You’ll be able to play the first game in the Luigi’s Mansion series on the Nintendo Switch 2 starting on October 30, just in time for Halloween. The gaming company is adding the title to its GameCube library for the Nintendo Switch Online streaming service. Take note that that service’s GameCube titles are exclusively available on the Switch 2 and require a subscription to the $50-a-year Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier. A basic Switch Online subscription with no access to GameCube, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance classics costs $20 a year. 

Since both Luigi’s Mansion 2 (HD version) and Luigi’s Mansion 3 are compatible with the new console, the whole series is now playable on the Switch 2. Nintendo released the first Luigi’s Mansion in 2001 as a launch title for GameCube. It was also the first title in the Mario franchise for the system. The story revolves around Luigi, who wins a mansion in a contest he never joined and finds out that it’s located in a dark, mysterious forest. Inside, he has to fight and capture ghosts and solve puzzles in order to unlock doors and explore the entirety of the mansion. 

Luigi’s Mansion sold 257,000 units in its first week and was the top-selling GameCube launch title. It was remade for the Nintendo 3DS in 2018, but if you’re a fan, we’ll bet you would love to be able to play it again on a newer console. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/luigis-mansion-will-soon-be-playable-on-nintendo-switch-2-132045389.html?src=rss

As part of its Galaxy XR headset presentation, Samsung also briefly teased another wearable product. It’s working in collaboration with two eyewear companies, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, on AI-powered smart glasses to go up against Meta’s Ray-Ban models, Samsung’s head of customer experience Jay Kim announced at the end of the livestream. 

“We’re also really excited about the AI glasses that we’re currently building together with Google,” Kim said. “We’re working with two of the most forward-thinking brands in eyewear, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, to introduce new devices that fit into your lifestyle.”

Samsung will focus on two different markets with those brands, though both will include “cutting-edge” AI features co-developed with Google. With Gentle Monster, it’s developing “fashion-forward” glasses that will likely be aimed at the higher end of the market. The Warby Parker collaboration, meanwhile, will yield eyewear designed for general consumers, probably at a lower price point. 

Samsung only said that the AI glasses will bring “style, comfort and practicality” to everyday life via Android’s XR ecosystem. As we saw in May with Google’s prototype XR smart glasses, it will likely employ a Gemini-powered display that will show notifications and small snippets of info from your apps, like the music you’re listening to or turn-by-turn GPS directions. It should also have a built-in camera, of course, along with speakers and a microphone. 

Design and appearance will also be key, but Samsung has yet to show any images of the upcoming smart glasses and didn’t reveal a release date. However, it will have a tough climb against Meta’s lineup given the Ray-Ban branding and that company’s head start on the technology. Last week, Meta introduced its Ray-Ban Display model that includes a screen for a true extended reality experience. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/samsung-is-working-on-xr-smart-glasses-with-warby-parker-and-gentle-monster-042632170.html?src=rss

The Samsung Galaxy XR is designed to be a showcase for Android XR, Google’s new AR / VR operating system, but unlike competing mixed reality headsets, Google says there will be few limits on the apps the Galaxy XR will actually be able to run. In fact, a Google spokesperson tells Engadget that “almost all Android apps will automatically be made available without any additional development effort.”

Obviously, Google and Samsung would love deliberately designed spatial experiences for their new hardware, but almost all existing Android apps, regardless if they were made for phones or not, will be considered “Android XR compatible mobile apps” once the headset launches. That means they’ll run in a floating spatial panel that can be moved around the virtual space surrounding you, and per Google’s Android XR developer guidelines, will automatically support core XR input methods like eye and hand tracking, along with the usual suspects like controllers, mice and keyboards. They should also run and look like they would on a smartphone or tablet. “Apps that specify compact sizes show up accordingly and apps that allow for resizing can be resized in XR. These apps do not run in compatibility mode and won’t be letterboxed,” Google says.

The only apps that won’t make the cut are ones that require features a given Android XR device doesn’t support, like GPS. And in the case of apps that are already updated to work on large screens, or that are “adaptive apps” designed to reflow and change size depending on the Android device they’re running on, things will be even smoother. Google says adaptive design will be expected to be the default going forward, an effort that started with this year’s release of Android 16. “Many APIs restricting size will be ignored on larger screens (which includes Android XR),” Google’s spokesperson said, because the company ultimately wants Android apps to feel responsive whether they’re on a phone, an in-car display or an XR headset.

Apple tried a similar, but more limited approach with the launch of visionOS and the Vision Pro by letting developers list their iOS and iPadOS apps in the visionOS App Store. The move produced mixed results, and a dearth of real visionOS apps. An app designed with a device in mind is better than one that’s not, but Google does at least appear to have set Android developers up for a slightly smoother ride. Considering the Galaxy XR’s cheaper price when compared to the Vision Pro, they might also have a bigger audience to make apps for, too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/why-the-samsung-galaxy-xr-can-support-almost-all-android-apps-021000889.html?src=rss

British Columbia is permanently banning new cryptocurrency mining operations from connecting to its power grid to conserve electricity for industries that generate more jobs and tax revenue. The province is also capping power allocations for AI and data centers, while launching a competitive allocation process in January 2026. CoinDesk reports: The move from the government of Canada’s third-most populous province is part of a broader legislative and regulatory overhaul unveiled Monday […]. “Government will also implement several regulatory and policy changes in fall 2025 that will … permanently ban new BC Hydro connections to the electricity grid for cryptocurrency mining to preserve the province’s electricity supply and avoid the overburdening of the electricity grid,” the government said in a post on its website

The province said the restrictions will help prevent grid strain and ensure industrial development is powered by clean electricity. “We’re seeing unprecedented demand from traditional and emerging industries,” Charlotte Mitha, the president and CEO of power utility BC Hydro, said in the web post. “The province’s strategy empowers BC Hydro to manage this growth responsibly, keeping our grid reliable and our energy future clean and affordable.” Crypto mining operations often consume large amounts of electricity without creating many local jobs or tax revenue, according to the statement. By contrast, projects like mines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities are seen as more beneficial to the economy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple’s Vision Pro was meant to usher in a new era for headsets. However, its high price and somewhat limited utility resulted in what may be the company’s biggest flop in years. Now it’s time for Samsung to give things a go with the Galaxy XR. It’s a fresh take on modern mixed reality goggles developed through deep partnerships with Qualcomm and Google and it attempts to address some of the Vision Pro’s biggest shortcomings.

The hardware

While both Apple and Samsung’s headsets have a lot of similarities (like their basic design and support for features such as hand and eye tracking), there are also some very important differences. First, at $1,800, the Galaxy XR is essentially half the price of the Vision Pro (including the new M5-powered model). Second, instead of Apple’s homegrown OS, Samsung’s headset is the first to run Google’s new Android XR platform, which combines a lot of familiar elements from its mobile counterpart but with a bigger emphasis on AI and Gemini-based voice controls. And third, because Samsung relied more on partners like Google and Qualcomm, the Galaxy XR feels like it’s built around a larger, more open ecosystem that plays nicely with a wider range of third-party devices and software.

The Galaxy XR fundamentally doesn’t look that much different from the Vision Pro. It features a large visor in front with an assortment of 13 different exterior sensors to support inside-out tracking, passthrough vision and hand recognition. There are some additional sensors inside for eye and face tracking. There’s also a connector for the wire that leads to its external clip-on battery pack alongside built-in speakers with spatial audio. The one big departure is that unlike the Vision Pro, the Galaxy XR doesn’t have an outward-facing display, so it won’t be able to project your face onto the outside of the headset, which is just fine by me.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

However, the devil is in the details because while the original Vision Pro weighed between 600 and 650 grams (around 1.3 to 1.4 pounds) depending on the configuration (not including its battery pack), the Galaxy XR is significantly lighter at 545 grams (1.2 pounds). And that’s before you consider the new M5 Vision Pro, which has somehow gone backwards by being even heavier at 750-800 grams (around 1.6 pounds). Furthermore, it seems Samsung learned a lot from its rivals by including a much larger and thicker head cushion that helps distribute the weight of the headset more evenly. Granted, during a longer session, I still noticed a bit of pressure and felt relief after taking off the Galaxy XR, but it’s nothing like the Vision Pro, which in my experience gets uncomfortable almost immediately. Finally, around back, there’s a simple strap with a knob that you can twist to tighten or loosen the headband as necessary. So even without extra support running across the top of your head, getting in and out of the Galaxy XR is much easier and comfier than the Vision Pro.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

On the inside, the Galaxy XR is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip with dual micro OLED displays that deliver 4K resolution (3,552 x 3,840) to each eye at up to 90Hz. I wish Samsung was able to go up to a 120Hz refresh rate like on the Vision Pro, but considering the Galaxy XR’s slightly higher overall resolution, I’m not that bothered. And I must say, the image quality from this headset is seriously sharp. It’s even better than Apple’s goggles and it might be the best I’ve ever used, particularly outside of $10,000+ enterprise-only setups. Once again, when you consider that this thing costs half the price of a Vision Pro, this headset feels like a real accomplishment by Samsung to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised if the company is losing money on every unit it sells.

In terms of longevity, Samsung says that for general use the Galaxy XR should last around two hours. If you’re only watching videos though, that figure is more like two and a half. Thankfully, if you do need to be in mixed reality for longer, you can charge the headset while it’s being used. As for security, the Galaxy XR uses iris recognition to skip traditional passwords, which is nice.

The platform: Android XR

Sometimes, trying out a new software platform can be a little jarring. But that’s not really the case for Android XR, which shouldn’t present much of a learning curve for anyone who has used other headsets or Google’s ubiquitous mobile OS. After putting the goggles on, you can summon a home menu with an app launcher by facing your palm up and touching your index finger and thumb together. From there, you can open apps and menus by moving your hands and pinching icons or rearranging virtual windows by grabbing the anchor point along the bottom and putting them where you want.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Notably, while there is a growing number of new apps made specifically for XR, you still get access to all of your standard Android titles. Those include Google Photos, Google Maps and Youtube, all of which I got a chance to play around with during a 25-minute demo. In Photos, you can browse your pictures normally. However, to take advantage of the Galaxy XR’s hardware, Google created a feature that allows the app to convert standard flat images (with help from the cloud) into immersive ones. While the effect isn’t true 3D, it adds distinct foreground, midground and background layers to images in a way that makes viewing your photo roll just a bit more interesting.

In Maps, you start out with a view of the world before using hand gestures to move and zoom in wherever you want or voice commands to laser in on a specific location. The neat new trick for this app is that if you find bubbles over things like restaurants and stores, you can click those to be transported inside those businesses, where Android XR will stitch together 2D photos to create a simulated 3D environment that you can move and walk around in. Granted, this doesn’t have a ton of practical use for most folks unless you want to take a virtual tour of something like a wedding venue. But, the tech is impressive nonetheless.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Finally in the YouTube app, the Galaxy XR did a great job of making standard 360 videos look even better. While quality will always depend on the gear that captured the content, viewing spatial clips was a great way to show off its resolution and image quality. Google says it will also put a new tab on the app to make finding 360 videos easier, though you can always watch the billions of standard flat videos as well.

Interestingly, you can use and navigate the Galaxy XR entirely with hand gestures, but voice commands (via Gemini) are also a major part of the Android XR platform. Because the goggles sit on your head, unlike with mobile devices, there’s no need to use a wake word every time you want to do something. You just talk and Gemini listens (though you can choose to disable this behavior if you prefer), so this makes voice interactions feel a lot more natural. Because Gemini can also do things like adjust settings or organize all the apps you have open, in addition to answering questions, it feels like Google is starting to deliver on some of those Star Trek moments where you can simply ask the computer to do something and it just happens. Yes, it’s still very early, but as a platform, Android XR feels much more like a virtual playground than VisionOS does at the moment.

Other features

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

While I didn’t get to test these out myself, there are some other important features worth mentioning. In addition to apps, you can also play your standard selection of Android games like Stardew Valley or connect the headset to your PC (like with Steam Link) to play full desktop titles. Furthermore, I was told that the Galaxy XR can be tethered to a computer and used like a traditional VR headset. And while Samsung is making optional wireless controllers for the Galaxy XR (and a big carrying case), you may not need them at all as you’ll also have the ability to pair the goggles with typical Bluetooth-based gamepads along with wireless mice and keyboards.

Google also says it’s working on a new system called Likenesses that can create personalized avatars for use in video calls and meetings that use data from interior sensors to deliver more realistic expressions. Additionally, you’ll be able to use tools like Veo3 to make AI-generated videos while providing prompts using your voice. But this is just scratching the surface of the Galaxy XR’s capabilities and I want to use this thing more before offering a final verdict.

Early thoughts

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

In many ways, the Galaxy XR looks and feels like a flagship mixed reality headset in the same vein as the Vision Pro, but for the Android crowd (and Windows users to some extent as well). On top of that, Google has done some interesting things with Android XR to make it feel like there’s a much wider range of content and software to view and use. In many ways, the addition of a dedicated AI assistant in Gemini and voice controls feels much more impactful on goggles than a phone because you can’t always count on having physical inputs like a mouse or keyboard. And with the Galaxy XR being half the price of the Vision Pro, Samsung and Google have done a lot to address some of the most glaring issues with Apple’s rival.

In case the price drop wasn’t enough, it feels like all the companies involved are doing as much as possible to sweeten the deal. I actually started laughing when I first heard all the discounts and free subscriptions that come with the headset. That’s because in addition to the goggles themselves, every Galaxy XR will come with what’s being called the Explorer Pack: 12 months of access to Google AI Pro, 12 months of YouTube Premium (which itself includes YouTube Music), 12 months of Google Play Pass, 12 Months of NBA League Pass and a bundle of other custom XR content and apps. So on top of a slick design, top-tier optics and a new platform, Google and Samsung are basically tossing a kitchen sink of apps and memberships in with the headset.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

My only reservation is that when it comes to mass adoption, I think smartglasses have supplanted headsets as the next big mainstream play. Granted, there is a lot of technology and software shared between both categories of devices (Google has already teased upcoming Android XR smartglasses) that should allow Samsung or Google to pivot more easily down the line. But the idea that in the future there will be a headset in every home seems less likely every day. Still, as a showcase for the potential of mixed reality and high-end optics, the Galaxy XR is an exciting piece of tech.

The Samsung Galaxy XR is available now for $1,800 on Samsung.com.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/samsung-galaxy-xr-hands-on-a-smarter-more-open-take-on-apples-vision-pro-for-half-the-price-020044642.html?src=rss

Samsung’s take on the Vision Pro is here — and you can already order it. Costing just over half as much as Apple’s reality machine, the Galaxy XR has a 4K micro-OLED screen and a 100-degree horizontal field of view. The $1,800 mixed reality headset is available now for pre-order on Samsung’s website.

The Galaxy XR isn’t only a Samsung product. The company developed the long-rumored headset alongside Google and Qualcomm. It’s the first Android XR product, a line that will eventually include AI glasses “and beyond.” You can read more about the headset and its ecosystem in Engadget’s news coverage.

Given Google’s connection to the Galaxy XR, it isn’t too surprising that the company has bonuses for early orders. If you buy the headset before the end of 2025, you’ll get “The Explorer Pack.” That includes a year of access to Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium and Google Play Pass. Also included until the end of the year is the “XR Pack.” This adds three months of YouTube TV, a year of NBA League Pass, NFL Pro Era, Adobe’s Project Pulsar, Asteroid and Calm.

You can order the Galaxy XR now from Samsung’s website and in Samsung Experience Stores. The headset costs $1,800. An optional Galaxy XR Controller costs $250. And somehow, the official Galaxy XR travel case also costs $250, which is — yikes — a lot. Perhaps consider waiting for third-party alternatives on the case front.

Samsung is offering a 24-month financing plan for the headset ($75.01 monthly) on its website. Meanwhile, Samsung’s stores have that plan as well as a 12-month one ($149 monthly).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/how-to-order-the-samsung-galaxy-xr-headset-020008173.html?src=rss

We’ve known for a while that the first extended reality (or XR) headset from Samsung and Google would debut in 2025. During an event on Tuesday night, Samsung at long last shared more details about the first Android XR device that you’ll be able to purchase. 

The company got really wild and original with the headset’s name. You’re truly not going to believe what it’s called… Actually, it’s got the most unsurprising name of all time: Galaxy XR. What’s more, you can buy the headset right now in the US and Korea for $1,800. That’s just over half of what the Apple Vision Pro costs.

Aside from an Android-powered headset that looks very much like an Apple Vision Pro, you might be wondering exactly what you’ll be getting in return for forking over 1,800 smackeroos. As expected, Galaxy XR is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset. Qualcomm worked with Samsung and Google on the headset.

The micro OLED display has 29 million pixels (6 million more than the Apple Vision Pro), a resolution of 3,552 x 3,840 and 96 percent of the DCI‑P3 color gamut — four percent more than the Vision Pro. Where Apple does have Samsung beat on the display front is with the refresh rate: the Galaxy XR tops out at 90Hz and the Vision Pro can hit 120Hz. 

Galaxy XR has dual high-res passthrough cameras to support mixed reality use, six other external cameras for tracking things in the environment and two eye-tracking sensors. The device supports iris recognition for unlocking the headset and entering passwords in some apps. As with the Vision Pro, you can capture 3D photos and video using the headset. 

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The cameras allow for hand tracking and gesture control, though it’s possible to operate Galaxy XR with physical controllers as well. If you prefer, you can pair a keyboard and mouse to the headset or link it to your PC and access your desktop that way.

The dual speakers support Dolby Atmos and there are six microphones built in. As for battery life, Samsung says you’ll get up to two hours of general use and 2.5 hours of video playback on a charge. That matches the original battery life promises of the original Vision Pro, but Apple said its latest model (which has the new M5 chipset) offers an extra 30 minutes or so of usage.

The interpupillary distance of the Galaxy XR’s optics is 54~70mm, and it’s possible to buy insertable prescription lenses if needed. As for connectivity, the headset supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Even with a forehead cushion attached, Galaxy XR weighs 545g (1.2lbs), while the latest Apple Vision Pro has a minimum weight of 750g (1.7lbs). The Galaxy XR’s battery pack — as with competitor’s offerings, the battery is external — weighs 302g (0.7lbs). 

Samsung claims the Galaxy XR was designed with comfort in mind. “The headset’s ergonomically balanced frame distributes pressure across the forehead and the back of the head, minimizing facial discomfort while providing steady support,” the company said in a press release. There’s also a detachable light shield that you can employ to block out external light.

Google/Unity

What you can actually do with Galaxy XR

There are no prizes for guessing that Google’s generative AI chatbot Gemini is at the heart of Android XR. “Android XR is the first Android platform built entirely for the Gemini era, and we are incredibly excited to take a significant leap forward today with the launch of Galaxy XR,” Sameer Samat, Google’s president of Android Ecosystem, said.

Every Google Play Store app works out of the box on the headset, though of course Google has reworked some for mixed reality. You can use Gemini to navigate Google Maps and ask for personalized recommendations while checking out 3D visuals with Immersive View. Google Photos can bring an extra dimension to 2D photos and videos via auto spatialization.

On YouTube, you can ask Gemini to find videos and tell you more details about what you’re watching. And, while using the passthrough mode, you can look at any object in your environment and use Circle to Search to look up more info about it. Google has also made new versions of Google TV, Chrome and Meet (because what is mixed reality for if not conference calls?) for Android XR.

Multitasking is a factor here as well. The operating system allows users to have multiple, resizable apps open at once. These can be arranged in a virtual space, or you can simply ask Gemini to do that for you.

On the entertainment front, you’ll be able to stream shows and movies in 4K in a virtual theater setting. You’ll have access to a library of 180-degree and 360-degree VR content, and you can view 3D content via a “spatial” tab. Some streaming platforms have reworked their apps for Android XR, including Crunchyroll, HBO Max and Peacock. 

There’s a multi-view option for watching sports, with apps from the likes of MLB and Fox Sports available. With Adobe’s Project Pulsar (an immersive video editing app), you’ll be able to add 3D depth to videos and seemingly place captions behind subjects with ease, if that’s something you’re interested in.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Galaxy XR has games too. NFL Pro Era — an NFL-licensed virtual reality title that’s also on Meta Quest, PlayStation VR and Windows — is available for Android XR. So too is Inside [JOB] by Owlchemy Labs (Vacation Simulator, Job Simulator). For compatible games, Samsung says Gemini can offer real-time coaching, tips and “enhanced gameplay experiences.”

The arrival of Galaxy XR is an important next step for Google and its grand vision of an Android XR ecosystem. But the company isn’t stopping with headsets. It’s also making smart glasses, a product category that Meta has been trying to conquer. Samsung and Google are working with Warby Parker on Android XR smart glasses. At I/O earlier this year, we got some hands-on time with a prototype of Google’s Android XR glasses.

Once again, Galaxy XR will run you $1,800, and Samsung is offering financing options. The Galaxy XR Travel Case and Galaxy XR Controller will each run you $250 — at those prices, they almost need financing options too. Ouch. 

Anyone who buys Galaxy XR by the end of this year will get an Explorer Pack at no extra cost. This includes 12 months of access to Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium and Google Play Pass. The NFL Pro Era, Project Pulsar, Calm and Asteroid apps are bundled in too. You’ll also get NBA League Pass access for the 2025-26 season in the US or 12 months of the Coupang Play Sports Pass in Korea. Charging $1 for each of the first three months of YouTube TV seems a little cheap considering the outlay for Galaxy XR, but it’s still a decent perk. YouTube TV typically costs $83 per month. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/google-and-samsungs-first-android-xr-headset-is-the-1800-galaxy-xr-020004449.html?src=rss

The iPad Pro is about to turn 10, so hopefully you’ll forgive me for pulling out this well-worn Apple truism one more time. No, it’s not Steve Jobs saying “if you see a stylus, they blew it” (a quote continually used out of context.) It’s the tale of how since day one, the iPad Pro’s hardware often felt far more powerful and capable than the software it runs. If you recall, iPadOS was initially a scaled-up version of iOS, with most of the limitations inherent in software designed first for a phone. Apps could take great advantage of the larger screen, but working across multiple apps was just nowhere near as simple as doing the same thing on a Mac. Yes, the iPad has always been more portable, and accessories like the Apple Pencil make it better-suited for some tasks than a Mac, but the knock is always that the iPad — even the Pro — isn’t ideal for getting “real work” done.

The combination of the just-launched iPad Pro’s M5 processor and the massive iPadOS update might finally quiet that debate. Sure, some people will never want to replace their laptop with an iPad, but it’s more feasible than ever thanks to iPadOS 26. It brings a totally revamped windowing and multitasking system, a background tasks API that lets you run heavy processes like rendering video while working in other apps, more robust audio input support and a far better Files app, making the iPad Pro closer in its feature set to a Mac than ever before. 

As Apple’s premium tablet enters its second decade, I spoke with the company’s Ted Merendino (from the iPad Product Marketing team) and Ty Jordan (Product Manager for System Experiences) to learn more about the evolution of the iPad Pro and iPadOS.

Given how many Mac-like features came to iPadOS 26 this year, I was curious to hear how the company approached putting all that Mac DNA into the iPad while still keeping it distinct, as well as the engineering challenges it presented. “One of the things that makes iPad such a unique device is it’s extremely versatile, right?” Jordan said. “You can use it with touch, you can use it with a trackpad or a keyboard or the Apple Pencil, and that’s really powerful. But it also actually makes an extremely challenging engineering and design problem to try and solve when you’re thinking about something like the new windowing experience.”

Jordan went on to describe a “multi-year effort” to reconfigure the underlying iPadOS architecture. Apple worked to “maintain the immediacy that you’ve come to expect with a touch device, while still allowing users to have this freedom and flexibility to work across so many more windows at once,” he said. From there, the company had to figure out how to bring a bunch of familiar tools from the Mac together and make sure they work across touchscreens, trackpads and keyboards.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Jordan pointed to Expose (a tool in macOS that shows you all your open windows by swiping up on the trackpad with three fingers) as a good example of something they wanted to bring to iPadOS in a way that felt native. “We leveraged the home gesture that people have been familiar with on iPad for a long time,” he said, “so you can easily see a bird’s eye view of all your windows.”

Swiping up on the iPad’s screen with one finger has brought you home for years, but now swiping up and holding for a second drops you into Expose, the same way it invokes open apps on an iPhone. And you can use the same three-finger swipe up on an iPad with a trackpad as you can on a Mac. “All these pieces have to be reconsidered over and over again in order to make sure that they do feel distinct to iPad,” Jordan said.

While iPadOS 26 is a major revision that was just released less than a month ago, the iPad Pro M5 is more of an iterative update, at least on the outside. That’s not a big surprise given that the M4 model released in May 2024 was a complete redesign. The iPad Pro M4 is more capable thanks to the big software update, but this year’s M5 update pushes the tablet even further into a world where AI performance is paramount. 

“M5 has a faster Neural Engine, which continues to be the most power efficient location on the chip to run on-device AI,” Merendino said, citing features like Live Text and Subject Lift that have been in iOS and iPadOS for a while now. He also noted that the faster CPU in the M5 has had neural accelerators for a few generations, things that help with low-latency AI tasks like speech recognition. 

But the M5’s redesigned GPU is where the big changes can be found. “Within each GPU core is the new Neural Accelerator that dramatically speeds up GPU-based AI tasks,” Merendino continued. “So if you are segmenting super high-resolution video, this is much, much faster. For on-device image generation, this is much faster.”  Benchmarks I took while reviewing the iPad Pro M5 back this up — all the GPU-based measurements showed huge improvements over the M4.

Merendino noted that Apple invited the developer for image generation app Draw Things into its labs to test the app with the M5’s GPU neural accelerators and it provided about double the performance of the M4 chip and four times the performance of the M1. My testing with Draw Things backed this up. I ran four different image generation prompts on both the M4 and M5 iPad Pro, and the M5 was more than twice as fast. It typically finished the default prompts I tried in the app in about 50 seconds, while the M4 took about 2 minutes and 25 seconds. Other tasks, like large language model token generation, are six times faster on the M5 compared to the (much older) M1. 

Impressive, for sure, but it’s also fair to say that most iPad Pro users are likely not going to be pushing to the edge of the M5’s computational powers. The flip side of this, though, is that the iPad Pro will likely remain fast enough for all but the most demanding tasks for years. Apple knows this, and it’s evident in the way it’s positioning this new iPad Pro — it’s for demanding customers who’ve been using an M1- or M2-powered iPad Pro for years now and are ready for an upgrade. 

One of the main hardware differences between the redesigned M4 and M5 iPad Pros and their predecessors is that Apple made the tablet even thinner and lighter than ever, while packing in the company’s latest silicon. It’s a wild engineering feat, one that impressed me from the very first time I picked up the iPad Pro M4 last year. There is one somewhat humorous thing about the iPad Pro, which is that it’s thinner and lighter than the iPad Air — despite the Air name having historically been used for Apple’s most portable products. Just look at the iPhone Air for the latest example.

That made me ponder if a more “pro” iPad should be a little thicker and heavier to accommodate a bigger battery, like what you’ll find in the MacBook Pro. The iPad Pro’s 10-hour battery life for basic tasks like web browsing and watching video isn’t short, but if you push it harder it’ll drain a lot quicker. Merendino said that the ongoing thought process behind balancing battery life, performance and size comes down to a focus on portability and versatility.

“One of the things that has defined iPad since the very beginning is portability. For creative pros, the iPad Pro is untethering them from a workstation,” he said. “It’s letting them create and be productive wherever they may be. And what’s unique is that over the years we’ve made iPad more and more portable.” That’s undeniable; the first iPad was about 1.5 pounds with its 9.7-inch screen and the 13-inch iPad Pro is a quarter of a pound lighter. “But we have also made it vastly more powerful,” Merendino continued, “even though it’s a more portable device, a vastly faster device. We have still maintained that all day battery life that we know users depend on.” So while we’re probably not getting an iPad Pro with 15- or 20-hour battery life any time soon, I can respect the trade-off of making the tablet as portable as possible. It’s one of its main differentiating features compared to a Mac, after all.

A rumor that started making the rounds just after the iPad Pro M5 was released puts the “Mac versus iPad” debate into a new territory, though. A few reliable sources including Mark Gurman at Bloomberg and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo both say that the M6 refresh of the MacBook Pro will usher in touchscreens for the first time on a Mac. If this happens, it’ll likely upend the debate yet again. But in the same way an iPad doesn’t really replace the Mac, I don’t think a touchscreen MacBook will necessarily be better than an iPad for some things. The iPad is still the most versatile device Apple sells, and the company believes that versatility is something people recognize and want. 

“With the windowing system that we built, it [still] starts with every app being fullscreen,” Jordan says. “And the idea behind that philosophy is making sure you can be the person who has iPad and is just using it on the couch to watch a show, and then can seamlessly transition to being a professional who’s connected to an external display with a Magic Keyboard and a bunch of windows open. And that versatility is really interesting, and I think customers who gravitate towards iPad are looking for that device that can go across those worlds.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/after-10-years-the-ipad-pro-has-finally-carved-out-its-own-identity-130108169.html?src=rss

These days, thanks to smartphones, almost everyone has a camera with them and that’s mostly a good thing. At any time, you can capture memories with family and friends, painterly sunsets and crazy spontaneous moments. The problem is most of us have endless bland photos in our camera rolls because we simply don’t know how to take great shots.

When you’re on vacation or gathering with friends and family, a good photo will provide memories you can proudly share and go back to time and again. And if you’re active on social media, they’re crucial. In this article, I’ll show you how to set yourself up for photo success with the optimal settings and simple but effective composition tips from myself and a pro photographer. And if you’re interested in going further, I’ll highlight several third-party apps that provide even greater manual control. Note that this is focused only on taking photos — I’ll cover video in a future article.

Take advantage of your smartphone’s camera setup

Rhonda Dent for Engadget

Most smartphones have two or more cameras, each with different lenses, sensors and resolution. They’re usually called the wide (or main), telephoto and ultrawide cameras. These work seamlessly together: You can simply pinch to zoom on the viewfinder to fit your subject into the scene and your phone will switch between the lenses automatically.

Most smartphones offer shortcuts on their viewfinders for you to quickly jump between these, and you’ll usually see numbers like 0.5x, 1x, 2x and 5x to denote the levels of zoom. Ideally, you should use each camera at its optimal setting and avoid in-between digital zooms (like 2.7x) that reduce quality.

You should also know which camera is best for a given subject. People shots are best done with the main or telephoto cameras as those focal lengths flatter the subject and reduce distortion. They also allow for naturally blurred backgrounds and “bokeh” that helps your subject stand out. Since it creates weird warping around the edges of photos, the ultrawide camera is best reserved for landscape shots. Lastly, the telephoto lens is best for distant scenes, but avoid the most extreme settings (above 10x on most cameras) as your photos may become blurry or pixelated.

When it comes to your phone’s portrait mode, there are caveats. While it does create a soft blurred background and “bokeh,” it does so using computational tricks. That can create issues like pixelation around your subject or an overly artificial look. To get natural blur, switch to the main or the telephoto camera, increase the zoom level and move farther away from your subject to frame them.

Finally, this should go without saying, but clean your lens. Whenever you set your phone down, the camera can pick up grease or dirt that will ruin your photos. If you don’t have a microfiber cloth, clean it with any soft cotton fabric — just avoid tissue as it’s rougher than it looks and can mar your lens.

Nail your settings

Steve Dent for Engadget

One big plus with smartphones over dedicated cameras is that they have bigger, sharper displays. To start, boost your screen brightness when taking photos so you can easily see your subject and compose your shot.

Take a few extra seconds to decide whether to snap a vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) photo, depending on the subject. Get in the habit of holding your phone in a way that keeps your fingers away from the lenses, as that’s another great way to ruin a shot.

Most recent iPhone and Android models automatically focus on a subject quickly and accurately. However, if multiple people are in a shot, the AI may focus on the wrong person, so be sure to tap on the correct one.

Exposure, or the brightness or dimness of a subject, is typically selected automatically by your phone. Most devices will automatically average the levels across multiple faces so all the people in a shot are well-exposed.

Steve Dent for Engadget

One thing that smartphones are nearly as good at as cameras is macro or closeup photography. Most iPhones and Android devices let you focus very close to subjects from the main (1x) or ultra wide (0.5x) cameras. This can help you produce cool shots of insects, leaves, seashells and other things in nature. 

Selecting a new subject automatically changes both focus and exposure. If you tap on a dark part of the image, the camera will automatically brighten it and vice versa, but you can manually change that. On iPhones, tap a subject to bring up the sunshine icon, then move the slider to change brightness. You can also open up extra settings with the down arrow on iPhone and then select the +/- symbol. On a Pixel, open the settings (gear) icon, select brightness and move the slider.

Sometimes, you might want to lock the focus and exposure when taking multiple photos of the same scene. That’s done on both iPhone or Android by clicking and holding for a couple of seconds on the desired subject. Then, the exposure and focus will stay locked until you tap again. You may need to enable this feature in your phone’s settings before it can be used.

What about using the flash? It’s best to use it only when you truly don’t have enough light to capture a moment, as it can make shots look overly bright and unnatural. Below is a good example of a shot taken with and without a flash at night when there was barely enough natural light. 

Steve Dent for Engadget

Most smartphones let you take photos nearly instantly from the lockscreen so you can easily capture when something unexpected occurs. It’s a good idea to learn how so you can snap a shot without too much delay.

Recent iPhone models have a dedicated camera button on the right side. First, ensure the settings are configured so that you can activate it without unlocking the phone. Then, push the button once to open the camera app and then again to take a shot (the main 1x camera is selected automatically). On earlier models, simply swipe left from the lockscreen to instantly access the camera. For Pixel and other Android devices, double pressing the power or volume button will usually bring up the camera app from the lockscreen.

Some iPhone and Android phones have a setting that allows you to take RAW photos. That gives you image data straight off the sensor without any sharpening or other adjustments, so it can provide a more natural look. However, editing RAW photos requires practice and the photos take up a lot of extra space on your camera roll.

Most smartphones allow you to tweak settings like saturation, brightness and contrast, but it’s best not to get too in the weeds. Even the experts, like my pro photographer friend Nathanael Charpentier, stick to the basics, “No complex settings, no artificial portrait mode. I just occasionally adjust the brightness when necessary,” he told me (one exception for him is black & white photos). This then frees him to “focus entirely on what matters to me: composition.”

Composition

Nathanael Charpentier for Engadget

Smartphones don’t have the same quality as dedicated cameras, but that forces you to think about lighting and composition. Pro photographers like Charpentier will tell you that, whether you’re using a phone or $8,000 camera, the most important part of capturing a shot is the framing.

Many photographers use the “rule of thirds.” This stipulates that key elements like people and geographical features should be placed in thirds across a photo because it’s pleasing to the eye. Simply cutting a landscape in half between the sky and the ground should often be avoided to keep the framing interesting.

To help with this, many smartphone cameras include a grid that divides the screen into thirds (turn on the “Grid” setting on iPhone or “Grid Type” on a Pixel device and choose 3×3). When that’s enabled, you can place your primary subject and other elements near where those lines intersect. These grids can also help you keep shots level.

Sometimes, though, a symmetric composition is best. If you want to shoot down a dock, for example, you can center it to take advantage of the converging lines. Then, you can slightly break that symmetry with other objects like a mountain, tree or bird.

Steve Dent for Engadget

Other composition tips include the use of diagonal rather than horizontal or vertical lines to break up a composition, or curved roads or paths that guide the viewer’s eye. Another popular technique is to use converging lines in architecture when shooting up at buildings. You can also try using foreground objects close to the camera (tree leaves, a pole or a person) to frame a scene. To create dramatic shots using the wide or ultrawide cameras, hold your phone as low as possible — you can even turn it upside down to get it right next to the ground.

Interesting photos also come from strong lighting contrast, particularly shadows. To emphasize that, you can use the exposure compensation (brightness) settings mentioned earlier to make the shadows even darker while keeping your subject well exposed. To find the ideal subject or environment, look for patterns and punchy colors. Don’t be afraid to shoot straight into the light source to create dramatic, backlit silhouettes.

“Smartphones do almost everything well except scene exposure; usually the photos are too bright,” Charpentier says. “And that’s why I very often correct the exposure of my photos. It’s a basic setting and done very simply on iPhone and most Android devices.”

Many smartphone cameras also take great macro photos. You can use that to get close-up shots of subjects ranging from insects in nature to food. Finally, try using the black and white settings on your camera to create a nostalgic mood or emphasize forms and lines.

Take your photography further with apps

Nathanael Charpentier for Engadget

If you want to play with settings like shutter speed and ISO, reduce automatic or AI settings, take RAW photos or change noise reduction settings, you’ll usually need a third-party app. Here are three I’d recommend.

VSCO

VSCO is a popular editing and camera app for both iOS and Android that had a moment on TikTok several years ago. It gives you control of basic settings like exposure (via a nice slider), shutter speed, ISO and white balance. It also lets you separate focus and exposure points, so you can keep one subject in focus but change the lighting in another area of the scene. It offers RAW support and filters, though many of the latter require a subscription.

Lightroom Mobile

To focus on lighting and exposure, check out Lightroom Mobile. It automatically highlights overexposed areas of an image and then lets you easily dial brightness up and down, change settings like ISO and shutter speed and even apply filters. Once you’re done shooting, you can continue editing your photos afterwards using many of the tools offered in the desktop version. Though no subscription is required, a paid plan is needed for some of the content.

If you’re on iPhone, Adobe has an impressive new experimental app called Indigo that you can try for free. It uses computational photography to improve things like exposure and detail to make photos look more natural.

Halide Mark II (iOS only)

For control over just about every aspect of your smartphone camera, Halide is the best choice. Unfortunately, it’s only available on iOS. For those in Apple’s ecosystem, it lets you shoot RAW photos with minimal processing (sharpening, etc.) and, according to the developer, has “zero AI right out of the camera.” At the same time, its “Depth Mode” lets you capture portrait shots (ie, artificial depth of field) with any subject. It also comes with a manual mode and tools like color zebras and waveforms to aid with exposure. Halide Mark II isn’t free, though, as it’s $60 for a one-time purchase or $20 yearly.

Before you dive into using an app, I’d recommend that you practice the basics until you feel confident taking photos in any situation. That means making the best use of your smartphone’s camera setup for a given situation, nailing your settings each time and mastering composition. Then, apps like Lightroom Mobile will let you take your photos to another level — like an artist graduating from water colors to oil paint.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/how-to-improve-your-smartphone-photography-010037588.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: A lot of critical financial and government infrastructure runs on Cobol. The more-than-60-year-old mainframe coding language is embedded into payments and transaction rails, even though there are very few Cobol-literate coders available to maintain them. The big argument in favor of sticking with Cobol systems is that they work. The catch is that, whenever they stop working, it is difficult to figure out why. That’s not good in a crisis, which is exactly when they’re most likely to break. Covid-19 put a lot of strain the US state benefit systems.

The ones that used Cobol for processing unemployment claims failed spectacularly, according to a new working paper from The Atlanta Fed: “States that used an antiquated [unemployment insurance]-benefit system experienced a 2.8 percentage point decline in total credit and debit card consumption relative to card consumption in states with more modern UI benefit systems. […] Using this estimate in a back-of-the-envelope calculation, I find that the lack of investment in updating UI-benefit systems in COBOL states was associated with a reduction in real GDP of at least $40 billion (in 2019 dollars) lower during this [March 13 2020 to year-end] period

The paper uses Cobol as a proxy for old and inefficient IT, not the direct cause of failure. Claimants faced much longer delays in the 28 states that still used Cobol in 2020, both because of the unprecedented volume of claims and the difficulty updating systems with new eligibility rules, author Michael Navarrete finds. […] As an aside, one oddity of the data is that Republican-controlled states were more likely to have replaced old IT systems, even though their standard unemployment insurance payments are lower on average. Why? Absolutely no idea, but here are the maps. And, once adjusted for state politics, here’s the key finding.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.