ICYMI: The Week’s 7 Biggest Tech Stories, From New Macs to ChatGPT Upgrades
We get it: life is busy and you can’t necessarily spend all your time on the Ny Breaking website waiting for updates. However, if you look away for just an hour or two, you’ll quickly miss a series of important stories.
That’s the thinking behind this roundup in case you missed it, a collection of this week’s biggest news headlines from the tech world. We’ve got reviews of the new M3-powered Macs and the third-generation Amazon Echo Show 8, news about Sony’s fastest digital camera ever, some Black Friday buying advice, and much more.
Without further ado, here are the highlights of everything we covered this past week. See you again next week for more of the same.
7. We heard about a cheaper foldable phone from Samsung
You’ll see that Samsung gets a lot of praise in our carefully curated list of the best foldable phones you can buy right now – but read our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 review and you’ll see that these aren’t cheap. handsets.
However, according to a team of analysts, a more affordable foldable Samsung phone could be on the way. Foldable devices currently represent a growing segment of a shrinking market, and Android manufacturers are keen to make the most of it.
What we don’t get in the report are details on the form factor or price, but we do have some ideas about what we’d like to see if Samsung were to bring a cheaper foldable phone to market. See if you agree with us.
6. Loki season 2 has ended – and we’re still recovering
Loki Season 2 wrapped up with an episode titled “Glorious Purpose” – also the name of the very first episode, by the way – and we have a lot of thoughts. It is a final that we will remember for a long time.
For our money, it’s a 10 out of 10 episode, and if you’ve seen it, you probably have a few questions about what happened before your eyes. We’ve done our best to answer these questions, so don’t click through if you want to avoid spoilers.
We’re not going to say more here, for the sake of those who may still be catching up, but it’s safe and spoiler-free to say that the curse of the Marvel TV show finale has been lifted, and not before. .
5. ChatGPT has received its biggest update yet
Some pretty big upgrades to the AI chatbot of the moment ChatGPT were announced this week, making the bot even more powerful and helpful – especially if you pay a monthly subscription for the Plus plan.
Included in the upgrades are the ability for users to create their own custom chatbots, and the launch of what is essentially a chatbot app store. There’s also a new ‘Turbo’ mode that uses more up-to-date data to provide answers.
It’s all very exciting if you’re convinced of the possibilities of artificial intelligence – and if you haven’t found ChatGPT particularly useful so far, the upgrades now being rolled out might be enough to change your mind.
4. We really enjoyed testing the third-generation Amazon Echo Show 8
There’s a new and improved version of Amazon’s 8-inch Echo Show to talk about, and Michelle Rae Uy, editor of Ny Breaking Computing Reviews and Buying Guides, was impressed enough with it to give it four and a half stars out of five give in her review.
It brings excellent sound quality, snappy performance and a screen that’s sharp and responsive, as well as support for the Thread and Zigbee smart home standards. Of course, you also have all the smart functions of Amazon Alexa on board.
We recommend checking out the full review via the link below if you think the 3rd generation Amazon Echo Show 8 could be the next smart display for you. As usual, our review goes into detail on all the details that matter.
3. We’ve given lots of advice on early Black Friday deals
In addition to keeping you informed of the latest developments in technology, providing you with the best analysis of the tech landscape and providing you with the most comprehensive gadget reviews on the web, we would also like to point you in the direction of the best early Black Friday -deals.
Black Friday itself is still a few weeks away, but you can currently find a wealth of offers and discounts live on the site: check out our US Black Friday deals hub and our UK Black Friday deals hub if you want. on the other side of the Atlantic for more details.
However, sometimes the best deals are not obvious. For example, the iPhone 14 is currently available at a very attractive price, but all things considered, we think you’re better off going for the iPhone 13 or iPhone 15. Click the link below to see why.
2. Sony launched the fastest mirrorless camera ever
There was big news in digital cameras this week, with the launch of the Sony A9 III. It’s the fastest mirrorless camera we’ve seen yet, and it features a fast continuous burst shooting speed of 120 FPS for 24.6 MP raw and JPEG photos.
Fast-moving subjects and quick camera movements shouldn’t be a problem for the Sony A9 III, and there’s an impressive 759-point autofocus too. The onboard Bionz ZR processing engine is said to be eight times more powerful than that of the A9 II.
All this can be yours for (deep breath) $5,999 / £6,100 / AU$10,499, and the camera will go on sale in late January 2024. We look forward to getting your hands on it and providing you with a full assessment of its capabilities.
1. We were extremely impressed with the new M3 Macs
Speaking of reviews, this week we took an in-depth look at the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, the new 16-inch MacBook Pro and the new 24-inch iMac – all powered by Apple’s latest super-powerful chipsets, the M3 series.
You can tell from the star ratings we’ve given that we’re very happy with what Apple has done with its new hardware, and of course performance improvements are always welcome (as are fingerprint-free casings).
Head over to our Apple MacBook Pro 14 inch M3 Max (2023) review, our Apple MacBook Pro 16 inch (M3 Max) review and our Apple iMac 24 inch (M3) review to see if they have enough to make you make a purchase to seduce.