A YouTuber dissected an iPhone Duo and thinks he found the cause of crackgate
Social media and the iPhone Duo subreddit are filled with reports of Apple's foldable failing quickly and in spectacular fashion. Some users report having the phone for only a few hours before the hinge seems to catch on something, then audibly crack and break the screen. Tellingly, the cracks all seem to happen in the same place.
YouTuber CuriousHagi was able to reproduce the cracked screen during some durability testing of the iPhone Duo. Then he pulled it apart to try and find the culprit. What he found is that the Duo's hinge is quite complex, consisting of a gear-like central hinge and two different types of linking hinges.
The piec …
Zen Browser is the Arc replacement I was looking for
I know many of you are mourning the loss of the Arc browser, and I get it. It felt like the first app in a long time to really offer a new approach to browser design. Atlassian bought the company last year and shifted its focus to developing Dia, its even more AI-focused browser. And soon enough, Arc will officially be no more, leaving dedicated users in a lurch. But I abandoned Arc quite some time ago for the Zen Browser and haven't really missed it. If you're willing to deal with some minor inconveniences, I think you'll find Zen is the Arc replacement you're looking for.
Zen unabashedly rips off all the best bits of Arc. Visually, they'r …
This Switch 2 sequel accessory was a few millimeters away from being good
The Crkd Nitro Deck was a saving grace for the original Nintendo Switch. The slide-on $59.99 accessory brought Hall effect sticks to drift-plagued consoles - no need to open up your Joy-Con for a complicated repair. The Nitro Deck 2, made for both the original Switch and the larger Switch 2, continues the tradition of having better sticks than what Nintendo puts in even the newest Joy-Con (though these aren't Hall effect or TMR). But it doesn't feel as essential, and there's one thing I really can't stand about it.
It's too difficult to use the Nitro Deck 2's ABXY face buttons without the right stick getting in the way. The stick-to-button …
Now you can watch Instagram Reels on your Apple TV
Instagram is continuing its expansion into living rooms with Instagram for TV, for Apple TV. The company first started testing a version of the platform focused on Reels, live streams, and other video content, blown up for a bigger screen in December of last year. Then, in June, it launched a slew of new features for the app, which is available for Amazon's Fire TV, Samsung Smart TVs, and Google TV.
Now Meta is bringing the app to Apple TV, though there's been little fanfare. MacRumors spotted an updated Instagram app in the App Store that added Apple TV to its list of compatible platforms on October 23rd. Archived versions of the app page …
r/opensource just banned AI, non-English speakers, and more
The mods at r/opensource posted new submission rules that, among other things, banned projects that use AI. The post made Saturday evening opens by saying, "If your project uses AI, is made by AI, or is intended for AI, it's not welcome on r/opensource. AI, as it exists today, is incongruent to this Open Source community."
The new rules have set off a firestorm in the comments, and even spurred the creation of a rival sub r/trueopensource. Moderator Wolvereness has waded into the comments to explain that there's nuance and room for selective enforcement, such as "software that incidentally has accessibility features that use AI," including …
Google’s AI search changes upended online publishing
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more about AI's impact on the web, follow Emma Roth. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
The digital publishing industry has relied on Google for a very long time. Many outlets spent time and money optimizing their webpages to show up at the top of the search engine, with the goal of getting readers to click on their articles or discover their websites for the first time. For years, the relationship between Google and publishers was largely reciprocal; online pub …
Blue Planet III is keeping the rough edges in the age of AI
BBC's Blue Planet III is looking to prove its authenticity by leaving in the less-than-perfect shots. Previous incarnations of the nature series were defined by their gorgeous, crystal-clear footage that seemed almost too good to be real. But one dead giveaway of AI is when things look too polished and seamless. To counter that, Blue Planet III goes warts and all.
Executive Producer Elizabeth White told The Guardian in the past, "the amount of plankton and things" floating in the water would have caused them to cut a shot. Or "we might have framed out a boat or a buoy or gone: 'Oh, actually … the water conditions are not really good enough …
Pennsylvania will require labels on AI-generated ads
On Thursday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act into law, requiring disclosures on AI-generated ads. The law requires any ad - whether it's a still image, video, audio, or text - that "has been significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence" to include a label in the same format as the ad itself. That applies to TV commercials from multi-billion-dollar companies, as well as restaurants' ugly, crowded flyers about their wing specials.
Pennsylvania is one of the first states to require disclosures on AI content. And it requires those labels regardless of where an ad …
Fielded is obsessed with scammers and unhinged Japanese cyberpunk
Lindsay Powell, who releases records under the name Fielded, has spent most of her career subverting expectations and genre conventions. According to their Bandcamp page, Fielded started as an experimental noise project before growing into something closer to R&B. But from moment one, her take on the genre was restless, relentlessly playing with what R&B even means.
Her first album, Ninety-Thirty-Thirty, includes songs heavily indebted to '80s synth-pop and features multiple saxophone solos. Boy Angel is a quirky electronic exploration with huge saw-wave synths, jittery percussion, and sky-high vocal stacks. While 2020's Demisexual Lovelace …
LG’s brilliant C6 OLED TV is already $400 off ahead of Black Friday
Black Friday is still over a month away, but if you’re hoping to upgrade your TV, you don’t need to wait until November. LG has already kicked off its early Black Friday sale, letting you save on the LG C6 and various soundbars through November 1st. Right now, for instance, you can snag a 55-inch C6 for an all-time low of $999.99 ($400 off), with Amazon and Best Buy matching said price. Other sizes are also discounted, including the 65-inch model, which is on sale for $1,399.99 ($300 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and LG. If you purchase direct, you’ll also get a free Xbox Wireless Controller and a complimentary wall mount.
LG C6 OLED TV
Where to Buy:
LG’s C6 OLED TV offers a few small but welcome upgrades over last year’s C5, including a faster Alpha 11 AI Gen3 processor designed to improve picture and sound quality, along with a brighter display. It also boasts a higher refresh rate of up to 165Hz for smoother gaming, up from 144Hz, while retaining four HDMI 2.1 ports and support for AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, the latter of which helps reduce unwanted screen tearing while gaming.
Unsurprisingly, the C6 delivers the hallmarks of OLED technology, including inky blacks, vibrant color, and impressive contrast. Support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, meanwhile, helps make movies and shows appear more lifelike and immersive, while built-in access to Netflix, HBO Max, and the like lets you stream your favorite content without a dedicated streaming device. Google Cast and Apple AirPlay 2 also make it easy to share content from your phone, while Matter support lets you pair it with various smart home devices.
Solid specs aside, we’d be remiss not to mention that researchers recently raised concerns about how LG’s smart TVs collect and log user data. LG has since responded to some of the accusations, saying its TVs don’t continuously record conversations, and that features like voice recognition and interest-based advertising are optional and disabled by default. While LG hasn’t addressed all concerns, similar data-collection practices aren’t necessarily unique to LG TVs, and they don’t detract from the C6’s impressive feature set.