Technology

Scheduled for a September unveiling, Apple‘s iPhone 13 series is reported to include the highest-priced model ever. According to reports, rumors suggested that iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will have three storage options – 128GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The 256GB model from previous versions is said to be removed for this launch. The groundbreaking storage expansion to 1TB may lead to an increase in price, proposed to retail between $2,055 and $2,179 USD. The reported price is 56% more expensive than the most costly iPhone model that’s available – the iPhone 12 Pro Max for $1,399 USD with a capacity of 512GB. Apple has also yet to announce any official price and details, but those waiting to upgrade to a new iPhone may wish to put some extra money aside for what could be the most expensive ...

Samsung has released a new walkie talkie app for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, which allows watch owners to have push-to-talk conversations with one another using the wearable. The app’s release was reported by XDA Developers, but its development was rumored in May by SamMobile prior to the watch’s official announcement. It’s available to download now via the Google Play Store. The app’s release comes after Apple added a similar feature to its Apple Watch back in 2018 with WatchOS 5. But while Apple’s push-to-talk walkie talkie feature only lets two people communicate at once, Samsung’s supports “two or more users” by setting up a Walkie-Talkie channel to chat in. That is, so long as you can find enough people using the Wear OS 3-based Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, the only two we...

Motional, the autonomous vehicle company that is a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, revealed more details about its forthcoming robotaxi as well as some of the first images of the vehicle. The company is also working with Lyft and says that by 2023, customers in certain cities will be able to hail rides in this vehicle using the Lyft app. Motional first announced earlier this year that it would be using the Hyundai Ioniq 5, an all-electric crossover, as its inaugural vehicle. The company hasn’t said how many vehicles it would acquire, nor where it will eventually deploy them for its robotaxi service. It’s currently operating a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Las Vegas in collaboration with Lyft. The Motional robotaxi will be fitted with “more than 30 sensors,” such as camera...

South Korea has passed a bill written to prevent major platform owners like Google and Apple from restricting app developers to built-in payment systems, The Wall Street Journal reports. The bill is now expected to be signed into law by President Moon Jae-in, whose party championed the legislation. The law comes as a blow to Google and Apple who both require in-app purchases to flow only through their systems, instead of outside payment processors, allowing the tech giants to collect a 30 percent cut. If tech companies fail to comply with the new law, they could face fines of up to 3 percent of their South Korea revenue. The law is an amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act, and it could have a large impact on how Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store do business glo...

Google is adding a new “Time insights” panel to Calendar on the web, showing users how much of their working week is spent in meetings. According to Google’s blog post, the feature is rolling out gradually over the next month on select plans. It was first announced back in March as part of a raft of new features coming to Google Workspace. Time Insights arrives a couple of years after both Google and Apple added similar breakdowns into Android and iOS respectively to show the amount of time spent using different apps. But while these OS features included the ability to set per-app time limits, Google Calendar won’t let you set similar boundaries on meetings. Instead, it provides you with the information you need to hopefully curb any meeting-obsessed colleagues. “This information is visibl...

In an inspirational short video, NASA publicly announces its dedication to building a permanent community on the Moon through its Artemis missions, aiming to create a lunar economy and inspire a new generation of pioneers. In the short video above, Narrator Drew Barrymore and NASA trailblazers explain the reasons for this exciting initiative and the new opportunities it will bring. Space exploration has and continues to lead to technologies and capabilities that shape our way of life. In the video, NASA team members describe the moon as a “treasure trove of science that holds discoveries about our planet and the Sun. “The tens of thousands of jobs associated with propelling us to the Moon today is just the beginning of a lunar economy that will see hundreds of thousands of new jobs develop...

Oswalds Mill Audio‘s new K3 turntable may be one of the industry’s most engineered models. Taking the company a staggering seven years to research, develop and build, OMA says the K3 is truly constructed “from the ground up”  and is a “brand new design in every aspect.” The project was achieved in collaboration with experts from Bucknell University’s Engineering and Physics department, and features cutting-edge technology and materials that set apart the K3 from other turntables on the market. Featuring a cast-iron chassis, the internal space carries hollowed-out chambers filled with a “special liquid” which works in tandem with an oversized platter to significantly reduce vibrations. The rest of the turntable utilizes materials such as hypo eutectic or gray iron with high graphite co...

Google’s Chrome Beta 94 announcement mentions that Google is implementing some new web standards that could make browser-based gaming experiences even better. The soon-to-be-released WebCodecs could help make cloud gaming easier and faster, while the experimental WebGPU could make it easier for developers of games that run in the browser to tap into your computer’s power. WebCodecs is an API designed to give developers better access to the video encoding/decoding codecs that are already bundled with your browser, which figure out what to do with video streams. While there are already methods of getting video to play in Chrome, they’re not necessarily designed for things like cloud gaming, which is best when it’s as low-latency as possible. WebCodecs is built to avoid overhead, making it ea...

Apple plans to let you connect your iPhone to satellites so you can contact emergency services in areas that don’t have cellular coverage, according to a new Bloomberg report. Bloomberg’s article was published after Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Sunday that the iPhone 13 may be able to make satellite calls. Kuo often reveals details about Apple’s plans before the company officially announces them, but Bloomberg’s sources indicate that Apple’s approach for iPhone satellite connectivity may be more limited to start. One feature, called Emergency Message via Satellite, will let you text emergency services and emergency contacts when you don’t have a cell signal by harnessing a satellite network, according to Bloomberg. These messages will have a length limit and be represented as a grey bub...

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital collectibles that often come at a high cost — both to the investor and to the planet. As the popularity of NFTs has grown, so has the conversation about lessening the environmental impact of these types of blockchain assets. New blocks of information are added — or “mined” — to a decentralized blockchain network based on a process called proof-of-work, which requires expensive computer hardware that consumes a lot of power. Several companies, including sustainability platform Aerial and music-centered platform Oneof, have recently launched initiatives to help offset the carbon footprint of minting NFTs. Last week, Real Nifty announced the launch of “The Ultimate Green NFT” aimed at helping reforestation efforts in southeastern Brazil. Every us...

Apple’s upcoming show starring Jon Stewart, The Problem with Jon Stewart, will debut on Apple TV Plus on September 30th, the company announced Monday. Apple describes the show as a “multiple-season, single-issue series, taking a deep dive on the issues affecting us most.” It will also have a companion podcast, which will “extend the conversation from each episode.” New episodes of the TV show will premiere every other week, while new episodes of the podcast will be released weekly. Apple released a short teaser to promote the premiere date that features Stewart wondering, “what the hell happened to my face?” You can also listen to a teaser of the podcast right now, though it’s only 15 seconds long and doesn’t give us a great idea of what the podcast will actually be like. In July, Stewart ...