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October 19, 2021

ā˜• Good morning! Paula here again, but Nick's back at the helm tomorrow. Our neighbor just got a puppy, so I think I know what I'm doing with the rest of Tuesday!

Apple's new MacBook Pro kicks things up a notch
MacBook Pro 2021 Specs and Features
Apple

Appleā€™s Unleashed event yesterday launched a new redesigned MacBook Pro, two new chips, the AirPods 3, and a couple of extra surprises.

  • Rumors and leaks were mostly on point: We saw the new 14ā€³ and 16ā€³ MacBook Pros, withĀ more ports, a row of full-height function keys, and significantly reduced bordersā€¦
  • And that notch made an appearance, housing the new webcam with 1080p resolution, a wider aperture, and a larger image sensor.
  • Apple also added ProMotion to the MacBook Pro, with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate depending on what youā€™re doing.
  • Thereā€™s also MagSafe 3 charging with fast charging up to 50% in 30 minutes.
  • Both models are available with a choice of the latest M1 Pro or M1 Max chips ā€” more on those in a moment ā€” and up to 64GB of RAM.
  • Pricing for the 14ā€³ MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, while the 16ā€³ Pro starts from $2,499, available to order now with shipping October 25.

Missed the event? Catch-up with the MacBook Pro specs and all the other announcements.

Apple M1 Max Specs and Features
Apple

What else was new?

We also saw two new chips: the M1 Pro and M1 Max.Ā 

  • In a nutshell, the Pro is faster than last yearā€™s M1 chip, and the Max is, well, faster than the Pro.
  • Essentially, the M1 Pro has a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, with support for up to 32GB of RAM, while the M1 Max has the same 10-c0re CPU but a 32-core GPU and support for up to 64GB of RAM.

And Apple fulfilled our expectations with the Airpods 3 too:

AirPods 3
Apple
  • The 3rd-gen AirPods look like the AirPods Pro with improved sound quality, adaptive EQ, and support for spatial audio.
  • Theyā€™re available to order now for $179.
  • But the kicker here is theyā€™re sweat and water-resistant, so you can finally take them to the gym or on your run without worrying.
  • Thereā€™s also a new MagSafe charging case, which makes sense.

Meanwhile, the HomePod Mini got some new colors: The orange one is a standout.

Roundup

šŸ“± Itā€™s Pixel 6 launch day at 1PM ET: Weā€™ve already seen the first retail unboxing and leaked prices, now all thatā€™s left to do is waitā€¦ (Android Authority).

šŸ“¦ Google aims to double smartphone output with new Pixel 6: Itā€™s asked suppliers to produce over seven million units (Nikkei Asia).

šŸ”‹ Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 is tomorrow at 10AM ET: Nothingā€™s confirmed yet, but weā€™re likely to see new colors or customization options for the Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 (Android Authority).

šŸĀ A piece of cloth to polish your new Apple devices will cost you $19: Seems a bit much, but maybe if youā€™re already dropping almost $2,000 on a new MacBook Proā€¦ (The Verge).

šŸ•¹ļø Valve bans NFTs, Blockchain games on digital distribution service: Steamā€™s notifying creators itā€™s kicking Blockchain games from its platform (Axios) while Valveā€™s ā€œDeck Verifiedā€ program evaluates which games are ready for Steam Deck (Ars Technica).

šŸ•øļø Myth, busted: Spider silk might not have antibiotic properties at all: Itā€™s still amazingly tough, but wonā€™t cure what ails you (Ars Technica).

šŸŽ® Sony is testing a PS5 feature that automatically uploads captures to your phone: Only in Canada and Japan, for now, hopefully rolling out to the US and UK soonĀ  (GamesRadar).

šŸ¤– This Raspberry Pi add-on lets you control Lego robots: The Build HAT has four ports to control Lego Educationā€™s Spike components and thereā€™s a Python library too. (The Verge).

šŸš€ Hear sounds from Mars captured by NASAā€™s Perseverance rover: The missionā€™s recorded almost five hours of sounds that make you feel like youā€™re really there (NASA).

šŸŽ Horseback riding is more dangerous than football, according to new study: Itā€™s also more dangerous than skiing and auto racing, but you can pretend to be a cowboy, so thereā€™s that (Gizmodo).Ā 

Chart Tuesday

Hereā€™s a look at mobile traffic worldwide in an infographic from Visual Capitalist thatā€™s pretty interesting:

  • Videoā€™s driving global internet traffic, accounting for 49% of total mobile downstream traffic worldwide.
  • Perhaps surprisingly, social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter make up just 19% of mobile downstream traffic.
  • Marketplace apps like Google Play and iTunes account for just 6.3% of total mobile downstream traffic.

You can see the full version of the infographic and more details over at Visual Capitalist.

Have a great week!

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor

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