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Take a first look at Alex Garland's tech-focused 'Devs' Hulu series
Following the Disney-Fox merger, content from the formerly-Fox channel FX is making its way onto Hulu. Not only will Hulu be hosting older FX shows, but it will also be the streaming home for upcoming 2020 shows including Devs from Alex Garland, writer and director of genre hits Ex Machina and Annihilation.
Apple is enlisting iPhone 11 owners to help sell Night mode
Now that the iPhone 11 and 11 Pros have been out for a couple of months, Apple has launched its latest Shot on iPhone challenge. This time around, the company is asking iPhone owners to share their best low-light photos.
Wacom’s $400 One display is perfect for amateurs
If there's one problem with Wacom's drawing displays, it's that you can't really buy one if you're just a hobbyist. After all, their price and complexity means that if you own one, you're either a professional designer, or aspire to becoming one soon. That's why Wacom has, perhaps a little belatedly, developed a $400 drawing tablet-cum-secondary display that really is for the rest of us.
Wacom's $400 One puts pen displays within reach of budding artists
You've had fairly limited options if you wanted a Wacom tablet for relatively little cash -- either buy a standard drawing surface and look at a separate display, or pay a premium for a Cintiq pen display. There might just be a happy middle ground, though. The company has introduced a Wacom One display that lets you draw directly on a screen for $400 -- still not trivial, but better than the $650-plus you had to pay before. The 13-inch, 1080p display isn't the most accurate with 72 percent of the NTSC color gamut (its 26ms response time doesn't help either), but you can still use the battery-free pen to sketch with 4,096 pressure levels and a tilt of up to 60 degrees. It's also relatively portable, with foldable legs that help you set up shop wherever you'd care to create.
Lenovo's Smart Frame puts your digital photos on a 21.9-inch canvas
Like many of us, you probably have hundreds and thousands of photos on your phone or the cloud, never to be seen again. Sure, you could print and hang them, but if you ever want to change photos, that can be a pain. A smart display can double as a digital photo frame, but you can't exactly mount it on a wall. Lenovo has come up with a potential solution to that with the Lenovo Smart Frame. It's not cheap at $400, and it is insanely large, but it is by far one of the most elegantly designed digital photo frames I've seen.
Samsung's artsy The Frame TV gets larger and smarter for 2020
Samsung's latest generation of The Frame might just make a better case for using your TV as an artistic centerpiece. The company's 2020 models (not yet pictured) are now available in a larger 75-inch size as well as a relatively tiny 32-inch model, making it a better fit as either the conversation starter for an expansive living room or an out-of-the-way screen for the bedroom. You can also get variants with beige and burgundy bezels, and accessories like a gapless wall mount and an 'invisible' connection can reinforce that painting-like look.
Everything Engadget played to wrap up 2019
The Engadget staff's favorite video games of 2019.
2016 indie hit 'Hyper Light Drifter' is free in the Epic Games Store
The Epic Holiday Sale is still going, and today's daily free game is Hyper Light Drifter. The top-down action RPG was crowdfunded a few years ago before it was eventually released in 2016, and now you can try it out yourself for zero dollars. Hyper Light Drifter's 88 Metacritic score and list of awards won indicates it's at least worth your time among the slew of retro 2D games that fill digital store shelves. Plus, now is a great time to try it out before Heart Machine drops its next game, Solar Ash Kingdom, which features "wild high-speed traversal" and massive enemy encounters in a surreal world. Epic's free offer lasts through 11 AM ET on Saturday, although if you miss out or just prefer to fill your Steam library, it's available there for $10, 50 percent off the usual price, until January 2nd.
The Morning After: Revisiting the incredible 'Mr. Robot' finale
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. And we're back! Hopefully everyone is enjoying the holidays while we continue our year-in-review series of articles looking back at 2019 and forward at what's in store next year. Right now, though, the only thing I'm looking forward to is The Mandalorian finale on Disney+. --Richard
Techno-thriller 'Mr. Robot' ends on a mind-melting high
(This article contains spoilers for 'Mr. Robot' season four) When Mr. Robot debuted in June 2015, it was the show's commitment to authentic hacking that attracted eyeballs. For so long, cybersecurity had been shortchanged on-screen -- an ever-changing field that needed to be simplified, producers thought, for mainstream audiences and dramatic pacing. Mr. Robot was unique in part because it veered in the other direction, embracing the skill and complexity of modern-day hacking and taking time -- exponentially more than the average TV drama, anyway -- to explain the vulnerabilities that were being exploited and the knowledge or leverage it would give each character. Hacking, though, was never the central theme of the show. Not really.
The best of Engadget's Big Picture in 2019
I love doing The Big Picture series for Engadget, even though it can take a lot of hunting to find a striking photo with a tech angle. I believe in the idea that, by creating some emotion, dramatic images help us grasp heavy concepts in a way that words alone can't. Another is that I learn a lot of interesting stuff while researching them. That includes things about art, astronomy, science and even weaving. That information seems to stick in my head as it's indelibly associated with a powerful image. Many of this year's Big Picture images make interesting statements about the impact of technology on humanity. And although some of the images were created by accident or without artistic intention, they're often full of symbolism and irony like any other works of art. I think a great example of that is the first item on my list.
The Morning After: 'Cats' gets a digital effects update
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Ready for a winter break? After today, the newsletter will return on Friday morning while we recharge a bit. I'll be spending some time with the family, binge-watching The Witcher and a Korean remake of Suits on Netflix while getting prepared for CES. One thing I won't do is check out the updated theatrical version of Cats -- I get enough digital patches via Xbox One and PS4. When we return, we'll be ready to step carefully into 2020, which should include some welcome updates for The Morning After (it's the newsletter you're reading right now, remember?). See you then, and thank you to everyone who has enjoyed these messages this year. -- Richard
Richie Hawtin wants you to explore his DJ sets through a mobile app
Have you ever wanted to know exactly what DJs are doing during sets besides cuing the next track? You now have a good opportunity to find out. Minimal techno pioneer Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman, F.U.S.E. and other pseudonyms) has released a Closer app in beta for Android and iOS that goes well beyond the usual concert footage. You can switch between multiple camera angles and track audio layers to see exactly how Hawtin puts together a set using all his on-stage equipment. If you want to know how he put together a killer synth sequence, you can mute everything else and switch to a view to see Hawtin's fingers fly over the controls.
The Morning After: Motorola delayed the new RAZR
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to your weekend! I'm probably the only one with any holiday shopping left to do, so there's no way this gift guide is still useful for anyone else, right? Either way, it's right there if you need it. Sure the plan was to have everything in-hand before today, but things don't always go according to plan -- just ask Motorola, Boeing and SpaceX. The newsletter will be an abbreviated schedule next week, but until then, you can check out some of last week's highlights plus a few new stories from Friday. --Richard
Orba is a tiny, fun and surprisingly expressive instrument
I am simultaneously deeply fascinated by and deeply skeptical of strange niche instruments. As fun as a classic Stylophone is, for instance, it's pretty tricky to make decent-sounding music with. Even quirky controllers like Roli Blocks have a hard time finding a foothold in my life. But I still can't resist their allure. So of course when I heard about Orba, the new instrument from Artiphon, I had to check it out.
The Morning After: 'The Rise of Skywalker' reviews are in
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The final chapter of the third Star Wars trilogy is out, and Devindra has thoughts on it. Mat (me) also has feels about avoiding The Rise of Skywalker spoilers across Twitter, work Slack channels and inadvertent WhatsApp messages. Devindra's review is spoiler-free, but I'm steering clear for now. The jury remains out on what entails a decent amount of time between a movie premiere and when one is (digitally) allowed to discuss that iconic part or twist, whether all the Marvel female superheroes charged on Thanos or when Stark family member X died in season X of Game of Thrones. Don't even mention The Good Place surprise that got half-spoiled for me a few years back. I'll probably see The Rise of Skywalker this weekend if I can convince the uninterested SO to endure it. Two weeks after release is fair game for post-match analysis, I think. More enthused film fans, franchise stans and angry internet people seem to whittle it down the opening week. Barring an entire digital lock-down and hiding in your garage till you see the thing, how do you avoid spoilers? All tips will be gratefully received. - Mat
'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' is made for fans, but fails them
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a disappointment. That's not to say it's a bad movie -- it delivers the wild set pieces, operatic drama and unique characters we've come to expect from the franchise. But The Rise of Skywalker is a supremely unchallenging film. It's predictable to the point of being dull, and it does nothing to push the series forward. Coming off of The Last Jedi, a film that dared to innovate with what a Star Wars movie could be, Rise of Skywalker feels like a missed opportunity. It'll undoubtedly be a crowd-pleaser, but as I sat in the theater, watching the gang run through yet another set piece on the brink of death, I couldn't help but sigh. We could have had so much more.
The Morning After: iFixit peeks inside the Mac Pro
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. At last, we've reached the end of the third Star Wars trilogy. I don't know what that earns us, but there should be an Xbox Achievement or something. If you're preparing to see The Rise of Skywalker over the next few days then, first, good luck avoiding any spoilers, and second, don't forget there's an exclusive sneak peek to go along with this week's episode of The Mandalorian, which arrived last night. For me, the big event of a new thing arriving is only enhanced by iFixit pulling it apart to see what's inside. Sure, repairability matters, but as I prefer PCs, it's unlikely I'll ever need to replace the $400 wheels on a Mac Pro. After you're done with this morning's roundup, keep an eye on the site to see our review of the new Razer Blade Stealth 13. -- Richard Lawler
YouTube’s personalized music playlists are available to all users
YouTube Music's new personalized playlists are now available to users worldwide. Today, YouTube introduced its Discover Mix, New Release Mix and Your Mix. The playlists will curate your favorite songs, new releases and unheard tracks by your favorite artists, plus others you might like.
VR movie-watching service Bigscreen will offer Paramount films
Thanks to virtual reality, you don't always need to take a trip to the movie theater to enjoy a fully interactive cinematic experience. Movie-watching service Bigscreen is leading by example, today announcing that it has signed a multi-year deal to virtually distribute movies by Paramount Pictures.
