Apple is now pushing the iPhone 15 Pro as a complete camera replacement for video makers and even Hollywood studios. After promoting the smartphone with an Olivia Rodrigo video and then shooting an entire keynote with the latest iPhone, the company is now showing how movie makers could use the iPhone 15 Pro in their workflow.

In the 68-second-long ad, you see several people from the film industry, from camera operators to actors, makeup artists, and more. They’re singing “There’s No Business Like Show Business” by Irving Berlin while Apple highlights the iPhone 15 Pro’s capabilities.

One of the main features of the new phones is the ability to capture in Log, which makes post-production easier, so editors can get the best visuals and lighting. In addition, with a USB-C port, iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max support recording ProRes video directly to an external storage drive, so users don’t have to worry about running out of storage.

Lastly, the 15 Pro Max offers up to 5x optical zoom, which is also highlighted in the ad. Here’s how Apple describes this latest campaign on its YouTube channel:

“iPhone 15 Pro is built for show business. Whether shooting cinematic stunts in ProRes 4K at 60 fps directly to an external drive or capturing a dramatic 5x optical zoom on Pro Max. New Log encoding makes ProRes even more powerful, enabling more range and flexibility for visual effects and color grading in post-production. iPhone 15 Pro is fully equipped to shoot your next post-apocalyptic alien car chase action-adventure blockbuster.”

With the latest iOS 17.2 beta, Apple is now testing an upcoming exclusive feature for these iPhones: the ability to shoot spatial videos. These videos will later be playable on the Apple Vision Pro, which is expected to be released in early 2024.

Below, you can check Apple’s “On with the Show” ad highlighting the new iPhones:

The post Apple promotes iPhone 15 Pro’s cinematic capabilities in latest ad appeared first on BGR.

This week, Apple started selling the new M3 MacBook Pro models. Praised by the new processor and a space black option, these laptops have a revamped GPU. While users buying the entry-level model will discover several new features compared to the previous 13-inch MacBook Pro, the real changes are available in the M3 Max processor, which BGR got a chance to test for our M3 MacBook Pro review.

Even though the new M3 MacBook Pro models are some of the best options in the market, repairability is still a major concern. To see if Apple has made any changes to this laptop, iFixit made its famous teardown so we could see these new machines from the inside.

To start, iFixit praises that the “unpopular and unrepairable” Touch Bar has been gone. But despite the modular design of these machines’ internals, the company still says it’s very hard to repair the new M3 MacBook Pro.

For example, if you choose 8GB of RAM for the M3 MacBook Pro, you won’t be able to upgrade the memory later. The same is worth it for storage. If you choose 512GB, you can’t upgrade it if you need more.

Although some influencers claimed that 8GB of RAM is enough for most users, it’s important to note that Apple does RAM swapping, which uses a part of the SSD as extra memory. Over time, this will ruin your SSD, as it can only be rewritten a certain amount of times.

In addition, iFixit shows that it’s impossible to repair the screen, Touch ID, and lid sensor without the customers going to Apple’s own support. If they choose to repair these parts on their own, they’ll just stop working. Regarding the screen, there’s a weird issue in the top right corner that iFixit says won’t go away if Apple doesn’t repair the display itself.

With that in mind, iFixit gives the M3 MacBook Pro a 4/10 provisional score.

The post iFixit’s M3 MacBook Pro teardown celebrates the Touch Bar’s demise appeared first on BGR.

Over the past few months, Apple has discussed the A17 Pro and the M3 chips, made using a new 3nm technology process. These processors offer a revamped GPU as the company bets on hardware ray-tracing and new features for its Macs, such as mesh shading and Dynamic Caching.

On its Developers’ page, Cupertino published a 30-minute-long video detailing every part of the new M3 and A17 Pro chips and how developers can take advantage of this new GPU. This material comes after BGR published its review of the M3 Max MacBook Pro, which continues to impress us year after year.

In the video, Jedd Haberstro, GPU, Graphics, and Displays Software engineer, explains how Dynamic Caching, the next-generation shader core, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading of Apple family 9 GPUs can improve the performance of developer’s Metal apps and games.

Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR

In one of the examples, Haberstro shows an M2 Max and an M3 Max MacBook Pro running Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s possible to see significant performance improvements thanks to the next-generation shader core’s ability to run the game’s Metal shaders with higher thread occupancy. Hardware ray-tracing is also an important update to the look of this game.

The engineer shows several examples of how Apple improved GPU, especially with the powerful M3 Max. With up to 128GB of RAM and a 16-core CPU (12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), it is up to 80% faster than M1 Max and up to 50% faster than M2 Max. It has a 40-core GPU, up to 50% faster than M1 Max and 20% faster than M2 Max.

If you are curious to discover everything related to Apple’s A17 Pro and M3 chips GPU, you can find the developer’s video here. To learn more about how the new M3 Max MacBook Pro performs in real life, you can discover BGR’s review below.

The post Apple shows off GPU advancements in M3 and A17 Pro video appeared first on BGR.

It took me years to perfect my work-from-home setup. The latest addition for my comfort is the Oakywood monitor stand, which the company provided me for tests. Previously, I thought rocking the M2 Max Mac Studio with Apple Studio Display would be enough for my writing routine.

While both devices already make my workflow so much easier, I was having a hard time aligning my posture with the Studio Display height. If I had my desk taller, my arms would be uncomfortable, and if I’d lower my desk, I wouldn’t be in a good posture.

With the Oakywood monitor stand, I found a good balance between my desk height and a perfect posture. Immediately, this has helped me stretch less due to pain in my neck. This stand is 45x23x9cm, which perfectly fits the Studio Display, a 24-inch iMac, and many other monitors.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

Oakywood says this monitor stand can take up to 100kg (220lbs), and it’s made of solid wood that comes from “responsible sources.” In general, I think it matches the color of my desk, and as I mentioned, it also improves my posture.

The company gives a few tips for the best usage of this stand, such as putting notebooks or keeping your keyboard there after you finish working. I’d love it if the Mac Studio would fit below it, but they have the same height – if you’re a Mac mini user, on the other hand, this particular stand will be perfect for your needs.

Oakywood monitor stand costs $120 and comes in oak, walnut, and black. Even if you’re not into this particular stand, I’d recommend getting one for working.

Oakywood 2-in-1 headphones stand adds a little charm to my desk

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

Another product that gave my desk a little treat is the Oakywood 2-in-1 headphones stand. It’s also made of solid wood with black painted steel that lets you safely hang any headphones. Over the years, I’ve seen many similar products and always wanted to display my AirPods Max on it.

With this accessory, it’s more convenient to grab my AirPods while editing a video or when I want to immerse myself in an album. What I like the most about this stand is that it offers 7.5W wireless charging if you plug a USB-C cable into it.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

I usually leave my AirPods Pro 2 on the charger – or my backup iPhone for taking photos or discovering what’s new on betas. It also blends well with my desk, and it’s a well-crafted product that costs $100.

How do you improve your work-from-home experience? Send me a message at jose@bgr.com.

The post How the Oakywood monitor stand improved my posture and productivity appeared first on BGR.

With the beta cycle of iOS 17.2 just getting started, there are several new features coming to iPhone users later this year. BGR is compiling everything we know so far about this software update, and we’ll continue to update the story during the testing cycle of this system.

Beta 1 features

Journal app is here: Apple is finally making available the first version of the Journal app. Using on-device machine learning, it displays personalized suggestions that can inspire a user’s journal entry. Apple says that suggestions are intelligently curated from recent activity, including photos, people, places, workouts, and more, making it easy to start a journal entry, and scheduled notifications can help build a journaling habit.

Apple Fitness+ Audio Focus: It gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices during an Apple Fitness+ workout.

Apple Music Collaborative Playlist: With this feature, you are able to invite friends to collaborate on playlists. They can add, reorder, and remove songs.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

Turn off Listening History on Apple Music: iOS 17.2 brings a Focus Filter, which lets you turn off the Listening History feature.

Favorite Apple Music Playlist: After iOS 17.1 added the ability to favorite songs, Apple created a Favorite Playlist with all your songs.

Action Button tweaks: Apple has added a Translate button as a new option for the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button (via iSoftware Updates).

iMessage Contact Key Verification: Contact key verification allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing contact verification codes in person or over the phone. Conversations with people who have contact key verification turned on also receive automatic advanced protections to help prevent even very sophisticated attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation.

React to a message with any sticker: With iOS 17.2, you can react with any sticker or memoji to a message. Just long-press a text, select Add Sticker, and choose one.

Catch-up arrow: A catch-up arrow is again available in the Messages app so you can easily go to the last message you saw;

Memoji: There’s a new “Body” section for Memoji. You can customize the waist, bust, shoulders, and arms.

New TV app icons: Apple has revamped the bottom icons on the Apple TV app. More notably, the Apple TV+ section looks more prominent.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

Beta 2 features and changes

Spatial video: With iOS 17.2 beta 2, iPhone 15 Pro users can record Spatial Videos, which can be seen in the upcoming Apple Vision Pro.

New Coverage section: Under Settings, there’s a new Coverage section showing if your iPhone/iPad is eligible or has an AppleCare+ warranty in addition to your Bluetooth devices. This feature was first available with macOS 14.1 (via @Johnthenormal).

New sections on App Store: The App Store now has a tab bar on top of the “Apps” and “Games” sections with different categories of apps (via @Johnthenormal).

Siri changes: Siri can now tell your estimated time of arrival when using Apple Maps.

BGR will update this story once we learn more about iOS 17.2 beta changes. In the meantime, you can check the new Apple TV app for tvOS 17.2.

The post iOS 17.2 beta: Everything new for iPhone users appeared first on BGR.

With iOS 17.2 beta 2 now available to iPhone users, Apple is adding Spatial Video support. This feature is exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro users, and it opens up the path for 3D videos for the Apple Vision Pro, expected to be released in early 2024.

To record Spatial Videos, users need to open Settings, Camera, and under Formats, check the Spatial Video for Apple Vision Pro box. Here’s how it works:

“Record spatial video with remarkable depth for viewing in the Photos app on Apple Vision Pro. For best results, keep the iPhone in landscape orientation and stable while recording. Video is recorded at 30 fps at 1080p. A minute of spatial video is approximately 130 MB.”

On the Camera app, there’s an Apple Vision Pro icon you can toggle on before recording a video. Instantly, the app will tell you to register in landscape mode. Otherwise, it won’t let you start a recording.

To bring this Apple Vision Pro to the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple says the smartphone uses the main and the ultra-wide angle lenses to capture an image simultaneously. While the video is watchable on an iPhone, the full experience will come early next year in a Vision Pro headset.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

It’s interesting to note that while Apple Vision Pro has two 4K panels, the quality of the recording is only 1080p. At this moment, it’s unclear if Apple is limiting due to storage concerns or if it was intended to record in this quality from the start.

Despite this feature, the iOS 17.2 beta brings several delayed features from the initial iOS 17 release, such as:

Journal app is here: Apple is finally making available the first version of the Journal app. Using on-device machine learning, it displays personalized suggestions that can inspire a user’s journal entry. Apple says that suggestions are intelligently curated from recent activity, including photos, people, places, workouts, and more, making it easy to start a journal entry, and scheduled notifications can help build a journaling habit.

Apple Fitness+ Audio Focus: It gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices during an Apple Fitness+ workout.

Apple Music Collaborative Playlist: With this feature, you are able to invite friends to collaborate on playlists. They can add, reorder, and remove songs.

iMessage Contact Key Verification: Contact key verification allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing contact verification codes in person or over the phone. Conversations with people who have contact key verification turned on also receive automatic advanced protections to help prevent even very sophisticated attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation.

React to a message with any sticker: With iOS 17.2, you can react with any sticker or memoji to a message. Just long-press a text, select Add Sticker, and choose one.

BGR will keep reporting on the latest news for the iPhone as the iOS 17.2 testing cycle follows.

The post iOS 17.2 beta 2 finally lets you experience Spatial Video on the iPhone 15 Pro appeared first on BGR.

With macOS 14.2 beta 2 now available to developers, Apple follows the testing cycle of this upcoming operating system. These changes come after the Scary Fast event, where Cupertino unveiled the next generation of Macs with the M3 chips.

Although macOS Sonoma still lacks a few features, version 14.2 is finally adding a few of them, such as:

Sticker reactions: React to a message with any Live Sticker, Memoji, or Animoji through the Sticker drawer or directly through the Tapback menu.

Collaborate on playlists: Invite friends to join your playlist, and everyone can add, reorder, and remove songs. In Now Playing, you can use emojis to react to the song choices on Apple Music. That said, it doesn’t seem you can invite a friend to join a playlist on macOS 14.2 beta just yet.

Edit playlists: There’s a new edit button for playlists where you can add custom covers (an iOS 17.1 feature) and a description with macOS 14.2 beta.

iMessage Contact Key Verification: Contact key verification allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing contact verification codes in person or over the phone. Conversations with people who have contact key verification turned on also receive automatic advanced protections to help prevent even very sophisticated attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation.

That said, macOS 14.2 still lacks some delayed Sonoma features, such as:

• PDF intelligent form detection: Fillable documents and forms can now be automatically identified across the system, like in Files, Mail, or scanned documents.
• PDF Enhanced Autofill: Populate information such as names and addresses on forms even faster, as powerful on-device language models identify fillable fields and enable AutoFill.
• Multiple timers: Run several timers on Mac simultaneously, perfect for when you’re cooking and need to keep track of different steps and dishes.

With the macOS 14.2 beta cycle just starting, we’ll let you know what we discover in upcoming builds. Alongside macOS 14.2 beta 2, Apple is also seeding the second test version of iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, watchOS 10.2, and tvOS 17.2.

The post macOS 14.2 beta 2 available to developers with Apple Music and Messages changes appeared first on BGR.

Apple is now releasing watchOS 10.2 beta 2 to developers as the testing cycle follows. Although we still don’t know much about changes with the Apple Watch operating system, Cupertino is finally adding one of the promised features exclusive to Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users.

With watchOS 10.2 beta 2, users can ask Siri to read and long on-device Health requests. This change not only makes requests faster but more private and secure to users, as Siri can be used to access the Health app for health and fitness-related queries on-device.

There are over 20 health data types that are supported through Siri to help you access and log health data quickly and easily.

Users can try queries like:

• Siri, how does my Move ring look today?
• Siri, did I close my Exercise Ring?
• Siri, what’s my step count?
• Siri, I took my 9 AM medications.
• Siri, log that I took my multivitamin.
• Siri, I weigh 183 pounds.

Despite this watchOS 10.2 beta change, Apple added a few other changes with watchOS 10.1, recently released to all Apple Watch users:

NameDrop from iPhone to Apple Watch lets you easily share your contact information from one iPhone to Apple Watch by approaching them. While this function is available for iPhone to iPhone with iOS 17, Apple says that nearing an iPhone to Apple Watch to perform the same action is possible with Apple Watch Series 6 and later, Apple Watch SE (1st and 2nd generation), and Apple Watch Ultra.

With the double-tap gesture, users can easily control the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 using just one hand and without touching the display by tapping the index finger and thumb of their watch hand together twice to quickly and conveniently perform many of the most common actions on the Watch. The faster Neural Engine enables this new double tap gesture, which processes data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart sensor with a new machine learning algorithm.

BGR will let you know once we learn more about the features available with the watchOS 10.2 beta for the Apple Watch. The company is also seeding the second beta of iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, macOS 14.2, and tvOS 17.2.

The post watchOS 10.2 beta 2 available to developers with privacy improvements appeared first on BGR.

As the testing cycle follows, Apple is now releasing tvOS 17.2 beta 2 to users. One of the most notable features of this update is a revamped Apple TV app. It was first reported by Bloomberg, and it’s now being tested by Apple.

On the TV app on tvOS 17.2, Apple has a new sidebar menu showing everything related to Apple, such as TV+, MLS Season Pass, Store, and Library, in addition to the user’s channels and apps.

Interestingly, so far, Apple hasn’t killed the iTunes Movie app, which is still available as a standalone app. In this new interface, you can select what you want to discover by tapping the different sections on the sidebar menu.

When selecting the Apple TV+ section, you’ll discover everything related to Apple’s own streaming service. For the Library, for example, you’ll get all the movies you have purchased and the same filters as before, such as “4K HDR,” genres, and more.

What’s interesting with this change is that you can now quickly access channels and apps. Previously, you could find TV shows and movies from third-party apps, but this is the first time Apple has made it so much easier to discover everything users are watching on other platforms.

With tvOS 17.2 beta, you still get a similar interface for the Store section on the Apple TV app. You can find the Top Movies Chart, options rated by genre and purchases, and more.

Apple is also preparing support for Collaborative Playlists on Apple Music as the company also added the Favorites Playlist in this beta version. In addition, Apple Fitness+ users can choose to focus on the audio of the trainer or the song playing.

BGR will keep looking at what’s new with tvOS 17.2 beta 2 and report if we discover anything different, such as new tweaks or features. Apple is also seeding the second beta of iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, watchOS 10.2, and macOS Sonoma 14.2.

The post tvOS 17.2 beta 2 now available with revamped Apple TV app appeared first on BGR.

iOS 17.2 beta cycle is at full speed as Apple seeds beta 2 of this upcoming operating system update. Unlike iOS 17.1, Cupertino is readying several features to iPhone users. Here’s what’s available with this version so far:

Journal app is here: Apple is finally making available the first version of the Journal app. Using on-device machine learning, it displays personalized suggestions that can inspire a user’s journal entry. Apple says that suggestions are intelligently curated from recent activity, including photos, people, places, workouts, and more, making it easy to start a journal entry, and scheduled notifications can help build a journaling habit.

Apple Fitness+ Audio Focus: It gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices during an Apple Fitness+ workout.

Apple Music Collaborative Playlist: With this feature, you are able to invite friends to collaborate on playlists. They can add, reorder, and remove songs.

Turn off Listening History on Apple Music: iOS 17.2 brings a Focus Filter, which lets you turn off the Listening History feature.

Image source: José Adorno for BGR

Favorite Apple Music Playlist: After iOS 17.1 added the ability to favorite songs, Apple created a Favorite Playlist with all your songs.

Action Button tweaks: Apple has added a Translate button as a new option for the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button.

iMessage Contact Key Verification: Contact key verification allows you to manually verify who you are messaging with by comparing contact verification codes in person or over the phone. Conversations with people who have contact key verification turned on also receive automatic advanced protections to help prevent even very sophisticated attackers from impersonating anyone in a conversation.

React to a message with any sticker: With iOS 17.2, you can react with any sticker or memoji to a message. Just long-press a text, select Add Sticker, and choose one.

Catch-up arrow: A catch-up arrow is again available in the Messages app so you can easily go to the last message you saw;

If we learn about new features being added to iOS 17.2 beta 2, we will make sure to update our article with all the new features of this operating system update. Apple is also seeding the second testing version of iPadOS 17.2, macOS 14.2, watchOS 10.1, and tvOS 17.2.

The post iOS 17.2 beta 2 now available to developers with Journal app and other changes appeared first on BGR.