Month: September 2019

Enlarge / The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Today, Apple shipped units of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max handsets to customers who ordered online, and the phones went on sale in stores around the world. Apple also launched a new Apple Watch, the series 5, today.

Ship times for online orders are already getting long, though. Consumers might have trouble finding the phones in stores today if they hadn't already pre-ordered or stood in line at stores this morning. The US Apple Store website indicates that most configurations of the iPhone 11 Pro will deliver between October 11 and 18 if ordered today. The iPhone 11 looks like it will have a little bit more availability; estimates for delivery are around October 2.

Apple also reopened its Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City to considerable fanfare today, with executives in attendance for the product launches.

On its own, the title of this week's blockbuster release—Ad Astra, Latin for "to the stars"—doesn't tell you much about what the film is about. The trailers haven't done much to clarify, promising everything from family drama to violent car chases on the Moon.

None of the details provide much clarity, either. The movie was co-written and directed by James Gray, whose films have tended to be on the critically acclaimed, publicly obscure end of the spectrum and are set in realistic versions of the present. Yet this one is clearly set in a sci-fi future and is loomed over by enormous Hollywood figures including Jones, Pitt, and Donald Sutherland.

The movie holds together much better than that description might suggest. While there's plenty here to nitpick, the film offers an interesting vision of the future and a plot that enables its focused human drama to become central to that future. What follows is a review that will attempt to spoil nothing that wasn't already revealed in the trailers.

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With the launch of the Switch Lite this week, a lot of families are going to be adding a second, more portable Switch to their household. This is definitely doable, but there are some important caveats to keep in mind, especially if you purchase downloadable games from the eShop.

To help clarify the whole process, here's a quick run-down of how juggling software and accounts between multiple Switch units works in practice.

Setup and save data transfer

When you first turn on your second Switch, you're offered the opportunity to import your account and user data created on another Switch. The system will ask if you currently have the Switch from which you want to import data and if you'll be keeping that original system going forward.

Enlarge / *record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation... of being a cantankerous, honking goose. (credit: House House)

Ack! The tall human grabbed a broom! HONK!

No, no, no, no, no, run away, run away! I'm gonna lift my worthless wings (curse these loosey-goosey things) and trot away, trot trot trot. Don't sweep me, ma'am...

OK. Whew. Gosh, in the madness of running away, I forgot that I have her carrot. It's in my beak.