Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 08/07 – The iPhone 14 Event

Starting point is 00:00:00 On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Wednesday, September 7th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, all the headlines from Apple's far-out iPhone event.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Not to be outdone. Details on the next Google Pixel event and MetaQuest Pro event. Ring brings end-end encryption to all its hardware, and for the first time in history, an alleged cyber attack has led to a severing of diplomatic ties. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. New iPhones, new Apple watches, new AirPods. Let's go. Actually, let's go from the bottom up with the iPhone. The iPhone 14 and a new iPhone 14 plus make up the bottom of the lineup. They preserve the iPhone 13 design and get the A15 bionic chips. The standard 14 starts at $799, and the plus begins at $899.

Starting point is 00:01:28 Pure orders begin on September 9th, and they will ship on September 16th, though. The plus only arrives on October 7th. quoting the verge. The iPhone 14 sticks with a 6.1 inch screen, while the 14 plus offers a big 6.7 inch screen. The 14 plus model claims to offer the best battery life of any iPhone. On the camera front, there's an ultra-wide and new 12-mepixel main camera with sensor-based stabilization. Apple claims there's a 49% improvement in low light image quality and says that night mode is twice as fast now. There's also a new 12 megapixel true depth camera with autofocus around front. Apple says it's also applying its deep fusion image processing earlier in the image pipeline, improving low-light performance and color rendering a technology it's calling photonic engine.

Starting point is 00:02:18 Video recordings also get a new stabilization mode called action mode that uses the whole sensor for gimbal-esque steadiness. Both models support emergency SOS, the much-rumored emergency messaging via communication satellites when you're out of range of a cell signal. The phone's antennas can connect to satellite frequencies. Apple says it can take less than 15 seconds to send a message with a clear view of the sky, and the interface guides users to point their phone in the right direction, and walks them through the steps to connect with emergency service providers. It's also possible to use the Find My app to share location without sending a message. It's free for two years with new iPhone 14 models, end quote. Actually, again, all the iPhone models will get that.

Starting point is 00:03:01 emergency SOS feature, which is why we're going from the bottom up. So let's go up a wrong. Apple also announced the 6.1 inch iPhone 14 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max. So again, there's four total phones here. There's only two sizes, but you have that lower tier and the higher tier, both the lower tier and the higher tier have the same two size options. You just get, obviously more with the higher tier like a dynamic island notch, a 48 megapixel main camera, an A164-nanometer chip, and always on display. Quoting from the verge again, the iPhone 14 Pro will start at $999 and the iPhone 14 Pro Max will start at $1,099. Both will be available for pre-order on September 9th and available in stores on September 16th. The first notable design change with the iPhone 14 Pro models is the display.

Starting point is 00:03:55 While Apple will offer the usual 6.1 and 6.7-inch options, the notch is being replaced by a pill-shaped cutout that will house the face ID components and a second circular cutout for the front-facing camera. Apple has moved the proximity sensor behind the display, and notifications will now pop out of the notch in an animation. Apple calls this system the dynamic island. Notifications and alerts will adapt and move around the pill-shaped notch, and Apple is really leaning into how it animates and uses the system for new notification. applications. Apple demonstrated a variety of ways the dynamic island will animate and work in practice, including live activity widgets coming to life in animations and controls for music. When you

Starting point is 00:04:36 swipe to go home, background tasks like music playback will move to the island. Both the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max will include an always-on display that works with the new lock screen widget feature in iOS 16. It will support information like reminders, calendar events, and weather without the iPhone having to wake to display it. There's even a sleep state for iOS 16 wallpapers that will darken them to use less battery power. Inside the iPhone 14 Pro models is Apple's A16 bionic chip. Apple has focused on power efficiency, display, and camera with its new chip, the six-core CPU includes two high-performance cores that use 20% lower power and four efficiency cores that use a third of chips from competitors. For the first time ever, the iPhone is moving away from a 12-mixel sensor to a 48-machixel

Starting point is 00:05:25 one. The new main camera offers improvements to low light photography, all using a quad-pixel sensor with a 24-millimeter focal length. For most photos, the sensors will take 12-mepixel binned photos to maximize light capture. This also allows Apple to crop the sensor in different ways to deliver true 2X zoom at a 48-millimeter focal length. This should result in some impressive photos, and the new sensor even optimizes details in Apple's pro-Raw format. The ultra-wide camera sees improvements to macro photography and a 3x improvement in low light. The flash on the iPhone 14 camera system has also been redesigned, so it's twice as bright and reacts to the focal length of photos. If you're interested in shooting video, the iPhone 14 Pro models have certainly got you covered.

Starting point is 00:06:10 The cinematic mode can now do 4K resolution at 30 frames per second and 4K at 24 frames per second, end quote. Then on to the watches. Apple also unveiled watch series 8 in 41 millimeter and 45. millimeter sizes with a body temperature sensor, a new sleep app, and a focus on women's health, and more for a starting price of $399 coming on September 16th. And while there is no iPhone mini this year, the watch SE sticks around with new midnight starlight and silver colors, a nylon composite back case, an S8 chip, and more available starting at $249 on September 16th. But the big news on the watch front was the debut of the watch ultra. For athletes, largely, with a 49-millimeter titanium case, improved multi-band GPS, a customizable action button, a second speaker, and 30-to-60-hour

Starting point is 00:07:09 battery life starting at $799. Once more, The Verge. There's a new button guard on the side with a 49-millimeter titanium case, redesigned digital crown, and a new action button. The action button can be customized for various purposes, including workouts, compass waypoints, and a new backtrack feature. The display has sapphire crystal as well as 2,000 nits of brightness. The buttons and crowns are also designed to work with gloves, which is a big concern for outdoor athletes. There are three built-in microphones to improve sound quality as well as reduce ambient noise like wind. The Ultra Watch has cellular capabilities and should get up to 36 hours on a single charge. It also has an extended battery life of 60 hours when using a new.

Starting point is 00:07:53 low-power setting. That mode still allows you to measure heart rate and GPS. Apple says that the Ultra has enough battery life for most users to complete a long-course triathlon, which involves a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full 26.2-mile marathon. The Ultra also has improved multi-band GPS, which includes the new L5 frequency. It's something you only see on fitness watches like Garmin's and Coros these days. It also has a trackback feature which helps you retrace your steps in case you accidentally go off the grid. There's a new compass app in WatchOS 9, which adds compass waypoints so you can mark points of interest on a map.

Starting point is 00:08:31 Meanwhile, for triathletes, the action button also lets you transition from one leg of a race to the next, i.e. switching from swimming to running. There will also be auto-detect for when athletes arrive at tracks later this year. And it has an 86 decibel siren to help others locate you, end quote. Finally, on the new device front, we have the... the AirPods Pro 2 with an H2 chip, a new low distortion driver, personalized spatial audio, and volume touch controls available on September 23rd for $249. Once more with feeling from the verge, quote.

Starting point is 00:09:08 The H2 chip allows the new earbuds to cancel up to twice as much noise over the first generation AirPods Pro, Apple says, in a press release. The new buds and the H2 chip also offer an improved adaptive transparency mode, and Apple also says the AirPods Pro have a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amplifier for richer bass and crystal clear sound across a wider range of frequencies. One major new feature for the new earbuds is the ability to adjust volume with swipes on the stem. That means you won't have to turn to another device just to bump up the volume on your favorite song. And Apple says the AirPods Pro have better battery, six hours on a single charge with active noise cancellation turned on.

Starting point is 00:09:48 The new AirPods Pro also come with a new charging case that offers fine-micing. support and a built-in speaker so you can track them more easily, and a loop where you can attach a lanyard if you want another way to carry the case around. In addition to charging it with a lightning cable or on a Chi or MagSafe charger, you'll also be able to charge the case on an Apple Watch charger. The case is now also sweat and water resistant. The new earbuds will cost $249, and you can order them on September 9th. They'll be available on September 23rd. The updated AirPods Pro will also come with new extra small ear tips, which could be a better fit for some ears, end quote. And one more thing. Apple plans to release iOS 16 on September 12th for iPhone 8

Starting point is 00:10:34 and up with a redesign and customizable lock screen, major new features and messages, and more. A lot of times folks like to counter program other folks' events. In this case, folks are countering the headlines of today's iPhone event with event news of their own. Google has announced an in-person pixel hardware event for October 6th at 10 a.m. Eastern in Brooklyn, where the company will detail the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, and Pixel Watch. I've reached out to Google to try to get an invite to cover it live for you. If anyone at Google Coms is listening, get in touch with me at podcast at Techmeme.com. But more tangible news was Google confirming the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will run on a TensorFlow G2.

Starting point is 00:11:26 system on a chip, bringing what Google calls personalized features to photos, videos, security, and speech recognition. Quoting 9 to 5 Google. Last year, the Google TensorFlow chip debuted as the powerhouse behind the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, and later the Pixel 6A. Build as Google's own chip for smartphones, the tensor chip was built in partnership with Samsung, enhancing exneos-like processors with Google's machine learning prowess. Internally, that first Google made system on a chip has a model number of GS-101, but the company has solely referred to it as the Google tensor chip. For nearly a year now, we've known that the next generation of pixel phones would include a second-generation tensor chip, GS-201, but it wasn't clear how Google would brand the new hardware. Today, Google

Starting point is 00:12:09 formally announced that it would be hosting a hardware event on October 6, which should serve as the launching point for the Pixel 7, Pixel Watch, and more. In doing so, the company also updated various parts of the Google Store website with new tidbits about the upcoming hardware. On the updated magazine, page for the Pixel 7, there's now a reference to the Google Tensor G2 chip in the phone. Following this year's pattern, it's likely that the TensorFlow G2 will also feature in next year's Pixel 7A, as well as any foldable Google may have in the works. Google goes on to claim that the TensorFlow G2 is what allows the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro to, quote, bring even more helpful personalized features to photos, video, security, and speech

Starting point is 00:12:47 recognition, end quote. With any luck, these may be the clues to what to expect Google to announce at next month's event, as the company has remained mostly silent about the Pixel 7's software, only showing the hardware exterior. The mention of security could be related to the face unlock feature that we recently reported was still actively in development for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, or it could simply be general security improvements, end quote. And Meta has announced its Connect conference will be held virtually on October 11th, when it is expected to debut its high-end Quest Pro, standalone VR headset. Quoting upload VR. A new site teases MetaConnect with a countdown timer and

Starting point is 00:13:35 quote, more information and speaker details coming soon, end quote. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently teased that the company's high-end Quest Pro standalone headset currently known as Project Canberra is due for release in October. Meanwhile, meta's longtime technical guide John Carmack confirmed he'll be giving his unscripted talk this year inside VR. Connect has been held annually since 2014 as Oculus and then Facebook's biggest event focused around outlining the company's strategy in VR and AR. The event typically sees deep dive sessions and product announcements which offer a framework for developers to digest as they build for meta's platforms. Meta just updated the login flow for Quest 2 with new accounts now in place and Zuckerberg

Starting point is 00:14:19 already teased updates to the company's avatars and Horizon World System. With the new sensor-laden high-end VR headset on the way. This year's updates promised to be some of the biggest yet, end quote. Ring has added end-to-end encryption to its battery-powered doorbells, expanding on support for its hardwired and plug-in devices, quoting the verge. Ring is now offering end-to-end encryption of video and audio on its battery-powered video doorbells and security cameras over a year after it added the option to its hardwired and plug-in devices. End-to-end encryption lets users of the company's video cameras keep their footage locked down, making it accessible only on their enrolled iOS or Android device. Separately, Ring is also making it easier to save recorded videos when an owner sells or disposes

Starting point is 00:15:08 of a Ring device. With end-to-end encryption enabled no one but the camera's owner can access recorded footage, even if law enforcement asked Ring or its parent company Amazon for the video, they couldn't provide it. Only the enrolled mobile device can unlock the video. By default, ring encrypts video and audio recordings when they're uploaded to the cloud and while stored on Ring's servers. End-to-end encryption ups the levels of security, giving only the device owner access to and control of their footage on one designated device, and with a passphrase only they have. When Ring first previewed video end-to-end encryption in January 2021, the Ring Pro 2 and Ring Elite, were the only video doorbells it worked on, leaving its most popular battery-powered devices,

Starting point is 00:15:50 such as the Ring 4, Ring Video Doorbell, Out of the Privacy Party. It was also an option on all its wired and plug-in cameras, including the ring floodlight cam, but not on the battery-powered options such as the ring stick-up cam. Now, end-to-end encryption is available on all of rings, currently sold cameras and doorbells, with the only exception being the ring video doorbell wired, its lowest-priced buzzer. Ring has a guide on its website with instructions for enrolling, but the increased privacy protections do come with caveats. With end-to-end encryption turned on, users lose the ability to preview videos on the ring app's event timeline view and enrich notifications that show a snapshot of action in notification before opening the app. Also, shared

Starting point is 00:16:33 users of ring devices can't see videos on their devices, and no user can share videos from the ring app or view footage on Echo Show devices or any third-party apps. And to end encryption also disables Alexa greetings and quick replies, where a ring video doorbell can automatically respond to a visitor. Bird's eye view also won't work. option on some ring cameras that shows the path a visitor has taken to the doorbell or camera. Disabling end-to-end encryption restores all these functions, end quote. Finally today, if yesterday was a series of wild stories, this is maybe the wildest one of the week yet. The country of Albania has cut diplomatic ties with the country of Iran and expelled

Starting point is 00:17:19 embassy staff over a major cyber attack in July 2022, which shut down numerous government digital services. I'm pretty sure I'm safe in saying this is the first time in recorded history nations have severed diplomatic ties over an alleged cyber attack, quoting the Associated Press. The government's decision was formally delivered to the Iranian embassy in Tehrana in an official note. Prime Minister Eddie Rameh said all embassy staff, including diplomatic and security personnel, were ordered to leave Albania within 24 hours. On July 15th, a cyber attack temporarily shut down numerous Albanian government digital services and websites. Rama said, an investigation determined that the cyber attack wasn't carried out by individuals or independent groups,

Starting point is 00:18:00 calling it a state aggression. Quote, the deep investigation put at our disposal undeniable evidence that the cyber attack against our country was orchestrated and sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which had involved four groups for the attack on Albania, Rama said in a video statement. The Biden administration said it supported the move by Albania, which is a NATO ally. The United States strongly condemns Iran's cyber attack. National Security Council spokesperson Adrian Watson said in a statement, we join in Prime Minister Rama's call for Iran to be held accountable for this unprecedented cyber incident, end quote.

Starting point is 00:18:34 Albania, a NATO member since 2009, shelters about 3,000 Iranian dissidents of the Mujahideen Iq group, best known as Mekai, who live at Ashraf 3 camp in Manez, which is 30 kilometers west of Albania's capital, Tarana, end quote. This part was recorded this morning, so we will see if my mouth is still numbed as I try to run down the Apple event details later on today. This part and the second half of the show were recorded before I went to the dentist, so getting this out to you as quickly as I can. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 08/07 – The iPhone 14 Event

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.