|
Warning. |
|
This episode may, or may not, contain a Tim Cook impression. |
|
Sometimes it happens organically, but we make no promises that one will occur. |
|
Viewer discretion is advised. |
|
Buy your mom an impression! |
|
At their It's Glow Time event this morning, |
|
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup, |
|
new AirPods, and a new Apple Watch, |
|
along with old AirPods, and an old Apple Watch |
|
that you might have thought was new if you aren't terminally online. |
|
Thankfully, we are. |
|
So here's the lowdown. |
|
Apple kind of flattened out the iPhone lineup this time around, |
|
bringing the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus two chip generations up |
|
from the A16 Bionic to the A18, |
|
which means these new non-pro iPhones will have Apple Intelligence. |
|
In beta. |
|
In the US. |
|
Next month. |
|
A lot of that kind of tomorrow energy going on at this event, |
|
but we'll get into that. |
|
The non-pro iPhone 16 start at 800 bucks and now have the customizable action button |
|
introduced with last year's 15 Pros, |
|
as well as an all-new camera control clickable slider button |
|
that's also on the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro Max. |
|
It not only serves as a proper shutter button |
|
when taking photos in landscape mode, |
|
it can be lightly pressed to bring up additional UIs for fine focusing |
|
or changing modes by sliding your finger. |
|
Kind of like you would do with physical knobs on a dedicated camera, |
|
evoking memories of the iPod click wheel |
|
and Apple's history of brilliantly emulating familiar hardware on new tech. |
|
Sorry, that sounded sarcastic, but it was genuine. |
|
I struggle with giving earnest compliments. |
|
Good job, Jacob. |
|
Clicking and holding the camera control button |
|
will activate the new Visual Intelligence feature, |
|
which will let you use a photo to search the web, |
|
prompt Siri or chat GPT, |
|
and even add an event from a poster to your calendar. |
|
It's like what Google Lens pretends to be |
|
and is actually really cool. |
|
I'm sorry, I just, I don't, I don't know how. |
|
So wait, all the iPhone 16s sound pretty similar right now. |
|
Why would I pay over a thousand bucks for the 16 Pro or Pro Max |
|
other than to get that exclusive color that seemed like it was poo brown, |
|
but is actually called Desert Titanium |
|
and doesn't actually look like poo to everyone's surprise? |
|
Well, you don't want the regular old 18. |
|
You want the A18 Pro. |
|
It's got a bunch of upgrades |
|
that will let the 16 Pros run Apple Intelligence 15% faster |
|
than on the iPhone 15 Pro. |
|
Not that we would know at this point. |
|
It hasn't come out yet. |
|
But the Pros also have larger displays, |
|
studio-quality mics that enable customized background noise removal for video recording, |
|
and upgraded cameras that support recording 4K 120 video. |
|
Hey, if it's good enough for the weekend to film a music video with, |
|
it's good enough for me. |
|
Next up, |
|
the new AirPods 4 have an H2 chip and also an upgraded version with ANC and a wireless charging case, |
|
while the AirPod Pros have gotten upgraded hearing testing abilities |
|
that help them function as clinical-grade hearing aids. |
|
I don't know, sounds like boomer s**t to me. |
|
Apple also showed off the new Apple Watch Series 10, |
|
with a bigger display and the thinnest design ever. |
|
It now can run the Translate app directly on watch, |
|
and adds sleep apnea |
|
to the list of conditions it can detect, |
|
continuing the watch's transformation |
|
into basically the tricorder from Star Trek. |
|
At their next event in October, |
|
Apple will reportedly unveil new iPads and Macs, |
|
packed with new buttons |
|
that activate features that will definitely become available at some point in the future. |
|
Hahaha, you press the button, |
|
it's like, |
|
This feature will be available sometime next year. |
|
There's no Tim Cook impression, |
|
but that was like, almost |
|
Craig Federighi. |
|
Your friends and family can now message each other. |
|
I want... |
|
Ha! |
|
Send little kisses over the internet. |
|
IFA 2024 kicked off in Berlin last Friday, |
|
and some of the tech there really put the funk in Internationale Funkastelung. |
|
That's what IFA stands for, by the way, according to Jacob. |
|
Nanoleaf showed off its Sense Plus battery-powered smart switch |
|
that it's been working on for eight years, |
|
although that's no guarantee of success, |
|
as Concord has shown. |
|
The switch uses a proprietary protocol called LightWave |
|
to control all Nanoleaf smart lights in a room, |
|
while two configurable buttons on the Sense Plus can use Matter to control other devices. |
|
Then there's Lenovo's auto-twist AI PC concept, |
|
which has a motorized 360-degree hinge, |
|
allowing the display to follow you around, |
|
like it's asking for a restraining order. |
|
I know you said you're done using me for stuff, |
|
but actually, I have something to tell you about. |
|
You, like, close the window, and then, like, walk away, |
|
and it's like, is |
|
that it? |
|
More helpfully, |
|
the laptop can detect when it's not being used |
|
and close itself to prevent any real snoops from gaining access. |
|
Oh, interesting. |
|
Meanwhile, |
|
Acer showed off a gaming laptop concept called Project Dual Play. |
|
Its touchpad pops out and flips over into a controller |
|
that further separates into two smaller controllers, Nintendo Switch-style. |
|
Wow, |
|
but if you're into gaming products that actually exist, |
|
there's the Tecno Pocket Go, |
|
a handheld PC disguised as a chunky gamepad with AR glasses as a display. |
|
It evokes a cyberpunk dystopia, |
|
where the majority of the population are forced to use the younger sibling controller. |
|
If you're more into home gadgets, |
|
the Wireless Power Consortium, |
|
the minds behind the Qi wireless charging standard, |
|
announced the Ki Standard. |
|
You're supposed to say it the way that other people said the other one wrongly. |
|
Apparently, it's called that because it's for kitchens. |
|
Okay. |
|
Ki transmitters can be baked into countertops, |
|
that's a pun, |
|
and deliver up to 2,200 watts to compatible smart appliances. |
|
These appliances will be cordless to make them dishwasher-safe |
|
and also render them useless if you ever move. |
|
I thought that was a genuine feature. |
|
There is a benefit, though, |
|
if you accidentally knock over a blender or something, |
|
it'll stop spinning. |
|
It'll never spin again. |
|
On the even weirder side, |
|
there's the air purifier table from SwitchBot, |
|
the only company brave enough to ask the question, |
|
what if we just made an air purifier, |
|
but then we gave it a little hat? |
|
You should be brave enough to ask about our sponsor, |
|
Seasonic. |
|
So, |
|
you think you got what it takes to watch the QuickBits, do you? |
|
Huh. |
|
Well, feast your peepers on this! |
|
Huh! |
|
AMD's Jack Huynh spilled some big beans this week. |
|
In a statement at IFA, |
|
Huynh said AMD will be integrating their consumer and data center GPU architectures, |
|
RDNA and CDNA, respectively, |
|
into a unified UDNA architecture, |
|
making a more accessible platform for developers |
|
and hopefully more effectively competing with Nvidia's Cuda ecosystem. |
|
But it seems AMD won't be competing with Nvidia's flagship gaming GPUs, |
|
as Huynh told Tom's Hardware, |
|
TeamRed is re-prioritizing mid-range GPUs, |
|
saying, quote, |
|
I don't want AMD to be the company that only people who can afford Porsches and Ferraris can buy, |
|
and that's why their high-end X870E motherboards reportedly won't cost more than $800. |
|
It's a board for the people. |
|
For the people in higher tax brackets. |
|
Meta's rumored budget headset, the MetaQuest 3S, |
|
is expected to launch on September 25th at Meta's Connect event, |
|
but a render of the headset was recently released online |
|
thanks to reliable leaker, Meta. |
|
The render was originally spotted |
|
in the files of the MetaQuest client for Windows and posted to Reddit, |
|
and it seems to show a design that combines elements |
|
of the Quest 2 and Quest 3. |
|
Likewise, |
|
third-party accessories for the 3S have already appeared on AliExpress, |
|
including apparently real photos of the headset. |
|
I don't know, though. |
|
This could still all be just a prank. |
|
What if we're all in the Metaverse already? |
|
I mean, we just don't... |
|
Amazon's Audible has started to invite certain US audiobook narrators |
|
to train AIs on their own voices. |
|
Narrators who opt in will be compensated for any audiobook that makes use of their AI voice, |
|
though likely at a lower rate via a royalty share model. |
|
Narrators can still choose which productions |
|
get to use their AI voice model, |
|
and will be able to use built-in tools to edit the AI narration |
|
to correct things like pronunciation mistakes and pacing. |
|
But I mean, at that point, |
|
why not just record the audio yourself? |
|
It sounds like you have time. |
|
Oh, what was this delivery? |
|
What is this guy, an idiot? |
|
Sonos is still suffering from its software issues. |
|
According to a report by Mark Gurman, |
|
reporting on something other than Apple? |
|
Right? |
|
What are you doing, Mark? |
|
What are you doing, buddy? |
|
The company's app troubles have caused it to delay the launch of two products, |
|
one of which is a set-top box codenamed Pinewood. |
|
Sonos is also scaling back production of its Ace headphones, |
|
as they haven't exactly been flying off the shelves. |
|
Do you want to buy headphones that will break in a couple months for no reason? |
|
Worth a shot. |
|
Oh yeah, by the way, |
|
Sonos makes headphones, |
|
if you forgot or were never told. |
|
Gosh, |
|
I wonder why they aren't selling. |
|
And researcher, and I guess fashion designer, Teresa Barton, |
|
is recycling old Nvidia GT 730 graphics cards |
|
into purses that cost $1,024 exactly, |
|
which is one way to make enough money to finally afford an RTX 4080. |
|
Barton also offers higher-end purses |
|
fashioned out of H100 AI chips |
|
for over $65,000. |
|
These repurposed GPUs aren't functional, according to Barton, |
|
they're ethically sourced from data-centred dumpsters, |
|
but the fan still works, |
|
which should mean your wallet and keys get excellent airflow. |
|
And we'd appreciate more airflow this Wednesday when |
|
the next episode of TechLink drops, |
|
so come on back, |
|
if you're a fan.Hahaha, |
|
I'm sorry, |
|
oh God, I'm so sorry, please |
|
That was, |
|
I didn't mean to make that joke, |
|
that was not, |
|
please.Please come back. |
|
|