Apple surprised us last week with two new iPads. We’ve spent a bit of time with the new entry-level iPad ($449) which has been redesigned to match the rest of the iPad family with flat edges, USB-C and a Touch ID-enabled power button. Unusually, it also has a landscape selfie camera. Inside, there’s an A14 chip, which might not match the M1 in the iPad Air (let alone the M2 in the new iPad Pro), but it’s still a powerful enough processor.
So far, Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham is pleasantly impressed, although there are other corners cut – it still only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. Expect our full review and verdict soon. For now, read up on our first impressions here.
– Mat Smith
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Justice Department alleges Chinese spies tried to disrupt a criminal investigation into Huawei
Two agents may have tried to bribe a US law enforcement official.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that two spies from the People’s Republic of China attempted to interfere in a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice into Huawei. According to a Bloomberg report, Guochun He and Zheng Wang were working for the benefit of Huawei. The two agents attempted to bribe a law enforcement official to provide them with information on the Justice Department’s investigation. Starting in 2017, they allegedly sought to obtain details about witnesses, evidence and possible additional charges that could be filed against Huawei, unaware that they were talking to an FBI double agent.
Apple raises the price of Music and TV+ subscriptions
Apple One bundles will also be more expensive.
Apple has raised the prices of Apple Music and Apple TV+. Music now costs $11 per month for individual plans (up from $10) in the US, or $109 per year. The Family plan now costs $17 per month instead of $15. TV+ sees the largest relative jump — the price has increased from $5 per month to $7, and from $50 per year to $69. Apple has also increased prices for its multi-service One bundles. You’ll now pay $17 per month for an Individual plan versus the earlier $15.
Listen to the eerie sounds of a solar storm hitting the Earth’s magnetic field
Scientists converted data from three Swarm satellites into ethereal audio.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released audio of what our planet’s magnetic field sounds like. While it protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from solar winds, it turns out that the magnetic field has an unnerving rumble. Scientists from the Technical University of Denmark converted data collected by the ESA’s three Swarm satellites into sound, representing both the magnetic field and a solar storm.
Urtopia’s tech-heavy ebike is only as good as its software
There’s a lot packed into it.
Urtopia’s mission seemed pretty clear, to make the most feature-rich, connected bike the world has ever seen. Its ebike packs in a 4G SIM, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, a fingerprint reader and even mmWave sensors for collision detection. However, when we tested an early prototype, we didn’t get to see how all that came together, software-wise. Now, we got to test the bike along with its companion app and some of its unique ideas. Thanks to the 4G radio, you should get a log of your ride in the app every single time you go out. We say “should” as it often didn’t work for Engadget’s James Trew.
The best budget robot vacuums for 2022
Don’t spend a fortune on an autonomous dirt sucker.
In a change from just a few years ago, there are now plenty of budget robot vacuum options to choose from. We consider anything under $300 to be cheap in this space and you may be surprised to see how many there are to choose from. And if you’re new to the world of robot vacuums, you may find that one of these budget gadgets does everything you expected and more. We’ve got our favorite picks from the likes of Roomba, Shark and even Anker.