Microsoft is booting ineligible Windows 11 PCs out of the Windows Insider Program - XDA Developers

When Microsoft originally announced Windows 11, it was quickly discovered that Microsoft had made some drastic changes to the system requirements. Most importantly, there are some strict requirements on which CPUs are supported by the new OS. When it came down to testing in the Windows Insider Program, however, the Redmond firm wasn’t quite as strict.

Here’s how it worked. If you were in the Dev channel prior to the announcement, you’d be allowed to stay up until Windows 11 comes out. Once it’s out, you have to roll back to Windows 10 or you’ll be in an unsupported state, assuming your PC is ineligible (obviously, if your PC is eligible, you’re good to go). For Beta channel Insiders, they were kicked off of the Beta channel and placed into Release Preview for Windows 10 21H2 testing.

Now, Microsoft has started kicking unsupported PCs out of the Dev channel of the Windows Insider Program. If you’re in the Dev channel and your CPU isn’t on the supported list, you’ll likely find that you have to go back to Windows 10 in order to keep receiving updates.

Microsoft has now dropped ineligible systems from the Insider program and tells them to install Windows 10. pic.twitter.com/zfALanmcuq

— BetaWiki (@BetaWiki) August 31, 2021

The transition to the new system requirements hasn’t been an entirely smooth one, but there’s a good reason that things are the way they are. Windows 10 versions 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2 are all enablement packages that build on top of version 2004. But since the spring of 2020, Microsoft has still been releasing prerelease builds in the Dev channel, with none of those features actually shipping in Windows 10. Those prerelease builds eventually became Windows 11.

That means that when Microsoft decided on the new system requirements, it had to think of a solution for all of the Windows Insiders that wouldn’t qualify for Windows 11, but were already running prerelease builds. After all, you can’t deliver an OTA update from build 20xxx to build 19xxx. The general rule is that if the build number goes down, you have to do a factory reset.

Because of this, the Redmond company decided to let Insiders on the Dev channel tag along for Windows 11 testing. Obviously, those users were used for telemetry. When Microsoft said it would consider Intel seventh-gen and AMD Zen processors for Windows 11 support, it got to look at data from all of the Insiders that were still able to run Windows 11. That’s how the firm came up with stats saying that supported PCs had a 99.8% crash-free experience, while unsupported PCs has 52% more crashes (which really only means that it’s a 99.7% crash-free experience).

But now, that run of testing has come to an end. It’s never fun when you have to reset your PC, but that’s the risk of the Insider Program.

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Retailer leak suggests Google’s Pixel 6 will have 23W wireless charging - The Verge

Google may be working on a new wireless charging stand for its Pixel phones, according to a leaked image of a retail inventory backend mentioning a “Google Pixel 23W WL Stand” published by Android Police. The name suggests the charger could support 23W wireless charging, and if Google does end up releasing this stand, it seems likely that the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro would support 23W charging as well.

That wireless charging speed, if accurate, would be more than the iPhone 12’s maximum 15W wireless charging with a MagSafe charger and surpass the 10W wireless charging offered by the original Pixel Stand (which is still available on Google’s online store). Google hasn’t replied to a request for comment.

The company revealed the first details about the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro earlier in August. They seem like promising devices, especially with their new Google-designed Tensor system on a chip, and 23W wireless charging could make them an even more enticing purchase. Google plans to release those phones this fall, and if this new charging stand is real, it seems likely it will come out alongside them — especially since the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro won’t ship with an included charging brick.

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Dead Space Original Voice Actor For Isaac Clarke Returns In Remake | GameSpot News - GameSpot

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Samsung adds Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 features to older foldable phones - Engadget

You won't have to buy a Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Flip 3 to get their software upgrades. Samsung is rolling out a One UI 3.1.1 update that brings many of those phones' multitasking and app resizing features to the original Fold, Fold 2, Flip and Flip 5G.

The Fold line unsurprisingly benefits the most thanks to its larger, tablet-like screen. Features like Multi-Active Window (up to three apps at once) and App Split View (seeing extra content for an app) make that folding display much more useful. You can also force apps to resize and rotate on your Fold, pin your favorites with the Taskbar and mirror your internal display on the cover screen.

Not that Flip owners are out of luck. Drag & Split lets all Samsung foldable owners create a new window for an already-open app, and you can invoke Flex Mode to bring up media controls when the phone is partially folded.

Most of these features are deploying now, although you'll have to wait an extra week if you're using the first Galaxy Fold. Not that you'll likely mind. This could significantly improve the usefulness of your older foldable, and suggests Samsung is eager to earn the loyalty of early adopters — if just to increase the chances that you'll buy another Fold or Flip when you're due for an upgrade.

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Chrome for Android’s dark theme is now ever so slightly darker - 9to5Google

Chrome 93 is rolling out as a quieter release than usual on desktop and mobile today. However, a small tweak in Chrome for Android sees Google switch the dark theme to a darker shade of gray.

The app and system status bars are where you’re most likely to notice this change. It’s also apparent (though less so in screenshots, compared to on-device viewing) in the Tab Switcher grid and settings, as well as the New Tab Page (NTP).

This darker shade (#1F1F1F) is closer to black, while Chrome previously opted for a gray hue (35363A) that had some bluish undertones. Google has also ever so slightly altered the Omnibox’s color as a result of the main change, with the overflow (three dot) menu and gesture bar following.

Meanwhile, on the NTP, Google no longer uses white outlines for certain elements and is just using color to distinguish between the background and elements . 

Left: Old | Right: New

The browser is expected to get some Material You updates in the future, and today’s change could be getting ready for that but Chrome users on older devices will also benefit from these color tweaks. The dark theme alterations are live on Android 11 and 12 devices we checked today running Chrome 93, which is rolling out now via the Play Store.

Meanwhile, Google today invited those on Android to test the ability to create shareable text highlight cards and a new search feature.

More about Chrome:

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Western Digital Reimagines HDD - Flash Integration with OptiNAND - AnandTech

The last few years have seen plenty of new innovations come up in the hard-disk drive market. For quite some time, the HDD technology roadmap was shared industry-wide - vendors introduced new technologies at different points in time, but they were all similar in nature. As a recent example, HGST (now, Western Digital) was the first to market with helium-filled HDDs, but both Seagate and Toshiba followed up with similar drives within a few years.

Prior to 2017, there was consensus that heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) would help drive the increase in storage density for HDDs after traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) ran out of steam. Western Digital sprang a surprise in Q4 2017 by announcing the decision to go with microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) for future HDDs. Seagate, in the meanwhile, has been all-in on HAMR and also launched 20TB HDDs based on the technology for enterprise customers (those HAMR drives are yet to hit retail, though). In the meanwhile, Western Digital was promising MAMR drives for 16TB+ HDDs, but eventually back-tracked in favor of energy-enhanced PMR (ePMR). Toshiba, on the other hand, introduced flux control-MAMR (FC-MAMR) in its MG09-series of enterprise 16TB and 18TB HDDs.

At the HDD Reimagine event today, Western Digital is introducing OptiNAND - a novel architecture involving the integration of an embedded iNAND UFS embedded flash drive (EFD) on the drive's mainboard.

In conjunction, the company is also announcing that it has been sampling its first 20TB non-SMR drives based on OptiNAND-enabled ePMR to select customers, and that it would be adopting the OptiNAND platform moving forward for all 20TB+ HDDs. The company also sees a path to 50TB OptiNAND-enabled ePMR drives in the second half of the decade.

While the company did not quantify the amount of NAND in its OptiNAND drives, they are stressing the fact that it is not a hybrid drive (SSHD). Unlike SSHDs, the OptiNAND drives do not store any user data at all during normal operation. Instead, the NAND is being used to store metadata from HDD operation in order to improve capacity, performance, and reliability.

Capacity

Western Digital's OptiNAND announcement also conveys the fact that their 20TB 9-platter HDDs will continue to use energy-enhanced PMR (ePMR). In addition to the use of a triple-stage actuator to enable more accurate positioning of the heads over the tracks, the OptiNAND aspect is being touted as the key to enabling 2.2TB capacity for each platter.

The increase in areal density is being achieved by cramming the tracks on the platter closer together (increased TPI), while also moving out some of the metadata (both factory-generated and mid-user operation) out from the platter to the NAND. In particular, Western Digital made a mention of the repeatable run out (RRO) recording of the head jitter / error position as the spindle revolves. This data (running into multiple gigabytes) is generated in the factory during manufacturing. It is typically stored in the disk, taking up space that could have potentially been used for user data. The OptiNAND architecture moves this to the NAND in the EFD.

One of the key challenges to packing tracks closer together is the concept of 'adjacent track interference' (ATI). This results in the need to periodically refresh data in the platter's tracks as it could get corrupted by writes to adjacent tracks. Currently available HDDs triggered these refreshes on a track-by-track basis based on the recording of write operations at the track-level. One of the downsides to increasing areal density by increasing the TPI is the need to do more frequent refreshes. From refreshing once in 10000 write operations in early HDDs, the narrow tracks now need to be refreshed as frequently as once every 6 writes. Beyond a certain point, it doesn't make sense to increase TPI any further because the increase in the frequency of ATI refreshes has an extreme impact on performance. In present-generation HDDs, these refreshes have been triggered at the track level by recording write operations at that hierarchy. The OptiNAND architecture allows the write operations to be recorded at the sector level. This means that the refresh operations are more spread out both temporally and spatially, allowing the tracks to be packed closer together without sacrificing performance. In turn, this increases the areal density.

Performance

Consumers can operate HDDs with the write cache in the device enabled or disabled. Irrespective of the cache enablement, the HDD has to buffer up the incoming data. In the disabled case, the amount of data that could be buffered up is dependent on the amount of data that can be safely flushed out to non-volatile storage in the case of an emergency power-off (EPO) situation. The presence of significant NAND capacity in the HDD means that the drive can use the rotational energy present in the platters to flush out more data in the DRAM into the NAND (Present-day HDDs dump out the DRAM data into serial flash - around a couple of MBs worth - in an EPO situation). The ability to buffer out more data in this case means that the performance of write-cache enabled case and write-cache disabled case approach each other in OptiNAND-enabled HDDs.

Western Digital also claims that the 'write cache enabled' case can benefit on the performance front. This is an indirect result of the reduced refresh rates (referencing the observations in the previous sub-section on how OptiNAND handles adjacent-track interference) that allows the HDD to spend more time in servicing user data requests. Again, there was no quantification of the improvement in IOPS for different access patterns over non-OptiNAND HDDs in Western Digital's event.

Reliability

The aspects of OptiNAND used to enhance the performance of the drives in the write caching disabled state also contribute to enhancing their reliability under EPO conditions. By including faster non-volatile storage compared to serial flash, Western Digital claims that up to 50x more data can be flushed out compared to previous-generation HDDs.

Concluding Remarks

Western Digital claims that the vertical integration possible with the HDD technology from the WD / HGST side along with the flash technology from the SanDisk side is essential for the creation of a platform like OptiNAND.

There is bound to be a cost-premium associated with the drives due to the NAND integration. New recording technologies (like HAMR and MAMR) require significant investment into the design of the recording heads as well as platters, and need to be revamped every few generations. On the other hand, technologies like OptiNAND are independent of the underlying technology.

Without exact quantification of the increase in areal density enabled by OptiNAND, it is not possible to provide comparative comments on the Capacity aspect of Western Digital's OptiNAND trifecta - except that the company is now able to introduce 20TB hard drives to the market with the same ePMR technology used in its 18TB drives (around 2.2TB/platter).

The Performance aspect should be easier to evaluate when OptiNAND drives hit retail. While the benefits for the 'write caching disabled' case (where the NAND can act as a safe cache in an EPO situation) are easy to verify (essentially acting the same as the 'write caching enabled' case), the pure 'write caching enabled' case should be much more interesting to analyze against competing drives of the same capacity.

Western Digital indicated that all of their 20TB+ HDDs moving forward will be OptiNAND-enabled. This will be across all market verticals - cloud deployment, enterprise drives (Gold), storage for surveillance recording (Purple line), and NAS (Red line). It must be noted that the company has a 20TB SMR drive already in the market that is not OptiNAND-enabled. The new HDD architecture with its flexible SoC and high-performance NAND integration can also be used to enable customer-specific enhancements in the future. The ability to use the NAND to dynamically remap sectors can increase areal density and improve performance much more in SMR drives. Based on this, we can expect OptiNAND-enabled SMR drives to gain significant capacity advantage over CMR drives in comparison to what is being seen in the market currently.

The HDD industry is not yet in dire need of CPR, but Western Digital's usage of OptiNAND to address the Capacity, Performance, and Reliability trifecta is yet another unique aspect in the innovation-rich hard-disk drive market. Western Digital has both HDD and complete flash technology (from NAND fabrication to controller) in-house, while the other HDD vendors do not have that advantage. As such, it might take the other vendors some time to catch up on the advantages of using NAND for HDD metadata.

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The Galaxy Z Fold 3 Is Way More Durable Than Its Predecessors - Gizmodo

Photo: Sam Rutherford

When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 3, it made a point of emphasizing its improved durability. It’s far, far too early to know how the Z Fold 3 will hold up over time, but in a series of breakability tests, it seems Samsung’s durability claims aren’t just fluffy marketing.

Allstate Protection Plans (formerly SquareTrade) is infamous for its drop tests and its FoldBot. While we don’t know the final results of the FoldBot just yet, Allstate said “it proved to be extremely strong” and that there were few doubts that it would last 200,000 folds. The Z Fold 3 did, however, make serious strides in two drop tests and a dunk in the pool.

As a refresher, with the Z Fold 3, Samsung said it created a stronger frame with a material it dubs Armor Aluminum and Gorilla Glass Victus. It also has an IPX8 rating, making it the first Samsung foldable to offer any sort of water resistance. The main screen also has an additional panel layer and a better protective film, which Samsung says makes the Z Fold 3's screen 80% more durable than the Z Fold 2.

These are pretty big claims, but the results of Allstate’s breakability tests are encouraging. You can watch the video for yourself, but the DropBot dropped the $1,800 Z Fold 3 from six feet onto concrete. In the two drops where the phone was fully open, the screen didn’t shatter—a first for any smartphone. It only received minor pixel damage and scuffing. It didn’t fare so well when the phone was closed, however. In that test, the screen shattered with bits of glass coming loose. As for water resistance, the phone survived a 5-foot dunk in the pool for 30 minutes—which is exactly what its IPX8 rating promised.

Samsung has made significant strides in the durability of foldable phones since it first introduced the Galaxy Fold in 2019. “The Galaxy Z Fold3 is one of the toughest, most durable phones we’ve ever tested, and its interior screen is the first not to crack or shatter in our drop test,” Jason Siciliano, Allstate Protection Plan vice president of marketing and creative director, said in a statement.

This is an encouraging sign that Samsung’s latest foldable flagship should be able to better withstand the rough and tumble of daily life. However, these tests aren’t exactly a 1:1 mirror of how people actually handle their phones. (I don’t know about you, but I don’t climb up 6ft on a ladder and just... drop my phone face-down.) We also won’t know what sort of issues might pop up after months of long-term use. For instance, when we tested the Z Fold 2, we found that the screen became increasingly susceptible to tiny air bubbles over several months of daily use.

Also, improved durability doesn’t mean these phones are indestructible. Not only does the phone itself cost $1,800 to buy, but it also costs $479 to repair the main screen and $149 to repair the outer screen. So, uh, if you’re prone to accidents, you might still want to invest in a case.

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Bose announces QuietComfort 45 noise-canceling headphones with 24-hour battery life - The Verge

After they first surfaced in July in an FCC filing and again earlier this month, Bose is today introducing the QuietComfort 45 headphones. Priced at $329.95 and going on sale September 23rd, the QC45 headphones will offer improved active noise cancellation, a transparency / ambient sound feature that Bose calls “Aware Mode,” upgraded voice call performance, and longer battery life that can now hit 24 hours on a charge. Bose is making a big deal about this product release, claiming that it’s “updating the headphone that redefined headphones.” Preorders begin today.

Available in black or “smoke white,” they look quite similar to their QC35 II predecessors, with a design that’s much more plasticky than Bose’s other premium headphones, the Noise Canceling Headphones 700. But that means, like before, these can be folded up for easy storage in a bag or the included carrying case. Bose says it has refined the design in subtle ways: according to the company, “pleats and puckers have been removed from soft materials, and gaps between components have been replaced with smooth transitions.”

The controls are largely the same, with four buttons on the right earcup and one on the left for toggling between noise canceling and transparency modes.

Speaking of which, Bose claims the noise cancellation on the QC45s does a better job than the QC35 II headphones when it comes to eliminating mid-range frequencies, which are “those typically found in commuter trains, busy office spaces, and cafes.” Whereas the Noise Canceling Headphones 700 allow you to customize the amount of noise cancellation applied, the QC45s will offer just two modes: quiet and aware.

The QC45s also step up in terms of microphone performance. Bose has included a beam form array for improved voice isolation on calls, and there’s also “a rejection array” that is meant to prevent distracting nearby sounds from being picked up and coming through to whoever you’re speaking with.

Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours of straight playback. And yes, the QC45s have a USB-C jack. Bose says a full top-off takes two and a half hours, but you can get three hours of playback with a brief 15-minute charge. Like their predecessors and the NCH700 (which remain for sale), the QuietComfort 45 headphones support multipoint pairing for two connections at once.

The QC35 IIs will be discontinued and replaced by the QC45s, but you might still be able to find Bose’s older pair until existing inventory at retailers is depleted.

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Why Facebook Stock Popped Today - Motley Fool

What happened

Shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock rose a modest 2.3% in 3 p.m. EDT trading Monday.

That may not sound like much, but on a $1.1 trillion dollar stock, it works out to $25 billion in extra market capitalization. (For context: If Snap moved that much in a day, its stock would be up more than 17%!)

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

What sent Facebook shares up so much?

This morning, Facebook announced it will begin asking Instagram users for their birthdays (Facebook owns Instagram). As the company went on to explain, Facebook needs "to know how old everybody is on Instagram" in order to "create new safety features for young people."  

Facebook said that knowing a user's age will permit it to, for example:

• Prevent adults from messaging minors they don't follow.
• Restrict advertising to users under age 18.
• Show ads that are more relevant to a user's age.

Now what

At least two of those announced purposes do seem aimed at safety for young people. The third might be more aimed at generating better ad sales for Facebook.

Be that as it may, whatever Facebook's motivation, the company's announcement clearly means more data for Facebook, and as an information company, that's something that will probably make Facebook more valuable.

Speaking of which, Facebook clarifies that it will be requesting birthday information only from users who have not already provided it. Those users will be asked repeatedly to provide the information until they finally consent -- or find themselves unable to use Instagram. However, Facebook also knows that "some people may give us the wrong birthday." (Surprise!) But that gambit might not work as well as you think it does.

Going forward, Facebook will be using artificial intelligence to estimate how old people really are based on the content of their posts. And lest you think you can still outsmart Facebook: "If someone tells us they're above a certain age, and our technology tells us otherwise, we'll show them a menu of options to verify their age."

In short: Big Brother isn't just watching you. Now it's counting the candles on your birthday cake, too.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Microsoft's first major operating system in 6 years, Windows 11, launches Oct. 5 - CNBC

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., speaks during the Windows 10 Devices event in New York on Oct. 6, 2015. Microsoft Corp. introduced its first-ever laptop, three Lumia phones and a Surface Pro 4 tablet, the first indication of the company's revamped hardware strategy three months after saying it would scale back plans to make its own smartphones.

John Taggart | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoft said Tuesday that it will start offering free upgrades to Windows 11, the next version of its desktop operating system, to eligible PCs on Oct. 5.

Windows, originally released in 1985, remains a key piece of Microsoft's business. In the second quarter Windows delivered $6.6 billion in revenue, representing 14% of the software and hardware company's total revenue. A successful release of Windows 11 could further secure the future of the franchise, which can also benefit other parts of Microsoft's business, such as Azure and Office.

As it has for past updates, Microsoft will use on-device data and other factors to determine which devices will get the offer to upgrade first, Aaron Woodman, general manager for Windows marketing, wrote in a blog post.

On PCs running Windows 10, that can can include the necessary components to run Windows 11, the Windows Update feature will notify people when the upgrade is available. People can also go to Settings > System > Windows Update to manually check if the upgrade is ready.

Woodman pointed to a variety of Windows 10 PCs that people can buy now and upgrade to Windows 11 later, including Dell's XPS 13, the HP Spectre x360 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro, as well as Microsoft's own Surface Pro 7.

Windows 11 brings a modern look, with rounded corners and app icons displayed in the center of the taskbar. New sounds are designed to be less jarring. Microsoft redesigned the Start menu, the app store and the Settings app, and it's easier to arrange multiple app windows on screen. And Android apps will be available, by way of Amazon's Appstore. The refresh comes as Microsoft faces rising competition from Chromebooks running Google's Chrome OS, and Chromebooks are capable of running Android apps.

And Windows 11 will be going up against a popular release in the form of its predecessor. Microsoft released Windows 10 in 2015, making this the longest period of time a version of Windows has been in market before a replacement. It has become the world's most popular PC operating system, boasting 1.3 billion monthly active devices. Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 through 2025, and the company suggests people stick with it if their PCs can't run Windows 11 and they don't want to buy a new PC.

On June 24, Microsoft announced Windows 11 as the successor to Windows 10 and made it available to testers enrolled in the Windows Insider program four days later. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out seven incremental updates containing feature changes and bug fixes. Now the company is preparing to make a final version Windows 11 available to many more customers and have device makers start selling new PCs that run the operating system.

Microsoft said last week that it will support Windows 11 when it's running on a variety of PC processors, including Intel chips manufactured as far back as 2016. The company expects all devices that meet the Windows 11 requirements to receive the free upgrade by the middle of 2022, Woodman wrote.

WATCH: How Microsoft is creating a new 'cloud PC category' with Windows 365

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Polaroid's Now+ connected camera comes with five clip-on lens filters - Engadget

Polaroid is adding to its line-up of products that mix retro looks with modern smarts. The new Polaroid Now+ is an analog camera with Bluetooth connectivity and five physical lens filters. It's the first time the company has included the latter out of the box. You can clip the filters on to the camera's lens to saturate or deepen the contrast of your photos, or add new effects like starburst, red vignette, and orange, blue and yellow colors.

The new camera, which is out today for $150, is essentially an updated version of last year's Polaroid Now. This time, there's a new Blue Gray colorway (alongside white and black) that ditches the company's rainbow-colored strip for a more muted look. Polaroid also integrated the camera’s light sensor into the lens stage to accommodate the different filters. On top of the core autofocus, dynamic flash, and self-timer functions, the snapper now comes with a tripod mount.

What's more, Polaroid has made way for improvements on the software side. The Polaroid Originals app now boasts a new, streamlined design with new features including aperture priority and tripod mode, designed to offer more control over depth of field and long exposures. You can also swipe between light painting, double exposure and manual mode. The Polaroid Now+ camera is available online exclusively through Polaroid.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Bose QuietComfort 45 Noise-Cancelling Headphones debut at $329 - AppleInsider

A successor to Bose's popular QC35, the highly anticipated QuietComfort 45 headphones offer enhanced acoustic noise-canceling technology and USB-C charging.

The headphones were first spotted at Adorama on Aug. 31, with a retail price tag of $329. At press time, shoppers can preorder the QuietComfort 45 headphones at the Bose dealer, with no official ship date included on the company's product page. According to Adorama, orders are shipped on a first-come, first-served basis, with free shipping on orders delivered within the contiguous U.S.

New to the QuietComfort 45 is USB-C charging, with up to 24 hours of play time on a single charge. The QC45 also offer improved voice pickup with the addition of a fourth microphone.

The synthetic leather earcup cushions and headband are designed to provide a premium feel in a competitive space that includes the popular Sony XM4 headphones and AirPods Max.

Two modes allow users to select between full noise-canceling (Quiet Mode) and hearing your environment and music at the same time (Aware Mode).

Stay tuned to AppleInsider for additional details once the Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones hit store shelves. If you want to get your hands on a pair of the QC45, Adorama is accepting preorders in both Black and White Smoke for $329.

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Apple's rumored iPhone satellite support may be for emergency calls and messages - Engadget

The rumored satellite features for future iPhones are reserved for emergency uses only, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. A few days ago, a report by well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next iPhones will come with support for Low Earth Orbit satellite calls and messages. Gurman's sources said, however, that Apple isn't turning its devices into actual satellite phones, at least for now. Instead, the tech giant is reportedly developing at least two emergency-related features relying on satellite networks. 

The first feature is called Emergency Message via Satellite and will be added as a third protocol, alongside iMessage and SMS, to the Messages app. It's apparently codenamed Stewie inside the company and will allow users to text emergency services even when there's no signal, which sounds especially useful during emergencies in remote locations, such as mountains and forests.

The tool will also give users a way to text their emergency contacts simply by typing Emergency SOS in the recipient line. Messages will be restricted to a shorter length, but the senders' contacts will get a notification for them even if their phone is set to Do Not Disturb. Satellite messages will appear as gray bubbles instead of blue or green so they can be easily identified. Eventually, the feature could handle phone calls, as well.

Apple is also reportedly working on a second satellite feature that will allow users to report crisis situations like plane crashes and fires. This system will give users a way to report the incident at length and will ask them specifics, such as if anybody needs search-and-rescue services or if anybody in the vicinity is armed. It can also automatically send authorities the reporter's location and their details from the Health app, such as their medical history, age, medications and information like height and weight. The feature can also a notify the reporter's emergency contacts for them.

While both features sound useful, their availability is restricted by satellite location and reach. They might not work for some regions, and in some cases, users may have to walk outdoors in a certain direction where their iPhone can connect to a satellite. Also, Gurman's sources said it's unlikely that the features will be ready before the year ends, which means the next iPhones expected be announced sometime in September won't be able to send messages via satellite yet. 

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Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch gets a walkie talkie feature of its own - The Verge

Samsung has released a new walkie talkie app for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, which allows watch owners to have push-to-talk conversations with one another using the wearable. The app’s release was reported by XDA Developers, but its development was rumored in May by SamMobile prior to the watch’s official announcement. It’s available to download now via the Google Play Store.

The app’s release comes after Apple added a similar feature to its Apple Watch back in 2018 with WatchOS 5. But while Apple’s push-to-talk walkie talkie feature only lets two people communicate at once, Samsung’s supports “two or more users” by setting up a Walkie-Talkie channel to chat in. That is, so long as you can find enough people using the Wear OS 3-based Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, the only two wearables currently listed as compatible with the app on its Play Store listing.

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Google Calendar will break down how much of your work is spent in meetings - The Verge

Google is adding a new “Time insights” panel to Calendar on the web, showing users how much of their working week is spent in meetings. According to Google’s blog post, the feature is rolling out gradually over the next month on select plans. It was first announced back in March as part of a raft of new features coming to Google Workspace.

Time Insights arrives a couple of years after both Google and Apple added similar breakdowns into Android and iOS respectively to show the amount of time spent using different apps. But while these OS features included the ability to set per-app time limits, Google Calendar won’t let you set similar boundaries on meetings. Instead, it provides you with the information you need to hopefully curb any meeting-obsessed colleagues.

A screenshot published by Google shows what kind of insights the panel will provide. Up top there’s a “Time breakdown” pie chart, showing how much of your working hours are spent in meetings, which is subdivided into meeting between just two people, versus bigger groups of three or more. Below there’s a snapshot of time spent in meetings on a week-to-week basis, as well as highlights of which days are busiest, and the average hours per day spent in them. Calendar entries where you’re the only attendee don’t count towards these meeting totals, Google notes in a support page.

Google emphasizes that “this information is visible to you, not your manager.” However, it adds that it might be possible to see another person’s breakdown if you have permission to manage their calendar. The feature will be on by default, and while it can be turned off by Workspace admins, it can only be minimized, not disabled, by end users.

Time insights is available for users on the Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits subscription tiers. However, it won’t be accessible for G Suite Basic and Business customers, or those on Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, and Frontline tiers.

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Apple's (AAPL) Future iPhones to Include Satellite Features - Bloomberg

Apple Inc.’s push to bring satellite capabilities to the iPhone will be focused on emergency situations, allowing users to send texts to first responders and report crashes in areas without cellular coverage. 

The company is developing at least two related emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, aiming to release them in future iPhones, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

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Zoom announces first startups receiving funding from $100M investment fund - TechCrunch

For more than a year now, Zoom has been on a mission to transform from an application into a platform. To that end it made three announcements last year: Zoom Apps development tools, the Zoom Apps marketplace and a $100 million development fund to invest in some of the more promising startups building tools on top of their platform. Today, at the closing bell, the company announced it has made its first round of investments.

Ross Mayfield, product lead for Zoom Apps and integrations, spoke to TechCrunch about the round of investments. “We’re in the process of creating this ecosystem. We felt it important, particularly to focus on the seed stage and A stage of partnering with entrepreneurs to create great things on this platform. And I think what you see in the first batch of more than a dozen investments is representative of something that’s going to be a significant ongoing undertaking,” he explained.

He said while they aren’t announcing exact investment amounts, they are writing checks for between $250,000 and $2.5 million. They are teaming with other investment partners, rather than leading the rounds, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working with these startups using internal resources for advice and executive backing, beyond the money.

“Every one of these investments has an executive or senior sponsor within the company. So there’s another person inside that knows the lay of the land, can help them advance and spend more personal time with them,” Mayfield said.

The company is also running several Zoom chat channels for the startups receiving investments to learn from one another and the Zoom Apps team. “We have a shared chat channel between the startup and my team. We have a channel called Announcements and a channel called Help, and another one that the startups created called Community,” he said.

Every week they use these channels to hold a developer office hour, a business office hour (which Mayfield runs) and a community hour, where the startups can gather and talk amongst themselves about whatever they want.

Among the specific categories receiving funding are collaboration and productivity, community and charity, DE&I and PeopleOps, and gaming and entertainment. In the collaboration and productivity category, Warmly is a sales tool that provides background and information about each person participating in the meeting ahead of time, while allowing the meeting organizer to create customized Zoom backgrounds for each event.

Another is Fathom, which alleviates the need to take notes during a meeting, but it’s more than recording and transcription. “It gives you this really simple interface where you can just tag moments. And then, as a result you have this transcript of the video recording, and you can click on those tagged moments as highlights, and then share a clip of the meeting highlights to Salesforce, Slack and other tools,” Mayfield said.

Pledge enables individuals or organizations to request and collect donations inside a Zoom meeting instantly, and Canvas is a hiring and interview tool that helps companies build diverse teams with data that helps them set and meet DEI goals.

These and the other companies represent the first tranche of investments from this fund, and Mayfield says the company intends to continue looking for startups using the Zoom platform to build their startup or integrate with Zoom.

He says that every company starts as a feature, then becomes a product and then aspires to be a line of products. The trick is getting there.  The goal of the investment program and the entire set of Zoom Apps tools is about helping these companies take the first step.

“The art of being an entrepreneur is working with that risk in the absence of resources and pushing at the frontier of what you know.” Zoom is trying to be a role model, a mentor and an investor on that journey.

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Chrome 94 beta adds WebGPU API with support for Apple’s Metal - 9to5Mac

Google this week announced the beta release of Chrome 94, the next update to Google’s desktop web browser. In addition to general improvements, the update also adds support for the new WebGPU API, which comes to replace WebGL and can even access Apple’s Metal API.

As described by Google in a blog post, WebGPU is a new, more advanced graphics API for the web that is able to access GPU hardware, resulting in better performance for rendering interfaces in websites and web apps.

The main difference of WebGPU to other graphics acceleration APIs for the web is that the new API is based on the device’s native technologies, such as Apple’s Metal, Microsoft’s Direct3D, or the open Vulkan standard. This should make it easier for web developers to create web apps and games with more intense graphics.

The WebGPU API is the successor to the WebGL and WebGL2 graphics APIs for the Web. It provides modern features such as “GPU compute” as well as lower overhead access to GPU hardware and better, more predictable performance. This is an improvement over the existing WebGL interfaces, which were designed for drawing images but could only be repurposed for other kinds of computations with great effort.

For those unfamiliar, Metal is an API introduced by Apple in 2014 that provides low-level access to GPU hardware for iOS, macOS, and tvOS apps. In other words, apps can access the GPU without overloading the CPU, which is one of the limitations of old APIs like OpenGL.

However, as noted by The Verge, it will probably take some time before developers adopt the new WebGPU API into their web projects as it’s still considered an experimental feature. Google says WebGPU is not expected to come enabled by default for all Chrome users until early 2022.

The final release of Chrome 94 should enable WebCodecs for everyone, which is another API designed to improve the encoding and decoding of streaming videos.

Apple currently provides access to the WebGPU API in its Safari web browser through the latest version of the Safari Technology Preview, which can be downloaded by developers. Since the API is not yet included in Safari 15 that comes with macOS Monterey, it will probably come in early 2022 with a future Safari update.

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Apple Plans to Add Satellite Features to iPhones for Emergencies - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s push to bring satellite capabilities to the iPhone will be focused on emergency situations, allowing users to send texts to first responders and report crashes in areas without cellular coverage.

The company is developing at least two related emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, aiming to release them in future iPhones, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Apple has been working on satellite technology for years, with a team exploring the concept since at least 2017, Bloomberg has reported. Speculation that the next iPhone will have satellite capabilities ramped up this week after TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the phone will probably work with spectrum owned by Globalstar Inc.

That’s led to conjecture that the iPhone will become something akin to a satellite phone, freeing users from having to rely on cell networks. But Apple’s plan is initially more limited in scope, according to the person, with the focus on helping customers handle crisis scenarios.

And though the next iPhone could have the hardware needed for satellite communications, the features are unlikely to be ready before next year, said another person, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t yet public. The features could also change or be scrapped before they’re released.

An Apple representative declined to comment.

The first component, dubbed Emergency Message via Satellite, will let users text emergency services and contacts over a satellite network when there’s no cell signal available. That feature will be integrated into the Messages app as a third protocol -- alongside the standard SMS and iMessage -- and appear with gray message bubbles instead of green or blue. The second feature will be a tool to report major emergencies, such as plane crashes and sinking ships, also using satellite networks.

The texting-via-satellite tool, codenamed Stewie inside Apple, will restrict messages to a shorter length. The texts will automatically push through to an emergency contact’s phone, even if the do-not-disturb setting is on. One planned design will let a user send the message by typing “Emergency SOS” where they would usually input a contact name. In addition to delivering texts, the service may eventually be able to handle some phone calls too.

Such an option will be useful in areas such as mountains or remote lakes, where 4G or 5G coverage may be unavailable. As part of its broader efforts, Apple has even considered eventually deploying its own satellites, but this feature is likely to rely on existing networks.

The second emergency feature is focused on letting users report a crisis. The phone will ask what kind of emergency is happening, such as whether it involves a car, boat, plane or fire.

The system is also able to take more specific information, such as a person falling overboard or a ship sinking. It will ask a user if search and rescue services are needed, if there is suspicious behavior or weapons involved, and if a person has suffered a traumatic injury.

When reaching emergency services, the feature can send a user’s location and Medical ID, a virtual card in the Health app with a list of a user’s medical history, age, medications, and information like height and weight. It can also a notify a user’s emergency contacts, typically a person’s family, friends or doctors.

It’s unclear which emergency services or providers the system would tap into. The set of features would compete with the Garmin inReach device, which lets users send short messages or an SOS over satellite networks.

Both features are, of course, dependent on satellite availability and local regulations. They’re not designed to work in every country, and Apple has created a mechanism that will ask users to be outdoors and walk in a certain direction to help the iPhone connect to a satellite. Linking to a network also won’t always be instantaneous, with testing of the feature indicating that it could sometimes take up to one minute to work.

To connect to satellites, Apple will need a special chip. While the company is developing its own custom cellular modems for use in the coming years, it still plans to rely on a Qualcomm Inc. modem in the near term.

Speculation that the next iPhone will have satellite capabilities sent shares of Globalstar soaring on Monday. That company previously said it had signed an agreement with an unidentified party to develop a new service -- a disclosure that some now believe is evidence that it’s Apple’s partner.

Apple isn’t teaming up with Globalstar rival Iridium Communications Inc. on the effort, people familiar with matter said. And Omnispace LLC, another satellite company, hasn’t yet committed to building systems that could support such services, said industry analyst Tim Farrar.

Globalstar gained 64% to $2.35 before the close on Monday. The shares retreated in late trading, falling as much as 24%, but pared the losses after Bloomberg reported on Apple’s plans. Iridium declined as much as 7.4% in extended trading.

Apple plans to debut its latest iPhones as early as the middle of next month. Beyond the possible satellite functionality, the company plans to include a narrower display cutout with an updated Face ID system and a faster processor. The new model also will have significant camera hardware and software upgrades.

(Updates with stock reaction in second-to-last paragraph.)

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Bloomberg: Apple Working on Emergency Satellite Features for iPhones, 2021 Launch Unlikely - MacRumors

Apple is working on satellite capabilities for the iPhone that will allow users to send texts in emergency situations, reports Bloomberg. The feature would also allow ‌iPhone‌ users to report crashes and other emergencies in areas where there is no cellular coverage.

There are at least two emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, and while satellite technology has been in the works for years, these capabilities are not likely to launch in 2021.

The first feature, Emergency Message via Satellite, is designed to let users text emergency services and contacts using a satellite network when there is no signal available, and it will be integrated into the Messages app as a third communications protocol alongside SMS and iMessage. It will feature gray message bubbles rather than green or blue, and message length will be restricted.

The texting-via-satellite tool, codenamed Stewie inside Apple, will restrict messages to a shorter length. The texts will automatically push through to an emergency contact's phone, even if the do-not-disturb setting is on. One planned design will let a user send the message by typing "Emergency SOS" where they would usually input a contact name. In addition to delivering texts, the service may eventually be able to handle some phone calls too.

The second feature will let users report major emergencies like plane crashes and fires using satellite networks. It will be similar to a "911" call in the U.S. and can provide information like a user's location and medical ID, in addition to alerting emergency contacts.

A report over the weekend from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 13 would include low earth orbit satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages without 4G and 5G coverage, but further analysis has indicated that this suggestion is incorrect and unlikely.

According to Bloomberg, when Apple does implement satellite connectivity, it will be limited to "crisis scenarios" and will not be an alternative to cellular networks that allows for widespread texting and calling.

Apple will not launch these satellite capabilities in every country, and their availability will be dependent on local regulations and satellite locations. One built-in feature will ask users to go outdoors and walk in a specified direction to help the ‌iPhone‌ connect to a satellite. Connections may not be instantaneous, and it could take up to a minute for an ‌iPhone‌ to successfully communicate with a satellite.

Connecting to satellites will require a special modem chip, and Apple will continue to use Qualcomm technology for the next few years. It is not clear if Apple will partner with Globalstar, as Kuo has suggested. Globalstar competitors Iridium Communications and Omnispace are not working with Apple, according to Bloomberg, but the report does not rule out Globalstar.

The satellite features are "unlikely to be ready before next year," though Apple's modem chips this year could "have the hardware needed for satellite communications." The functionality could be changed or scrapped prior to when Apple is planning to launch it and it has not yet been finalized.

Apple has considered launching its own satellites, but the planned emergency features will rely on existing networks.

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Google parodies Apple and Jony Ive in ridiculous Pixel 5a commercial - The Next Web

The Pixel 5a is a really good phone. It also happens to have a headphone jack.

Google really wants you to know this fact. I present to you the most passionate description of a 3.5mm orifice you’ll see today:

And I love every second of it. Strong Apple vibes. Can we get this Jony Ive impersonator to do every Pixel ad? Thanks.

That said, considering the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro probably won’t come with a headphone jack, this feels just a little ironic. But hey, marketing departments have gotta do their jobs.

Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It’s called Plugged In – and you can subscribe to it right here.

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Chrome 94 beta tests some next-gen tech for gaming in your browser - The Verge

Google’s Chrome Beta 94 announcement mentions that Google is implementing some new web standards that could make browser-based gaming experiences even better. The soon-to-be-released WebCodecs could help make cloud gaming easier and faster, while the experimental WebGPU could make it easier for developers of games that run in the browser to tap into your computer’s power.

WebCodecs is an API designed to give developers better access to the video encoding/decoding codecs that are already bundled with your browser, which figure out what to do with video streams. While there are already methods of getting video to play in Chrome, they’re not necessarily designed for things like cloud gaming, which is best when it’s as low-latency as possible. WebCodecs is built to avoid overhead, making it easier to get the incoming video stream onto your screen as fast as possible, potentially with the help of hardware decoding. This will also, in theory, make it perform better than it currently does on slower machines (which are the kinds of computers where cloud gaming is most desirable anyhow).

The newer, more experimental WebGPU gives web developers better access to your computer’s graphics horsepower, by letting them hook into your computer’s native graphics API (similar to Apple’s Metal, Microsoft’s DirectX 12, or Vulkan). In simpler terms, it makes it easier for web developers to talk to your graphics card in a language it understands, without having to go through other layers that could slow things down. It’s meant to be a next-generation version of WebGL, which lets developers tap into the (now reasonably out of date) OpenGL framework. In the future, the tech should make it easier for developers to make graphically intense games that run in the browser, tapping into the full power of current-generation GPUs.

Both technologies have their place outside of gaming too. In a July 2020 talk, Google mentioned that Zoom was interested in using WebCodecs for videoconferencing, and WebGPU could be used to render 3D models in the browser or to accelerate machine learning models. It makes sense that they’d show up in Chrome, as these are all areas Google plays in, from cloud gaming with Google Stadia, to its own video conferencing apps. Both pieces of tech are open standards though, developed by the W3C, and other browser makers have begun testing them as well.

Of course, we probably won’t be seeing experiences powered by WebCodecs or WebGPU for a little while. While WebCodecs is actually getting close to release (it’s expected to be turned on by default in the upcoming Chrome 94), developers will still have to make their apps work with it. As for WebGPU, it’s currently in its experimental trial phase, which Google expects to end in early 2022. Whether it’ll end up as a feature at that point depends on how the trial goes, if the specification is done, and if enough people are interested in using it.

While these technologies may not make things that were impossible possible, they’re exciting nonetheless. When things are easier, or more flexible, it lowers the barrier of entry for developers. For gamers looking to play on the web, either through streaming or native games, the time developers save on figuring out how to get frames onto your screen is time they can spend making other parts of the experience better.

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Microsoft's Windows 11 Workaround for Unsupported PCs Means You Won't Get Software Updates - Gizmodo

Maybe don’t attempt to install Windows 11 on your old computer.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is cautioning that those who take an alternative road to installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware won’t receive software updates.

Microsoft allows you to install the Windows 11 beta through the Insider program or load it via an ISO made through the built-in Media Creation Tool. But if you choose the latter method because your machine isn’t on the supported list, you won’t receive the essential updates needed to continue safely using Windows 11.

The Verge confirmed that unsupported PCs won’t receive regular Windows updates. Microsoft may not provide security patches and drivers either.

Microsoft has a history of randomly pushing out support drivers, even for its so-called retired operating systems. There was hope that the company would take the same approach for unsupported Windows 11 hardware down the line, at least concerning essential security patches. But that’s not something to hinge your bets on, especially if you need a stable copy of Windows 11 to get through the day-to-day. Of course, if you’re the kind of person who would pursue making an ISO and installing it in the first place, you could always do your diligence in ensuring Windows 11 stays updated with the latest patches made for supported systems.

There’s some speculation that Microsoft is pursuing this particular approach to get Windows users to upgrade their hardware, regardless of necessity. And it’s hard not to come to that conclusion considering the limited support for machines running on CPUs older than Intel’s 8th-gen. AMD’s first-gen Ryzen chip is also not on the list of supported components.

If you’re curious if Microsoft will officially support your system, you can use the PC Health Check Tool, currently available to Windows Insiders. The company just updated it to let you know if your computer officially supports Windows 11. The requirements include at least a minimum of 1GHz or faster CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Devices will also need version 2.0 of the Trusted Platform Module (TPM).

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