Month: September 2023
The MacRumors Show: Should You Buy the Apple Watch Series 9?
On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest Apple Watch models, who should upgrade, and consider whether it is worth waiting for the rumored “Apple Watch X.”
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos
After spending several days with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, we discuss our initial experiences with the new devices, their design, and some of their standout features such as the Action button and USB-C port. We also return to the matter of Apple’s FineWoven accessories, which appear to have been received relatively poorly by customers.
The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 feature brighter displays, a Double Tap gesture for touch-free control, the S9 chip, locally processed Siri for faster responses and access to health data, the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for Precision Finding and deeper HomePod integration, and 64GB of storage. We talk through some of our favorite features of the new devices and weigh up who should consider upgrading.
On a related matter, we take a look at the “Apple Watch X,” a complete overhaul of the device expected to launch next year. It is rumored to feature thinner casings, larger displays, microLED technology, larger batteries, blood pressure monitoring, and a new mechanism for connecting bands.
Listen to The MacRumors Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. Watch a video version of the show on the MacRumors YouTube channel.
If you haven’t already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about Apple’s new FineWoven accessories, some of our favorite iPhone 15 features, and who should consider upgrading.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Kevin Nether, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Jon Prosser, Sam Kohl, Quinn Nelson, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Sara Dietschy, Luke Miani, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the show, and let us know what subjects you would like the podcast to cover in the future.Tag: The MacRumors ShowThis article, “The MacRumors Show: Should You Buy the Apple Watch Series 9?” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest Apple Watch models, who should upgrade, and consider whether it is worth waiting for the rumored “Apple Watch X.”
After spending several days with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, we discuss our initial experiences with the new devices, their design, and some of their standout features such as the Action button and USB-C port. We also return to the matter of Apple’s FineWoven accessories, which appear to have been received relatively poorly by customers.
The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 feature brighter displays, a Double Tap gesture for touch-free control, the S9 chip, locally processed Siri for faster responses and access to health data, the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for Precision Finding and deeper HomePod integration, and 64GB of storage. We talk through some of our favorite features of the new devices and weigh up who should consider upgrading.
On a related matter, we take a look at the “Apple Watch X,” a complete overhaul of the device expected to launch next year. It is rumored to feature thinner casings, larger displays, microLED technology, larger batteries, blood pressure monitoring, and a new mechanism for connecting bands.
Listen to The MacRumors Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. Watch a video version of the show on the MacRumors YouTube channel.
If you haven’t already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about Apple’s new FineWoven accessories, some of our favorite iPhone 15 features, and who should consider upgrading.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Kevin Nether, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Jon Prosser, Sam Kohl, Quinn Nelson, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Sara Dietschy, Luke Miani, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the show, and let us know what subjects you would like the podcast to cover in the future.
This article, “The MacRumors Show: Should You Buy the Apple Watch Series 9?” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Chinese hackers stole 60,000 US government emails in Microsoft breach
More details about Storm-0558’s spring attack against the State Department emerge.
When the Storm-0558 Chinese hackers breached Microsoft’s cloud-based Exchange email platform last May, they stole 60,000 unclassified emails from the employees of the US State Department.
The breach was confirmed at a recently held Senate staff briefing which added the compromised personnel were located in East Asia, the Pacific, and Europe, and focused mostly on Indo-Pacific diplomacy work. The threat actors also found a list of all the email accounts of the department.
“We need to harden our defenses against these types of cyberattacks and intrusions in the future, and we need to take a hard look at the federal government’s reliance on a single vendor as a potential weak point,” Senator Eric Schmitt said in a statement.
Espionage and data theft
In a media conference, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stressed that classified systems were not breached. Discussing the attackers, it was said that the State Department would confirm Microsoft’s earlier conclusions that Storm-0558 was behind the intrusion.
“We have not made an attribution at this point, but, as I said before, we have no reason to doubt the attribution that Microsoft has made publicly. Again this was a hack of Microsoft systems that the State Department uncovered and notified Microsoft about.”
When the news of the hack first broke in mid-July 2023, it was reported that hackers gained access to some 25 accounts belonging to U.S. government employees. It was the State Department that tipped Microsoft off on the breach, and the software giant took a few weeks to discover exactly how the hackers obtained a consumer key that was necessary to pull the hack off.
Storm-0558 is a threat actor usually focused on espionage, data theft, and credential access, against entities in Western Europe.
Via BleepingComputer
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‘Selling the OC’ Season 2 is compulsive viewing at its most painful
“Selling the OC” Season 2, review: The highs and lows of the “Selling Sunset” spinoff that follows Oppenheimer Group real estate agents in the Orange County.
“Selling the OC” Season 2, review: The highs and lows of the “Selling Sunset” spinoff that follows Oppenheimer Group real estate agents in the Orange County.
Richard Stallman Says He Has Cancer
slack_justyb writes: Richard Stallman revealed his diagnosis of lymphoma at the GNU Hacker’s meeting in Biel, Switzerland yesterday. He did not share much about his health condition but did indicate that it is “manageable” and that he expects to be around for many more years ahead.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
slack_justyb writes: Richard Stallman revealed his diagnosis of lymphoma at the GNU Hacker’s meeting in Biel, Switzerland yesterday. He did not share much about his health condition but did indicate that it is “manageable” and that he expects to be around for many more years ahead.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
‘EA Sports FC 24’ Is Just ‘FIFA 24’ in a Different Jersey
New name, same game. The world’s biggest and best soccer game has a new look, but under the surface things still feel very familiar.
New name, same game. The world’s biggest and best soccer game has a new look, but under the surface things still feel very familiar.
EA Sports FC 24 isn’t a huge change — but EA hopes it’s the start of something bigger
Image: EA
EA Sports FC 24 — or FC24, for short — is a huge release for Electronic Arts, launching today on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch. But you wouldn’t necessarily know its importance from playing the new game. FC24 is the first title since the publisher’s split from FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, a chance for EA to break out on its own with one of the most popular franchises in gaming. But the game also feels like well, FIFA. Instead of a whole new franchise, it plays a lot like the one that came before it, with the kinds of updates and additions that are typical of an annualized sports game. It’s not a jarring change if you’ve spent a lot of time with FIFA 23.
This is not to say that FC24 is a bad game. I’ve mostly been enjoying my time with it. It looks better, particularly when it comes to animations, with new tech called HyperMotion V that uses real-world data so that players move like they do in the real world. It’s especially notable for big-name players who now look ripped out of a TV broadcast, with distinctive movements so that you can pick out Lionel Messi from afar.
There’s clearly been a lot of attention put on materials; jerseys sway and move like real cloth. Similarly, the new PlayStyles feature uses analytics data to make it so players behave more like they do in reality; some have an impeccable first touch, while others are good at thumping opponents on defense.
Image: EA
There’s also been a continued focus on improving the women’s side of the game, most notably by adding the top leagues in Germany and France and introducing — to much complaining in the comments sections of various social sites — female superstars in the game’s most popular mode, Ultimate Team.
These changes are notable and overall make for a better game. But they’re also expected. Sports franchises typically evolve slowly, with small shifts year to year that eventually create a totally changed experience. FC24 isn’t all that different from FIFA 23, but it’s light-years away from FIFA 10.
And according to Nick Wlodyka, general manager of the FC franchise at EA, this year’s release is just the start of a much more ambitious plan to create an ecosystem of soccer-related experiences. “To become a football platform isn’t going to happen overnight,” he explains. “As we transition from an almost sole focus on building video games, to expanding into other things, that’s going to take some time.”
“We don’t want to have those communities separate.”
So what’s actually changed from FIFA to FC aside from the name? Wlodyka says it comes down to an ethos that involves bringing the various games — including FC24 on PC and console, FC Mobile, and a new turn-based smartphone experience called FC Tactical — closer together. That’s not the case right now, but it’s a longer-term goal. Wlodyka cites Ultimate Team as an example.
“That’s by far our number one most engaging play experience. But Ultimate Team, and progression in FC Mobile, isn’t connected to FC on console,” he explains. “That’s one of the things that we need to figure out: how do we create these socially connected experiences for our community, especially when you think about the scale of hundreds of millions of people across the world, each connecting on a device that makes the most sense to them? We don’t want to have those communities separate.”
Image: EA
Mobile, in particular, is a bigger focus this time around, with the goal of making a smartphone experience that’s more in line with what’s available on console — but yet one that remains accessible to the many people who play primarily on their phone. I’ve played a bit of the newest release, and it definitely looks better, with a presentation that — while not on par with the console and PC version — is much more realistic than its predecessors. But like the main FC24, it doesn’t feel like a drastic departure from what came before it.
Even still, the reason for this renewed focus on mobile is obvious: the audience is just so much bigger. “It’s still only a fraction of the football fanbase,” Lawrence Koh, VP of FC Mobile, says of the traditional audience for these games. “A big reason is that not all of the 4 billion football fans around the world have access to a PlayStation 5, or an Xbox, or a PC capable of playing our premium FC24 product.”
For now, much of the future of the franchise remains theoretical. FC24 is a solid start, but it’s also not the seismic shift that many might’ve expected. The goal right now is to continue to expand the franchise’s presence on mobile and improve the experience in relatively newer — and quickly growing — areas like women’s soccer.
“One of our principles is representing what is happening out in the real world.”
“One of our principles is representing what is happening out in the real world,” Wlodyka says. “We’ve seen this amazing growth in the women’s game. And going back to our responsibility to deliver authenticity and representation of what’s happening in the real world, that is why it’s something that we’ve invested significantly in. We think it’s something that’s going to be tremendous for all players.”
All that said, the biggest challenge might actually come down to the name itself. Over the last three decades, FIFA has become a shorthand for “video game soccer,” culturally pervasive in a way that few games have achieved. It’s up there with Call of Duty and Pokémon. FC is a much more generic name, clearly associated with soccer but not necessarily video games. It’s unclear whether it will ever catch on in quite the same way, but Wlodyka and his team are playing the long game.
“We’re not fooling ourselves, we know it’s going to take a little bit of time,” he says. “We’ve had 30 years that people have come to know and love the franchise in a particular way.”
Image: EA
EA Sports FC 24 — or FC24, for short — is a huge release for Electronic Arts, launching today on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch. But you wouldn’t necessarily know its importance from playing the new game. FC24 is the first title since the publisher’s split from FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, a chance for EA to break out on its own with one of the most popular franchises in gaming. But the game also feels like well, FIFA. Instead of a whole new franchise, it plays a lot like the one that came before it, with the kinds of updates and additions that are typical of an annualized sports game. It’s not a jarring change if you’ve spent a lot of time with FIFA 23.
This is not to say that FC24 is a bad game. I’ve mostly been enjoying my time with it. It looks better, particularly when it comes to animations, with new tech called HyperMotion V that uses real-world data so that players move like they do in the real world. It’s especially notable for big-name players who now look ripped out of a TV broadcast, with distinctive movements so that you can pick out Lionel Messi from afar.
There’s clearly been a lot of attention put on materials; jerseys sway and move like real cloth. Similarly, the new PlayStyles feature uses analytics data to make it so players behave more like they do in reality; some have an impeccable first touch, while others are good at thumping opponents on defense.
Image: EA
There’s also been a continued focus on improving the women’s side of the game, most notably by adding the top leagues in Germany and France and introducing — to much complaining in the comments sections of various social sites — female superstars in the game’s most popular mode, Ultimate Team.
These changes are notable and overall make for a better game. But they’re also expected. Sports franchises typically evolve slowly, with small shifts year to year that eventually create a totally changed experience. FC24 isn’t all that different from FIFA 23, but it’s light-years away from FIFA 10.
And according to Nick Wlodyka, general manager of the FC franchise at EA, this year’s release is just the start of a much more ambitious plan to create an ecosystem of soccer-related experiences. “To become a football platform isn’t going to happen overnight,” he explains. “As we transition from an almost sole focus on building video games, to expanding into other things, that’s going to take some time.”
So what’s actually changed from FIFA to FC aside from the name? Wlodyka says it comes down to an ethos that involves bringing the various games — including FC24 on PC and console, FC Mobile, and a new turn-based smartphone experience called FC Tactical — closer together. That’s not the case right now, but it’s a longer-term goal. Wlodyka cites Ultimate Team as an example.
“That’s by far our number one most engaging play experience. But Ultimate Team, and progression in FC Mobile, isn’t connected to FC on console,” he explains. “That’s one of the things that we need to figure out: how do we create these socially connected experiences for our community, especially when you think about the scale of hundreds of millions of people across the world, each connecting on a device that makes the most sense to them? We don’t want to have those communities separate.”
Image: EA
Mobile, in particular, is a bigger focus this time around, with the goal of making a smartphone experience that’s more in line with what’s available on console — but yet one that remains accessible to the many people who play primarily on their phone. I’ve played a bit of the newest release, and it definitely looks better, with a presentation that — while not on par with the console and PC version — is much more realistic than its predecessors. But like the main FC24, it doesn’t feel like a drastic departure from what came before it.
Even still, the reason for this renewed focus on mobile is obvious: the audience is just so much bigger. “It’s still only a fraction of the football fanbase,” Lawrence Koh, VP of FC Mobile, says of the traditional audience for these games. “A big reason is that not all of the 4 billion football fans around the world have access to a PlayStation 5, or an Xbox, or a PC capable of playing our premium FC24 product.”
For now, much of the future of the franchise remains theoretical. FC24 is a solid start, but it’s also not the seismic shift that many might’ve expected. The goal right now is to continue to expand the franchise’s presence on mobile and improve the experience in relatively newer — and quickly growing — areas like women’s soccer.
“One of our principles is representing what is happening out in the real world,” Wlodyka says. “We’ve seen this amazing growth in the women’s game. And going back to our responsibility to deliver authenticity and representation of what’s happening in the real world, that is why it’s something that we’ve invested significantly in. We think it’s something that’s going to be tremendous for all players.”
All that said, the biggest challenge might actually come down to the name itself. Over the last three decades, FIFA has become a shorthand for “video game soccer,” culturally pervasive in a way that few games have achieved. It’s up there with Call of Duty and Pokémon. FC is a much more generic name, clearly associated with soccer but not necessarily video games. It’s unclear whether it will ever catch on in quite the same way, but Wlodyka and his team are playing the long game.
“We’re not fooling ourselves, we know it’s going to take a little bit of time,” he says. “We’ve had 30 years that people have come to know and love the franchise in a particular way.”