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First up, an apology. In Tuesdays newsletter, I laid out how to watch (and what to expect from) Amazons Alexa press event. But aside from unveiling what Alexa+ will be capable of, there was no silly hardware and no upgraded Echos, but lots of demos. We learned Alexa+ will be included with an Amazon Prime subscription, and the company will also offer the enhanced digital assistant separately, for $20 per month. At the moment, Prime costs $15 per month in the US. So that's weird. Meanwhile, Apples new entry-level iPhone, the 16e, launches online and in stores today. The $599 phone is arguably $100 too expensive, but it packs a processor that can deliver Apple Intelligence to the masses. It has a gorgeous screen, with a notch if not a Dynamic Island and a long battery life. Thanks to that A18 chip, it is as powerful as iPhones, which cost several hundred dollars more. This is a phone for people who dont upgrade every year (or two). If youre coming from an older iPhone, say an iPhone 11 (like my mom), youll be treated to a brighter screen, improved image processing and, heck, 5G. Apple says the newer process will ensure the 16e is 80 percent faster than the iPhone 11. You are going to see the difference. Oh, and you get an action button. Our biggest concern is the single-camera situation. Its a great camera, but we already miss the versatility of optical zoom that goes beyond the digital cropping that the iPhone 16e uses. Check out our full review right here. And if youre OK not staying with an iPhone, were moving into the mid-range smartphone season so stay tuned. Mat Smith How to get MagSafe charging on an iPhone 16e A $599 iPhone 16e is a cruel joke The biggest tech stories you missed Everything announced at Amazons Alexa+ AI event EA releases source code for four Command & Conquer games The best laptop you can buy in 2025 Gmail will stop using SMS for two-factor authentication Get this delivered directly to your inbox. Subscribe right here! What to expect from Samsung, Nothing, Xiaomi and more at MWC 2025 Nothings new devices might be the headline grabbers. Nothing The worlds biggest smartphone event (after iPhone launches, lets be real) returns to Barcelona. While its no longer the heyday of Mobile World Congress, smartphone challengers from China love to reveal technically accomplished devices, and were expecting delights from the likes of Xiaomi, Honor, Huawei et al. Except maybe not Oppo its done its thing already. At MWC 2022, Nothings Carl Pei showed off a prototype of the companys first handset, the Nothing Phone 1. It looks like its ready to reveal its third-gen phone, with the companys usual drip-drip of specs, features and hyperbole already in action. Nothing already revealed the design of one phone, the 3a Pro, in a nearly 11-minute video. Notably, a big ole camera bump to accommodate a periscope telephoto lens. Xiaomi is also teasing some heady camera hardware: Its 15 Ultra will be a photography powerhouse, rumored to pack a 1-inch main sensor and 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens. Will Samsung show off the slimline Galaxy S25 Edge? Perhaps. It might also be time to reveal an update to its A-series mid-range devices. Perhaps the company will do both. Continue reading. Sony cuts the price of PS VR2 to $400 Add the price of your PS5 too. Engadget Sony is permanently reducing the price of the PlayStation VR2. Starting in March, the headset will cost $400, down from $500. It still costs more than the Meta Quest 3S, a standalone headset, but is obviously capable of a richer graphic experience. That said, where are the AAA games? Even Sonys own PS VR2 website struggles to offer anything particularly exciting. Continue reading. Youre never finding those lost wireless earbuds Its time to let go. I have misplaced my Beats Fit Pro buds. Wherever I set them down, I recall thinking, youre going to regret not putting them back into the charging case. And I was right. Two weeks on, I have the charging case, open and ready, but the buds have been translocated to another dimension. I tried Apples Find My app, which says theyre somewhere in my apartment. That doesnt help me enough. I use them for workouts, so I checked jacket pockets, gym shorts, the bathroom, windows, the sides of my couch and even my inner ear canal. But no. I have held out hope for two weeks, but its time for me to let go. Fortunately, I work here, so I have three standby options for gym listening. But they didnt fit as well as the Beats Fit Pro. I will hold onto the charging case, just in case they magically appear in my detergent box or somewhere else completely arbitrary, but mentally, I know I will never find them again. Goodbye, my waxy, sweaty buds of joy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121514554.html?src=rss
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Mount Tai in Chinas Shandong province is a popular tourist destination, famous for over 7,000 steps to its peak. To help struggling hikers, local tourism authorities have introduced robotic exoskeletons for rent. Available for a fee of RMB 60-80 (about USD 8-11) per use, the robotic legs track user movements with AI and provide synchronized support. The device, weighing 1.8 kg, is designed to be worn around the waist and thighs, and requires another persons help to put on and take off. Each unit runs on two batteries lasting five hours.
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Microsoft is making its Copilot AI assistant available as a Mac app. The native macOS app will offer access to the web-based version of the Microsoft tool. It's rolling out today in the US, the UK and Canada. In practice, the apps functionalities sound pretty much identical to the experience of going to the web version of Copilot. The real distinction is that the Mac app includes a keyboard shortcut for activating the AI assistant with Command + Space and it can be viewed in dark mode. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that it would make the Copilot features Voice and Think Deeper, which taps into OpenAI's o1 model, available to any users for free. Both moves seems aimed at broadening the company's audience for Copilot. Big tech companies have a rocky history of trying to make their software available on rival hardware. Sometimes, it can take years for a service to be optimized for a different brand's exact specs. The arrival of a dedicated macOS app for Copilot, which is already out as an iPhone and iPad app, might be about as quick as Microsoft has ever brought a service to the Apple ecosystem.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-launches-native-mac-app-for-copilot-235945829.html?src=rss
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