The Morning After: The cryptofarm powered by PS4 Pros
And Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event gets a little spoiled.
A pretty comprehensive leak laid out what could be everything Samsung has planned for its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event. Other leaks suggested folding phones, a couple of Wear OS smartwatches and new earbuds, but now we can see more of the new products, what they’re called and the color options we might get.
The latest leak from Evan Blass on Twitter include animated tours of all the devices. That includes the foldable Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, the Galaxy S21 FE, the Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Watch 4 Classic smartwatches and the Galaxy Buds 2. The lineup suggests an aggressive push on its foldable devices, as Samsung remains the biggest phone maker dabbling in the new (still expensive) form factor. It’s still a key differentiator between the Galaxy family and pretty much every other phone series. This is especially true in the West, where foldables from Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi and the rest don’t garner the same attention (or ad spend) as the Galaxy Fold.
Will Samsung offer a more competitively priced foldable? We don’t know just yet. The leaks share no prices and no launch dates, so Samsung will have something to reveal when Unpacked kicks off, which will, presumably, be very soon.
— Mat Smith
Cryptofarm with thousands of PS4 Pros raided in Ukraine
Caught because it stole electricity from the nation's grid.
The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, has discovered and raided a cryptocurrency mining farm that allegedly stole electricity from the country's power grid. But instead of finding computers, the agency found racks with thousands of PS4 Pros stacked vertically side-by-side. Kotaku reports the Ukrainian authorities confiscated over 5,000 gaming-related devices — 3,800 of which were consoles. Continue reading.
Elon Musk booked a trip to space with Virgin Galactic
Musk and Branson aren't the bitter rivals you might expect.
Fresh off the back of its successful flight at the weekend, Virgin Galactic scored itself a notable passenger when its public flights kick off next year: Mr. SpaceX himself, Elon Musk.
Virgin Galactic told the Wall Street Journal in a statement that Musk bought a ticket aboard the company's air-launched rockets. It's not certain just where the SpaceX founder is in the queue. Continue reading.
Tag Heuer made a Super Mario-themed smartwatch
Better grab more coins.
Tag Heuer has been making premium smartwatches for a few years, but its latest model has an unusual star. No athlete or model, but a plumber. It announced it's collaborating with Nintendo to make a Super Mario edition of its Connected smartwatch, featuring "the intrepid, iconic hero" in various watch faces and animations.
It’ll still be a premium, limited-run smartwatch, priced at £2,150 and running Google’s Wear OS. The most notable use of Mario seems to tie in with getting you moving. The watch's dial will become "livelier and more animated the more the wearer is active." As you move around each day, you'll get different animations as you hit 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent of your steps target. Hit the 100 percent mark and Mario will leap to the top of a flagpole, just like some of the games. Continue reading.
Sony made another lamp-style portable speaker
Orders for the $350 glass Bluetooth speaker will open in August.
Sony has revealed a cheaper model of its stylish speaker that looks like a lamp. Style-conscious audiophiles can order the LSPX-S3 glass sound speaker starting in August.
The Bluetooth-enabled device features an organic glass tweeter with three actuators to emit sound in all directions. According to Sony, the speaker isn’t meant to illuminate a room, it’s more of an ambiance thing when it comes to lighting, offering a candle-light flicker to your evenings. Continue reading.
ESPN+ subscriptions are getting a price increase on August 13th
Both annual and monthly payment plans are going up.
That didn’t take long. For the second time in less than a year, the price of ESPN+ is increasing to $69.99 per year, up from $59.99. The price of a monthly plan is going up as well. Come August 13th, ESPN+ will cost $6.99 per month, up from the $5.99 of last year.
If there’s any silver lining here, pay-per-view UFC pricing through ESPN+ hasn’t changed. Continue reading.
But wait, there’s more...
YouTube Shorts are now available in 100 countries globally
Man charged for allegedly selling insider trading tips on the dark web
LeBron James comes to 'Fortnite' on July 14th
Sealed 'Super Mario 64' game sells at auction for a record-breaking $1.56 million
