Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers delivered a dramatic finish. Find out who won and more here.
Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers delivered a dramatic finish. Find out who won and more here.
Liquid Glass is a huge new change coming to iOS 26. (Apple)
The rumors were true: Apple is skipping past iOS 19 and going right to iOS 26 — and it’s bringing some pretty cool new features with it. For starters, the iPhone is finally getting a fresh home and lock screen redesign dubbed Liquid Glass, a look and feel that will extend across all of Apple’s upcoming operating systems. The overhaul was one of several big changes coming to iOS, macOS, iPadOS and the rest of Apple’s software suite, all of which were showcased during the company’s WWDC keynote on June 9.
After overpromising on AI plans at WWDC 2024, Apple kept its iOS roadmap focused more on basic quality of life improvements this year. There are multiple useful additions coming to the Phone and Messages apps on your iPhone, for instance: Apple execs outlined the ability to weed out spam texts or other unknown senders and an option to hold your spot on a phone call when you’ve been waiting for a representative to pick up. Plus, a treasured feature that we took for granted is coming back (hint: it’s in the Photos app).
Keep reading to check out the most notable features coming to your iPhone this fall, according to Apple. Also, make sure your iPhone is eligible to download the iOS 26 update (thankfully, most recent models are).
While the current iPhone operating system is iOS 18, Apple is skipping the numbering ahead to iOS 26 later this year. The company has decided to line up its iOS version numbers with a year-based system, similar to car model years. So while iOS and its sibling operating systems will be released in late 2025, they’re all designated “26” to reflect the year ahead.
It’s official, we’re moving to iOS 26. (Apple)
Let’s be honest. Out of everything announced at WWDC this year, the new Liquid Glass design was the star of the show. The iPhone’s home and lock screens have looked pretty much the same year after year — the last exciting thing (in my opinion) was the option to add your own aesthetic to your home screen by customizing your apps and widgets. So seeing the home and lock screens’ new facelift is refreshing.
So what exactly is Liquid Glass? Apple calls it a “new translucent material” since, well, the apps and widgets are clear. However, the screen can still adapt to dark and light modes, depending on surroundings. You’ll also notice buttons with a new floating design in several apps, like Phone and Maps. They’re designed to be less distracting than the current buttons, but are still easy to see. While the design overhaul has proven to be controversial since its announcement, some — including Engadget’s own Devindra Hardawar — like the new direction, even if it’s somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft’s translucent Windows Vista Aero designs from nearly twenty years ago.
Thankfully, it appears you’ll be able to dial the transparency up and down to your liking. And love it or hate it, Apple users won’t be able to escape it: Liquid Glass was designed to make all of Apple’s OSes more cohesive. Here’s a look at how the translucent aesthetic will look with the new macOS Tahoe 26 on your desktop.
iOS 26 has a laundry list of new features. Among the most worthwhile:
Phone app redesign: You’ll finally be able to scroll through contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. It also comes with a new feature called Hold Assist that’ll notify you when an agent comes to the phone so you can avoid the elevator music and continue on with other tasks.
Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime and Messages: iOS 26 is bringing the ability to have a conversation via phone call or text message with someone who speaks another language. Live Translation will translate your conversation in real time, which results in some stop-and-go interactions in the examples Apple shared during its presentation.
Polls in group chats: Tired of sorting through what seems like hundreds of messages in your group chat? You and your friends will soon be able to create polls in group messages for deciding things like which brunch spot you’re eating at or whose car you’re taking on a road trip.
Filtering unknown senders in Messages: If you haven’t received spam texts about unpaid tolls or other citations, you’re lucky. For those of us who have, those annoying messages will soon be filtered away in a separate folder.
Visual Intelligence: Similar to a reverse Google image search, this new feature will allow you to search for anything that’s on your iPhone screen. For instance, if you spot a pair of shoes someone is wearing in an Instagram photo, you can screenshot it and use Visual Intelligence to find those shoes (or similar ones) online.
Photos tabs are back: For anyone who’s still frustrated with the Photos changes made last year, you’ll be happy to know that your tabs are coming back. Library and Collections will have their own separate spaces so you don’t have to scroll to infinity to find what you’re looking for.
Apple’s Hold Assist will be nifty for those pesky services that put you on hold for 10 or more minutes. (Apple)
A few iPhone models that run the current version of iOS — iPhone XR, XS and XS Max — won’t be compatible with the latest upgrade. But any iPhones released in 2019 or later will be eligible for the iOS 26 update.
iPhone SE (second generation or later)
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16e
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Not listed here are the presumed new iPhone 17 models (or maybe iPhone 26?) that are all but certain to be announced and released in September.
The iOS 26 public beta will become available in July via the Apple Beta Software Program. If you’re not already a member, you’ll need to sign up to try out all the latest features. Just visit beta.apple.com and sign up with your phone number or email address. It’s free.
Once you’re in and the beta is available, you can install it by going to Settings > General > Software Update and selecting iOS 26 public beta.
A word of caution: Don’t sign up with your main iPhone unless you’re OK with any risks that occur with using an OS that isn’t finalized.
iOS 26 will be released to the public this fall. It usually comes in September, within a week of the Apple iPhone event. Last year, it rolled out to iPhone users on September 16 — exactly one week after the iPhone 16 lineup was announced.
If you’re more interested in the Apple Intelligence features coming, here’s everything Apple revealed for iOS, macOS and more during WWDC. Also, check out how iOS 26 screenshots could be an intriguing preview of Apple’s delayed Siri rework.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apple-ios-26-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-next-iphone-operating-system-135749586.html?src=rss
The ‘Pitch Perfect’ star found happiness with her girlfriend, Jade, and Anna responded to online criticism about their age difference.
The ‘Pitch Perfect’ star found happiness with her girlfriend, Jade, and Anna responded to online criticism about their age difference.
For years now, most Chromebooks have run some variety of Intel or AMD processor. The occasional device used a MediaTek chip, but they were often underpowered and cheap devices that were hard to recommend. ARM-based processors have worked tremendously well for Apple on the Mac, and they’re being used in more and more Windows PCs as well. Now, Lenovo (makers of my favorite Chromebook) and Google are giving ARM a real shot with the $649 Chromebook Plus 14.
The companies say the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chip and its AI NPU can handle up to 50 TOPS — but more intriguing to me, Lenovo is also promising up to 17 hours of battery life. I’ll believe that claim when I see it; mediocre at best battery life has plagued nearly every Chromebook I’ve used in recent years. But switching to ARM could improve on what Intel-powered Chromebooks have delivered, both in terms of battery life and overall performance.
Time for the nitty-gritty specs. Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 is, as you’d expect, a 14-inch laptop that looks quite similar to a silver MacBook Pro. It’s certainly more stylish and sleek than Lenovo’s more utilitarian (and awkwardly-named) IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. It weighs only 2.58 pounds (about a pound less than the Flex 5i) and is just over .62 inches thick. In addition to the Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, Lenovo is including either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. Lenovo isn’t skimping on the screen, either. The 14-inch OLED panel can be outfitted with a touchscreen and has a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. The resolution is relatively modest, but totally in line with what you’d expect for the price.
There are a few other nice touches throughout. Lenovo’s latest is the first Chromebook with Dolby Atmos sound via a quad-speaker system that includes two downward-firing woofers. Audio quality on laptops has increased significantly in recent years, so I’m looking forward to hearing what Lenovo can deliver. The 5-megapixel webcam has a much higher resolution than most other Chromebooks, and there’s also a fingerprint reader for secure logins.
All told, this Chromebook is on the more expensive side compared to many other options. But when you compare its specs and design with other Chromebooks in this price range, Lenovo’s latest comes out looking pretty good. Of course, we’ll need to make sure the MediaTek chip is powerful enough and also see what battery life is like, but Lenovo’s track record is strong enough that I’m looking forward to seeing if we have a new king of the Chromebooks.
Given that Google is relentlessly focused on adding AI features everywhere you turn, it’s no surprise that there are a handful of new AI tricks here. First are two that are currently exclusive to Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14: Smart Grouping and AI image editing in the Chromebook’s Gallery app. Google has been teasing Smart Grouping for a while now; it’ll look at your open tabs and documents and ask if you want to organize them into a separate virtual desk. And the Gallery app now has some AI-powered editing features like removing backgrounds or turning your images into stickers.
Beyond these are a bunch of AI features that are coming to all Chromebook Plus laptops, many of which will feel familiar if you’ve paid attention to what Google has released to other platforms in recent months. For example, you can now long-press the launcher and select an area of the screen to run a search. As usual, the default example is shopping — see a pair of shoes you want, highlight it and let Google find them for you. The integration does look nice, though, with a pop-over window showing you results so you don’t have to leave the app you’re using.
Similarly, Text Capture analyzes text in an image and suggests things like calendar appointments based on what it reads. Or highlighting an image of a recipe can pull all of the items you need for it into a Google Docs list.
The Quick Insert key, which was first introduced last year on Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus, can now be used to generate and insert AI images into anywhere your text cursor is pointing — it’s not just limited to Google apps. Finally, Google’s “help me read” tool has a new “simplify” option that can take complex language (think scientific explanations) and put it in plain language to make it easier to understand.
Anyone buying a Chromebook Plus this year will get a solid perk that Google first introduced last year: a full 12 months of the Google One AI Pro plan, which includes 2TB of Google Drive storage and access to more advanced Gemini features (you can find all the exact details here). Given that this is a $20 per month plan, it’s a solid additional value — at the very least for the storage, if you’re not all that interested in Gemini.
As for Lenovo’s new hardware, I’m looking forward to trying it soon to see if the ARM architecture can deliver the massive battery life and performance improvements that the company is promising. But if you want to throw down your cash now, Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 is available at Best Buy and on Lenovo’s site to order as of today. (Note that, at least for now, only the more expensive version of the Chromebook Plus 14, with a touchscreen at 16GB of RAM, is available at Best Buy.)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/lenovo-promises-17-hours-of-battery-life-on-its-new-chromebook-plus-14-130018894.html?src=rss
Tyrese suffered from an achilles injury during game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, his father said. Get an update on his recovery.
Tyrese suffered from an achilles injury during game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, his father said. Get an update on his recovery.
The June 22 launch of Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin, Texas, actually occurred. It’s a tentative first step for the company, however: a human “Tesla Safety Monitor” is accompanying the first riders. There are also only ten cars and rides are limited to certain Tesla users. Those early riders and influencers have been sharing their experiences on social media, mostly (surprise) on X.
Most of the early riders appear to be pro-Tesla users, with a company mention in their social media bio or a Tesla cap in their profile picture (or both), so consider these initial reactions within that context. Having said that, an autonomous car ride is… an autonomous car ride. Many livestreams show the safety monitor gripping a handle on the right side of the passenger seat, possibly with emergency controls. However, that hasn’t yet been confirmed. Many passengers attempted to talk with their safety monitors, with, er, limited success.
Tesla RoboTaxi First Public Ride Livestream https://t.co/2KIm1TiieI
— Bearded Tesla (@BeardedTesla) June 22, 2025
One user, Bearded Tesla Guy called the app “basically Uber.” Others found it challenging to summon a Tesla car from the limited pool of rides, watching multiple driverless Waymos pass them by as they waited. Austin is the place for autonomous ride testing: Waymo is scaling up its service in partnership with Uber, while Amazon’s Zoox is also testing its tech in the area.
After verifying your identity with the human safety monitor, you initiate the journey by pressing the “start ride” button. Tesla has linked the service to users’ existing profiles, allowing you to import your existing music playlists, which is a nice touch. You can also adjust your temperature settings, seat position and more from the companion app. Unlike a typical Tesla, the robotaxi has buttons to ask the car to pull over or stop in lane. There’s also the option to call support if you encounter any issues with your automated ride, although we’d assume that a human safety monitor would likely offer quicker assistance.
As the service kicked off, Tesla revealed a new robotaxi page, with all the guidelines and rules for its Robotaxis. The company also has detailed FAQs for using the service and a sign-up sheet for updates. Early access riders are being charged a flat rate of $4.20 for their journeys.
Parameters are strict, on top of the limited pool of cars. Rides have to go within a geofenced area that excludes airports and run between 6AM and midnight. At this point, we know to take Musk’s claims with a grain of salt, but the Tesla boss says the company plans to grow its taxi fleet to a thousand driverless cars on the road “within a few months.” Tesla has also said it will operate its robotaxi network using an “unsupervised” version of its self-driving software.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/teslas-first-robotaxi-rides-kick-off-in-austin-texas-100015076.html?src=rss
The NASCAR driver has increased his fortune over time by steadily winning more races. Find out where Denny’s net worth stands today.
The NASCAR driver has increased his fortune over time by steadily winning more races. Find out where Denny’s net worth stands today.
After the U.S. blew up three nuclear sites in Iran, many are concerned about what comes next.
After the U.S. blew up three nuclear sites in Iran, many are concerned about what comes next.
One of the games that really caught my eye during the Xbox Games Showcase at the beginning of June was The Blood of Dawnwalker, a dark fantasy action-RPG from Rebel Wolves, the studio co-founded by Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz. First teased earlier this year, The Blood of Dawnwalker is a single-player open-world game set in a version of 14th-century Europe that’s crawling with vampires.
The first two trailers gave us a bit of a glimpse at what the gameplay will be like, but the developer has now shared an in-depth look in a 21-minute video, which you can watch below. It looks pretty sick — but keep in mind that this footage is from the “pre-beta” game, so there’s still a lot of polishing to be done.
In The Blood of Dawnwalker, “You play as Coen, a young man turned into a Dawnwalker, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night. Fight for your humanity or embrace the cursed powers to save your family.” It’s slated to hit PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-developers-share-a-look-at-gameplay-from-the-upcoming-vampire-fantasy-rpg-185720914.html?src=rss
The NASCAR racer announced the birth of his third child, whom he shares with longtime partner Jordan, in June 2025. Get to know his whole family here.
The NASCAR racer announced the birth of his third child, whom he shares with longtime partner Jordan, in June 2025. Get to know his whole family here.
