Month: October 2022

Enlarge / The Dolby Atmos sound system in the newly revealed Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV is one of the EV's highlights. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)

PARIS—For the debut of a car that’s virtually silent, Mercedes-Benz sure spent a long time talking about sound at the international debut of the EQE SUV this week in Paris. Yes, the fully electric machine does have some (optional) fake engine noises on the inside, but it was actually the Burmester surround-sound system that stole the show.

After the car’s debut, Mercedes-Benz announced a partnership with Apple Music, Universal Music Group, and Dolby to become the first cars natively offering Dolby Atmos from Apple Music. Increasingly common in top-tier movie theaters, Atmos allows audio producers to position sounds anywhere they like in 3D space. Now, the technology is hitting music-streaming services.

"It started in the theater 10 years ago, and it's now the state of the art in making film soundtracks, but it's now in music," Patrick Rossi, VP of commercial partnerships at Dolby said at the EQE SUV unveil. "It allows the musician and their audio team to really place audio elements in space. They're no longer constrained by putting them in the left speaker or the right speaker, but they can put them anywhere they want."

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

Considering that Meta bought WhatsApp and Instagram without issue, it may come as a surprise that Meta’s purchase of Giphy will be blocked. But that’s the situation, as the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has now ordered Meta to sell Giphy.

The decision comes two years after the merger came under the increasingly intense scrutiny of UK regulators. Fighting every step of the way, Meta has since said in a statement to Reuters that although it’s “disappointed” in the decision, it will “accept today's ruling as the final word on the matter.”

Among the reasons why Meta must sell Giphy are the CMA’s concerns that Meta and Giphy dominate the GIF marketplace and that Meta could cut off competitors from accessing Giphy content. Meta could also possibly change its terms and charge its competitors exorbitantly for access. This, the CMA feared, threatened to increase Facebook’s already dominant presence in the social media marketplace by pushing users to prefer the platform where they can access the best GIFs. The regulator noted that 73 percent of the time UK residents spend on social media is on Facebook.

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  The new base iPad in silver. [credit: Apple ]

Today, Apple surprise-announced several new products without much fanfare beyond a store page update and a press release, and three of them are iPads: two new iPad Pro models and a redesigned entry-level iPad.

Since the iPad Pro is mainly getting a spec bump, the big story today is the redesigned base iPad. Apple's entry-level iPad has maintained the same basic, home-button-equipped design for years, but that changes today.

The redesigned iPad has a 10.9-inch, 2360×1640-pixel LCD display that maxes out at 500 nits of brightness. Like the iPad Air and iPad Pro, it lacks a home button, as the screen extends somewhat close to the edges of the device on all sides. Touch ID is now housed in the top button on the edge of the tablet.

Enlarge / Starlink satellite dish seen on September 25, 2022 in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (credit: Getty Images | Yasuyoshi Chiba)

The Pentagon has reportedly held talks with SpaceX about funding Starlink in Ukraine, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a tweet yesterday that "SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for funding." Musk also said he'll seek Starlink donations for places in need.

"The Pentagon and SpaceX have held discussions about funding for the company's Starlink Internet service in Ukraine, a senior military official said Monday, but Elon Musk indicated that SpaceX is no longer seeking that support," The Wall Street Journal wrote. There's still a chance the Pentagon could pay for Starlink from a Ukraine-specific fund that is aiding the country's defense against Russia's invasion, according to a Politico report.

Musk wrote in another tweet that "25,300 terminals were sent to Ukraine, but, at present, only 10,630 are paying for service." He also wrote that SpaceX "will add a donate option to Starlink" for those who "want to donate Starlinks to places in need."

Enlarge / It's still a black box, but the chip inside is faster this time. (credit: Apple)

The new Apple TV 4K adds HDR10+, bumps the default storage capacities, and keeps Ethernet only on the more expensive model.

The new models cost $129 for 64GB storage and Wi-Fi or $149 for 128GB storage and an Ethernet port. Prior models started at $179 for a 32GB model. Both newer models run on the A15 Bionic, the chip that powers Apple's iPhone 13 lineup. That should provide a speed and responsiveness bump for those who game on their Apple TV. It will also likely help enable the newest HDR10+ output option, alongside Dolby Vision and the now-typical audio arrays of Dolby Atmos 7.1 and 5.1.

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  The isometric top/front of the 2022 Apple TV 4K.

Apple is sticking with the much-improved silver aluminum slab remote design that is a lot easier to use and to find in a couch than the prior black-glass touchpad model. This third-generation remote charges with USB-C, replacing the Lightning connection on the prior model. Sadly, Apple has still not implemented a Find My function into the remote, nor does it offer a way for the remote to emit a sound to help find it.