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Geared Up: New Nintendo Switch Consoles, Apple Kills the MacBook, & Galaxy Note 10 Crazy Battery!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, PC / Laptop, Video Games,

The Death of the Xbox

On this week's Geared Up, we talk about the two new Nintendo Switch consoles that were announced this past week - the Nintendo Switch Lite and the Nintendo Switch with refreshed battery. In the case of the Switch Lite, we are getting a new handheld-only portable console with a cheaper price and some caveats. Over on the standard Switch front, we were expecting a pro version of the Switch as well, but instead got the same hardware with increased battery life.

Apple has significantly changed its laptop computer lineup with the release of a cheaper MacBook Air and the addition of premium features on the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro while simultaneously killing the 12-inch MacBook and the older entry-level MacBook Air. We go over why this actually provides clarity for anyone looking to buy an Apple laptop.

Samsung will be announcing the Galaxy Note 10 at an event on August 7th at the Barclays Center, and rumors and dropping left and right about the new flagship devices in the weeks leading up to the reveal. The latest focuses on a very unique feature for the Note 10 battery that may make charging anxiety a thing of the past!

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

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Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Nintendo, Apple, and Samsung.


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Best Amazon Prime Day 2019 Deals!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals, Smart Home, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games,

Best Amazon Prime day 2019 deals

It's Amazon Prime Day across the world, and as promised, here are some of the best Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals you can get! I will update this list throughout the day:

TECH DEALS

APPLE DEALS

Click to continue reading Best Amazon Prime Day 2019 Deals!


Geared Up: The Death of the Xbox, Amazon Prime Day 2019 Deals, & Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Rumors!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Hot Deals, Microsoft, Video Games, Videos,

The Death of the Xbox

On this week's Geared Up, we talk about the upcoming Amazon Prime Day, celebrating Amazon's 25th anniversary. I bring you my tips on finding the best Prime Day deals, while naming a couple of my favorite Prime Day launch deals (which you can find right now - the Anker PowerPort Atom III and the Jabra Elite 85h headphones!) This year Amazon is extending Prime Day to be a two-day shopping event, which means competing retailers are also preparing their own deals to steal away some attention.

High-quality video game streaming is nearly here, with early launches of both Microsoft Project xCloud (an Xbox streaming service,) and Google Stadia both taking place in the fall of 2019. A listener asked if the fact that people will be able to stream their games to any device - from web browser, to smartphone to smart TV and more - spells the end of the Xbox and PlayStation dedicated video game consoles as we know them. I weigh in with my thoughts, along with my impressions of using Project xCloud (which you can see in the video embedded below!)

Samsung sent out invites for its Galaxy Unpacked event, which takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on August 7th. This will be where the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will make its debut, and we should likely hear news of updated launch plans for the Samsung Galaxy Fold as well. I discuss the expected features and specs for the new Samsung flagship smartphone.

Finally, I also talk about Jony Ive leaving Apple and what his departure means for the future of the company as many wonder if the iconic designs that Apple is known for will suffer as a result.

SPONSOR: National Car Rental. Go National. Go like a pro.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Amazon, Apple, and Samsung.


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TCL celebrates Cut the Cord Day with huge Roku TV giveaway!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment,

TCL Cut the Cord Day Giveaway

TCL, America's fastest-growing TV brand, is celebrating National Cut the Cord Day by giving away 7 huge prize packages - all featuring its fantastic line of smart 4K Roku TVs. Each day, between July 1st and 6th 7, there will be seven winners chosen to win each days prize package - and each day the prizes get more and more elaborate. On July 7th, one grand prize winner will be chosen to talk away with a 75-inch TCL 6-Series, TCL Alto 7+ sound bar, Mohu Blade Premium OTA antenna, Tablo Dual Lite OTA DVR, along with gift cards for YouTube TV, Showtime, and FandangoNow.

Why does TCL celebrate National Cut the Cord Day? Well, the company is always about providing great calue to their customers, and doing away with a monthly cable bill without having to give up access to your favorite shows is absolutely a good move. TCL TVs feature Roku's smart TV platform built-in, right out of the box, so you can instantly access all your favorite streaming TV apps like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and many more. In fact, Roku has over 5,000 streaming apps and thousands upon thousands of pieces of content to watch. Additionally, TCL TVs pack in a TV tuner, so all you need to do is connect an OTA antenna to access your local channels at no cost.

Head on over to the TCL Cut the Cord Day Giveaway page in order to enter, and to learn more about cutting the cord from cable! Here's a look at some of TCL's product line:


Geared Up: Microsoft’s Mystery Foldable Surface Tablet, Updated Nintendo Switch Mini, & Apple vs Spotify Intensifies!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Music, PC / Laptop, Video Games, Videos,

Nintendo Switch Mini vs Switch

This week on Geared Up, we talk about the latest rumors say that Microsoft is working on a new secret new foldable Surface tablet device that will be able to run Android apps and iCloud services, with a stripped down Windows Core OS - this will likely be more of a mobile device than a laptop, with LTE and 5G options available. This reminds me of the Microsoft Courier project from back in 2009 - take a look at the embedded video below!

Nintendo is ready to release two new updates to the Nintendo Switch lineup. First, a new miniature version of the popular Switch console that will likely be the successor to the Nintendo 3DS. In addition, there will be a more powerful Nintendo Switch "Pro" that will be 4K-capable when docked, with an upgrade to a 1080p display on the Switch unit itself.

Apple and Spotify's battle intensifies in court, with the two companies going back-and-forth in a public battle.

Finally, we also talk about the death of YouTube creator, Etika, and the state of mental health of content creators in this day and age.

SPONSOR: National Car Rental. Go National. Go like a pro.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Microsoft, Apple, and Nintendo.


The Insane Apple Mac Pro, 8K Xbox, and xCloud Game Streaming!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smart Home, Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Video Games, Videos,

Apple Mac Pro and Pro XDR Display

E3 2019 is in the books, and Microsoft Xbox came out swinging! In this episode of Geared Up, we talk about all the big announcements coming out of the Xbox E3 keynote.

First up, Project Scarlett - the all-new next-generation Xbox console that will be launching toward the end of 2020. Microsoft says Project Scarlett will be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X (currently, the most powerful game console on the market.) Additionally, the company announced and demo'd Project Xcloud. Xcloud goes into beta in October and allows gamers to play their Xbox games anywhere they have WiFi or cell connectivity.

In addition to all the Xbox news, we pick up where we left off in the last episode to talk in depth about the upcoming Apple Mac Pro.

I also mentioned the new Ecobee Smart Thermostat that I've been testing - here's the video if you want to check it out:

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple and Xbox.


Geared Up: Apple’s new iOS 13, macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and Apple Watch updates!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software, Videos,

iOS 13 features WWDC recap

It was a huge news week in the world of Apple, as the company took the stage at WWDC 2019 to show the world what's coming next for all of its major software platforms. In this episode of Geared Up, we talk about all the big announcments coming out of WWDC. These include:

  • The new iOS 13 features (including the long-awaited Dark Mode!)
  • The future of macOS Catalina with iPad apps running on the Mac
  • How the iPad is becoming more of more of a laptop replacement with the dedicated iPadOS
  • How the Apple Watch will continue to help you become healthier in watchOS 6

In addition, we answer listener-submitted questions as well. If you're looking for news and commentary on the new Mac Pro, we'll be covering that on next week's show!

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple.


Apple announces dedicated iPadOS: The iPad Finally Grows Up

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software,

iPadOS features

The iPad now gets its own dedicated version of iOS, which Apple is calling iPadOS - here are some of the highlight iPadOS features, announced during WWDC 2019:

  • You can now pin widgets to the home screen
  • Slide-over now gets a card interface for multitaking, similar to what you get on an iPhone
  • Split-View now allows for multi-window capability. So you can have two instances of the same app side-by-side. Examples shown were apps like Pages, Notes, and Microsoft Word. You can have multiple apps side by side within multitasking as well.
  • The Files app now supports folder sharing,SMB network shares, and thumb drive, external hard drive, and SD card support.
  • Safari on iPad is now a desktop browser rather than mobile browser, so you get the full desktop-class experience on the iPad. This includes 30 keyboard shortcuts, a download manager, and more.
  • Fonts management
  • Text editing is improved. Use the scroll indicator to drag directly to an area in a document. Text selection now works with a tap and drag. Three-finger pinch for copy, and three-finger expand for paste, with three-finger swipe to undo.
  • Apple Pencil latency has been improved from 20ms down to 9ms, making it even more responsive. Drag your pencil up from the corner of the screen to immediately go into markup mode no matter where you are.

iOS 13 Announced: Dark Mode, New Reminders app, Enhanced Privacy, and more

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,

iOS 13 features

During today's WWDC 2019 keynote, Apple announced iOS 13, the next major release of its major mobile operating system platform.

  • iOS 13 is even faster and performance has been tuned across the board. This results in 50% smaller app downloads, 60% smaller app updates, and 2x faster app launching than in iOS 12.
  • Dark Mode was announced for iOS 13, a feature that users have been asking for for years. We saw Notes, Messages, News, Music, Photos, and other Apple apps in dark mode.
  • Swipe gesture support is added to the keyboard
  • New share sheet will offer suggestions when it finds people in photos, and offer people you typically share with.
  • Apple Music now supports time-synced lyrics
  • New apps - Notes gets a gallery view and shared folders, Safari, Mail
  • New Reminders app will recognize what you type, keep smart lists, allows for tagging people, and more
  • Maps are being rebuilt from the ground-up, completely rolled out in the US by the end of 2019. Collections allows you to save a bunch of locations in a folder. New Look Around feature brings Street View functionality to Apple Maps. You'll be able to share an up-to-date ETA with friends going forward.
  • Privacy: You can now grant apps access to your location just once. Wi-Fi & Bluetooth backdoor tracking is shut off. New Sign In with Apple allows you to sign into Web sites without being tracked the way you are with Facebook and Google sign ins - you can choose what info you provide to an app. If you give them email access, Apple will give them a fake email that forwards to your real email.
  • HomeKit: Apple announces HomeKit Secure Video - videos are analyzed in your home instead of in the cloud, using iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and more.
  • Messages: You can share your name and photo in Messages, which lets you control who sees your name and picture.
  • New Memoji options let you add eye shadow, lipstick, piercings, teeth, earrings, hair, hats, glasses, AirPods, and more. Memoji Stickers will take your Memoji and add a bunch of expressions that can be used on any device with an A9 processor or later.
  • Camera: New High Key Mono portrait lighting effect. You can also move the lights closer or further away from your subject when in Portrait Lighting mode.
  • Photos: New photo editing tools in Photos allow you to adjust your pictures in new ways. Apple also says these same effects can be used with videos as well - filters and effects are supported. Browsing large photo libraries is now easier as Apple intelligently hides duplicates, receipts, whiteboards, etc. You can still get to them, but they won't show up right in the main library. Apple will also let you sort by year, month, days, and All Photos, making it really easy to browse the greatest hits of your photo library.
  • AirPods: Siri can instantly read you your new messages as they arrive, and you can respond with your voice right away. New Audio Sharing feature allows you to share audio with a friend.
  • HomePod: Apple brings Handoff to HomePod. Bring your phone near a HomePod to have it continue your music, phone call, podcast, etc. right where you left off. HomePod will also recognize who's talking and personalize its response, giving it multi-user support, including for apps like Music, Notes, Messages, Reminders, and more.
  • CarPlay: Siri will work with third-party apps like Pandora and Waze in the car.
  • Siri now sounds a lot more natural with cadence and emphasis, using Neural TTS. The voice is now completely generated in software rather than using clips from a voice actor.
  • You'll also be able to sent calls from unknown callers directly to voicemail.

Geared Up: Huge Apple Leaks, Tesla Model 3, New MacBook Pros, and more!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, PC / Laptop, Software, Transportation,

iOS 13 Leaked Dark Mode screenshots
(Photo Credit: 9to5Mac)

This week we have a couple of big leaks out of Apple that give us a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming iOS 13 and macOS 10.15, including the impending death of iTunes as Apple splits the iconic music player up.

Apple has released updated 2019 MacBook Pros with faster processors and upgraded keyboard, and we talk about what's changed and how much they cost.

We also go over the keyboard woes Apple has experienced, along with the new Keyboard Service Program. Apple will now replace your faulty keyboard up to 4 years after purchase.

Finally, I answer your questions about the OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone, how my Tesla Model 3 is holding up, how to pick between older flagships and new mid-range smartphones, and more!

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple, Tesla, and OnePlus 7.


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