Новости за 12.10.2022

Apple is reportedly declining to offer new benefits to employees at its only unionized retail store. According to Bloomberg, the unionized workers at the store in Towson, Maryland, will need to negotiate for benefits with Apple as they hash out a collective bargaining agreement. The perks in question haven't been announced publicly as yet, but they're said to include additional health plan benefits in some jurisdictions, funds to take educational classes and a free Coursera membership.

Polestar has finally taken the wraps off its first electric SUV. The newly official Polestar 3 is now set to reach customers in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a starting price of $85,300 in the US. Pre-orders are available now. While that places the EV firmly in luxury territory, there will be a few advantages that could help it stand out.

The James Webb Telescope has captured an unusual dust pattern around two stars that can track the passage of time similar to ring patterns on the inside of tree trunks. The image, detailed by the European Space Agency and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows a pattern of 17 concentric rings made up of dust particles surrounding two stars known as Wolf-Rayet 140.

Following the official release of the Matter protocol earlier this month, today at its annual developer conference Samsung announced a deeper partnership with Google to make it easier for consumers to set up their smart home devices. 

Researchers who grew a brain cell culture in a lab claim that they taught the cells to play a version of Pong. Scientists from a biotech startup called Cortical Labs say it's the first demonstrated example of a so-called "mini-brain" being taught to carry out goal-directed tasks. ''It is able to take in information from an external source, process it and then respond to it in real time," Dr. Brett Kagan, lead author of a paper on the research that was published in Neuron, told the BBC.

After the big move to its custom Tensor chip last year, Google is continuing its quest to use machine learning to unlock enhanced apps and features on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. While the specs and design aren't major departures from its predecessors, the addition of smarter software, upgraded cameras for the Pixel 7 Pro, and aggressive pricing result in two of the best flagship phones for the money.

Years. Some of us in the industry have been waiting close to ten years for the long-rumored Pixel Watch. Now that it’s here, expectations are naturally high. After all, Google had all that time to finetune its first smartwatch, and everyone’s been anxious to see if this could be the product that rivals the Apple Watch. The Pixel Watch doesn’t just have an eye-catching design, but the software also seems promising. Wear OS has been a mess, but by collaborating with Samsung and finally integrating Fitbit’s health-tracking features... Читать дальше...

Google has begun rolling out initial passkey support for Android and Chrome. In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said web admins can start integrating the technology into their websites through the WebAuthn API. Similarly, developers can download the latest Google Play Services beta to start testing the authentication standard within their apps.

During its Surface event, Microsoft said Apple TV and Apple Music apps are coming to the operating system next year. You'll be able to check out previews of them in the Microsoft Store before the year is out. As such, those who use Apple's services soon won't need to use a web app or creaky old iTunes to access Apple Music or Apple TV on a Windows system.

Based on its initial specs, the Surface Studio 2+ wasn't the upgrade we've been waiting four years to see. Perhaps spending a bit of time with it will change my mind. Maybe I'd be fine with an 11th-gen Intel CPU, instead of this year's (far better) 12th-gen chips. During Microsoft's hands-on event at its NYC store (or "Experience Center," as the company prefers), I spent some time with the Surface Studio 2+. It's certainly a very fast computer — but the thing is, it should be much more.

SpaceX's next lunar passengers could include one of the earliest civilian spacefarers. As CBS Newsreports, original space tourist Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko have signed up as passengers on the company's second planned Moon voyage. They aim to travel within roughly five years, joining 10 other travelers aboard Starship. Tito didn't say how much he and Akiko would pay for the trip.

Microsoft might have a way to make Teams a more enticing option for meetings: make AI tackle the dirty work. The company is launching a Teams Premium offering for Microsoft 365 that uses AI to greatly simplify meeting management. Most notably, an "Intelligent Recap" feature automatically creates tasks, chapters and even personalized highlights. Miss a review meeting and you might know which segments to watch when catching up, not to mention what you'll need to work on.

Amazon's October Prime Day offers a great opportunity to pick up a new monitor for your work-from-home or gaming setup. They're often some of the most expensive peripherals to get, so it always helps when you can wait and pick up a new model on sale. A number of monitors from brands like LG, Samsung, Dell and others have been discounted for the Prime Early Access Sale, so chances are you'll find one that's been discounted that's the appropriate size and resolution for your needs. Here are the... Читать дальше...

Today Microsoft announced its refreshed Surface Laptop 5, which just like before will be available in 13.5 and 15-inch models. The new notebooks will also feature 3:2 touchscreens with a very familiar brushed aluminum design. Actually, almost everything about the Surface Laptop 5 is the same as before, aside from the addition of new 12th-gen Intel CPUs and one Thunderbolt 4 port. And considering the advancements its competitors are making, I have to wonder if Microsoft is even trying.

On the one hand, the Surface Pro 9 is pretty much what we expected: a jump up to Intel's 12th-gen CPUs. But Microsoft surprised us with a huge shakeup for its tablet PCs. There's also a Surface Pro 9 running a custom SQ3 ARM chip, which also includes built-in 5G. Can an x86 Intel processor and a mobile ARM chip really sit side by side? We got a chance to compare the two new machines at Microsoft's hands-on event, and to be honest, we just have more questions.

NASA has set a date for its next Artemis 1 launch attempt. The agency will next try to send the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft on an uncrewed journey around the moon on November 14th. The launch window starts at 12:07AM ET and will be open for an hour and nine minutes. In case NASA has to scrub the November 14th launch, it has two backup windows in mind, starting at 1:04AM on November 16 and 1:45AM on November 19th.

Wait, so I’m supposed to get in my car, commute to some hoighty toighty coffee store, find and pay for parking, then wait in line to pay $3 for a few tablespoons of mediocre hot pressed bean juice served to me in a paper cup? Why would I do that when I can just walk my lazy ass to my kitchen and brew up a single piping-hot serving of concentrated coffee in under 5 minutes from the $150 Outin mobile espresso maker?

It should soon be much easier to access your iPhone's photo collection on a Windows-based PC. Microsoft is updating Windows 11 with the option to directly view iCloud photo libraries in the Photos app — you won't need your browser, just an iCloud app from Microsoft's store. So long as your iCloud account has enough space to hold all your images, you might never need to manually transfer photos to your Windows machines.

You've still got time to fit in some outdoor parties this fall before the weather gets too cold, and a pizza oven can be a great addition to your backyard setup. For Prime Day, one of our favorites, the Ooni Fyra 12, is 22 percent off and down to just over $279. That's the best price we've seen since Labor Day, when you could have gotten 20 percent off any of the company's 12-inch pizza ovens, the Fyra included.

It's been four years since we got the Surface Studio 2, the much-improved followup to Microsoft's ever-so-flexible all-in-one desktop. Surely, the company has something special in store for the next version, right? Well, yes and no. The Surface Studio 2+ is indeed significantly faster than before, thanks to Intel's H35 11th-gen CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 3060 graphics.

Those rumors of a Microsoft speaker were true. Microsoft has unveiled an Audio Dock that, as the name implies, combines a speaker with a laptop hub. The design centers on a relatively powerful, omni-directional speakerphone (complete with dual mics, a 15W woofer and 5W tweeters), but also includes a 60W USB-C connection for charging your computer, two regular USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.0 jack and a lone USB-A offering. In practice, that means you can attach two monitors while still leaving room for an external drive or mouse. Читать дальше...

Back in the early aughts, Microsoft released the Presenter 3000, a wireless remote for PowerPoint presentations. Now, two decades later, the company has announced the Presenter+. Like its predecessor, it’s remote you can use for PowerPoint presentations, but it also reflects how work has changed since the start of the pandemic.

Last year's Surface Pro 8 was one of the biggest design upgrades for Microsoft's tablet PC, adding long-awaited features like Thunderbolt 4 and surprising upgrades like a 120Hz display. This year's Surface Pro 9, paradoxically, is both more of the same and a dramatic departure. It has the usual chip refresh — in this case, Intel's far superior 12th-gen CPUs — but there's also a new 5G-equipped model with a custom SQ 3 Arm chip.

In May, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Adaptive kit — a modular mouse, hub and accessories designed with inclusivity and accessibility in mind. But the company wasn't ready back then to share the full pricing and availability details, other than saying we would find out more in the fall. Five hot months later, summer is over and at its fall device launch event in New York today, Microsoft delivered the information as promised. Some of it, anyway. The Adaptive Accessories will be available on October... Читать дальше...

After a year and a half on the market, this fall Microsoft is updating its mainstream notebook line with the new Surface Laptop 5. Systems will be available in both 13.5 and 15-inch configs with prices starting at $1,000 and $1,200 respectively.