Welcome back, my TechRadar friends. Word is I didn’t completely destroy the institution that is the Week in Review, so they let me come back.
I promise we’ll get to all the news out of South Korea – I mean – Samsung, which delivered multiple foldables, watches, and new ear buds. But can we talk for a second about Instagram?
I’m not big on the platform – meaning – I don’t have a lot of followers (definitely not influencer-level), but as a photographer, I use it to show off my bird photos. The problem is, Instagram (owned by what is now Meta) keeps messing with the platform, and its latest idea, to introduce really long vertical photos, is the dumbest yet. Oh, and all of this is because it’s losing young people (and oldsters like me, too) to TikTok.
But enough of my personal gripes. If you love or have this newsletter, let me know. If you want more of this and less of that, let me know. If you, too, have a world-famous chili recipe – keep that to yourself. Whatever you email me about, remember to include ‘NEWSLETTER’ in the subject line so we don’t miss it.
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I’m not sure how many years ago Samsung settled on August for its second major Unpacked event (the first one is always February), but with Apple always quiet until September, it means Samsung can hog all the late-summer attention for its latest gadget drop.
By now, I hope you’ve already read Alex Todd-Walker’s (we call him 'Toddy') Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 hands-on review. It should have given you the first inkling that while Samsung’s foldables are undeniably cool, the brand is not exactly reinventing the wheel with the latest Galaxy Z series.
Better cameras, upgraded screens, slightly enhanced specs is the story, although I will point out that both the Galaxy Z Flip 4, and the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which I got to play with, are packing Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile chip: the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. While the updates to the Z Fold 4 over the Z Fold 3 are fairly minor, I will say that the device feels more than ever like your run-of-the-mill Android flagship – but in a totally good way.
There are new watches, too: the slightly yawn-worthy Galaxy Watch 5 and the much more intriguing, run-your-butt-off Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which will be the choice of the great-outdoors types. And who knows, maybe the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro earbuds will be the breakout hit of the bunch. They’re smaller, more attractive, and have better audio quality and battery life than their predecessors.
It’s a lot of mobile fodder to digest – so much so that it might still be repeating on you when Apple rolls out its iPhone 14 line in a month’s time.
In Apple’s case, it tends to make the phones the stars of the show, and will only include maybe one other device category, if any. Most rumors are pointing to the iPadOS being delayed, which means – to my mind at least – that new iPads won’t arrive until October.
Not only is it in depth, but John approaches a tough subject – how Macs could be PC-level gaming systems – with such assurance that even the PC fans who insist an Apple product will never have the gaming chops have to at least respect his take. Not only does John lay out the case, but he has Apple executives on record saying that, yes, this is their intention. Powerful Apple Silicon (M1, M1 Ultra, M2, etc., and the powerful Metal engine) prime these systems for gaming.
The other big revelation here is that Macs as gaming platforms could be more attractive to game developers than PCs because of the integrated/unified architecture. Instead of a hodgepodge of components that differ from manufacturer-to-manufacturer, and custom-built PC-to-custom-built-PC, every, say, MacBook Pro or Mac Studio is the same. Imagine how that cuts down on driver confusion and wondering why this game worked and looked great on one system, but not on another that’s supposed to be the same.
Take a lunch break and read this piece. I guarantee you’ll walk away more excited about gaming on an Apple product than you have ever been before.
Jon Bernthal as the Punisher (Netflix/Marvel Television)
I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I feel comfortable sharing one of my personal fandoms: Marvel. No, not the MCU of filmdom, or even the Disney Plus collection of high-gloss-high-profile series. No, for me, it was the tiny collection of Marvel Superheroes that started showing up on Netflix five or so years ago. It started with the gritty Daredevil and culminated in the ultra-violent Punisher. These were not your Disney-fied Marvel heroes. It was dark, intense, bruising and inconsistent. The weakest of all entries was Ironfist (though it had some amazing performances). The strongest and most complete was Daredevil, with Jessica Jones a strong second.
I lost it when Matt Murdock made a surprise cameo in Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and cheered out loud when I heard Charlie Cox, who so ably played Daredevil was officially joining the MCU.
Now, there isn’t a day that goes by without a new rumor. The latest one is that Punisher actor Jon Bernthal would soon join Cox in the MCU on Disney Plus.
As always, Entertainment Reporter Tom Power tracks down the rumor source, the retraction and the reality. Punisher might make the Disney property leap, but the rumor was off base (or way premature).
In any case, I look forward to Cox on She-Hulk and will remain hopeful that Luke Cage (a.k.a. Power Man) is next up for a Disney revival.
Speaking of gaming, you know where people are not gaming? Netflix. I often forget that the popular streamer also has a library of mobile games. 23 million people have downloaded the games but very few are playing them. Tom Power reports on this unfortunate news for Netflix’s gaming platform aspirations, but also digs into why.
The TLDR is that we want to watch Netflix content on our big screens and are not going to start playing their games on our mobile devices when we have so many other, better choices.
I have to wonder how much longer Netflix will waste time with this effort. You don’t want their games. I don’t want their games. What we do want is another Stranger Things or Ozark. Focus on that, Netflix. Dump the games and no one will miss them.
What if you could make sound without speakers? This is a new sort of micro-trend in TV tech from some of the majors like Sony and, now, LG, which unveiled an OLED.EX panel with something called Film CSO (Cinematic Sound OLED).
The idea is the panel vibrates to make sounds, which are managed by a hidden 5.1 surround sound system. Our intrepid freelancer Cesar Cadenas did his best to make heads or tails of the audio technology.
I’m fascinated and, to be honest, a bit confused. I love the idea of fewer speakers, but most TV audio is terrible with or without speakers. That’s why we all buy soundbars.
I wish LG would give us a deep tech walk through. If they do, I promise to share the information in the future.
We're getting further away from the sun over time (Bernt Ove Moss / EyeEm via Getty Images)
Let’s file this story under, “Why did I read this?” Live Science’s fascinating exploration of how we are ever-so-slowly retreating further away from the sun and how everything that I thought was fixed is actually in constant fluctuation freaked me out a little bit.
I do love science – the space, and stars, like our sun – but learning how it will die in 5 billion years and how, more near term, it’s slinging the Earth a little further away from it over time is eye-opening and maybe a little alarming.
Of course, since everything is happening at the tectonic level, we will scarcely notice – nor will the generations that follow us. In fact, unless I get recycled into the same body and am somehow staring at the sun 5 billion years from now, after it’s boiled off our oceans and is preparing to swallow us, this is not my problem.
Not to add to this stress, but I recently read that the earth is unexpectedly spinning faster than usual. No need to worry, though, because it’s generally spinning more slowly each year. I even wrote a few weeks back about how we’ve been adding seconds to our Atomic clock to account for it.
So, go ahead and read this and try not to panic.
The Sign Off
That’s all for this week. I’m on holiday for a while now, so look out for Gareth, Matt, or maybe someone entirely new to supply your weekly tech goodness. Thanks for reading and I look forward to your feedback, comments and questions, so keep those emails coming!
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