It pretty much works as intended, but it doesn’t mean that it is perfect. In fact, a patent that was discovered by AppleInsider suggests that Apple wants AirPlay to get smarter by predicting the devices you typically stream to. For example, if you usually stream Apple Music to a set of AirPlay enabled speakers at home, it will know that those speakers are your preferred device and will automatically stream to them without any input from the user.

The same can be said with apps, where if you usually use AirPlay to stream an app from your iPhone to the Apple TV, it will learn that behavior and eventually, it will automatically stream from the app to your Apple TV the next time you launch it.

According to the patent’s description, “While storing numerous applications may allow a mobile device to be particularly useful to the user, it may be difficult and time consuming for the user to identify and execute a particular intended application or function among all of the available applications stored on the mobile device.” That being said, there’s no way of telling if this will actually become a feature in the future, but it’s one of those quality of life improvements we wouldn’t mind seeing.

To give you some context, the highest end Galaxy Note 10 model, the Note 10 Plus, was priced at 1.5 million won which roughly converts to $1,250. However, if the rumors are true, the Note 20 Ultra, rumored to be the highest end model, could be priced at 1.45 million won which is roughly $1,210 after conversion.

Now, the difference in price seems almost negligible, but if true, it actually makes a big difference. This is because we’ve seen prices only ever go up, so to see it actually being maintained or even drop just a bit is a good sign. It is also better than seeing the price go up, so even if it is a marginal difference, it’s better than nothing.

Of course, the prices are in Korean won so how much it translates to in USD when it arrives stateside remains to be seen. Take it with a grain of salt for now, but Samsung is expected to share more details about the Note 20 at an event on the 5th of August, so check back with us then for more details.

This is because according to Weinbach, he claims that during the testing of the 120Hz, the tech has apparently not fared too well and failed 3 out of 20 tests, which apparently isn’t good enough for the company. There is some good news because Apple is still considering it, but for now, it doesn’t seem too optimistic.

It is unclear as to what kind of issues Apple might have encountered with the 120Hz display, and it is also a bit strange. This is because many other Android handset makers have introduced devices with a 120Hz display, so we’re not sure what kind of problems Apple is experiencing that others have not.

It is possible that maybe Apple is trying to use its own tech to create these displays which could lead to some issues, but we can’t say for sure. This means that while Apple’s iPhone 12 displays will continue to look as beautiful as before, they might not come with the smooth buttery 120Hz refresh rate that some were hoping for.

The person portraying the new villain in Far Cry 6 is none other than Giancarlo Esposito, who many might know as Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as well as Moff Gideon from Disney+’s The Mandalorian series. It had actually been rumored for a while that Esposito would be portraying the villain in Far Cry 6, and this teaser pretty much confirms that.

Esposito’s character in Far Cry 6 will be known as Anton Castillo and he will be playing the dictator of Yara, which has been described as “a tropical paradise frozen in time”. There is no word on when the game will actually be announced, but Ubisoft is hosting the Ubisoft Forward showcase this Sunday so there is a chance the game could be detailed then.

Anton would not be pleased. See you on Sunday at #UbiForward. pic.twitter.com/SCNvo0qB1R

— Ubisoft_UK (@Ubisoft_UK) July 10, 2020

In the meantime, the game has also been spotted on the PS Hong Kong store where it was listed as having a release date in February, 2021.

This has resulted in users buying camera cover accessories to block the cameras on their laptops and removing them only when they need to use them. However, it seems that Apple is actually warning customers not to use these camera covers as it could potentially lead to the damage of their MacBook’s displays.

According to Apple, “If you close your Mac notebook with a camera cover installed, you might damage your display because the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances. Covering the built-in camera might also interfere with the ambient light sensor and prevent features like automatic brightness and True Tone from working.”

Instead, Apple is asking customers to rely on the indicator light on their webcams that will let them know if the camera is being used. The company claims that it has been designed in such a way that the camera cannot activate without the light turning on, meaning that hackers can’t trick it into operating without the user being notified.

We’re sure that this might not necessarily be good enough for some users, so if you absolutely have to block the camera, either find a cover that’s less than 0.1mm thick, or be sure to remember to remove the cover before you close your laptop.

The report claims that Apple has been working on semi-transparent lenses and that these lenses have passed the prototype stage and have moved to trial production. The report notes that these lenses have actually been in development for several years dating back to 2018, and now it looks like Apple could finally be happy with what they’ve got.

That being said, it should be noted that trial production doesn’t mean that these glasses will launch soon, but rather it should be taken as an indication that Apple is one step closer to completing it and maybe making an announcement in the near future.

According to the publication’s source, “As of May, the lenses had entered a stage known as engineering validation test, or EVT, during which Apple typically makes thousands of units, said the person familiar with the matter. During that period, Apple has locked down the design and begins testing its suitability for mass production.”

Take this with a grain of salt for now, but last we heard, these AR glasses are apparently set for a possible launch in 2021.

However, according to a report from Bloomberg, Facebook could be considering hitting the pause button on political ads leading up to the elections. The report claims that Facebook is mulling an idea in which the days leading up to Election Day, they would have a blackout on political ads, which would be similar to what other countries such as the UK are doing.

This comes on the heels of Facebook recently announcing that they would allow users to turn off political ads if they’d rather not see it, but this blackout would essentially pause all ads regardless of the user’s settings. However, it should be noted that Facebook’s approach is temporary.

This is versus other platforms such as Twitter who back in 2019 have banned political ads entirely. In the meantime, for those who’d rather not see political ads on their Facebook pages, you can check out our guide here on how to stop political ads on Facebook.

There have been multiple reports and studies done that suggests that facial recognition tech is far from accurate and tends to be biased, and it looks like another example has surfaced over in Detroit. According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, it seems that police had wrongfully arrested a man they thought was the suspect in a theft case where the suspect was caught on camera breaking into a car and stealing a phone that was inside of it.

When the tech was employed to analyze the video, it led police to Michael Oliver who was also identified in a photo lineup by the victim, eventually leading to his arrest. However, Oliver protested that it was not him in the video, and more evidence later on proved that to be true, such as how Oliver had tattoos on his arms while the person in the video did not. The case was later dismissed by a judge.

While there is potential behind facial recognition technology, the current state of it suggests that more work needs to be done. There have been several cities across the US that are banning the use of the technology, like in Boston and also San Francisco.

According to YouTube, “Today, only videos longer than 10 minutes are eligible for mid-roll ads. Starting in late July, videos that are longer than eight minutes will be eligible for mid-roll ads. As part of this change, mid-roll ads will be turned on for all eligible existing videos and future video uploads, including those videos where you may have previously opted out of mid-roll ads.”

That being said, YouTube does note that creators who do not  wish to include mid-roll ads will have the option to manually disable them for each new upload. While it doesn’t mean sense that creators would want to insert less ads since ads equals revenue, ads can sometimes be a bit distracting and we imagine that there might be some creators who are worried it could turn users off from future videos.

These changes are expected to come into effect later this month, so don’t be surprised if you start getting more mid-roll ads in shorter videos in the future.

According to Kuo, “In an optimistic scenario, if Apple lowers the price of Apple Silicon’s MacBook Air to reflect the cost reduction, and if the newly-designed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are better than the old MacBook Pro, we expect… shipment volume to grow significantly to 18-20 million units in 2021.”

Now Kuo doesn’t explicitly state that he knows for sure that there could be cheaper models, but he speculates there could be. It’s actually interesting because according to an earlier report, it was suggested that Apple’s custom silicon chipsets could be priced more expensive than Intel, but that could be due initial costs and new technology.

However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s ARM computers could end up being cheaper, especially since it means that in the long-run, Apple will save money by not having to pay Intel to purchase or license their technology. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see.

According to Kuo’s latest research note, he claims that in 2021, Apple will be launching 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros that will use the new ARM chipset, while the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro will be coming this year with the new ARM chipset. It is unclear as to what this means for the future of the 13-inch and 16-inch models.

Will Apple launch Intel and ARM-based 13-inch and 16-inch models? Or will they only offer it in ARM? Apple did state that during this transition period, they will continue to create Intel-based products, but stopped short of saying which models will be Intel and which will use the new custom Apple silicon.

Also, does this mean that we won’t be seeing a refresh of the 16-inch MacBook Pro this year and that Apple will “save” it for 2021? Either way, we guess we’ll have to wait and see, so take it with a grain of salt for now and hopefully Apple will have more details later this year.

According to a tweet by @L0vetodream, it alleges that for the iPhone 12 Pro models, they are expected to come with as much as 6GB of RAM. This will be an upgrade over its predecessor, the iPhone 11 Pro Max which comes with 4GB of RAM. However, it seems that for the non-Pro models, they will be sticking with just 4GB of RAM.

We imagine that this shouldn’t really pose too much of a problem since the previous models performed just fine with 4GB of RAM, but presumably the difference could encourage users to upgrade to the Pro models.

Professional 6GB
General 4GB

— 有没有搞措 (@L0vetodream) July 9, 2020

Apple is rumored to be launching as many as four iPhone models this year. There will be the base iPhone 12, followed by the iPhone 12 Max, both of which will sport 4GB of RAM. Then there will be two Pro models – the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, both of which will sport the rumored 6GB of RAM. Recent rumors have also “confirmed” that they will all use an OLED display.

Based on the Crash Bandicoot franchise, On The Run will be a new game developed by King (best known for the Candy Crush series) that will bring Crash Bandicoot onto mobile. The gameplay for On The Run is basically the same as one might expect from a runner-style game, where players swipe left or right to avoid obstacles.

However, according to the developers, they plan on introducing more challenges such as bosses which should help shake up the gameplay a bit. There will also be custom skins (which we imagine are locked behind microtransactions), as well as various levels from the Crash Bandicoot franchise that gamers might be familiar with.

The game isn’t out yet but it is planned for both iOS and Android. Gamers who are interested in checking it out can go and pre-register their interest on the website where they’ll receive an exclusive Blue Hyena skin upon the game’s launch.

However, in a tweet by @Renak_schedule, they have discovered what appears to be a patent by Sony in which the company is looking at an idea on how to make its consoles more backwards compatible with older consoles, like the PS4, PS3, PS2, and the original PlayStation through the use of cloud gaming.

Essentially what this does is that it will create a virtual machine on the PS5 (like how Mac users can run Windows using Boot Camp) where they can then stream and play games designed for older consoles on the PS5. To a certain extent, Sony kind of already does this with the PS4 where through the PS Now streaming service, they can play PS3 games.

However, the issue here is that gamers would need to pay for games they might already own, which can be annoying and is an additional cost that some might not be too willing to pay. This patent sounds like an extension of that, but assuming Sony can find a way to verify game purchases, it would be pretty awesome.

SIEのPS5？特許情報をメモします。

・PS1/PS2/PS3、様々な世代のゲーム機にわたる大量のゲームタイトルが、クラウドゲーミングライブラリを介して蓄積され利用可能。

・これらのゲームは、それぞれのゲーム機に関連したオペレーティングシステムを模倣した仮想マシンの上で実行可能。 pic.twitter.com/TsWV859OLd

— れんか (@Renka_schedule) July 4, 2020

It would also make the PS5 a much more compelling purchase, where right out of the box, players would also be able to access a ton of older games while waiting for newer releases. However, given that this is a patent, there’s no telling if it will ever be made a reality, so maybe don’t get your hopes up just yet.

Now it looks like GoPro has joined the list of camera makers to offer up software solutions as the company has announced the release of a beta firmware and desktop software. The release of this new firmware and software will basically turn the company’s current flagship camera, the Hero 8 Black, into a full-fledged webcam.

The best part about these official software solutions is that it makes it incredibly easy to use. All users need to do is connect their Hero 8 Black to their computer, run the software, and they’ll be good to go! Right now, the software is only available for the Hero 8 Black and is only available on macOS, but GoPro does note that they are working on a Windows version that will be released later on.

GoPro now joins other camera makers such as Fujifilm, Canon, and Olympus who have all released similar software for their cameras.

The company has officially announced its latest full frame mirrorless camera in the form of the Canon EOS R6. The camera will come with a 20.1MP full-frame CMOS sensor and DIGIC X image processor, and if you’re wondering why this sounds familiar, it is because this is the same sensor used in Canon’s flagship EOS-1D X Mark III DSLR camera, so you should be able to expect similar performance, but in a smaller package.

The EOS R6 also comes with a relatively large grip that should make it easier to hold, and we’re looking at other features such as an ISO range of 100-102,400 that can be extended to 204,800 if absolutely necessary. It also supports 4K video recording up to 59.94 fps, 1080p Full HD up to 119.88 fps, along with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, support for dual UHS-II SD card slots.

There is also weather sealing, a 3-inch LCD touchscreen on the back, and a 0.5-inch OLED EVF. If you’re interested in grabbing the EOS R6, Canon has announced that it will be available at the end of August where it will be priced starting at $2,499 for the body-only, for $2,899 for the body and the RF 24-105 F4-7.1 IS STM lens kit, or $3,599 for the body and the RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM lens kit.

The company has since announced a new app designed for the iPhone called Live Link Face for Unreal Engine. Basically what the app does is that it relies on the iPhone’s front-facing TrueDepth camera system to assist with motion capture. While it might not necessarily be as comprehensive as a “true” motion capture setup, it might still prove to be invaluable for indie developers who are starting out.

According to Epic, “Live Link Face streams high-quality facial animation in real time from your iPhone directly onto characters in Unreal Engine. The app’s tracking leverages Apple’s ARKit and the iPhone’s TrueDepth front-facing camera to interactively track a performer’s face, transmitting this data directly to Unreal Engine via Live Link over a network.”

So far, the TrueDepth camera system on the iPhone feels more novel than functional. Apart from Face ID, there really isn’t too much else that it can be used for other than for fun features like Animojis. While this app still feels rather niche as it is aimed at developers, at the very least it does expand on the technology which could open up the door to more apps in the future. If you’re interested in checking out the app, you can download it from the iOS App Store.

However, it seems that Japan wants to take some of the guesswork out of buying tuna because a chain of Japanese sushi restaurants have recently turned to the use of a new app called Tuna Scope. Developed by Japanese advertising company Dentsu, it is a machine learning powered app that can tell the user how good the tuna they’re buying is.

The app learns by being fed thousands of images of the cross-section of the tuna tail, where based on what it has learnt, it will be able to tell the user various characteristics of the fish they’re buying like the sheen of the flesh, the fat, and so on. These are things a more experienced buyer might know, but like we said, the app intends to help take out some of the guesswork for less experienced buyers and make it easier for them to spot a higher grade tuna, or at least a cut of tuna that suits their needs.

Some have expressed their skepticism about the app, saying that while visuals are one aspect of judging the quality of the fish, there are other nuances like the feel of the flesh that might be harder to gauge.

In a report from Korean publication ETNews, they claim to have received tips from industry sources who claim that Samsung might be considering making a similar move for its 2021 smartphones. This means that for now, the company’s upcoming Galaxy Note 20 (which is set for an announcement on the 5th of August) will still be bundled with earphones and a power adapter.

As to why companies might be considering this move, the answer is rather simple: costs. By not including these accessories, it means that companies like Apple and Samsung will need to make less components, which in turn can help them reduce their overall costs. However, since we can’t say for sure how much these parts cost in the first place, this decision seems to be more advantageous for these companies rather than consumers.

In fact, it was recently suggested that the iPhone 12, despite it not being bundled with accessories, could actually end up being priced $50 more expensive than its predecessor. Take this with a grain of salt for now, but we imagine that other companies are probably looking to see how the public’s reaction is when Apple makes their move before considering something similar themselves.

After being available for developers to test, Apple has finally released iOS 14 as a public beta. This means that just about anyone with an iPhone or an iPad will be able to take the new operating system for a spin and check out the upcoming new features ahead of its release. However, given that it is a beta, you should proceed with caution.

This is because the beta is more about Apple getting feedback on features and ironing out the bugs and kinks that are no doubt still in the update. It’s probably not a good idea to use this as your daily driver due to various problems that might occur. For example, you might run into certain issues with your apps as some of them might encounter errors due to compatibility and optimization.

Also, as this is a beta, certain aspects of the OS might not necessarily work as intended, so your experience might not necessarily be consistent. However, for those who don’t mind taking the update for a spin, then head on over to Apple’s website for the details on how you can download it.

The trend in mice these days seem to sport designs where they have holes on the surface, presumably to better facilitate airflow and also to create a lighter mouse (due to there being less materials), but the Zephyr will be the first mouse that we are aware of that comes with an active cooling fan built into it.

The fan speed can also be adjusted between 4,000 to 10,000 RPM, although we have to wonder at 10,000 RPM, will it be loud enough to be annoying. Also, as PCGamer points out, there is also the issue of cleaning and how gamers are expected to maintain the fan to prevent dust build up.

Apart from that, the Zephyr looks like a pretty standard mouse with two side buttons, three top buttons, and a scroll wheel that doubles as a button as well. The mouse is expected to be launched on Kickstarter on the 22nd of July with a “Super Early Bird” special priced at $79, so if you’re interested, you can sign up on its website to be notified when it eventually launches.

Dubbed Spark’d, this will be a reality TV show where it will task people to create characters, worlds, and stories in The Sims game in hopes of walking away with a $100,00 prize. According to EA, “For decades, diverse storytellers have been telling millions of stories in The Sims, inspired by their own lives and limitless creativity. Now, the competition is underway as twelve Simmers take on timed creativity challenges to build characters, worlds, and stories in the hopes of impressing the judges—and winning the $100,000 prize.”

It sounds like an interesting premise, although how entertaining it might be remains to be seen. It also seems to highlight the growing interest in watching people play video games, so if you’ve enjoyed watching live streams of people playing games, then this could be interesting to you as well. The first episode will premiere on the 17th of July at 11pm ET/PT on TBS, and will also be available through BuzzFeed Multiplayer on the 20th of July at 8AM.

However, according to TheWindowsClub, they have discovered some changes that Google could be making to Chrome that could help conserve battery in a big way. This comes in the form of an experimental feature that limits the JavaScript timer to wake up in background webpages to just one wake per minute.

This is actually a feature that Apple has employed in Safari, so it’s nice to see that Chrome users could potentially get the feature as well. So what does this mean for end-users? Similar to background app refreshes, by limiting the number of JavaScript wake ups in tabs in the background, it means that Chrome would use less resources, and in turn could help save battery life.

It seems that Google has tested this feature out to see its impact on battery life, and found that by enabling the feature, it could end up saving users as much as 2 hours of battery life with 36 background tabs open. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on what else you are doing, but it is still pretty good news all the same.

Like we said, the feature is currently still in its experimental phase, but if you have Chrome 86, you can enable it by typing chrome://flags in the address bar, look for Throttle Javascript Timers, and enable it.

According to the discovery by WABetaInfo, they write, “Following the references listed in this image, Facebook can understand if a WhatsApp contact is blocked, sounds of push notifications, the details of a chat (that includes particular information like the phone number of the contact, a message counter, if the chat is archived..) but not its content, members of a specific group and profile pictures of the contact.”

While there is no explicit mention of cross-platform messaging, their discovery does seem to suggest that Facebook could potentially be laying down the groundwork to make that happen. If this is accurate and Facebook is planning to do what we think they are planning to do, it could actually be a pretty good idea.

This could reduce the number of messaging apps we may need, making it more efficient. However, there are also some privacy concerns since WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, while Messenger does not. In any case, it might be too early to tell, but in the meantime what do you think? Would such a feature be of interest to you?

This is because according to a report from MacRumors, they have discovered that the shipping estimates for the 27-inch iMac have slipped rather considerably, where the mid and high-end stock configurations are now seeing shipping estimates for September. This means that if you were to place an order now, depending on your configuration, you might only be able to expect it in two months’ time.

This has led to speculation that maybe, just maybe, Apple could have a refreshed iMac in the works which is why they aren’t necessarily keeping up with production. This actually makes sense given that the 27-inch iMac has actually not been updated in almost a year and a half, so a refresh does feel imminent.

Alternatively, it is also possible that Apple could be facing some production issues which is why shipping estimates have slipped. The coronavirus pandemic has affected production of many products around the world, and while factories are starting to reopen, we wouldn’t be surprised if some of them aren’t operating at full capacity just yet.

Users have been discovering that quite a number of apps have actually been accessing their clipboards without their knowledge following the installation of the iOS 14 beta, and it seems that Reddit was found to be one of the offending apps. According to users, it seems that they have been receiving alerts pretty much non-stop with every keystroke they make while using the app.

Reddit has since released a statement to The Verge in which they explain what their intention was, but also note that they will be removing the feature in an upcoming update to the app. “We tracked this down to a codepath in the post composer that checks for URLs in the pasteboard and then suggests a post title based on the text contents of the URL. We do not store or send the pasteboard contents. We removed this code and are releasing the fix on July 14th.”

UPDATE: Seems like Reddit is capturing the clipboard on each keystroke as well 😕

Seeing the notification come up just as much. pic.twitter.com/nzbElmRG2a

— Don 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 urspace.io (@DonCubed) July 2, 2020

To be fair, a lot of apps that were found to be doing this were doing it for non-nefarious/malicious reasons, but at the same time, the fact that it was done without the user’s knowledge made it feel somewhat questionable.

This means that the earliest we’ll see its release would also be around the first quarter of 2021. Apple typically announces new product refreshes around that time of the year, so this actually doesn’t come as a surprise. The report also believes that this 14-inch MacBook Pro will be using a mini OLED screen opposed to LCD which is what Apple has been using for a while now.

This report also seems to corroborate some earlier rumors which claimed that Apple’s mini LED products, including the 14-inch MacBook Pro, have been delayed to 2021. That being said, we should note that back in 2019, Apple’s Phil Schiller seemed to shut down rumors of a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

However, Apple has been known to be rather cagey about their product roadmap and that most of what we know are based on rumors and speculation. However, a 14-inch MacBook Pro makes sense, especially if Apple can approach it the same way they did with the 16-inch model by shrinking the bezels so that the overall size remains the same, but will sport a larger display.

This is because according to analyst Jeff Pu, he has released a research note that was obtained by MacRumors in which the analyst believes that despite the lack of accessories, the iPhone 12 could actually end up being priced $50 more than its predecessor.

According to Pu, he claims that the base 5.4-inch iPhone could be priced at $749, making it $50 more expensive than the iPhone 11 which is priced at $699. He claims that the increase in cost is due to the addition of 5G as well as the use of an OLED screen. The analyst also believes that despite the price increase, it will be “accepted by customers”, but would generate controversy nonetheless due to the removal of the accessories.

What’s interesting about Pu’s claims is that prior to this, we had actually heard rumors that the iPhone 12 could be priced starting at $649 for the base model, so this actually contradicts that. Take it with a grain of salt for now, but hopefully we’ll have more official details in the coming months.

However, it seems that scientists have managed to create a chocolate so unique that we think any packaging would actually detract from it. Thanks to the work of Patrick Rühs, Etienne Jeoffroy, Henning Galinski, and Anita Zingg, they have managed to create a chocolate that comes with a hologram-like color changing finish (which you can see in the video above).

While using food dyes isn’t exactly new, what makes this particular chocolate special is that the researchers managed to achieve this look without the need for special ingredients or food dye. This involved imprinting the outside of the chocolate with a specific pattern that allowed them to produce chocolates with a color changing finish that did not alter the taste or texture of the chocolate itself.

While the researchers were understandably hesitant to share how exactly they achieved this, they did hint that it was inspired by the chameleon, whose skin has microscopic surface structures that can scatter light in various wavelengths depending on the angle it is being looked at.

We’re not sure when we will start seeing these chocolates hit the market, but we imagine once it becomes available, don’t be surprised if this becomes the next food trend you see on social media.

In a statement made to The Verge, an Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon.”

As to why some were worried about this, it is because Thunderbolt has yet to be seen or offered on any of Apple’s non-Intel based products. Even the iPad Pro uses USB-C and not Thunderbolt 3, while the ARM-based Developer Transition Kit also comes with USB-C ports and not Thunderbolt 3 ports.

However, the good news is that based on this statement, it seems that Thunderbolt will continue to be supported even on ARM-based Mac computers, which is good news for those who rely on the port to connect devices or to make huge file transfers.