This week, we saw Nothing... the Nothing phone from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. And it really showed us nothing too, with an info-light launch that raised more than a few eyebrows.
We also saw secrets of a 37-year-old operating system come to light; we were scared by Netflix's new plans; and we got a ripple of sadness because Apple might be saying goodbye to an old friend.
In short, a lot happened, and I want to tell you about it with the usual mix of humor and self-deprecation you’ve come to expect from me.
Carl Pei has announced the Nothing Phone (1) (Carl Pei)
I've been incredulous of the Nothing range of devices, the brain-child of OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, ever since they were first mentioned a couple of years ago.
Not just because it was a lot of promises with little substance, but because there's not a lot of opportunity to innovate in the tech space anymore. So Pei's 'unveiling' of the Nothing Phone (1) this week is unsurprising in its lack of information.
We know it's got a Snapdragon processor, it'll be running a tweaked version of Android, and it's coming in summer. That's about it. Lance Ulanoff's piece does a good job of capturing this possible vaporware, which at this point, is all hype and no substance.
I’m frustrated because I want the same disruption that OnePlus offered – and delivered. I want that same moment from when we unboxed the OnePlus One – a phone sent unsolicited – and found that, with every moment that passed, it was good. And cheap. And really lived up to the billing as a 'flagship killer'.
The Apple Watch 3 might not be long for this world (Future)
There are strong rumors that Apple is about to put the Watch 3 out to pasture. Now, you might think that it's right to let a product that's years' old go, but the 3 has represented the 'cheaper' Apple Watch for years, and even though many think it’s too old and slow, I still think it's a lovely entry-point smartwatch for those that don't need the very best.
But apparently, the power inside just can't handle the incoming Watch OS 9, and therefore Apple will stop selling it. Does that mean the Watch SE will now become the cheapest in the range? It makes sense, but could Apple make a new, more powerful Watch in the body of the 3? All eyes on the launch event in September.
It looks almost certain now that Apple will get rid of the notch in the iPhone 14 Pro, but not in the iPhone 14. The Pro will instead get a punch-hole and pill arrangement, which I think looks ugly and asymmetrical. Apple has done this time and again (even the original notch looked terrible) but because people are so desperate to buy the new iThing, updates like this rarely cause a ripple in sales.
But we are set for the biggest-ever split between the base iPhone model and the Pro version – and recent rumors add more weight to this than ever.
I've been covering OLED TVs for nearly two decades now, since I was a little reporter on OLED News back in the mid-2000s, so I really get excited when I see new advances in the tech.
Samsung, despite making so many of the OLEDs in smartphones around the world, has been notoriously against using the tech in TVs, preferring to show off what it can do with quantum dots in its QLED panels.
But now, it's finally fusing the quantum with OLED, and has launched a QD-OLED, the first time it's made a big-screen panel using the tech in a decade.
I haven't seen the new panel yet, and it's looking likely to cost over $2,000, but if it’s as bright and colorful – as it promises to be – I'm very excited.
Look, I don't know why someone did this, but I love that they did. What's excellent is that a vigilant Twitter user was just browsing through the old OS, using tools that actually weren't available in 1985, and discovered a message from the original team.
The message just had a list of names of those involved and a 'congrats!' message – and one of those names was the Valve founder Gabe Newell, who worked at Microsoft until 1996, when he left to create his gaming company.
I just love that there are hidden things in the programs we love – I always wanted to find the Flight Simulator in Excel 1997, but I didn’t know the code and, well, didn’t have Excel 97 either.
Do you know who's using your Netflix account? (Shutterstock)
I loved this piece from Lance, mostly because I found out that I'm more eligible as a customer since I have my own Netflix account. That's a win for the ol' ego there. But also, the news that Netflix is testing a $2.99 surcharge for its accounts will be a bit of a worry for some of its subscribers, with 14% of those using Netflix in the US reportedly not paying for the privilege.
The thing is – Netflix can tell when you're not using your account in your home location based on your IP address.
There are some situations where I think sharing the login is legitimate: a child going off to college and continuing to login to their family account, for instance. And I get that Netflix needs to keep funding some of the best Netflix shows around at the moment, as it looks to spend billions more dollars on programming to keep up with the likes of Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+.
But what if you're more of an on-the-go Netflix user? Will the service be able to tell if you're on a 'legitimate' device when you connect through Wi-Fi elsewhere? It's a long way from a foregone conclusion that this extra payment is coming to everyone's account – there are serious holes in it as it stands.
Jupiter and two of its moons, Io (left) and Europa (right) (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/processing by AndreaLuck CC BY)
Sometimes, this section of the newsletter talks about important, interesting facts that question the nature of time and space. And sometimes it just looks at pretty pictures of cool things – and this week it's the latter.
The Juno spacecraft has been spinning around Jupiter for a little while now, and has sent back amazing images of the gas giant and the moons surrounding it – the kind of imagery our grandparents wouldn't have believed possible.
Take a look yourself and marvel at the majesty of space, and then get annoyed that the European Space Agency's exploration of the planet is called 'Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE)'.
That's not JUICE. It's JIME. Or JUICMOEX if we're following the same letter-use methodology.
This is from the editor
What a way to sign off this week, being annoyed at the European Space Agency. Not sure I've had that before.
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This one came from PK this week: "It's obvious from your excellent work on TechRadar that your brain is built for far better things than Wordle. I’ve never been big on phone time wasters, so it's not on my radar."
I love you, PK.
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