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This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico surprises John with his big holiday videogame project in the first part of what promises to be a fun Unwind miniseries.
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We’re only two days into CES 2024, and something occurred to me in the aftermath of ASUS’s packed presentation. We’re in a new golden age of gadgets, the likes of which we haven’t seen in many years. The world seems ready for something new after spending more than a decade cramming everything imaginable into our phones. An awful lot of companies seem to think the next big thing will be powered by artificial intelligence. Perhaps it will be, but even if it isn’t, we’re seeing a breadth and depth of gadget innovation at CES that’s exciting.
Yesterday, the gadget that stuck with me the most was the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid. I love the flexibility and modularity it promises. ASUS’s ROG Phone 8 line of mobile phones was a close second with its beefy, game-friendly specs. But neither captured my imagination quite like one of the accessories ASUS saved for yesterday’s presentation.
After what already feels like a week of CES, it’s the official day one of the conference. There have been a ton of announcements already. As anticipated, gaming is very big this year, with new handhelds, laptops, and other devices announced. Interesting new approaches to hybrid computers, ASUS’s first NUC, and a handful of smart home devices have been announced already, too, so let’s dig into the latest.
Every year, I dig into the press releases and reporting coming from the CES show floor, so you don’t have to. The pandemic took the wind out of CES’s sails for a few years, but the show and interesting gadgets have made a comeback for 2024, with a wide range of announcements made in the days leading up to the show, which doesn’t even officially start until tomorrow. I’ll be back with more updates throughout the week, but here are some of the announcements that have caught my eye so far.
Apple has announced that the Vision Pro will be available for pre-order beginning on January 19th at 5 am Pacific time with the device available on Friday, February 2nd at Apple retail stores and its online store.
The Apple Vision Pro starts at $3,499 and has 256GB of storage. The device comes with a Solo Knit Band and Dual Loop Band, a Light Seal, two Light Seal Cushions, a cover from the front of the Vision Pro, a polishing cloth, a battery, a USB-C charging cable and a USB-C power adapter. Also, ZEISS Optical is offering reader inserts for $99 and prescription inserts for $149 that will attach to the Vision Pro magnetically.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said of the device:
The era of spatial computing has arrived. Apple Vision Pro is the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created. Its revolutionary and magical user interface will redefine how we connect, create, and explore.
Today’s Apple Newsroom announcement includes images of the Solo Knit Band, Dual Loop Band, and Light Seal:
As previously announced at WWDC in June 2023, the Apple Vision Pro will be initially available in the US only. Left unanswered by today’s announcement is whether additional storage options will be available and what they will cost. Also left unsaid is how ordering the ZEISS Optical inserts will work.
This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico and I recap our videogame hardware experiments of 2023 and pick our favorite games of the year.
Also mentioned:
GameTrack, an iOS, iPadOS, and Mac game tracking app
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There’s been a lot of gaming activity on Apple platforms, with several big announcements in recent weeks.
First off, Netflix continues to nab some big titles for its growing catalog of games on iOS and iPadOS. In October, it was announced that one of my all-time favorite games, Dead Cells, which won a MacStories Selects award in 2019, would join Netflix Games.
More recently, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which includes GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas, was released simultaneously on iOS and iPadOS as part of Netflix games. According to Kotaku, these Netflix versions of the games, which are also available as separate App Store purchases, have been updated to fix visual glitches and spruce things up a bit, too.
This week on MacStories Unwind, Federico and I share our favorite TV shows and movies of 2023 and discuss the return of Europe to Threads.
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