Apple Paid $500,000 for Exclusive Access to Chance the Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’ Mixtape

In a series of tweets shared this morning, artist Chance the Rapper gave some insight into how Apple Music exclusives work for artists. His mixtape, Coloring Book, was an Apple Music exclusive for two weeks after it launched in 2016.

To garner exclusive rights to Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper says Apple paid him a total of $500,000 and funded a commercial designed to promote the new album. In exchange, Apple had sole access to offer Coloring Book for a two week period, at which point it became available on other music services.

Apple has done multiple exclusive launches since the debut of Apple Music in 2015, but until now, there’s been very little insight into what Apple offers artists to entice them to offer up exclusives on the music service. Prior to now, both artists and Apple have kept deal terms tightly under wraps.

Apple has inked exclusive deals with a wide range of artists, from Drake and Taylor Swift to Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, and Katy Perry.

I wanna clear things up. @apple gave me half a mil and a commercial to post Coloring Book exclusively on applemusic for 2 weeks https://t.co/dMWwptrHHH

— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 17, 2017

Labels and other streaming services have expressed displeasure with Apple’s push for exclusive content, and one music group, UMG, has even banned its artists from agreeing to Apple Music exclusives. Apple Music rival Spotify has also allegedly punished artists who make deals with Apple, refusing to include them on featured playlists.

Chance the Rapper says he shared the info because he wants to “remain transparent.” He went on to say artists can gain a lot from streaming wars by remaining in control of their own product (Chance the Rapper is not signed to a label). “If you come accross opportunities to work with good people, pick up cash and keep your integrity, I say do it,” he wrote on Twitter in reference to Apple Music.

Tag: Apple Music
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AppleCare+ Can Now be Purchased Up to One Year After Buying an iPhone

A customer that purchases a new iPhone now has up to one year to purchase AppleCare+ for the device, compared to 60 days previously, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Apple has yet to update its website to reflect this information, but MacRumors confirmed the extension with a senior AppleCare advisor.

The change means that AppleCare+ can now be added to an iPhone as long as the device remains within its standard one-year limited warranty period. This brings AppleCare+ for iPhone in line with AppleCare for Mac and Apple TV, which can also be purchased up to one year after those devices are purchased.

The senior advisor said the extension only applies to iPhone, ruling out the iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch, for which the time limit remains 60 days for customers looking to add AppleCare+ after the fact. The change is also retroactive, meaning iPhones sold within the past year qualify for AppleCare+ now.

iPhone 7 Plus purchased on September 21, 2016 eligible for AppleCare+
AppleCare+ costs $129 for most iPhones, and $99 for the iPhone SE, and extends an iPhone’s warranty coverage to two years from the original purchase date of the device, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $29 for screen damage, or $99 for any other damage.

AppleCare+ for iPhone also provides 24/7 priority access to AppleCare advisors via chat or phone for up to two years after the device’s original purchase date. Without the plan, iPhone owners are covered by a limited one-year warranty and 90 days of complimentary telephone support.

AppleCare+ for iPhone also covers EarPods, Lightning to USB cables, and batteries that retain less than 80 percent of their original capacity.

In order to purchase AppleCare+ after the fact, separately from the iPhone, Apple must physically inspect the device to ensure there is no existing damage. Proof of purchase, such as a receipt, is also required. If purchased online, Apple requires customers to verify their serial number and run a remote diagnostic.

The extension went into effect this week in the United States.

Related Roundups: iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone SE
Tag: AppleCare
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Neutral)
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Review: LG’s $1500 38UC99 UltraWide Display Offers a Giant, Desk-Filling Workspace

We’ve already looked at LG’s UltraFine 5K and 27UD88 displays as companions for Apple’s latest notebooks, and today we’re taking a look at another USB-C display option that brings something quite different: LG’s 38UC99 curved “UltraWide” display.

This is a desk-filling display in the truest sense of the term: 37.5 inches on the diagonal with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a native resolution of 3840×1600. It has fewer pixels than a true 4K or Ultra HD display, but its sheer size makes up for it in some unique ways. While the UltraFine 5K and 27UD88 displays work best at Retina or scaled resolutions, the 38UC99 uses a full 3840×1600 desktop that leaves everything on screen at just the right size to be useful. No, it’s not a Retina display in this mode, but until we have 8K displays this will have to do.

Even without Retina resolution, this display is impressive. The sheer size of it gives you so much flexibility in terms of your workspace. I can easily have three large windows open side-by-side with room to spare.

UltraFine 5K, 38UC99, 2016 MacBook Pro (left to right)
I’ve been testing this in a three-display setup with the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, an UltraFine 5K, and the 38UC99. It’s a ridiculous amount of desktop space that I can barely fit on my desk, and the MacBook Pro with entry-level graphics runs all of it without breaking a sweat.

Setup

Just like the 27UD88, the 38UC99 is dead simple to set up, requiring the same steps of snapping the arm into the back of the display and attaching a very similar curved foot to the bottom of the arm with a pair of screws that can be tightened with a screwdriver, coin, or by hand using grasping rings. The display is compatible with VESA mounting options, although a mounting plate is not included in the box.

The display is stable on sturdy surfaces, with very little wobbling unless you really shake your desk or bump the display itself. The tilt ranges from –5 to +15 degrees for good flexibility in angling the display, while the entire display panel can be easily raised or lowered over a range of 110 mm. The spring-loaded arm means no tools are required for raising or lowering the display, and it stays right where you set it. A cable management clip is included on the back of the arm near the bottom, and the display can be tilted up to 3 degrees left or right for leveling purposes.

The 38UC99 comes with an array of cables, offering good flexibility for connecting to various types of computers and peripherals. In the box are HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C to USB-C cables, as well as a USB-C to USB-A adapter.

As with the 27UD88, the 38UC99 unfortunately only supplies up to 60 watts of power over USB-C. That’s enough to support a MacBook or a 13-inch MacBook Pro, but it’s going to struggle to power a 15-inch MacBook Pro that can draw up to 85 watts. That means if you’re a 15-inch MacBook Pro owner, you’ll probably have to also plug in your power brick, which means you’ll be using up two of your USB-C ports on the machine between the display and power.

Three windows side-by-side with room to spare; also notice the large power brick
The external power brick for the 38UC99 is quite large, which really makes me appreciate the UltraFine 5K’s built-in power supply, but as long as you can hide the power brick away somewhere, it’s probably not going to bother you.

Display Resolution

The default resolution upon connecting to a 2016 MacBook Pro is the full 3840×1600 running at 60 Hz. Other available options are 3200×1333, 2560×1067, and Retina 1920×800, plus some others. Pretty much all of those are going to leave your content looking too big unless you’re sitting quite far from the screen.

Scaled resolution options
Holding down the option key while clicking the Scaled button in preferences brings up a host other resolution options including some higher pixel counts ranging all the way up to 7680×3200. These are obviously scaled to the display’s actual 3840×1600 resolution, but they can give you a really tiny desktop if that’s what you’re after for some reason.

Rotation settings for the 38UC99 are present in System Preferences on macOS Sierra but beyond the small leveling adjustments the screen doesn’t actually rotate, and vertical orientation on a curved display this large wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense anyway.

At the display’s native resolution of 3840×1600 spread over 37.5 inches of screen, that works out to approximately 111 pixels per inch, which most users will find to be a reasonable desktop size at typical sitting distances. It’s not going to give you the sharpness of a Retina display, but the massive size of the desktop you have to work with might be worth sacrificing Retina sharpness for many users.

Display Quality

The maximum brightness of the 38UC99 is just 300 nits according to the manufacturer’s specs, which is considerably lower than the 500 nits you can expect from the MacBook Pro and the UltraFine 5K and even a bit lower than the 27UD88’s 350 nits. It’s clearly a noticeable difference next to a MacBook Pro, but it can be compensated for by turning down the brightness on your computer if you’re using a dual-screen setup and you don’t mind slightly dimmer displays. It’s not a major issue for me.

The backlighting is a little uneven on the 38UC99, with the upper corners in particular appearing a bit dim compared to the rest of the display. Again, it’s not a deal breaker for me considering the plusses this display brings.

Like the 27UD88, the 38UC99 has 99+% coverage of the sRGB spectrum and 10-bit color. It’s not going to match the wide gamut of the UltraFine 5K or some other high-end displays, but as I noted in my earlier review, sRGB remains the mainstream standard for displays. So unless you’re a photo or video professional, there’s a good chance you don’t need wide gamut, although once you’ve experienced wide gamut you may feel you’re missing out a bit if you have to go back.

Gamers are undoubtedly a major target market for this display, and it supports an array of technologies designed for superior performance, including FreeSync and Motion Blur Reduction.

The UltraWide Curve

One of the highlight features of the 38UC99 is its curved display, and I’m sure many are wondering what its purpose is and whether there are any drawbacks. Personally, I love it. The curve is quite subtle, so your content is not significantly distorted, and when you’re sitting just a couple of feet away from a 38-inch display, the curve makes the edges of your screen still feel directly in front of you rather than off at an angle. It’s a nice feature, and it makes me feel more immersed in my workspace than a flat display at this size would.

The other defining aspect of this display is its “UltraWide” 21:9 aspect ratio. I’ve found it tremendously useful, allowing me to place as many as three large windows side-by-side on the desktop with room to spare. That’s a huge benefit when you’re either multitasking with a number of different apps or working on tasks that require multiple windows such as side-by-side browser windows, or editing apps with lots of palettes, for example.

Having everything all on one screen is a much better experience than having to switch visual focus between displays, even if those displays are right next to each other. Of course, I’m still running a three-display setup, but it means I can have a huge contiguous workspace on the 38UC99 for my main focus while my MacBook Pro and UltraFine 5K displays are used for other apps I need to monitor and like to have visible at all times, such as email, Twitter, Slack, and calendars.

The 21:9 display also comes in handy for another purpose: watching movies. Widescreen shows and films at 1.77:1 or 1.85:1 will be pillarboxed with black bars on the sides of the screen, while 2.39:1 films will just about fill the entire screen, so the 38UC99 doubles nicely as a display for watching video as long as you can sit fairly close to it.

Build Quality and Looks

For the most part, I should just point everyone back to my 27UD88 review here, as these two displays are clearly cut from the same cloth. They have the same all-plastic build with the faux brushed aluminum finish on the arm and foot and fairly thin matte black plastic bezels bordered by silver around the edges. The bottom chin is slightly larger than the top and sides, but it’s not a distractingly large difference, and a subtle silver LG logo is centered on the bottom chin.

The rear sides of the display and arm are glossy, bright white plastic. It will certainly attract attention if the rear of your display is visible such as in an office setting, but if the display is up against a wall or other surface, you may forget what the back even looks like until you turn it or stick your head behind it to adjust cable connections.

Ports

On the rear of the display, you’ll find the exact same set of ports as on the 27UD88 I reviewed earlier: a USB-C port for single-cable connectivity, one DisplayPort 1.2 input, and two HDMI 2.0 inputs. On the downstream side are a pair of USB-A ports with up to 5V/1.5A of charging power.

As on the 27UD88, you’ll find that while the ports are officially USB 3.0, they will run at USB 2.0 speeds once the display is connected, as all of the USB 3.0 lanes are used to drive the display itself. So if you’re looking for fast USB connectivity such as for an external hard drive, you’ll want to connect it directly to your computer rather than through the display. My testing found USB 2.0 speeds of around 30–35 MB/s for read and write with a USB 3.0 5400 rpm external hard drive, which may be passable for some users, but if you’re moving lots of data you’re going to want a faster direct connection.

Finally, the 38UC99 includes a headphone jack and a DC-in port for the power adapter on the rear, while there is a Kensington lock slot on the bottom edge for security.

Audio

The 38UC99 includes a pair of 10W speakers with LG’s “Rich Bass” technology, and they actually sound quite good for display speakers. They’re not going to replace your home audio system, but they’re perfectly acceptable for general computer use including music and gaming.

Another nice inclusion is Bluetooth audio support, which lets you connect other devices to the display’s speakers wirelessly, which could be handy if you want to play something direct from an iPhone or other device and want to have higher quality sound.

Joystick Button and Menu Options

The 38UC99 uses LG’s familiar joystick button as the sole method of controlling the display. Pressing it turns the display on, while pressing and holding it powers the display off. Moving it right or left adjusts the volume, with a bump forward while the volume is displayed muting or unmuting the sound.

Bottom view showing joystick button, speakers, and Kensington lock slot
A brief press on the button opens up the main menu, which provides easy access to input selection and Bluetooth audio connections, as well as the rest of the menus for a variety of settings for adjusting inputs, picture, sound, and more. A wide array of adjustments are available to optimize picture modes and quality depending on your preference and the type of content being displayed. There are 11 picture modes available, with a calibrated Custom mode set as the default out of the box. I found Custom mode to be satisfactory and did not need to perform additional calibration, but those options are certainly available for those who want to make adjustments.

The display supports Picture by Picture (PBP), which lets you display two inputs side-by-side simultaneously. It works rather well due to the display panel’s aspect ratio, and I occasionally use it to display an external screen for my computer alongside my Apple TV, which I have hooked up to the display via HDMI. The Apple TV content is significantly letterboxed since I’m displaying a widescreen input on half of a 21:9 display, but things are still large enough that the Apple TV is usable for checking apps and settings or even watching a bit of video.

Picture by Picture with MacBook Pro screen via USB-C and Apple TV via HDMI
LG’s OnScreen Control app also supports the 38UC99. The app runs in the menu bar on Mac, offering quick access to a Screen Split mode that lets you divide your desktop into up to four different zones, with different apps automatically snapping into zones and maximizing their windows within them, with apps automatically moving out of the way from one region to another as you drag an app to a different zone.

OnScreen Control menu item with Screen Split options (left) and app (right)
The menu bar also offers quick access to the full OnScreen Control app, which lets you manage several features including general display adjustments, specific display settings on a per-app basis, and more.

Wrap-up

The 38UC99 has some shortcomings in areas such as brightness and evenness of backlighting, but I truly can not get over just how useful this massive desktop is. Sure, the UltraFine 5K and 27UD88 have higher total pixel counts, but they’re not usable in non-Retina mode at their full resolutions, as everything is just way too small. But when you blow that 3840 pixel horizontal resolution up onto a 37.5-inch screen, it just gives you so much real estate to work with that’s actually usable in size.

Ideally the 38UC99 would be a Retina display, but it’s going to be a few more years before we’re able to drive 7680×3200 displays given the current technology standards are just barely serving 5K content, and even that has required some creativity. Throw in wide gamut support and we’d really be in business, but we’re not quite there yet.

At this price point of display, a webcam and microphone to go along with the speakers might have been a nice inclusion, but unfortunately those features didn’t make the cut. LG’s standard one-year warranty is also on the short side, with many other manufacturers offering three-year warranties on their displays.

After almost two months using the 38UC99 as my main display, I’ve found it hard to swap it out for anything else. Even the UltraFine 5K with its razor sharp text, bright screen, and beautiful colors feels like it’s falling short simply because it offers a smaller desktop.

All of that said, this is an expensive display considering its lack of truly professional-level specs, so you have to have the budget and the true need for this size of display to make it a worthwhile purchase.

Pricing

The curved UltraWide screen of the 38UC99 doesn’t come cheaply, with the display carrying a list price of $1499.99 and available at retailers such as Best Buy.

That’s considerably higher than even the full retail price of the UltraFine 5K, which is set to rise to $1299.95 at the end of this month after Apple’s temporary 25 percent price cut expires. We haven’t really seen any discounts on the 38UC99, and it is even backordered at some retailers, so supplies are apparently tight.

Note: LG provided the 38UC99 display to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tags: review, LG, USB-C
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Coffee Pot Terrarium is a challenging, gorgeous puzzler (review)

Overview:

Coffee Pot Terrarium is an oddly named, but very well polished puzzle game with beautiful visuals and simple gameplay.

Developer: Brothers Flint

Cost: $2.99

Impressions:

Coffee Pot Terrarium certainly doesn’t sound like the name of a turn-based puzzle game, but that’s exactly what it is. The game is very simple and offers a very zen-like look and feel. The visuals are minimal and stylized, and the music is very relaxing. All of this belies the challenge that the game poses in its levels.

There are no tutorials for this game, instead having you learn how the game works on the fly. Coffee Pot Terrarium is a turn-based game that requires careful planning to eliminate all the enemies on the board. You have a limited movement and attack range, similar to a game like Fire Emblem, and the placement of your character and close observation of the terrain is required to avoid accidental death. Rounds tend to only last a few minutes, but you’ll wind up repeating stages a few times each until you learn the tricks of the level.

1 of 3

There are 21 levels total, across 7 environments that are all very appealing to look at, but the gameplay does get repetitive after a while, but no less difficult. I will say that the game has less replay value due to a lack of incentive, there’s no scoring methods or collectibles that would have compelled me to go back and try the levels again. The game could really use that to push it to the next level.

As it stands now, the game is very light on content for a three dollar game, but what it does have is very polished. The developers have done an excellent job of making the game look and sound good, and the controls are not frustrating to use for the most part, even for on-screen controls. The polish and challenge can make the price worth it if you are looking for a hard game that doesn’t take long to play.

Conclusion:

I’d have to say that of the games I’ve played on Android, Coffee Pot Terrarium is one of the nicest, most complete and challenging. The gameplay is smooth and addicting, and there are no microtransactions to be seen. The lack of replayability is disappointing but can be easily fixed by the developers in an update, and is probably the biggest complaint I had in my time playing. I’d recommend this game to anyone looking for a challenge in their Android gaming experience.

Download Coffee Pot Terrarium on the Google Play Store

Google’s new JPEG encoder shrinks file sizes by up to 35 percent

Why it matters to you

Google’s new method of encoding JPEG files could help your web browser load pages significantly faster, without sacrificing image quality.

Google has unveiled a new open source algorithm that can dramatically reduce the size of JPEG images. Guetzil — named for the Swiss German term for a cookie — is a JPEG encoder that can reportedly produce high quality images with file sizes that are 35 percent smaller than the norm.

Like Google’s Zopfli algorithm for PNG and gzip files, Guetzil offers smaller file sizes without sacrificing compatibility with existing web browsers, image processing applications, or the JPEG standard. This sets the algorithm apart from other methods of reducing JPEG file sizes, like RNN-based image compression, RAISR, and WebP.

Guetzil works by focusing on the quantization stage of the compression process. It uses an advanced psychovisual model that attempts to strike a balance between small file sizes and image fidelity by honing in on the kind of details that the human eye is drawn to, according to a post published to the Google Research Blog.

More: Google’s new Brotli algorithm is about to supercharge web browsing

The downside to this methodology is that compression takes significantly longer than currently available methods. However, tests have found that people preferred images compressed using Guetzil to those encoded with libjpeg, even when the latter images were slightly larger. Google describes the slower compression process as a “worthy tradeoff.”

If Guetzil is broadly implemented, users could be able to enjoy a smoother, more responsive experience while browsing the internet. The smaller image sizes would help pages load faster, and could even allow users on a data plan to use less of their allocation loading images.

The researchers behind the project hope to see webmasters and graphic designers adopt the open-source algorithm. The team also suggests that the psychovisual approach adopted by the project will inspire further research into the way our eyes perceive compressed images and video.

Dallas says “ghost calls” to 911 from T-Mobile customers aren’t to blame for deaths

Why it matters to you

Our nation’s 911 emergency system is facing a slew of issues — not only a huge cyberattack, but also huge backlogs.

An enormous backlog of calls coming from T-Mobile customers in Dallas’ 911 center was thought to be the culprit behind a tragic death in the area, but now, it appears that the city no longer believes so-called “ghost calls” are to blame. This week, top executives from the Bellevue, Washington-based cellphone service provider paid a visit to the Texas metropolis to discuss why calls from T-Mobile customers have been flooding the emergency hotline. Last week, a child died after his babysitter’s repeated calls to 911 went unanswered. But it seems as though the issue has been tied to a “backlog of legitimate 911 calls, not ghost calls, which aren’t initiated by a person,” as per a new Wall Street Journal report.

The problem of ghost calls first emerged last fall. T-Mobile customers would call 911, but their phones would then repeatedly redial the number even after the original intended call had been completed. These “ghost” calls forced operators to call every single number back to ensure that the hangup wasn’t related to a real emergency, creating a huge backlog. According to Dallas spokeswoman Sana Syed, more than 400 calls ended up being placed on hold due to an influx in ghost calls on the Saturday when the 6-month-old boy lost his life.

More: Uncontrollable iPhone calls to 911 last fall could have been a huge cyberattack

This has become a recurring problem. Earlier this month, the city reported that another string of ghost calls caused more than 360 calls to be placed on hold, sometimes for up to 30 minutes. T-Mobile noted that Dallas is the only city in which this problem has been reported, and that its engineers will remain in the area until the issue is fully addressed.

Happily, it seems as though progress was made rather quickly. Beginning this weekend, Dallas plans to add a dozen additional call takers per day, and is also looking into technology upgrades. Further, T-Mobile says that it has made adjustments in its own network to ensure easy access to 911.

“T-Mobile committed resources in Dallas until we made progress, and they have kept their promise,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax. “We want our citizens to know that their safety is our number one priority and they can count on us when they call 911.”

“I’m pleased that our staff and T-Mobile worked through the night and have determined some immediate technological upgrades that will better serve our citizens calling 911,” said Mayor Mike Rawlings. “I’m also encouraged that City Manager T.C. Broadnax has committed to increasing staffing and recommending any other budgetary enhancements to our 911 call center.”

Updated to reflect the city of Dallas’ latest conclusion that ghost calls were not to blame for 911 backlog. 

Next Asus tablet may offer 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, according to leaked specs

Why it matters to you

In the market for a new tablet? Depending on the price, this Asus tablet could be an excellent option.

Asus may be prepping a new Android tablet. A mysterious Asus-branded tablet was recently spotted on benchmarking service GFXBench, and it seemingly comes with some very interesting specs.

The device sports the latest and greatest version of Android, Nougat, along with an Imagination Technologies PowerVR Rogue GX6250 GPU, 64GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. It also has a 7MP rear-facing camera and a 4.7MP front-facing camera. The display on the tablet sits at 9.6-inches, along with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Last but not least is the processor, and while it is unnamed, it seems to be a dodeca-core chipset with a clock-speed of 2.1GHz.

More: Asus gears up to sell three graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

It certainly seems like a nice tablet that will sit somewhere in the mid- to high-end range — so it won’t be as powerful as the top flagships of the year, but it’ll be somewhere right below. There’s no word yet as to when the tablet will be launched or what Asus is calling it, and as usual there’s always the possibility that the company will change the specs before it launches the device. As far as price goes, there’s nothing official just yet, but it should sit somewhere in the $300 to $400 range.

Asus is one of the shrinking list of manufacturers devoting quite a lot of time and energy into its tablet range — along with the likes of Samsung. The company recently unveiled an LTE-capable version of the ZenPad 3S 10, which boasted a Snapdragon 650 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. All with a price tag of $405.

It’s likely we’ll hear more about this new Asus tablet throughout the coming months before its official launch, and we’ll update this article as we do.

Next Asus tablet may offer 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, according to leaked specs

Why it matters to you

In the market for a new tablet? Depending on the price, this Asus tablet could be an excellent option.

Asus may be prepping a new Android tablet. A mysterious Asus-branded tablet was recently spotted on benchmarking service GFXBench, and it seemingly comes with some very interesting specs.

The device sports the latest and greatest version of Android, Nougat, along with an Imagination Technologies PowerVR Rogue GX6250 GPU, 64GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. It also has a 7MP rear-facing camera and a 4.7MP front-facing camera. The display on the tablet sits at 9.6-inches, along with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Last but not least is the processor, and while it is unnamed, it seems to be a dodeca-core chipset with a clock-speed of 2.1GHz.

More: Asus gears up to sell three graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

It certainly seems like a nice tablet that will sit somewhere in the mid- to high-end range — so it won’t be as powerful as the top flagships of the year, but it’ll be somewhere right below. There’s no word yet as to when the tablet will be launched or what Asus is calling it, and as usual there’s always the possibility that the company will change the specs before it launches the device. As far as price goes, there’s nothing official just yet, but it should sit somewhere in the $300 to $400 range.

Asus is one of the shrinking list of manufacturers devoting quite a lot of time and energy into its tablet range — along with the likes of Samsung. The company recently unveiled an LTE-capable version of the ZenPad 3S 10, which boasted a Snapdragon 650 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. All with a price tag of $405.

It’s likely we’ll hear more about this new Asus tablet throughout the coming months before its official launch, and we’ll update this article as we do.

Netflix might explore mobile-specific cuts of movies, television shows

Why it matters to you

As more and more people take to their phones to watch Netflix, the company is looking to make content specific to that audience.

Netflix is considering making a special version of its shows just for the mobile generation. Earlier this week, Neil Hunt, Netflix chief product officer, said that the company might be exploring “mobile-specific cuts of its original movies and TV shows,” The Verge reported. This ought to appeal to the growing proportion of Netflix users who are consuming content primarily via their mobile devices.

“It’s not inconceivable that you could take a master [copy] and make a different cut for mobile,” Hunt said. And while Netflix hasn’t done this in the past, Hunt noted, “it’s something we will explore over the next few years.”

More: Netflix is replacing star ratings with a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down system

This certainly wouldn’t be the first time a content provider looked to create a mobile-specific experience. The NBA last year debuted a new Mobile View to make watching basketball games on your handheld device much easier. In fact, in order to cater to their mobile fans, the NBA introduced a dedicated camera, cameraman, and mobile producer to all 29 NBA arenas.

According to Hunt, Netflix would look to create versions of their shows with scenes or shots that can be seen more easily with a smartphone, or on a smaller screen. And while Netflix is doing a lot with HDR technology, which promises a wider range of colors on television sets, Hunt noted that HDR isn’t only for viewing on the big screen. There’s plenty of room for innovation in that area on smartphones as well, he said.

While Netflix consumption happens mostly on TVs here in the U.S. and in Canada, Hunt noted that consumers in other parts of the world are using other devices. In fact, in Asian countries like India, Hunt says, “mobile screens are the majority consumption device.”

Snag this Dell Inspiron 15-inch 2-in-1 laptop for only $399 (20 percent off)

If you want the portability of a tablet but need the power of a laptop, 2-in-1 laptops are the way to go. They pack the power and performance of a PC but and are designed to fold backward and convert into a tablet. These convertible laptops range in price depending on features, but right now you can score a Dell i5368 Inspiron 2-in-1 15-inch laptop for only $400.

More: CES 2017 Proves 2-In-1S Are Becoming The New Normal

The Dell i5368 Inspiron 2-in-1 15-inch laptop comes complete with an Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, and an LED touchscreen with 1080p resolution. With a 6th-generation Intel Core processor, web pages, games, applications, and more run side by side with impressive speed. You will also enjoy a longer than average battery life, allowing you to take the 2-in-1 laptop with you on the go, without constantly searching for a power outlet.

Thanks to a versatile 360-degree hinge, this Dell laptop features four different modes: laptop, tent, stand, and tablet. Go from typing to tapping seamlessly, taking advantage of the large 15.6-inch screen. The display allows for wide-angle-viewing and has a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution that provides both a crisp, detailed picture on-screen and clear viewing from any position. The LED screen displays premium picture quality Intel HD graphics card. In addition to top-notch picture quality, audio quality is also up to par. The machine boasts Waves MaxxAudio that delivers studio-quality sound including lower lows and higher highs.

Integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity ensure you can stay constantly connected. The Dual Band Wireless technology provides fast Wi-Fi across an extended range, to reduce buffering and allow you to enjoy surfing, streaming, or chatting throughout without disruption. The Wi-Fi also gives you faster downloads and longer range from your Wi-Fi router.

The Dell i5368 Inspiron 2-in-1 15-inch laptop regularly retails for $499 but is currently discounted to $399 on Walmart, providing 20 percent, or $100 in savings.

$399 on Walmart