No stranger to heady prices, Bang & Olufsen is taking its high-end design (and price multiplier) to headphones with the Beoplay H100. Following the $999 Beoplay H95, the H100 is over 50 percent more expensive, at $1,549.
In B&O tradition, the Beoplay H100 is made of premium materials, with lambskin leather pads and a scratch-resistant glass touch interface on the outside of the ear cups. The company says it was inspired by fine jewelry for the black, sand and apricot color options. B&O says it doubled the active noise cancellation (ANC) performance of the H95 for this set, with 10 microphones to help offer an improved transparency mode.
The company says the H95 has been its “most successful headphones to date,” but it didn’t specify whether that was units sold or sheer insane profit margins. Still, I want to try a pair.
The New York Times’ daily word game isn’t exactly easy. The solve rate dips below 50 percent some days, apparently, so why not rub it in? I mean, highlight the most common mistakes? After winning or losing each day’s game, you can saunter to the Connections Bot. As with the bot for Wordle, you’ll see how well you did compared with other players and receive a skill score out of 99. This is primarily based on how few mistakes you make.
It’s after maddening prices for Oasis’ reunion tour.
The UK government will look into the company’s dynamic pricing model after millions of Oasis fans scrambled over the weekend for tickets to the band’s reunion tour . Once fans got through hours-long queues to make their purchase, some found the price of a standing ticket was suddenly 2.5 times more expensive — in one case, going up from £135 to £337.50 ($177 to $444). Ticketmaster often gives customers just seconds to decide whether to complete a purchase once tickets are in their cart, so they don’t have much time to determine whether such a hefty price increase is worth it. It was also a great time to resurface a vintage Liam Gallagher tweet from 2017, complaining about ticket prices to see his brother’s band, which was touring the US.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-bang--olufsens-new-headphones-cost-over-1500-111432298.html?src=rss
Thank Goodness You’re Here is here; a gravy-flavored palate cleanser from all the action-adventures, Souls-likes and Metroidvanias I’ve played the last few months.
Published by Panic Inc., the same company that unleashed Untitled Goose Game into the world, there’s a certain throughline, even if the aesthetic and tone is very different. Presented in cartoon style somewhere between Cartoon Network and educational ‘toons for preschoolers, it’s an aggressively English, charmingly northern “slap-former”, where you play as an unnamed tiny man, who’s come for a job interview at town hall. After being fobbed off by the receptionist, he has to kill time in the fictional northern-England town called Barnsworth, which is definitely 80 percent Barnsley, 20 percent plausible deniability.
Thank Goodness You’re Here is almost the opposite of the anarchy introduced by Untitled Goose Game: you’re trying to help. Despite having no connection to Barnsworth, our little hero — in varying degrees of tininess — is inadvertently pulled into plumbing tasks, fetch quests and surreal dream-sequence meat-mangling, without ever being asked if he can help.
Coal Supper
While it is a video game, it’s more like a loosely connected bunch of set pieces and vignettes. Controls are simple: you steer the little guy around the town, able only to punch (well, slap) and jump. There are a few low-stakes platforming sections, but he isn’t attempting to be Mario. A lot of the joy comes from Barnsworth itself, with its nodding in-jokes, posters and signage running the comedy gamut from buttock slapping and visual gags, through to Yorkshire dialect gags and even a few digs at gaming – ludonarrative be damned!
There’s a running joke about wheelie-bins (in the UK, most of our garbage cans are on wheels) that made me laugh on a Sunday evening – the most dour part of my week.
It’s all actually funny. The writing and voicing help enrich this surreal little town as you explore, with Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows) headlining and a lot of UK comedy talent including The Delightful Sausage’s Chris Cantrill, currently co-creator of BBC’s Icklewick FM, which shares a similar surreal “northern” kind humor. (Cantrill was also just nominated for Best Show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.)
The only drawback, one that comes from the on–the-rails style of play, is that it’s tragically short. But it’s dense with jokes and knowing nods I’m on my second playthrough, taking in all the details, like the horny elderly couple who are never involved with any of your tasks, but always on the sidelines; the cheesy dad-jokery if you linger in a scene and let the characters to talk (“I’m eating for two now… Plus I’m pregnant”); the lightly barbed references to economic decline in the north, and the unashamed exaggeration of northern or working-class stereotypes, many of which will go over American (and south-of-England) players’ heads.
A great example is when you launch the game, and it’ll ask a question in a heavy Yorkshire dialect. Answer ‘wrong’, and the game will play out with standard english text, answer right and all the menus will be loaded with northern slang. There's nowt to panic 'bout, mind: you can flip between 'em in t' menu at any time.
It’s a short but rich experience. It's worth playing for the sheet lunacy of the final set piece, possibly my favorite gaming moment of the year.
Thank Goodness You’re Here is out now on Mac, PC, PS5 and Switch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/thank-goodness-youre-here-is-a-vibrant-funny-unashamedly-silly-game-133030648.html?src=rss
It’s Labor Day, so tech news typically slows down. We’ve still got some intriguing headlines to share, though, like, er, a new Tamagotchi. Bandai’s newest digital pet is made with recycled eggshells. The Original Tamagotchi Celebration digital pet is even colored like a tan/brown egg, with green and white designs with pink accents and buttons.
In ways, it’s a bit of a throwback compared to the recently released Tamagotchis. In May, the company re-released Tamagotchi Connection, the model with a faux antenna, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Last year’s Tamagotchi Uni had WiFi connectivity and gave users access to the Tamaverse.
This one is a little more basic, and it’s available at Amazon, currently on pre-order for $30.
Mission Control is trying to help figure out the source of a pulsing noise.
Starliner is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth, uncrewed, in just a matter of days, but it’s keeping the team busy before it departs. On Saturday, astronaut Butch Wilmore alerted NASA’s Mission Control to an unexplained “strange noise” coming from a speaker in the spacecraft. You can hear the mystery sound right here, around the 45-second mark.
Given the speed of tech news and announcements, sometimes our more involved reviews might pass under the radar. Our bi-weekly (ish) recap should make sure nothing gets missed. This second edition includes our reviews of the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and the latest CoPilot+ laptop from Dell.
The final summer holiday weekend is here, and there are Labor Day sales. Historically, Labor Day isn’t a big deal for tech bargains, but there are usually a few worth your time. Some good deals cut a chunk of change off several MacBook models.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-a-tamagotchi-made-with-real-egg-111507644.html?src=rss
X briefly discouraged users from viewing a link to an NPR story about Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery. NPR reporter Stephen Fowler posted a link to a story in which he quoted an Army official who said an employee at Arlington National Cemetery was “abruptly pushed aside” during an event attended by Trump and members of his campaign earlier this week. Clicking on the story generated an X warning message saying, “this link may be unsafe.” It stated it could be malicious, violent, spammy or otherwise violate the platform’s rules. In a statement to an NPR reporter, an X spokesperson claimed the warning appeared due to a “false positive.” It’s now been removed.
It might be an innocent mistake, but X owner Musk has been a vocal supporter of Trump this election. Musk has also publicly feuded with NPR in the past — weird fight to pick — adding a “state-affiliated media” label to its account for several months last year. NPR hasn’t posted from its main account on X since the label was added.
The PS5 Pro could be announced in mid-September and will likely hit store shelves sometime during the holiday season, according to insider information published by VGC. First of all, it’ll actually be called the PS5 Pro, with the leaker claiming to have access to the packaging design, but they didn’t feel comfortable sharing copyrighted images. However, specs? We don’t know. Disc drive option? Maybe. Other leaks have hinted at the console’s power. A YouTuber leaked apparently official documentation from Sony that shared some of the console’s specifications, but the video was pulled down at Sony’s behest. It has also been rumored the GPU will have 33.5 teraflops versus the standard PS5’s 10.28 teraflops. Don’t expect a three-times more powerful console: Recent changes in AMD’s architecture make it difficult to directly compare teraflop numbers.
They could lead to crop-tending robots that sense subtle chemical reactions.
Researchers at Cornell University tapped into fungal mycelia to power a pair of proof-of-concept robots. Mycelia, the underground fungal network that can sprout mushrooms as its above-ground fruit, can sense light and chemical reactions and communicate through electrical signals. Researchers created two robots: a soft spider-like one and a four-wheeled buggy. The researchers used mycelia’s light-sensing abilities to control the machines using ultraviolet light.
The latest round in the Spotify vs. Apple battle concerns… volume. According to Spotify, Apple “discontinued the technology” on volume buttons for Spotify Connect. Yeah, it’s baffling.
Spotify Connect allows you to sync with speakers, TVs and other devices from inside the streaming app. It works with either Bluetooth or WiFi. Apple told Spotify it requires apps to integrate with HomePod to access the technology that controls the volume on iPhones. The streaming company added this issue doesn’t affect Bluetooth or AirPlay connections, nor does it impact Android users.
Nintendo has stopped offering repairs for the New Nintendo 3DS. Sure, it’s a decade old, but apparently Nintendo has simply run out of parts. Third-party repair platform iFixit currently has a stock of replacement parts and guides for the handheld in its online catalog. US customers can still take advantage of Nintendo’s repair service for late-model 3DS XLs. For now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-x-labeled-an-npr-story-about-trump-as-unsafe-112554172.html?src=rss
GameStop has announced it’s launching a group of retro game retail locations, which will stock physical consoles, discs and cartridges from classic Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and Sega platforms. The company announced on X it’ll cover 18 classic systems, from NES through to PS Vita. You can search for retro-friendly locations within a 100-mile radius on Gamestop’s website, but most will find these stores as rare as a mint-in-box copy of Chrono Trigger.
It does make a degree of business sense for the games retailer. When most of us download our games from online stores — or get them delivered by Amazon — a combination of physical media and a degree of expertise could capitalize on GameStop’s strengths. The biggest challenge could be piracy.
The billionaire must remain in France for the foreseeable future.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been formally charged by French prosecutors and is barred from leaving the country. Durov was officially charged on Wednesday with “complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs and hacking software” on the messaging app he founded. He must stay in France “under court monitoring” and check in at a police station twice a week while the investigation continues.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a first-person shooter from PlayStation. Firewalk Studios’ debut game, the 5v5 team shooter Concord, however, hasn’t captured the imagination of gamers. Is it the lackluster characters or the at-times unashamed Guardians of the Galaxy vibe theft? Well, they probably don’t help, but under 700 concurrent players on Steam (and no fanfare announcements from Sony on player counts / copies sold) point to a dud.
Anecdotally, no one’s been asking me to play the team shooter — no one’s even asked what I thought about Concord.
However, Engadget’s Kris Holt points out that PlayStation has been having a good year. Helldivers 2, published by Sony, is having a great year while the PlayStation Portal and PSVR 2 hardware continue to find willing buyers, thanks to strong support from handheld gamers. And some VR headset discounts.
Apple’s latest iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 developer betas include a few more Apple Intelligence features. The most notable is a Clean Up tool in the Photos app, very much like Google’s Magic Eraser. The Photos app will identify distracting background elements for you, so you should be able to remove them with a tap. Otherwise, you can circle or brush over an object you want to nix. The tool is compatible with every image on your camera roll too.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 first appeared with an intriguing trailer as part of Microsoft's summer showcase, teasing a dream world where squads of adventurers fight in a bid to defeat “The Paintress” who is gradually shaving years off the maximum life that people could live.
It’s a very JRPG-sounding premise. It’s the first title from new French studio Sandfall Interactive, set in a bleak, ethereal world inspired by Belle Époque-era France (spot the twisted Eiffel Tower), adding slightly more reason to battle this powerful, mysterious Paintress. You’ll play a team of Expeditioners, exploring fantastical landscapes and fighting monsters to defeat the Paintress. It sounds vague because well, I don’t quite understand what the hell is going on. I went back to the trailer – perhaps that will help clarify things.
Clear as mud. But that’s fine, this is a fantasy RPG — I didn't expect to understand the story from the outset. I recently watched some hands-off gameplay with Guillaume Broche, Creative Director for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the game’s producer, François Meurisse.
We toured a handful of levels and locations, also introducing a handful of the party characters. You’ll start the game with Gustave. Each party member has their own unique battle mechanic, which charges up during battles. You can increase the charge speed with judicious guarding, dodging and parrying. With Gustave’s robotic arm, for example, he can build up a shock attack that he can unleash early for extra damage, or charge up further for an extra aggressive strike.
Maelle, Gustave’s adoptive sister who goes missing early in the game, has a stance technique that can augment her battle stats after an attack from her fencing saber. The game is turn-based, with enemies and allies able to attack (or recover) in a predetermined order. This is augmented with some action RPG touches and QTEs (quick-time events) where you’ll need to defend with precision timing. Get enough parries in a row, and characters will damage the enemy heavily. I got to see a boss monster strike my entire party — fortunately, you only have to nail the dodge once for the entire team to block or parry. The fights themselves are reminiscent of Persona 5, with dramatic camera-angle shifts, inky, paint-themed special effects and a focus on the beautiful character (and monster) design. Special attacks and spells use ability points, which are also replenished from successful guarding and QTE timing. In short, you will still have to pay attention during battles. Sorry.
Alongside Maelle and Gustave, the party in the demo was rounded out by Lune, apparently the team’s mage. You’ll come across the rest of your expeditionary party during the adventure, in typical JRPG style. Broche told me at the outset that Expedition 33 was a tribute to the classic RPGs of the ‘90s, even if it looks nothing like them. Outside of pixelated Switch adventures, turn-based RPGs have long fallen out of favor, replaced by action RPGs, even for remade titles. This is Sandfall Interactive’s attempt to reinvigorate the turn-based RPG for 2024.
Each character has a dedicated weapon type that can be gradually enhanced and strengthened, adding new abilities as the character grows. I caught a glimpse of a complicated skill tree that players will get to chip away at. Elemental attacks will depend on the weapon your character is wielding, likely meaning some careful party creation (or customization) will be needed later in the game.
Beyond elemental weaknesses, some enemies will also have shielding that will protect them from your attacks. As you progress, some will have visible weaknesses that players will have to shoot at – usually with visual tells, like the weak spots on early anchor enemies. This free-aim system is also used in the environments. I saw a few ‘shooting’ puzzles used to unlock treasure and other rewards. Expedition 33 will be separated into different thematic areas, each offering alternative routes (some may offer extra treasure or tougher enemies) and visual landmarks that will offer more insight into the world and lore. The developers said that much of the story will have to be unearthed by players themselves, hunting down collectible notes from the husks of failed expeditions of the past.
Sandfall Interactive
The early environments I saw of Expedition 33 were gorgeous. One of the initial areas is built as if you’re walking along the bottom of the ocean, laced with plankton, coral and curtains of seaweed. In fact, the beautiful world is only outdone by the character models. The team seems to have put a lot of effort into making its heroes emote and react in a way you wouldn’t have seen in RPGs of old.
I’m wary of how much of an RPG epic the Sandfall Interactive team will be able to make, given its size. While I didn't get to play Expedition 33 at this point, I wonder how much exploration will be possible in the finished game and whether it will reward players’ curiosity beyond plot lore and mournful letters from dead expeditions.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be released in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-is-a-turn-based-rpg-with-beautiful-artistic-flair-130050721.html?src=rss
As a regular reader of TMA, you might have picked up on regular references to the addictive card-game-that-isn’t-a-card-game, Balatro. If you want to get technical, it’s a single-player poker-themed rogue-like deck builder game where you build and modify your decks with powerful joker cards to overcome scores that increase in each round. (I am aware of how boring that makes it sound, but trust me: It’s amazing)
If you’re not playing it yet, get on it. The makers have announced a collaboration with a handful of games, introducing new themed decks based on The Witcher, Vampire Survivors (another addictive game recently added to Apple Arcade), Dave the Diver and Among Us.
These themed decks are seemingly the only twist. There are no super-powered new jokers, but a new challenge is welcome. Now, where’s that mobile version? According to the creator of Black Mirror, it could end humanity.
French authorities have arrested Telegram boss Pavel Durov on charges that include money laundering and distributing child pornography. The charges reportedly come from a judicial investigation opened in July against an unnamed individual. The arrest has sparked debate around how much responsibility platform owners have for content on their platforms. Telegram denies the charges, while Elon Musk (ugh) has called for Durov’s release. French President Emmanuel Macron defended the arrest, stating France is committed to upholding the law.
The XPS 13 is a capable and stylish Copilot+ PC, but it’s still slower than the Intel model, at times. On top of that, it doesn’t run some games and apps. Sadly, battery life is also surprisingly average. With an NPU capable of 45TOPS, the laptop is better equipped for future AI features.
HMD’s Barbie Phone finally has pricing and release info. The Mattel-sanctioned hot pink flip-phone launches in October — only 15 months after Greta Gerwig’s movie hit theaters! — for $129. Better late than never? Or just… never?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-why-arent-you-playing-balatro-yet-111600293.html?src=rss
This year, Google decided not only to update the design of its Pixel phones but also put its AI features front and center. The Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL are the first Pixels that have swapped the Assistant for Gemini. With its latest flagships, Google continues to improve its cameras, by upgrading its primary sensor and expanding its suite of editing tools. And to power all those new AI tricks, the company has equipped the devices with its newest Tensor processor, designed to handle on-device Gemini tasks. For the first time, too, the Pro-branded Pixel is available in two sizes, with a smaller version joining the family. Better yet, if you go for the Pixel 9 Pro, you’ll be getting a largely identical phone to the pricier 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL. Please note: no camera compromise here, Apple.
But this isn’t just another flagship Android: it’s a concerted effort to get you hooked on Google’s AI-powered image editing, email assistance and more. The Pixel 9 Pro delivers on all these aspects, with varying degrees of success.
Design and display
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
As I opened the box, I knew this was the most premium Pixel yet. The Pixel 9 Pro has softer curved corners than its predecessor, while the edges have been flattened. It also felt somehow familiar — like my iPhone. I had to double-check, and they weighed the same, down to the gram (all 221 of them). That’s not bad: the iPhone Pro is the de facto phone to beat. The Pixel 9 Pro has a similar matte satin finish.
I don't know if the flattened sides make it easier to grip than the Pixel 8 Pro, but I found the substantial camera module did help with stability, occasionally resting on my finger or thumb during shots. The ‘cyclops bar’ is gone, replaced with a more conventional — but just as substantial — camera array. The temperature sensor is, for some reason, still here, although a Thermometer app update coming this week will let it save the things you’re most regularly measuring and even offer some AR guidance to ensure you’re the right distance away from the object you’re scanning.
Without the camera bar, which felt a bit much, the Pixel 9 Pro doesn’t feel like Google trying to make an aggressive design statement. The camera module is huge, however.
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
Like last year, Google has kept the display almost entirely flat. The Pixel 9 Pro XL’s 6.8-inch screen is 0.1 inches bigger than last year’s Pixel 8 Pro and brighter, too, peaking at 3,000 nits. It makes sense for Google to make its bigger pro Pixel even larger to match the XL in its name, but like the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Pro XL is a little too big for me. My not-exactly-small hands struggled to reach the search bar or dropdown menus in the top corners. (Sidenote: I can move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen on my iPhone, but not on Android? What gives?)
Meanwhile, the Pixel 9 Pro's 6.3-inch panel is roomy enough to see plenty of lines of text at once, without me having to almost sprain a finger to reach its edges. Both Pixel 9 Pros have Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on their displays as well as across the satin-finish backs, like last year’s flagship phone, meaning they’re about as durable as before.
With the XL, you’re consciously deciding you want a Big Phone – this is S24 Ultra territory. Fortunately, it’s another bright, vivid screen from Google, with variable refresh rates from 1-120Hz for smooth scrolling when needed.
The XL Pixel Pro’s resolution of 1,344 x 1,992 translates to a pixel density of 486 ppi, which is lower than the Pixel 9 Pro (495 ppi). But good luck discerning that in real life. Google continues to lean towards more understated color tones on its screens, compared to rival phones from Samsung and Apple. Still, I think it suits the shades of Android’s Material Design palette, as well as this year’s hardware color options. Both Pixel 9 Pro sizes arrive in black, white, hazel and rose quartz. I was sent the hazel version, which is subtle to the point of looking almost gray. My colleague Cherlynn Low is infatuated with the rose quartz Pixel 9 Pro she’s tested.
Cameras
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
The Pixel camera is still the best smartphone camera. Last year, we called Pixel 8 Pro “the most powerful smartphone camera on the market,” and Google has tried to hold on to that position. Hardware-wise, the sensors are the exact resolution as the Pixel 8 Pro, aside from the leap to a 42-megapixel front-facing camera, up from 10.5 megapixels last year. Google has also improved the autofocus, and it takes surprisingly decent crisp shots and video.
But we’re all here to discuss the triple camera array on the back. There’s a new 50MP primary camera, a 48MP ultra-wide, and a 48MP telephoto camera with a 5x optical zoom. The upgraded hardware doesn’t result in noticeable improvements over the Pixel 8 Pro in most of the photos I compared… until I started using the telephoto sensor. There, I saw huge improvements to detail and color. Google has addressed some of the Pixel 9 Pro’s video-recording weaknesses too — I didn’t notice any overheating issues with the new Tensor chip, even when recording multiple video clips at maximum resolution.
New camera software features
Google has once again augmented its cameras with software features that walk the line between gimmick and game-changer.
Add Me could be the latter for me. As the guy with the newest smartphone in my friendship group and family, I’m usually the one taking candid and group shots for everyone. But that means there often aren’t many photos of me. Add Me is a new camera mode which combines Google’s computational photography expertise with augmented reality to scan and frame an area and group of people. Once you’ve taken the first photo, you trade places with someone else, the Pixel 9 Pro will ask that person to align the frame, and take a second shot.
It’s a little like the Best Take feature from last year, which could swap out faces to ensure everyone’s giving their best smile, the Pixel then processes and combines those two images together. It’s a simplified Photoshop clone tool, sure, but it looks good. I will be using this at the next birthday/wedding/christening/future 40th birthday party. (Ed. note: We get it, Mat, you’re popular.)
Ugh, not two of me.
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
The Pixel 9 Pro arrives with several features initially teased a year ago, including Zoom Enhance and Video Boost. Zoom Enhance is pretty self-explanatory, using AI to increase both detail and sharpness on your most aggressively zoomed photos. The results can be mixed. It’s not as egregious as Samsung’s super-imposed moon photography, but Zoom Enhance does its best work on shapes, structures and patterns, sharpening up brickwork, foliage and more. It still usually makes a mess with humans.
There are use cases for Zoom Enhance (it does a great job sharpening up London’s Tower Bridge) but I’m not sure it’ll rescue your concert pics from the back of the venue. Not unless you want a nightmarish vision of Taylor Swift’s face massaged by AI. Notably, Zoom Enhance is one of the camera AI features that’s processed on-device.
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
With Video Boost, the Pixel 9 Pro records video in a special mode (that you will have to toggle in settings before recording) and those clips are automatically uploaded to the cloud for server-side processing. What’s new for the Pixel 9 Pro is that you can shoot videos with up to 20x zoom or create boosted videos with 8K resolution. You’ll need to record at 1080p to create 4K videos, and capture in 4K to make 8K clips. This is upscaled 8K, so while clips seem crisper in places, don’t expect 8K footage that’s comparable to what you’ll get with dedicated cameras. Video Boosted 8K seems more like a spec boast for Google rather than a feature you’ll use with any regularity.
Having said that, Google has improved Video Boost substantially since it first launched, adding smoother transitions between focal lengths and different camera sensors. With Video Boost, leaping from a standard wide view to 5x zoom is far less jarring, and Google has fixed the color imbalances between its trio of sensors — it looks much like it was filmed on a single-lens camera. It also offers a boost to any video captured in low light. It won’t make pitch-black footage visible — I did try — but does improve the color and detail of dim video clips. You can also punch in to 20x digital zoom if you’re using Video Boost for surprisingly functional footage.
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
Once you’ve taken your photos, an upgraded Magic Editor brings the same content-aware fill features as last year, capable of deleting unwanted objects and people from your photos. This year, Google adds more generative AI power. First up, Autoframe will let the Pixel try its hand at improving your photo’s composition, cropping and even extending your photos, generating backgrounds and adding elements, sometimes successfully.
Reimagine puts Google’s generative AI skills to use with more creative tasks, allowing you to select backgrounds, items or other areas of your photo, and create dreamy composite images. I was able to swap out my living room for a Hawaiian sunset, make the floor lava in a nearby park and more. Get too specific with your wording, though, and the results aren’t quite as impressive. But that’s the state of smartphone generative AI, for now.
The pro camera controls, introduced with the Pixel 8 Pro, are still here. They let you manually tweak exposure, shutter speed, and ISO, and are still super useful for those who know what they’re doing.
Software
On the Pixel 9, you may notice a few surprise apps that you never installed. But this isn’t quite bloatware: they’re Google’s new Pixel Screenshots and Pixel Studio. Instead of adding more complication to the Photos app, these have been made into standalone apps, which I’m very glad to see.
For now, you’re unable to edit photos with people in Pixel Studio, which dampens a lot of the fun. If you want standard generative-AI cartoon images and renders, Pixel Studio can oblige, although my creations aren’t quite as cohesive as the examples shown. While Pixel Studio offers the ability to title your designs, most times that text will get turned into the usual AI-generated squiggles, defeating the purpose of making most things with this app.
It’s a little too early to draw conclusions on Pixel Screenshots, too. It uses AI to parse through all your screenshots, making information like prices, reservations and dates searchable. However, the Pixel 9 doesn’t populate your screenshots automatically, nor could I find a way to pull my existing screenshots (years of them!) from my Google Photos backup, which seems like a miss. The Photos app already silos them as screenshots, so there must be a way to transfer them across. Is this a privacy issue? We’ve asked Google.
This means the tool offered limited utility during my first week of testing. What could be incredibly useful is how Gemini AI can gradually learn to identify what’s captured in the screenshots beyond simply reading the text. Screenshots in general are just smarter on the Pixel 9 Pro. I captured some travel itinerary emails, and before I even had to open an app, the Pixel suggested adding my hotel stay to Google calendar. These are the touches I love. (Of course, I could hold the power button to summon Gemini and ask it to do so similarly.)
Both Pixel 9 Pros get a year’s subscription to Google One AI Premium, a bundle of 2TB storage as well as the use of Gemini Advanced. The latter lets the AI directly dabble in apps like Gmail and Google Docs, to summarize text, PDFs and email conversations, although I didn’t spot it in my own Gmail app. I was still able to test this in a Chrome tab elsewhere, as the subscription extends to every device you use with Google products. There’s also access to Gemini Live, a conversational mode that’s almost entirely voice-based. I’m not sure how much I’d use this mode, however. I prefer to type my specific requests.
Gemini Live will tick along in the background as you use other apps, which adds to the utility, and stores all your requests and results on the main Gemini screen. I was able to barrel through about 15 different voice requests for shows I wanted to see at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, and it could already parse showtimes and venues, faster than I could manually find them. It struggled with some names and couldn’t identify some notable comedians at all. Google has made AI-assisted search a functional part of how I use my phone.
It’s been fun seeing what Gemini Advanced is capable of. After taking an obtuse photo of several skyscraper buildings in central London, I asked Gemini Advanced to identify where the photo was taken. The AI initially said it could be New York, suggesting one of the buildings was One Vanderbilt.
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
Then I said that was incorrect and that it was taken in London. Gemini Advanced circled back, identifying not only one of the buildings but also the address, which was roughly 100 feet away from where I took the photo. The sheer seamlessness of the experience on Android was what impressed me most, but this is part of Gemini Advanced and after the one-year trial ends, Google expects you to pay $20 a month to keep your access. At a time when all my payments for Netflix, Spotify and more are climbing, Google isn’t offering enough to make me add another subscription to the pile.
Performance and battery life
Along with 16GB of RAM, the Pixel 9 series features the Tensor G4, Google’s latest slice of silicon, designed to breeze through AI tasks and generative AI requests. But If you’re a mobile gamer this isn’t going to blow you away. The G4 is more powerful than the Tensor G3, sure, but it doesn’t quite match the smoothness of the latest Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm. Tensor G4’s improved abilities are put to use most with new AI tasks: for example, Google says its Add Me feature taps into augmented reality software along with 15 different on-device AI models.
We haven’t quite got to the point where we can compare the speeds and efficiencies of generative AI tasks. For the most part, the Pixel 9 Pro behaves like a typical flagship phone. Chrome is unlikely to stutter, and the Pixel 9 Pro seems capable of handling heavy video editing and processing with ease, as well as new Magic Editor features for your photos. These features still take a moment, but the fact that so many AI tools work on-device, with no connection needed, impresses me.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL’s 5,060mAh battery is almost identical to the Pixel 8 Pro (5,050mAh), and it delivered over 22 hours in our looped video rundown test. The Pixel 9 Pro, meanwhile, managed to run for almost 25 hours. However, maximum charge wattage differs between the two Pros too. The Pixel 9 Pro charges at 27W, less than the Pixel 8 Pro's 30W, while the new Pixel 9 Pro XL charges at 37W. This means the XL should charge faster than the base Pro. Google says the Pixel 9 Pro can get up to 55 percent in 30 minutes, while the XL will reach a heady 77 percent in the same time, using the company’s own 45W charger. My Pixel 9 Pro showed similar figures, speedily recharging to over 50 percent in under 25 minutes.
Wrap up
Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget
The Pixel Pro has never looked better and feels like the premium devices Google’s always wanted to make. Naturally, there’s a premium cost associated. Given that last year’s 6.7-inch Pixel 8 Pro was $999, the $1,099 Pixel 9 Pro XL is $100 more expensive, while the Pixel 9 Pro, with the same cameras, storage, processor and AI hooks, but a smaller screen, costs the same $999. However, compared to rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra ($1,300), the Pixel 9 Pro devices remain competitively priced.
The Pixel 9 Pro is a showcase for Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, and it’s been given a huge opportunity to shine as Pixel 9 Pro owners enjoy a year of free access to the more advanced model. It’s early days for some of the new software features, like Pixel Studio and Screenshots, however.
Competition from Apple and Samsung over the last few years may have chipped away at the competitiveness of Pixel features like Night Sight, but Google continues to improve the Pixel’s imaging prowess further. The Pixel 9 Pro cements the Pixel series’ status as the best smartphone camera. It’s so good that I don’t mind that chonky camera cutout — it changed my mind.
Some of these new features are crucially ones I will regularly use, like Add Me. Elsewhere, Google taps into cloud processing to beef up your video with the might of its server network. At the same time, the Pixel keeps many of its computational photography tricks on-device, with the temperamental Zoom Enhance available without the need for an internet connection.
It all culminates in a phone with unique tricks and incredible battery life, regardless of which size you go for. It's so good that my iPhone will have to go without its SIM for a little longer: the Pixel 9 Pro will be my main phone for just a bit more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/pixel-9-pro-and-pixel-9-pro-xl-review-superb-cameras-with-a-side-of-gemini-ai-170055834.html?src=rss
Zoom just announced that webinar calls can now support up to one million simultaneous participants. This was after various political groups used the video conferencing platform to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign. The company now offers various tiers for webinar calls that feature max capacities of 10,000 connections through to 500,000 and, of course, one million attendees — for a price. Booking a one-time webinar for a million people will set you back a cool $100,000.
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Apple Podcasts on the web has a look and feature set more like the company’s standalone app. The platform is accessible from any web device, with more tools beyond simply playing episodes — even if you don’t have a desktop or mobile app installed. Apple says even without an Apple log-in, you’ll still be able to browse and listen.
Alphabet’s Waymo has revealed its sixth-generation Driver system, with a more efficient sensor setup. Despite having a reduced camera and LiDAR sensor count, it maintains the same safety levels of past rides, the company says. This new system is built into Geely Zeekr EVs, following a collaboration announced back in 2021. It’s a… boxier ride. This is not a Jaguar.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-zoom-can-now-handle-one-million-simultaneous-participants-111523850.html?src=rss
The relationship between tech companies and influencers can be murky. A recent post on Threads showed part of the sign-up form to receive Pixel devices for influencers and YouTubers, mandating that signees feature Google’s hardware “in place of any competitor mobile devices” or else “we will need to cease the relationship between the brand and the creator.”
First, our Engadget editors didn’t get this when they signed up for review samples for the four (yes, four) new Pixel phones. It transpired this was for the Team Pixel program, set up by Google to communicate with creators and, it seems, send them devices.
Google responded: “The goal of #TeamPixel is to get Pixel devices into the hands of content creators, not press and tech reviewers. We missed the mark with this new language that appeared in the #TeamPixel form yesterday, and it has been removed.”
It’s not yet clear if these Team Pixel members have received a new agreement, but will the demands remain, just not baked into a Google form or contract? The company is sending devices out so creators can try out (and talk up) the Pixel 9 series — if they don’t, Google may fail to see the point.
Epic has finally brought the Epic Games Store to mobile devices. The app marketplace is now available on iOS in the European Union (after the bloc required Apple to allow third-party app stores on iPhone and iPad) and on Android worldwide. As a result, Fortnite is once again available on iOS without laborious workarounds. The store is bringing Fall Guys to iOS and Android for the first time, with nearly full parity with the console and PC versions, minus the level builder.
Gamescom is Germany’s huge annual gaming trade show. This year, Microsoft has announced a major Xbox presence throughout the event. The first is the opening night livestream, which kicks off on August 20 at 2PM ET. While that stream isn’t Xbox-centric, we’re expecting some relevant news during the keynote. It will be available via the Gamescom YouTube page. Then there are three streams from Xbox, each focusing on a different slate of games.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-google-apologizes-over-its-pixel-influencer-demands-111513252.html?src=rss