,” Rajat Wanchoo, Glance’s group vice president of commercial partnerships, told The Verge, which initially picked up news of the partnership. “We want to give users a chance to use the advancements that have happened in generative AI to create a ChatGPT moment for themselves, but on TV.”
It’s unclear how many DirecTV customers want to have a ChatGPT moment for themselves, but questions about whether people want or need a feature hasn’t stopped most AI companies from pushing ahead with business plans. The press release doesn’t note whether viewers will be able to turn off this screensaver feature once it’s live.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/directv-will-start-replacing-screensavers-with-ai-generated-ads-next-year-224436035.html?src=rss
Samsung is back with another event this fall, which it has dubbed Worlds Wide Open. The company said that it will use this opportunity to officially unveil its Android XR headset, internally known as Project Moohan. The livestreamed event will take place on Tuesday, October 21 at 10PM ET and you can watch either on Samsung’s website or on its YouTube channel.
It’s possible that Samsung always anticipated having an event next week, but it’s also possible that the company’s hand was forced after a big leak last week disclosed several notable details about Project Moohan. According to the leaks, the headset’s official name will be Samsung Galaxy XR and it is the first commercial product to leverage the Android XR platform for augmented reality. We knew Samsung was aiming to release this headset sometime this year, so it’s very likely we’ll learn both the release date and the price during Worlds Wide Open.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-will-introduce-its-android-xr-headset-at-a-galaxy-event-on-october-21-230000605.html?src=rss
