Sony just announced a trio of new speakers in a new line of audio products called the ULT Power Series. This is an attempt by the company to reduce some of the clutter involved with its naming conventions, so and XE-Series products. Both lines are being wrapped up into the ULT Power Series branding. To suit this new branding, each of the following speakers include something called the ULT button, which provides a bass boost.
The ULT Field 1 is your standard portable Bluetooth speaker. It’s compact and comes in a variety of colors, including black, white, gray and orange. The battery lasts around 12 hours per charge and the casing is IP67 water resistant, dustproof and shockproof. Like many of these ultra-portable Bluetooth speakers, the design lets users stand it on its end or lay it on its side, to make use of space. There’s also a built-in mic for hands-free calling. This speaker costs $130 and will be available later this spring at major retail outlets.
Sony
The ULT Field 7 is basically a beefier version of the Field 1. It’s bigger, though still portable, and includes two dedicated ULT buttons. One provides deeper bass in the lower frequency range and the other brings a powerful, punchy bass. There’s also plenty of ambient LED lighting that synchronizes with the music.
The battery lasts 30 hours, which is a fantastic metric, and includes quick-charging capabilities. It’s also being advertised as a karaoke machine, thanks to the built-in microphone port. Finally, Sony says people can string together up to 100 of these things to make a cacophony of noise that’ll really annoy the pants off of their neighbors. Those neighbors, however, are likely to live in a glorious mansion, as just one Field 7 costs $500. They go on sale later this spring.
Sony
The ULT Tower 10 is, as the name suggests, a Bluetooth tower speaker intended for living spaces. This speaker wirelessly connects to stereo systems and TVs for enhanced audio and includes the same two ULT bass boost buttons found with the Field 7. There’s also a sound optimization feature that detects local noise and adjusts the settings to accommodate the surroundings.
The speaker boasts omni-directional synchronized lighting, which Sony says “makes listeners feel like they are at a music festival.” There are two microphone inputs for belting out karaoke duets and the speaker actually ships with one wireless mic. Listeners can also connect up to 100 compatible speakers at once, including the Field 7. This is one expensive tower speaker, however, so it’ll set you back $1,200 when it releases later in the season.
Bixby’s never really been my smart home voice assistant of choice, and I’d wager that’s the same for most smart home enthusiasts. Much like Apple’s Siri, Bixby is more of a nice-to-have for those already in the wider Samsung ecosystem, lagging behind in terms of features and functionality when compared to the likes of Google Assistant and Alexa.
That could all be about to change, however. During this week’s series of global launch events, Samsung announced that Bixby is about to get a whole lot smarter, thanks to Generative AI.
What will a boosted Bixby look like?
We don’t know much at this stage, with only a brief Bixby segment during Samsung’s presentation, but it was enough to spark my interest. In addition to engaging in natural conversations, the next-generation Bixby will be able to use Generative AI to understand multi-layered commands and retain contextual information to help your smart home run smoother.
To demonstrate, Samsung explained that users will be able to ask Bixby to “turn on the AC to Wind-Free mode, and let me know how the weather is”, which would generally require two separate requests on most voice assistants.
Additionally, users will be able to ask Bixby to “turn off the air purifier”, pause, and then follow up with “oh, and the TV, too,” with the voice assistant recalling the first request and applying the context to the latter to turn off the TV.
Is this enough to save Bixby?
Since Bixby launched seven years ago, it’s not had an easy run. It has struggled to differentiate itself from Google Assistant, which is built into all Android phones including the best Samsung phones, and as we’ve seen from the slow death of Siri, closed-ecosystem assistants face an uphill battle in today’s world of connected devices, even with the rise of Matter.
While I’m not expecting Apple to announce anything major until WWDC, with rumors swirling about Siri’s new AI potentially even surpassing ChatGPT, it does surprise me to see Samsung beat both Apple and Google to the punch and announce Bixby’s boost so soon.
Given how many of Samsung’s large appliances are smart home-compatible and come with Bixby built in, this is significant not only in the battle for who can create the smartest voice assistant, but also a decisive move from the Korean conglomerate to stake its claim on smart home technology specifically.
None of Samsung’s major competitors are known for manufacturing appliances, let alone smart ones. Samsung, in contrast, is embracing this opportunity in a big way – but they’re pricey products that will take a while to hit the mass market.
Only time will tell which voice assistant will rise to the top. And while I’m not quite ready to put my money on the underdog Bixby, it’s far too soon to discount Samsung’s AI endeavors.
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Even before recent complaints about X’s declining quality, posting a paper on the social media platform did not translate to a boost in citations.Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty
Posting about a paper on X (formerly Twitter) seems to boost engagement but doesn’t translate into a bump in citations. A group of 11 researchers, each with at least several thousand followers, tweeted about a combined 110 articles between late 2018 and early 2020. In the short term, this increased the papers’ downloads and their Altmetric scores (a measure of how many people have looked at and are talking about it). But three years later, the citation rates for the tweeted papers weren’t significantly different to those of 440 control articles.
Members of the US Supreme Court expressed scepticism yesterday about arguments from a group of anti-abortion organizations and physicians seeking to restrict use of the abortion drug mifepristone in the United States. Over the past eight years, the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the drug’s usage limit from 7 to 10 weeks of pregnancy and allowed it to be sent by post. If the court invalidates those actions, mifepristone access would be restricted nationwide. Reproductive health researchers say that the case has no scientific merit, because mifepristone has proved to be safe and effective. A decision is expected in June.
After Homo sapiens expanded out of Africa 70,000 years ago, they seem to have paused for some 20,000 years before colonizing Europe and Asia. Now researchers think they know where. Looking at ancient and modern DNA, and the environment of the time, scientists have pinpointed the Persian Plateau — which in this definition encompasses Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and parts of Oman — as the perfect place. Finding local archaeological evidence to confirm this could be difficult. “There’s very little work being done there because of geopolitics,” says archaeologist and study co-author Michael Petraglia.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge would have been designed to survive a collision with a ship — but the sheer size of modern cargo vessels might surpass what was planned for, say engineers. Yesterday, the bridge in Baltimore catastrophically failed after one of its supports was struck by the 300-metre cargo ship ‘Dali’. The shocking speed of the collapse was due in part to its ‘continuous truss’ design, specialists say. “The collision of a vessel as large as the Dali container ship will have far exceeded the design loads for the slender concrete piers that support the truss structure, and once the pier is damaged you can see from the videos that the entire truss structure collapses very rapidly,” says structural engineer Andrew Barr.
Of the ten speakers from low- and middle-income countries invited to a panel in Portugal last month, only four were able to get visas — and Ghanaian herpetologist Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi wasn’t one of them. “My experience left me feeling demoralized, embarrassed and insulted,” she writes. Her visa fees, flights and other costs were not refundable. Visa issues also come at a cost to global efforts to prevent further biodiversity loss. “Our participation is not a matter of simply ticking the inclusivity boxes, but a deliberate effort to ensure that the voices of people for whom some of these conservation policies are formulated are heard, and their opinions sought,” writes Owusu-Gyamfi.
Bubbles can be made considerably more stable by suspending them in the air using sound waves. This could reduce the need for surfactants that help them keep from popping when they’re used in industrial processes. Using ultrasonic waves, researchers kept soap stable for up to 15 minutes — longevity that’s previously only been achieved under microgravity conditions, for instance on the International Space Station. The bubbles tended to rotate a few times per second, maybe because of the way the sound waves moved around them. (Nature Research Highlight | 3 min read, Nature paywall)
The 8 April total solar eclipse (visible in parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico, you lucky devils) will be more than just a visual phenomenon. The NASA-funded Eclipse Soundscapes Project is collecting multi-sensory observations and recorded sound data from community scientists on the day. Another effort, GLOBE Eclipse, asks volunteers to document air temperature and clouds during the event. As for me, I want to hear about the vibe.
Send your vibe-checks — plus any other feedback on this newsletter — to [email protected].
Apple’s next-generation A18 Pro chip for iPhone 16 Pro models will feature a larger die size for boosted artificial intelligence performance, according to Jeff Pu, an investment analyst who covers companies within Apple’s supply chain.
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities this week, Pu added that the A18 Pro chip will be equipped with a 6-core GPU, which would be equal to the A17 Pro chip in iPhone 15 Pro models.
Generative AI
iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for a range of iPhone features and apps, including Siri, Spotlight, Apple Music, Health, Messages, Numbers, Pages, Keynote, Shortcuts, and more. Apple has reportedly considered partnering with companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Baidu for at least some of these features.
iPhone 16 Pro models are rumored to feature an upgraded Neural Engine with “significantly” more cores, which could result in some of iOS 18’s generative AI features being exclusive to those models. Pu previously said the larger die size would be related to the Neural Engine, which could power on-device generative AI features.
Apple has used a 16-core Neural Engine since the iPhone 12 series. However, it has still improved the Neural Engine’s performance over the years, even when core counts have not changed. For example, Apple says the A17 Pro chip has up to a 2x faster Neural Engine compared to the one in the iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic chip.
Apple has promised to make generative AI announcements later this year. iOS 18 will be previewed at Apple’s developers conference WWDC in June, so we’re just a few months away from learning about the company’s plans.
6-Core GPU
With the A17 Pro chip, iPhone 15 Pro models have significantly improved graphics capabilities compared to previous models. Apple said the new 6-core GPU is up to 20% faster and also more power efficient than the 5-core GPU in the A16 Bionic chip. iPhone 15 Pro models also support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading for improved graphics rendering, which results in more realistic graphics in games.
Pu believes Apple will stick with a 6-core GPU for the A18 Pro chip, so graphics improvements may be more limited for iPhone 16 Pro models this year.
Wrap Up
Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 16 series in September. For more details, read our iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro roundups.
If you’ve been following the somewhat curious tale of the global launch of the RX 7900 GRE – the ‘Golden Rabbit Edition’ graphics card that was initially exclusive to China – you may recall it was artificially limited to 2.3GHz for the memory clock speed by a bug, as confirmed by AMD. Apparently, this was an issue with an incorrect memory tuning limit.
Well, that glitch has now been remedied with AMD’s new Adrenalin Edition 24.3.1 driver. As Team Red says in the release notes, there’s a fix for the “maximum memory tuning limit [being] incorrectly reported on AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE graphics products.”
VideoCardz noticed this development and reports that with the new driver, Tech Powerup has found it can ramp up the memory clock by 300MHz, giving a sizeable leap in performance. Running at 2.6GHz rather than 2.3GHz results in a 15% boost in 3DMark (Time Spy).
Note that this is the memory clock, which is distinct from the GPU clock speed, and not to be confused with that. The GPU chip is also limited for overclocking as our previous report highlighted, but AMD hasn’t taken action on that front.
Analysis: Going GREat guns
This is just one synthetic test, so we need to be a bit cautious, but other benchmarking online from Hardware Unboxed shows similarly impressive results (in gaming tests, and a host of them, too).
However, we should point out that other reports online suggest that RX 7900 GRE owners are far from guaranteed to be able to run a VRAM overclock as ambitious as 2.6GHz, or even get past 2.5GHz (for that matter, cresting 2.4GHz is proving challenging for some graphics cards anecdotally).
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As ever with any chip, the mileage you’ll get out of your video memory will be different from others – but even so, everyone should be able to realize a worthwhile performance benefit here. If not 10-15%, there should still be some decent headroom now AMD has fixed this bug, and many folks are reporting around a 5% boost or close to that at the very least.
With this extra chunk of frame rates under its belt, the 7900 GRE is now looking an even more tempting proposition. Assuming, of course, that you’re confident enough with PC hardware to engage in overclocking shenanigans – not everyone will want to do so.
The RX 7900 GRE was already a great mid-range performer before this happened, anyway, and at its current price, this seems to be the best GPU in this price bracket now, for those willing to push it with an overclock, certainly. It’s looking better than the rival RTX 4070 Super with this new AMD driver, and the RX 7900 GRE is about 7% cheaper than Team Green’s graphics card going by current pricing on Newegg in the US (for the cheapest models in stock).
Relative pricing may be a different story in your region, but you get the point. Also, with the 7900 GRE being within 10% of the performance of the much pricier 7900 XT now, as Hardware Unboxed points out, it’s a possible alternative to the latter.
We’d be remiss to mention that with the Nvidia RTX 4070 Super comparison, you are losing out on the ray tracing and DLSS 3 front, of course – but for pure rasterization it’s the 7900 GRE all the way as pricing stands, with this extra driver boost. Nvidia and its partners may need to respond here…
MemVerge, a provider of software designed to accelerate and optimize data-intensive applications, has partnered with Micron to boost the performance of LLMs using Compute Express Link (CXL) technology.
The company’s Memory Machine software uses CXL to reduce idle time in GPUs caused by memory loading.
The technology was demonstrated at Micron’s booth at Nvidia GTC 2024 and Charles Fan, CEO and Co-founder of MemVerge said, “Scaling LLM performance cost-effectively means keeping the GPUs fed with data. Our demo at GTC demonstrates that pools of tiered memory not only drive performance higher but also maximize the utilization of precious GPU resources.”
Impressive results
The demo utilized a high-throughput FlexGen generation engine and an OPT-66B large language model. This was performed on a Supermicro Petascale Server, equipped with an AMD Genoa CPU, Nvidia A10 GPU, Micron DDR5-4800 DIMMs, CZ120 CXL memory modules, and MemVerge Memory Machine X intelligent tiering software.
The demo contrasted the performance of a job running on an A10 GPU with 24GB of GDDR6 memory, and data fed from 8x 32GB Micron DRAM, against the same job running on the Supermicro server fitted with Micron CZ120 CXL 24GB memory expander and the MemVerge software.
The FlexGen benchmark, using tiered memory, completed tasks in under half the time of traditional NVMe storage methods. Additionally, GPU utilization jumped from 51.8% to 91.8%, reportedly as a result of MemVerge Memory Machine X software’s transparent data tiering across GPU, CPU, and CXL memory.
Raj Narasimhan, senior vice president and general manager of Micron’s Compute and Networking Business Unit, said “Through our collaboration with MemVerge, Micron is able to demonstrate the substantial benefits of CXL memory modules to improve effective GPU throughput for AI applications resulting in faster time to insights for customers. Micron’s innovations across the memory portfolio provide compute with the necessary memory capacity and bandwidth to scale AI use cases from cloud to the edge.”
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However, experts remain skeptical about the claims. Blocks and Files pointed out that the Nvidia A10 GPU uses GDDR6 memory, which is not HBM. A MemVerge spokesperson responded to this point, and others that the site raised, stating, “Our solution does have the same effect on the other GPUs with HBM. Between Flexgen’s memory offloading capabilities and Memory Machine X’s memory tiering capabilities, the solution is managing the entire memory hierarchy that includes GPU, CPU and CXL memory modules.”
As we get closer to the full launch of the Samsung Galaxy Ring, we’re slowly learning more about its many talents – and some fresh rumors suggest these could include planning meals to improve your diet.
Samsung calls this app an “AI-powered food and recipe platform”, as it can whip up tailored meal plans and even give you step-by-step guides to making specific dishes. The exact integration with the Galaxy Ring isn’t clear, but according to the Korean site, the wearable will help make dietary suggestions based on your calorie consumption and body mass index (BMI).
The ultimate aim is apparently to integrate this system with smart appliances (made by Samsung, of course) like refrigerators and ovens. While they aren’t yet widely available, appliances like Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator and Bespoke AI Oven include cameras that can design or cook recipes based on your dietary needs.
It sounds like the Galaxy Ring, and presumably smartwatches like the incoming Galaxy Watch 7 series, are the missing links in a system that can monitor your health and feed that info into the Samsung Food app, which you can download now for Android and iOS.
The Ring’s role in this process will presumably be more limited than smartwatches, whose screens can help you log meals and more. But the rumors hint at how big Samsung’s ambitions are for its long-awaited ring, which will be a strong new challenger in our best smart rings guide when it lands (most likely in July).
Hungry for data
(Image credit: Samsung)
During our early hands-on with the Galaxy Ring, it was clear that Samsung is mostly focusing on its sleep-tracking potential. It goes beyond Samsung’s smartwatches here, offering unique insights including night movement, resting heart rate during sleep, and sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep).
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But Samsung has also talked up the Galaxy Ring’s broader health potential more recently. It’ll apparently be able to generate a My Vitality Score in Samsung’s Health app (by crunching together data like your activity and heart rate) and eventually integrate with appliances like smart fridges.
This means it’s no surprise to hear that the Galaxy Ring could also play nice with the Samsung Food app. That said, the ring’s hardware limitations mean this will likely be a minor feature initially, as its tracking is more focused on sleep and exercise.
We’re actually more excited about the Ring’s potential to control our smart home than integrate with appliances like smart ovens, but more features are never a bad thing – as long as you’re happy to give up significant amounts of health data to Samsung.
President Biden visits the US National Institutes of Health, which under his proposed budget would receive roughly the same amount of funding in the 2025 fiscal year as in the 2023 fiscal year.Credit: Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty
US President Joe Biden today proposed modest increases in federal spending on science and innovation for the 2025 fiscal year. But that doesn’t mean his new budget will face an enthusiastic reception in Congress, which decides how much the government will spend.
Biden, a Democrat, has sought increases for many agencies in previous years but has run up against opposition among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Biden’s spending proposals for the 2024 fiscal year, which began in October, fared no better: in June 2023, after months of sparring, Democrats and Republicans agreed to spending limits for the 2024 fiscal year ― and for the 2025 fiscal year, likely quashing hopes that additional money will be poured into science.
Even after the June deal, the two sides continued to wrangle over the final numbers for the 2024 fiscal year. On 8 March, the Senate finally approved a spending package that cements the 2024 budget for most of the government’s largest science agencies. The House passed the bill on 6 March, and Biden is expected to sign it into law.
Trump versus Biden: what the rematch could mean for three key science issues
Against that backdrop, Biden’s newly published budget proposal “is nothing more than a showcase for the policies and the spending that the White House would like to pursue if it had the ability to do so, which it doesn’t,” says Michael Lubell, a physicist at the City College of New York in New York City, who tracks federal science-policy issues. “My guess is that none of this is going anywhere.”
Science advocates are already expressing dismay over some aspects of the new White House proposal. For example, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in 2022 to boost investments in semiconductors and science, authorized up to $35 billion in funding for science and innovation at major science agencies in the 2025 fiscal year, but the White House has requested only $20 billion, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC. Nor has Congress followed through on those commitments.
Here are the White House’s proposed budget numbers for fiscal year 2025 for some key science-related agencies. Also noted is how each agency’s proposed funding compares to the amount appropriated for the 2024 fiscal year. The exception is for the National Institutes of Health, whose budget is compared to the amount appropriated for the 2023 fiscal year.
National Institutes of Health: $46.4 billion, 0.6% increase
The administration’s request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would keep the agency’s budget nearly flat for what will probably be the second year in a row. Lawmakers are still negotiating how much the NIH will receive in the 2024 fiscal year, but it is unlikely that the agency’s budget will be higher than in 2023. NIH director Monica Bertagnolli acknowledged in December that the 2024 appropriations process will be “painful”, particularly for early-career researchers. “A flat budget is a contracting budget,” she said.
In addition to the $46.4 billion the White House has requested for the agency in 2025, it has also asked for an additional $1.4 billion to support the Cancer Moonshot programme, which aims to at least halve the US cancer death rate in 25 years, and $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which was created in 2022 to fund high-risk, high-reward biomedical research. The White House has also requested that the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the NIH, receive $20 billion for biodefence and pandemic preparedness, of which $2.7 billion would go to the NIH.
But it is unlikely that Congress will fund these additional programmes in full, says Ellie Dehoney, the senior vice president of policy and advocacy at Research!America, a non-profit organization in Arlington, Virginia, that advocates for health research. Overall, “these are disappointing numbers”, Dehoney says. This is not “what the United States needs to stay in the lead” of biomedical research, she says.
NASA: $25.4 billion, 2% increase
Biden requested significantly less for NASA for the 2025 fiscal year than he did for the 2024 fiscal year, but his new request would still provide the agency with a little more funding than Congress appropriated. NASA’s science budget would increase by 3%, with much of that boost going to the agency’s earth science division for restructuring several planned Earth-observing missions. NASA’s planetary sciences division would receive $2.7 billion; one major uncertainty is how much of that would go towards retrieving rock samples from the Martian surface. Last year the sample-return mission was estimated to cost as much as $11 billion; NASA and the European Space Agency are now looking at whether they can reduce the price tag.
The proposed budget would slash funding for the operation of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, a pre-eminent telescope that has been operating since 1999. The agency would also reduce funds for the operations of the Hubble Space Telescope, though much less drastically than for Chandra.
The White House is seeking a substantial boost for the US Environmental Protection Agency in the 2025 fiscal year, but Congress moved in the opposite direction last week: the agency’s overall budget in the 2024 fiscal year will be 9.6% lower than in the 2023 fiscal year. The picture is similar for the agency’s science and technology programmes, which are taking a 5.5% hit in the current fiscal year, leaving them with $758.1 million. The White House is now calling for an increase of 33.2% for those programmes in the 2025 fiscal year, which would bring the budget for science and technology to more than $1 billion.
National Science Foundation: $10.2 billion, 12% increase
Biden’s request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is 12% above the funds appropriated for the 2024 fiscal year. The request includes $2 billion for priorities outlined in the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, $1.4 billion for climate research and $300 million for infrastructure for large-scale research projects. The budget explicitly supports a single US extremely large telescope rather than the two such projects sought by astronomers.
The spending bill finalized last week imposed an 8.3% funding cut on the NSF — a “catastrophic” move for science, says Matt Hourihan, associate director of R&D and advanced industry at the Federation of American Scientists, an advocacy group based in Washington DC. But Biden’s request constitutes “a good budget that takes us in the right direction”, he says.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: $9.7 billion, 5.7% increase
The Biden administration requested $9.68 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency responsible for protecting public health. That would be a 5.7% increase over the agency’s funding for the 2023 fiscal year, but it is a smaller request than the $11.6 billion budget that the administration proposed for the 2024 fiscal year. “The request comes from, unfortunately, a return to austerity overall for discretionary funding,” says Dara Lieberman, director of government relations at Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), an advocacy group in Washington DC.
The budget includes substantial funding for efforts to modernize public health data systems: $225 million, a 28.5% increase over the amount appropriated for the 2023 fiscal year.
Department of Energy Office of Science: $8.6 billion, 4.2% increase
The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, a major funder of research in the physical sciences, has weathered the budget storm better than most. The deal finalized by Congress last week increased the office’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year to more than $8.2 billion — a 1.7% increase over 2023 — and the White House is seeking another increase in the 2025 fiscal year.
The outlook is mixed for other parts of the DOE. The request for clean-energy programmes within the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, for example, is $5.1 billion. That is more than 46% higher than the amount that Congress appropriated for the 2024 fiscal year, but 9.4% less than the amount appropriated for the 2023 fiscal year. One clear winner is the National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency within the DOE that maintains the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons: its budget for the 2024 fiscal year is $19.1 billion, an increase of nearly $2 billion over the 2023 fiscal year, and the White House is seeking more than $19.8 billion for the 2025 fiscal year.
Urgent question
The White House proposal sets the stage for a new round of budget negotiations, but for Carney the most pressing question is how and when Congress will resolve questions about funding the rest of the government in the current fiscal year. As it stands, much of the federal government — including the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research — is poised to shut down in less than two weeks unless lawmakers act. And according to the budget agreement reached between Biden and the Republicans last year, further spending cuts will kick in if the Congress doesn’t finalize the appropriations process by the end of April.
The highlight of the 2024 MacBook Air is the Apple M3 processor, and the first round of reviews show a 25% increase over the earlier M2-based models.
Otherwise, Apple didn’t tinker with the design of previous versions of its 13- and 15-inch consumer-oriented notebook.
Design: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Apple took the wraps off the latest iteration of its popular MacBook Air on March 4. It quickly became obvious that all the important changes are internal.
As The Verge review of the new model put it, “The chassis of the 13-inch and 15-inch Air M3s are the same as their M2 predecessors: same wedgeless design, same dimensions and weight, same colorway options — same everything.”
The new computers are very slim — just over 0.4 inches — and lightweight. But there’s still room for a 13.6-inch screen or a 15.3-inch one, depending on the model.
No matter the size, the 2024 MacBook Air last up to 18 hours on a single charge, according to Apple. And both sizes offer two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt. Getting more ports requires a hub or upgrading to a MacBook Pro.
2024 MacBook Air is all about the M3 processor
Not surprisingly, the first round of reviews of the latest macOS notebook for consumers focus on the one really significant change: the Apple M3 processor.
Engadget answered the query still on everyone’s mind by running Geekbench 6 benchmarking tests. The 13-inch version of the 2024 MacBook Air scored an 12,102 on the multi-core test, making it 25% faster than the M2 version. And the computer came in at 23% faster on Cinebench.
Cnet did its own benchmark tests and came up with a 12063 on the Geekbench 6 multi-core score. That makes the M3 version is 38% faster than the M1 model from 2020.
That said, those already using a recent MacBook Air shouldn’t expect a noticeable increase in speed. The M2 processor was already quite capable of easily handling most of the software consumers need.
“When it comes to real-world performance, I didn’t notice a huge difference between either M3-equipped MacBook Air, compared to the M2 model I’ve been using for the past few years,” noted the Engadget reviewer.
Bonus features
2024 MacBook Air can connect to a pair of external displays. Photo: Apple
Several of the reviewers confirmed the M3-based model’s support for two external displays, noting that it requires closing the notebook’s clamshell because Apple’s chip can only handle two screens at a time.
They also noted the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E, which can significantly increase wireless networking speeds but requires a router that supports the new standard.
Is the 2024 MacBook Air for you?
TechCrunch says of the MacBook Air models: “I don’t hesitate to call them the best consumer laptop Apple has ever made. Depending on where your operating system allegiances lie, it’s not a stretch to call them the best laptops for most people, full stop.”
Cnet said, “The M3 MacBook Air, either size, is an easy recommendation.”
Engadget says, “They’re great computers with excellent performance, gorgeous screens and incredible battery life.”
Video reviews
Cnet did a video review of the 2024 MacBook Air, and summed up the results saying, “If you’re on an older MacBook Air or even a MacBook Pro, the M3 MacBook Air continues Apple’s impressive performance streak, especially if you’re in need of a graphics boost.”
If you’re looking to elevate your productivity and streamline your daily tasks on a Mac, mastering Spotlight is a game-changer. This powerful search utility, accessible with a simple Command + Space shortcut, is much more than a file finder—it’s a versatile tool designed to enhance efficiency and save time. In the video below from Aim Apple, we explore 15 clever hacks that will transform the way you use your Mac, enabling you to navigate and manage tasks with unprecedented ease.
Quick Application Launch: Gone are the days of navigating through folders to open an application. Just type the name of the app into Spotlight, and you’re ready to launch. This simple step drastically cuts down the time spent searching for frequently used programs.
Calculator and Conversions on the Fly: Need to do a quick calculation or unit conversion? Spotlight has you covered. Enter your equation or conversion directly into the search bar for instant results, eliminating the need to open a separate app.
Adjust Brightness and Volume: Adjust your Mac’s brightness and volume directly through Spotlight. This direct access bypasses the need to dive into system preferences or use function keys, streamlining the adjustment process.
Effortless File Searching: Searching for files is a breeze with Spotlight. Simply type a portion of the file name to locate it quickly, saving you from a manual search through Finder.
Folder Navigation Made Simple: Open folders directly by typing their names into Spotlight. This eliminates the hassle of manual navigation, providing a faster route to your destination.
Quick Web Searches: Conduct web searches straight from Spotlight. If you prefer, you can even have the search open in your default web browser, providing flexibility in how you find information online.
Weather and Time Queries: Get the current weather conditions and time for any location by typing “weather” or “time” followed by the location name. This quick hack keeps you informed without the need to open a browser or weather app.
Direct Unit Conversions: Convert units of measurement with ease, directly within Spotlight. This functionality supports a wide range of units, offering convenience for both personal and professional use.
Access System Preferences Quickly: Search for and open the System Preferences menu directly from Spotlight. This shortcut saves time when adjusting settings or accessing various control panels.
Messaging Made Easy: Start a message to any of your contacts by typing “message” followed by the contact’s name. This feature simplifies the process of sending quick messages without opening the Messages app.
Application-Specific Searches: Find information within specific applications by prefacing your search with the app name. This targeted search yields more relevant results, enhancing productivity.
Dictionary Definitions and Synonyms: Get definitions and synonyms for words by typing them into Spotlight. Utilizing a shortcut, this feature turns Spotlight into a quick reference tool.
Create Events Effortlessly: Type “calendar” or “event” to create new calendar events directly from Spotlight. This integration simplifies scheduling and event creation without opening the Calendar app.
Contact Search: Quickly locate and access contact details without opening the Contacts app. This functionality is especially useful for finding phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information on the fly.
Music Control: Control music playback—play, pause, skip—directly through Spotlight. This hack offers a convenient way to manage your music without interrupting your workflow.
By incorporating these tips into your daily routine, you’ll discover that Spotlight is more than just a search tool; it’s a comprehensive utility that can significantly enhance your productivity and efficiency on a Mac. Whether you’re adjusting settings, searching for information, or managing tasks, these hacks ensure a smoother, more streamlined experience.
Embrace these Spotlight hacks to unlock a new level of convenience and control over your Mac, optimizing your workflow and making every action more efficient.
Source & Image Credit: Aim Apple
Filed Under: Apple, Guides, Laptops
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