Technology

Apple has added a service that lets you automatically transfer photos, videos, and albums from your iCloud Photo Library to Google Photos (via MacRumors). The feature has a support document outlining the procedure, which simply entails going to privacy.apple.com, logging in, and going through the “transfer a copy of your data” process. Apple says the transfer will take between three days to a week. Some things won’t transfer: Apple says shared albums, smart albums, photo stream content, live photos, some metadata, and media that isn’t stored in your iCloud Photo Library won’t come along for the ride. The part about Live Photos is especially eyebrow-raising. iPhones take Live Photos by default, and Apple doesn’t make it clear if the entire picture will be left behind, or just the video clip...

Nintendo is planning to release an upgraded model of the Switch this year with an OLED screen, according to a new report in Bloomberg. The report says Samsung Display is providing the screen, which will be a 7-inch 720p rigid OLED panel set to go into mass production this June. The current Switch has a 6.2-inch 720p LCD panel, while the Switch Lite’s screen is a 5.5-inch 720p LCD. Many Switch games struggle to hit native resolution in handheld mode, so the lack of an upgrade in resolution isn’t really a surprise. Bloomberg’s report does note, however, that the new Switch model will be capable of 4K graphics when hooked up to a TV, so the decision to stick with 720p in handheld mode could also be about preserving battery life. The report doesn’t state a possible release date for the new Swi...

A planned Motorola-branded Wear OS smartwatch with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor may have leaked (via 9to5Google). If the photos are real and not just renders, it could be a sign that the next Moto 360 (or whatever it’s called) could perform significantly better than the last, and may reap some of the efficiency gains brought by the jump from a 28nm process to a 12nm one. The 2019 Moto 360 used a Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which was only a minor update to 2016’s 2100. Despite Qualcomm’s claims that the new(ish) 4100 has an 85 percent faster CPU, two-and-a-half times faster GPU, and 25 percent more battery life, it seems like there’s only one watch on the market that actually has the chip. The image that shows the potential watch (and which also seems to show a wireless...

The YouTube app on older Apple TV models has officially been discontinued as of today. If you have a third-generation device (the 2012-era model that predated the modern tvOS-based set-top boxes), you’ll only be able to stream YouTube through an iOS device using AirPlay starting today, as noted by 9to5Mac. While the news has been known for a while, the change highlights a key issue with the Apple TV ecosystem. Namely, that it’s been nearly three and a half years since Apple has last updated its streaming box hardware. If you own the old model with the now defunct YouTube app, your only Apple-made option is the Apple TV 4K, released in September 2017. That’s particularly problematic, given that the Apple TV 4K still starts at $179 (with a pricier 64GB model that offers double the storage fo...

Samsung has submitted paperwork to Texas officials, requesting a billion dollars in tax incentives to make Austin the future home of the company’s $17 billion chip factory, as noted by Bloomberg and reported last month by the Austin American-Statesman. In the documents, which were filed in January, the company says it plans on bringing 1,800 permanent jobs to the factory over the first 10 years, with an average starting salary around $66K. In return, Samsung is asking for a break on its property taxes: it’s looking for a 100 percent break on its payments to Travis County for 20 years, which the company estimates would save it roughly $718 million, and a 50 percent break on the taxes to the City of Austin for five years, with an estimated $87 million. It also wants the state to subsidize it...

Peak Design, a maker of fine bags and accessories, has a problem: Amazon appears to have copied its popular bag, the $99.95 Everyday Sling, with its own $32.99 Amazon Basics Camera Bag. It was even called Everyday Sling until Peak Design’s video. Rather than do anything drastic, yet, Peak Design decided to make a video about what customers “gain” by purchasing Amazon’s version. The video presents Peak’s case clearly: the bags are similarly shaped, with pockets, labels, and straps in the exact same places. As someone unfamiliar with Peak Design’s bags, if I wasn’t paying attention or didn’t read “Peak Design” on the label, I’d probably mix them up. The Amazon Basics Everyday Sling on the left and Peak Design’s Everyday Sling on the right.Image: Peak Design Peak presents all of this humorous...

SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype successfully landed on Wednesday for the first time after carrying out a high-altitude test flight in Texas — but exploded minutes later on its landing pad. The rocket, an early test version called SN10, demonstrated a few complex dances in mid-air before clinching a soft touch down, aiming to nail a key milestone in Elon Musk’s campaign to build a fully reusable rocket system. After aborting an initial launch attempt earlier in the day, the prototype lifted off at 6:14pm ET and soared 6 miles above SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas facilities. Unlike the last two tests with SN8 and SN9, which launched successfully but exploded on their landing attempts, SN10 stuck a lopsided landing on a slab of concrete not far from its launchpad, appearing to survive its dari...

Microsoft’s newest Garage app, the company’s brand for more experimental apps, is Group Transcribe, which lets groups of people capture real-time collective meeting transcriptions using their phones. It’s available for free right now on iOS. “This app uses a multi-device approach to provide real-time, high quality transcription and translation, so users can be more present and productive during in-person meetings and conversations,” Microsoft’s Lainie Huston said in a blog post. Here’s how it works. Everyone who wants to participate in the group transcription needs to download the Group Transcribe app. Then, one person kicks off a transcription, and they can invite others to join by sharing a five-letter conversation code, a QR code, or by joining the group transcription with nearby sharin...

It was taking staff all day to wrangle rapid test results at assisted living facilities like Via Elegante in Tucson, Arizona. The facility doesn’t normally run medical tests, but this year, it turned into a makeshift lab. Starting in August, staffers were doing hundreds of COVID-19 tests a week in the hopes of preventing a catastrophic outbreak. The tests they use are fast; they only take about 15 minutes to report if someone is positive or negative for the coronavirus. But counting the results and reporting them to the state and local health departments was a long, arduous process each day, says Zach Briefer, the chief financial officer for the facilities. COVID-19 is a reportable disease, so public health officials have to be told about every new case. But Via Elegante and other places l...

Ford has finally shed some light on the scale of the delays it’s experiencing in rolling out its first mass-market electric car, the Mustang Mach-E SUV. After the company announced on Wednesday that it shipped 3,739 Mustang Mach-Es in February — the first full month of deliveries — it told The Verge in a statement that some 4,500 customers will have to wait longer than expected to receive the electric SUV. The automaker didn’t say specifically what’s causing the delay, just that it’s holding back the electric Mustangs “as part of our commitment to deliver a quality vehicle to customers.” Ford previously said in January it was delaying the delivery of “several hundred” of them for quality checks. To help make up for the delay, Ford is giving affected customers an extra 250kWh of free chargi...

The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems. The legislation, a sweeping amendment to Arizona’s existing HB2005, prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred payment system, putting up a significant roadblock to Apple and Google’s ability to collect commissions on in-app purchases and app sales. It will now head to the state senate, where it must pass before its sent to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. The amendment specifically prohibits stores exceeding 1 million downloads from requiring “a developer that is domiciled in this state to use a particular in-application payments sys...

If you need compact external storage that can connect to game consoles, PCs, phones, and other devices, there are some options you can get a deal on today. One of them is Western Digital’s latest 1TB My Passport model, available at Best Buy and Amazon. This capacity usually costs $190, but you can get it for as low as $140. You can also save on Crucial’s X8 1TB USB-C SSD, which is $125 at Amazon (usually $140). For context, Western Digital and Crucial each claim up to 1,050MB/s read speeds, but only Western Digital is public with its write speeds of 1,000MB/s. Both of these models also offer a drop-proof build, so your decision might come down to design preference. WD My Passport 1TB USB-C SSD $140 $190 27% off Prices taken at time of publishing. The latest My Passport model from Western D...