This 50-inch Hitachi 4K TV is down to under $290 for Prime members today

So many pixels!

Amazon is offering the Hitachi 50-inch 4K LED TV for $289.99 today as part of its Gold Box deals of the day. This is a brand new model for 2018, so there isn’t much to compare the pricing too, but it does normally sell for $379.99, which means that you’re saving $90 today. It has 3 HDMI ports, 1 RF antenna input, 1 USB port, 1 optical audio, and 1 audio output, as well as a component and composite video input on the back.

While this may not be the best 4K TV on the market or have the most advanced set of features inside, at this price it’s hard to pass up. It gets you a solid picture with a lot of inputs for daily use. It works great in a spare bedroom, loft, basement, or even your family room. This price is exclusive to Amazon Prime members, so if you aren’t already a member, you’ll want to sign up for a free 30-day trial right now.

Prefer something with smart features like Roku built right in? Check out this discounted set from TCL.

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Anker Nebula Mars II portable projector review: The night comes alive

Makes your next camping trip or nighttime party worth attending.

Anker is probably a familiar company for most of you, thanks to loads of power banks, USB cables and other accessories they sell on Amazon and in some retail locations. Anker has been inching towards other accessories with its sub-brands, like Zolo headphones and Nebular projectors.

The Nebula projectors are all about portability: the small Capsule projector is the size of a soda can, while the slightly bigger Nebula series is about the size of a lantern. No matter which size you go for, they include a built-in battery to use when you’re away from power.

Anker Nebular Mars II projector

Price: $429.99

Bottom line: if you want a projector for movies nights outside, this is the one for you.

The Good

• Four-hour battery life lets you watch movies anywhere
• Uses Android as an operating system, letting you plug in a USB drive or download apps directly
• Includes an HDMI port to use other devices
• Automatic focus and keystone correction
• Lightweight and easy to pack
• Has built-in speakers that are surprisingly good
• Great images in low light

The Bad

• Proprietary charger
• Doesn’t include the Play Store
• Not bright enough to use during the day, or in a conference room

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Anker provided this projector for the review, and I’ve been using it off and on since it arrived on June 20. This includes using it inside my apartment during the day and at night, inside a workplace during the day, and outdoors at night.

Anker Nebula Mars II What’s included

Inside the box, you’ll find the projector itself, the remote with batteries, the manual, and a proprietary power adapter.

Anker Nebula Mars II Design

The design of this projector reminds me of a lantern; so much that I wish it came in green for my weekend cosplays. The front has a plastic piece to protect the lens; slide this down and the projector will automatically turn on. Right above this are four LEDs so you can estimate the battery level. While there is a remote included, all of the controls you would need are also on the top of the projector.

Around back, you’ll find the charging port, HDMI-in, USB and 3.5mm audio-out, as well as a reset button and infrared sensor. It’s a shame this projector doesn’t charge with USB-C, since competing projectors have included that. The fan and vents are also located on the back, and the speaker grills wrap around the other sides. Finally, the bottom has a threaded hole to place the projector on a camera tripod.

Anker Nebula Mars II Features

The Nebular Mars uses Android for its operating system, but it’s not Android TV or another familiar variant. Instead, it has been customized by Anker to provide a “big screen” experience with tiles instead of app icons, and other features similar to other TV operating systems. There’s no Google Play Store, but mainstays like YouTube, Amazon Video and Netflix are available from Anker’s app store. It appears most apps in the store are built for Android TV, so it won’t be like you’re using an application designed for a smartphone on a 100-inch screen.

The USB port on the back can be used to playback movies from a thumb drive (formatted as FAT32), but it can also be used to power a streaming stick that is plugged into the HDMI port. This will shorten the projector’s battery life, but you’ll still get hours of playback.

Anker Nebula Mars II Experience

The lamp clocks in at 300 lumens, which relegates it to only being used at night. I’ve tried using this during the day, both for watching movies and presenting materials in meetings. In both cases, it just doesn’t get bright enough to see the subject without straining your eyes. Anker isn’t really advertising this for business use, but it’s worth noting. They do show a photo of someone using it in a living room in the daytime, which would just be an unpleasant experience.

Let the sun go down, and it’s much better. This projector can produce a 100-inch image when it’s placed 10.1 feet from the wall or screen, making it perfect for a campsite or a backyard. There’s also automatic keystone correction and focusing, so all you have to do is just place the projector down and let it do the work of making the image look great.

So how’s the picture quality? Great, in relative terms. This is a 720p projector, which won’t blow you away, but it’ll work well enough with all of your media. The projector can accept sources up to 1080p resolution, so leave your UHD Blu Ray rips at home. One more trick up its sleeve: the projector can pair with your smartphone and act as a Bluetooth speaker. The speakers are great given the size, and should be enough to keep everyone happy during movie time.

Using the projector is a treat. It takes just a few moments to boot up, focus, and then start playing whatever media you have. If you’re somewhere you have an Internet connection, you can use your favorite streaming services. Otherwise, just plug in an HDMI device or thumb drive and watch your movies that way.

Anker Nebula Mars II Should you buy it?

Maybe. This won’t be a good replacement for a home theater system, but if you do a lot of camping or want an easy way to watch movies in your backyard, it’s hard to go wrong. I can’t overstate how easy it is to just turn on this projector and go — it will focus itself in an instant. Anker has most streaming services covered in their store, and you can sideload any apps that are missing since this is running Android.

4
out of 5

The Anker Nebula Mars II is a great portable projector with a couple of big caveats. If you stick to projecting in the dark, you’ll be very happy with it.

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Samsung just opened the world’s largest phone manufacturing plant

The factory is capable of producing 120 million phones each year.

In Noida, India, Samsung formally opened up a brand-new smartphone manufacturing plant on Monday, July 9. According to Samsung, it’s the largest phone factory on the planet.

The factory will be used to produce both flagship smartphones and budget ones that cost under $100, and during a single year, Samsung says it’ll be able to produce up to 120 million handsets.

Commenting on the plant’s launch, Faisal Kawoosa (a lead at research firm CMR Pvt.) said:

The opportunity is just massive. Such a large facility will help Samsung cater to the huge demand in a country of 1.3 billion people where there are only 425 million smartphone users.

Per numbers from IDC, India saw just 124 million smartphone shipments in 2017. That’s a lot of phones, but for a country as large as India, there’s still plenty of room to grow.

Speaking of Samsung phones, we’re just a month away from the Galaxy Note 9. Are you looking forward to it?

Sunrise Gold Galaxy S9 hands-on: Enjoy the view

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Deals: Anker One-Day Sale, Exclusive RAVPower Portable Battery Discount, and More

Last week, Amazon announced that its annual Prime Day sale event will be held one week from today, on July 16. Ahead of the event, Amazon has begun Prime Day countdown discounts, which today includes a collection of solid deals on Anker power banks, chargers, wireless chargers, and cables.

As with the upcoming Prime Day event, these Anker deals require you to have an Amazon Prime subscription to see the savings. Today’s countdown savings also include a 50-inch Hitachi 4K TV for $289.99, down from $379.99, 30 percent discounts on Ecovacs robot vacuums, and more. For the Anker deals, check out the list below and be sure to place your order before they expire later tonight:

• Powerline USB-C to A 3.0 Cable (3 pack, 3ft) – $10.98, down from $14.99

• Powerline+ Lightning Cable (10ft, Red) – $12.59, down from $17.99

• Wireless Charging Pad With 12W Wall Charger – $12.59, down from $22.99

• PowerCore 5,000 mAh Power Bank – $13.99, down from $19.99

• Roav by Anker 30W Car Charger – $15.99, down from $21.99

• USB Type-C Premium 5-Port 60W USB Wall Charger – $24.74, down from $49.99

• PowerCore II 20,000 mAh Power Bank – $39.89, down from $56.99

• PowerCore+ 26,800 mAh Power Bank with Charger – $89.99, down from $119.99

Elsewhere on Amazon, RAVPower is offering a super low price on its 16,750mAh dual-USB battery pack for the iPhone just for MacRumors readers, dropping the price tag to the lowest it’s ever been.

To get the deal, enter the code RUMORS010 at checkout, which discounts the charger from $26.99 to $21.99. This discount code will be good through tomorrow, July 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

As a reminder, our full list of exclusive RAVPower codes are still live as well, through July 31:

• Dual USB Car Charger with 3ft Lightning Cable – $8.39 with code RUMORS025, down from $11.99

• Ultra-Slim Wireless Charging Pad – $8.49 with code RUMORS083, down from $11.99

• 2-Pack 3ft + 6ft MFi Certified iPhone Cables – $11.99 with code RUMORS003, down from $15.99

• 40W 4-Port USB Wall Charger – $13.99 with code RUMORSC26, down from $17.99

• 10,000 mAh Portable Charger – $20.99 with code RUMORS077, down from $29.99

• 10,000 mAh Solar Portable Charger – $23.99 with code RUMORS082, down from $29.99

• 10W Fast Wireless Charging Pad – $23.99 with code RUMORS066, down from $37.99

• 22,000 mAh Power Bank with USB-C – $37.49 with code RUMORS009, down from $49.99

• 10,400 mAh 7.5W Portable Charger – $49.99 with code RUMORS080, down from $65.99

• 27,000 mAh AC Plug Universal Power Bank – $99.99 with code RUMORS055, down from $129.99

For more deals, including four free months of Apple Music for new subscribers over at Groupon, head over to our full Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Samsung Galaxy S10+ Expected to Have Triple-Lens Rear Camera and Dual-Lens Front Camera

While the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ were only released nearly four months ago, rumors have already surfaced about the Galaxy S10 lineup.

Galaxy S9
Korean website The Bell today reported that Samsung plans to release a trio of new Galaxy S smartphones next year, including the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and a lower-priced version of the Galaxy S10. The latter device is expected to be the first-ever entry-level Galaxy S model, not a Galaxy A or Galaxy J model.

If that sounds familiar, it is because Apple is widely rumored to introduce a trio of new iPhones this September, including a second-generation iPhone X, a larger 6.5-inch version dubbed the iPhone X Plus, and a lower-priced 6.1-inch iPhone, with some but not all features of the iPhone X.

The report adds that the Galaxy S10+ will feature a triple-lens rear camera system and a dual-lens front camera system. The rear system is said to include the same 12-megapixel wide-angle lens and 12-megapixel telephoto lens as the Galaxy S9+, in addition to an all-new 16-megapixel 120º ultra-wide-angle lens.

Again, if that sounds familiar, it is because Apple is rumored to introduce at least one new iPhone with a triple-lens rear camera in 2019.

The standard-sized Galaxy S10 is expected to have a single-lens front camera and a triple-lens rear camera, while the entry-level Galaxy S10 is said to sport a single-lens front camera and a dual-lens rear camera.

Last week, The Bell reported that the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ will feature an in-display fingerprint scanner, and possibly 3D facial recognition, similar to Face ID on the iPhone X. These would likely be the only biometric authentication options, as Samsung reportedly plans to exclude iris scanning on the devices.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ at Mobile World Congress next February and release the smartphones in March.

Tags: Samsung, Galaxy S10
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AT&T and Warner Media Leadership Outline Changes Coming to HBO Over the Next Year

On June 19, former AT&T executive and new chief executive of Warner Media John Stankey spoke to a group of HBO employees about changes coming to the premium cable company in the near future. The discussion was held in the wake of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, which owns HBO, and also included HBO’s chief executive officer Richard Plepler.

The telecommunications company previously stated that it would take a “hands-off approach” to running HBO, but The New York Times this weekend reported on Stankey’s speech and it sounds like that might not be the case. According to a video of the discussion, Stankey explained Warner Media’s intent to align HBO more alongside streaming companies like Netflix in order to increase its subscriber base, although he refrained from referencing Netflix by name.

This means creating more content that releases at a faster pace, in comparison to HBO’s current stable of limited Sunday night-focused shows. According to Stankey, the goal is to increase the hours per day viewers watch HBO, which is currently less than rivals like Netflix and Hulu because of HBO’s smaller catalog.

“We need hours a day,” Mr. Stankey said, referring to the time viewers spend watching HBO programs. “It’s not hours a week, and it’s not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people’s hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes.”

Continuing this thread, Stankey specifically stated that more hours of user engagement means that Warner Media can “get more data and information” to monetize through advertisements and new subscription options.

“I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow’s world.”

As the discussion continued, Stankey appeared to have butted heads slightly with Plepler on the topic of HBO’s monetization, which Stankey believes can be increased through his new methods. Plepler claimed that the company is already a consistent moneymaker, to which Stankey responded: “Yes, yes you do… Just not enough.”

Stankey and Warner Media hope that an increased output of original content will boost HBO’s 40 million paid subscribers in the United States, which Stankey said as of now “was not going to cut it.” Comparatively, Netflix earlier this year had 55 million U.S. subscribers and Hulu in May had 20 million.

HBO’s business currently expands across paid cable add-on packages, the connected HBO GO app, and standalone HBO NOW app. Stankey said that Warner Media’s plans will kick off soon and “there’s going to be more work” for HBO employees over the next twelve months, which he called a “dog year.”

While Apple wasn’t mentioned in the discussion, the Cupertino company is another upcoming competitor in the streaming TV market, with plans to debut more than a dozen television shows beginning sometime in 2019. Although the distribution of these shows remains unclear, the company is rumored to be planning a bundle with original TV content, Apple Music, and more.

Tags: AT&T, HBO, Time Warner
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Apple Releases tvOS 11.4.1 for 4th and 5th Generation Apple TV Models

Apple today released tvOS 11.4.1, a minor update to the tvOS operating system designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models. tvOS 11.4.1 comes more than a month after the release of tvOS 11.4, an update that introduced support for AirPlay 2.

tvOS 11.4.1 can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System –> Software Update. Apple TV owners who have automatic software updates turned on will be upgraded to the tvOS 11.4.1 automatically.

As a minor 11.x.x update tvOS 11.4.1 focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes to address issues that were discovered following the release of tvOS 11.4. Apple does not provide release notes for tvOS updates, so we may not know exactly what’s included in the new software.

tvOS 11.4.1 is likely to be one of the last updates to the tvOS 11 operating system, as Apple in June introduced tvOS 12, which will be released to the public this fall and is currently available to developers and public beta testers.

tvOS 12 introduces support for Dolby Atmos, a new zero sign-on feature, Password AutoFill from the iPhone, and new aerial screensavers created in collaboration with the International Space Station. More information on tvOS 12 can be found in our tvOS 12 roundup.
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Apple Releases New watchOS 4.3.2 Software for Apple Watch

Apple today released watchOS 4.3.2, a small update to the watchOS 4 operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 4.3.2 comes more than one month after the release of watchOS 4.3.1, a minor update.

watchOS 4.3.2 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.

As a 4.x.x update, watchOS 4.3.2 is minor in scale, focusing on bug fixes and under the hood performance improvements. No major new features were discovered during the beta testing period.

watchOS 4.3.2 may be one of the last updates to the watchOS 4 operating system now that Apple has shifted its focus to watchOS 5. watchOS 5 is available to developers and will see a public release this fall.

Introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, watchOS 5 brings a push-to-talk Walkie-Talkie mode, support for automatic workout detection, a Podcasts app, new features for the Siri watch face, and more. For full details on what’s coming in watchOS 5, make sure to check out our watchOS 5 roundup.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Apple Releases iOS 11.4.1 With Bug Fixes

Apple today released iOS 11.4.1, the fifteenth update to the iOS 11 operating system that was first introduced in September 2017. iOS 11.4.1 comes more than a month after the release of iOS 11.4, a major update that introduced support for Messages in iCloud and AirPlay 2.

iOS 11.4.1 is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings –> General –> Software Update. Eligible devices include the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch.

iOS 11.4.1 is a minor update that’s been introduced to address bugs that have been discovered since the launch of iOS 11.4, with no new features discovered during the beta testing period. According to Apple’s release notes, today’s update fixes an issue that prevented some users from viewing the last known location of their AirPods in Find My iPhone and it improves the reliability of syncing mail, contacts, and notes with Exchange accounts.

Today’s iOS 11.4.1 update may be one of the last updates that we see to the iOS 11 operating system.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple introduced iOS 12, the next-generation version of iOS. iOS 12 brings improvements like Group FaceTime, Screen Time for monitoring iPhone and iPad usage, Do Not Disturb improvements, Grouped Notifications, new Memoji and Animoji options, and more, with full details available in our iOS 12 roundup.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Releases New 11.4.1 Update for HomePod

Alongside the release of iOS 11.4.1, the latest update to the iOS operating system, Apple has also released new 11.4.1 software that’s designed for the HomePod.

The new HomePod software will be installed automatically on the HomePod after you update to iOS 11.4, but you can also manually update and check your software version by following the instructions in our HomePod software how to.

According to Apple’s release notes, the 11.4.1 update for the HomePod includes “general improvements for stability and quality,” with no further details provided.

The new software comes over a month after Apple released the 11.4 update for the HomePod, which introduced stereo support and multi-room audio functionality through AirPlay 2.

Related Roundup: HomePodBuyer’s Guide: HomePod (Buy Now)
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