Intel is reportedly still struggling with a chipmaking process crucial to its future. Reutersreports that the company's 18A process is still producing low yields and high defect rates. Intel has invested billions of dollars in the manufacturing process, on which it's pinned its hopes of gaining ground on TSMC.
This isn't the first concerning news about 18A. Last year, a report stated that Broadcom was unhappy with the results of a test run for a potential order. However, Intel insisted at the time that 18A was on track to make its upcoming Panther Lake chips at volume later this year. "Our performance and yield trajectory gives us confidence this will be a successful launch that further strengthens Intel's position in the notebook market," Intel said last month.
Intel has typically aimed for a yield of at least 50 percent of usable chips before scaling up production. The company is said to make the bulk of its profit after reaching 70 to 80 percent. Last year, 18A's usable Panther Lake chips had reportedly only reached a five percent threshold. Intel had aimed for 10 percent by this summer. Tuesday's report doesn't state 18A's current yield, only describing it as a small percentage.
In a statement sent to Engadget, an Intel spokesperson said it is pleased with 18A's current state. "We feel very good about our trajectory on Intel 18A, and it will be the foundation of multiple generations of client and server products in the coming years," the spokesperson wrote. "Panther Lake is going to be a great product for Intel and our partners," the company continued, adding that its launch is still on track for later this year.
In a July interview with Reuters, Intel's Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner suggested that 18A's yields were better than reports claimed. He added that yields tend to "start off low and improve over time."
The company's 18A process is a risky bet, combining manufacturing changes with a next-gen transistor design. Intel embraced the challenge with an aggressive timeline that one of Reuters' sources called a hail mary. 18A going well would also help attract business for its upcoming 14A process. Last month, Intel warned investors that it may have to leave chip manufacturing altogether if it doesn't land 14A contracts.
The company needs all the help it can get. It recently confirmed that it would cut around 20 percent of its workforce by the end of this year. That follows 20,000 job cuts from June 2024 to July 2025. Earlier this year, it took on a new CEO to try to right the ship.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intels-next-gen-manufacturing-process-is-reportedly-still-struggling-184146350.html?src=rss
Google's NotebookLM (NLM) is designed to be the ultimate study guide. So, with the new school year already beginning, it's fitting that the AI tool is now available for younger users. Just be sure to check its work, kids.
For consumers, anyone 13 and older can now use the AI-powered learning tool. However, any minimum age restrictions in your country will override that. NLM is also now available as a core service for all ages as part of the Google Workspace for Education suite.
The Gemini-powered NotebookLM lets you upload documents and take an AI-fueled crash course on them. The tool can train on text files, PDFs, websites or Google Docs / Slides. (You can combine sources, too.) Within a few seconds of uploading, you'll see a Notion-style digital notebook on the topic.
Like any generative AI, NLM can make mistakes. But the nice thing is it's super easy to check its work: Each output includes citations that link back to the source material.
Fortunately, Google says it doesn't train on your chats or sources you upload, and no humans review it. The company recently added demo notebooks so you can take NLM for a spin without uploading anything.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-notebooklm-is-now-available-for-younger-users-163008926.html?src=rss
It was easy to view Substack's 2023 Nazi controversy as a kicked can that could turn up again. Well, white supremacist content led to another headache for the company this week. User Mag reported on Tuesday that the app sent a push alert to some users promoting a Nazi newsletter. The company told Engadget the notification was an "extremely offensive and disturbing" error.
The Substack newsletter in question describes itself as "a National Socialist weekly newsletter." It includes "opinions and news important to the National Socialist and White Nationalist Community." The far-right blog has a mere 757 subscribers. (That's a drop in the ocean compared to, say, Heather Cox Richardson's 2.6 million, George Saunders' 312,000 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 236,000.)
Given the newsletter's offensive content and relatively paltry audience, this wouldn't seem like something to promote. According to the company, it didn't mean to. "We discovered an error that caused some people to receive push notifications they should never have received," a Substack spokesperson told Engadget.
"In some cases, these notifications were extremely offensive or disturbing," the statement continued. "This was a serious error, and we apologize for the distress it caused. We have taken the relevant system offline, diagnosed the issue and are making changes to ensure it doesn't happen again."
Engadget asked Substack for extra details or context about how the accident happened. It didn't have further comment at the time of publication. We'll update this story if we find out more.
The newsletter in question
Substack
User Magreports that those who clicked on the Nazi blog's profile received recommendations for a similar one. That one had a larger audience of 8,600 subscribers.
One reason social users were quick to pounce on the latest incident: It provides a symbolic callback to Substack's 2023 Nazi shitstorm. That's when The Atlanticdug up "scores" of white-supremacist, neo-Confederate and Nazi newsletters on the platform. Some were monetized.
Substack's policy is one of anti-censorship. "I just want to make it clear that we don't like Nazis either — we wish no one held those views," Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie wrote in December 2023. "But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don't think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away — in fact, it makes it worse."
After weeks of negative press coverage and prominent authors leaving the platform, Substack relented… sort of. On one hand, the company removed "some" pro-Nazi publications. However, it did so without changing its policies. Instead, it said five publications violated its existing content guidelines. Specifically, they broke rules prohibiting "incitements to violence based on protected classes."
Some critics didn't believe that was enough. The Platformer's Casey Newton, a prominent voice who left Substack during the episode, thought the company needed to take more responsibility. "Every platform hosts its share of racists, white nationalists and other noxious personalities," Newton wrote in early 2024. "In some very real sense, there is no escaping them online. But there ought to be ways to see them less; to recommend them less; to fund them less. Other platforms have realized this as they’ve grown up. Here’s hoping Substack does the same."
The company said it had its biggest week during the 2024 presidential election with an 82 percent boost in paid subscriptions. It recently raised $100 million in funding.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/substack-accidentally-sent-push-alerts-promoting-a-nazi-publication-191004115.html?src=rss
CANADA - 2025/07/03: In this photo illustration, the Substack logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
TikTok’s latest answer to its addictiveness is gamified mindfulness tools. The app’s new Well-being Missions let you earn badges for completing challenges related to balanced digital habits. To be clear, mindfulness and dopamine-seeking mini-games are a contradictory pair. But hey, at least it’s healthier than doomscrolling.
The first batch of TikTok’s "short, engaging missions" focuses on the platform’s existing digital well-being tools. (The company plans to test new features and expand the missions over time.) They include quizzes and flashcards, aspects the company says were well-received in early testing.
TikTok says Well-being Missions focus on positive reinforcement. The idea is to form new habits through encouragement, education and a sense of progress. The gamified challenges are based on research, advice from TikTok’s Youth Council and expert consultations.
It’s easy to draw a straight line between TikTok’s mindfulness features and accusations that it knowingly harmed users’ mental health. ByteDance’s own research reportedly found that compulsive use of the platform correlates with "a slew of negative mental health effects." It’s also associated with disruption to sleep, responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones.
Some might say the answer to that would be to, oh, make the platform less addictive. But come on, now: can’t interfere with profits! So, badge-earning mindfulness missions, it is. Go get 'em, champ.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-gamifies-mindfulness-with-well-being-missions-110014036.html?src=rss
The Home Depot is well on its way to becoming a Spirit Halloween that also sells weed whackers. Here we are in July, and the retailer is already rolling out its Halloween product lineup. The centerpiece is the latest version of Skelly, the hardware store's viral skeleton. Meet the $279 animatronic Ultra Skelly.
Given its name, you might think Ultra Skelly is even bigger than the standard 12-ft. model. But the new model is only 6.5 ft. tall. The "Ultra" part comes from app control and animatronic movements.
The app lets you control its head, torso and arm movements. It includes five pre-loaded voice phrases. But the real fun comes in recording your own or speaking live through the app. (It includes voice-altering effects.) Your recordings can be up to 30 seconds long.
Home Depot
It also has the famously creepy LED eyes that made the original a viral hit. (You can choose from 18 eyes in the app). Its chest and mouth have lights, too. Ultra Skelly's fingers are posable but not animated. Home Depot says it takes around 45 minutes to assemble.
The OG 12-ft. Skelly is returning, too, for $299. And like any centerpiece of an expanding franchise, he now has an entourage. The (standing, 7-ft.) Skelly's Dog is back for $199. It's joined by the new (5-ft.) Skelly's Sitting Dog for $249 and the (5-ft.) Skelly's Cat for $199.
You can order Home Depot's Halloween collection from its website on August 4. Skelly has sold out quickly in the past. So, consider setting a reminder if you want the talking skeleton to spook your trick-or-treaters this October.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/home-depot-has-a-new-animatronic-version-of-skelly-the-skeleton-171011954.html?src=rss
Tea, an app that claims to help women "make sure your date is safe, not a catfish and not in a relationship," is experiencing a security breach. 404 Mediareports that a database posted on 4chan allowed anyone to access users' data. (It's since been removed.) The dataset included thousands of images, including driver's licenses.
4chan users claimed the data came from an exposed database hosted on Firebase, Google's app development platform. 404 Media verified that the exposed storage bucket URL matches one found in Tea's Android app.
The company confirmed the breach. In a statement to 404 Media, Tea said it "identified unauthorized access to one of our systems and immediately launched a full investigation to assess the scope and impact." The company stated that the exposed information included data from over two years ago. It included 72,000 images, including selfies, photo IDs and pictures from app posts and DMs.
"This data was originally stored in compliance with law enforcement requirements related to cyber-bullying prevention," Tea said. "We have engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure our systems. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that current or additional user data was affected. Protecting our users' privacy and data is our highest priority. We are taking every necessary step to ensure the security of our platform and prevent further exposure."
Google Play Store
The app allows users to post photos of "red-flag" men. "Already swiping for dates on Tinder, Bumble, Match or Hinge?" the app's Play Store pitch reads. "Tea is a must-have app, helping women avoid red flags before the first date with dating advice and showing them who's really behind the profile of the person they're dating."
Its Play Store listing highlights a reverse phone number lookup. It has sections for men's real names, ages, addresses, social profiles and relationship statuses. Other features include a reverse image search and background checks to help women "get the tea on your date." Users can poll others about whether they should date new matches.
The app requires new users to submit a verification selfie and a photo of their government-issued ID. Tea told 404 Media that it uses this to verify that new signups are indeed women.
The timing of the breach coincided with the app's surge in popularity. According toBusiness Insider, Tea hit the top of Apple's App Store this week. The app first launched in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/tea-app-suffers-breach-exposing-thousands-of-user-images-190731414.html?src=rss
You can now take Apple's 2026 software for a spin. The first public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26 are now available, and we have directions on updating your devices if you're feeling brave.
The two most obvious changes serve to unify Apple's platforms. First, we have Apple's biggest cosmetic overhaul to date. Liquid Glass is the company's name for the shiny, translucent redesign that will be heading to its software this fall. The other significant change is in the numbering. Apple traded its old chronological system for a year-based one. Since 2026 is when the software will spend the bulk of its time in the spotlight, "26" it is.
Apple
iOS 26 brings new personalized backgrounds and polls to Messages. Live Translation is another new arrival, making it easier to communicate in Messages, FaceTime and Phone. In addition, Visual Intelligence inches forward: It now lets you interact with content on your iPhone's screen. There are also new screening tools to decide whether a conversation is worth your time. The Phone app even includes Hold Assist, which listens to the Muzak so you don't have to. Check out our preview of iOS 26 for more.
Arguably, Apple's most significant update this year is iPadOS 26. The new software makes Apple's tablet more of a workhorse. The iPad finally has desktop-like window management and Menu Bar dropdown entries. It even includes the Preview app and Exposé, both familiar to Mac users. The update should do a lot to calm the fury over the iPad Pro's wasted productivity potential. We got into the details of the iPadOS 26 public beta and found the new multitasking features to be a big deal.
Apple
Meanwhile, Apple's Mac software adopts the "26" branding without ditching California landmarks. macOS Tahoe 26 adds the Phone app and Live Activities from the iPhone. The update also introduces a more advanced Spotlight that allows you to take actions directly from the launcher. Here's our first look at macOS Tahoe 26.
Finally, watchOS 26 adds Workout Buddy, a virtual fitness coach. The AI-powered feature learns from your fitness history to "identify meaningful insights in real time." A text-to-speech model then communicates those to you verbally. "You're crushing it — closing that move ring for six straight days!"
Although the public betas are less risky than installing a developer beta on day one, remember that this is still pre-release software. Only go this route if you're comfortable with the inherent risks, which could include buggy apps and unpredictable battery life. It also can't hurt to make a local backup of your device before taking the plunge.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apples-ios-26-ipados-26-macos-tahoe-26-and-watchos-26-public-betas-are-ready-to-download-170800133.html?src=rss
At its best, AI is a tool, not an end result. It allows people to do their jobs better, rather than sending them or their colleagues to the breadline. In an example of "the good kind," Google DeepMind has created an AI model that restores and contextualizes ancient inscriptions. Aeneas (no, it's not pronounced like that) is named after the hero in Roman mythology. Best of all, the tool is open-source and free to use.
Ancient Romans left behind a plethora of inscriptions. But these texts are often fragmented, weathered or defaced. Rebuilding the missing pieces is a grueling task that requires contextual cues. An algorithm that can pore over a dataset of those cues can come in handy.
Aeneas speeds up one of historians' most difficult tasks: identifying "parallels." In this setting, that means finding similar texts arranged by wording, syntax or region. DeepMind says the model reasons across thousands of Latin inscriptions. It can fetch parallels in seconds before passing the baton back to historians.
DeepMind says it turns each text into a historical fingerprint of sorts. "Aeneas identifies deep connections that can help historians situate inscriptions within their broader historical context," the Google subsidiary wrote.
Google DeepMind
One of Aeneas' most impressive tricks is restoring textual gaps of unknown length. (Think of it as filling out a crossword puzzle where you don't know how many letters are in each clue.) The tool is also multimodal, meaning it can analyze both textual and visual input. DeepMind says it's the first model that can use that multi-pronged method to figure out where a text came from.
DeepMind says Aeneas is designed to be a collaborative ally within historians' existing workflows. It's best used to offer "interpretable suggestions" that serve as a starting point for researchers. "Aeneas' parallels completely changed my perception of the inscription," an unnamed historian who tested the model wrote. "It noticed details that made all the difference for restoring and chronologically attributing the text."
Alongside the release of Aeneas for Latin text, DeepMind also upgraded Ithaca. (That's its model for Ancient Greek text.) Ithaca is now powered by Aeneas, receiving its contextual and restorative superpowers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-deepminds-aeneas-model-can-restore-fragmented-latin-text-202004714.html?src=rss
There's hope that the gaming industry won't follow Nintendo's lead with $80 pricing. (Well, at least not yet.) On Wednesday, Microsoft backtracked on the price increase for The Outer Worlds 2. The game now costs $70, which itself was considered outrageous only a few years ago.
Microsoft toldWindows Central that those who already pre-ordered Obsidian's shooter at $80 can get refunds at the point of purchase. Unfortunately, you can't simply get a $10 price adjustment. You'll have to refund the full $80 and then pre-order again for $70. I'm beginning to think consumer-friendliness isn't the priority here.
The $80 pricing push began with Mario Kart World. Comments by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford initially suggested Borderlands 4 might have followed. Fortunately, 2K Games saw something in the backlash that made it balk; it's launching at $70. A Bluesky user summed it up in a reply to Obsidian's U-turn. "Consumer advocacy in this awful state of the industry WORKS," @johnbrebbia posted.
Nintendo
The gaming industry is caught in a godawful whirlwind of layoffs, studio closures and price increases. That's happening against a backdrop of rising costs for consumers. Meanwhile, the gaming industry is projected to reach $189 billion this year, a 3.4 percent increase. That's a combustible mixture if ever there was one.
Ironically, Obsidian's sci-fi RPG deals with themes of late-stage capitalism. The developer even deployed in-world satire to announce the pricing change: "Dear Galactic Citizens! We have received your SOS via skip drone about the pricing..." Winking at one's audience is usually a good thing, but this strikes me as more of a "dude, read the room" moment.
Regardless, The Outer Worlds 2 is set to arrive on October 29. It will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/microsoft-backtracks-on-80-the-outer-worlds-2-pricing-173027532.html?src=rss
Maingear's latest, the (appropriately named) Retro95, is a deceptive love letter to old-school "pizza box" PCs. It's Wolfenstein 3D and Sierra adventure games on the outside; Cyberpunk 2077 in ray-traced 4K on the inside.
That's because you can fit this sucker with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics. It supports Intel and AMD processors, up to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. You can also customize it with up to 96GB of DDR5 memory, 8TB of Gen4 NVMe storage, Noctua fans and an 850W PSU. It's a ray-traced wolf in pixelated sheep's clothing.
Maingear
It looks like the Retro95's case is sourced from the Silverstone FLP01. (That makes sense since Maingear is a custom PC builder.) The case is an ode to beige horizontal PC cases, designed to serve as a pedestal for CRT monitors. They were the default from the early 1980s to mid-1990s. (If you prefer the tower design that succeeded it, Silverstone's follow-up to the FLP01 should scratch that itch.)
The Retro95 includes a hidden front-panel I/O array and modern airflow design. And if its exterior has you nostalgic for games you played on similar-looking PCs, you can add a DVD drive. (Who's up for Carmen Sandiego?)
Maingear
"This one is for the gamers who lugged CRTs to LAN parties, swapped out disks between levels and got their gaming news from magazines," Maingear CEO Wallace Santos wrote in a press release. "The Retro95 drop is our way of honoring the classic era of gaming, with a system that looks like the one you had as a kid but runs like the monster you'd spec from Maingear today."
Unfortunately, the Retro95 is a limited-edition run. Maingear says once it sells out, that's game over. Given its high-powered hardware and special edition status, it's no surprise that this PC ain't cheap. It starts at $1,599. You can order one exclusively from Maingear's website on July 23.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/maingears-retro95-pc-blends-90s-workstation-nostalgia-with-modern-horsepower-123027821.html?src=rss
Switch 2 owners won't have long to wait for Borderlands 4. On Tuesday, Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford said it will arrive on October 3. While some had worried the game would be pushed back to 2026, it will land on Nintendo's console less than a month after other platforms.
Pitchford's video begins with a sober build toward what sounds like bad news. Just when you think he's about to announce a delay, he turns into an excited 10-year-old, yelling about the game's October release date. "That date is October 3! It's October 3, you guys!! It's not next year; it's not even the holiday! It's so much before Christmas; it's so much before Thanksgiving! It's October 3, you guys!!!" Pitchford, who is a magician on the side, clearly relished this.
An important message regarding the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4: pic.twitter.com/Wc5MwAU2bm
In the game, you'll play as a vault dweller taking on the dreaded Timekeeper and his ruthless army. It's set on a new planet, Kairos. It also introduces new gameplay mechanics (a grappling hook!), seamless world transitions (no loading screens) and fluid co-op (asynchronous difficulty levels). Best of all, it won't cost $80. Tone-deaf comments Pitchford made in May sparked speculation that the game might pull a Mario Kart World. (His magic failed him that day.)
The game first launches on PC, PlayStation and Xbox on September 12. Unlike those platforms, Borderlands 4 for Switch 2 isn't yet available for pre-order.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/switch-2-owners-can-play-borderlands-4-on-october-3-200651283.html?src=rss
The Chinese Room, maker of Still Wakes the Deep, has bought back its independence. The studio will continue developing new franchises after splitting from the Sumo Group. The latter said earlier this year that it's pivoting away from original games and toward co-development work. Tencent bought the British studio Sumo for $1.27 billion in 2021.
Game Developerreported that VC firm Hiro Capital facilitated the Chinese Room's independence deal. Studio head Ed Daly told the publication on Monday that the company is open to partnering with other developers moving forward.
Unfortunately, the studio's good news is tainted with an all-too-familiar story. The studio confirmed to Game Developer that it will lay off an undisclosed number of employees as part of the split. "Following the divestment process, a number of roles were regrettably made redundant," a company spokesperson said. "The specifics are confidential, but the studio is currently 55 developers. This was a very difficult process as we sought a future for the studio outside of Sumo. No more layoffs are planned as the studio moves forward."
"This management buyout allows us to scratch the creative itch of continuing to work on new, original intellectual property but also to partner with other studios on other projects when they fit in with our vision," Daly told Game Developer. "This is what we are doing and we want to carry on doing it, so we're happy to carry on in this vein."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/still-wakes-the-deep-developer-the-chinese-room-regains-its-independence-182405167.html?src=rss
Meta said on Friday that it won't sign the European Union's new AI code of practice. The guidelines provide a framework for the EU's AI Act, which regulates companies operating in the European Union.
The EU's code of practice is voluntary, so Meta was under no legal obligation to sign it. Yet Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, made a point to publicly knock the guidelines on Friday. He described the code as "over-reach."
"Europe is heading down the wrong path on AI," Kaplan posted in a statement. "We have carefully reviewed the European Commission’s Code of Practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models and Meta won’t be signing it. This Code introduces a number of legal uncertainties for model developers, as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act."
So, why kick up a (public) fuss about not signing something Meta was under no obligation to sign? Well, this isn't the first time the company has waged a PR battle against Europe's AI regulations. It previously called the AI Act "unpredictable," claiming "it goes too far" and is "hampering innovation and holding back developers." In February, Meta's public policy director said, "The net result of all of that is that products get delayed or get watered down and European citizens and consumers suffer."
Outmuscling the EU may seem like a more attainable goal to Meta, given that it has an anti-regulation ally in the White House. In April, President Trump pressured the EU to abandon the AI Act. He described the rules as "a form of taxation."
Mark Zuckerberg at Trump's inauguration in January
Pool via Getty Images
The EU published its code of practice on July 10. It includes tangible guidelines to help companies follow the AI Act. Among other things, the code bans companies from training AI on pirated materials and requires them to respect requests from writers and artists to omit their work from training data. It also requires developers to provide regularly updated documentation describing their AI features.
Although signing the code of practice is voluntary, doing so has its perks. Agreeing to it can give companies more legal protection against future accusations of breaching the AI Act. Thomas Regnier, the European Commission's spokesperson for digital matters, added more color in a statement to Bloomberg. He said that AI providers who don't sign it "will have to demonstrate other means of compliance." As a consequence, they "may be exposed to more regulatory scrutiny."
Companies that violate the AI Act can face hefty penalties. The European Commission can impose fines of up to seven percent of a company's annual sales. The penalties are a lower three percent for those developing advanced AI models.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-says-it-wont-sign-the-eus-ai-code-of-practice-190132690.html?src=rss
After seeing the changes coming with iOS 26, we're ready to finally see Apple's newest collection of smartphones: the iPhone 17 lineup. While that's still more than a month away — assuming Apple sticks to its usual release schedule — we haven't been left completely in the dark about what the new phones will look like. As with most unreleased iPhone models, rumors and leaks have trickled in about the hardware side ahead of the official introduction. Here's what we're expecting and what we can reasonably assume we'll get from Cupertino in September.
What are the latest iPhone 17 rumors and reports?
Again, not all iPhone rumors are created equal, and all should be taken with a grain of salt. The latest comes from a MacRumors report which says the internal battery pack of the new superthin iPhone Air (see below) is just 2.49mm thick — half the thickness of the iPhone 17 Pro battery. The leak was posted on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, where they show the alleged batteries of the iPhone 17 Air and 17 Pro side by side. The same account claimed the 17 Air's battery capacity was a mere 2,800 mAh, MacRumors notes. (That's below the battery capacity of current iPhone 16 models.)
When will the iPhone 17 series be announced?
Most years, the flagship smartphones are introduced in September. It's a little early to have the specific dates; some years, Apple only gives a week or two of lead time between sending invites and hosting the event. But years of past precedent show that sometime in September should be when the 17 models make their debut. This family of smartphones may be the last to follow that trend, however. There have been hints that the introduction of the iPhone 18 collection in 2026 will be split into a pro-tier announcement in the fall and a standard model announcement the following spring.
What will the new iPhone 17 lineup include?
Design leaks suggest that Apple is building an ultra-thin smartphone, likely to be named the iPhone 17 Air to match Apple's ultralight laptop designation. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, often a solid source of advanced intel about Apple, reported in January that the iPhone 17 Air will be equipped with a basic A19 chip and will only have a single camera lens. It may also use Apple's new in-house modem, which was introduced in February on the iPhone 16e. More details about this development may leak ahead of September, but that's what we know for now.
An investor note from Apple analyst Jeff Pu indicated that the Air will have a titanium frame. If his reports are accurate, the lightweight smartphone will be the only entry in the iPhone 17 lineup to use that metal; the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are expected to be made of aluminum, which is oddly a lighter material than titanium. Other speculation had suggested that the Air would use a blend of aluminum and titanium, so the exact materials may not be known until the official announcement.
Each new roster includes a base model, but over the years, Apple shakes up the variety of phones it offers. Most likely there will be an iPhone 17 and an iPhone 17 Pro. Apple has also committed to the size matters philosophy, and has been building an iPhone Pro Max option with an even bigger screen and better battery life; the 17 roster will almost certainly have one as well.
The new Pro iPhones are said to have a full-width "camera island" on the rear, which would mark the first time an Apple model opted for that design. This feature can be seen in the the purported iPhone 17 "spotted in the wild." The pics, highlighted on MacRumors, show a black cased iPhone (17 Pro?) with the distinct back panel. Is it the real deal? The dual angles lend a degree of credibility in a social media landscape increasingly polluted with AI-enhanced fakes, but your guess is as good as ours.
The iPhone 17 Air seems primed to take the place of a potential iPhone 17 Plus. Since the iPhone 16e was only just introduced in February at a surprisingly high price point, it seems unlikely that there will be a new addition to that lower end of the spectrum, the models that were previously called SE.
At the very least, it sounds like the iPhone 17 Air won't take away the charging port and rely only on wireless connectivity. Bloomberg said that while Apple had investigated making the iPhone 17 Air without a single port, the company (fortunately) changed plans. He also says that the rumored phone will have a 6.6-inch screen and include the Dynamic Island and Camera Control button. Finally, the price is rumored at $900 — likely more than the standard iPhone 17 but less than the Pro.
We've also gotten what seems to be a reliable look at what the color lineup will be for the new smartphones. Macworld reported that the iPhone 17 will be available in black, white, steel gray, green, purple and light blue. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly have four color options: black, white, light blue and light gold. While the Air colors will be less saturated, the visuals for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will go bold. The options for the Pro models are expected to be black, white, gray, dark blue and orange.
On July 30, Tom's Guide highlighted an X post from Sonny Dickson — a longtime and generally reliable leaker of unreleased iPhone information — showing "dummy" iPhone 17 models in the new colors that were the source of the aforementioned Macworld story. While these are literally just mock-ups — not real, leaked iPhones — it's interesting to see how the design and color rumors translate into a real-world look and feel.
What will iOS 26 be like?
Apple upended its numbering conventions with WWDC 2025, and will match the name of each new operating system to the year it's released. So when the next wave of iPhones hits, they'll be running on iOS 26.
On the design side, the smartphone OS introduced during the big developer showcase took a contentious approach dubbed Liquid Glass. Apple has been scaling down the amount of transparency effects in the subsequent beta tests of iOS 26, but it will still have a glass-like visual.
The feature list includes big and small updates. On the more impactful side, the Phone and Photos apps have been redesigned. There will be several features leveraging artificial intelligence, such as live translation capabilities coming to Phone, FaceTime and Messages. Apple is also currently testing a sensitive content warning for child accounts that will freeze FaceTime video if nudity is detected by on-device machine learning tools. And the company is also launching Visual Intelligence, which will use AI to search for elements in an image.
iOS 26 also has a litany of minor, quality of life improvements. Group texts are getting support for polls. And for the slow risers out there, iOS 26 will finally let you escape the tyranny of the nine minute snooze alarm.
Update, August 4, 2025, 5:23PM ET: Added latest battery leaks about the iPhone 17 models.
Update, August 1, 2025, 8:15AM ET: Added new photos showing potential iPhone 17 colors.
Update, July 30, 2025, 11:08AM ET: Added latest leaks and rumors about the iPhone 17, and updated information on the iOS 26 public beta.
Update, July 17, 2025, 4:40PM ET: Added latest information about iOS 26, possible materials for the Air, and the color options for the different models.
Update, March 17, 2025, 2PM ET: Added details about the rumored price and features of the iPhone 17 Air.
Update, April 11, 2025, 3:45PM ET: Added details from Front Page Tech's new video that claims to reveal details from a leaked iOS 19 build.
Katie Teague contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-17-pro-max-and-air-release-dates-colors-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know-about-apples-new-phones-153024847.html?src=rss
Add this to the list of "things that might be fun if you had a buttload of money": Someone forked over $5.3 million in a Sotheby's auction to own a piece of Mars. The Red Planet meteorite was discovered in 2023 in a remote area of the Sahara Desert in Niger.
Martian meteorites of any size are incredibly rare. To get here, an asteroid first hits the Red Planet to eject material from its surface. (Sotheby's says there are only 19 Martian craters large enough to have spit out this one.) That chunk then has to travel 140 million miles through space to reach Earth. Only 400 of the 77,000+ officially recognized meteorites hail from Mars.
The meteorite is known as NWA 16788. Its reddish-brown, scarred exterior almost looks like the Red Planet's surface in miniature.
Sotheby's
This is also an exceptionally big Martian meteorite. It's about 70 percent larger than the second-biggest piece of Mars found on Earth. It measures 14.75 x 11 x 6 inches and weighs over 54 lbs. It's big enough to represent about 6.5 percent of all known Martian material on our planet.
The winning bid was for $4.3 million. After fees, that comes out to over $5.3 million, making it the most valuable meteorite ever sold.
Before bidding, the auction house sent a small piece of the space rock to a lab, which confirmed its distinctly Martian chemical composition. Over 21 percent of the rock is composed of maskelynite, a glass produced when the asteroid struck the Martian surface.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/someone-paid-53-million-for-a-piece-of-mars-191502853.html?src=rss
Hollywood video game adaptations continue to have a moment. Following the success of HBO's The Last of Us and Amazon's Fallout, Netflix has officially greenlit an Assassin's Creed series. The news comes nearly five years after the company signed a deal with Ubisoft to adapt the franchise.
Two Emmy nominees will helm the series. Roberto Patino (DMZ, Westworld, Sons of Anarchy) and David Wiener (Halo, Homecoming, The Killing) will serve as showrunners and executive producers. No casting has been announced yet.
"We've been fans of Assassin's Creed since its release in 2007," Patino and Wiener wrote in a statement. "Every day we work on this show, we come away excited and humbled by the possibilities that Assassin's Creed opens to us."
Ubisoft
The pair says the series will focus on "people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith." (But it'll also include plenty of parkour and spectacle.) Above all else, it will be about "human connection across cultures and time."
Netflix hasn't said when the show will premiere. So, we're probably still a ways off.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-takes-a-leap-of-faith-on-an-assassins-creed-series-153958591.html?src=rss
On Tuesday, Nintendo published an interview with the creators of Donkey Kong Bananza. The second big Switch 2 tentpole title comes from the team that made Super Mario Odyssey. The developers explained how they laid the foundation for DK's first 3D adventure since the Nintendo 64 era.
Destruction is at the heart of Donkey Kong Bananza. Everything in his environment can be smashed to bits. Not only is that a fun mechanic, but it also adds an element of verticality and freedom of exploration. That's an ideal fit for showcasing the Switch 2's processing power.
Nintendo
As with so many other Nintendo creations, the first step in getting there was a no-brainer. Consult with Shigeru Miyamoto.
"We'd built up a lot of expertise in gameplay development for 3D action games through our work on 3D Mario games, including Super Mario Odyssey," producer Kenta Motokura said. "But we needed to dive deeper into the fundamental question of 'What is Donkey Kong?' So, our first step was to seek out Miyamoto-san and Nintendo Executive Officer Yoshiaki Koizumi."
In their talk, Miyamoto emphasized DK's moves like hand slaps and blowing. Along similar lines, Koizumi pointed to the ape's massive arms, which he uses to punch and hoist heavy objects. That got the team thinking. After all, who doesn't want to control a giant ape who runs around, breaking shit?
DK slapping a platform in the 2010 game Donkey Kong Country Returns. Shigeru Miyamoto emphasized the move as a starting point for the new version.
Nintendo / Retro
The Super Mario Odyssey team was uniquely suited to handle that challenge. First, the 2017 title included some light environmental destruction. (Think the cheese rocks in the Luncheon Kingdom and Bowser's smashing in the final level.)
The team experimented with fully destructible environments soon after Odyssey's release. (That was long before they knew they'd make a Donkey Kong game.) That included the adorably strange idea of putting smashing fists on a Goomba and setting it loose. Part two of the interview includes a short video of one of these tests.
On a technical level, the key to that mechanic is using voxels (3D pixels). "In Super Mario Odyssey, we started using voxels midway through development, so the areas where we could apply them were limited," Motukura said. "But the trial and error we went through back then directly led to what we were able to do in Donkey Kong Bananza."
Another interesting tidbit from the interview is that they started working on the game as a Switch 1 title. "We originally began developing Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch, but we ran into some challenges," Motokura said. "I think it was around 2021 when we started to think about moving development to Switch 2." In the comparison image below, you can see a much richer environment in the Switch 2 version.
Nintendo
Art director Daisuke Watanabe explained that the new console's hardware opened new doors. "We first looked into how we could upgrade what we'd originally built for Switch to take advantage of Switch 2," Watanabe said. "One of the most obvious improvements was that we could place far more objects in the environment than before. Being able to place more objects in the terrain didn't just enhance the game's visual richness. More importantly, it increased the amount of things players could destroy, which amplified the exhilaration of being able to demolish anything and everything."
There are many more nuggets in Nintendo's interview. This includes animal transformations and Pauline's role in the game. (She must be the forgiving type, given how they started.) The chat also explores how DK's modern art style evolved.
You can visit Nintendo's website for the full lowdown. Donkey Kong Bananza will be available tomorrow, July 17.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/donkey-kong-bananzas-creators-reflect-on-the-games-path-to-delightful-destruction-201600462.html?src=rss
If you were having trouble viewing Reddit today, you weren't alone. Downdetector showed a spike in outages and problems at the site. Reddit acknowledged the problem on Wednesday. At 12:38PM ET, it said the situation had been resolved.
Reddit told Engadget that an update was the culprit. "An update we made caused some instability," a company spokesperson said. "We reverted and are seeing Reddit ramp back up." As to what that update was, we don't yet know, but it was probably a standard tweak to the site that just had some bugs on board.
If you tried to visit Reddit this morning, you likely saw a message reading, "Server error: We have encountered an error. Please try again later." The company's system status page showed a "partial outage" for the desktop web, mobile web and mobile apps.
Downdetector
Meanwhile, Downdetector's status page (above) showed a sharp upward trend in problems starting at around 11:20 AM ET. The graph dropped again after Reddit implemented its fix.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/reddit-is-back-online-after-a-brief-outage-161522867.html?src=rss
Xbox's "Stream your own game" feature continues to expand. You can now use your PC to play supported games you own on Xbox. (The games stream from the cloud, not your console.) You'll need to be an Xbox Insider and Game Pass Ultimate subscriber to use it.
The idea is the latest chapter in Microsoft's mission to make Xbox software more device-agnostic. Hop on whatever device is available, and start playing without waiting for installations. That makes sense from a business perspective, given Sony's commanding lead in their two-way console race. It's increasingly more about selling Game Pass subscriptions than fighting a losing hardware battle.
The company says the collection includes some console-only titles. But you'll be hard-pressed to find many that aren't already available (natively) on PC. On the other hand, this method could free up storage and save you the hassle of downloading them.
There are some caveats. You'll need to own digital copies of those you want to stream to your PC. (Physical copies won't cut it.) The feature is only available in the 28 countries where Xbox Cloud Gaming is supported. You'll also need a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which costs $20 per month. If you're interested, you'll first need to sign up for the Xbox Insider program, which is free.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xboxs-stream-your-own-game-feature-now-extends-to-pc-204049103.html?src=rss
Discoveries keep pouring out of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Researchers observed an unusual cluster, which they dubbed the Infinity Galaxy. It appears to support a leading theory on how some supermassive black holes form.
Although "Infinity Galaxy" sounds like a place Thanos would hang out, it merely describes its appearance. Two compact, red nuclei, each surrounded by a ring, give the cluster the shape of an infinity symbol.
What's inside is more interesting. (After all, this is a much lower-res image than some of the eye candy the Webb telescope has yielded.) Researchers believe the Infinity Galaxy formed when two spiral galaxies (the nuclei in the image) collided. Between them lies a young supermassive black hole within an enormous cloud of gas.
Supermassive black holes can range from hundreds of thousands of times the size of our sun to millions or billions of times its size. This one is about a million times as big.
The Infinity Galaxy, overlaid with a contour map indicating the supermassive black hole
NASA / JWST
The Infinity Galaxy lends weight to the direct collapse theory of black hole formation. As you probably know, most black holes form when massive stars collapse. The presence of supermassive ones is harder to explain.
One theory proposes that smaller black holes merge over time to form a supermassive one. The problem there is that some supermassive black holes formed soon after the Big Bang. So, scientists think some supermassive ones form instead from the collapse of gas clouds, much like the one we see here. The Infinity Galaxy may be the best evidence yet for that direct collapse hypothesis.
One of the paper's lead authors summarized the findings. "By looking at the data from the Infinity Galaxy, we think we've pieced together a story of how a direct collapse could have happened here," Pieter van Dokkum wrote in a press release. "Two disk galaxies collide, forming the ring structures of stars that we see. During the collision, the gas within these two galaxies shocks and compresses. This compression might just be enough to form a dense knot, which then collapsed into a black hole."
The team can't definitively confirm the theory from their current data. "But we can say that these new data strengthen the case that we're seeing a newborn black hole, while eliminating some of the competing explanations," van Dokkum added. "We will continue to pore through the data and investigate these possibilities."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/webb-spots-infinity-galaxy-that-sheds-light-on-black-hole-formation-183900161.html?src=rss
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