Technology

vendredi 16 septembre 2022

WiZ’s smart lights can now be motion sensors

Woman and cat walking past a light. — *SpaceSense will turn WiZ light bulbs into motion sensors.* | Image: Signify

Motion-triggered smart lighting is pretty magical. Figuring out how to set up little white motion sensors all over your house to make it work is not. With its new SpaceSense feature, Signify may have come up with the perfect solution: let the light bulbs do the work.

SpaceSense is a software feature coming to Signify’s Wi-Fi smart lighting line WiZ later this month. It uses Wi-Fi sensing technology that detects changes in Wi-Fi signal strength caused by movement to turn lights on when someone walks into a room and off when motion stops. Wi-Fi sensing is already being used in some routers and security systems, and it was only a matter of time until a lighting company figured out how to apply it to their tech.

With WiZ, the sensing technology is embedded directly in the light bulb; you only need two or more WiZ bulbs in a room to get started. Wiz has a wide range of Wi-Fi-powered smart light bulbs starting at $11, so the barrier to entry is low. The company also recently released several new products, including a floor lamp and portable lamp as well as new color-changing outdoor string lights that are coming next month.

Living room with soft lighting. — *WiZ has a wide range of smart light bulbs and light fixtures that work over Wi-Fi and don’t require a hub. You need two in a room to use SpaceSense.*

All WiZ products work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri Shortcuts, IFTTT, and SmartThings, and the company has promised it will support the new smart home standard Matter.

SpaceSense will be set up and controlled using the new WiZ V2 app, which launches this month. The app also allows a user to adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection and set a delay to keep lights on for a set period of time, even if no motion is detected.

The technology is opt-in and doesn’t detect or record a person's exact location or recognize faces. WiZ says all the detection data is processed locally on the light bulb.

According to WiZ, SpaceSense will work on most WiZ-branded products released since September 2021. It's working on compatibility with older models. Those brands include WiZ lights, Philips Smart LED lights, and any brand with the Connected by WiZ logo. It won’t work with Signify’s Philips Hue lighting products, as Hue uses Zigbee, not Wi-Fi.

jeudi 15 septembre 2022

YouTube Opens More Pathways for Creators to Make Money on the Platform

YouTube Opens More Pathways for Creators to Make Money on the Platform The video platform will let more creators earn payments and place ads in Shorts, its TikTok competitor, according to audio from an internal meeting.

Uber investigating computer network breach – report

A hacker apparently compromised an employee’s Slack messaging app and was able to gain access to other internal company systems

Uber said on Thursday it is responding to a cybersecurity incident, after the New York Times reported that a hack had breached the company’s network and forced it to take several internal communications and engineering systems offline.

A hacker compromised an employee’s workplace messaging Slack app and then used it to send a message to Uber employees announcing that it had suffered a data breach, the Times reported citing an Uber spokesperson.

Uber Investigating Breach of Its Computer Systems

Uber Investigating Breach of Its Computer Systems The company said on Thursday that it was looking into the scope of the apparent hack.

Crypto’s Long-Awaited ‘Merge’ Reaches the Finish Line

Crypto’s Long-Awaited ‘Merge’ Reaches the Finish Line Ethereum, the most popular cryptocurrency platform, completed its much-anticipated switch to a more energy-efficient infrastructure.

mercredi 14 septembre 2022

Scientists try to teach robot to laugh at the right time

Research team hopes system could improve natural conversations between humans and AI systems

Laughter comes in many forms, from a polite chuckle to a contagious howl of mirth. Scientists are now developing an AI system that aims to recreate these nuances of humour by laughing in the right way at the right time.

The team behind the laughing robot, which is called Erica, say that the system could improve natural conversations between people and AI systems.

EA’s CEO is following the money to more games with player-created content

A skateboarder is doing a trick in the air in this screenshot from Skate. The camera is low to the ground and the photo looks like it is taken with a fish eye lens. — *The new* Skate *is expected to offer lots of ways to be creative.* | Image: EA

EA sees a big opportunity in games that let players create their own content, CEO Andrew Wilson said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Tuesday, as reported by Axios. Games like Minecraft and Roblox with extensive player creation tools have become huge hits with enduring popularity, and it sounds like EA wants to find more ways to let players create content in its own titles.

He highlighted a few EA franchises he feels have notable creative aspects already, like The Sims (which will soon be free to play), FIFA, and Battlefield, and talked about how the upcoming live service Skate title will offer many opportunities for player creation.

“Just like the real world, where skateboarding leans into fashion and music and automotive and building and brands, we think that franchise can do that as well,” Wilson said. “So you’ll see us lean more into really engaging and investing in creation.” The Skate team has already teased some of the tools they’re working on, such as in-game “CollaboZones” that can be built collaboratively and appear in others players’ worlds in real time.

Wilson expects that down the line, “there will be the creation of new worlds that sit right next to the worlds that we create, and people will move frictionlessly between those two things,” he said. This sounds somewhat similar to what you can see in Fortnite today — expansive player-made worlds are served up right next to Epic’s own modes in the game’s discovery tools.

Wilson indicated that there’s a significant business opportunity in encouraging players to create content. The correlation of “minutes engaged” (aka, how long somebody might be playing a game) to money spent is almost one to one, he said, so whether players or EA creates the content, there’s “an extraordinary opportunity for [EA].”

While EA is going to invest in gaming creation tools, Wilson discussed how the company doesn’t plan to pour money into gaming-adjacent entertainment opportunities like film, like some other companies have. “I’m not going to go out and buy a movie studio just because I think there will be a convergence between linear and interactive,” he said. “I think there are different ways we can do that.”

And despite the popularity of EA’s sports franchises, he’s not looking at expensive sports broadcast rights, either. “I’m not going to go out and spend billions of dollars on linear broadcast sports rights, because I think there’s a way we can deliver and fulfill the needs and motivations of our sports fans inside of our ecosystem in a far more deliberate way that is far more aligned with how they want to consume that content.”

He also addressed the state of the Battlefield franchise, which is trying to recover from the widely-criticized launch of Battlefield 2042 last year, and acknowledged that EA didn’t live up to expectations. “I don’t think we delivered in the last two iterations in the way that we should have,” he said. “There’s a lot of work we’ve got to do there.” EA has “an extraordinary creative team involved in Battlefield now,” he says, and I do think there’s a good chance it’s now on the right path. Vince Zampella, who heads up Apex Legends and Titanfall developer Respawn, is now in charge of the franchise, and there are new Battlefield experiences in the works like a new “narrative campaign” and a mobile game.

Wilson believes Battlefield could fill any potential vacuum left by Call of Duty following Microsoft’s pending Activision acquisition. “In a world where there may be questions over the future of Call of Duty and what platform that might be on or might not be on, being platform agnostic and completely cross platform with Battlefield is a tremendous opportunity,” Wilson said.

And while Wilson is on guard for disruption from tech giants that have stepped into gaming (some more successfully than others), he believes EA will endure. “I tell our teams: Never underestimate these giant companies that have innovative DNA, monopolistic tendencies, and deep pockets,” he said. “We always have to ask ourselves what happens if they get it right. But as of today, we have this very, very unique and special opportunity to deliver the future of entertainment.”

Tesla is being sued over Autopilot and Elon Musk’s Full Self-Driving predictions

Illustration depicting multiple red Tesla sedans on a black background. — Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A lawsuit filed in San Francisco by a Tesla owner claims the automaker and its CEO / Technoking Elon Musk are “deceptively and misleadingly” marketing the Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” advanced driver assistance features that are available as paid software add-ons (via Automotive News).

The filing claims Tesla and Musk “deceived and misled consumers regarding the current abilities of its ADAS [advanced driver-assistance system] technology and by representing that it was perpetually on the cusp of perfecting that technology and finally fulfilling its promise of producing a fully self-driving car,” and that “contrary to Tesla’s repeated promises that it would have a fully self-driving car within months or a year, Tesla has never been remotely close to achieving that goal.”

The plaintiff, Briggs Matsko, says he spent $5,000 for the package in 2018, like many Tesla drivers who’ve paid thousands of dollars for Enhanced Autopilot. That was sold as a precursor to “Full Self-Driving” tech, a now $15,000 software add-on package that still isn’t ready to ship. Matsko is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, while the company is already facing another class-action lawsuit targeting “phantom braking incidents” that have plagued the adaptive cruise control features on Teslas for years.

The lawsuit calls out Tesla’s features terminology, including the name “Autopilot,” as well as Elon Musk’s public statements and tweets regarding the perpetually unfinished Full Self-Driving system. It specifically mentions Musk’s claim that an autonomous US cross-country trip will be performed by 2018, and his 2019 claims about putting 1 million robotaxis on the road, saying, “A year from now, we’ll have over a million cars with full self-driving, software... everything.”

The road trip was eventually put on hold indefinitely, with Musk admitting that it would need a specialized route to work, and saying he preferred to have the Autopilot team focus on safety features. The robotaxis have not become a reality.

As for Full Self-Driving, the lawsuit backs its claims of fraud using this 2016 video released by Tesla — and still featured on its website — seemingly demonstrating a Model X leaving a garage, driving through a city, dropping off the “driver,” and then automatically finding a parallel parking spot to wedge itself into. Reportedly, former Tesla engineers that were there for the video’s production claimed the car used a pre-charted and 3D mapped route — technology that is not built into any production Tesla.

The lawsuit also makes the case that not only are Full Self-Driving and Autopilot misrepresented, but they’re also dangerous. It points to incidents like the 2018 crash where a Model X on Autopilot crashed into a concrete barrier in California, killing the driver, or another one where a Tesla on Autopilot crashed into the back of a stationary fire truck, prompting a federal investigation.

Matsko’s lawsuit says he’s looking for “injunctive relief prohibiting Tesla from continuing its deceptive and misleading marketing of its ADAS technology, restitution of the money Plaintiff and Class members paid for technology that Tesla promised but never delivered, and all available damages including punitive damages to punish Tesla for years of using deceptive and misleading marketing to eventually establish itself as a dominant player in the electric vehicle market.”

Android and iOS take big steps toward launching Matter smart home compatibility

Matter is a new smart home interoperability standard both Apple and Google helped create. | Image: CSA

It’s getting closer. With the drop of the iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 developer betas today, we have confirmation that “Matter Accessories” are on their way to Apple iPhones and iPads. Plus, Google’s Google Home Developer Console, which helps developers add Matter devices to its smart home platform, also went live today.

Matter is a new smart home connectivity standard that promises to unify all your connected devices, making it easier for your smart thermostat to talk to your connected door lock and for you to talk to either one using any voice assistant or smart home app you choose. At WWDC this year, Apple announced that iOS 16 would support Matter, and now we are seeing the first implementations.

*A screenshot of the Settings page on an Apple iPad running iPadOS 16.1 developer beta.*

A new option menu has appeared in Settings > General on both iPads and iPhones running the beta. Spotted by Aaron Zollo, it lists “Matter Accessories” and, when you tap it, takes you to a list of Matter accessories that have been added to “a connected service.”

Only there are no Matter-compatible accessories yet, as the Matter standard hasn’t been finalized. But this is a sure sign that developers and manufacturers are testing prerelease software ahead of the anticipated launch of Matter this fall.

We saw some beta Matter devices in action at the IFA tech conference earlier this month. Eve Systems showed off its smart plug being controlled by Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings.

That demo highlighted one of Matter’s core features — multi-admin control — which is hinted at in the iOS and iPadOS betas. This allows devices to have multiple masters, so you can ask Siri to turn down your Nest thermostat or have a Google Nest Hub control your Amazon smart plug.

Apple has been involved with Matter since it first began as one of its founding members, along with Google, Samsung, and Amazon. All three smartphone manufacturers have publicly stated that their smartphone and tablet devices will be Matter controllers, meaning they can onboard Matter devices to your smart home network.

Some screenshots that also surfaced today indicate Google is well on its way to adding a Matter Accessories section to its operating system. Android Police reports a Matter Devices & Services section has appeared in the Google account settings for some users, with a prompt to connect a new Matter device and the option to automatically show a notification when Matter devices are nearby. This hints at another key feature of Matter: a streamlined, more unified setup for smart home devices.

All this activity makes it seem increasingly likely that Matter will hit its goal of a fall launch, despite multiple previous delays.

Here come high-powered USB-C chargers that can fully power a 16-inch MacBook Pro

Floating in white space is a white colored charge brick, almost square in shape, that has the word Hyper printed on the side. There's a USB-C port labeled 140W, another under it with 100W, and a final full USB-A port with a 30W label. — *The HyperJuice 140W is one of the first USB PD 3.1 chargers to become available.* | Image: Hyper

When Apple released the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros last year, the 16-inch models came with a new kind of USB-C charger — one that can deliver up to 140W of power to the MagSafe 3 port. That’s because Apple’s biggest MacBook Pro charger supports the latest USB Power Delivery specification: USB PD 3.1, which goes beyond the previous 100W limitation for a single USB-C port.

The USB Promoter Group published the latest specification of Power Delivery in May of last year, but accessory manufacturers are only now delivering products that support it. And it’s about time because 16-inch MacBook Pro users who swear by fast charging have been stuck with the included non-travel-friendly brick that only has one USB-C port. Now you can get ones with multiple ports, giving you the flexibility to share all that power with a phone, tablet, or even another laptop along with the MacBook Pro.

We haven’t tested these yet, but some USB PD 3.1 multiport charger options include the HyperJuice 140W for $129.99 and the Ugreen Nexode 140W for $149.99. Both of these chargers have two USB-C ports and one USB-A port for more flexibility but only support the max 140W out of one specific port and up to 100W out of the second one, individually. For the USB-A ports, the Nexode can do up to 22.5W, while the Hyper does 30W.

*Ugreen claims its Nexode 140W can fast charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 0 to 56 percent in 30 minutes.*

The HyperJuice and the Nexode seem like similar products otherwise (even though the Nexode is $20 more), but they actually behave differently when plugging more devices in. For instance, if you plug in two laptops to the HyperJuice, it can deliver up to 100W to the first device but only 20W to the second one. The Nexode, however, will split the power equally — giving each laptop up to 65W of power.

When occupying all three ports, the HyperJuice will still push 100W out of the first port, but then the second USB-C and the USB-A port will now share the same small 20W pool. That’s okay if your second and third devices are lower-power tablets, phones, or accessories, but if you’re like me and use an iPhone MagSafe charging puck and an old Apple Watch charger, then my iPhone might not be able to fast charge wirelessly.

Ugreen’s charger splits the joules differently in three ways: 65W to the high-powered USB-C, 45W to the second, and up to 22.5W out of the USB-A port. This is certainly a more versatile split, but if your main laptop is more power-hungry, then the HyperJuice option might make more sense.

*The Anker 717 also has the USB PD 3.1 Spec for 140W, but only has one port.*

Anker also makes a 140W USB PD 3.1 charger, but like Apple’s, it only has one USB-C port to offer. It’s also the same cost as buying the official one from an Apple store at $100, but the Anker 717 is at least a bit more compact, even though it doesn’t use the company’s slightly more efficient GaNPrime tech. There’s also Anker’s PowerCore 24K portable battery bank that can squeeze up to 140W of power out of its cells, though it can’t plug into a wall and pull AC power on its own.

This is just the beginning of a new era of compact multiport chargers. They will keep getting smaller and more powerful — but only if we get more devices that demand the power. The 2.1 revision of the USB-C PD 3.1 spec (yes, it’s quite confusing) is capable of up to 240W of power, so perhaps power-hungry gaming laptops are the next devices to push that envelope.

Lawmakers Grill TikTok Executive About Ties to China

Lawmakers Grill TikTok Executive About Ties to China TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, faced questions about whether the company would ever hand over user data to Chinese officials.

The Nintendo DS was more than just a console – it’s part of my family history

As the games writer’s house move drags on, he seeks solace in old handheld consoles. But one held a surprise …

As a result of a house move that grew more complicated with every passing day, I have spent another couple of weeks in the barbaric situation of not having a gigantic TV to play games on. So I have continued to seek solace in storage boxes containing handheld consoles of the past – specifically, this time, an old Nintendo DSi and assorted cartridges.

This machine was mainly used by my kids more than a decade ago, when they were aged between six and 11, so the bag is full of loose games such as Nintendogs, Eco Creatures: Save the Forest, Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop and Catz – games that hold no interest for a man in his 50s, and whose spelling offends me.

Google loses appeal over illegal Android app bundling, EU reduces fine to €4.1 billion

The EU has upheld a 2018 antitrust charge against Google, confirming that the company imposed “unlawful restrictions” on Android phone manufacturers in order to promote its search engine on mobile devices.

Google has been attempting to appeal the charge, which was announced in 2018. It included a record-breaking €4.3 billion fine, which the EU’s General Court this morning reduced to €4.1 billion after announcing that it “largely confirms” the ruling. This confirmation is a serious blow for Google and strengthens the position of the EU’s antitrust advocates, who, led by Margrethe Vestager, have targeted the abuses of Big Tech.

The original 2018 charge against Google found that the company abused its market dominance by forcing Android phonemakers to restrict how they sold their devices. Manufacturers had to agree not to sell phones using variant versions of Android (“forks”) not approved by Google, and to pre-install Google’s Search and Chrome apps alongside the company’s app store, the Play Store. Google also paid phonemakers and mobile operators to exclusively install Google search on devices as part of a revenue-sharing scheme.

According to the Commission’s analysis, Google saw the rise of smartphone as an existential threat to its (then-desktop-based) search business. So, the tech giant strong-armed phone makers into making its search engine front-and-center on their devices.

Google’s legal response focused on a number of arguments, including that the Commission incorrectly judged the company to be dominant in the mobile market (because iOS exists), and that its actions were necessary to stop the Android ecosystem fragmenting into many incompatible operating systems. (To which the Commission replies: incompatible or not, fostering rival mobile OSes is exactly the desired outcome of a competitive market.)

The ruling by the General Court today upheld the vast majority of the Commission’s original charges. However, the Court did find that Google’s revenue-sharing schemes with manufacturers did not constitute an abuse of Google’s market power, and so reduced the fine accordingly by roughly five percent to €4.1 billion.

Today’s decision comes from the EU’s second-highest court, the General Court, meaning that Google can appeal this decision yet again with the bloc’s highest court, the Court of Justice. Google now has to wait two months and ten days before it can appeal once more.

In a statement from a spokesperson, Google said: “We are disappointed that the Court did not annul the decision in full. Android has created more choice for everyone, not less, and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world.”

Update Wednesday 14th September, 5:22AM ET: Added Google statement.

Text Messaging Is Cool. But Where Are Its Boundaries?

Text Messaging Is Cool. But Where Are Its Boundaries? Apple and Google have added useful features to texting apps, yet the apps still lack a major component: an effective way to set limits.

Logitech’s new webcam has a neat built-in privacy shutter

Logitech’s Brio 500 webcam. — *Logitech’s new Brio 500.* | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

Logitech’s Brio 500 is a new webcam with a compact design that features a neatly integrated physical privacy shutter and a “Show Mode” designed to broadcast what’s on your desk. It’s 1080p rather than 4K, the same as Logitech’s classic C920 webcam. It’s going on sale this month for $129 alongside a new Bluetooth headset called the Zone Vibe 100, which will retail for $99.99.

The Brio 500 has a cylindrical design, with its 4-megapixel camera flanked by a pair of beamforming microphones that are designed to reduce background noise during calls. The privacy shutter design is pretty slick and can be brought down by turning a dial on the right side of the webcam. Showing off your desk is achieved by “tilting the camera angle towards the desk,” according to Logitech.

Logitech’s Brio 500 webcam with its privacy shutter being closed.

Showing the tripod mount on Logitech Brio 500.

Showing the magnetic mount on the Brio 500.

The magnetic mount allows the webcam to be rotated 360 degrees.

In terms of image quality, the Brio 500 is a 1080p webcam, and you have to drop its resolution down to 720p if you want 60fps rather than 30fps. Although that’s the same on paper as the C920, Logitech spokesperson Wendy Spander tells me it features an upgraded sensor, which should hopefully make for better image quality. (I saw the webcam briefly in person, but not for long enough to make any final judgments on image quality.) Its field of view is 90 degrees, but the webcam can digitally crop in to 78 or 60 degrees for a tighter view. Logitech advertises that it’s able to automatically center the camera on the person speaking and adjust lighting if you’re in a dimly lit or backlit environment.

Finally, the Brio 500 has an interesting magnetized mounting mechanism for monitors. It’s formed of two parts. There’s the standard plastic mount that’s designed to clamp onto the top of your monitor like normal, and then the webcam itself is magnetically attached to this plastic mount. It’s a design that means you can rotate the webcam 360 degrees if you so choose. If you’re not into magnets, then you can unscrew the magnetic mount from the bottom of the webcam to reveal a standard tripod mount.

A person using the Zone Vibe 100 headset. — *The Logitech Zone Vibe 100 headset.*

Alongside the Brio 500, Logitech is also announcing a new headset today, the Zone Vibe 100. It’s a Bluetooth-only version of the previously released Zone Vibe 125 headset, which could also connect via a wireless USB-A receiver. The new Vibe 100 has up to 20 hours of battery life while listening to music, or 18 hours if you’re using it for calls. Its mic arm is flip-to-mute, and the headset is available in gray, off-white, and light pink (same as the Brio 500).

mardi 13 septembre 2022

Here are the first not-an-NFT “digital collectibles” for PlayStation Stars

Image of a digital statue of two cats, holding a birthday cake together. — Image: Sony

During its State of Play even on Tuesday, Sony gave us a look at some of the first “digital collectibles” that’ll be available as rewards for its PlayStation Stars loyalty program. The items — which Sony insists are not NFTs or based on the blockchain — are basically little virtual statues of devices like the PlayStation 3 and the PocketStation PDA / handheld gaming device, as well as characters from games like Ape Escape 2, and Sony mascots like Polygon Man.

When Sony announced the PlayStation Stars program earlier this summer, it said that members will be able to earn points alongside digital collectibles. It’s not entirely clear what the points will do yet, but the company has hinted that you may be able to buy some PlayStation Store products or even wallet funds that could be put toward a game purchase. To get points and collectibles, PlayStation Stars will have you participate in campaigns, which will involve things like participating in tournaments or even just playing a game once a month. Another campaign mentioned on the PlayStation site mentions earning one by being the first person to snag a particular platinum trophy in your time zone.

According to a blog post from Tuesday, one of the first campaigns will be called “Hit Play/1994,” which will involve launching “games that match song-based clues.” That’s pretty much all Sony’s said about the event at this point, noting that more details are coming later, and that participating will let you win digital collectibles.

Sony says the program will launch in “some regions in Asia” in late September before coming to the US and Europe in “the weeks that follow.” The program won’t be available on actual PlayStations at first — it’s rolling out via the PlayStation App for Android and iOS.

EA announces kernel-level anti-cheat system for PC games

EA has a new custom anti-cheat system for PC — *EA’s new anti-cheat arrives in* FIFA 23 *first.* | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Electronics Arts (EA) is launching a new kernel-level anti-cheat system for its PC games. The EA AntiCheat (EAAC) will debut first in FIFA 23 later this fall and is a custom anti-cheat system developed in-house by EA developers. It’s designed to protect EA games from tampering and cheaters, and EA says it won’t add anti-cheat to every game and treat its implementation on a case-by-case basis.

“PC cheat developers have increasingly moved into the kernel, so we need to have kernel-mode protections to ensure fair play and tackle PC cheat developers on an even playing field,” explains Elise Murphy, senior director of game security and anti-cheat at EA. “As tech-inclined video gamers ourselves, it is important to us to make sure that any kernel anti-cheat included in our games acts with a strong focus on the privacy and security of our gamers that use a PC.”

Kernel-level anti-cheat systems have drawn criticism from privacy and security advocates, as the drivers these systems use are complex and run at such a high level that if there are security issues, then developers have to be very quick to address them.

Manchester City players in FIFA 23 — *FIFA 23 will be the first game with EA’s new anti-cheat system.*

EA says kernel-level protection is “absolutely vital” for competitive games like FIFA 23, as existing cheats operate in the kernel space, so games running in regular user mode can’t detect that tampering or cheating is occurring. “Unfortunately, the last few years have seen a large increase in cheats and cheat techniques operating in kernel-mode, so the only reliable way to detect and block these is to have our anti-cheat operate there as well,” explains Murphy.

EA’s anti-cheat system will run at the kernel level and only runs when a game with EAAC protection is running. EA says its anti-cheat processes shut down once a game does and that the anti-cheat will be limited to what data it collects on a system. “EAAC does not gather any information about your browsing history, applications that are not connected to EA games, or anything that is not directly related to anti-cheat protection,” says Murphy.

Kernel-level anti-cheat systems are becoming increasingly common these days. Activision launched its own custom Ricochet anti-cheat system in Call of Duty last year with a kernel-level driver, and the world’s biggest PC games have been using similar techniques to fight a surge in hackers and cheaters in recent years.

lundi 12 septembre 2022

Apple will let you roll back the iPhone’s security patches

Illustration of a phone with yellow caution tape running over it. — *But doing so obviously leaves your phone unprotected.* | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple will let you remove the security patches installed by iOS 16’s Rapid Security Response system, which can install patches without the need to fully update your iPhone (or even without having to restart it, in some cases). According to a support document spotted by MacRumors, you can remove a Rapid Security Response update by going to Settings > General > About, then tapping on the iOS Version. From there, you’ll be presented with a “Remove Security Update” button.

The document doesn’t give any examples of why you’d need to uninstall one of the patches, leaving your phone open to the vulnerability it protects against. It’s easy to imagine a few special circumstances where the feature could be useful, perhaps if one messes up some special work-related software or management tools, for instance. Otherwise, it’s one of those features that most people should probably never use unless they have a very specific reason and fully understand what they’re doing — kind of like the new extreme Lockdown Mode, which is included to protect users from “highly sophisticated” targeted cyberattacks.

Rapid Security Response is turned on by default, although you can turn off the updates by going to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates and toggling “Security Responses and System Files.” If you do so, you’ll have to wait for full iOS updates to get the security patches. Again, I’d personally recommend against turning the feature off unless you have an explicit reason to, given how many of Apple’s recent updates have patched out pretty serious vulnerabilities.

The system is also coming to macOS in Ventura, which hasn’t been officially released yet — so far, Apple’s support documents for its desktop OS don’t mention whether you’ll be able to roll back those updates as well.

EA and Koei Tecmo are partnering on ‘the next great hunting game’

This is a piece of concept art from EA and Koei Tecmo’s new “hunting game.” In the middle of the image, a tall tree with pink leaves winds through a large building with Japanese-inspired architecture. On the sides of the image, there are other buildings and trees. — *Concept art from EA and Koei Tecmo’s new game.* | Image: EA

EA and Koei Tecmo are partnering on a new title that they’re describing as “the next great hunting game.” When I first read that description, my thoughts jumped to Big Buck Hunter, the arcade series of hunting games where you shoot wild animals, but looking at the concept art (above), combined with who’s making it, I’m guessing this game will actually be much more like Capcom’s popular Monster Hunter series.

In a press release, EA and Koei Tecmo describe this new game as an original IP that “delivers a truly AAA experience based in fantasy feudal Japan.” It will be developed by Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force, which is known for the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors “musou” action games. And a statement from an EA exec Jeff Gamon says Omega Force is “merging their proven talent for combat gameplay with unexpected and innovative mechanics.”

Those factors, taken with the “hunting game” description, suggest to me that the developers are probably working on something with Monster Hunter-style gameplay, where you team up with other players to take down gigantic monsters. Big Buck Hunter, on the other hand, is essentially glorified target practice. A spokesperson for EA didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification, so if this does turn out to be teasing a Japanese video game equivalent of Cabela’s, I’ll update the post to let you know.

Unfortunately, EA and Koei Tecmo didn’t share much more about the game, so we don’t know when the game will be released or what platforms it might be available on. However, Gamon says that the game will be introduced “later this month,” so we may not have to wait too much longer to learn more.

This new game will carry the EA Originals label, which it has previously used when publishing indie titles like It Takes Two and Knockout City.

The Nissan Leaf can now officially power homes using bidirectional charging

*Fermata Energy’s FE-15 bi-directional charger in a commercial use case.* | Image: Nissan

Nissan has approved the first bidirectional charging system for use with its all-electric Leaf vehicle in the US. The FE-15 charger by Fermata Energy, which can power homes using the EV’s battery, charge it, and send stored energy back to the grid, is the first system of its kind to earn UL 9741 certification for bidirectional charging solutions.

Back in 2012, Nissan promised its maybe soon-to-be-discontinued EV would eventually share its stored battery power back to your home or the grid during peak hours or even in emergencies. This technology is broadly known as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), Vehicle-to-Home (V2H), and Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which all can be used interchangeably to describe a system that converts EVs to a backup power station.

Other automakers also have bidirectional charging solutions as well, including Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power feature available for its all-electric F-150 Lightning truck. There’s also the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6 V2L feature that can make them great camping companions. Tesla, on the other hand, is bearish about the concept, pushing instead its dedicated PowerWall battery backup solution — the same one that it scales to the size of virtual power plants.

For Nissan and Fermata, the solution is straightforward. In a press release, Fermata Energy CEO David Slutzky said that the Leaf owners can “create additional value from the energy stored in the vehicle’s battery” and that the charger can help reduce the EV’s total cost of ownership by letting the building pull energy from it at peak times. Slutzky says it could also help reduce stress on the power grid, a problem that, while it doesn’t exist right now, could be an issue in the future unless utilities and grid operators make the right investments.

All model year 2013 and newer Nissan Leafs are approved for use with the FE-15 bidirectional charger, and the automaker states that battery warranties will not be affected. You’ll need to have a quick-charging CHAdeMO port on the Leaf to take advantage of bidirectional charging, which sometimes didn’t come standard. Notably, the 2013 model of the Leaf received a more robust but similar capacity 24kWh battery than the 2012 model, and although previous models did have an option for fast charging, Nissan might not want to be responsible for the batteries’ health rapidly depleting.

Those interested in the FE-15 charger can contact the company through their website. Fermata Energy isn’t the only product in Nissan’s sight, though — the automaker is also working with another company called Dcbel that is creating a home-specific bidirectional charging solution.

*Dcbel’s r16 bi-directional charger is specifically designed for homes.*

It’s amazing to see the CHAdeMO charging standard suddenly having a last hurrah. The port is slowly disappearing at various charging stations as CCS Combo has taken over. A new feature like this is great to see and a great story to add to the Leaf’s legacy.

Uber Agrees to Pay N.J. $100 Million in Dispute Over Drivers’ Employment Status

Uber Agrees to Pay N.J. $100 Million in Dispute Over Drivers’ Employment Status New Jersey demanded back taxes from the ride-hailing company, claiming it misclassified drivers as independent contractors.

The laser breakthrough that could make tech even faster

The laser breakthrough that could make tech even faster Lasers have become a major part of our day-to-day lives.

Intel says one of its 13th Gen CPUs will hit 6GHz out of the box

Graphical illustration with Intel branding — Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

At least one of Intel’s forthcoming 13th-generation CPUs will be able to run at 6GHz at stock, Tom’s Hardware reports. The detail was shared in a slide onstage at Intel’s Technology Tour 2022, which also says it’ll be capable of hitting 8GHz when overclocked. Other improvements promised for this new generation, which is named Raptor Lake, include a 15 percent improvement in single-threaded performance, and a 41 percent improvement in multi-threaded performance.

Intel’s 6GHz claim is a shot across the bow at competitor AMD, which recently said that its upcoming flagship 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X will be capable of boosting up to 5.7GHz. Although raw clock speeds aren’t the be all and end all when it comes to performance, breaking the 6GHz barrier would be an important marketing win for Intel, which has been battling with a resurgent AMD in the CPU market in recent years.

*A slide from Intel’s presentation teasing the upcoming 2022 CPUs.*

The Raptor Lake CPU lineup is yet to be officially announced, so it’s unclear which or how many of the generation’s processors will be able to hit these kinds of clock speeds. Given Intel’s 12900KS boosted up to 5.5GHz (up 300MHz from the maximum 5.2GHz speed on the regular i9-12900K), Intel’s 6GHz CPU may well be a KS-branded version of its upcoming 13900K chip. Official pricing and release date information has not yet been made public, but Intel is set reveal more details at its Innovation event in San Jose, California on September 27th. In what is unlikely to be a coincidence, that’s also the same day AMD is releasing its Ryzen 7000 processors.

Naiad: a game about wild swimming that’s to dive for

Spanish developer Elwin Gorman’s upcoming video game Naiad brings us all the serenity and joy of wild swimming without a Dryrobe in sight

As a child, Elwin Gorman would go on long, winding river walks in the picturesque region of Murcia in southern Spain. Gorman senior, an agent for the Spanish environmental ministry, was attuned to the wellbeing of the watery ecosystem, and keen to teach his son how to love the natural world. Naiad, a video game where florid new age aesthetics meet wild swimming, is the product of that love. It feels designed to soothe and restore us in these horribly choppy times.

Gorman’s fondness for nature is visible from the very first frame of the game, whose name refers to the water nymphs of Greek mythology. Across a three-hour journey, you navigate the gentle currents of a single river, solving environmental puzzles, meeting a cast of human and non-human characters, even singing to regenerate ailing flora. The water shimmers evocatively, drawing the eye just as it would in real life, and the colours have a gorgeous cartoonish pop. The visual style recalls Studio Ghibli’s most naturalistic animated films, particularly its 2008 oceanic classic, Ponyo.

Naiad is out 13 October, on PC and consoles. A demo is available on Steam.

Two Point Campus review – relive your student days in this university challenge

PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Two Point Studios/Sega
Build knight schools and wizard academies in this imaginative college life sim, an endearing follow-up to Two Point Hospital

In my long and unproductive career as an administrator of pretend video game businesses, I’ve overseen a prison, several hospitals, countless theme parks, and even a couple of dungeons. But running a university is completely new territory. Higher education may not be the most exciting theme for a management sim, but Two Point Campus revels in its student years with an array of fantastical courses and a wacky sense of humour that make it stand out from other games of institutional plate-spinning.

Starting out as the supervisor of a small science college, you’re given a seemingly hefty budget and tasked with constructing all the facilities a university needs. This includes laying out lecture theatres, hi-tech science labs, dormitories, staff rooms and toilets; filling these with appropriate (and often expensive) equipment; and hiring teachers, janitors and assistants to run libraries and student amenities.

dimanche 11 septembre 2022

‘Quest Pro’ pictures may show a sample of Meta’s next VR headset

Leaked image of the Oculus Quest Pro 2 box. — Image: Ramiro Cardenas via Facebook

Images of what appears to be the packaging for a “Meta Quest Pro” virtual reality (VR) headset surfaced online, posted by Facebook user Ramiro Cardenas, who claims it was left in a hotel room (Thanks, Peter! via Reddit). The device shown resembles the Project Cambria headset Meta has been publicly teasing since late last year and looks like the one spotted in leaked setup videos.

The images surfaced exactly one month ahead of Meta’s Connect event on October 11th, which lines up with the timeline CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed for when the company will reveal its next VR headset. We expect to find out all about Project Cambria / the “Quest Pro” and its other plans for the metaverse, AR, and VR.

Cardenas originally shared the images in the comment section of a post on the Oculus Quest 2 Facebook group and said multiple devices were left behind. It’s a remarkable story, but one not without (convenient) precedent, including the iPhone 4 prototype left in a bar in 2010 as the most famous occurrence, while more recently, the still-unreleased Pixel 7 was sold on eBay, and a Pixel Watch prototype was also, apparently, lost in a restaurant.

A sticker on the alleged Meta Quest Pro box indicates it’s an engineering sample. — *The sticker on the box indicates it could be an “engineering sample.”*

It’s hard to make out many details from the pictures alone, but the packaging has the “Meta Quest Pro” label stamped in the top-left corner and a graphic showing a black VR headset and controllers. Cardenas also provided a closeup of the label stuck to the box, which says “Not for resale - engineering sample,” and told The Verge that the person who stayed in the room has since claimed the headsets.

In July, Bloomberg reported developer Steve Moser found references to the “Oculus Pro” in Meta’s code, so it’s possible that this is the name Meta has settled on for the upcoming device. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Now you can stream Elden Ring’s soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube

Elden Ring developer FromSoftware is making the game’s music soundtrack available to stream online in case you want to relive Malenia’s boss fight more than you’ve already replayed it. As announced in a Playstation blog post, you can listen to the 67-track album on Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and more (you can view the whole list of services here).

I, for one, did not even realize that there were 67 different songs in Elden Ring but maybe that was because I’ve been too busy yelling to notice the difference. The post also features an interview with FromSoftware lead sound design and composer Tsukasa Saito, who explains what actually went into making some of the game’s music, which is arguably one of the more underappreciated aspects of the Elden Ring (even if the song lyrics are plain gibberish).

Saito reveals something interesting about the haunting voices you hear in the “Song of Honor,” the track that plays in Redmane Castle as you prepare for your fight against the tiny-horse-riding Radahn. Those voices apparently don’t belong to a group of trained singers; they actually belong to the brass section of the Budapest Film Orchestra (the talented group that performed the soundtrack).

The FromSoftware team made the last-minute decision to swap out professional singers for the orchestra’s tuba, trumpet, and trombone players to get a grittier sound, as they realized Castle Redmane probably isn’t the kind of place where people sit around all day training their vocals (unless, of course, it’s for a war cry). And if you’re interested in putting some faces (and instruments) to the music that rings throughout the Lands Between, there’s even a brief behind-the-scenes video that shows the Budapest Film Orchestra in action.

DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket website and app crash on opening weekend

Football fans are struggling to watch the first NFL Sunday Ticket game of the season due to issues with DirecTV’s website and app. While some users (including myself) report seeing an error page when trying to access the Sunday Ticket website, others say they can’t even sign in.

But that’s not all — users are reporting a range of other issues, too, with some getting locked out of the stream and receiving an error message that says they must be located in an NFL stadium in order to watch. To make matters even worse, those who subscribe to the NFL Plus subscription (which is separate from Sunday Ticket) say the app isn’t loading game scores.

I am not near an NFL stadium but Directv thinks I am so the Sunday Ticket app I paid for doesn’t work. ⁦@DIRECTV⁩ continues to provide terrible customer service. pic.twitter.com/Mzv1TUpJF0
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) September 11, 2022

Right now, it’s unclear what exactly’s causing the issues with the Sunday Ticket stream, which started several hours leading up to the game and are still ongoing.

“We’re aware some customers are unable to access NFL Sunday Ticket online or through the app,” DirecTV spokesperson Alisha Laventure said in a statement to The Verge. “Our teams are working to resolve this, but in the meantime, we recommend satellite customers watch on TV.”

As noted by several users, issues like these apparently aren’t uncommon when streaming the game with DirecTV, which has held the rights to Sunday Ticket since 1994. These rights expire at the end of this football season, and several companies, like Google and Apple, are reportedly looking into securing those rights (and can hopefully provide a more reliable stream)

Ikea’s Swedish House Mafia record player is actually going on sale next month

Ikea’s Obegränsad record player on a black background. — *Ikea’s Obegränsad record player.* | Image: Ikea

Ikea’s record player made in collaboration with music supergroup Swedish House Mafia is set to go on sale in October. The all-black device sports an unsurprisingly minimalistic look and will cost you $159.99 once it hits Ikea’s maze-like stores.

The record player is part of Ikea’s overarching Obegränsad (the Swedish word for “unlimited”) collection, which includes an equally-as-modern armchair, desk, LED work lamp, record stand, laptop stand, and shelving units, among other items. Ikea first announced the record player in June, marking the furniture maker’s second attempt at creating and selling a record player. The record player it was working on in 2018 never went on sale, but it looks like we have a much better shot of actually getting our hands on the device this time around.

*The sleek Obegränsad record player is powered by USB-C.*

Ikea hasn’t revealed too many technical details about the record player, other than that it’s powered by USB-C, is compatible with the Eneby Bluetooth speaker (albeit through a wired connection), and comes with a replaceable needle and cartridge. The retailer doesn’t specify an exact date for when the player goes on sale either, but we’ll update this article if we find out.

Matternet’s delivery drone design has been approved by the FAA

Matternet Launches First Fully Automated Drone Landing Pad — *Matternet’s Model M2 drone delivering for the Swiss Post.* | Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

Matternet has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its Model M2 drone delivery drone design. In a press release, Matternet explains that the Model M2 is the first non-military unmanned aircraft to achieve Type Certification by the FAA, which determines that an aircraft’s design meets regulatory standards.

The California-based Matternet has been testing its Model M2 drone over the past four years in the US as part of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program. Matternet says getting the green light from the FAA could help streamline the process of “implementing new networks and getting approvals.”

An image of Matternet’s M2 delivery drone on a white background — *Matternet’s Model M2 delivery drone.*

Matternet partnered with UPS in 2019 to deliver medical supplies in North Carolina, and later started delivering prescriptions in Florida. Matternet also expanded its footprint to Switzerland, where it teamed up with the Swiss Post to deliver lab samples and blood tests. The program was briefly suspended in 2019 after its drones suffered two crashes in the country, but Matternet has since announced that it’s taking over the Swiss Post’s drone delivery program starting in 2023.

In a statement, the FAA says Matternet’s Model M2 drone “meets all federal regulations for safe, reliable and controllable operations and provides a level of safety equivalent to existing airworthiness standards applicable to other categories of aircraft.” The four-rotor drone’s been approved to carry four-pound payloads and fly at an altitude of 400 feet or lower with a maximum speed of 45mph.

Matternet’s announcement comes as other tech (and retail) giants begin ramping up efforts to get their own drone delivery services off the ground. In May, Walmart said it’s going to expand its drone delivery network — which it launched last year in partnership with DroneUp — to Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia by the end of 2022. Amazon also announced plans to jumpstart its stalled drone delivery program in June, eventually bringing drone-powered deliveries to Lockeford, California and College Station, Texas. Wing, the drone company owned by Google parent Alphabet, recently launched tests in parts of Texas and started working on drones capable of carrying larger payloads.

Cloud labs and remote research aren’t the future of science – they’re here

At high-end labs in the US and UK, anybody, anywhere, can conduct experiments by remote control cheaply and efficiently. Is the rise of the robot researcher now inevitable?

It’s 1am on the west coast of America, but the Emerald Cloud Lab, just south of San Francisco, is still busy. Here, more than 100 items of high-end bioscience equipment whirr away on workbenches largely unmanned, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, performing experiments for researchers from around the world. I’m “visiting” via the camera on a chest-high telepresence robot, being driven round the 1,400 sq metre (15,000 sq ft) lab by Emerald’s CEO, Brian Frezza, who is also sitting at home. There are no actual scientists anywhere, just a few staff in blue coats quietly following instructions from screens on their trolleys, ensuring the instruments are loaded with reagents and samples.

Cloud labs mean anybody, anywhere can conduct experiments by remote control, using nothing more than their web browser. Experiments are programmed through a subscription-based online interface – software then coordinates robots and automated scientific instruments to perform the experiment and process the data. Friday night is Emerald’s busiest time of the week, as scientists schedule experiments to run while they relax with their families over the weekend.

samedi 10 septembre 2022

The iPhone 14 won’t have a SIM tray in the US

Side view of the iPhone 14, showing mmWave 5G cutout but no SIM slot — *Living in the moment. Not a SIM tray in sight.* | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

The new iPhone 14 lineup will ship without physical SIM trays — but only in the US. They’ll be able to use two eSIMs at once (and store more than that), but is the lack of a physical tray a big deal? And is it user-hostile and stupid?

First, a refresher on eSIMs: they’re SIM cards, but electronic, not physical. That means your phone can be provisioned remotely — no more going to a store to get a physical SIM. This makes it easier (in some ways) to switch networks or try one out — T-Mobile now uses eSIMs to let people test-drive its network for up to three months. As of iOS 16, you can even transfer your eSIM between iPhones via Bluetooth, which should make it almost as easy as a physical SIM — as long as you’re staying in the Apple ecosystem. Of course.

Most major US carriers, and many worldwide, have eSIM support, and iPhones have supported them since 2018, including the ability to use two SIMs at once. Up until the iPhone 13, that meant one eSIM and one physical SIM; the iPhone 13 family introduced the ability to use two eSIMs at the same time. Removing the physical SIM — and the hole in the case it requires — is the next logical step. At least for Apple, and at least in the US — the iPhone 14 still has a SIM tray everywhere else.

If you’re on a major US cell phone network — AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile — the lack of a physical SIM tray probably won’t impact you much. Even if you change carriers or change phones, you can download an eSIM directly from Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile without going to a store.

But if you are on a carrier that doesn’t have eSIM support or you’re planning to switch to one, well, you shouldn’t get the iPhone 14 right now. You might not have to wait too long; this could be the push smaller carriers need to get on board with eSIMs.

(Outside the US, the iPhone 14 lineup still includes nano-SIM slots.)

The iPhone 14 Pro, with no SIM slot on the right side. — *That’s no SIM slot; it’s a mmWave cutout*

At the launch event, Apple spokespeople told The Verge that the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro can store at least eight eSIMS, with up to two active at once. Global eSIM reseller Airalo says previous iPhones could hold five to 10, depending on the model. This could take some of the sting out of the loss of the physical SIM tray, though not all international carriers support eSIMs. (I haven’t used Airalo and can’t vouch for them, but being able to remotely provision a local eSIM when traveling abroad could remove the hassle of finding a local SIM.)

The ability to have more than one active SIM is great for frequent travelers, people who live in areas where any one network has spotty coverage, or folks who have separate work and personal numbers. I bought my iPhone 11 when I lived in the Netherlands, and it has both a Dutch eSIM and a physical Verizon SIM. That meant I could use a local SIM whether I was in Europe or the US without losing access to my other number or having to mess with my iMessage or WhatsApp settings.

Physical SIMs make it easy to bring your phone to a different carrier or bring your number to a new phone. They’re ubiquitous, work on all phones, and are easy enough to use (though also easy to lose; ask me how I know). Many of my co-workers are not psyched about losing the SIM slot. Moving an eSIM from an iPhone to an Android phone isn’t necessarily trivial.

I don’t think removing the SIM tray is necessarily user-hostile for most people; most people just do not switch carriers or phones every few weeks. But that depends on how easy providers make it to install and migrate eSIMs across platforms. We’ll see how this plays out.

Update Sept 7th, 4:45PM ET: Added information on eSIM support.

Correction Sept 8th, 12:06PM ET: The original text of this article misspelled the name of eSIM retailer Airalo. We regret the error.

Correction Sept 10th, 9:26PM ET: An earlier version of this article stated the iPhone 14 can store up to six eSIMs; both the 14 and 14 Pro models can store at least eight.

Instagram owner Meta fined €405m over handling of teens’ data

Penalty follows investigation into Instagram setting that allowed teenagers to set up accounts that displayed contact details

Instagram owner Meta has been fined €405m (£349m) by the Irish data watchdog for letting teenagers set up accounts that publicly displayed their phone numbers and email addresses.

The Data Protection Commission confirmed the penalty after a two-year investigation into potential breaches of the European Union’s general data protection regulation (GDPR).

Let me watch TV on the Apple Watch Ultra

Would you watch a Yankees game this way? — *A screenshot of a Yankees game in my camera roll. But here’s what the TV experience could look like.* | Image: Andrew Marino

Apple introduced the rugged Apple Watch Ultra this week — with a bigger, brighter 49mm screen, an additional hardware button, a bigger battery, and better speakers — made for more extreme outdoor conditions. But I believe the $800 smartwatch can be used another way: to watch TV.

Wait, wait, wait, hear me out; it’s not a new idea. In 1982, Japanese watchmaker Seiko debuted a wristwatch that could receive UHF and VHF channels, albeit the actual receiver was in a huge belt pack you had to connect to the LCD screen on your wrist. The idea never really caught on (besides in the James Bond film Octopussy), but it introduced an exciting and futuristic television experience we still haven’t nailed yet.

When the original Apple Watch hit the market in 2015, references were made to the Seiko TV Watch. It was, after all, a futuristic Bond-esque wrist computer. But seven years later, barely any functionality around watching video has been added to the device. The two ways I have found to watch any sort of video is for someone to send me a clip via iMessage and then view it from my Apple Watch or to download a third-party app called WatchTube, which is a little buggy and lacks a lot of video playing features. Neither of these methods is very close to the experience of television. With the Apple Watch Ultra’s screen, speaker, and battery life upgrades, video support is now a more justifiable request.

I’m not sure viewing prestige TV like House of the Dragon or movies like Top Gun: Maverick would be a great experience on a watch, but what if we could watch something like… a baseball game straight from our wrists? An ambient yet active television pastime. It’s the future that the Seiko TV Watch promised: to have the most portable hands-free television live at a moment’s notice. I would absolutely love to go on a walk in my neighborhood with the Yankees game attached to my arm without having to constantly unlock my phone or take it out of my pocket to view what just happened. I just heard Aaron Judge hit a fly ball into left field; how fast can I check the screen to see if someone catches it?

Here is a render I made of a possible TV watching scenario. — *Imagine using the digital crown to scroll down the TV channel guide.*

I think one scenario is enough to warrant a software feature most times, but I will share a few more. What if you’re kneading dough for your outdoor pizza oven and you want to watch the gubernatorial debate? Perhaps you are shoveling asphalt during the Indy 500. You are running track in the morning and love The Drew Barrymore Show. The elevator is stuck and you need to call maintenance, but it’s late in the fourth quarter and the Giants are driving down by four. Scuba diving during the Olympics opening ceremony? Who needs picture-in-picture mode when you can watch The Tonight Show on your phone and The Late Show on your watch simultaneously? Oh my god, what if you get one of those little Apple Watch stands that looks like an old Macintosh and watch the US Open on your desk while you work? I would like to keep Emily in Paris playing on my portable TV while I am throwing a frisbee on the beach. Forget about the classic sitcom predicament about the father who has to go to church during the Big Game. Who’s to say, but perhaps having Quibi available to watch on your wrist would have saved the streaming service.

*The Apple Watch Ultra kind of looks like a little TV.*

The customizable action button on the Apple Watch Ultra would be great for changing channels on a linear TV app like Pluto TV or YouTube TV or rewinding a video back 30 seconds to replay a clip from Apple TV Plus’ Friday Night Baseball coverage. A hardware button makes play, pause, fast-forward, and closed captioning a little easier with a tiny screen. The brighter screen would make it easier to watch in bright outdoor environments, like tailgating at a concert. The upgraded speakers enable you to watch without your AirPods for family viewing.

Though the technology is here, the Apple Watch Ultra still won’t let you do this. Is it because it would diminish the already short battery life of the device for a feature only a few people would actually use? Is it because Apple wants you to think of the watch as a health device and not a television? Probably. But the dream is still alive. There’s a reason why someone made a third-party YouTube app for the watch, and I’ve seen a few weird tiny-screen gadgets people have been strapping to their wrists. As batteries are lasting longer and processors are getting faster, we’ve hit the point where TV can be watched anywhere. So it’s time to be able to watch TV on my watch.

vendredi 16 septembre 2022

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dimanche 11 septembre 2022

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