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2021 Ford F-150 Raptor Finally Arrives, Is All About the Redesigned Suspension – autoevolution
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The latest model seems to have lost that title in favor of the insane Ram 1500 TRX, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to back down since Ford fitted it with all the latest tech at their disposal – except for a better engine.
Fans were hoping that this model will go back to a V8, borrowing the GT500’s Predator unit, but for now, the truck will use the same 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost as its predecessor. Curiously, the carmaker hasn’t specified the powerplant’s output yet, but we’re expecting more than the previous model’s 450 hp.
What Ford did reveal is detailed information about the redesigned suspension system, which now uses a five-link design for the rear wheels.
This should make the truck much more responsive, comfortable, and easier to handle on rugged terrain, but at the same time, the multi-link layout has its disadvantages. Since it’s more complex than conventional designs, tuning its geometry will not be easy, and replacing any damaged components could take more time and money.
To easily navigate through harsh terrain, the new five-link rear suspension comes with extra-long trailing arms. Engineers also fitted a simple yet sturdy Panhard rod to prevent lateral movement, and to top it off, the Raptor uses 24-inch coil springs that Ford states are the longest in its class.
For those who are looking to fly over obstacles, a soft landing will be provided by a set of Fox race-proven 3.1 Live Valve internal bypass shocks with electronically controlled damping.
Using a suite of sensors, road and driver feedback are gathered at a rate of 500 times per second and then sent to the truck’s ECU, which adjusts the damping to the optimal setting. This eliminates the need to manually adjust the shocks every time owners want to go from comfortably driving on paved roads to jumping over dunes.
These are also the largest shocks ever fitted onto an F-150 Raptor, and their 3.1-inch-diameter anodized aluminum bodies are filled with a new low-friction shock fluid, which should reduce frictional losses. The electronically controlled base valves were completely redesigned and can now withstand more than 1,000 lbs (454 kg) of damping force per shock.
The new truck will be available with a choice of 35-inch or 37-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. The carmaker states they are the largest to ever be fitted on a mass-produced light-duty full-size pickup.
With the first option, the Raptor has a 12-inch (30.4 cm) ground clearance, an approach angle of 31 degrees, a maximum departure angle of 23.9 degrees, and a breakover angle of 22.7 degrees.
When fitted with 37-inch tires, the ground clearance is boosted to 13.1 inches (33.2 cm), the approach angle to 33.1 degrees, the departure angle is also better at 24.9 degrees, and so is the breakover angle that goes up to 24.4 degrees.
This system is worthy of challenging the TRX’s Bilstein suspension, but the truck needs a bigger engine to obliterate its competition. Ford has revealed that it will release a Raptor R version next year without providing further details, but we can bet that it will mark the long-awaited return to a supercharged V8.
Until then, the 2021 F-150 Raptor will be available in showrooms this summer in SuperCrew configuration with a 145-inch (3,683-mm) wheelbase.
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The World Video Game Hall of Fame inducted its 10th class of honorees Thursday, recognizing Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima for their impacts on the video game industry and popular culture.
The inductees debuted across decades, advancing technologies along the way and expanding not only the number of players, but the ages and interests of those at the controls, Hall of Fame authorities said in revealing the winners. The Hall of Fame recognizes electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile.
The Class of 2024 was selected by experts from among a field of 12 finalists that also included Elite, Guitar Hero, Metroid, Neopets, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and You Don’t Know Jack.
The honor for Atari’s Asteroids comes 45 years after its 1979 debut in arcades, where it was Atari’s bestselling coin-operated game. The game’s glowing space-themed graphics and sound effects made their way from more than 70,000 arcade units into millions of living rooms when a home version of Asteroids was made available on the Atari 2600.
“Through endless variants and remakes across dozens of arcade, home, handheld, and mobile platforms, Asteroids made a simple, yet challenging game about blasting rocks into one of the most widely played and influential video games of all time,” said Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games at The Strong museum, where the World Video Game Hall of Fame is located.
The next inductee to debut was Ultima, not necessarily a household name but a force in the development of the computer role-playing genre, digital preservation director Andrew Borman said in the news release. Designed by Richard Garriott and released in 1981, Utima: The First Age of Darkness inspired eight sequels and is credited with inspiring later role-playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
The urban design-inspired SimCity was released by Maxis in 1989 and found an audience among adults as well as children who were challenged to build their own city and respond to problems. Among the sequels and offshoots it inspired was 2016 World Video Game Hall of Fame inductee The Sims.
“At a time when many people thought of video games in terms of arcade shooters or console platformers, SimCity appealed to players who wanted intellectually stimulating fun on their newly bought personal computers,” Aryol Prater, research specialist for Black play and culture, said.
The adventure game Myst sold more than 6 million copies, making it a best-selling computer game in the 1990s. The 1993 Broderbund release used early CD-ROM technology and allowed for a level of player immersion that until then had not been available in computer games, the Hall of Fame said.
“Few other games can match Myst’s ability to open imaginative worlds,” collections manager Kristy Hisert said. “It was a work of artistic genius that captured the imagination of an entire generation of computer game players, and its influence can be seen in many of today’s open-world games.”
The final honoree, Resident Evil’s “cheesy B-movie dialogue, engrossing gameplay, and chilling suspense” helped popularize the “survival horror” genre following its release by Capcom in 1996 and offered mature entertainment for older teenagers and adults, video game curator Lindsey Kurano said. Created by game director Shinji Mikami, it also inspired an action horror film series that as of 2022 had grossed more than $1.2 billion, according to the Hall of Fame.
Anyone can nominate a game to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Members of an international selection advisory committee submit their top three choices from the list of finalists. Fans also are invited to weigh in online. The public as a whole is treated as a single committee member.
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Apple has apologized and admitted it “missed the mark” with its latest iPad Pro advertisement.
The ad, posted on social media Tuesday by Apple CEO Tim Cook, was met with backlash from internet users who felt that the ad celebrated technology’s destruction of human creativity and art.
In a statement to AdAge, Apple’s vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, apologized.
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world. Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,” Myhren said. “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Apple confirmed the statement it provided to AdAge but declined to provide further comment.
The ad shows symbols of human creativity, like musical instruments, paint cans, an ’80s arcade video game and a bust of a human head crushed by a giant hydraulic press. As the metal slabs of the hydraulic press lift, Apple’s new iPad Pro is revealed.
“Meet the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created, the most advanced display we’ve ever produced, with the incredible power of the M4 chip. Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create,” Cook wrote in a post on X accompanying the video.
Internet backlash to the ad was instantaneous: “The symbolism of indiscriminately crushing beautiful creative tools is an interesting choice,” wrote one social media user. “This ad effectively convinced me I need less technology in my life,” wrote another.
Other users said the ad was in poor taste amid growing fears that AI could replace workers – even those in creative fields. Actor Hugh Grant wrote on social media that Apple’s ad represented “the destruction of the human experience.”
Apple no longer plans to run the ad on TV, according to AdAge.
The mea culpa was rare for Apple, though the ad has not been deleted from Cook’s X account.
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The iPad Air is now available in two size options, just like the iPad Pro. Yet after a significant update to the iPad Pro that introduces a thinner design and OLED displays, how different are the two product lines and which should you buy?
The introduction of the fourth-generation iPad Air in September 2020 brought the device much closer to the iPad Pro in terms of design, and with the most recent model, the iPad Air gained the same M2 chip and Apple Pencil hover support as the previous iPad Pro, bringing them even closer together. The latest iPad Pro models introduced a large number of significant new changes, such as the M4 chip, OLED displays, and a higher price point, and it means that the high-end iPad models are now further differentiated from the iPad Air than before.
Should you consider purchasing the iPad Air to save money, or do you need the high-end features of the iPad Pro? Our guide answers the question of how to decide which of these two iPads is best for you.
| iPad Air (M2, 2024) | iPad Pro (M4, 2024) |
|---|---|
| Liquid Retina display LED backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology |
Ultra Retina XDR display Tandem OLED |
| ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz | |
| SDR brightness: 600 nits max | SDR brightness: 1,000 nits max XDR brightness: 1,000 nits max full screen, 1,600 nits peak (HDR content only) |
| Nano-texture display glass option on 1TB and 2TB models | |
| M2 chip (5nm, N5P) | M4 chip (3nm enhanced, N3E) |
| 8-core CPU | Up to 10-core CPU |
| Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | |
| Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC | Hardware-accelerated 8K H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW |
| ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode |
|
| 100GB/s memory bandwidth | 120GB/s memory bandwidth |
| 8GB of memory | 8GB or 16GB of memory |
| Improved thermal design with graphite sheets and copper | |
| Touch ID in top button | TrueDepth camera system for Face ID |
| Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control | |
| Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High-Key Mono) | |
| Animoji and Memoji | |
| LiDAR scanner | |
| Adaptive True Tone flash | |
| Rear ambient light sensor | |
| ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 256GB capacity) | |
| ProRes video recording up to 4K at 60 fps with external recording | |
| Two microphones | Four studio-quality microphones |
| Audio zoom | |
| Stereo recording | |
| Landscape stereo speakers | Four speaker audio |
| Weight: 462 grams or 617 grams | Weight 444 grams or 579 grams |
| Depth: 6.1 mm | Depth: 5.3 mm or 5.1 mm |
| USB‑C connector | USB‑C connector with support for Thunderbolt / USB 4 |
| Supports Magic Keyboard | Supports Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (M4) |
| 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage |
| Available in Space Gray, Starlight, Purple, and Blue | Available in Space Black and Silver |
| Price starting at $599 | Price starting at $999 |
Overall, the iPad Air is the better option for the majority of users, simply on the basis of value for money. For most people, the additional $400+ needed to buy the iPad Pro is not justified to get the likes of Face ID, four-speaker audio, and a ProMotion OLED display with refresh rates up to 120Hz.
Some iPad Pro features, such as LiDAR, up to 16GB of memory, and Thunderbolt connectivity are only practically useful to a small niche of users and most will never use some of these high-end capabilities. Many features such as Audio zoom and stereo audio recording may not be meaningfully utilized by many users.
Professionals who have a clear use case for needing larger amounts of RAM and storage, a matte display, Thunderbolt connectivity, and OLED for HDR content will clearly benefit from buying the iPad Pro. That being said, “prosumer”-style customers who simply want the best iPad will enjoy features such as 120Hz ProMotion for smoother scrolling and gaming, deeper blacks and more vivid colors with the OLED display, and the Adaptive True Tone flash for document scanning, even if they are not necessary.
Beyond these individual circumstances, the iPad Air is the best value for money and will be more than ample for most users’ needs. With the iPad Air, users can get a modern all-screen design, the M2 chip, practical features like USB-C and 5G connectivity, and compatibility with the core Apple accessories for a price well below that of the iPad Pro.
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