by Apple surprised us last week with two new iPads. We spent a little time with the new entry-level iPad ($449) that’s 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 is 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.
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So far, Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham is pleasantly impressed, though other corners have been cut: It’s still only compatible with the first-gen Apple Pencil. Expect our full review and verdict soon. For now, read our first impressions here.
–Mat Smith
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The most important stories you might have missed
Two agents may have tried to bribe an American law enforcement officer.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that two spies from the People’s Republic of China attempted to interfere in a US Justice Department criminal investigation 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 about the Justice Department investigation. Beginning in 2017, they allegedly tried to obtain details about witnesses, evidence, and possible additional charges that could be brought against Huawei, unaware that they were speaking with an FBI double agent.
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Apple One bundles will also be more expensive.
Apple has raised the prices of Apple Music and Apple TV+. Music is now $11 per month for individual plans (was $10) in the US, or $109 per year. The family plan now costs $17 per month instead of $15. TV+ sees the biggest relative jump: the price has increased from $5 per month to $7 and from $50 per year to $69. prices of its One multiservice packages. You will now pay $17 per month for an individual plan compared to $15 previously.
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The scientists converted data from three Swarm satellites into ethereal audio.
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The European Space Agency (ESA) has published an audio of what our planet’s magnetic field sounds like. While it shields us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from solar winds, it turns out the magnetic field packs a puzzling roar. Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark converted data collected by ESA’s three Swarm satellites into sound, representing both the magnetic field and a solar storm.
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There is a lot of packaging in it.
Urtopia’s mission seemed pretty clear: make the most feature-rich connected bike the world has ever seen. Your ebike includes a 4G SIM, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, a fingerprint reader, and even mmWave sensors for collision detection. However, when we tested an early prototype, we couldn’t see how that all fitted together, software-wise. Now, we were able to test the bike along with its companion app and some of its unique insights. Thanks to the 4G radio, you should get a record of your trip in the app every time you go out. We say “should” because it often didn’t work for Engadget’s James Trew.
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Don’t spend a fortune on a self-contained dirt sucker.
In a change from just a few years ago, there are now plenty of inexpensive robotic vacuum cleaner options to choose from. We find anything under $300 cheap in this space and you might be surprised at how many there are to choose from. And if you’re new to robot vacuums, you might find that one of these inexpensive devices does everything you’d expect and more. We have our favorite picks from Roomba, Shark, and even Anker.
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