Tech

Apple AirPods Max first look: lots to prove – The Verge

Published

4 years ago

December 10, 2020

I’ve been playing with Apple’s new $549 AirPods Max over-ear headphones since yesterday afternoon, and so far they sound very nice and fit very comfortably.

They also — I have to say this — have a distinct smell, like a funky riff on new-car smell. I am pretty sure that’s a byproduct of the memory foam earpads rolling off the manufacturing line and straight into a shipping box to my house, and I’m reliably told it will fade away over time.

I would probably not tell you what a pair of $100 headphones smells like. But at $550, I feel compelled to note that the AirPods Max are a multisensory experience out of the box.

Design-wise, the AirPods Max are an interesting blend of classic only-Apple design flourishes and odd incongruities. The headband is stainless steel covered in white rubbery material, with a “breathable mesh knit canopy” across the top; Apple says this distributes the weight of the headphones more evenly across your head. (I can’t say it feels very much different than my Sony WH-1000XM2s, but it’s possible I just have a very large head.) The headband connects to the earcups with adjustable stainless-steel extensions culminating in a pleasantly spring-loaded hinge, all of which is nicer than any other premium headphones I’ve used.

The fairly large earcups are where things get a little messier. I have the silver AirPods Max, and the vast expanse of flattish aluminum does not look at first glance like $550 — it’s possible the other colors look more premium, but you would be forgiven for thinking these are plastic until you touch them and feel the coldness of metal.

The earcups are not smooth, unbroken surfaces. There are 10 slots of various shapes and sizes cut into the earcup shells. Seven of those are microphones: six used for noise-cancellation and another for voice calls. (There are another two mics inside the earcups.) These slots are not symmetrical; the top of the left earcup has one long slot, one short one, and then three more slots on the bottom along with a long gray plastic antenna line.

There are two slots on top of the right earcup, and there are three more on the bottom, in addition to a small status LED and the Lightning port, which Apple chose over USB-C to be more convenient for all the iPhone users out there. The AirPods Max can be charged to its full 20-hour battery life in two hours from the standard 5W iPhone brick, and run for 90 minutes after just five minutes on the charger. (There’s no fast-charging available, even if you use a USB-C to Lightning cable.)

Apple AirPods Max digital crown compared to Apple Watch digital crown

The right earcup also has a button to switch between noise-cancelling and transparency mode, as well as a Digital Crown volume control you can press to play and pause music, and hold to invoke Siri. (You can also just say “Hey Siri,” which worked well enough.) One note on the crown: it’s much bigger than the one that appears on an Apple Watch, so it doesn’t feel too awkward to use.

All of this is to say: there’s a lot going on visually with the AirPods Max, much more so than you’d expect from a pair of $550 Apple headphones.

One thing you will not find: a 3.5mm or 2.5mm analog audio input, which is standard issue on noise-canceling headphones at this price point — that’s how you plug into an airplane seat-back entertainment system to watch the movie. Apple knows this is a common use case, because it is selling a $35 3.5mm-to-Lightning cable for exactly that purpose. That brings you to $585 for the AirPods Max, which is just $15 less than an entire iPhone 11.

The memory-foam earcups are very comfortable, and attach magnetically — they remain firmly in place, but come out easily when you need them to. Underneath, there’s white plastic, and a window for the sensor that detects your ears — the music automatically stops when you take the headphones off, or even just lift one earcup to talk to someone. The AirPods Max don’t have a power button, which is very Apple; they just go to sleep when they haven’t been on your head for a while, and then wake up when you put them back on. Clever.

Apple AirPods Max in case with iPod and AirPods Pro

I have no idea what’s going on with the AirPods Max case, which is a goofy one-piece contraption that’s folded and glued over on itself to form a case. It looks very much like a purse when wrapped around the headphones, which is at once fun and clever and also not the point of a headphones case that needs to survive in a backpack. It does not appear very protective, feels like it will get dirty fast, and generally does not hold a candle to the nice hard cases that come with almost every other set of premium headphones.

It is one of the cheaper-feeling things Apple has ever made, in my estimation — the second in a trend that started with the MagSafe Duo Charger. I hope there is not a third thing.

Sound-wise, I’ve had fun listening to the AirPods Max for a few hours — they’re crisp and bright, with a pleasingly wider soundstage than my Sony headphones, and no distortion at all, even at max volume. We’ll have a full review of these soon, including tests of spatial audio and Apple’s claim of Atmos surround sound support, so stay tuned for that. But for now, rest assured the AirPods Max sound more than good enough to compete with other high-end headphones.

Of course, those competing headphones are all cheaper — much cheaper — than the AirPods Max. The newest Sony WH-1000XM4s are regularly on sale for $300, sound very good, and have a 10-hour-longer battery life. The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are $339, also sound very good, and have brand cachet that’s known in first-class cabins the world over. (They also both have audio-in jacks for those seat-back entertainment systems.)

Whether Apple has actually done enough here to justify the staggering premium over the competition is an open question that it’ll take us a little more time reviewing to answer.

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Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

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News

Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s

Published

2 weeks ago

October 23, 2024

Anne Joseph

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.

Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.

The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.

There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.

Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.

“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”

Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.

“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.

But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.

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