It’s taken some time for the news to hit overseas, but Wowaka, an internationally acclaimed producer of Vocaloid music, including songs such as “Rolling Girl,” “Unhappy Refrain,” and “World’s End Dancehall,” died on April 5 from heart failure. He was 31.
He was the driving force behind the Balloom record label which produced albums from a multitude of other internationally praised Vocaloid producers and created music that inspired a subculture of fans to come together, including me.
It certainly didn't take long for Best Buy to offer some sweet deals on Apple's 2017-released iPad Pro 10.5 and the even older iPad mini 4 on the heels of the two's disappearance from their manufacturer's official US e-store, but if you're looking to maximize your savings, Woot is here with a killer one-day-only refurbished sale.
This is good just for the 10.5-inch forerunner of the recently unveiled iPad Air (2019) in a 64GB configuration with no LTE support. Coincidentally, this entry-level variant of the iPad Pro 10.5 is currently listed as out of stock over at Best Buy in several different paint jobs. Meanwhile, Woot allows you to pick up the Apple A10X Fusion-powered tablet in one of three snazzy colors, including silver, gold, and rose gold.
Obviously, all three flavors are available at the exact same price, namely $429.99. That's down from $649.99 for a brand-new unit back in the day, as well as $469 for certified refurbished devices purchased directly from Apple right now. The $40 discount compared to the manufacturer's refurb price comes with no compromises, mind you, as Woot advertises the same 1-year Apple warranty as included with its marked-down iOS slates.
That means you're actually looking at Apple certified refurbished 10.5-inch iPad Pros here, guaranteed to work and look as good as new and sold alongside brand new accessories in new white boxes. That's a lot of new for an almost two year-old product with extremely similar specifications to the $500 and up iPad Air (2019). We're talking the same screen size and resolution, same design language and build quality, a front-mounted Touch ID fingerprint sensor, excellent battery life, and support for Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard (sold separately).
Granted, 2017's iPad Pro 10.5 packs an older processor, but 2019's iPad Air lacks a number of "Pro" features, including ProMotion screen technology, while also cutting a few corners in the camera, audio, and memory departments. If you care about stuff like that or you simply want to buy a slightly cheaper 10.5-incher, today's deal is not to be disregarded.
PlayStation customers can finally update their PlayStation Network IDs, a long-awaited feature that Sony announced in October, starting Wednesday. As previously noted by Sony, the option to change your PSN name comes with a few caveats.
The PSN online ID change feature is supported by games “originally published on or after April 1, 2018,” but the company warns that it cannot guarantee that all games “fully support the feature.” According to Sony, at least 10 games have known “critical issues” as a result of the change, including Sony-published titles like Everybody’s Golf, LittleBigPlanet 3, and some MLB The Show games. Those critical issues include losing PlayStation Trophies or in-game currency (earned or paid) associated with those games.
Other games that don’t work fully with PSN online ID change feature include Bloodborne, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Grand Theft Auto 5, The Last of Us, NBA 2K19, and Warframe. The issues related to those titles and others include less serious problems like previous online IDs displaying and games initializing to their default state.
Changing your PlayStation Network ID is free the first time. Sony is charging $9.99 to change a PSN ID beyond that initial change (PlayStation Plus subscribers will pay $4.99). More details about the feature are available at the PlayStation Blog.
If someone repeatedly enters the wrong password on your iPhone or iPad over and over again, it will eventually start to delay the amount of time before you can try to enter the password again. That's what allegedly happened to one man's iPad, according to CNN. The man's iPad was accidentally locked by his 3-year old until 2067.
If this happens to you, there's an easy fix to get your iPad back up and running, and you won't lose any data if you've been backing it up regularly. If you didn't back it up, at least you'll be able to use your iPad or iPhone again without having to wait a few decades.
Here's what to do if you get locked out of your iPad or iPhone.
If you have an iPad Pro 12.9 or iPad Pro 11, or an iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, do this:
Download and install iTunes on your PC. (Mac users will already have iTunes installed.)
Plug your iPhone into your PC or Mac.
Tap the volume up button, tap the volume down button, then tap and hold the side button until the recovery screen pops up on your iPhone.
iTunes will send a pop-up notification on your computer. Choose "Restore."
Set up your device as new. If you have a backup, select it during the setup process.
If you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus:
Download and install iTunes on a PC.
Plug your iPhone into your PC or Mac.
Hold the side and volume down buttons until the recovery screen pops up on your iPhone.
iTunes will send a pop-up notification on your computer, choose "Restore."
Set up your device as new and, if you have a backup, select it during the setup process.
If you have an iPhone 6s or any iPad with a home button, do this:
Download and install iTunes on a PC.
Plug your iPhone into your PC or Mac.
Hold the home button and the power button until the iPhone or iPad shows a recovery mode screen.
iTunes will send a pop-up notification on your computer, choose "Restore."
Set up your device as new and, if you have a backup, select it during the setup process.
Samsung has announced the Galaxy A80, a new midrange phone with a camera that not only slides up from the rear of the device, but also automatically rotates so it can function as both a selfie camera and a rear-mounted camera. That novel camera allows this to be the first phone to feature Samsung’s new Infinity display, which it announced last year.
The A80’s automated pop-up mechanism contains a triple-camera array consisting of a main 48-megapixel f/2.0 camera, flanked by an ultrawide 8-megapixel f/2.2 camera and a third ToF (time-of-flight) sensor. The sliding camera mechanism means there’s no sight of a notch or a hole-punch in the phone’s 6.7-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2400) Super AMOLED display.
We’ve seen swiveling cameras and slider mechanisms used in smartphones before, but never together like this. Oppo’s 2014 N1 smartphone had a rotating 13-megapixel camera, although both orientations produced similarly underwhelming photos. Pop-up cameras have also appeared on a number of notchless devices over the past year, including the Vivo Nex and Oppo Find X. More recently, slider phones have also made a comeback on devices like the Honor Magic 2 and Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.
Along with its camera setup, the Galaxy A80 also includes a 3,700mAh battery that supports fast charging at 25W. It also has 8GB of RAM, 128GB of onboard storage, and it includes an in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone is available in three colors: gold, white, and black.
Along with the Galaxy A80, Samsung also announced an April 26th release date for the Galaxy A70, which it first announced last month. The A70 has a teardrop-notched 6.7-inch display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, and it also includes an in-display fingerprint scanner. It has a triple-camera array on its rear featuring a main 32-megapixel sensor along with a 5-megapixel depth sensor and an ultrawide 8-megapixel sensor. The Galaxy A70 will be available in four colors: coral, blue, black, and white.
The Galaxy A80 will launch on May 29th, joining the Galaxy A10, A20, A30, and A50, which have all been announced in recent months. Pricing for the Galaxy A80 and A70 is yet to be announced.
Blackmagic Design has unveiled DaVinci Resolve 16 with a brand new "cut" page aimed at YouTubers and others who need to work quickly. The module is separate from the current edit page (though you can switch back and forth) and features a new innovative dual timeline that shows the entire program above and work area below, eliminating the need to zoom.
According to Chris Velazco, "there's a good case to be made for the All New Kindle being the best choice for most people. It's small, comfortable to hold, easy to read and now it's also bedside ready." Of course, the Paperwhite has a flush higher-resolution screen, more storage options and is waterproof.
San Francisco-based Jed Franklin received an alert on his phone informing him that his Tesla Model 3's Sentry Mode had been activated. On arriving at his vehicle, he found that the window had been broken, but that the perp had fled empty-handed. Franklin then downloaded the video captured by Sentry Mode, which had recorded a clear image of the suspect's face and license plate number.
In this week's IRL, Senior Editor Terrence O'Brien sings the praises of Chromecast Audio, which Google killed off in January. But that doesn't mean he's giving up on it. On the contrary, it's now more precious to him than ever.
The freshly announced Nighthawk AX4 comes in yet another spaceship-like design and offers dual-band four-stream WiFi with up to 600 + 2400Mbps speeds -- a generous 3Gbps in total. These are handled by the AX4's dual-core processor plus Intel's WAV600 WiFi chipset, with the latter being notable as Intel's first foray into the WiFi 6 router market.
Canon has launched the 24.1-megapixel APS-C sensor EOS Rebel SL3, the smallest and lightest model in its EOS lineup at just 15.84 ounces, or 449 grams. It's Canon's first EOS model to have Dual Pixel autofocus with eye detection in live view shooting mode.
After months of testing, Alphabet's Wing division is launching a drone delivery service in Australia. It will cover roughly 100 homes in the suburbs of Crace, Palmerston and Franklin, just outside the capital city of Canberra. Wing is barred from flying its drones before 7AM between Monday and Saturday and 8AM on Sundays and public holidays.
LG's new G8 ThinQ packs the performance you'd expect from a modern flagship phone and, as usual, it's a great option for people who care about smartphone sound quality. Beyond that, there's little here to set it apart from this year's early crowd of premium devices, aside from a clever time-of-flight sensor that powers ambitious features that don't actually work very well.
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