Sonos is releasing an exclusive Play:5 Beastie Boys Edition smart speaker

Make some noise for this limited edition Sonos speaker.

The Sonos Play:5 is the largest, best-sounding smart speaker currently available from Sonos, and it’s about to receive an exclusive limited design that’ll make you fight for your right to buy it. In collaboration with the Beastie Boys, Sonos is bringing the Play:5 Beastie Boys Edition to stores later this year at the speaker’s regular price of $499 with all proceeds going to charity.

The Beastie Boys Edition of the speaker will feature a new logo design for the band by artist Barry McGee applied in red on its grille. It comes in monochromatic white otherwise, offering a clean aesthetic for any home. Inside the speaker are the Play:5’s standard set of six amplifiers with six speaker drivers. While it doesn’t include Alexa built-in like the Sonos One does, it can be controlled with your voice by connecting an Amazon Echo Dot or another Alexa-enabled device. You can also control it using the Sonos app on your iOS or Android device. That’ll allow you to stream music wirelessly from services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify once Wi-Fi is set-up.

Fans of the band will have an early chance to get their hands on a signed version of the new Play:5 speaker at the Beastie Boys Book: Live & Direct tour which begins on October 29 in New York City. The tour is planned alongside the release of the new Beastie Boys Book which covers the story of the band in the members’ own words for the first time ever.

At the upcoming shows, fans will be treated to readings from the book, conversations between the band members, a Beastie Boys exhibit, and the opportunity to enter to win an autographed Sonos Play:5 Beastie Boys Edition speaker. For those who aren’t lucky enough to win such a prize, you’ll be able to purchase the new edition of the speaker later this December via the Sonos website and select retailers which are yet to be announced.

See at Sonos

Why you need a Pixel Stand to charge your Pixel 3 at 10 watts

To Qi or not to Qi, that is the question.

One of the great things about the Pixel 3 is its support for wireless charging. It took a while until Qi charging became ubiquitous on most popular phones — the Nexus 4 and 5 had it, but Google removed the feature with the Nexus 5X and 6P for lack of adoption — but brought it back with the Pixel 3. Now that it’s back, it’s become another thing that doesn’t work exactly how everyone thought it would.

Wireless charging doesn’t only mean Qi charging.

Google says the Pixel 3 is capable of wirelessly charging at speeds of 10 watts. There are complicated formulas that determine how fast a phone can charge, but generally, the more wattage being used by the phone the faster it charges. The issue is that the Pixel 3 only charges at 10 watts on wireless chargers certified for the “Made for Google” program, and right now the Pixel Stand is the only Made for Google charging base. (Belkin has announced one, but it’s not available yet.) On any other Qi-compatible wireless charging pad it charges at 5 watts — half the power, which means it takes twice as long to charge.

Google hasn’t disclosed its reasoning for developing its own fast wireless charging standard, but here’s the likely scenario.

The Qi standard

Version 1.2.3 (the latest publically available version) of the Qi standard states that “The Power Class 0 power transfer system enables the transfer of at least 5 W and up to 30 W of load power. The actual amount of power that can be transferred between the power transmitter and power receiver is subject to negotiation between them during the communication phases that occur before power transfer.” Power Class 0 is for what the standard describes as “low-power devices” and it includes phones.

On a regular wireless charger, your Pixel 3 will charge at 5 watts, which is slower than it would at 10 watts.

We know that Google isn’t using the baseline Qi standard to negotiate charging. The company told Android Police that it has developed a “secure handshake” when a Pixel 3 is placed on a wireless charger, and only chargers that pass this security check will charge at 10 watts. Chargers that do not pass are limited to 5-watt charging.

No details about the secure handshake are available, but an official statement from Google reads:

We don’t limit third-party devices, in fact, we’re working with our partners in the Made for Google program to get fast 10W chargers certified for use with Pixel 3 (Belkin announced its 10W Pixel 3 charger already which will launch in the coming weeks). Pixel Stand and Pixel 3 work together through the protocol we’ve developed for fast charging. Everything else charges at the industry standard Qi 5W.”

Technically, Google supports Qi charging and 10-watt wireless charging on the Pixel 3. But it does not support 10-watt wireless charging using the Qi standard.

The biggest question we have is why Google is doing this. We were told at the Pixel 3 event that a custom authentication communication was developed by Google so the phone knows when you’re using your stand at home, or at work, versus a public charger, and displays content accordingly. For example, the Pixel Stand allows for improved Assistant support and a photo frame “ambient mode”. This makes sense and would explain the “secure” tag placed on the handshake between phone and charger. But it does nothing to explain why standard Qi charging is capped at 5 watts.

Until Google tells us all more about what it is doing, why it is doing it, and (ideally) how it is doing it, this is all we know. It’s frustrating, but not as frustrating as knowing you’ll need to buy an expensive branded charger to get fast wireless charging for your Pixel 3.

That said, the Pixel Stand is a pretty great wireless charger — if you can stomach its $79 price tag.

Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL review
• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 3 vs. Pixel 3 XL: Which should you buy?
• Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL specifications
• Join our Pixel 3 forums

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Steve Carell to Star in Apple’s Morning Show Drama Alongside Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston

Steve Carell, best known for his stint on “The Office,” is joining Apple’s morning show drama, where he will star alongside Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, reports Variety.

Since the U.S. version of “The Office” ended in 2013, Carell has starred in a number of movies, but the morning show drama will mark his first return to television.

Image via Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock
Apple’s morning show drama was one of the first television projects that it greenlit, and details on the show first surfaced in November 2017.

Set to star Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, the show, which is still unnamed as of yet, is based on Brian Stelter’s non-fiction book “Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV.” It will explore the drama-filled lives of the men and women who star on morning talk shows.

Carell will play Mitch Kessler, a morning show anchor who is “struggling to maintain relevance in a changing media landscape,” according to Variety.

Apple has already signed on for two 10-episode seasons of the show, which is also being produced by Aniston and Witherspoon.

Apple has more than a dozen original television shows in the works, the first of which could debut in March 2019 through a rumored video service that Apple is planning to launch.

At least some of the content included in the upcoming video service could be free to watch through the Apple TV app.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12Tag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitionsBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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Facebook Rolling Out Redesigned Messenger App With Simplified Interface and Customizable Chat Bubbles

Facebook today announced that it’s rolling out a redesigned, simplified version of the Messenger app on a global basis starting today.

Messenger 4, as Facebook is calling it, will refocus on conversations, making it easier to navigate through the app. Instead of nine separate tabs, there will be three tabs, with conversations quickly accessible through the “Chats” tab. Quick access to the camera for sharing photos and for video chats is also included in the Chats tab.

In the new “People” tab, Messenger users will be able to find friends, see who is active, and watch people’s Stories, while the new “Discover” tab will let users find businesses to get deals, play games, follow news stories, and more.

Conversations with people can be customized using color gradients. With color gradients, multiple colors can be used for chat bubbles, and the colors will change as you scroll up and down a conversation.

According to Facebook, the new Messenger app will roll out to customers “over the coming weeks” so not everyone will have access to the refreshed design right away.

In the near future, Facebook also plans to roll out a Dark Mode that will cut down on glare from the phone at night.

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
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Multiple iCloud Services Experiencing Issues

Several iCloud services are experiencing problems this afternoon, according to Apple’s System Status Page.

iCloud Drive, iCloud Mail, iCloud Keychain, iCloud Contacts, iCloud Calendar, Mail Drop, Find My iPhone, and more are performing “slower than normal” for some users.

The problem has been ongoing since 8:51 a.m. Pacific Time this morning, and there’s no word on when it might clear up.

If you’ve been noticing problems with iCloud services, this outage is the reason why. We’ll update this post when the problem is resolved.

Tag: iCloud
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Apple’s Upcoming TV Service to Launch in 100+ Countries in 2019, Starting With the U.S.

Apple’s rumored television service that is in the works to showcase its original TV shows will be available in more than 100 countries, according to a new report from The Information citing details obtained from three inside sources.

Apple is said to be planning to launch the service in the United States in the first half of 2019, with a global expansion to follow later in the year.

According to The Information, Apple’s original content will be made available for free to Apple device owners, a rumor we heard earlier this month from CNBC.

While Apple’s content will be available at no cost, Apple will encourage users to sign up for television subscriptions from other cable networks such as HBO or STARZ.

Apple has reportedly started negotiating with content providers about what it will pay to carry TV shows and movies, but programming is not expected to be the same in each country. It is also not quite clear how Apple content will be positioned alongside content from third-party services.

It is unclear how the original programming will appear next to media companies’ channels, which is an issue as some try to negotiate with Apple about getting their shows on the app, said another person familiar with these discussions.

By making third-party content available via the streaming service and launching it in most countries around the world, Apple will be able to better compete with Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, both of which are available in 190+ countries.

Apple has more than a dozen original television shows in the works, and some with high-profile actors and actresses that are likely to attract a number of viewers.

Apple has also inked deals with Oprah Winfrey and Sesame Workshop for new television shows, including children’s programs.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12Tag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitionsBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums

Nvidia’s new GTX 1060 6GB could counter AMD’s rumored RX 590

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

It looks like AMD isn’t the only company looking to refresh midrange cards from two years ago. Following on from rumors of AMD working on a new RX 590 card based on a revised Polaris 30 GPU, Nvidia has debuted an iteration of its most popular midrange card, the GTX 1060. This new version has faster memory, potentially providing greater competition for AMD’s as-yet-unreleased refresh.

As much as Nvidia’s new RTX-series cards are exciting, they are priced high enough that the majority of gamers and consumers are unlikely to ever adopt them. The Steam Hardware Survey shows us that the most popular cards are time and again the far more affordable — they’re our favorites too. No doubt those figures would be even more skewed if GPU pricing problems of the past couple of years hadn’t prevented many gamers from upgrading. That’s why a refresh of both AMD and Nvidia’s midrange cards is so important, despite the GPUs offering only small overall improvements.

Where AMD’s RX 590 boosted core clock speed, though, Nvidia has instead focused on the memory of its new GTX 1060 refresh. It upgrades the GDDR5 from the original GTX 1060 6GB to GDDR5X. While the official specifications suggest that hasn’t actually increased speed, the newer, more capable standard should see a rise in overall bandwidth leading to greater performance for the card.

It does appear that the revised GTX 1060 has replaced the older variant on Nvidia’s official site, but as TechRadar points out, that listing doesn’t mention other GTX 1060 revisions, like one sporting 9Gbps GDDR5 memory, either.

It may be that we’ll need to wait for third parties to adopt this new standard to find out what kind of clocks and overall memory bandwidth will result from the upgrade. Pricing is arguably the more important factor, however, as if this new card retains standard GTX 1060 pricing of around $280, then it could prove to be a competitive entry in the mid-market.

However, with AMD’s RX 580 still offering comparable (or in some cases better) performance than the existing 1060 6GB, the RX 590 could prove to be a better midrange card still. If it’s priced competitively, that is. If it comes in at around the $250 price point the RX 580 currently occupies, Nvidia’s refresh may seem far less desirable.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Asus claims ‘world’s thinnest’ title with its new Zephyrus S gaming laptop
• Leaked benchmarks suggest rumored AMD GPU could be king of midrange graphics
• Nvidia vs. AMD
• AMD RX 500 graphics card refresh may launch in 2019 with die shrink, clock boost
• Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 might launch next year without ray tracing

What to expect from Apple’s October 30 event: New MacBooks, iPads

If you weren’t satisfied with three iPhones and a new Apple Watch this year, Apple announced it’s hosting another hardware event on October 30th, sending out invites to a number of media outlets (including yours truly). For those not keeping score, this is Apple’s fourth event this year, following the iPad event in May, June’s WWDC 2018, and the iPhone reveal event in September.

What’s left for Apple to realistically announce on October 30? Quite a lot, as it turns out — we’re expecting to finally see some of the year’s hottest new Apple tech, including a new MacBook, an updated iPad Pro, and possibly even a new Mac Mini. Here’s what to expect from Apple’s October 30 event.

An updated MacBook Air

The MacBook Air is the oldest model of the MacBook currently sold by Apple, and it’s long filled a lower-cost slot that the MacBook 12 and MacBook Pro simply can’t fulfill. But while the Air’s staying power is clearly strong, it’s suffering from a loss of identity as the smallest and thinnest MacBook since regular MacBooks have gone on a serious diet. The design looks outdated for a 2018 laptop, the fifth-generation i5 is old, and the display is not great.

An updated MacBook Air is rumored to tackle a lot of the common issues with the current model, and would come with a Retina display, modern USB-C ports, and an eighth-generation Intel processor. Bezels would likely be slimmed down, and a larger display could be present as a result.

The MacBook Air has been the “affordable” MacBook for some time now, and we expect that to probably stay the same with an updated model — expect a price of $1,000 or lower.

Read more

MacBook Air 2018 news

iPad Pro 2018

iPhones got a huge new style update with the iPhone X, and many are expecting to see a similar design update come to the new iPad Pro. Along with the usual bump in specs, prospective iPad buyers can expect to see a significant drop in bezels surrounding the screen, along with a removal of the iconic home button. While there’s a limit on how much bezels can reasonably be reduced on a tablet-sized device — since you need them to hold the device — there’s still room to reduce bezels, based on the slimmer iPad 9.7 2018.

The removal of the home button will mean the new iPad Pro would rely entirely on Face ID for bio-based unlocking, which previous rumors suggested would not work in landscape mode. Thankfully, the most recent rumors claim Face ID will work in any orientation, so it’ll work on the iPad Pro even when docked with a keyboard. A new Apple Pencil might be introduced alongside the iPad Pro too, so expect to see more features for Apple’s stylus if that does happen.

Read more

iPad Pro 2018 news

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is another of Apple’s lines that hasn’t seen an update for some time — in this case, Apple hasn’t released a new Mac Mini since 2014. For comparison, that’s the same year Apple launched the iPhone 6, so it’s clear that the Mac’s smallest brother is well due an update.

An updated Mac Mini would see a big specs bump to an eight-generation Intel processor, would probably replace outdated hard drives with smaller solid state drives, and would also probably see the inclusion of some more modern ports — USB-C anyone? While the Mac Mini was usually intended for people who need a small machine tucked out of the way, a new design may also be in the works.

Read more

Mac Mini news

AirPods 2

You might feel it has barely been any time at all since the release of Apple’s AirPods, but you can be sure that Apple is working on an updated version to cash in on the success of the originals.

There are a lot of rumors circulating features that would be added to AirPods 2, and noise cancelling and water resistance seem to be at the top of the list. Being able to summon Siri with a hotword rather than tapping the earphones are just a few more features you may expect. Another claim holds Apple is working on getting some form of biometric functionality into its earphones — possibly a heart-rate sensor.

It’s not all about the earphones themselves too — a recent patent shows Apple is playing with the idea of adding a storage capacity to the Airpods case, and making them capable of storing music. That would certainly be a huge advantage — but don’t expect to see them yet. It’s far more likely we’ll see these in early 2019.

Read more

AirPods 2 news

AirPower

AFP Contributor/Getty Images

Apple first introduced the AirPower charger last year when it revealed the iPhone X’s wireless charging abilities — but we’ve seen precious little else of Apple’s multi-device-charging pad since that initial reveal.

Unfortunately it seems that AirPower may have been a little too much, even for Apple. Mention of the AirPower charger has disappeared from Apple’s website, and rumors say that heat management was an enormous issue with the mat, as were communication issues with devices.

It’s entirely possible that this project is completely dead for the time being, so don’t hold out much hope that we’ll be seeing it at the October 30 event. Might it get an update? Maybe, but Apple will probably prefer to ignore that AirPower ever existed. Don’t bet on this appearing on stage.

Read more

AirPower news

Editors’ Recommendations

• What to expect from Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• Is Apple planning an all-Mac keynote later this fall?
• Refreshed MacBook Air and iPad Pro are absent from Apple’s website leak
• Apple could announce a new MacBook this week. Here’s what we want to see
• Here’s everything we know about Apple’s AirPower wireless charging mat

What to expect from Apple’s October 30 event: New MacBooks, iPads

If you weren’t satisfied with three iPhones and a new Apple Watch this year, Apple announced it’s hosting another hardware event on October 30th, sending out invites to a number of media outlets (including yours truly). For those not keeping score, this is Apple’s fourth event this year, following the iPad event in May, June’s WWDC 2018, and the iPhone reveal event in September.

What’s left for Apple to realistically announce on October 30? Quite a lot, as it turns out — we’re expecting to finally see some of the year’s hottest new Apple tech, including a new MacBook, an updated iPad Pro, and possibly even a new Mac Mini. Here’s what to expect from Apple’s October 30 event.

An updated MacBook Air

The MacBook Air is the oldest model of the MacBook currently sold by Apple, and it’s long filled a lower-cost slot that the MacBook 12 and MacBook Pro simply can’t fulfill. But while the Air’s staying power is clearly strong, it’s suffering from a loss of identity as the smallest and thinnest MacBook since regular MacBooks have gone on a serious diet. The design looks outdated for a 2018 laptop, the fifth-generation i5 is old, and the display is not great.

An updated MacBook Air is rumored to tackle a lot of the common issues with the current model, and would come with a Retina display, modern USB-C ports, and an eighth-generation Intel processor. Bezels would likely be slimmed down, and a larger display could be present as a result.

The MacBook Air has been the “affordable” MacBook for some time now, and we expect that to probably stay the same with an updated model — expect a price of $1,000 or lower.

Read more

MacBook Air 2018 news

iPad Pro 2018

iPhones got a huge new style update with the iPhone X, and many are expecting to see a similar design update come to the new iPad Pro. Along with the usual bump in specs, prospective iPad buyers can expect to see a significant drop in bezels surrounding the screen, along with a removal of the iconic home button. While there’s a limit on how much bezels can reasonably be reduced on a tablet-sized device — since you need them to hold the device — there’s still room to reduce bezels, based on the slimmer iPad 9.7 2018.

The removal of the home button will mean the new iPad Pro would rely entirely on Face ID for bio-based unlocking, which previous rumors suggested would not work in landscape mode. Thankfully, the most recent rumors claim Face ID will work in any orientation, so it’ll work on the iPad Pro even when docked with a keyboard. A new Apple Pencil might be introduced alongside the iPad Pro too, so expect to see more features for Apple’s stylus if that does happen.

Read more

iPad Pro 2018 news

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is another of Apple’s lines that hasn’t seen an update for some time — in this case, Apple hasn’t released a new Mac Mini since 2014. For comparison, that’s the same year Apple launched the iPhone 6, so it’s clear that the Mac’s smallest brother is well due an update.

An updated Mac Mini would see a big specs bump to an eight-generation Intel processor, would probably replace outdated hard drives with smaller solid state drives, and would also probably see the inclusion of some more modern ports — USB-C anyone? While the Mac Mini was usually intended for people who need a small machine tucked out of the way, a new design may also be in the works.

Read more

Mac Mini news

AirPods 2

You might feel it has barely been any time at all since the release of Apple’s AirPods, but you can be sure that Apple is working on an updated version to cash in on the success of the originals.

There are a lot of rumors circulating features that would be added to AirPods 2, and noise cancelling and water resistance seem to be at the top of the list. Being able to summon Siri with a hotword rather than tapping the earphones are just a few more features you may expect. Another claim holds Apple is working on getting some form of biometric functionality into its earphones — possibly a heart-rate sensor.

It’s not all about the earphones themselves too — a recent patent shows Apple is playing with the idea of adding a storage capacity to the Airpods case, and making them capable of storing music. That would certainly be a huge advantage — but don’t expect to see them yet. It’s far more likely we’ll see these in early 2019.

Read more

AirPods 2 news

AirPower

AFP Contributor/Getty Images

Apple first introduced the AirPower charger last year when it revealed the iPhone X’s wireless charging abilities — but we’ve seen precious little else of Apple’s multi-device-charging pad since that initial reveal.

Unfortunately it seems that AirPower may have been a little too much, even for Apple. Mention of the AirPower charger has disappeared from Apple’s website, and rumors say that heat management was an enormous issue with the mat, as were communication issues with devices.

It’s entirely possible that this project is completely dead for the time being, so don’t hold out much hope that we’ll be seeing it at the October 30 event. Might it get an update? Maybe, but Apple will probably prefer to ignore that AirPower ever existed. Don’t bet on this appearing on stage.

Read more

AirPower news

Editors’ Recommendations

• What to expect from Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• Is Apple planning an all-Mac keynote later this fall?
• Refreshed MacBook Air and iPad Pro are absent from Apple’s website leak
• Apple could announce a new MacBook this week. Here’s what we want to see
• Here’s everything we know about Apple’s AirPower wireless charging mat

The Pixel’s Night Sight mode is currently available (but hidden)

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Pixel range has always had some of the best smartphone cameras in the world, and Google promised to add to its impressive arsenal with additional features like Night Sight — a low-light mode that uses A.I. and the Pixel’s super-fast HDR processing to dramatically boost photos taken in low light. It seems Google’s almost ready to release the feature, too, as the latest update to Google Camera contains a fully functional version of the mode.

But don’t run off to find a dark enough spot to test it out just yet — it’s not currently enabled, and you’ll need to do some jiggery-pokery in the camera app’s code before you can access it for yourself. Thankfully, someone’s already done the hard work. If you’re really looking forward to testing out the results of Google’s newest mode, then you can download the modified APK and test it out for yourself by sideloading it onto any Pixel phone.

Since this isn’t an official app, you take on the installing of this app at your own risk. It will also install as a separate app, so make sure you launch the right one if you do take the plunge. Since this isn’t the final release, it’s also likely Google is putting the final touches on the Night Sight mode — so it’s possible the actual release will be even better than the example pictures taken with this sideloaded app.

We haven’t had a chance to test out the app for ourselves just yet — we need to wait for it to get dark, folks — but we’ll be sending one unlucky soul out into the cold dark as soon as it’s feasibly possible. Until then, XDA Developers has released some comparison shots that show off just how good the mode seems to be. While some images taken with a strong background light come out slightly overexposed, the majority of the images show off some utterly amazing transformations.

Not rocking a Pixel phone? Unfortunately this APK will only work with the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, and the Pixel 3, and Pixel 3 XL. But since it’s software-based it’s possible someone will adapt an APK to suit your phone soon.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google Pixel 3 XL review
• Google Pixel 3 review
• The best smartphones of 2018
• The news is stressful, but easier on the eyes with new Google News dark theme
• Here’s everything Google announced at its October 9 event