As the sun rises on another week in tech, are you all caught up with the top stories from last week? TechRadar's new weekly round-up of the best reads from the site and the latest episode of our Noise Cancelling Podcast will give you everything you need to know about the week that was, as well as our finest longer reads from the past seven days to settle down to your morning coffee with.
From Apple's WWDC extravaganza to Olympus's sad exit from the world of cameras, catch up here!
Everything from Apple's WWDC 2020: watchOS 7 sleep tracking to Apple Silicon in Macs
Apple’s midyear WWDC event is largely dedicated to developers, but the opening showcase is all about what’s coming for consumers. And while this year’s WWDC 2020 keynote didn’t reveal any hardware per se, it had plenty of exciting software changes coming to Apple’s lineup of devices.
While no devices were shown off, the event had one giant announcement: going forward, the tech giant will be ditching Intel chipsets in its Mac lineup in favor of one designed by Apple itself. That’s right: just like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch lines all use in-house chipsets, the Mac family will get proprietary silicon.
But there’s still plenty to get excited about with operating system updates. For instance, there are some meaty quality-of-life changes coming to iOS 14 that will auto-organize your app collection, enhance group chats, enhance Maps with greener navigation options, and make it far easier to download relevant apps while you’re out and about. And it’s finally catching up to Android by adding picture-in-picture video viewing.
Aw, snap! The 12 best Olympus cameras ever, from Pen F to OM-D
Perhaps the biggest bombshell in the camera world this year came not in the form of an exciting new launch, but the news that Olympus – one of the world’s oldest and most respected brands – was parting ways with its camera business.
Olympus has been making cameras and lenses since 1936, and celebrated its overall centenary last year in 2019. Although rumors had long been swirling that its camera division might be sold, that gossip had been quashed on several occasions.
But this week, after several years of struggling to make a profit, Olympus decided to part ways with its imaging division, handing over the reins to a private investment firm. Hopefully, the latter will be able to transform the ailing business into a profit-making one again, so we can again see the return of classic sub-brands like Pen and OM-D.
Dolby Atmos Music: everything you need to know about the immersive sound format
Now that soundbars and state-of-the-art wireless speakers are becoming commonplace in the home, the immersive cinematic sound format Dolby Atmos is easier to access than ever.
But did you know that Dolby Atmos’ object-based surround sound can be applied to your music, as well as your films?
Designed to make you “feel like you’re inside the song”, Dolby Atmos Music is one of the most exciting things to happen to music streaming in a long time – here’s everything you need to know about it, plus the best devices to experience the 3D audio format.
The best episodes of The Simpsons on Disney Plus after season 10
Later Simpsons seasons aren’t necessarily great, and yes, you can easily pick out a handful – even handfuls – which are downright bad. But there are so far around 226 full 'golden age' episodes (encompassing seasons 1-10), and 457 post-golden era episodes. That’s a huge chunk to ignore because of otherwise inconsistent later seasons, and some individual episodes are good enough that meet the average quality of the golden age episodes.
Out of morbid curiosity, if nothing else, it's worth venturing past the shuddering descent of seasons 11-14 to see what else waits for you on Disney Plus. Here are just ten of the wonderful episodes the later Simpsons seasons have to offer.
Audi e-tron: driving the first all-electric Audi
The Audi e-tron is Audi's first all-electric car and it follows in the footsteps of the rest of the range in terms of style, comfort and technology. In fact, if it wasn't for the lack of engine noise, you may not realize that it's not a normal gas-guzzling car.
The Audi e-tron is a luxury SUV, and its design both inside and out oozes style and quality. As we mentioned at the start, the e-tron aesthetically slides into the firm's SUV range almost undetected.
If your heart is set on an Audi, you could always hold out for the Audi Q4 e-tron, which is slated to arrive in 2021 with a lower price tag than the e-tron, and the car maker says it plans to have 30 electric vehicles available by 2025.
Apple Arcade needs games made with iPads in mind - here’s why
iPads aren’t big iPhones. They're powerhouses that trump their smartphone counterparts in everything from screen quality and audio output, to processing and battery life.
They’re much, much better for playing games on (not just Apple Arcade titles), and for the games service to be the ubiquitous mobile gaming platform Apple likely wants it to be (and a solid competitor for the Google Games Pass when that rolls out worldwide), the company needs to remember about its tablets.
Noise Cancelling Podcast Ep. 17: macOS 11 Big Sur, iOS 14 and Google Pixel 4a
Episode seventeen of the TechRadar Noise cancelling podcast! As usual we're talking about a variety of topics from the world of tech. First up, we begin the show with our thoughts on Apple's WWDC 2020.
We also discuss the iPadOS 14 release date and features, everything we know about the macOS 11 Big Sur, and watchOS 7's details too.
We'll also be chatting about our review of the TCL 10 Pro, why Ninja and Shroud turned down Facebook Gaming's substantial offer and all about the Google Pixel 4a.
Meanwhile, this week's 'Unpopular Opinions' slot is that we're not a fan of Apple AirPower. But why? You're going to have to listen to the show to find out more.
For all this and more, tune into the all-new Noise Cancelling podcast – you can subscribe on Spotify, grab it on Apple podcasts, or find us wherever you get your pods. New episodes land every Friday.
