Month: October 2023

Enlarge / iPhones running iOS 15. (credit: Apple)

Apple is releasing a slew of updates for its latest operating systems today, including iOS and iPadOS 17.1, macOS Sonoma 14.1, watchOS 10.1, and others. The company is also releasing security updates for a few previous-generation operating systems, so that people who aren't ready to upgrade (and older devices that can't upgrade) will still be protected from new exploits.

Those updates include iOS and iPadOS 16.7.2 and 15.8, macOS Ventura 13.6.1, macOS Monterey 12.7.1, and the Safari 17.1 update for both of those macOS versions. At least for now, the iOS and iPadOS 16 updates cover older iPhones and iPads that can't run iOS 17 and newer devices whose owners simply don't want to install iOS 17 yet. Apple will eventually stop supporting newer hardware with iOS 16 security updates, but for now, the grace period is still in effect.

This is the first security update that Apple has delivered for iOS 15 since mid-September, suggesting that the company plans to keep supporting 2021's iOS release with continued security updates for at least a while longer. The iOS 15.8 update will only run on phones and tablets that can't install iOS 16 or 17, including the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 7, the original iPhone SE, the iPad Air 2, and the last iPod Touch.

Enlarge / A section of Apple's repair manual for the M2 MacBook Air from 2022. Apple already offers customers some repair manuals and parts through its Self-Service Repair program. (credit: Apple)

Right-to-repair advocates have long stated that passing repair laws in individual states was worth the uphill battle. Once enough states demanded that manufacturers make parts, repair guides, and diagnostic tools available, few companies would want to differentiate their offerings and policies and would instead pivot to national availability.

On Tuesday, Apple did exactly that. Following the passage of California's repair bill that Apple supported, requiring seven years of parts, specialty tools, and repair manual availability, Apple announced Tuesday that it would back a similar bill on a federal level. It would also make its parts, tools, and repair documentation available to both non-affiliated repair shops and individual customers, "at fair and reasonable prices."

"We intend to honor California's new repair provisions across the United States," said Brian Naumann, Apple's vice president for service and operation management, at a White House event Tuesday.

Enlarge (credit: Yaorusheng)

Humanity is on the cusp of radical changes in how we produce and consume energy, according to a new evaluation by the International Energy Agency. And that leaves us in a place where small changes can produce huge differences in the energy economy by the end of the decade—even a slight drop in China's economic growth, for example, could cut coal use by an amount similar to what Europe currently consumes.

Amidst the flux, governments are struggling to set policies that either meet our needs or reflect the changing reality. By 2030, the IEA expects that we'll have the capacity to manufacture more than double the solar panels needed to meet current policy goals. And those goals will leave us falling well short of keeping warming below 2° C.

In flux

The IEA's analysis focuses on two different scenarios. One of them, which it terms STEPS, limits the analysis to the policies that governments have already committed to. Those are sufficient to have energy-driven emissions peak in the middle of this decade—meaning within the next few years. But they stay above net zero for long enough to commit us to 2.4° C warming, a level that climate scientists indicate will lead to severe consequences.

Enlarge / Touch ID is back, as you’d expect. (credit: Samuel Axon)

With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, it's never too early to start looking for the best deals. From home sound bars to laptops, Apple gear, chargers, and charging cables, we found some great discounts on tech gear and essentials. Whether you're upgrading to the latest Lenovo laptop or are looking to relax and tune out the chaos of retail shopping with a pair of active noise canceling headphones, there are plenty of choices on our list.

Lenovo

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (15-inch, AMD Ryzen 3 7330U) for $465 (wa $650) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and RTX 4050) for $980 (was $1,260) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Slim Pro 7 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and RTX 3050) for $1,165 (was $1,450) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1270P) for $1,443 (was $3,609) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1360P and RTX A500) for $1,689 (was $3,389) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad T16 (16-inch, Intel Core i5-1240P) for $990 (was $2,829) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700HX and RTX 4060) for $1,300 (was $1,700) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1260P) for $1,376 (was $3,439) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 2 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-1360P and RTX A500) for $1,809 (was $3,629) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13620H and RTX 4050) for $1,000 (was $1,360) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P16v (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H and RTXA500) for $1,669 (was $3,339) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 6 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H adn RTX A2000) for $2,189 (was $4,389) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700HX and RTX A1000) for $1,949 (was $3,899) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 (13-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 5875U) for $1,275 (was $2,319) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 (13-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 5875U) for $1,242 (was $2,259) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 3 (13-inch, Intel Core i5-1245U) for $1,209 (was $2,199) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3 (13-inch, Intel Core i5-1340P) for $1,201 (was $1,969) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 3 (13-inch, Intel Core i5-1235U) for $1,1405 (was $2,009) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (14-inch, Intel Core i5-1250P) for $1,067 (was $3,049) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H and RTX 4060) for $1,450 (was $1,820) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (16-inch, Intel Core i5-13500H and RTX 3050) for $770 (was $1,020) at Lenovo

Home audio

• Sony HT-A7000 sound bar for $998 (was $1,398) at Crutchfield
• Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar | Max for $2,000 (was $2,500) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-A5000 sound bar for $698 (was $998) at Crutchfield
• Yamaha SR-B20A sound bar for $150 (was $200) at Crutchfield
• Polk Audio React Sound Bar for $199 (was $269) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-S2000 sound bar for $348 (was $498) at Crutchfield
• Bose Smart Soundbar 900 for $699 (was $899) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-A3000 sound bar for $498 (was $698) at Crutchfield
• Bowers & Wilkins Formation Bar for $631 (was $699) at Crutchfield

Apple gear

• Apple 2020 MacBook Air Laptop M1 Chip for $849 (was $999) at Amazon
• Apple 2023 MacBook Air 15-inch Laptop with M2 chip for $1,100 after coupon (was $1,299) at Amazon
• Apple 2022 MacBook Pro 13-inch Laptop with M2 chip for $1,199 (was $1,299) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) for $99 (was $129) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) for $149 (was $169) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods Max Wireless Over-Ear Headphones for $499 (was $549) at Amazon
• Apple AirTag 4 Pack for $89 (was $99) at Amazon
• Apple iPad (9th Generation) for $249 (was $329) at Amazon
• Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) for $500 (was $599) at Amazon

Headphones

• Bose Headphones 700 for $299 (was $379) at Amazon
• Soundcore by Anker P20i True Wireless Earbuds for $30 (was $40) at Amazon
• Soundcore by Anker Life P3i Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds for $50 (was $60) at Amazon
• Soundcore by Anker Space A40 Auto-Adjustable Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds for $79 (was $100) at Amazon
• Soundcore by Anker Liberty 3 Pro Noise Cancelling Earbuds for $100 (was $170) at Amazon

Chargers, cables, and power banks

• Anker USB C Charger, 735 Charger (Nano II 65W) for $38 (was $56) at Amazon
• Anker Prime 100W USB C Charger, Anker GaN Wall Charger for $64 after coupon (was $85) at Amazon
• Anker USB C Charger (GaN II 100W), 3 Port Fast Compact Wall Charger for $45 after coupon (was $75) at Amazon

Tools

• DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Impact Driver for $139 (was $239) at Amazon
• DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Impact Driver Kit, Brushless for $154 (was $169) at Amazon
• DEWALT 20V Max Cordless Drill / Driver Kit, Compact for $99 (was $179) at Amazon
• DEWALT 20V MAX XR Impact Driver, Brushless for $99 (was $149) at Amazon
• DEWALT DWHT71843 MT16 Multi Tool for $17 (was $37) at Amazon
• DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Impact Wrench for $197 (was $279) at Amazon
• Greenworks 80V 20-inch Snow Blower for $700 (was $1,200) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt Pro Rapid Battery Charger for $62 (was $100) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 26-Inch Cordless Brushless Hedge Trimmer for $180 (was $250) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 16-Inch Cutting Diameter Brushless Straight Shaft Grass Trimmer for $180 (was $250) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80V 20” Cordless Brushless Snow Blower for $330 (was $450) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 12-Inch Single Stage Cordless Brushless Snow Shovel for $260 (was $350) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 18-Inch Cordless Brushless Chainsaw for $300 (was $400) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 22-Inch Single Stage Cordless Brushless Electric Snow Blower for $600 (was $800) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 170 MPH 730 CFM Cordless Handheld Blower for $199 (was $250) at Best Buy
• Greenworks Electric Pressure Washer up to 2000 PSI at 1.3 GPM for $180 (was $220) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80V 24-inch Cordless Brushless Two-Stage Snow Blower for $1,600 (was $2,000) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 10-inch 80 Volt Cultivator/Tiller for $334 (was $400) at Best Buy
• Greenworks Electric Pressure Washer for $168 (was $200) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 80 Volt 10-Inch Brushless Cordless Pole Saw with 14.5 foot reach for $263 (was $300) at Best Buy
• Greenworks 24 Volt 110 MPH 450 CFM Cordless Handheld Blower for $140 (was $150) at Best Buy

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

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  Smartphone turned wearable. [credit: Motorola ]

Lenovo's Motorola mobile brand is resurfacing the idea of the bendable, bracelet-like smartphone. Demoed at Lenovo Tech World '23 in Austin, Texas, yesterday, Motorola's "adaptive display" revisits a concept that we've seen discussed for years but that doesn't seem any closer to actually being sold.

On stage at the event, Lexi Valasek, 312 Labs innovation strategy and product research Lead for Motorola Mobility, proudly held a prototype. The smartphone looked ordinary to start: a slab of OLED with a chassis that's a bold orange on the backside. But Valasek quickly bent the phone into an arch shape, where it stood on her hand before she wrapped it around her wrist like a cuff.

The phone seemed to adapt to its new positioning rapidly, quickly showing a large clock, making the device feel like a smartwatch.

Enlarge / Starliner touches down in December 2019 for the first time. (credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Boeing released its third-quarter results on Wednesday, and there were promising numbers showing increasing revenues and narrowing losses as the multinational corporation continues its economic recovery.

However, amid these improving results, Boeing's financials continued to be dragged down by its Defense, Space & Security division. This division, which includes missile production for the military and space activities such as satellites and the Starliner spacecraft, lost $1.7 billion during the first three quarters of this year.

In a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, Boeing's chief executive, David Calhoun, and chief financial officer, Brian West, expressed disappointment in these results from the defense and space division. They reiterated their goal of returning the company's defense and space businesses to profitability by the 2025 to 2026 period.

Enlarge (credit: Sean Gallup | Getty Images)

No one in the world seems to know how Google's privacy controls work, and the company probably likes it that way. The latest example is from Rodriguez v. Google, an ongoing 2021 class-action lawsuit over Google's infamous "Web & App Activity" privacy check box. The box claims to stop Google from saving a user's "activity" to Google's servers, but the lawsuit says that isn't true. The interesting bit today comes from an expert witness called by the plaintiffs, who testified that even Google CEO Sundar Pichai incorrectly described how this check box works to Congress.

Like a lot of Google court cases, this case has most of the records sealed so that embarrassing comments and testimony about the reality of Google's business don't reach the public. The Register noticed that a transcript of the expert's video deposition is public, though, so we can see just a glimpse of what is going on in this case.

The expert witness, Jonathan Hochman, called Google's "Web & App Activity" check box "a fake control, because it doesn't do—technically doesn't do what it seems it should do." Hochman later said, "It looks like even Sundar Pichai is confused about how this control works because he testified in front of Congress and told them something that is just wrong from a technical perspective."

Enlarge / Apple's iOS 17.1 release includes updates to the Settings for StandBy on the iPhone. (credit: Apple/Ars Technica)

A plethora of point-one updates have arrived for Apple devices, adding a few features and some useful bug fixes to iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs and HomePods. It also addresses French regulators' concerns that the iPhone 12 produced too much electromagnetic radiation in certain conditions.

The biggest new features among the software refreshes are on the Apple Watch and HomePods. If you're a frequent user of AirDrop, however, and find yourself throwing huge files to people, iOS 17.1 adds a new "Use Cellular Data" option. If both the sender and recipient have iCloud accounts, an AirDrop transfer can continue over a cellular connection if your phone leaves Wi-Fi or Bluetooth range or drops the connection. MacRumors shows the changes and settings involved.

Elsewhere in iOS 17.1, StandBy gets new display options, including display-off timers. No Journal app has arrived yet. One new thing that has arrived is a patch to the iPhone 12's radio operation to accommodate, as Apple put it, "the protocol used by French regulators." France's National Frequency Agency (ANFR) found that the iPhone 12 exceeded a "limbs" limit of radiation, for when the phone is in a pocket or purse or otherwise against the body, and called for Apple to stop selling the device and potentially recall it. Apple, noting that the device was "certified by multiple international bodies," still agreed to address the issue in iOS 17.1.

Enlarge / Image showing a dust storm over the northern hemisphere of Mars. (credit: ISRO)

If the explorers from Journey to the Center of the Earth were to journey to the center of Mars instead, they definitely wouldn’t come across the subterranean oceans or live dinosaurs they encountered in the movie, but they would probably see something different from our planet’s core.

Earth has a mantle of rock that moves like a sluggish liquid. Beneath the mantle is a liquid iron outer core and solid iron inner core. Because Earth and Mars are both rocky planets, and might have even had similar surface conditions billions of years ago, does that mean we should expect the same interior on Mars? Not exactly.

When two teams of researchers used data from NASA’s InSight lander and other spacecraft to get as close to the core of Mars as they could in a lab, they found that the red planet is not much like Earth on the inside. Data from NASA’s InSight lander’s SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) project had previously suggested that Mars has a large core that is not very dense. But the new analysis, which included additional seismic signals, indicates that what was once thought to be the surface of the Martian core is actually a thick molten rock layer. The actual core of Mars is most likely much smaller.

Enlarge / Sony wants you to make an online check in before using that external drive with your PS5 Slim. (credit: Sony)

The upcoming launch of a redesigned "PS5 Slim" model will mark the first PlayStation to support an optional disc drive add-on for the shrinking number of players who want to stick with physical media. But players who want to use that drive to enjoy their PS5 discs offline must first perform a mandatory online check-in to pair the external disc drive with a specific console.

That's according to Call of Duty news site CharlieIntel, which posted early pictures of the packaging for a new PS5 Slim bundle that includes a disc drive and a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. That packaging includes some tiny disclaimer text notifying players that an "Internet connection [is] required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon setup."

The odd-sounding requirement may be part of an anti-piracy effort by Sony to ensure that only authorized, validated drives are connected to their hardware (preventing the connection of modified or generic drives that might aid in decrypting the data on those discs, for instance). In 2020, Wired tried swapping the stock disc drives included in two launch-era PS5 consoles, only to find that the new consoles didn't recognize the "unpaired" daughterboard on their "new" disc drives. Similar drive-pairing security is built into the drive assemblies for consoles going back to the Xbox 360 era at least.