Samsung expects to sell twice as many Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 units as their predecessors
Samsung is unsurprisingly gearing up for the launch of the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Fold4 this summer, and as a part of the preparations it has decided how many units to manufacture in July, ahead of the release of the two new models.
According to DSCC’s Ross Young, a source with a good reputation when it comes to all things display and foldable-related, Samsung is expecting the upcoming devices to be much more sought after than their predecessors, the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3.
Samsung’s Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 phone production for July are more than double what it was for the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3. Pointing to a very strong launch. Possible price reduction
That’s because the company is allegedly preparing to manufacture more than twice as many units during the month of July – that’s more than double what the number was for the Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 last year. It is clear that there is a expectation that these new units will fly off the shelves more often.
And that leads us, like Mr. Young, to ponder the following question: could this mean that Samsung will make the new Fold and Flip cheaper than their predecessors? Only time (and future rumors) will tell.
Destiny 2’s season 17 will improve glaives and Exotics
Bungie launched one of its biggest Destiny 2-focused blogs in recent memory on Thursday. In nearly 9,000 words, the studio described some major weapon updates coming to its MMO on May 24, with the start of the currently unnamed season 17.
There are too many minute Destiny 2 changes to describe here, so we’re going to break down two of the biggest changes that will have the biggest impacts on players: glaive and Exotic changes.
Glaives have been weak since Bungie released them with its Witch Queen expansion in February. While exciting, they just don’t perform well in any difficult content. So Bungie is fixing that with some major updates.
First, Bungie clarified its intent. Glaive melees should contribute to damage perks and act as a standard melee. So a melee kill with the glaive should trigger the Swashbuckler perk, but only the ranged attack will get damage increases from perks. That’s the current plan, at least.
As for concrete improvements, next season PvE enemies will take 25% more damage from glaive melees, and shielding will cost 30% less energy than before. All glaive projectile speeds will also scale with the range stat, moving much faster than before. This should help them perform better in high end content, allowing players to use them as defensive tools that still pack a decent punch.
Moving onto Exotics, Bungie is giving major improvements to the Exotic glaives. The Edge of Action Titan glaive mini-bubble will give all players inside a Void overshield and will benefit from the Helm of Saint-14 Exotic effect, which blinds targets inside the shield. The Edge of Intent Warlock Exotic glaive’s healing turret will gain increased speed and acceleration. The Edge of Concurrence Exotic Hunter glaive’s damage is being tripled and it can now chain to eight enemies instead of four.
Image: Bungie
In terms of non-glaive Exotics, Bungie is making changes to:
Fighting Lion
Eyes of Tomorrow
Leviathan’s Breath
The Huckleberry
Xenophage
Le Monarque
Lorentz Driver
Skyburner’s Oath
The Last Word
Arbalest
Graviton Lance
Grand Overture
Coldheart
Prometheus Lens
Wavesplitter
Osteo Striga
Lord of Wolves
Many of these changes are simple buffs or nerfs to damage, but a few of them are getting sizable reworks.
Leviathan’s Breath, one of the worst Exotics in the game, is getting a 50% damage buff. It now also splits damage on detonation and impact, which will allow it to stun an Unstoppable Champion and then deal damage to it during the stun. The goal is for it to destroy Unstoppable Champions in high-end content, and this update is looking promising.
Eyes of Tomorrow, the raid Exotic from Deep Stone Crypt, is getting a 30% increase to boss and Champion damage. Arbalest, on the other hand, will deal 25% less to Champions due to how powerful it is in Grandmaster Nightfalls. Graviton Lance’s Catalyst will now give players Vorpal Weapon and Turnabout instead of Hidden Hand. Grand Overture will be able to fire a full missile barrage again by holding the trigger down, or shoot in five rocket bursts with a tap of the trigger.
The Skyburner’s Oath scout rifle is getting some significant improvements as well. The aimed shot is now hitscan (meaning it hits the enemy instantly) and both modes of the gun fire at 150 rounds per-minute. The hip-fire attack won’t track enemies anymore, but the shots will detonate in a wider radius and apply a burn to enemies. The gun also has increased range now, and the Masterwork grants increased reload speed.
The game’s first three Exotic trace rifles will also see some reworks — in addition to 20% increased trace rifle damage against non-red bar enemies. Coldheart now spawns Ionic Traces when dealing damage, which gives ability energy. Prometheus Lens will apply a “more useful burn,” which is a bit confusing, but might make more sense when Bungie eventually updates the Solar subclasses. Wavesplitter no longer oscillates between three power levels, and instead sits at the medium setting at all times. However, picking up an Orb of Power grants 10s (up to 20) turns it to the “max power” setting of old, which also suppresses targets.
This is just a fraction of Bungie’s blog, which focuses heavily on in-air combat for PvP, perks, and some ability changes. Bungie also revealed a host of Iron Banner, Trials, and Grandmaster Nightfall weapons that are going away in the next two seasons, and a system that will cause some playlist weapons to drop with additional perks the more players level up in playlists.
Of course, all of these changes will be present in what already promises to be a giant list of patch notes on May 24.
Apple pulls the plug on dated $20 macOS Server app
After virtually discontinuing macOS Server eons ago, Apple has officially pulled the plug on the $20 suite of server features for Mac users. The company broke the bad news for macOS Server fans in a support document today:
As of April 21, 2022, Apple has discontinued macOS Server. Existing macOS Server customers can continue to download and use the app with macOS Monterey.
For many, the bigger surprise is not that macOS Server is going away, but that the standalone app was still being sold. As Apple notes in the support document, several server-inspired features have found their way into recent versions of macOS:
The most popular server features—Caching Server, File Sharing Server, and Time Machine Server are bundled with every installation of macOS High Sierra and later, so that even more customers have access to these essential services at no extra cost.
macOS Server, which touted a 1.5 star average review rating on the App Store, received minimal compatibility updates once or twice per year over the last several years. The current app will break on future versions of macOS, although Apple says existing customers can continue using macOS Server on macOS Monterey.
Now macOS Server can move on to the place where discontinued Apple technologies go to live, joining Xserve and AirPort.
Transcend launches 1TB JetDrive flush SD card designed for the new MacBook Pro
After launching its JetDrive Lite 330 expansion cards earlier this year, Transcend is out today with a new 1TB JetDrive SD card made specifically for the latest MacBook Pro. With a clean design that sits fully flush with your notebook, the 1TB JetDrive makes it seamless to expand your MacBook Pro’s storage.
Transcend announced the new 1TB capacity JetDrive Lite 330 in a press release today.
Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend(r)), a leading brand of digital storage and multimedia products, released a 1TB JetDrive Lite 330 expansion card which is exclusively designed for MacBook Pro(r) 2021. The card’s small size and large capacity increase the MacBook Pro’s storage. This increases efficiency for users by backing up digital files.
The JetDrive Lite 330 expansion cards use “high-quality” NAND flash and offer read speeds of 95 MB/s and write speeds of 75 MB/s. While those of course won’t match external SSD speeds, the big benefit is the tiny and flush form factor making the JetDrive Lite 330 a convenient way to integrate more storage for everything from docs, photos, and videos to Time Machine backups.
Like the 128, 256, and 512GB capacities, the new 1TB version features dust, water, and shock resistance thanks to Transcend’s chip-on-board manufacturing tech and comes with a five-year warranty.
The JetDrive Lite 330 cards are specifically made for the 2021 MacBook Pro, but they also work with late 2012 to early 2015 MacBook Pro notebooks.
The new 1TB capacity JetDrive SD card for MacBook Pro is available now priced at $249. Meanwhile, the 128GB version starts from around $40 with the 256 and 512GB capacities selling for about $60 and $120, respectively.
Stay tuned as we’ll have a full review of the JetDrive Lite 330 1TB expansion card coming soon.
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Apple actively planning to expand supply chain locations after lockdown strains reliance on China
With constant lockdowns in China due to the rise of COVID-19 cases, Apple is now in “action plan” to diversify its supply chain management risks out of the country, according to a new report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Over these past few weeks, 9to5Mac has been reporting that Foxconn and other manufacturers are struggling with lockdowns in China. With that, the factories need to either stop production for a certain period or massively test workers to ensure there are no COVID infections among the workers.
Although Apple has been the company that best handled supply chain constraints during the pandemic, it seems it’s trying to be cautious for the near future. Here’s what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a social media post:
Apple’s new product introduction (NPI) sites are almost in China. It was the first time for Apple to evaluate building NPI sites in non-China seriously when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred about two years ago, but internally it only proceeded to the proposal stage. However, after the recent lockdown in China, to diversify supply chain management risks, building NPI sites in non-China is no longer a proposal but an action plan.
Apart from China, Apple has begun diversifying its supply chains to countries like India and Taiwan. Recently, 9to5Mac covered that some products are harder to find due to these recent lockdowns.
The new MacBook Pro can be found in certain configurations only after a while. On the other hand, these lockdowns showed that the iPhone SE 3 and AirPods 3 are disappointing Apple. In these last weeks, demand for the low-entry iPhone which could convert one billion Android users to switch to Apple is being reduced.
9to5Mac will keep following Apple plans to diversify its supply chain management risks. Most likely, we could hear more about it during the company’s Q2 earnings call on April 28.
(1/3) Apple’s new product introduction (NPI) sites are almost in China. It was the first time for Apple to evaluate building NPI sites in non-China seriously when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred about two years ago, but internally it only proceeded to the proposal stage.
— Guo Ming Qi (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) April 21, 2022
The Teenage Engineering TX-6 is a powerful handheld mixer that’s perfect for podcast production
With a body that’s about as small as a Game Boy, the TX-6 inputs as many as 6 audio channels, letting you expertly manage your audio without needing one of those massive, clunky studio mixing rigs. It also comes with Teenage Engineering’s classic ‘industrial-pop’ design language.
Teenage Engineering doesn’t partner with IKEA for speaker systems or Nothing to create TWS earbuds. They have enough free time to make their hardware. The TX-6 is yet another handheld little affair from the Swedish company, following their Pocket Operators – a set of minimally designed handheld audio interfaces and synths. The TX-6 feels like a more fleshed-out product though, designed for musicians, deejays, and podcasters. The tiny handheld mixer runs on a battery, and lets you manage up to 6 audio sources while also toggling effects between them. In the right hands, the TX-6 has the potential to be an absolute beast, scaling down an entire studio to something that fits in the palm of your hand.
The device has a breathtakingly minimalist appeal, with a machined aluminum body that feels wonderfully well-built and cold to the touch, and a PU leather base that prevents your TX-6 from sliding around while you mix away. Overall, it weighs a mere 160 grams (or 5. 6 ounces) and has an abundance of 3. 5mm audio ports, for inputs, outputs, monitoring, etc. Each of the 6 channels has 3 parameter knobs, a volume fader, an LED level meter, and a track button, while along the side, the TX-6 also manages to fit a tiny LED display, a toggle+selection knob, two effect buttons, and a shift button. You can hook the TX-6 to an external speaker or a pair of headphones for monitoring, and there’s a 1/4-inch master-out port at the base that also comes with its own 3. 5mm audio adapter. Finally, a USB-C port on the top lets you hook the TX-6 to a laptop/tablet/smartphone for mutli-channel audio, MIDI control, and for installing firmware updates. The USB-C port also lets you charge the TX-6, which runs for 8 hours on a full charge – long enough for even the longest podcast episodes!
If all that wasn’t impressive enough, the TX-6 also borrows from its Pocket Operator ancestors, by packing a portable synth with 4 oscillator waveforms and 4 synthesized drum sounds built-in, along with 8 effects that include reverb, chorus + delay, freeze, tape, filter, and distortion. Each of the 6 channels also packs a three-band eq and adjustable compressor. Are you tired of having to deal with so many wires and peripherals? The TX-6 is even equipped with Bluetooth connectivity, letting you wirelessly manage your audio (although it feels like there’s bound to be a tiny bit of input lag on a wireless connection)
All that power comes at a high price. The TX-6 is priced at a rather conservative $1200 for the handheld mixer, along with the adapter, a USB-C cable, and a cloth bag to carry the entire thing around. Although it may seem expensive for most people, it is more affordable for seasoned podcasters or music producers who need to have portable tools to take with them on the road and in hotels.
Apple Fitness+ new Artist Spotlight series highlights dance workouts with ABBA, BTS, Queen, more
Apple Fitness+ will highlight a brand new Dance Collection. This award is limited edition and includes a Special Artist Spotlight with hit songs and famous moves taken from YouTube videos.
Starting this week, the new Artist Spotlight sessions will include music by ABBA, BTS, and Queen. Next week will also see new Dance content, such as a Special Artist Spotlight Dance Workout featuring music from BTS and choreography by Queen. In addition, a limited-edition award for International Dance Day will be available, as well as the new ” Get into a Groove with Dance” workout collection.
The Fitness+ Artist Spotlight series returned April 18 with pop legends ABBA, global K-pop phenomenon BTS, and rock icons Queen. This week’s series features a workout playlist dedicated to one artist. Users can choose to dance to ABBA or to work out to BTS during a HIIT session. Every Monday for four weeks, new workouts featuring each artist will appear in Fitness+ across different workout types, including Strength, HIIT, Dance, Treadmill, Cycling, Yoga, and Pilates. Previous Artist Spotlight workouts have featured music by Alicia Keys, the Beatles, Calvin Harris, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Pharrell Williams, Shakira, and more.
Apple Highlights that were inspired by these Fitness+ exercises, Apple Music and Apple One subscribers can take advantage of the Spotlight series which includes “a unique playlist” for each Artist Spotlight member .”
Starting April 25, to celebrate International Dance Day on April 29, Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen will share a first-of-its-kind Artist Spotlight Dance workout set to the music of BTS with Butter, Dynamite, Boy With Luv, DNA, MIC Drop, and more. Next week’s LaShawn Jones will present a Dance Workout that will encourage users to feel joy and Jhon Gonz will lead them to perform to music that celebrates traditional rhythms such as cumbia and Indian pop.
Last but not least, Apple Fitness+ is also unveiling a new workout Collection to get subscribers dancing any day of the year.
“Get into a Groove with Dance” starts with three 20-minute workouts from each of the Fitness+ Dance trainers to “Get on the Dance Floor.” Subscribers will gain confidence with short routines before progressing to “Take Center Stage” with three 30-minute performance-based workouts. The workouts include ’80s classics, hip-hop chart toppers, and Latin music from around the world.
What do you think of these additions? Comment below to share your views.
New Dragonlance board game was designed by Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker
The new Dungeons and Dragons “battle” game was announced at D&D Direct on Thursday. It is a fully-fledged, board-based game that Wizards of the Coast says will also include miniatures. Titled Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn, the board game will function as a standalone experience. But it is also fully integrated into the companion tabletop RPG campaign, titled Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Who were the designers of this project? Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker are the only two designers. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect pair for this project.
Wizards also announced a new Spelljammer setting on Thursday, however these Dragonlance products will be very different in tone and feel.
“We focus on the idea that Dragonlance can be described as a war story,” stated Ray Winninger of Wizards’ D&D department. The backdrop for Classic Dragonlance’s history is this huge conflict. These massive military battles form an integral part of Dragonlance. One of the original 12 Dragonlance modules [published by TSR] was a wargame [called Dragons of Glory]. They asked you to stop your role-playing game experience and start playing a wargame for a bit.”
Winninger continued:
In the spirit of that, at the same time we are releasing Shadow of the Dragon Queen, which is the role-playing experience, we are releasing this battle game. [It] allows you to play out sort of massive military battles in the world of Krynn. But one of the interesting things about that game is that it has a lot of narrative elements, just like a role-playing game. It’s a board game, but you’re asked to narrate what’s happening and whatnot. If you choose, while you’re playing the role-playing campaign when major sort of battles break out in the story you can break out the board game and start playing the board game. Your characters from the RPG import into the board game. You keep playing your characters in the board game, and you can learn what amazing, incredible, heroic things they do in these battles. But that experience is entirely optional.
The tabletop role-playing game is completely optional. Winninger will also be added to the board game, as the campaign book includes rules for solving the same battles. Vice versa, players can pick up the board game without diving into the larger role-playing experience. But this is the first time that Wizards is directly integrating its 5th edition TTRPG products and its board game products in this very specific way.
Why are Baker and Daviau such great designers? Well, both have had a lot of experience working in the genre of wargames. For example, they share great design credits for the Risk franchise. Baker, on the other hand, is the designer behind Battle Masters, a sprawling tabletop wargame using 28 mm miniatures and a massive plastic playmat. Daviau is, of course, the inventor of the Legacy System. This system creates new board games every time they are played.
But, Daviau also co-founded Restoration Games. This company specializes in the resurrecting of older games and giving them new lives. Expect him to go back to the original source material to bring forward as much of that excellent TSR design work as possible.
But, why didn’t Hasbro simply assign its hobby board game division, Avalon Hill with this project?
“Avalon Hill was in-house with Wizards of the Coast […] until very recently,” said Winninger. However, the studio has created its own design and production department outside of Wizards. That team has been busy bringing the reboot of HeroQuest to life, and on a spiritual successor to the original Risk Legacy. That left Wizards in need of some outside help.
“Avalon Hill and Hasbro were not really involved in the creation of the board game,” Winninger continued. “We in the D&D studio oversaw the creation of it, but that said the designers of the board game Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker are very well-known board game designers, [they] have worked on a lot of games for Hasbro — most recently, [Return to Dark Tower]was one of their efforts.”
Both Shadow of the Dragon Queen and the Warriors of Krynn board game represent a “whole new story” Winninger said. Also, the events portrayed in both products do take place around the same time as the original Dragonlance novels, a beloved and best-selling series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. He added that Tracy Hickman and Laura, who created Dragonlance, were not directly involved with any products.
A new series of novels by Tracy Hickman & Weis is out in August. It will continue the Dragonlance timeline into future.
M1 iPad Pro turns one, but patience for pro experience hits zero
A year ago, Tim Cook went Totally Spies on the “Spring Loaded” keynote to add the M1 chip to the iPad Pro. Twelve months later, iPadOS 15 is coming to the end of its life-cycle and the company just introduced a brand new iPad Air with the M1 processor, but the question remains: what’s holding Apple back to make its software follow its hardware?
We wrote several stories over this past year about the M1 iPad Pro, iPadOS’ lack of Pro apps, and even some concepts of what Apple could do to improve its iPad operating system. As of now, unfortunately, nothing has changed.
Don’t get me wrong, the M1 iPad Pro is a magnificent piece of hardware. iPadOS 15, I must say, also improves the iPad experience: Universal Control, new multitasking view, and a more powerful Files app surely make iPad users happier, but it’s still not enough.
A few years ago, I bought my first iPad Pro – the second-generation 12. 9-inch model – and it was around the time the company released iOS 11, and the famous What’s a computer? ad. The iPad Pro was a revolutionary device with endless possibilities. I even spent the entire year of 2019 using this machine as my main computer.
But when I switched to the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro a year later, I haven’t found a reason to return to the iPad as my go-to computer to work. I mean, I’m currently back with the second-generation iPad Pro while I wait for the M1 Pro MacBook Pro to arrive next week, but it’s just for me to discover that little has changed over these years and iPadOS is still bad for those committed to work on Apple’s Pro tablet.
The 12. 9-inch iPad Pro needs more!
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote last weekend that Apple should add a “Pro” mode with iPadOS 16, designer Parker Ortolani went on a similar direction with his concepts, and I truly think Apple should take advantage of a larger screen to add specific features.
For example, it’s weird to open a 13-inch Messages app on the iPad Pro. If Split View could evolve to windows, I believe it would make more sense to arrange the Messages app on a corner of the screen while using Safari to write an article.
I know most of you iPad defenders will say the tablet is capable of multitasking and then putting two apps side by side, Netflix in PiP, and Slide Over stack of apps but just take a deep breath and look at your screen. Is that possible? It’s not possible, I think.
I know that I am a bit behind with the Magic Keyboard accessory because I still use the Smart Keyboard but the overall experience is not much better. It consumes a lot of energy, it makes the iPad Pro chunky, but hey, at least you can say you got another USB-C port. Don’t even get me started on proper external monitor support.
Wrap up
You’re tired of listening to that every now and then, but, once again, we’ll have to wait for iPadOS 16 to see if Apple will finally unleash the iPad Pro’s potential. By adding the M1 processor to the iPad Air, I think the company is just making a mess of a product lineup that has become pricier and doesn’t hold the benefits when comparing to an M1 Mac.
I’m sure the M1 iPad Pro is amazing for those designers who like to edit photos on the go with a full 5G connection, but developers, journalists, students, and so many other people are still trying to understand how and why an iPad could be better than a Mac for everyday tasks, especially when the iPad ecosystem becomes pricier and heavier than owning a Mac.
What do you think would make Apple improve your iPad experience? Please leave your comments below.
Halo Infinite season 2 getting King of the Hill, Land Grab, and Last Spartan Standing game modes
With less than two weeks before the launch of “Lone Wolves,” the second multiplayer season of Halo Infinite, 343 Industries has released a second preview video detailing three new game modes — King of the Hill, Land Grab, and Last Spartan Standing — as well as additional variants due to release on May 3.
Halo Infinite Season 2 will feature the return of King of The Hill, a long-time favorite game mode of Halo multiplayer, albeit now with a slight new variation. “A neutral hill spawns on the map and two teams battle it out to control the hill and earn points,” 343 Industries community writer Alex Wakeford wrote in a new blog post. “When a player enters the hill uncontested, it is captured and begins earning 1 point per second into a capture bar. When a team’s capture bar is full, they score 1 point and a new hill spawns somewhere else on the map.”
Image: 343 Industries
Wakeford added that in Land Grab, “At the start of the match, there are 3 neutral zones around the map. When a player captures a zone, it is locked and gives their team 1 point. When all zones are captured, there is an intermission before 3 new neutral zones spawn. The first team to score 11 points wins.”
The third mode this season is Last Spartan Standing. It’s an entirely new mode that revolves around the season’s “Lone Wolves” theme. This mode’s basically HaloInfinite ‘s solution to Battle Royale multiplayer. “In this free-for-all experience, 12 players spawn on Big Team Battle maps with a confined loadout and 5 respawns,” Wakeford wrote. Wakeford wrote that if a player has exhausted their respawn points and is unable to participate in the match, they have two options: spectate or withdraw from it. A player who gets a match win can get an upgrade to another weapon, something that players of “EscalationSlayer” will be very familiar with. The match ends when there is just one Spartan left standing.”
Both King of the Hill and Last Spartan Standing will be available on day one of Halo Infinite Season 2, while Land Grab is set to be featured a month after launch as part of the Fracture: Entrenched event and will remain available throughout the rest of the season afterwards.
The new multiplayer modes look exciting, and combined with the addition of two new multiplayer maps, “Lone Wolves” looks like it’s shaping up to be a fun way to lure back Halo Infinite players who may have dropped off the game after the conclusion of Season 1.
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