Technology

samedi 16 septembre 2023

Everything you need to know about switching to USB-C

iphone 15 pro usb c port — Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

Are you an iPhone user looking to upgrade to... the iPhone? Well, you’ll have more to consider this time around since the new iPhone 15 comes with a USB-C port, ending an 11-year run for the company’s proprietary Lightning charging plug.

USB Type-C (or just USB-C) is the universal charging and data-transferring connector, and it’s now on pretty much every modern gadget, including Apple’s iPads and MacBooks. It might just be the last cable we’ll ever need.

Do I need to buy new chargers?

Apple has made us buy new cables before, but this time, you probably already have the things you need to charge your new iPhone. Apple stopped including charging bricks with the iPhone 12 in 2020, but the 15 and 15 Pro do at least come with a short C-to-C cable in the box.

To get the fastest charging speeds on an iPhone 15, you’ll want at least a 20W USB-C charger. If you’ve bought a MacBook since 2015 or an iPad Pro since 2018, their bundled USB-C chargers work splendidly, though they’re bulkier than you really need. You can pick up a tiny 20W GaN charger for under $15. Lots of Verge staffers like this Anker one.

Just about any USB charger will work in a pinch. If the charger has a USB-A port, you’ll need a USB-A-to-C cable to connect to your phone and probably a magnifying glass to try to read its power output settings. USB-A chargers can top out at about 18W, which is close enough, but those are relatively rare. Chargers for lower-powered devices like headphones or older phone chargers — like the little white cubes Apple used to bundle with the iPhone 11 and below — are more likely to be 5W or 10W at best, and they’ll take a long time to charge your phone. Spend the $15 on a good USB-C charger.

As an iPhone user, you may already have multiple charging setups with Lightning cables in each room. In that case, it’s just a matter of replacing the cables. If you don’t already have a bunch of USB-C cables lying around — or you do, but you don’t know what kind of USB-C cables they are — it’s time to get some. But before you jump on Amazon and toss the first discount cable that’s winning on the site’s search results into your cart, you should know that USB-C cables aren’t something you necessarily want to buy cheap.

*I have found this Apple 5W USB charger in drawer A and a Samsung Galaxy pack-in USB-A-to-USB-C cable in drawer B.*

As an iPhone user, you might already have Lightning cables set up in each room and would need just to replace the cable while keeping the power adapter where it is. But if you only have the wall warts and somehow have no USB-C cables to use with them (except for the one that will come in the iPhone 15 box), then it's time to go shopping.

But before you jump on Amazon and toss the first discount cable that’s winning on the site’s search results into your cart, you should know that USB-C cables aren’t something you necessarily want to buy too cheap.

Okay, what kind of USB-C cables should I buy?

USB-C is a mess. Some cables can fast-charge a MacBook Pro but transfer data at a glacial pace. Others can do fast data transfer but are too short and inflexible to really use for daily charging. Despite some efforts at labeling, it’s nearly impossible to tell at a glance which cables do what.

Anyone can slap a USB-C plug on a cable and sell it online. From time to time, this causes problems. It’s rare nowadays to find a cable that will fry your device, but there’s no reason not to look for USB-IF compliance. The USB Implementers Forum (or USB-IF) invites USB-C cable manufacturers to put their power noodles through compliance testing. Those who do the testing earn themselves a cool logo for their packaging that also lets customers know what kind of charging power and data transfer speeds to expect. When shopping for a cable, try and see if the manufacturer uses a logo or at least states that the cable is certified by USB-IF (and if true, their cable should show up on the USB product search site).

As far as the specific types of cables to look for, here’s the incredibly short version: for charging, you should get a USB-C-to-C cable, USB 2.0, six or 10 feet long, ideally USB-IF-certified. There’s no real reason to get something rated for more than 60W charging, but there’s not much price difference between cables rated for 60W, 100W, or 240W, and a higher-rated cable will work just fine for a phone. Don’t bother with data transfer speed for this cable; you’re not transferring data with it.

Yes, the cable that comes in the box is just fine for charging. It’s just short. A six- or 10-foot cable is much nicer to charge with. A 6.6-foot USB-IF 100W charging cable is under $15.

If you’re planning on copying data from your new iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, specifically to get your video footage onto a computer quicker than AirDrop, you’ll need a cable that can transfer data at high speed. The iPhone 15 Pro models support USB 3 at up to 10Gbps, so you’ll need a cable that’s rated for at least 10Gbps. In the newest, simplified USB-IF branding, that’s USB 10Gbps. Older cables might say USB 3.1 Gen 2 or USB 3.2 Gen 1x2 or USB 3.2 Gen 2. A three-foot USB-IF-certified 10Gbps and 100W cable is also under $15.

Unless you’re an ultra-minimalist or you’re buying a cable for your travel kit, get separate cables for your daily charging and data transfer, preferably in different colors.

Speaking of travel: you might be tempted to look for a power-only charging cable, but that’s outside the USB-C spec; any power-only cable is improperly wired by definition and not worth the risk. Better to carry your own charger and never plug your phone into someone else’s USB port.

What about those MagSafe chargers?

You could totally sidestep USB-C and just charge your iPhone 15 wirelessly instead.

Apple kicked off a whole new accessory ecosystem with MagSafe when it launched the iPhone 12. It uses magnets to align a Qi-based charging coil on the back, which opens up fun new charging options like floating iPhone docks. Apple even added a cool StandBy software feature in iOS 17 that turns the iPhone’s screen into a fancy clock with widgets when placed on a MagSafe dock.

*There’s a whole lot of MagSafe charging options out there.*

If you buy Apple’s MagSafe charging puck, you’ll still need to have a USB-C power adapter capable of at least 20W of charging to make it work. Certified MagSafe options will, at best, charge iPhones at 15W. And non-Apple-blessed “MagSafe-compatible” options will only provide 7.5W of power to iPhones. However, Apple announced iPhone 15 will support the magnet-based Qi2 charging standard, which means it’ll likely open the phone up to faster and cheaper options that probably won’t destroy your iPhone like a bad USB-C cable could.

Sounds nice. Should I MagSafe all the things?

Wireless charging has its conveniences, but USB-C is still better most of the time.

MagSafe chargers that are placed neatly in thoughtful places in your home, like on your work desk or side table, are a great supplement to charging and using your iPhone — especially when hands-free. However, wired charging with USB-C is faster and is less likely to heat up your iPhone compared to the inefficiencies of wireless charging in general.

What else should I know?

It’s prime time for a mass of Lightning to USB-C dongles to flood the market, but don’t buy them. Those adapters are less convenient for plugging in, and non-MFi-certified ones could damage your iPhone 15 or the Lightning cable you’re using. Just buy a USB-C cable — unless you have a special Lightning accessory, like a microphone or other adapter, you can’t live without, in which case you can buy Apple’s kinda pricey $29 Lightning to USB-C dongle.

That said, if your special Lightning accessories aren’t mission-critical to you, USB-C has been around for a decade, which means that a whole world of dongles, adapters, hubs, and docks just opened up in front of you, including stuff you may already have if you’ve been living the dongle life for a while.

Apple sells its own USB-C cables, too, but you’re going to pay a high price of $69 for the data-capable one. That’s because it's designed to operate USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 equipment, docks, multiple 4K displays, high-speed data transfers, and more simultaneously while also delivering 100W of charging. It’s overkill for the iPhone 15 and isn’t very flexible, so you should skip it. But if you do want the extra abilities Apple’s option offers, there are cheaper options like this Cable Matters one.

For Apple CarPlay users: unless your vehicle already supports wireless CarPlay, you’re going to need a USB-C cable, either USB-C-to-C or A-to-C, depending on the age of your car. Otherwise, MagSafe mounts could make operating your iPhone in your car cleaner and safer.

Changing to the universal standard is good, right?

USB-C can feel a bit more fragile than Lightning since the plug has more complexity (and has space to get lint stuck in both the port and the plug). However, the new connector is a huge upgrade otherwise. Lightning can’t transfer data at high speeds and, most importantly, doesn’t work with other devices.

With Lightning on its way out, there could be a sudden influx of e-waste as Apple users swap out their devices for the new iPhone 15. It was one of Apple’s biggest arguments while hesitating on the European Union’s mandate that all smartphones must switch to USB-C.

If you don’t need your Lighting cable anymore, look to see if you can either sell or donate them to someone who could. Otherwise, Apple, Best Buy, and others will take them for free recycling.

Switching to USB-C won’t be a walk in the park, and you’re going to encounter choice fatigue when it comes to selecting new cables, power adapters, and accessories. But the most important thing to remember is that USB-C is here to stay. And as long as Apple is on board with universal standards, you may never have to do this again.

Lightning was great, actually

Two Lightning connectors. — Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The world is rightfully celebrating the iPhone’s switch from Lightning to USB-C this week. People love to hate on Lightning — and they have good reasons to. Many of the world’s most popular devices now use USB-C ports, including Apple’s own iPads, meaning iPhone owners have been stuck toting around an extra cable just for their phone and its accessories.

But if you’ve been living in the Lightning world for the past decade like I have, things have been great anyway. I’m not ashamed to say it: I’m sad that Lightning is finally going away.

The Lightning Life, at least if you have an iPhone, has been convenient. Using a Lightning cable hardly requires any thought — its biggest revelation, at first, was that it could charge your phone no matter which way you plugged it in, a huge improvement over Apple’s old 30-pin connector. Plugging it into my iPhone when I’m sleepy before bed never feels like a hassle.

The connector’s small size has kept everything Lightning-related small and portable, too. Back in 2012, when Apple debuted the Lightning port on the iPhone 5, this compact size was a huge part of what made the announcement so exciting. Lightning was 80 percent smaller than the comparatively huge 30-pin connector the iPhone had used before. That meant that Apple’s products — and the cables themselves — could look that much nicer. I can’t prove this, but I have to imagine that the iPhone 5’s sleek look was due in part to the switch to the smaller Lightning connector, and those tiny changes add up to saved space in a bag or pocket.

Not only are the cords themselves easy to travel with but the Lightning standard also created a generation of reliable and portable travel accessories. It powers one of my favorite Apple devices ever: the MagSafe Duo. In spite of Dieter Bohn’s middling impressions, I picked one up on sale and, frankly, I adore it. It’s a low-profile way for me to charge my iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods whenever I’m at my desk. When I travel, I can just fold up the MagSafe Duo and slip it into a small pocket in my backpack so that I can easily charge my devices at my final destination.

And even at home, the Lightning Life has been reliable. I never worry that Apple’s Lightning cables will randomly stop charging my devices (though I’ve been lucky to avoid some of the durability issues Lightning cables are sometimes known for). Apple’s solid magnets and the MagSafe Duo mean that my iPhone and Apple Watch almost always start charging as soon as I drop them on their charging spots — there’s no fussing around to make sure they’re aligned correctly.

Picture of Magsafe Duo charger with phone and Apple watch on it. — *The MagSafe Duo — powered by Lightning.*

With Lightning, I’ve built up an extremely trustworthy system for charging many of my Apple devices that I’m very happy with. Yes, Apple designed it that way thanks to its MFi program that gives Apple a cut of every MFi-certified charger or cable sold. And yes, because device makers have to go through Apple for MFi certification, that probably meant that some interesting charging accessories didn’t get made. But the MFi system meant that accessories worked and lacked the confusion of USB-C. Saying goodbye to Lightning doesn’t just mean losing a port and a connector; it means saying goodbye to a great collection of cables and products that I’ve come to depend on as part of my daily life and travel routines.

With all that said: I do understand where the Lightning haters are coming from. These days, basically every other device I own charges over USB-C. The iPhone has been the lone holdout, meaning that I have to toss both a USB-C power brick and my iPhone charging gear (including the MagSafe Duo!) in my bag before heading out the door.

USB-C offers the tantalizing promise of an extremely dependable system for charging all of my gadgets. And it will be a worthwhile switch once I have to make it — I’m in no rush to upgrade from my beloved iPhone 12 Mini — though there will be some friction. I’m already grumbling over the fact that Apple unceremoniously dumped the MagSafe Duo instead of releasing one with a USB-C port (though there are USB-C-based alternatives I can consider).

But those are minor quibbles. USB-C ports on the iPhone 15 lineup are obviously the better choice in 2023. USB-C does everything Lightning can do, and it often does those things better. Whatever my gripes about buying new charging gear, the transition won’t be nearly as painful as the switch from the 30-pin connector to Lightning; I already have a bunch of USB-C charging cables and bricks that I can use with a USB-C-equipped iPhone.

Still, I’ll look back on my 11 years (and counting) of Lightning Life fondly. They have been years of easy charging and lighter backpacks.

When Apple executive Phil Schiller introduced Lightning in 2012, he called it a “modern connector for the next decade.” He was more than right.

Battle Over Electric Vehicles Is Central to Auto Strike

Battle Over Electric Vehicles Is Central to Auto Strike Carmakers are anxious to keep costs down as they ramp up electric vehicle manufacturing, while striking workers want to preserve jobs as the industry shifts to batteries.

vendredi 15 septembre 2023

Meta’s next smart glasses may have just shown up in FCC filings

Meta’s next pair of smart glasses made in partnership with Ray-Ban owner Luxottica might be released sometime soon. As spotted by Lowpass’ Janko Roettgers, a listing for a pair of smart glasses by Luxottica Group has surfaced in the FCC’s database. Given that the original Ray-Ban Stories are listed under Luxottica and recent reports on a second-generation pair of the smart glasses, I’m inclined to believe that these filings are for the new specs.

The original Ray-Ban Stories let you capture photos and videos using the cameras next to the lenses and look through what you capture on a companion app. They also have microphones and speakers to capture and play audio. They haven’t been a hit; The Wall Street Journal reported in August that less than 10 percent of the people that bought the smart glasses use them on a monthly basis.

Despite the low usage, it seems Meta is soldiering forward with generation two. The new smart glasses will let you live stream video to Facebook and Instagram and even hear comments from the people watching your stream, Roettgers said in August: “Live streamers will be able to directly communicate with their audience, with the glasses relaying comments via audio over the built-in headphones.” The Wall Street Journal reported that the new smart glasses will have “improved battery life and better cameras” and are scheduled to be released in the fall or spring 2024.

Meta didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The company is hosting its Connect conference on September 27th and 28th, so perhaps we’ll hear more about these new smart glasses at the show. At that event, we already know that Meta plans to share more about the Meta Quest 3, which is scheduled to come out this fall. That device recently crossed the FCC, too, so I’m guessing Meta is going to meet that deadline.

X will now tell you if someone deletes a post you annotated with a Community Note

Illustration: The Verge

If you add a Community Post to a post on X (formerly Twitter), X will tell you if the person who wrote the post deletes it, the company said on Friday.

“Contributors consistently say their goal is to keep others well-informed,” X wrote on the Community Notes account. “This can happen when a helpful note appears on a post, and also when an erroneous post gets deleted. Starting today, writers will be notified when a post on which they wrote a note gets deleted.”

Contributors consistently say their goal is to keep others well-informed. This can happen when a helpful note appears on a post, and also when an erroneous post gets deleted. Starting today, writers will be notified when a post on which they wrote a note gets deleted. pic.twitter.com/EOyO0RR2YA
— Community Notes (@CommunityNotes) September 15, 2023

The idea here seems to be to give people with the ability to add Community Notes another tool to keep other users accountable. On one hand, I think this could be really useful; writing about deleted posts is a key aspect of my job. But on the other, given the generally-bad vibes on X, I worry this tool may be abused to shame people who delete their posts over minor errors or factual inaccuracies.

This new Community Notes feature is the second that X has added this week. On Tuesday, X announced that people rating a note will see more note proposals so they can “consider other notes before submitting their rating.” X owner Elon Musk is a big advocate for Community Notes, and the feature has gotten some notable updates, including expansions to images and videos, since he took over the company.

The newest Steam Deck preview tests VRR, HDR, and improvements for Starfield

The Valve Steam Deck gaming handheld sits on a reflective table, with an orange background. — Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Valve’s next major SteamOS update brings some significant new display settings as well as some new performance improvements to Steam Deck. You can read all about the SteamOS 3.5 update in a blog post on the Steam website.

Two major new features are support for variable refresh rates (VRR) and HDR if you’re using your Steam Deck with an external display that supports them. Valve says that HDR can be enabled if you have a compatible display while VRR can be enabled if you have a compatible USB-C adapter.

The company has also changed the Steam Deck’s default color rendering to “emulate the sRGB color gamut,” which Valve says will result in “a slightly warmer and more vibrant color appearance.” If you don’t like the change, or want to try one of your own, Valve has also added settings that let you tweak the display’s color vibrancy and color temperature.

Hello! We've just shipped SteamOS 3.5 to the Preview channel of Steam Deck. This update has a ton of changes, including improvements to the default color rendering on Steam Deck, new display color settings, automounted external drives, and a slew of other improvements and fixes.… pic.twitter.com/e6EoAMiphy
— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) September 15, 2023

There are some welcome changes that aren’t related to display settings, too. The update includes “updated graphics drivers, with many performance and functionality improvements.” Valve says the update brings “improved performance for Starfield;” Bethesda’s excellent space RPG isn’t verified for Steam Deck, but that hasn’t stopped people from playing the game on the handheld gaming PC anyway.

Valve also promises that the new update adds “slightly improved sleep resume speed.” Every second helps!

And for Linux desktop mode users of the Steam Deck, the underlying Arch Linux has been updated, complete with a new version of the Plasma desktop interface with an updated Discover app store, widgets, and a new window tiling system.

The BIOS also has “voltage offset settings” now, which we take to mean you can more easily undervolt or overclock the Steam Deck but we’ll have to check to be sure.

If you want to try the SteamOS 3.5 preview, go to Settings > System > System Update Channel > Preview. If the preview is too unstable for you, you can always switch back to the Stable channel.

Update, 7:51PM ET: Added mention of a few more features, and clarified that VRR and HDR are for external monitors, not the Steam Deck’s own 40-60Hz fixed-refresh rate screen.

The iPhone 15 Pro’s 5G modem reportedly boosts speeds by up to 24 percent

A photo of the iPhone 15 Pro — Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

The iPhone 15 Pro could come with better 5G connectivity. That’s according to data from SpeedSmart (via 9to5Mac), which indicates that the iPhone 15 Pro will offer up to 24 percent faster download 5G speeds when compared to its iPhone 14 Pro predecessor.

As shown by the data from SpeedSmart, the biggest jump occurred on Verizon’s network, which showed an average download speed of 195.83Mbps on the iPhone 14 Pro, as opposed to 243.06Mbps on the iPhone 15 Pro. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro on T-Mobile had the fastest average 5G download speeds at 300.92Mbps, as opposed to 204.34Mbps on AT&T.

*T-Mobile showed the fastest 5G speeds with an iPhone 15 Pro.*

Despite this sizeable change, upload speeds only went up a smidge across all three major carriers. The reason for the improvement likely has to do with an upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max’s modem.

While Apple hasn’t mentioned which kind of modem the devices come with, SpeedSmart says the Pro models feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 modem, which the company advertises as offering “unmatched data speeds, coverage, and latency.” The modem also comes with an integrated AI processor that’s supposed to improve its connection across 5G frequencies, including short-wave mmWave signals. The Snapdragon X70 modem comes in Samsung’s Galaxy S23 lineup as well.

Although there are rumors that Apple is working on its own in-house 5G modems, the company recently extended its modem supply agreement until 2026, so we may have to wait a few more generations to see what Apple has in store. Preorders for the iPhone 15 are live now, with availability starting September 22nd.

TikTok fined $367 million for how it handled children’s data

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Today, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced a €345 million (around $367 million) fine on TikTok for how the company processes the data of children. The fine follows an investigation by the DPC announced in 2021 that looked at TikTok’s compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws. Politico reported in August that the DPC was preparing to issue its penalty.

The probe focused on a few TikTok features: default account settings; “Family Pairing” settings; and age verification. After consulting with the European Data Protection Board, the DPC found that TikTok set children’s accounts to public by default when they signed up on the platform. That meant that kids’ videos were publicly viewable by default and that comments, duets, and Stitch features were also enabled by default.

Family Pairing, a feature introduced by TikTok in 2020, allows children’s accounts to be linked with a separate adult account, in theory to manage app settings like limiting screen time and restricting direct messages and content that may not be appropriate. The DPC found that children’s TikTok accounts could be linked to profiles that the company hadn’t verified belonged to a parent or guardian. Once linked, the child’s profile settings could be loosened by the adult user to allow DMs.

One sticking point is whether TikTok did enough to keep kids below its 13-year minimum age off the platform through age verification. Though the decision found TikTok’s age verification methods weren’t in violation of GDPR laws, it determined the company hadn’t sufficiently protected the privacy of children under 13 who were able to sign up for an account.

In 2021, TikTok tightened privacy settings on accounts belonging to users aged 13 to 15, making them more private by default. TikTok will have three months to bring its practices into compliance.

Other social media platforms have been fined by the DPC for similar infractions related to young users. Meta was fined more than $400 million in 2022 because it allowed teen Instagram users to sign up for business profiles, making their contact information public, among other things.

Apple to issue iPhone 12 software update in France to address radiation concerns

The iPhone 12, in blue. — Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple says it will release a software update for iPhone 12 owners in France, after regulators ordered a halt of sales of the phone over concerns the device was breaching strict radiation exposure limits.

“We will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators,” says Apple in a statement to Reuters. “We look forward to iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France.”

French regulators ordered a ban of iPhone 12 models earlier this week after testing the handset and finding that its Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) — how much radio frequency is absorbed into a body from a device — exceeded European radiation exposure limits. Belgium said it would review the French findings, with Germany, Italy, and more countries saying they’d be monitoring the situation.

The iPhone 12 first went on sale in late 2020, but France’s ANFR regulator has been carrying out tests on more than 140 phones recently to ensure radiation standards are being adhered to.

Apple has dismissed the claims and says “this is related to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern” with the iPhone 12 itself. “The ANFR is preparing to quickly test this update,” says Jean Noel Barrot, France’s digital affairs minister, in a statement to Reuters.

The concerns over iPhone 12 radiation levels and a French sales ban emerged on the same day that Apple announced its new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro handsets that are due to launch on September 22nd.

Today I learned this weird Windows keyboard shortcut that opens LinkedIn

A user types on the Surface Pro 8 from behind. The screen displays the Windows 11 Start menu on a white and blue background. — Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Windows never ceases to amaze me. Last month I discovered for the first time that you could pause the Windows Task Manager by holding down the CTRL key and today I’ve stumbled on a special keyboard shortcut that lets you launch LinkedIn, Word, and a bunch of other Office apps.

If you’re running Windows try holding down CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + L. Then watch in bemusement as LinkedIn opens in your default browser. Windows watcher Paul Thurrott posted this bizarre keyboard shortcut on X (Twitter), noting that it’s an operating system hotkey.

So why does Windows even have this? It’s all part of the Office key that Microsoft introduced on some of its own keyboards a few years ago. The Office key replaced the usual right-hand Windows key, offering up the ability to hold the key in combination with another one to quickly open Office apps. Here’s the full list:

LinkedIn - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + L
Word - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + W
Excel - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + X
PowerPoint - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + P
Outlook - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + O
Microsoft Teams - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + T
OneDrive - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + D
OneNote - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + N
Yammer - CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + Y

*The Office key on Microsoft’s keyboards.*

If you don’t have these Office apps installed then the shortcuts will open Office.com in your browser instead. It seems like a complicated shortcut, but all the keys are grouped together in the corner of your keyboard so in reality it feels like you’re button mashing in a game to pull off these Office shortcuts.

While Thurrott says this is an operating system hotkey that “cannot be turned off,” there is actually a method to disable these Office key shortcuts in the Windows registry. If like me you had no idea these keyboard shortcuts existed for people with an Office key then they’re probably not worth disabling, but if you love digging around in the registry Microsoft posted the method right here.

I’m sure I’ll discover some other hidden part of Windows in the coming weeks or months, so stay tuned for the next installment of Today I learned... this weird Windows thing.

jeudi 14 septembre 2023

Google won’t repair cracked Pixel Watch screens

A photo of a small thin crack on the right side of Google’s Pixel Watch display glass. — Google currently offers no repairs for broken Pixel Watches. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

If you crack the screen on the Pixel Watch, getting it officially repaired by Google isn’t in the cards.

Several Pixel Watch owners have vented their frustrations about the inability to replace cracked screens, both on Reddit and in Google support forums. The Verge has also reviewed an official Google support chat from a reader who broke their Pixel Watch display after dropping the wearable. In it, a support representative states that Google “doesn’t have any repair centers or service centers” for the device.

“At this moment, we don’t have any repair option for the Google Pixel Watch. If your watch is damaged, you can contact the Google Pixel Watch Customer Support Team to check your replacement options,” Google spokesperson Bridget Starkey confirmed to The Verge.

Starkey also pointed me to Google’s hardware warranty policy, which states:

This Limited Warranty does not apply to damage caused by: (1) normal wear and tear; (2) accidents; (3) misuse (including failure to follow product documentation); (4) neglect; (5) disassembly; (6) alterations; (7) servicing other than by Google-authorized technicians; and (8) external causes such as, but not limited to: liquid damage, exposure to sharp objects, exposure to excessive force, anomalies in the electrical current supplied to the Google product, and extreme thermal or environmental conditions.

That warranty leaves owners on their own to deal with damage caused by drops or accidental strikes, and according to Google’s Store, there is no option for an extended warranty to go with a Pixel Watch. If your Pixel Watch is accidentally damaged, that’s it.

This is despite the fact that a repair would technically be possible. iFixit notes in its Pixel Watch teardown that while the screen isn’t easily accessible, the watch itself holds promise for future repairability. The site also has a detailed how-to for replacing a cracked, broken, or dead screen. However, it’s unclear where the average person would source a replacement part, especially as Google does not offer repair options for the device. One commenter on the iFixit guide suggests buying an intact Pixel Watch off eBay, but that only seems mildly cheaper (and perhaps more wasteful) than buying a used or new Pixel Watch replacement.

This is troubling, considering the Pixel Watch features a circular domed glass display. While it’s an attractive design, it can be easily cracked if you’re not careful. During our review period last year, my colleague Chris Welch cracked his within a few days — even though he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary or banged the device against hard surfaces. I have not experienced a crack despite dropping mine multiple times, but our differing experiences are more likely due to luck than anything else.

Google is not the only one guilty of making smartwatch repairs difficult. Repairing an Apple Watch has historically been an expensive and difficult endeavor. For example, without AppleCare Plus, Apple cites a flat $299 estimate for a Series 8 and $499 for an Apple Watch Ultra. With AppleCare Plus, that price drops to $69 for the Series 8 and $79 for the Ultra, not including the cost of AppleCare itself. That said, at least you can send in an Apple Watch for repair, even if buying a new one might be more cost-effective in the long run.

This isn’t great, considering that Google is expected to launch a new Pixel Watch 2 in October with what appears to be a nearly identical design. The good news is that Google may not have much choice about this practice going forward. Earlier this week, California passed a right-to-repair bill that requires companies to make replacement parts for electronics available for three years if they cost $50 and up, and seven years for devices costing $100 or more.

In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you can’t use your old Remake save

A screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. — Image: Square Enix

If you’ve poured dozens of hours into Final Fantasy VII Remake, that unfortunately won’t give you much of a leg up in the game’s sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. As part of an interview about the new game posted on the PlayStation Blog, game director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed that you won’t be able to port over your Remake save or character builds into Rebirth.

Here’s the full question and answer:

Given this is a direct continuation Final Fantasy VII Remake, can players port over their save file and their character builds to continue their journey into Final Fantasy VII VII Rebirth?

Hamaguchi: We have announced that the Final Fantasy VII remake project will be a trilogy and that each entry will be a standalone game in its own right. Because of this, each game’s balancing is done independently and a player’s levels and abilities will not carry over from one game to the next. However, we have created some special bonuses for fans who played the previous game, allowing them to start with a little something extra.

Those bonuses, according to Square Enix’s listing for Rebirth on its website, will be summon materia. If you have PS4 or PS5 save data from Remake on your PS5, you’ll get Leviathan. If you have save data from Remake’s DLC expansion, Episode Intermission, you’ll get Ramuh.

The PlayStation Blog post has a few other interesting details.

There will be new materia that weren’t included in the first game.
Red XIII will be playable and has a new “revenge gauge” mechanic.
Vincent Valentine may not be, however; while Rebirth’s new trailer gives us a glimpse of the mysterious character, creative director Tetsuya Nomura doesn’t explicitly say you’ll be able to directly control him in battle. (“There are characters who are accompanying members in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that will become official party members in the next title.”)
There are a “huge number” of mini-games, so I bet the Gold Saucer will be a blast.

And it sounds like Rebirth will end right around where, in the original PS1 version of Final Fantasy VII (**spoiler warning... from 1997**), Aerith is killed by Sephiroth. “Although there are some changes in the order of the locations, the locations depicted in [Rebirth] extend up to ‘The Forgotten Capital,’ where the greatest fate of Final Fantasy VII awaits you,” Nomura said. It seems like we’ll have to get through the entire journey to find out if that moment will play out as it did before; I have a hunch that it won’t.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be released on PS5 on February 29th, 2024 (that’s Leap Day!), and you can watch a new trailer for it right now. Rebirth is the second game in a trilogy, and thanks to the new Rebirth trailer, I have a guess at what the third game might be called.

The Stock Market Hopes Arm’s IPO Is a Hit

The Stock Market Hopes Arm’s IPO Is a Hit Arm, the British chip designer owned by SoftBank, will provide clues as to whether the I.P.O. market may revive after a very quiet year.

Google Pixel Tablet parts and repair guides now available from iFixit

A picture of someone removing a Google Pixel tablet battery. — *It’s now easier for Pixel Tablet owners to replace their device's battery, screens, and other components.* | Image: iFixit

It’s now easier for Google Pixel Tablet owners to repair their own device, thanks to the partnership between Google and right-to-repair champions iFixit. As spotted by 9to5Google, genuine Pixel Tablet parts are now available to purchase on iFixit’s website, alongside user repair guides that walk you through how to install various components.

A rear case replacement is available for $199.99, which includes the Pixel Tablet’s volume controls, antennas, power button (including fingerprint unlock), and three microphones. There’s no option to select a color preference, however, so users may be limited to the off-white “porcelain” option displayed on the webpage. iFixit is also selling a replacement USB-C charging port for $24.99, a battery for $59.99, and a 10.9-inch LCD screen for $199.99 — which includes the device’s 8MP front-facing camera.

A picture of the Google Pixel Tablet alongside an iFixit repair kit. — *iFixit also offers some components as a bundle alongside its own-branded repair tools, providing everything you need to fix the device.*

There are also in-depth repair guides explaining how to install almost all of the components iFixit has to offer for the Google Pixel tablet, featuring step-by-step instructions and detailed images that should make it much easier (or at the very least, less intimidating) to fix your own device. Most of these feature additional iFixit-branded repair equipment like suction cup handles and an Anti-Clamp tool, which will need to be purchased separately (or bundled with the required parts) if you want to follow these guides word-for-word.

iFixit has provided genuine components and repair guides for various Pixel phone models since Google agreed to partner with the self-repair specialist back in 2022, from the Pixel 2 right through to the Pixel 7A. It’s nice to see the Pixel tablet joining them, giving consumers the freedom to fix their own devices without having to pay for a repair service.

How Strikes Reflect Longstanding Battles for Control in Hollywood

How Strikes Reflect Longstanding Battles for Control in Hollywood Striking actors and writers fear A.I. Executives don’t seem to. It’s a longstanding battle over technology and control in Hollywood that plays out onscreen, too.

mercredi 13 septembre 2023

Starfield on GeForce Now is among the best and worst ways to play

A screenshot of Starfield’s New Atlantis. — Starfield’s New Atlantis. | Image: Bethesda

I’m not ready to upgrade my PC. Would I pay $20 a month to rent one that lives in the cloud? Starfield is the first game that’s actually making me consider the possibility.

Today, Starfield arrived on Nvidia’s GeForce Now, a service that lets you tap into an RTX 4080-equivalent GPU, and I spent a little time benchmarking the hard-to-run game. It absolutely looks and plays better than it did on my aging 1440p desktop, and looks great handheld.

*This reads 56 fps, but I saw as low as 47 fps when turning around at this spot.* *Click for larger image*.

It’s not a silver bullet. I currently have wired gigabit fiber optic internet and live only a few towns over from Nvidia’s west coast servers. Even then, the game doesn’t currently run as smoothly as it does on the highest-end gaming PCs. In the city of New Atlantis, I saw dips down to 47 and 48 frames per second no matter my graphics settings or resolution, because many worlds are fundamentally limited by your CPU speeds.

But in the cyberpunk core of Neon, I never saw a dip below 60fps at 4K resolution and Ultra spec, regardless of whether I simply walked through town or provoked a battle. It’s so much smoother than my 5600X / 3060 Ti desktop machine.

(By default, GeForce Now sets the game to Ultra with FSR2 enabled, at 75 percent render resolution. I got 70-80fps in Neon’s core that way — consistently 10fps higher than native resolution.)

*Yes,* *you can see the sun* *with GeForce Now.*

On other worlds, and in lighter firefights, my cloud gaming framerate was far north of 60fps at Ultra spec. I do still need to test on Masada III, though.

Right now, you’re probably wondering about my headline. If it’s so great, why’s it also a “worst way to play”? How can it be “best” if high-end PCs run the game better? Well, some people might prefer to play this game handheld, and I’d take this experience over Starfield on a Steam Deck or ROG Ally:

*Don’t get me started on the Razer Edge’s pricing or 5G, though.*

With GeForce Now, you can stream to most any system you’ve got, and it’s wild to see

But the minor tragedy of Nvidia’s GeForce Now is that you won’t experience any of what I’m talking about unless you cough up cash first.

I decided to give GeForce Now’s free tier a try, too, and Starfield is basically unplayable that way. After sitting nearly half an hour waiting for the game to load, sync my cloud saves, and compile its shaders, I was greeted with graphics like this:

*The gun is still loading in. Wait for it... wait for it...* *full-size image here*.

*Appropriate caption.* *Full-size image here*.

Not to mention scary error messages:

It’s an embarrassment. I would be ashamed to put this free trial out into the world as a sample of cloud gaming. Nvidia, do you really think this will convince anyone to pay?

If you’re interested and have good internet, I highly recommend you try the Ultimate tier for a month — and make sure to manually set your GeForce Now resolution to 4K even if your monitor is only capable of 1440p.

*I must have bumped the mouse between these shots, but you can get the idea if you* *look closely*.

Nvidia’s streaming quality is noticeably better when it’s got more render resolution to work with; I saw all kinds of muddiness and jaggies at 1440p that utterly vanished at 4K.

WhatsApp is widely rolling out its Telegram-like Channels feature

A photo showing Channels on WhatsApp — *Olivia Rodrigo, Mark Zuckerberg, and the MLB now have their own Channels as well.* | Image: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is rolling out its new Channels feature to more users. The messaging app announced on Wednesday that it’s expanding the one-to-many broadcasting feature to over 150 countries.

While WhatsApp first introduced Channels in June, it was only available to select organizations in Colombia and Singapore. Just like on the messaging app Telegram, WhatsApp’s Channels feature lets you receive updates from creators, organizations, and brands from a single channel. Instagram rolled out a similar feature earlier this year, called broadcast channels.

Along with the wider rollout, WhatsApp also announced a few new enhancements coming to the feature. That includes an improved directory that lets you filter channels based on countries, while also allowing you to sort through channels that are new, most active, and popular. You can also now use emoji to react to posts within channels. Meanwhile, the admins who run channels will now be able to edit their updates for up to 30 days before the platform deletes the post from its servers.

The messaging app is also welcoming “thousands” of new channels to the platform, including those run by Olivia Rodrigo, the MLB, and Mark Zuckerberg. WhatsApp says it will continue to add more features to Channels as it receives feedback from users. The platform also notes that it will make it possible for anyone to create a channel “over the coming months.” If you don’t see the Channels feature on your app just yet, WhatsApp notes that you can join its waitlist on mobile to get notified when it’s available.

Adobe Premiere Pro can now automatically remove your ‘ums’ and background noise

A screenshot of Adobe Premiere Pro. — *Adobe is making it easier to improve and clean up the audio quality of your recorded footage in Premiere Pro.* | Image: Adobe

Adobe is introducing some new AI and 3D features in beta for Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Frame.io — its popular suite of video and audio editing applications that are designed to improve workflow and speed up time-intensive tasks.

To start, Premiere Pro is adding an AI-powered Enhance Speech feature that Adobe claims can make poorly recorded dialogue sound like “it was recorded in a professional studio.” Enhance Speech automatically removes background noise and provides Premiere Pro users with a mix slider to customize how much of it they’d like to incorporate in their projects. A new Audio Category Tagging feature is also available that automatically flags clips that contain dialogue, music, and sound effects or ambient noise.

A snapshot of Adobe Premiere Pro’s new filler word detection feature. — *The new filler word detection tool in Adobe Premiere Pro will automatically flag and remove unnecessary fluff words from your recordings.*

Meanwhile, Premier Pro’s Text-Based Editing tool, which was added earlier this year, now includes filler word detection to automatically identify and remove unnecessary pauses, “ums,” and “uhs” from both the dialogue and transcription. Other updates for Premiere Pro include a faster timeline for more responsive editing, improvements to automatic tone mapping, and new project templates to help creatives quickly start new tasks.

After Effects is adding a true 3D workspace for VFX and motion graphics projects that supports native 3D model imports. Image-based lighting places models into a scene with realistic lighting and shadows, and editing effects that reference other layers like displacement map, vector blur, or calculations can use a 3D model layer as a source. The popular Roto Brush tool that automatically selects moving objects has also been upgraded to more easily separate hard-to-isolate objects like overlapping limbs and hair.

A screenshot of Adobe Frame.IO. — *Need help deciding which shot to go with? Frame.io’s comparison viewer supports annotations for group feedback.*

Finally, Frame.io has updated its comparison viewer to enable users to view video, audio, photo, design file, and PDF assets side by side, allowing users to compare and comment on any two matching asset types. The video review software is also introducing Frame.io Storage Connect later this year — a new way for enterprise customers to reduce storage costs by directly connecting to AWS S3 storage that they already own.

All of these features are available to try now in beta, with general availability expected later this year. If you want to give them a whirl, you can find out more information about Adobe’s various beta applications over on its website.

Sony’s new PS5 update includes Dolby Atmos and the ability to mute the startup beep

A PlayStation 5 DualSense controller rests on a PlayStation 5 console. — Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony is rolling out a big new PS5 update today, just over a month after it first started testing the changes in a beta. The update adds Dolby Atmos, lets you mute that annoying bootup beep, and even supports pairing a second controller as an assist one to let you help friends or family complete a game. Sony is also expanding its PS Remote Play app to Google’s Chromecast with Google TV (4K), allowing you to stream games from a PS5 or PS4 to Android TV OS 12 devices.

The Dolby Atmos support comes in the form of Sony’s 3D Audio implementation (Tempest 3D AudioTech). It’s compatible with Dolby Atmos devices like sound bars, TVs, or home theater systems. Media apps like Netflix can also update their apps on PS5 soon to support Dolby Atmos audio.

You can now mute the PS5 beep sound that chirps when you turn the console on or off, or even when it goes into rest mode after being idle. If you just want to adjust the volume of the beep there’s now an option for that, too.

One of the most useful additions is the ability to use a second DualSense controller for assistance. “You can now assign a second controller to one account as an assist controller, and use two controllers to operate your PS5 console as if you were using a single controller,” explains Hideaki Nishino, senior vice president of platform experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment. “This feature introduces a new way for you to enjoy games collaboratively with others or help a friend or child navigate a particularly challenging section of a game.”

Sony is also improving its expandable M.2 SSD storage support to an 8TB limit on drives. You’ll still need an M.2 SSD that meets the minimum requirements, but there are now more options for PS5 owners who want a lot more storage.

Sony is also adding a number of UI improvements and some general navigation changes with this latest PS5 software update. You can now enable haptic feedback from a DualSense controller while navigating around the PS5 user interface. Moving the focus from one section to another will trigger haptics with this option enabled, alongside haptic feedback for when you reach the end of a scrollable section.

Voice commands have also been improved, with the ability to use “Hey PlayStation, help” to find support pages and “Hey PlayStation, what’s new?” to find out all the new PS5 features in updates just like this one.

*You can now see a preview of someone’s screen share before you join a party.*

Some of the PS5 social aspects are getting some welcome changes. You’ll now be able to invite players into a closed party without adding them to a group, and also send open or closed party invites to groups instead of just a single friend. You can also now see a preview of someone sharing their screen before you join a party, and it’s now easier to see which friends are in parties in the friends tab. Sony is also adding emoji reactions for messages.

PS Remote Play support is also being expanded to additional Android TV devices. The PS Remote Play app is now available on Android TV OS 12 devices, including the Chromecast with Google TV (4K) and Sony’s Bravia XR A95L.

A Who’s Who of Silicon Valley Will Convene With Lawmakers on A.I.

A Who’s Who of Silicon Valley Will Convene With Lawmakers on A.I. Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and others are set to discuss artificial intelligence with lawmakers, in one of the tech industry’s most proactive shows of force in Washington.

mardi 12 septembre 2023

SpaceX says Starlink ‘network issue’ has been resolved

Starlink dish in the back of a truck — Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

SpaceX said Tuesday evening that it fixed an outage with Starlink, the company’s satellite internet service. “The network issue has been fully resolved,” the company wrote at 9:39PM ET.

At 8:33PM ET, the company acknowledged the issue and said it was working on a fix. “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution,” SpaceX wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “We appreciate your patience, we’ll share an update once this issue is resolved.”

The network issue has been fully resolved
— Starlink (@Starlink) September 13, 2023

Downdetector shows there were around 33,000 user reports of problems. Reports started to spike at about 7:30PM ET.

There have been a handful of threads on the Starlink subreddit Reddit about the outage. As of this writing, one thread that’s pinned at the top of the community has more than 900 comments, while another thread has more than 1,400 comments.

We’ve reached out to SpaceX for comment.

Update September 12th, 9:51PM ET: Starlink says things have been resolved.

Apple’s smart home app can now tell you when you’re using clean energy

*Grid Forecast is a new feature in the Apple Home app that tells you when your power grid has cleaner energy available.* | Image: Apple

Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event had a big focus on the company’s move toward carbon neutrality, but it also introduced a new smart home feature that can help you leave a lighter footprint on the planet.

Arriving with iOS17, Grid Forecast is a new tool in the Apple Home app that shows you when your electrical grid has relatively clean or less clean energy sources available. This could help you decide when to run your tumble dryer or charge your EV to take advantage of “cleaner” energy when you have higher consumption.

Grid Forecast is available in the Home app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch devices running this fall’s soon-to-be-released updates, with iOS 17 set for a public launch on September 18th. It is also available as an iOS widget or a watch face complication and will work in the contiguous United States.

*This screenshot posted by Reddit user* *hellra1zer02* *shows how the Grid Forecast is displayed in the Apple Home app.*

Using cleaner energy — that generated by wind or solar or electricity produced using lower emissions — can reduce the impact you have on the climate when you use electricity in your home.

While Apple’s first implementation of this feature is entirely manual — you need to look at the Home app to see when the energy is cleaner and then decide if you want to charge your EV — it’s feasible it could be tied into automation if and when Apple supports energy management features natively in its smart home platform.

Apple already has a clean energy charging feature it introduced with iOS 16.1 that aims to charge your phone when cleaner energy is available. Automating smart home devices to do the same should be a natural next step. Even Microsoft can schedule your Windows Update for a time when more green energy is available.

The smart home is in a unique position to help automate this type of energy management, and other smart home platforms have enabled similar features. For example, Samsung’s SmartThings Energy is a service that lets you view real-time energy usage from your connected appliances and provides tips on ways to reduce energy use.

Samsung recently added AI features that can automate some energy-saving features and integrate with the Electricity Maps service to show real-time information about your energy sources and their carbon intensity, helping you better manage your carbon footprint.

Apple says Grid Forecast uses data that combines grid, emissions, and weather information to show you in a simple graphic when energy is clean or less clean. It’s a good start for home energy management, but adding the ability to automate how and when your home uses this clean energy is essential to make this more than just another data point.

Ford’s newest gassy F-150s include more hybrid configurations

black f-150 platinum truck in a park by trees — *PowerBoost badge means its a hybrid.* | Image: Ford

Ford’s F-150 truck is adding more hybrid powertrain options to more trims for the 2024 model year. The automaker is also adding extra tech into the truck, including a head-up-display option so you can check your speed without looking down, and a built-in 5G modem that makes over the air (OTA) software updates and media connectivity faster than ever.

Previously, Ford’s cheapest F-150 truck that has a hybrid option, the Lariat, started at $57,480 with a $3,300 add on. Now Ford says the hybrid option, called “PowerBoost,” will “match the starting MSRP on the 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine,” which we’re taking to mean that Ford’s cutting the hybrid add-on from $3,300 to $1,540 instead. (That’s what the 3.5L gasoline engine cost for the 2023 model year.) Importantly, you can also get the hybrid at the less expensive XLT trim level, as well as in the high-end Platinum Plus.

*The 12-inch screen is now standard across models.*

The 2024 model year F-150 is built on the same platform used since the 2021 model year. Ford claims the platform is durable and tested with over 3.75 million “customer equivalent” miles in the automaker’s lab tests.

The F-150 also has a new tailgate called “Pro Access” that can open like a door sideways for quick access to the accessory AC power ports. Ford’s new trucks can offer up to 7.2kW to on-site tools and appliances on PowerBoost F-150 models if equipped with Pro Power Onboard.

Ford’s new F-150 is the second vehicle to get a 5G modem option that brings speedier navigation map loading and enables faster in-car Wi-Fi. Previously, this was only available on the all-work-and-no-play SuperDuty pickup trucks, and there are plans to add it to the next Lincoln Nautilus SUV. And Ford’s OTA updates now can install updated software automatically, if desired. A new voice feedback option is also added where customers can quickly tell Ford about technical problems or use some poor chap at Ford as a sounding board that can’t respond.

Tomorrow is a big day for America’s two biggest consumer products: The latest versions of the @Apple iPhone & the @Ford F-150 from our F-Series lineup will be revealed.

We can’t wait to show you the F-150 reveal live on Ford’s YouTube starting at 8pm! https://t.co/q1GLpMnnFX pic.twitter.com/jv8wVvr9M6
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) September 12, 2023

The F-150 has Ford’s latest Sync 4 software running on a 12-inch infotainment display, which is now standard on all models. That means no more squinting at an iPhone 5-sized display on base trims when you switch your tough-mobile into reverse gear. Speaking of iPhones, Ford CEO Jim Farley posted on X (formerly Twitter) that today is a “big day for America’s two biggest consumer products,” connecting the new iPhone 15 and the F-150 like all-American blood brothers. These things aren’t quite the same, but we appreciate your posts, Farley!

Ford has had plans to update its infotainment software to use Google software Android Automotive, or underlying services from the search company with Google built-in. But Ford’s last big Sync 4 upgrade on the 2024 Ford Mustang didn’t seem to include it, and the latest F-150 Lightning didn’t get it either. Ford communications manager Dan Barbossa tells The Verge in an email that the new 2024 F-150 runs the same OS as before.

Ford’s adding a new theft recovery service for the F-150, a first of its kind for the automaker in North America (it’s available in Europe). Aptly named Ford Stolen Vehicle Services, the optional connected service can locate and help recover a stolen vehicle with the help of a 24/7 call center and additionally alerts owners on unauthorized tampering of the truck (including towaways) via the FordPass app.

Ford’s dropping in a complementary 90-day trial for its BlueCruise hands-free driver assistant software, version 1.2, which can steer you within highway lanes and make lane changes on command. Ford recently said it is offering a similar trial on the new Mustang Mach-E Rally, although that vehicle will launch with the latest BlueCruise 1.3, which has stability improvements to stay engaged longer.

Ford is also making its smaller gas-only EcoBoost engine standard on base offerings. So now the XL model, which usually comes with a 3.3-liter V6 PFDI, will come with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost, which previously commanded a $1,285 upcharge. However, Barnossa tells us the 2024 XL Regular Cab costs $36,570 before destination fees, which costs about $2,000 more than the 2023 base model with an MSRP of $34,585, so don’t expect to save money on the new one if you like the EcoBoost engine.

*The F-150 Lariat is a pretty truck with the right amount of daytime running LEDs.*

Ford’s F-150 hybrid option still does not include a plug-in option, so you’ll need to check out the still 5G-less and HUD-less (but all-electric) F-150 Lightning instead if charging is what you desire. One thing about the top trims of the new F-150s, though, is the front looks a hell of a lot better than the Lightning with the light bar.

The iPhone is getting new ringtones

iphone 15 action button — *The ringtones might be good enough to keep you from using* *that Action Button to turn off the ringer*. | Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

Apple’s iPhone is finally getting some new ringtones with iOS 17. As reported by 9to5Mac, the iOS 17 release candidate (RC) has a bunch of additional ringtones, and assuming nothing changes between the RC and the update’s official release, you’re going to have a few additional sounds to choose from very soon.

iOS 17 includes more than 20 new “ringtone options and sound alerts,” 9to5Mac says. I’ve installed the RC and listened to many of the new sounds, and I’m a big fan. I’m particularly drawn to the new “Journey” ringtone, which sounds like something out of a classic RPG. If you want to hear a few of the new tones, 9to5Mac has a short video you can check out.

Some older sounds have been “slightly remastered” as well, according to 9to5Mac. Other older tones have been moved to a “classic” area in the ringtones and sounds settings menus.

iOS 17 is set to be released publicly on September 18th. If you want to download the RC, you just need to get to get on an iOS 17 beta track, and if you want to do that, here’s our guide to do so.