In two fell swoops, premium audio services like Tidal and Deezer are likely being forced to re-evaluate their pricing structure, and the folks at Spotify are likely rethinking the price of their upcoming HiFi tier. Apple announced it was bringing lossless to Apple Music in June, starting at CD Quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) and going all the way up to 24 bit at 192 kHz. That’s about as good as it gets, and it costs the same $9....

Apple is effectively dictating to governments the privacy levels that their contact-tracing apps must meet. Unless apps meet Apple’s requirements, they can’t get access to Bluetooth in the background on users’ phones, which is essential for the apps to work properly (Google takes a more laissez-faire approach, without these restrictions). Apple’s approach arguably fits a wider narrative about the company being heavy-handed in determining what apps are allowed on iPhones....

Apple joining the alliance means we can expect more support for password-free authentication in iOS and macOS devices. The company already supports FaceID on iPhones, and TouchID on select Mac devices for logging into the device and apps. [Read: Samsung announces the clamshell Galaxy Z Flip, priced at $1,380] The alliance promotes a number of protocols that help websites, apps, and devices with password-free authentication. Its FIDO2 standards are suited to verify credentials for web and mobile....

The information comes from Gurman’s Power On newsletter; here’s the relevant quote in full: Apple’s Mac Mini was one of its first computers to receive the upgrade to its new ARM architecture, but the basic exterior design has remained unchanged for years, and the M1 chip meant it wasn’t really more powerful than the MacBooks (other than better thermals). The new M1X Mac Mini is expected to come with a significantly revamped design and better performance....

Unfortunately, they might soon be going the way of the dodo. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo(via 9to5Mac), the iPhone 12 family may be the first ever to not come with bundled headphones. Granted, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Apple removed the headphone jack with the iPhone 7, and while it’s bundled EarPods that connect via the Lightning port since then, the advent of the AirPods made it clear the company was planning on going full-wireless eventually....

Several factors are responsible for the upsurge in EV sales, with the need to reduce carbon emission at the top of most buyers’ concerns. Many drivers also believe that purchasing an electric vehicle will help them save all that money that would normally go into gas refills. Yet another benefit to going electric is the number of incentives out there that make these vehicles more accessible. Despite there being plenty of evidence that purchasing an EV is an economical and environmentally-friendly choice, there are still plenty of myths and half-truths that are preventing EVs from becoming the norm....

From sex sounds and erotic storytelling to adult-themed ASMR and hands-free orgasm hypno-masturbation, amateur audio porn performers may be reaping some attention, but financial rewards are, so far, lacking. Is this thing on? While it may seem to some that erotic audio is a new frontier in porn content, H, the sultry voice of InMyHands audio (IMH) vocalized, in an appropriately fitting recording, that audio porn has been around longer than we probably think....

Apple’s biggest secret is out, and it leaked in the minutes leading up to its annual WWDC developer conference, taking place today at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center. The company is set to launch iPadOS, which presumably is a variant of iOS designed specifically to take advantage of a tablet environment. Several eagle-eyed Twitter users spotted references to iPadOS within the company’s terms and conditions. And while that doesn’t tell us anything about the specifics of the operating system, it does reinforce what everyone already knew: Apple regards its tablet division intrinsic to its product lineup, and its identity as a company....

Top execs of public US companies sold roughly $9.2 billion worth of shares in their own companies between the start of February and the end of last week, Wall Street Journal reports. Thousands of insiders reportedly made similar moves. More than 150 executives and officers each sold at least $1 million in company stock during February and March, after selling no stock at all in the previous year. These numbers come with no accusations of insider trading (aside from those levied against Republican senator Richard Barr et al....

Creators, however, said that not all stories were affected. And this is not the first time social media platforms have been under scrutiny because of their erroneous censoring of grassroots activists and racial minorities. Many Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists were similarly frustrated when Facebook flagged their accounts, but didn’t do enough to stop racism and hate speech against Black people on their platform. So were these really about technical glitches?...

Gates said the CDC needs to have a central portal that lets people post their symptoms and get tested within 24 hours if needed: He added that testing in the country is not quite organized yet, and hopefully, the White House will address that situation soon. [Read: The US wants to track your phone’s location data to help limit the spread of coronavirus] The Microsoft co-founder also insisted that ‘shut downs’ are quite important, and other countries have seen success by implementing it effectively....

If you’ve ever considered building a website, then you’re likely at least vaguely familiar with Bootstrap already. That’s because in addition to being pretty great for quickly designing and customizing responsive mobile-first websites, Bootstrap has the extra added benefit of being open-source, which means free. But along with free always comes some pitfalls. For Bootstrap, that means a relatively limited number of available templates that can leave your site in danger of looking like every other Bootstrap site....

The app will use an algorithm to flag derogatory comments about someone’s appearance. “This includes language that can be deemed fat-phobic, ableist, racist, colorist, homophobic or transphobic,” the company said in a statement. Human moderators will then review the offending account. People who’ve use the language in their profile or on Bumble’s chat function will first receive a warning for their behavior. Repeated incidents or particularly harmful comments will result in a permanent ban....

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 16, 2020 The NPD group released their list of the US’s top best-selling games of the 2010-2019 decade, and it’s interesting to see what we were playing the most in microcosm. It’s not a big surprise that Grand Theft Auto V has managed to snag the top spot — I feel as though I’ve seen it in the monthly best-seller category every month since it was released....

Warzone players have unearthed a new glitch to exploit in order to dunk on the poor bastards who dare to deploy in their vicinity. Before the start of each game, players get spawned in a one-minute warm-up as the lobby fills up. It’s a good chance for anyone to practice their shooting without fear of dying, get familiar with the fictitious city of Verdansk where combat takes place, and try out some custom weapons they might not otherwise put in their main loadout....

To the best of this reporter’s knowledge, this is the first time the franchise has held a live, in-game event to reveal an official trailer and it was exciting to the say the least. If you just want to watch the trailer, here you go: It looks really cool, but the letdown is that it’s a trailer for the single-player campaign only. There’s a few seconds of vehicular mayhem that could be indicative of some new multiplayer designs towards the end, but otherwise we’ll have to wait until September 9 for more info on the game’s multiplayer components....

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is showing its age, but it’s still a worthy iPad alternative for those wedded to Google’s Android ecosystem. As Samsung gradually rolls out its successor, vendors are dropping the price of the S4 to clear stock. If you enjoy hoarding apps and movies and want a full 256GB of storage, you just need to pay an extra $100. That’s amazing value. The presence of DeX, for example, gives you a PC-style environment for creating documents and crunching emails....

It could just be me, but I love having a cheap second computer. Of course, I couldn’t live without a high-end machine to do complex, resource-intensive work on. But sometimes I just want a little device I can take with me everywhere, and not worry too much about it breaking or being stolen. If you’re looking for this sort of computer, Chromebooks are a great option. And, would you believe it, there’s currently a banging deal on a Chromebook from Acer!...

Using your voice to control things was once the preserve of campy science fiction, but now? It’s a goddamn reality. Can you tell I’m hyped? Good, because I am. One of the best elements of smart homes is lighting. And (arguably) the best (and most popular) of those smart lights? The Philips Hue series. AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, THERE’S A JUICY DEAL ON A PHILIPS HUE STARTER KIT RIGHT HERE!...

The trackpads on Apple MacBooks are pretty awesome. You can use multiple fingers to shuffle between apps, zoom in or zoom out in a jiffy, look at all your open apps, and scroll through webpages with minimal effort. But if you’re using one of Apple’s desktop products like the iMac, Mac Mini, or Mac Pro, you don’t get all these brilliant features of a trackpad by default. That’s why you should get Apple’s Magic Trackpad 2, priced at just $104....