NEWS
New Apple stuff and an iPhone 7
Apple had a thing where the new iPhone was unveiled. iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have a faster CPU (the A10 is nuts), better screen, slightly longer battery life, is water proof (IP67), new home button that isn't a button, new Touch ID sensor, no more 3.5mm headphone socket, new colours, no more 16GB (32, 128, 256 capacities) and a dual camera system on the Plus. It's out 16th September, pre-orders begin tomorrow. Pricing seems about the same as the 6s.
There's a new Apple Watch as well. Now there's Series 1 Apple Watches and Series 2 Apple Watches. The Series 2 has built in GPS, a much brighter screen, is 50m water resistant and has a new SoC (the S2), but otherwise remains the same. The $10,000+ Edition variant is gone, replaced with a new Edition for $1800 that has a ceramic case, making it the new flagship watch.
Also shown off were Apple's new wireless headphones. Imagine the EarPods you know and love, but chop the wires off. That's what these new AirPods are. They don't use Bluetooth and "seamlessly" switch between all your Apple devices. The case the headphones come in are also a battery. These won't be out until late-October, price is US$159.
Other miscellaneous things - Nintendo is gonna bring Mario to iOS in December (hell has frozen over), Pokemon Go is coming to the Apple Watch, iWork was exhumed from its grave and dragged around on stage weekend at Burnie's style, DP Review has some info on the dual camera setup on the 7 Plus, iOS 10 and watch OS 3 will be out September 13th and if you want to drown in a pool of your own excrement, Buzzfeed has a "deep dive" into why Apple ditched the headphone socket.
You can watch the entire keynote on Apple's website if ya want. If that's too long for you, Apple posted a 107-sec recap video themselves.
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New PlayStations
Sony also had an event yesterday (awful timing) where they showed off two new PS4s. There's the PS4 Slim, which is thinner (duh) than the old PS4, but mainly the same guts. The PS4 Pro has a faster GPU that allows games to run at higher quality - but not 4K, sometimes. It's complicated. The PS4 Pro also doesn't play back 4K Blu-Rays, which is pretty shit. Either way, the new PS4 Pro will be out in Australia on November 10th for $560.
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Foxtel planning to sell NBN internet services
I'm surprised it took this long, but Foxtel is about to offer internet access via the NBN, ideally in a bundle with its pay TV offering. As someone hooked up to the NBN that begrudgingly pays for Foxtel due to its superior AFL coverage, having a decent bundle with the footy and internet, I'd be very interested to see what sort of pricing they can sort out. Right now I pay $61/m for Foxtel and $110 for NBN (via Optus for 100/40 unlimited). If they can give me the same for $150/m, they'd be on a winner. There's no timeline set, but Foxtel has a thing on their website about it.
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COOL SHIT
How did Edward Snowden evade US goons to be living in Russia now?
I always wondered how the fuck Snowden managed to escape the USA into Hong Kong then from Hong Kong into Russia. I need wonder no more, as The National Post has a story explaining how he was smuggled around the world whilst the entire US intelligence apparatus hunted him down. I won't ruin the story by explaining how, but it involves Sri Lankan refugees.
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Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!)
--Anthony
The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Today's subject line is from Across The Sea, by Weezer. Like The Sizzle? Tell your friends!