Technology

Apple is planning to launch a new 10.8-inch iPad and a new iPad mini with a screen that could be as large as 9 inches, according to a new investor note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo obtained by MacRumors. The note also mentions a potential 2022 release date for Apple’s rumored augmented reality glasses. The new 10.8-inch iPad will launch in the second half of this year, while the new iPad mini, which will have a screen size that’s anywhere between 8.5 and 9 inches, will launch in the first half of 2021, according to Kuo. Both will have affordable price points, says Kuo. It’s unclear exactly how these new iPads might slot into Apple’s current iPad lineup It’s unclear exactly how these new iPads might slot into Apple’s current iPad lineup or if they would be replacing existing models. The ...

Facebook’s new video chat product, Messenger Rooms, is now available to everyone on both mobile and desktop, the company announced on Thursday. The product is a more feature-rich and expanded version of the existing Facebook Messenger’s video calling function, and it allows up to 50 people to chat on video with no time limit through either the main Facebook app or through the dedicated Messenger one. Facebook says you can set limits on who can join, or you can make it public to anyone with the link even if they don’t have a Facebook account. “You can start and share rooms on Facebook through News Feed, Groups and Events, so it’s easy for you to drop by whenever you want,” writes Stan Chudnovsky, Facebook’s vice president of Messenger, in a blog post published today. “You can choose who can...

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is pushing back the deadline for official bids to make its next-generation mail truck because of “the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Postal Service and supplier operations.” The delay, which was first reported by Trucks.com, comes as the Postal Service is seeking billions of dollars in emergency funding as part of the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The deadline for bids was supposed to be March 27th, but is now July 14th, according to the USPS. The program could award up to $6 billion in contracts to one or multiple bidders, and it’s expected to result in the manufacturing of nearly 200,000 new mail trucks. Some of the bidders have been working on all-electric versions, others have explored hyb...

Sucker Punch Productions has released a new 18-minute gameplay trailer for its upcoming open-world samurai game Ghost of Tsushima, showcasing exploration, combat, and customization elements of the game. The new trailer marks the first real footage of Ghost of Tsushima that Sucker Punch has shown since E3 2018 when the studio first showcased the game’s mix of swordplay and stealth. Since then, Sucker Punch has also released a story trailer introducing players to the main protagonist, Jin Sakai. The footage shows off aspects of exploration of the island of Tsushima, where players will be able to summon a ghost and freely travel around the world. A gameplay element lets players summon a gust a wind to direct them toward their goal as an unobtrusive guide. Players can also be guided toward sec...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which makes Apple’s A-series chips, plans to build an advanced chip factory in Arizona, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plant would make 5-nanometer transistor chips for TSMC, which the company has been testing with customers in Taiwan over the past several months, the report states. TSMC’s board made the decision to build the plant earlier this week at a meeting in Taiwan and may officially announced the plans as early as Friday, according to the WSJ. The plans call for the factory to begin producing the chips by the end of 2023. It’s not yet clear what financial incentives the company may receive from state or federal government, but the WSJ reports that the State and Commerce departments are involved in the plans. In addition to Apple...

Tetris Effect, the trippy musical VR take on Tetris that won plaudits in 2018 from people like… me, is now available on the Oculus Quest headset. The game was originally released for the PlayStation 4 and came to the Epic Games Store on PC last year. Tetris Effect is one of the most beloved VR games out there and the Oculus Quest is my favorite VR headset, so I would describe this as good news. I’ve spent some time with the Quest version and, well, it’s Tetris Effect on the Quest. It’s definitely taken a slight visual hit in the transition to three-year-old mobile hardware, but it still looks crisp enough on the Quest’s OLED screen. And, as with every other game for the Quest, it’s wonderful to play without wires and to be able to jump in right away with minimal fuss. The biggest thi...

It’s the early 2000s. You stay up late to watch anime on your TV hoping your parents don’t hear. Next thing you know, you hear the iconic intro to Cowboy Bebop play, and all is well in the world. The Japanese band Seatbelts — which performed Cowboy Bebop’s opening theme, “Tank!” — grouped up recently to assemble an at-home performance for fans. The performance is every bit as fast-paced and energetic as the song itself, with the video edited to quickly cut between various band members, almost replicating the vibe and tone of the anime’s intro. The Cowboy Bebop opening animation is less than two minutes long. Fortunately, the Seatbelts played the full version of “Tank!,” lasting closer to four minutes long. Often regarded as one of many “gateway series” for people interested in getting into...

Google’s Chrome browser will begin blocking resource-heavy ads starting in late August, the company announced today (via VentureBeat). By not displaying those resource-heavy ads, Chrome could ease the strain on your phone’s battery or your home network capacity. “We have recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a disproportionate share of device resources, such as battery and network data, without the user knowing about it,” said Marshall Vale, a product manager on the Chrome team in a blog. “These ads (such as those that mine cryptocurrency, are poorly programmed, or are unoptimized for network usage) can drain battery life, saturate already strained networks, and cost money.” If an ad is using too many resources, Chrome will show an error page in the frame where th...

A team of Amazon engineers from its drone delivery unit worked with a group of 3D printing volunteers to develop reusable face shields for frontline workers, the company announced in a blog post Thursday. Amazon Prime Air’s mechanical design and hardware teams adapted the design for the shields from the Washington State 3D Face Shield Hub, upgrading the shields to be more comfortable and the design more practical based on feedback from medical professionals. The new design, for instance, has fewer sharp corners that could snag on hair or clothing and a headband that reduces the amount of pressure on the user’s forehead. The face shield design has been approved by the NIH “When you think of Amazon you don’t naturally think of hardware design,” Amazon vice president of robotics Brad Porter w...

The Epic Games Store has been counting down to the launch of an unnamed free title at 11AM ET today, and we learned last night that game would be Rockstar’s smash hit Grand Theft Auto V, thanks to an early tweet posted by Epic Games’ official Twitter account. However, since the clock passed 11AM ET, the Epic Games Store has been down entirely, presumably as people have been refreshing the site trying to claim the free game. Epic has acknowledged that the store is experiencing issues: We are currently experiencing high traffic on the Epic Games Store. We are aware that users may be encountering slow loading times, 500 errors, or launcher crashing at this time and we are actively working to scale. We’ll provide an update as soon as we can. — Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) May 14, 2020 A...

A group of child privacy advocates has filed a complaint against TikTok with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the video app violated an agreement to protect children on its platform, The New York Times reported. TikTok paid a $5.7 million fine to the FTC in February 2019 over allegations that an earlier version of its app, called Musical.ly, violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing users younger than 13 to sign up without parental consent. Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok also agreed to remove all videos previously uploaded by anyone under the age of 13. But the coalition of privacy advocates, led by the Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, found videos from 2016 posted by children under 13 were still ...