Apple adds green color options to its iPhone 13 lineup

Apple is updating the iPhone 13 lineup with two new shades of green: an unnamed dark green color for the iPhone 13 and “alpine green” for the iPhone 13 Pro. CEO Tim Cook showed off the new colors at the company’s “Peek Performance” event. Both new colors go on sale March 18, with pre-orders opening on Friday. 

While the two shades of green are similar, the “alpine green” finish is slightly metallic. According to Apple, it was made with “multiple layers of nanometer-scale metallic ceramics applied across the surface.” The new finishes add another pop of color to the iPhone 13 lineup, which has been available in gold, silver, graphite and “sierra blue.”

For now, it seems green colors will be exclusive to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. The newly-announced iPhone SE is available in just three finishes: red, “starlight” white and “midnight” black. 

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

The 2022 iPad Air is getting a big boost to performance thanks to Apple’s M1 chip

After almost a year and a half since its last refresh, the iPad Air is finally getting an update. And while its design hasn’t changed a ton, new features on Apple’s fifth-gen mid-range tablet include optional 5G connectivity and a huge boost in performance.

With the previous iPad Air already featuring an edge-to-edge screen, a power button with an integrated TouchID sensor and the flat-sided chassis Apple has used on subsequent iPads (e.g. the iPad Pro and iPad Mini), the device’s exterior didn’t need much of a facelift. So for 2022, Apple focused more on equipping the latest iPad Air with revamped components, both inside and out. 

The iPad Air’s front-facing ultra-wide camera has gotten a new sensor that supports Center Stage, which uses machine learning to automatically track and follow your head and keep you properly in frame during FaceTime calls. Meanwhile, for people who need fast mobile data, the new iPad Air can also be configured with optional 5G connectivity. 

But on the inside, the biggest upgrade is the addition of Apple’s M1 chip, which should give the iPad Air a major boost in performance, putting it on the same level as the more expensive iPad Pro line. Thanks to its new processor, Apple claims the new iPad Air is now twice as fast as a similarly priced Windows laptop. Unfortunately, it seems the tablet’s storage hasn’t gotten a boost in size, as the base model still comes with a relatively small 64GB SSD (or 256GB if you pay for the upgrade).

The iPad Air’s screen size will remain the same at 10.9 inches, with peak brightness also standing pat at 500 nits. And as before, Apple’s mid-range tablet still works with a range of accessories including the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard and the Smart Keyboard Folio.

The iPad Air will be available in five colors (space gray, starlight, pink, purple and blue) starting at the same price as the previous model: $599, with the new 5G model going for $749. Pre-orders will go live this Friday, with official sales beginning on March 18th. 

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

Live sports come to Apple TV+ with MLB’s Friday Night Baseball

For the first time, live sports are coming to Apple TV+. Apple announced today during its Peek Performance event that it will carry Friday Night Baseball. Once Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agree to a new collective bargaining agreement, Apple will stream two games per week that will only be available on the company’s streaming platform. The weekly doubleheader will be available in eight countries and you won’t have to worry about local blackouts. 

In the US, Apple will also stream MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights from regular season games. US fans, in addition to their Canadian counterparts, will also have access to a 24/7 livestream featuring game replays, news, analysis and more. For a limited time, Apple said Friday Night Baseball would be available through Apple TV+ without the need for a subscription. 

Rumors that Apple was bidding on a baseball package came out in January. By that point, the League had been in a lockout since the start of December, but it didn’t seem like it would cancel any games. That was then. Now, it’s unclear if there will even be a 2022 season.   

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

The new iPhone SE adds 5G but keeps the home button

It’s been two years since Apple launched the last iPhone SE and finally, a new model is here. At its “Peek Performance” event today, Apple unveiled the new iPhone SE, which like its predecessors is a more affordable version of the flagship range. As expected, the budget-friendly phone has an updated quad-core A15 Bionic processor and supports 5G cellular standards. Surprisingly, though, it still retains a home button below the screen for Touch ID, and has a single rear camera. In fact, it looks nearly identical to its predecessor.

The new iPhone SE will be available in midnight, starlight and red colors, and has a 4.7 inch Retina HD screen. It’s covered in glass, with Apple saying this is the “toughest glass in a smartphone on both the front and back.” It’s the same glass as that on the back of the iPhone 13. The iPhone SE also comes with IP67 dust and water resistance, and the company is promising better battery life thanks to efficiencies from the A15 Bionic and iOS 15.

Though there is just one 12-megapixel rear camera here (with f/1.8 aperture), Apple said the latest iPhone SE has a “new camera system,” adding things that we saw on the iPhone 13 like Photographic Styles, Smart HDR 4 and Deep Fusion for better processing.  

Apple iPhone SE (2022)
Apple

Finally, like the iPhone 13 series, the iPhone SE is made with some recycled materials, according to Apple. It uses “100-percent recycled rare earth elements in the Taptic Engine and audio magnets, 100-percent recycled tungsten in the Taptic Engine, and 100-percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board.” The company also changed its packaging so it no longer uses an outer plastic wrap.

Pre-orders begin this Friday (March 11th) at 5am PT, with availability beginning March 18th. At $429, it’s worth noting that year’s iPhone SE is $30 pricier than the last model. If you’re still keen on getting a new iPhone SE, I’d suggest waiting till we can get in a unit to test before you get one, so we can evaluate things like battery life and real-world camera performance. Stay tuned for our full review.

Catch up on all of the news from Apple’s Peek Performance event right here!

Instagram is demoting Russian state media accounts and labeling their posts

Instagram is joining Facebook in its attempt to bury Russian state media in its app. The app will now down-rank posts from state media outlets in its feed and in Stories, and will add prominent labels to discourage other users from sharing their posts….

ESL Gaming and Qualcomm team up for a $2 million mobile esports league

Esports tournament organizer ESL Gaming has teamed up with Qualcomm to run a mobile gaming league. The Snapdragon Pro Series will have three tiers of competition — Open, Challenge and Masters — and have around $2 million in prize money at stake.

Tournaments will be held in six regions: North America, Europe, the Middle East, China, North Africa and Asia-Pacific. The “multi-genre” competition will come to a head with a live event for Masters-level players. More details about the Snapdragon Pro Series, including which games will be used, will be revealed in the coming months.

ESL formed a mobile esports ecosystem last year with a smaller prize pool of $650,000 and games including Clash of Clans, PUBG Mobile and League of Legends: Wild Rift. With Qualcomm on board and more money on the line, there’s a bigger opportunity for skilled mobile gamers to compete in esports and win potentially life-changing prizes. For Qualcomm, the circuit could prove a valuable showcase by letting esports fans see how well games run on Snapdragon-powered mobile devices.

LinkedIn and DeepMind co-founders form AI startup to help humans talk to computers

Some of the better-known minds in tech are uniting to tackle one of computing’s greater challenges. CNBCreports LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman (pictured above) have formed Inflection AI, a company that will use artificial intelligence software to help humans talk to computers. The hope, according to Suleyman, is that you’ll speak to computers in ordinary language — this will “almost certainly” be possible in five years, he said.

Suleyman will serve as CEO, while fellow DeepMind alumni Karén Simonyan will operate as Inflection’s chief scientist. The company aims to stay relatively small to preserve the team’s focus and speed.

The move was a long time in coming. Hoffman and Suleyman have known each other for nearly a decade, and Suleyman backed away from DeepMind in August 2019 following both a desire to “recharge” and criticisms of his management style in previous years. He became Google’s VPP for AI product management and policy in December of that year, but left this January to work with Hoffman at venture capital firm Greylock Partners.

There are still many unknowns surrounding Inflection. It hasn’t pinpointed its target audience or a timeline for its first products. The DeepMind veterans could help its chances, however, and they’re trying to solve a common problem. Existing AI assistants aren’t particularly clever, and fixing that could improve everything from the phone in your pocket to next-generation robots.