Minggu, 30 Juni 2019

Android will have an equivalent to Apple's AirDrop file sharing - Engadget

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Chris Velazco/Engadget

Ask iPhone users about the creature comforts they like and there's a good chance they'll mention AirDrop -- it's an easy way to share a photo with a nearby Apple device owner. Android users should soon have an equivalent, though. The 9to5Google team has managed to enable an upcoming Fast Share feature on Android that, like AirDrop, would use a combination of Bluetooth and WiFi to send files and even text snippets to nearby people. Turn it on and you can see nearby Fast Share-enabled devices, with transfers taking just a couple of taps (including a confirmation from the recipient).

There are a few key differences. It doesn't appear that you can limit transfers to your contacts, but you can specify "Preferred Visibility" so that favorites see you even when you're not using Fast Share. The sample recipients in the Fast Share screen suggest this might be available on Chromebooks, iOS devices and even Wear OS smartwatches, although we wouldn't count on all of those being available whenever the feature goes public. An iOS version would require a special app.

It's not certain when Fast Share will launch, although it's a Google Play Services feature and likely wouldn't require Android Q. Google might not wait long, though. The company has warned that it's deprecating NFC-based Android Beam transfers in Q. As such, Fast Share could be the only way to quickly send files to local users without resorting to apps (like Files by Google) that your friends won't necessarily have.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/30/android-fast-share-reveal/

2019-06-30 19:25:30Z
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Apple says that it’s focused on quality over quantity when it comes to its TV shows - The Verge

Apple’s head of services and programming says that the company has adopted a quality-over-quantity mindset when it comes to its forthcoming Apple TV Plus service. This weekend, The Sunday Times released an interview with Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, in which he talks about what to expect from the service forthcoming service, which is expected to launch later this fall.

The revelation is a rebuke to Netflix programming model: releasing as much original content as it can to attract viewers. In the interview, Cue says that Apple won’t be “creating the most” original content for users, but will be “creating the best.” When asked about Netflix’s model, he notes that there’s “nothing wrong with that model, but it’s not our model.”

Apple is a latecomer to the streaming video industry, following companies such as Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix, which have already pulled in legions of loyal users, in part due to their efforts to produce their original content. Other media conglomerates are jumping in as well: Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. have all announced their own platforms, which will launch this year and next.

Cue notes that Apple hasn’t always been the leader when it comes to hardware, pointing out that they weren’t the first to produce computers, smartphones, or tablets. “We try to be the best, and we don’t have to be the first to be the best,” he said. He explains that while Apple doesn’t “know a lot about television other than we are big consumers of it,” what it does do is “find the best people for it.” The company brought on high-profile Hollywood executives, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg (formerly of Sony), as well as Jay Hunt (formerly of the UK’s Channel 4) to head up its television programming.

Under them, the company has lined up an impressive-looking slate of projects, with shows from people such as J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey. However, while Apple’s slate sounds promising, we’ve only caught a glimpses: a sizzler reel during the company’s unveiling event, and a trailer for Moore’s science fiction show, For All Mankind.

The interview revealed a handful of additional tidbits about what to expect from the TV service. Apple will apparently release new content every month, and the first series out of the gate will likely be its workplace drama, The Morning Show, which will feature Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Cue notes that the series will feature “real issues occurring in the workplace,” and that “on the quality bar, it is really, really good.” Apple certainly isn’t producing the same amount of content as its competitors already are, and we’ll have to wait until this fall to see how the quality really is.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/30/18681149/apple-tv-plus-eddy-cue-original-programming-interview

2019-06-30 19:05:02Z
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OpenID Foundation says Sign In with Apple poses security and privacy risks - 9to5Mac

At WWDC 2019 earlier this month, Apple unveiled its new Sign In with Apple platform, which gives users a privacy-friendly alternative to sign in platforms from Facebook and Google. This week, however, the OpenID Foundation is questioning some of the decisions Apple made for Sign In with Apple.

Sylvania HomeKit Light Strip

The OpenID Foundation is a non-profit organization with members such as PayPal, Google, Microsoft, and more. The OpenID Foundation controls numerous universal sign-in platforms using its OpenID Connect platform:

OpenID Connect was developed by a large number of companies and industry experts within the OpenID Foundation (OIDF). OpenID Connect is a modern, widely-adopted identity protocol built on OAuth 2.0 that enables third-party login to applications in a standard way.

In a public letter to Craig Federighi, the OpenID Foundation writes that Apple has “largely adopted” OpenID Connect for Sign In with Apple, but that there are some notable differences. The foundation argues that the differences between Sign In with Apple and OpenID Connect limit the places customers can use Sign In with Apple and poses security and privacy risks.

The differences between OpenID Connect and Apple’s platform are being tracked here, where privacy and security risks are also detailed.

The current set of differences between OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple reduces the places where users can use Sign In with Apple and exposes them to greater security and privacy risks. It also places an unnecessary burden on developers of both OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple. By closing the current gaps, Apple would be interoperable with widely-available OpenID Connect Relying Party software.

To resolve these issues, the OpenID Foundation is calling on Apple to close the gaps between Sign In with Apple and OpenID Connect, publicly state that Sign In with Apple is interoperable with OpenID Connect, and join the OpenID Foundation.

You can read the full open letter here.

Read more: 

HyperCube iPhone USB backup charger

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

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https://9to5mac.com/2019/06/30/openid-foundation-sign-in-with-apple/

2019-06-30 13:49:00Z
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Android Beam could be replaced with AirDrop-style 'Fast Sharing' - Android Police

If you're already missing Android Beam and the way it allowed you to share links or files from your device to another easily, there's some good news and bad news all rolled up into one item: Google is planning on rolling out a new "Fast Share" protocol through a Play services updates that will allow Android devices to share assets to other devices, primarily using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct connections.

9to5Google and XDA-Developers have unwrapped the new applet, screenshot by screenshot. Fast Share is essentially the sharing function found in the Files by Google app where users assign themselves a special device name for the purposes of using Fast Share, then scan for surrounding devices with Bluetooth before finally conducting the information transfer through Wi-Fi Direct.

The feature is denoted by the icon for the existing "Nearby" feature, which indicates local points of interest from Bluetooth beacons. Fast Share apparently has a dark theme, as depicted by the screenshots above, and looks to be running in a demo mode. Several preset "nearby devices" include a Chromebook, a Pixel 3, an iPhone, and a "smartwatch." Of course, by resorting to the same standard wireless relationships that Apple's own AirDrop does, moving files across devices of different platforms becomes a possibility — though with this being an unreleased service, it's wise not to assume what will go public.

On the other hand, you're going to face the same problems of anonymity that have led to perverts dropping pics to unsuspecting passengers on the train. There is a "Preferred Visibility" designation you can give to devices you frequently connect with. Then again, one of the big reasons why people miss Android Beam — and, for that matter, Samsung's S Beam, which utilized Wi-Fi Direct instead of Bluetooth for data transfer — is because of the certainty that a device tapping another device and initiating contact through NFC. No risk of device name spoofing, no random visual assaults, none of that.

There's no telling if and when Fast Share will come to fruition and, with it being a Play service feature, what versions of Android it will come to. That said, the awkward nature of having to physically clap together phones did inhibit a lot of people from using Beam, so... swings and roundabouts, right?

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https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/06/30/google-fast-sharing-android-beam-replacement/

2019-06-30 15:05:00Z
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Play with synths in your browser with Ableton’s fun, interactive tool - The Verge

Synthesizers are mysterious and intimidating boxes to me, but electronic music company Ableton is setting out to explain and demystify the instrument. The company has created an interactive browser game called Learning Synths that teaches users the basics of synthesizers. The friendly tool is thoughtfully designed with fun illustrations and widgets that make it perfect for beginners to tinker around with.

Learning Synths starts out with a lesson on amplitude and pitch, but if you want to skip ahead to synth concepts, you can click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner to learn about envelopes, LFOs, and oscillators. The lessons culminate in the Playground, seen above, where users can play with presets and sequences. The site works in mobile Safari, but you can also connect a MIDI keyboard to your laptop if you’re using Google Chrome.

Drag-and-drop sliders let you adjust to find the sound you want, and there are little surprises as you move through the lessons. It’s a great way to learn about how synths generate certain tones and visually match waveform shapes to their sound.

When you’re finished, you can keep the lessons going by jumping over to the basics of music making through one of Ableton’s earlier browser tools, or take what you’ve learned and move onto Ableton Live.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/30/19154134/ableton-learning-synths-interactive-browser-electronic-music

2019-06-30 13:00:00Z
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Cozycozy is an accommodation search service that works with hotels and Airbnb - TechCrunch

French startup Cozycozy.com wants to make it easier to search for accommodation across a wide range of services. This isn’t the first aggregator in the space and probably not the last one. But this time, it isn’t just about hotels.

When you plan a trip with multiple stops, chances are you end up with a dozen tabs of different services — on Airbnb to look at listings, on a hotel review platform and on a hotel booking platform. Each service displays different prices and has a different inventory.

While there are a ton of services out there, most of them belong to just three companies: Booking Holdings (Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, Agoda…), Expedia Group (Expedia, Hotels.com, HomeAway, Trivago…) and TripAdvisor (TripAdvisor, HouseTrip, Oyster…). They all operate many different services in order to address as many markets and as many segments as possible.

Cozycozy.com wants to simplify that process by aggregating a ton of services in a single interface — you can find hotels, Airbnb listings, campsites, hostels, boats, home-exchanging apartments… You can filter your results by price or you can exclude some accommodation styles.

The company doesn’t work with hotels and doesn’t handle bookings directly. Instead, the service searches across all the usual suspects. When you want to book, you get redirected to the original listing on Airbnb, Booking.com, Hostelworld, etc.

The startup recently raised a $4.5 million funding round (€4 million) from Daphni, CapDecisif, Raise and many different business angels, such as Xavier Niel, Thibaud Elzière and Eduardo Ronzano.

Cozycozy.com co-founder and chairman Pierre Bonelli also previously founded Liligo.com. It is one of the most popular flight comparison website in France. It was acquired by SNCF in 2010 and then eDreams ODIGEO in 2013.

cozycozy com page de resultats

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https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/30/cozycozy-is-an-accommodation-search-service-that-works-with-hotels-and-airbnb/

2019-06-30 11:36:19Z
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Barring a surprise, SpaceX's next Falcon Heavy flight is planned in late 2020 - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) on June 25 with two dozen spacecraft on-board. Credit: SpaceX/U.S. Air Force

After two successful Falcon Heavy missions in less than 11 weeks, launch fans will likely have to wait until late 2020 for SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy flight, barring a surprise mission for an unannounced customer.

SpaceX has successfully launched Falcon Heavy missions to date — all successfully — and has firm launch contracts or contract options for four more Falcon Heavy missions with the U.S. Air Force, Viasat and Inmarsat. All of the missions are expected to lift off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the only facility outfitted to accommodate the triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket.

One of the Air Force missions, designated AFSPC-44, is next in line to fly on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The AFSPC-44 mission is scheduled for launch in the fall of 2020, according to Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the launch enterprise systems directorate at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center.

The Air Force has not identified the payloads on the AFSPC-44 mission, which the military awarded to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy in February. Documents released with the military’s request for proposals suggest the AFSPC-44 launch will loft two payloads into a circular geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator.

In the request for proposals, the Air Force told prospective launch providers to assume the combined mass of the two payloads is less than 8,200 pounds, or about 3.7 metric tons.

A direct injection of the AFSPC-44 satellites into geosynchronous orbit by the Falcon Heavy rocket will require a lengthy coast phase of more than five hours between upper stage engine burns. On the most recent Falcon Heavy mission, which lifted off Tuesday, the rocket’s upper stage completed four burns over three-and-a-half hours on a demonstration flight sponsored by the Air Force.

The complex orbital maneuvers were required to place the mission’s 24 satellite payloads into three distinct orbits. They also exercised the capabilities of the Falcon Heavy and its Merlin upper stage engine before the Air Force entrusts the launcher with more critical, and more expensive, operational national security payloads on future flights.

The Air Force formally certified the Falcon Heavy to be eligible to win national security launch contracts after the rocket’s inaugural flight last year. A series of in-depth technical and process reviews are now underway before the military puts a critical national security satellite on a Falcon Heavy.

“What we’re doing now is what we call the spaceflight worthiness process,” Bongiovi said in a pre-launch conference call with reporters.

The successful STP-2 mission “will move us one step closer to spaceflight worthiness for the AFSPC-44 launch in fall of 2020,” Bongiovi said before the launch.

The Falcon Heavy used on the STP-2 mission flew with reused side boosters recovered after the previous Falcon Heavy launch April 11, which delivered the commercial Arabsat 6A communications to orbit.

Officials said they will use the experience from the STP-2 mission familiarizing Air Force engineers with SpaceX’s booster recovery and reuse procedures to help certify previously-flown rocket hardware for national security missions. Before the STP-2 launch, all of the Air Force’s launches with SpaceX, to date, have used newly-built Falcon 9 boosters.

Artist’s concept of the STP-2 payloads on the Falcon Heavy rocket during one of the upper stage’s four burns. Credit: SpaceX

After the AFSPC-44 launch, the Air Force plans another Falcon Heavy mission with SpaceX in the spring 0f 2021, Bongiovi said. That launch, designated AFSPC-52, was previously planned to lift off by September 2020, but in a briefing with reporters earlier this month, Bongiovi twice said the AFSPC-44 mission is the Air Force’s next Falcon Heavy mission.

Like the AFSPC-44 launch, the Air Force has not identified the name or purpose of the payload to be launched on the AFSPC-52 mission.

In a draft solicitation released for the AFSPC-52 mission, the Air Force said the payload required a lift capacity of around 14,000 pounds, or 6,350 kilograms, into a geostationary transfer orbit ranging in altitude between 115 miles (185 kilometers) and 21,865 miles (35,188 kilometers), with an inclination of 27 degrees.

Viasat and Inmarsat are the two major telecommunications satellite operators with contracts or options to fly their payloads on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

SpaceX won a contract with Viasat last year to launch one of the broadband provider’s three next-generation communications satellites on a Falcon Heavy. Viasat is developing three new Boeing-built satellites, known as the ViaSat 3 fleet, to expand the company’s broadband Internet coverage around the world, with spacecraft stationed over the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and over the Asia-Pacific region.

Viasat has booked firm launch contracts with SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Arianespace to carry one ViaSat 3 satellite at a time toward their operating positions in geostationary orbit beginning in 2021. But the California-based broadband company has not announced the order of the ViaSat 3 launches, or which rocket will launch each satellite.

Viasat said the Falcon Heavy will place its satellite “extremely close” to its final perch in geostationary orbit, utilizing a multi-hour launch profile similar to the one planned for the AFSPC-44 mission.

London-based Inmarsat also has a contract option with SpaceX for a Falcon Heavy launch. Following delays in the Falcon Heavy’s first flight, Inmarsat decided to switch the launch of one of its satellites in 2017 to a Falcon 9 rocket, but retained a contract option to fly a satellite a future Falcon Heavy mission.

Inmarsat, which owns a network of satellites for maritime and aeronautical communications, has not executed the Falcon Heavy contract option. Inmarsat’s CEO said in March that one of the company’s future satellites — the Airbus-made Inmarsat 6B spacecraft scheduled for launch in late 2021 — might be a candidate to fill the company’s Falcon Heavy contract option, according to Space News.

SpaceX has also signed up one additional customer to launch a satellite on a Falcon Heavy mission.

The Swedish company Ovzon announced last year its selection of a Falcon Heavy rocket to haul its first geostationary communications satellite into orbit. Ovzon’s announcement specified the satellite would ride the Falcon Heavy directly into geostationary orbit.

Contingent on final financing, the Ovzon 3 satellite will be built by Maxar’s SSL division and is expected to weigh less than a ton at launch. The relatively light weight of the Ovzon 3 spacecraft suggests it may not be dedicated launch, and could fly with another payload on the Falcon Heavy.

Several SpaceX missions have been announced only months in advance, such as the Falcon 9 launch of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane in September 2017, and the liftoff of the U.S. government’s mysterious Zuma payload in January 2018.

A Falcon 9 launch of a South Korean military communications satellite, scheduled for November from Cape Canaveral, also went unannounced until earlier this month.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said in May that the company plans between 18 and 21 missions this year, excluding flights carrying SpaceX’s own Starlink broadband satellites.

SpaceX has completed eight missions in the first half of the year, including one launch dedicated to the Starlink network.

Responding to a question about the next Falcon Heavy launch from Spaceflight Now, a SpaceX spokesperson referred to the company’s online manifest, which lists no Falcon Heavy missions with known launch dates before the AFSPC-44 launch in late 2020.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/06/30/barring-a-surprise-spacexs-next-falcon-heavy-flight-is-planned-in-late-2020/

2019-06-30 06:47:26Z
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Sabtu, 29 Juni 2019

Taking T-Mobile’s brand new 5G network for a spin - Android Authority

T-Mobile is the last of the four major U.S. carriers to launch its 5G network. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have each already gotten their respective 5G networks off the ground. All four carriers now offer 5G service, albeit in limited footprints and with uneven experiences.

One of T-Mobile’s 5G launch cities is New York, and the company invited us to take the network for a spin using the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. This is the same phone we used earlier this year to test Verizon’s 5G. It’s a gorgeous phone with a massive screen and an advanced set of cameras. But we’re not interested in the phone, we’re interested in the network.

T-Mobile touts mmWave

This is not necessarily the 5G network anyone expected to see from T-Mobile, at least at the start. The company has spent the last year and a half talking up its low-band 600MHz spectrum, which is where its nationwide 5G network will eventually reside. Instead, T-Mobile’s 5G launch cities all rely on mmWave technology in the 28GHz band. This is similar to AT&T and Verizon, which are also using mmWave in high-band slices of spectrum. Sprint, conversely, launched 5G in its 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum.

T-Mobile 5G Review Node Number 2

Why does this matter?

mmWave is a near line-of-sight technology. It is relegated to outdoor use, as it cannot penetrate buildings. While walking around NYC testing the network, I repeatedly witnessed the Galaxy S10 5G lose its connection to T-Mobile 5G every time I went indoors.

When I tested Verizon’s 5G network in Chicago, service was limited to the immediate area surrounding the nodes. We’re talking 30 to 100 yards or so, and I had to be in eyesight of the node. Verizon’s service in Chicago is limited to just a few streets in the city’s business district for now.

Sprint’s 5G service is better at penetrating buildings due to the nature of the airwaves it uses. It, too, is limited to just a few small neighborhoods in Dallas, Kansas City, and other markets.

T-Mobile’s deployment is different from both Verizon and Sprint. The company didn’t point out where its nodes are (though I spotted some on buildings). Its coverage map suggests that huge portions of Manhattan and a small area of Brooklyn can enjoy 5G service. I’d call the maps a bit, shall we say, overzealous.

T-Mobile 5G Network Review NYC coverage map

I walked about five miles around Alphabet City, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Two Bridges, Chinatown, Little Italy, and Greenwich Village. I trudged up and down dozens of streets that were shaded bright pink on the map to indicate the availability of 5G service. According to the S10 5G, the network actually showed up approximately 60 percent of the time.

Bottom line, you have to be outdoors to find it, and it isn’t quite everywhere T-Mobile claims.

T-Mobile 5G Review node close up

Despite the inaccuracies I encountered in T-Mobile’s coverage map, the Un-carrier’s 5G service is much more widely available than either of the other carriers’ is.

See also: Samsung might be working on a 5G phone that isn’t the Galaxy Note 10.

So how fast is T-Mobile’s 5G?

About 20 speed tests, taken all over the map, turned up some interesting results. The fastest 5G download speed I achieved on T-Mobile’s network was 510Mbps. That’s slower than the 690Mbps peak I saw on Sprint and the 1.25Gbps peak I saw on Verizon. The average download speed across all tests, including some stinkers, was 313Mbps. Ping times hovered around 20ms.

Like its competitors, T-Mobile is still relying on LTE 4G for uploads. That’s why my speed test results show an average upload speed of about 50Mbps. That’s in line with that I saw from Sprint and Verizon.

Want to download some movies? I downloaded a two-hour movie from Netflix in about 30 seconds. A single episode of Stranger Things took about four seconds to download over T-Mobile 5G, and four episodes took less than 30 seconds (including the time it took me to reach up and tap the button four times.)

We're literally at the very beginning of the 5G era.

The speeds I saw were not as eye-popping as those I saw from Verizon, but an average speed of 313Mbps is more than suitable for interacting with the internet and the content we have available to us today. The average download speed I achieved on Sprint’s network was closer to 200Mbps and the average download speed I achieved on Verizon’s network was closer to 600 Mbps.

T-Mobile 5G Review Speed Test Number 4

Heat played a role. Temperatures in NYC exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit while I tested the S10 5G. Running speed tests constantly really got the phone cooking. A safety feature built into the phone will prevent it from overheating. This tool automatically turns 5G service off for a while so the phone can cool down. This happened to me twice while I tested the phone. I had to step into some air conditioned coffee shops to get the S10 5G (and myself) back into action. Samsung and T-Mobile said this is normal.

In all, T-Mobile’s network may not have been as fast as Sprint or Verizon’s, but it was more widely available according to our experience on the streets of Manhattan. We can’t speak to the coverage in T-Mobile’s other launch cities, which include Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

This is just the beginning

If you’re not bowled over with these results, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re literally at the very beginning of the 5G era. These are the first 5G networks and the first 5G phones. No one should expect carriers and their handset partners to deliver a paradigm-shifting experience from Day One.

See also: Three to launch “UK’s fastest 5G network” this August

What we’re seeing is a strong (if late) start. Only a small handful of carriers around the world have deployed 5G. A year from now entire cities will be blanketed with 5G and consumers will have multiple phones from which to choose. Those are the days I’m looking forward to the most.

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https://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-5g-network-review-1004086/

2019-06-29 15:46:29Z
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The 2017 iPad Pro, and Steam’s summer sale are this week’s best deals - The Verge

Prices tend to drop around each major US holiday, and with July 4th around the corner, we’re seeing that start to happen. And then there’s Amazon Prime Day 2019, a shopping holiday that will begin on July 15th, though we expect to see a few early bird sales before then.

We’ll be keeping you in the know about any good deals coming up, but these are the best deals that we’ve seen this week.

Phones

Sony’s Xperia 1 is now available for preorder. The price is $949.99, which is admittedly not cheap for a phone, but if you order before July 12th, you’ll receive a free set of Sony’s 1000X M3 wireless noise-canceling headphones with your purchase. Those usually cost around $300 or more, which is a great incentive if you were tossing around the idea of preordering the Xperia 1. You can find this deal at Best Buy (add both the phone and headphones to your cart) and B&H Photo.

If you don’t want the phone, there’s a deal for just the 1000X M3 headphones below.

If that’s a bit too much for your budget, Samsung’s entire line of Galaxy S10 phones are considerably cheaper than usual at B&H Photo. The S10E, which usually starts at $749 for the 128GB model, is $549.99 after you clip the $100 coupon on the product page. The S10 and S10 Plus also offer a total of $200 off when you clip the coupon, bringing down the price for their respective 128GB configurations to $699 and $799.

These phones are unlocked and work with any US carrier, and they each come with a one-year warranty through Samsung.

Headphones and smart speakers

Beats Solo 3 on-ear wireless headphones are $129.99 at Daily Steals if you add the offer code VERGEBEATS at checkout. These are open-box models in new condition. Apple provides a 90-day warranty on the Beats, and if you encounter an issue after that (so long as you’re within a year of purchase), Daily Steals will help you out.

Sony’s 1000X M3 are the cheapest they’ve ever been at Rakuten. Use the offer code PRO15P to get them in either silver or black for $237.96. These headphones usually retail for $349, and they cost $279 without the code. Note that you’ll have to make an account to get the sale price.

The Amazon Echo Dot (third generation) is back down to $24.99, its cheapest price. We’ve seen it sell for this price plenty of times, and it’s likely to sink even lower for Prime Day, but it’s not a bad deal if you need one right now.

Tablets

It might seem peculiar to highlight a deal on Apple’s older iPad Pro instead of the new iPad Air (two nearly identical tablets, inside and out), but there are a few reasons why it might be a better deal for some. The 64GB model, which is currently $474.99 at Walmart, has double the RAM count of the new iPad Air (4GB to 2GB). It also features a ProMotion variable refresh rate display (up to 120Hz) that will make game animations appear smoother, and scrolling around feel more responsive than a 60Hz display. The iPad Air does not have that advantage.

The Logi Crayon doesn’t have pressure sensitivity like the Apple Pencil, but it’s a good stylus at $49.99 at Amazon (usually $69.99). It’s rechargeable via Lightning and it has tilt support.

If you really want to kit out your iPad Pro, the Smart Keyboard is $79.50 at Amazon. It originally sold for $159.99, but has been this lower price for quite some time.

Subscriptions

If you like listening to audiobooks, a year-long subscription to Audible is currently $119, $30 off its usual cost for Prime members (paying month to month costs $180 after 12 months). The subscription will get you a credit for one new audiobook of your choosing per month, and each month of service will let you download two free Audible Original audiobooks. To go along with those savings, Amazon is offering an Echo Dot smart speaker for $1.

Our Amazon Prime Day 2019 coverage has already started, and will be ramping up in the next few weeks. If you want to partake in Amazon’s two-day sale, you’ll need a Prime membership. You can get a one-month trial for free right now, and it will last you through Prime Day. Should you want to keep it running, it will cost $12.99 per month, or $119 per year (around $10 per month).

Gaming

Steam’s summer sale is happening now through July 9th. A few deals of note include Rage 2 for $40.19 and Soulcalibur VI for $19.79. There are so many games on sale, so you should check your wishlist out to see which are discounted.

If you buy Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One games at Target, you’ll save 30 percent on selected titles if you opt to pick up your online order in store. For example, this deal brings Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a $59.99 game, down to $38.10. Games like The Division 2, Team Sonic Racing, Kingdom Hearts III, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and more are also included in the sale.

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https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2019/6/29/19102515/ipad-pro-samsung-galaxy-s10-beats-steam-summer-sale-best-deals

2019-06-29 15:00:00Z
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