Month: September 2023

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple's annual release cadence is like clockwork: Each September brings new iPhones as well as a new version of iOS for new and old iPhones—at least, those that are still supported. iOS 17 didn't get a mention during the show, but the official website is up with a September 18 date.

Whereas some recent annual iOS updates focused on rethinking or redesigning existing parts of the experience (like the home screen or widgets), iOS 17 is mostly about adding a plethora of new features. For example, it introduces a new mode called StandBy that allows it to act as a sort of smart clock with special widgets when it's placed in landscape mode while connected to power—"clock radio mode," if you will.

It also adds a new journaling app, improved search and other tweaks for Messages, greatly improved autocorrect, offline Maps, FaceTime video voicemails, a safety feature for keeping your friends or family updated about your status called "Check In," and an overhaul of AirDrop. Further, it will now transcribe voicemails as they come in, allowing you to screen calls like in the olden days. You can even invoke Siri without saying "hey" first.

Enlarge / The iPhone 15 and its titanium frame. (credit: Apple)

Details about the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were revealed in a live broadcast from Apple today, and we're looking at a mostly modest update—apart from the long-awaited switch to USB-C.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will go up for pre-order on Friday, September 15th. Both will be available on September 22. The 15 Pro starts at $999 for 128GB, the same starting price as the iPhone 14 Pro for last year. The Pro Max technically gets a price hike, but only because Apple has axed the 128GB version—a 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199, the same price as the 256GB model from last year.

The most noticeable change is a shift from an aluminum frame to one made out of a brushed "grade 5 titanium," which Apple says makes the phone more durable while also making it lighter. The phone is also a little smaller than past models, thanks to slimmer display bezels. The screen sizes stay the same—6.1 inches for the base model and 6.7 inches for the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max one.

Enlarge / All the colors of the new iPhone 15. (credit: Apple)

Apple announced its next flagship smartphone during a livestreamed event today. The iPhone 15 mostly resembles its predecessor but swaps the top-of-screen notch for the "Dynamic Island" Apple introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro last year, and it ditches Apple's proprietary Lightning port in favor of the industry-standard USB-C.

Like the iPhone 14, the iPhone 15 comes in two screen sizes: 6.1 inches for the standard phone, and 6.7 for the iPhone 15 Plus. The two models are the same apart from the screen sizes. The iPhone 15-series' overall design is also similar to that of its predecessor, with a glass back and front and an aluminum enclosure.

The iPhone 15 Plus (left) and iPhone 15 (right). (credit: Apple)

The edge of the aluminum enclosure has a new contoured design that looks a bit different from the iPhone 14, though. Apple also claims the iPhone 15 devices are the first phones to have a "color-infused back glass." Apple's announcement said that it strengthened the phones' back glass with a "dual-ion exchange process" and then polished it with nanocrystalline particles and etched it for a "textured matte finish." The new iPhones still have a Ceramic Shield front cover and are water and dust-resistant.

• 

  The Apple Watch Ultra 2. [credit: Apple ]

The Apple Watch Ultra was first announced just last year, and it brought more specialized fitness and outdoor features and a more durable, expensive design to the popular wearable. Today, Apple revealed its plans for the first refresh to the device. It's calling the new device the "Apple Watch Ultra 2."

The Ultra 2 has the same new S9 chip as the cheaper Apple Watch Series 9 and the same new "double tap" feature, which lets you tap your fingers together to trigger an action on the watch. There's a new display that hits a whopping 3,000 nits, a jump over even the 2,000 nits in the Series 9. There's also a new "modular ultra" watchface that uses the edge of the display, support for Bluetooth cycling accessories, and ANT+ support.

The battery is the same as last time, hitting 36 hours on a single charge and 72 hours in low-power mode.

Enlarge

If you were hoping for a radical new Apple Watch design or a plethora of new features, 2023 won't be your year. That said, the Apple Watch Series 9—which was just announced in Apple's September livestream—brings some welcome if modest tweaks to the popular wearable.

The most notable of these is the inclusion of the new S9 chip, which promises improved performance—but more importantly, better battery life. It promises 60% more transistors in its CPU than the Series 8, and 30% more in its GPU. Perhaps most importantly, its neural engine promises big boosts to on-device processing for Siri requests, including 25% faster voice dictation.

(credit: Apple)

Using your Apple Watch to find your iPhone gets a bit easier, too, with the Series 9 incorporating Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) to show you the distance and direction to your phone, rather than simply having your phone make a loud ping noise.

Enlarge (credit: Liu Yang)

On an island off the coast of New Zealand, in the shadows of a primeval forest, an eerie sound resonates through the night. It's a deep boom that can sometimes be heard from miles away. This is the mating call of one of the strangest and most intriguing creatures in the region. Meet the critically endangered kākāpō.

Kākāpō (its name means “night parrot” in Māori) are large flightless parrots endemic to New Zealand. In 1894, conservationist Richard Henry relocated mainland birds to a supposedly safe island, but they were met by unsuspected predators. More kākāpō were found on the mainland and some surrounding islands in the 1970s. Though the mainland birds were later moved to those islands, only one survived. He was appropriately named Richard Henry.

The peculiar parrots now roam five islands free of predators, and their population has risen from a precarious 51 in 1995 to 252 in 2022. Still, the limited genetic diversity of such a small population has made breeding problematic. Breeding programs have found that most kākāpō are severely inbred and susceptible to disease and infertility. In an unprecedented move to conserve the species, researchers from the University of Otago have now sequenced the genome of nearly all existing birds in an effort to find out whether there are genetic variants in the population that could help keep the kākāpō from vanishing.