Author: shubhmkr5@gmail.com

The latest Apple silicon is about to hit the assembly lines, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. In the latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said that Apple “is nearing mass production of its next MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and two new Mac monitors.” Gurman added that these upgraded products are scheduled for release sometime between the end of this year and the first quarter of next year. Earlier this year, Gurman noted that Apple was expected to start production on the M5 MacBook Pro during the second half of 2025. All signs seem to point toward Apple following its typical release schedule, where the latest MacBook Pro makes its fall debut, followed by the reveal of the upgraded MacBook Air in the spring. However, Gurman previously mentioned in a July edition of his newsletter that “Apple is now internally targeting a launch early next year” for the MacBook Pro instead. Beyond the upcoming MacBooks, we’re expecting one of the two Mac monitors to be the upgraded Studio Display. First released in March 2022, Apple’s Studio Display could use a refresh, which some rumors say will include a mini-LED display, along with overall improvements to brightness and color quality. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/apple-is-reportedly-nearing-production-for-its-latest-m5-powered-macbooks-154148070.html?src=rss

With iOS 26, Apple has expanded its native call recording feature with transcripts, Live Translation, summaries and tighter integration with Notes. It’s a more polished and useful tool than before, especially if you rely on your iPhone for interviews, meetings or important conversations. Call recording itself first arrived with iOS 18.1 in October 2024. The feature has always been region- and language-dependent, and that hasn’t changed. If it’s available where you live, you can capture calls directly from the Phone app without third-party apps or hardware. If it’s not, there are still alternative methods worth knowing about. Here’s how it works, plus what to do if the option isn’t available in your country. How to check if call recording is available First, confirm that the feature is supported in your region. Apple maintains a feature availability page that lists countries where call recording isn’t offered, including the European Union, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. If your country is on that list, you won’t see the option in the Phone app. Before recording your phone call, you’ll need the consent of the person on the other end of the line. When you start recording, both parties hear an audio notice stating that the call is being recorded. How to record a call on iPhone Recording a call is straightforward: Open the Phone app. Start or answer a call. During the call, tap the More button. Select Call Recording. The call continues as normal, but the iPhone automatically saves the audio once you hang up or tap Stop. You’ll find all recordings in iOS’ native Notes app, inside a folder called Call Recordings. How to play back, manage and delete recordings To listen back, open Notes, go to the Call Recordings folder, and tap the file you want. Tap Play to hear it. From here, you can: Search: Tap the More button and select Find in Transcript. Copy: Tap the More button and select Add Transcript to Note or Copy Transcript. Save: Tap the More button and select Save Audio Files, then select where you want to save recording (another folder or app). Share: Tap the More button and select Share Audio, then select how you want to share the recording Delete: Tap the More button and select Delete. This deletes the recording and any related transcript. How to transcribe your calls If your region and language are supported, iOS 26 also transcribes calls. Open a recording in Notes, then tap Show Transcript and Summary. Processing might take a few moments, but once it’s ready, you’ll see the conversation broken down by speaker. From there, you can search the text, copy it into another note or tap a line to jump to that part of the audio. Apple warns transcripts may not be flawless, so double check to make sure important details are correct. Apple Intelligence summaries With Apple Intelligence switched on, you’ll also get a generated summary of the call. This is handy if you only need the highlights — for example, the action items from a meeting or the main points of an interview. Summaries appear alongside the transcript in Notes. How to turn off call recording By default, call recording is enabled on supported devices. If you don’t want the option at all, navigate to Settings, select Apps, then Phone, tap Call Recording and toggle it off. Alternatives if call recording isn’t available If you’re in a region where the built-in feature doesn’t appear, or you’re running a previous version of iOS, there are still other ways to record calls. In the US, federal law dictates one-party consent. This means you can record a phone call as long as you are actively participating in the conversation. However, it is important that you check state laws (in the US) or relevant laws in your country before recording a phone call. Note that these options don’t integrate with Apple Notes or Apple Intelligence, but they give you a backup if the official method isn’t supported where you live. Rev Call Recorder (US only) is free to use on your iPhone. There are no in-app ads or time constraints, allowing you to record high-quality audio via the app. Google Voice (US only) lets you record incoming calls via the app by pressing “4” on the keypad. The audio file appears in your Google Voice inbox afterward. The function is restricted to incoming calls, and features will depend on the account you have. External recorders: You can connect a small recorder to your iPhone through USB-C or Lightning, or place a digital recorder next to your phone on speaker mode. This keeps everything offline, but audio quality can vary. Speakerphone: If you have access to multiple devices, you can place your call on speakerphone and simultaneously use a separate device with the Voice Memos app open to record your call. While the sound quality is unlikely to be on par with other alternatives, it is a feasible option. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-record-a-phone-call-on-an-iphone-120058707.html?src=rss

Martin Shkreli, better known as Pharma Bro for his price-gouging antics with AIDS medication Daraprim, is going to have to defend against claims of misappropriating trade secrets with the unique Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Earlier this week, US District Court Judge Pamela Chen wrote in a decision that Shkreli has to face a lawsuit that accuses him of improperly saving copies and playing the one-of-a-kind album for followers, which reduced its value and exclusivity. The lawsuit was filed by PleasrDAO — which, according to its own website, is a collective of people involved with cryptocurrency, NFTs and digital art. Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has a strange ownership history, starting with Shkreli purchasing the one-of-one studio album in 2015 for $2 million. After a fraud conviction, Shkreli had to forfeit his assets, including the album, leading to PleasrDAO acquiring it in a government auction for $4 million. On top of the album’s highly exclusive nature, it has a condition where it can’t be “commercially exploited for 88 years” by any subsequent owners. The collective’s argument stems from claims that Shkreli admitted in livestreams that he made copies of the album and played it for his followers, even allegedly posting “LOL i have the mp3s you moron” in response to a member of PleasrDAO posting a photo of the album. If PleasrDAO wins the case, Shkreli will have to give up any copies of the album, as well as provide info on all copies, who they were distributed to and what profits he made from it. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/martin-shkreli-has-to-face-claims-of-copying-one-of-a-kind-wu-tang-clan-album-174730388.html?src=rss

Electronic Arts is close to reaching a $50 billion deal that will turn it into a privately held company, according to The Wall Street Journal. The video game company filed for an IPO way back in 1990 and has been public ever since, but now a group of investors are in talks with the company to take it private. Those investors reportedly include private equity firm Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, whose largest source of funding is also Saudi’s PIF.  It’s worth noting that EA’s shares are already tied to major financial organizations, even though it’s publicly traded, with Saudi’s PIF owning almost 10 percent of the company. As Reuters notes, analysts believe Saudi is interested in buying out EA due to its annual release of popular sports titles, including Madden and NHL, which makes for predictable earnings.  Saudi has made several major investments in the video gaming industry overall as part of its efforts to prepare for a post-oil economy. In addition to its investment in EA, it also purchased stakes in Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo and the Embracer Group. In March, Pokémon Go maker Niantic sold its gaming division to a Saudi-owned company, as well. Unlike PIF and Kushner’s Affinity Partners, Silver Lake doesn’t have a huge stake in EA at the moment and doesn’t have notable gaming investments other than its stake in Unity.  Bloomberg and The Financial Times report that the company could announce the buyout as soon as next week, but details could change since nothing has been finalized yet. If the $50 billion deal does push through, it’ll become the biggest leveraged buyout of all time.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-reportedly-plans-to-go-private-with-help-from-silver-lake-and-saudi-arabia-123011751.html?src=rss

The National Labor Relations Board has withdrawn “many of the claims” it made against Apple in relation to the cases brought in 2021 by former employees Ashley Gjøvik and Cher Scarlett, according to Bloomberg. In particular, it dismissed an allegation that Apple CEO Tim Cook violated workers’ rights when he sent an all-staff email that year, which said “people who leak confidential information do not belong” in the company. Cook also said in the email that Apple was “doing everything in [its] power to identify those who leaked” information from an internal meeting the previous week, wherein management answered workers’ questions about pay equity and Texas’ anti-abortion law. Apple didn’t “tolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether it’s product IP or the details of a confidential meeting,” Cook wrote. Gjøvik and Scarlett accused Apple of prohibiting wage discussion and preventing staff from talking to reporters. After an investigation, NLRB previously came to the conclusion that Cook’s email and Apple’s overall behavior were “interfering with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of their rights.”  In addition dropping its claim that Cook violated workers’ rights, the labor board is also withdrawing its allegation that the firing of activist Janneke Parrish, one of the leaders of the #AppleToo movement, broke the law. It’s dismissing its previous allegations that Apple broke the law by imposing confidentiality rules and surveilling workers or making them think they were under surveillance, as well.  Bloomberg says this is just one instance of the NLRB being more friendly to companies under President Trump. It’s not quite clear if the labor board has withdrawn all allegations against Apple related to the complaint or just some of them, but we’ve reached out for clarification.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-labor-board-drops-allegation-that-apples-ceo-violated-employees-rights-143053792.html?src=rss

Google first teased some enticing upgrades for its Pixel Buds Pro 2 during the Made by Google event in August. More than a month later, Google is finally rolling out the update that makes its wireless earbuds earn the Pro label. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 now get an Adaptive Audio feature in the Active Noise Control section of the Pixel Buds app. This ANC mode automatically adjusts the volume depending on your surrounding environment, balancing between hearing your music or podcasts and the world around you. If you want to drown out the outside world a little more, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 now also have the Loud Noise Protection feature, which can detect and reduce any sudden loud noises, like a passing ambulance siren or construction work. While these two features are already found in Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, they’re a welcome addition to the more affordable Pixel Buds Pro 2. For anyone who frequently uses Gemini Live, you’ll notice that the AI assistant will be able to hear you better in noisy environments thanks to advanced audio processing that prioritizes your voice and eliminates background noise. For a truly hands-free experience, the update even adds gesture controls that let Pixel Buds Pro 2 users nod their head to answer a call or start dictation for a text reply and shake their head to decline a call or dismiss a text. Google is rolling out its 4.467 update to its users gradually, which takes about 10 minutes to download and another 10 minutes to install. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/pixel-buds-pro-2-get-adaptive-audio-gesture-controls-and-more-in-latest-update-155116813.html?src=rss

These are some recently released titles we think are worth adding to your reading list. Get lost in Bitter Karella’s splatterpunk, cosmic fever dream, Moonflow, and the new zombie apocalypse comic, Everything Dead & Dying. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-moonflow-and-everything-dead–dying-191722871.html?src=rss

Escape from Tarkov players may finally get the chance to escape from the fictional war-torn city in northwest Russia, but it won’t be easy. During a live Q&A at Tokyo Game Show, Nikita Buyanov, the game’s director, told the audience that there will be four endings that players can achieve, which will be determined by the playthrough’s completion and progression. Buyanov added that the “best ending” will be “really hard” and “not everyone will escape from Tarkov.” “I think it will be something around two percent of all of the player base,” Buyanov said of how many players the team expects to reach the toughest ending. “It will be really challenging, and you can treat it as an achievement of your life to finally escape from Tarkov.” After being in beta for more than eight years, Escape from Tarkov is scheduled for a 1.0 release, along with its debut on Steam. Even after the November release, Buyanov said that the team still has a ton of content planned for the game’s future over the next five years. Much of the new content is still being kept under wraps, as is whether or not the developer plans to do another wipe before the official release that would reset player progression. Buyanov said during the Q&A that there will be seasonal characters subject to typical wipes, along with a permanent main character that can retain progress indefinitely. As for whether the current state of the game will see another wipe before the November release, Buyanov posted on X that a decision hasn’t been made yet but that the team is leaning towards “probably no wipe.” This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/only-two-percent-of-escape-from-tarkov-players-may-get-to-see-its-best-ending-174416980.html?src=rss

In the pursuit of actually releasing the updated version of Siri the company promised way back at WWDC 2024, Apple is taking a page out of OpenAI’s book. According to Bloomberg, the company has created a ChatGPT-inspired app to test Siri’s new capabilities ahead of the release of the improved voice assistant next year. This new app, called “Veritas” internally, will likely never make its way to the public in its current form, but offers Apple employees a faster way to test Siri’s new skills. That includes letting users search through personal data stored on their phone, like their emails and messages, or taking action in apps, like editing photos. The new app is apparently also a way for Apple to “gather feedback on whether the chatbot format has value,” Bloomberg writes. While an internal app doesn’t make it any clearer how useful Apple’s updated Siri will be, it does suggest the project is in a more advanced stage than before. Given the difficulty the company’s faced actually releasing its various AI products — including publicly delaying the Siri update back in March 2025 — that’s meaningful. Apple’s original promise for Apple Intelligence was that it could offer a curated selection of AI-powered features with a level of privacy and polish that its competitors couldn’t muster. The reality is that Apple shipped a collection of so-so features that worked, but couldn’t pull off its truly impressive demo: a Siri informed on the context of your life and with the ability to actually do things on your phone. Apple is only realizing that vision in 2026, Bloomberg reports, through a combination of its own AI models, and at least one third-party model from its competitors. In June, the company was reportedly considering using a model from either OpenAI or Anthropic, but as of August, the company is now apparently circling a partnership with Google. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-reportedly-made-a-chatgpt-clone-to-test-siris-new-capabilities-194902560.html?src=rss

It’s been nearly a year since DJI sued the Department of Defense over its designation as a “Chinese military company.” On Friday, a judge ruled against the drone maker. US District Judge Paul Friedman said the DoD presented enough evidence that DJI contributes to the Chinese military. “Indeed, DJI acknowledges that its technology can and is used in military conflict but asserts that its policies prohibit such use,” Friedman wrote in his opinion. “Whether or not DJI’s policies prohibit military use is irrelevant. That does not change the fact that DJI’s technology has both substantial theoretical and actual military application.” DJI challenged the designation in October 2024. It told the court it is “neither owned nor controlled by the Chinese military.” The company claimed in its filing that it suffered “ongoing financial and reputational harm” as a result of the inclusion. The designation can prevent companies from accessing grants, contracts, loans and other programs. The drone maker has a contentious history with the US government. The Department of Commerce added it and 77 other companies to its Entity List in 2020, effectively blocking US businesses from dealing with them. A year later, the Treasury Department included DJI on its “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” list. That designation was for its alleged involvement in the surveillance of Uyghur Muslim people in China. Last year, US customs began holding up DJI’s consumer drones at the border. The company now faces a potential import ban in the US by the end of this year. The ban was initially scheduled for 2024. But a clause in the $895 billion US Defense Bill gave it a year to prove that its products don’t pose a national security risk. In March, DJI pleaded with five national security agencies (DHS, DoD, FBI, NSA, and ODNI) to begin evaluating its products “right away.” This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/dji-loses-lawsuit-over-pentagons-chinese-military-company-list-204804617.html?src=rss