Now that Apple’s HomePod smart speaker is available to everyone, it’s being put through a slew of tests. Loup Ventures this weekend shared results from a detailed series of tests that it put the HomePod through, as well as how those results compare to other smart speakers … The tech research firm says that it put the HomePod through 782 queries, as well as “comprehensive tests of sound quality and ease of use....

Apple Event Roundup: Tim Cook talks numbers at iPad event Apple announces OS X Mavericks available today for free Apple announces thinner, lighter 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display; battery life, Thunderbolt 2 Apple launches new 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro: Thunderbolt 2, new Graphics, better battery life Apple announces new Mac Pro pricing and availability, ships by Dec. starting at $2999 Apple updates iLife suite on iOS and OS X...

Sweetheart is a new creature feature from director J.D. Dillard and Blumhouse Productions, and was released on Netflix’s streaming platform on December 25, 2019. The movie boasts a rather spectacular, original creature that operates both on land and in the ocean. Part of what makes a sci-fi/horror film so good is the elements of science fiction, the creatures that are developed, and the way they are carried out. Many franchises have built steady followings based on their creatures alone, such as Tremors and Gremlins....

The new lineup of 24-inch iMac with M1 chips start arriving to customers this Friday, and the reviews just dropped. Apple has gone all in color with this generation, with the new iMac coming in seven vibrant finishes and the computer ships with color-coded accessories, power cable, default wallpaper, … and, yes, even matching Apple stickers. As pictured by Brian Tong, the new M1 iMac box includes two Apple stickers. The stickers are coloured in two shades, matching the saturated and more subdued tones of the iMac itself....

Apple debuted the 2021 iPad Pro lineup just over a year after the 2020 iPad Pro arrived. The new M1 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro bring a number of hardware updates and capabilities beyond the switch to the powerful Apple Silicon chip. Not sure about picking one up or just curious about the differences? Read on for a detailed look at the new iPad Pro vs. 2020 iPad Pro. While the 2021 iPad Pro lineup definitely includes some notable improvements, it will be your personal workflow and needs that will determine if it’s worth buying....

Hot Wheels is debuting new toys at Star Wars Celebration 2017, including a car dedicated to X-wing pilot Biggs Darklighter. With Celebration just around the corner, fans are eager to find out just what the Disney-owned Lucasfilm has in store for the future of the franchise. In previous years, the studio has used this fan-gathering as a platform to launch trailers for upcoming movies and games as well as tie-in merchandise....

Originally demoed at the iPad Pro event in October, an update for NBA 2K Mobile is now available as a free download on iOS. The company says this update “delivers console quality graphics”, likely playing off of Apple’s claim of Xbox One S-level graphics with the A12X Bionic in the latest generation iPad Pros. Users will now be able to compete in 5v5 match-ups with console quality graphics, as well as play with over 400 players and all of the usual modes that come with the game....

In a post on its community forums this weekend, Netgear is advising Arlo users to change their account passwords. While the company doesn’t believe its own systems have been impacted, it says attackers appear to be using credentials obtained from a third-party to access accounts… In the post, Netgear says it “recently observed suspicious activity potentially impacting Arlo accounts.” The company goes on to say that attackers are attempting to gain access to Arlo accounts using credentials obtained from an “unknown third-party party....

Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is here and available in a few different configurations. We’re take a closer look at the 2.5 GHz model with 16GB of RAM, and 512 GB of internal storage today, but also comparing some benchmarks to Apple’s two other 15-inch configurations for this year. This MacBook features slight improvements in the battery department, makes the switch from NVIDIA to AMD for discrete graphics, faster internal storage, and also includes Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad as we’ve seen with other MacBook releases this year…....

Companies in the Instagram Partner Program have expertise in at least one of three specialties—ad tech, community management and content marketing—to help marketers meet their objectives. Sprout has been badged in Community Management because of the platform’s ability to effectively manage Instagram conversations and provide important insights for its customers. “Across nearly 24,000 connected Instagram accounts with a combined 254 million followers worldwide, businesses are using Sprout to engage with followers, seamlessly reply to comments and manage messages collaboratively as a team,” said Justyn Howard, Sprout CEO and Cofounder....

Apple once had a close relationship with Belle Gibson, a now-disgraced fitness and health blogger who claimed to have cured her cancer with lifestyle and other wellness improvements. A new report from Australian news site The Age dives deeper into the connections between Apple and Gibson, as seen with the marketing for her ‘The Whole Pantry’ app in the above screenshot. Apple’s relationship with Gibson was set to be a huge marketing campaign for the company, but the news of her con broke on the eve of the Apple Watch release in 2015....

Creative Pros from Apple Stores across the world are gathering their best tips and ideas to design inspiring projects you can try at home with just an iPhone or iPad. Today at Apple at Home is a digital extension of Apple’s in-store creative sessions, and a new session has launched just in time to explore over the weekend. Apple is now promising that new videos will be posted weekly. This week’s session is all about music....

As the Apple Watch launch draws nearer, with preorders starting April 10th, more and more developers are jumping on board. Uber rolled out a new update of its iPhone app today including its Apple Watch app — originally announced at the March event. The app allows users to request rides in one action and you can check on driver progress with a quick glance. The New York Times is adding ‘one sentence stories’ to its portfolio for the Watch, including emoji-driven recipes and quick headlines....

After first being slated for availability in February earlier this year, OWC’s 13-port Thunderbolt 3 dock is now finally available for purchase. Coming in at a reasonable $299, OWC’s dock gives Thunderbolt 3 users a wide array of connectivity options that might have been removed from Apple’s latest Macs. On the front of the dock you’ll find an SD Card Reader, 3.5mm Audio In/Out, and a USB Type-A 3.1 Gen. 1 port....

There’s no denying that Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is hugely popular; becoming the first movie franchise where more than one of its movies grossed over $1 billion at the global box office. While quality of the acting talent has been highly praised throughout the franchise’s history, the storylines have become progressively weaker over its four movie span. Now Disney are hoping to reignite the franchise wiht a fifth installment; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales....

Sony will be releasing new information about its future lineup as 2019 draws to a close, as another State of Play event will announce new PlayStation games and give release dates for titles that have already been revealed. The State of Play events are similar to the Directs held by Nintendo, as they exist to keep the audience updated about the lineup of the system, even if Sony’s outings have lacked the killer announcements that have traditionally appeared in the Nintendo Directs....

February 24th is Twin Peaks Day. While that fact might not necessarily be widely known or recognized, fans of the cult show certainly remember the date that Special Agent Dale Cooper first told Diane he was heading for Twin Peaks to work on a murder case. The unexplained murder of Laura Palmer kicked off what quickly became a cult TV series and subsequently a movie, from the minds of David Lynch and Mark Frost....

A highly anticipated HomeKit product that’s in the works is Netatmo’s Smart Video Doorbell. It was first announced back at CES 2019 and we’ve been patiently awaiting news on the launch of the sharp-looking smart doorbell. Now it looks like a release could be very close… It’s 2020 and we’ve really only seen one true consumer-facing HomeKit doorbell with the Yobi B3. There is Robin who launched the first HomeKit doorbell on the market, but that’s more of a commercial doorbell with a $500+ price tag....

The Knight Before Christmas is Netflix’s latest holiday flick, but what can viewers expect from a sequel? No holiday is complete without festive lights, home-baked goods, and a little time travel, and Netflix gives audiences all this and more in The Knight Before Christmas. The festive rom-com stars Vanessa Hudgens as a science teacher named Brooke, who falls for Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse), a medieval knight magically transported from 1334 to 2019 to fulfill a quest in hopes of finding his “truest love....

After just six weeks of rebuilding the website from scratch, the new Digg site (and new Betaworks team) finally launched this evening with a complete redesign and new editorial curation. It is a side step to the user-controlled network that it once was, but the new site is definitely much quicker, featuring images and headlines from content around the Web that is submitted by users. Along with voting up a piece of content, the new Digg also considers retweets and Facebook shares....