Month: July 2022

Enlarge / The 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon)

This week, Apple released software updates for all of its platforms, including iOS 15.6, iPadOS 15.6, macOS Monterey 12.5, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6, and HomePod software version 15.6.

With iOS 16 and its peers just a couple of months away, these updates add no major new features. The most visible addition in iOS 15.6, iPadOS 15.6, and macOS 12.5 this week is the ability to pause, rewind, fast-forward, or restart a live sports game. Also, Siri can now recognize voices in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese on the HomePod.

Beyond that, it's all about bug fixes, performance improvements, and other smaller tweaks.

Enlarge / A firefighter stands by flames as a wildfire rages in the Monts d'Arree, near Brasparts, Brittany, on July 19, 2022. A heatwave fueling ferocious wildfires in Europe pushed temperatures in Britain over 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) for the first time after regional heat records tumbled in France. (credit: Loic Venance/Getty)

Europe is on fire: For days, temperatures have skyrocketed above 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius), shattering records and triggering huge wildfires that have forced tens of thousands from their homes. From Portugal to Spain to Greece, the flames have spread like a contagion. In the countryside surrounding Bordeaux, France, 75 square miles have charred in the past week. Blazes are even breaking out across London, a city not exactly known for fire weather.

Wildfires are, of course, a perfectly natural phenomenon and have periodically reset ecosystems for new growth throughout history. But in modern times, due to humanity's meddling with the climate and the landscape, these fires have ballooned into unnatural beasts that instead obliterate ecosystems. Fire historian Stephen Pyne has termed this the Pyrocene, an age of flames.

Enlarge / Microsoft is testing a new way to handle taskbars with too many open apps. (credit: Microsoft)

We appear to be entering a period of Windows' development where we can expect new features and tweaks to come to the operating system several times a year. To that end, Microsoft continues to add, remove, and generally experiment with Windows 11's features and user interface via its Insider Preview channels.

The most interesting addition we've seen in a while is rolling out to users on the experimental Dev Channel now: a modified version of the taskbar with much-improved handling of app icon overflow when users have too many apps open at once. Click an ellipsis button on your taskbar, and a new icon overflow menu opens up, allowing you to interact with any of those extra icons the same way you would if they were sitting on the taskbar.

This would be a big improvement over the current overflow behavior, which devotes one icon's worth of space to show the icon for the app you last interacted with, leaving the rest inaccessible. That icon will continue to appear on the taskbar alongside the new ellipsis icon. Microsoft says that app icons in the overflow area will be able to show jump lists and other customizable shortcuts the same as any other app icon in the taskbar.

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  The Pixel 6a has a flat screen with a slightly thicker bezel on the bottom. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

Google is really swinging for the fences this year. The Pixel 6a is not only the latest entry in the reliably excellent Pixel A series; that "mid-range" A-line is also getting a massive upgrade in the form of a flagship-class system on a chip. Yes, the Google Tensor SoC that debuted in the Pixel 6 is also in the Pixel 6a. It's the same chip, and that means the Pixel A series is doubling in speed year over year. Did we mention the phone is still $449?

Google has created a mid-range juggernaut.

A new family of smartphones

With the launch of the Pixel 6 last year, Google finally landed on a solid path forward for its smartphone division. Besides the in-house Google SoC (with lots of help from Samsung), Google also had a hardware design that it could finally call its own, based on the distinctive and even somewhat useful camera bar.

Enlarge (credit: Pool / Pool | Getty Images North America)

In 2018, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified for a Senate hearing following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, his most frequent response to questions was some iteration of the evasive phrase “my team will get back to you.”

Four years later, plaintiffs in a subsequent California class action lawsuit claim that Meta’s team of designees on various topics have been just as unprepared to answer questions as Zuckerberg was before the Senate. Because of that, the plaintiffs are putting Zuckerberg back on the stand, hoping that six hours of deposing the billionaire and depositions from other high-level Meta executives will end a “long overdue discovery” process that the plaintiffs say has already dragged on too long.

“Much discovery work remains to be done,” the plaintiffs wrote this week in a joint case statement that includes a request for “approximately 35 more depositions.” In addition to Zuckerberg, former Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will be deposed for possibly longer than five hours, and current Meta Chief Growth Officer Javier Olivan will be deposed for as long as three hours. All depositions have been scheduled through September 20, which the statement says will result in Meta missing a September 16 court deadline for discovery, dragging proceedings on further.

Enlarge / The "Frosted Black" Keychron V1 with its cable detached. (credit: Keychron)

If you love mechanical keyboards, it can be shocking to hear someone say they tried one but weren't impressed. But many keyboards designed for people new to the hobby don't do a great job of selling all the possibilities behind a mechanical keyboard. The V1 that keyboard company Keychron started selling on its site Wednesday seems to try its best to make the mechanical keyboard shine for under $100.

Keychron makes a variety of keyboards (19 models since 2017, according to this week's press release) with mechanical switches, including the advanced Keychron Q2 and the wireless, Mac-friendly Keychron K14. The wired Keychron V1, however, is a bit different. Available fully assembled or as a bare-bones kit (meaning you'll need to install your own switches and keycaps), the board is aimed at people who haven't completely fallen down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole (if that's you, we recommend checking out our guide to mechanical keyboards).

V1 bare-bones kit. (credit: Keychron)

"Unlike Keychron’s previous keyboard models, which have slight variations to appeal to the many unique needs of seasoned mechanical keyboard users, V1 is ideal for entry-level users," Keychron's announcement said.