O'Grady's PowerPage

Category: Game

  • Apple releases watchOS 10 for Apple Watch users

    Apple releases watchOS 10 for Apple Watch users

    In addition to its release of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple on Monday released watchOS 10 to the public, bringing new features such as new Cycling tracking features, new watch faces, and user experience updates.

    The new features, fixes, and changes are as follows:

    Display & Widgets
    One of the big selling points of watchOS 10 is Apple’s changes in how it handles widgets, with a new way to summon them on the watch face by simply turning the Digital Crown.

    Core Apple Watch apps, including Weather, Stocks, Home, Maps, Messages, and World Clock, have been updated to use up more of the display and provide more glanceable information.

    The latest addition to the watchOS experience is the Smart Stack feature. This feature lets users view widgets that display weather updates and upcoming appointments by simply turning the Digital Crown. This makes it easier for users to stay updated with their schedules and weather conditions without navigating multiple apps.

    New watchOS 10 faces and widget Smart Stacks
    The latest update from Apple brings a new design language for developers to create a seamless experience between third-party and first-party apps. This means that users can expect a cohesive and unified interface across all apps on their device, regardless of the developer. This move aims to improve user experience and make the watchOS platform more user-friendly.

    New Faces
    Apple has added two new watch faces in watchOS 10.

    Palette is an artistic watch face with three overlapping layers to display the time. As the day progresses, the colors on the display also shift to match an ever-changing image.

    Peanuts is a watch face featuring the comic strip’s characters Snoopy and Woodstock. The pair will interact and play with the watch hands, react to local weather conditions, and work out alongside the user.

    For the Apple Watch Ultra, there’s a new face: Modula Ultra. Taking advantage of the large display, the face uses the outer edge to show real-time data, such as seconds and altitude, as well as showing the most complications of any Apple digital watch face.

    Cycling
    While the Apple Watch is an all-encompassing health tracker, most major fitness updates this year focus on cycling.

    More data points, including cadence, speed, and power, can be added to Workout View using select Bluetooth accessories.

    A Power Zones Workout View will become visible when a power meter is detected. This view provides valuable information regarding your estimated Functional Threshold Power and Power Zones, allowing you to optimize your workout and achieve better results.

    When cycling, your iPhone can display Live Activity data on its full screen when tapped. This feature shows speed, heart rate zones, elevation, and other details, making it easier for riders to view their stats when their iPhone is mounted on their handlebars instead of glancing at their wrist.

    Hiking
    Hiking activity tracking has also gained several new updates, helping hikers get the most out of their treks.

    The Last Cellular Connection Waypoint feature automatically generates a waypoint in Compass, estimating the last place with cellular reception for placing calls and checking messages.

    When searching for nearby trails, users can view details such as the name, length, time, elevation gain, difficulty, and other useful information. Additionally, topographic maps can provide helpful information such as geographic elevations, contour lines, points of interest, and lakes.

    Vision Health
    Apple’s watchOS 10 includes vision health trackers. The light sensor measures time spent in daylight, and the data is viewable in the Health app. Health Sharing, part of Family Setup, allows parents to access this data.

    The newly added Screen Distance feature uses the TrueDepth camera of the iPhone and iPad to prompt users to hold their devices further away from their faces.

    Mental Health
    Mental Health features have also been expanded as part of this update.

    Mindfulness allows users to log their emotions and daily moods. Turning the Digital Crown will let users show how they feel via multidimensional shapes.

    The Health app for iOS 17 provides valuable insights into factors that may affect the user’s mental state, including lifestyle habits like sleep and exercise. Additionally, the app includes assessments for Depression and Anxiety that can be easily shared as a PDF with the user’s doctor.

    Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 Upgrades
    At the time of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 launches, Apple introduced other changes that affect watchOS 10 for those models.

    With the inclusion of a new S9 SiP with a new 4-core Neural Engine, the Apple Watch can now perform on-device processing with Siri. For queries that do not require Internet access, such as starting a timer or a workout, Siri can perform the action without going online.

    This also enables Siri to access data from the Health app for health and fitness-related queries, such as asking how many hours of sleep the user had.

    The Neural Engine also improves dictation accuracy by 25 percent.

    The second-generation Ultra Wideband chip also gives the new models Precision Finding for the iPhone 15 device family. This allows you to find a misplaced iPhone, complete with direction and distance.

    A new Double Tap gesture now allows users control the Apple Watch with one hand, and without touching the display. Double-tapping will perform commonly used actions within the current app, such as stopping or starting a timer.

    The Ultra Wideband change also deepens the integration with HomePod, as users can see the Now Playing interface when they’re within feet of a HomePod.

    Miscelaneous updates
    Apple included several other elements that don’t fit into neat categories for watchOS 10.

    Through Workout APIs, developers can use the improved motion sensors in the Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Series 8 to detect rapid changes in direction and acceleration, which may be used to create new sporting experiences. The APIs will also allow training platforms to import scheduled workouts into the Workout app.

    You can now watch recorded messages on your Apple Watch through the FaceTime video playback feature. Additionally, the Apple Watch now supports Group FaceTime audio calls.

    iOS 17’s contact-sharing feature, NameDrop, will also be accessible on the Apple Watch.

    Another new addition is the Health app’s medication reminder feature, which allows for critical alerts to be set as follow-up reminders.

    The app can automatically install the update, but the Apple Watch must be at least 50 percent charged, placed on a charger, and within range of the iPhone.

    If you’ve tried watchOS 10, please let us know about your experience in the comments.

    Via AppleInsider

  • Apple releases iOS 17 and iPadOS operating systems

    Apple releases iOS 17 and iPadOS operating systems

    The day you’ve been waiting for in terms of your iPhone and/or iPad has arrived.

    Apple on Monday released both iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, the latest versions of its mobile operating systems for the iPhone and iPad. ‌iOS 17‌ is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ XR/‌iPhone‌ XS and later, while ‌iPadOS 17‌ runs on the iPad mini 5 and later, the ‌iPad‌ 6 and later, iPad Air 3 and later, the second-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and later, all 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models, and the 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌.

    The hefty quantity of fixes and changes are as follows:

    Phone

    • Contact Posters let you customize how you appear on other people’s devices when you call them with a customized poster
    • Live Voicemail displays a live transcription as someone leaves a message and allows you to pick up the call

    Messages

    • Stickers iMessage app brings all your stickers into one place including Live Stickers, Memoji, Animoji, emoji stickers, and your third party sticker packs
    • Live Stickers can be created by lifting the subject from photos or videos and stylizing them with effects like Shiny, Puffy, Comic, and Outline
    • Check In automatically notifies a family member or friend when you arrive at a destination safely and can share helpful information with them in case of a delay
    • Audio message transcription is available for audio messages you receive so you can read them in the moment and listen later
    • Search improvements help you find messages faster by allowing you to combine search filters such as people, keywords, and content types like photos or links to find exactly what you are looking for
    • Swipe to reply to a message inline by swiping to the right on any bubble
    • One-time verification code cleanup automatically deletes verification codes from the Messages app after using them with AutoFill in other apps

    FaceTime

    • Leave a video or audio message to capture exactly what you want to say when someone does not pick up your FaceTime call
    • Enjoy FaceTime calls on Apple TV by using your iPhone as a camera (Apple TV 4K 2nd generation and later)
    • Reactions layer 3D effects like hearts, balloons, confetti, and more around you in video calls and can be triggered with gestures
    • Video effects allow you to adjust the intensity of Studio Lighting and Portrait mode

    StandBy

    • Full-screen experience with glanceable information like clocks, photos, and widgets designed to view from a distance when iPhone is on its side and charging in places such as your nightstand, kitchen counter, or desk
    • Clocks are available in a variety of styles including Digital, Analog, Solar, Float, and World Clock, with elements you can personalize like the accent color
    • Photos automatically shuffle through your best shots or showcase a specific album you choose
    • Widgets give you access to information at a distance and appear in Smart Stacks that deliver the right information at the right time
    • Night Mode lets clocks, photos, and widgets take on a red tone in low light
    • Preferred view per MagSafe charger remembers your preference for each place you charge with MagSafe, whether that’s a clock, photos, or widgets

    Widgets

    • Interactive widgets let you take actions, like mark a reminder as complete, directly from the widget by tapping it on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, or in StandBy
    • iPhone widgets on Mac enable you to add widgets from your iPhone to your Mac desktop

    AirDrop

    • NameDrop lets you exchange contact information with someone new by bringing your iPhones close together
    • New way to initiate AirDrop allows you to share content or start a SharePlay session over AirDrop by bringing your iPhones close together

    Keyboard

    • Improved autocorrect accuracy makes typing even easier by leveraging a powerful transformer-based language model (iPhone 12 and later)
    • Easier autocorrect editing temporarily underlines corrected words and lets you revert back to what you originally typed with just a tap
    • Enhanced sentence corrections can correct more types of grammatical mistakes when you finish sentences (iPhone 12 and later)
    • Inline predictive text shows single and multi-word predictions as you type that can be added by tapping space bar (iPhone 12 and later)

    Safari and Passwords

    • Profiles keep your browsing separate for topics like work and personal, separating your history, cookies, extensions, Tab Groups, and favorites
    • Private Browsing enhancements include locking your private browsing windows when you’re not using them, blocking known trackers from loading, and removing identifying tracking from URLs
    • Password and passkey sharing lets you create a group of passwords to share with trusted contacts that stays up to date as members of the group make changes
    • One-time verification code AutoFill from Mail autofill in Safari so you can log in without leaving the browser

    Music

    • SharePlay makes it easy for everyone to control and play Apple Music in the car
    • Crossfade smoothly transitions between songs by fading out the currently playing song while fading in the next so the music never stops

    AirPlay

    • Intelligent AirPlay device list makes finding the right AirPlay-compatible TV or speaker even easier by showing your devices in order of relevance, based on your preferences
    • Suggested AirPlay device connections are proactively shown to you as a notification to make it even more seamless to connect to your preferred AirPlay devices
    • Automatic AirPlay device connections are made between your iPhone and the most relevant AirPlay-compatible device so all you have to do is tap “Play” to begin enjoying your content

    AirPods

    • Adaptive Audio delivers a new listening mode that dynamically blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency to tailor the noise control experience based on the conditions of your environment (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
    • Personalized Volume adjusts the volume of your media in response to your environment and listening preferences over time (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
    • Conversation Awareness lowers your media volume and enhances the voices of the people in front of the user, all while reducing background noise (AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with firmware version 6A300 or later)
    • Press to mute and unmute your microphone by pressing the AirPods stem or the Digital Crown on AirPods Max when on a call (AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation), or AirPods Max with firmware version 6A300 or later)

    Maps

    • Offline Maps allow you to select an area you want to access, search, and explore rich information for places to download for use when your iPhone doesn’t have a Wi-Fi or cellular signal
    • EV routing improvements give you routes based on real-time EV charger availability for supported chargers

    Siri

    • Option to say “Siri” in addition to “Hey Siri” for an even more natural way to make requests
    • Back-to-back requests can be issued without needing to reactivate Siri in between commands (iPhone 11 and later)

    Visual Look Up

    • Expanded domains in Visual Look Up help you discover similar recipes from photos of food, Maps information from photos of storefronts, and the meaning of signs and symbols on things like laundry tags
    • Multiple or single subjects can be lifted from the background of photos and videos and placed into apps like Messages
    • Visual Look Up in Video helps you learn about objects that appear in paused video frames
    • Visual Look Up for subjects in photos enables you to look up information about objects you lift from photos directly from the callout bar

    Health

    • State of Mind reflection allows you to log your momentary emotion and daily mood, choose what factors are having the biggest impact on you, and describe your feelings
    • Interactive charts give you insights into your state of mind, how it has changed over time, and what factors may have influence such as exercise, sleep, and mindful minutes
    • Mental health assessments help you understand your current risk for depression and anxiety and if you might benefit from getting support
    • Screen Distance leverages the TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID to encourage you to increase the distance you view your device to reduce digital eye strain and can help reduce the risk of myopia in children

    Privacy

    • Sensitive Content Warnings can be enabled to prevent users from unexpectedly being shown images containing nudity in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, and FaceTime messages
    • Expanded Communication Safety protections for children now detect videos containing nudity in addition to photos that children may receive or attempt to send in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, FaceTime messages, and the system Photo picker
    • Improved sharing permissions give you even more control over what you share with apps, with an embedded photo picker and an add-only Calendar permission
    • Link tracking protection removes extra information from links shared in Messages, Mail, and Safari Private Browsing that some websites use in their URLs to track you across other websites, and links still work as expected

    Accessibility

    • Assistive Access distills apps and experiences to their essential features in Phone and FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music, including large text, visual alternatives, and focused choices to lighten the cognitive load
    • Live Speech lets you type what you want to say and have it be spoken out loud in phone calls, FaceTime calls, and for in-person conversations
    • Personal Voice enables users who are at risk of losing their voice to privately and securely create a voice that sounds like them on iPhone, and use it with Live Speech in phone and FaceTime calls
    • Point and Speak in Magnifier Detection Mode uses an iPhone to read text out loud on physical objects with small text labels, such as keypads on doors and buttons on appliances

    This release also includes other features and improvements:

    • Roadside Assistance via satellite lets you contact AAA to help you with vehicle issues when out of Wi-Fi or cellular range (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max)
    • Pets in the People album in Photos surfaces individual pets in the album just like friends or family members
    • Photos Album widget lets you select a specific album from the Photos app to appear in the widget
    • Item sharing in Find My allows you to share an AirTag or Find My network accessory with up to five other people
    • Activity History in Home displays a recent history of events for door locks, garage doors, security systems, and contact sensors
    • Grid Forecast in Home shows when your electrical grid has cleaner energy sources available (Contiguous US only)
    • Grocery Lists in Reminders automatically group related items into sections as you add them
    • Inline PDFs and document scans in Notes are presented full-width, making them easy to view and mark them up
    • New Memoji stickers in Keyboard include Halo, Smirk, and Peekaboo
    • App Shortcuts in Spotlight Top Hit offer you app shortcuts to your next action when you search for an app
    • Redesigned Sharing tab in Fitness provides highlights of your friends’ activity like workout streaks and awards
    • Email or phone number sign-in lets you sign into your iPhone with any email address or phone number listed in your Apple ID account
    • New drawing tools in Freeform include a fountain pen, watercolor brush, ruler and more to create expressive boards
    • Crash Detection optimizations (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max)

    As usual, the updates can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

    If you’ve had a chance to try iOS 17 and/or iPadOS 17, please let us know about your experience in the comments.

    Via MacRumors

  • Developer community working with Apple to bring iPhone 15 Pro console games to Mac and iPad platforms

    Developer community working with Apple to bring iPhone 15 Pro console games to Mac and iPad platforms

    A group of developers are working with Apple to bring the iPhone 15 Pro’s console games over to the iPad and Mac.

    In a new interview, Jeremy Sandmel, Apple’s Senior Director of GPU Software, and Tim Millet, Apple’s VP of Platform Architecture, discussed the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌’s more advanced gaming capabilities. During Apple’s “Wonderlust” media event, Apple detailed how its new A17 Pro chip offers a new GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, enabling console games like “Resident Evil 4” and “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” to be played on the iPhone.

    When asked if these games would be compatible with Apple Silicon-based iPads and Macs, Millet said “The developers are going to work with us to do it.”

    He also added the following:

    “…one of the things that fundamentally enabled that is this unification of the architecture of Apple Silicon and the iPhone Silicon and the iPad Silicon. And so you can see that they’re able to do exactly what you just suggested, which is bring a game to iPhone and Mac that is the same game. It’s the same rendering, it’s the same rendering quality and it’s the same game they had on a gaming PC and a console.

    So we really look at these many generations of SoC architecture across the phone, across the iPad, across now, Apple Silicon Macs. And we’d see that as part of one big unified platform, a graphics and gaming platform in particular.”

    Given that these console titles are purportedly enabled by hardware advancements found within the A17 Pro, it seems possible that Apple is alluding to next-generation iPads and Macs with M3 chips here.

    Features such as DisplayPort support are built into the USB-C port on all iPhone 15 models, meaning that the devices can output video at up to 4K/60Hz natively to a DisplayPort-equipped external display or TV with a supported USB-C to DisplayPort cable. or previous iPhones with a Lightning port, video mirroring output had been limited to 1080p with Apple’s Lightning-to-HDMI or Lightning-to-VGA adapters.

    Asked if, given the device’s DisplayPort capabilities, ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ owners would be able to play the likes of Resident Evil 4 on an external display, Sandmel replied:

    “As you probably know, there’s the display resolution and then there’s the gaming resolution, and then the frame rates, the game rendering. With technologies like MetalFX’s upscaling, we can sort of separate those two things. The game can run at really high frame rates, get really great quality results, and then upscale whatever resolution the display, whether that’s the iPhone display, whether that’s an external display. So yes, the iPhone can connect to these 4K displays, and it can drive them externally doing whatever you do on the phone, including gaming to these other displays. The resolution and frame rate are going to highly depend on what the game’s actually doing.”

    The iPhone does not presently offer a dedicated extended display mode, but it’s possible to mirror an ‌iPhone‌ to an external display via a wired connection, as well as AirPlay.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and IGN

  • Baldur’s Gate 3 to arrive for the Mac on September 21

    Baldur’s Gate 3 to arrive for the Mac on September 21

    If you’re hankering for Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Mac, it’ll be out before the end of the month.

    Larian Studios has announced that Baldur’s Gate 3, the hit RPG, will debut on the Mac via Steam on Thursday, September 21. The game has also hit additional platforms, including the PlayStation 5 in early September and is expected to appear on Xbox Series X/S before the end of the year.

    Baldur’s Gate 3 is available to purchase via Steam for $59.99.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and @larianstudios

  • Apple announces iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max models

    Apple announces iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max models

    Over at its “Wonderlust” media event, Apple announced the long-awaited iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

    The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models, as expected, are both equipped with USB-C ports as opposed to Lightning and will have the Dynamic Island that debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro models last year.

    The iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both devices now feature a frosted rear glass panel with a matte finish and countered edges, an upgraded 48-megapixel main camera lens with a new 2x Telephoto option, the A16 Bionic chip, and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip with up to three times the range. New color options include Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black.

    The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus displays offer peak HDR brightness that now reaches up to 1,600 nits, and is up from 1,200 nits on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Outdoors, peak brightness can reach up to 2,000 nits.

    Apple also stated that iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus availability will expand to Macao, Malaysia, Türkiye, Vietnam, and 17 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 29. Pricing for the iPhone 15 will begin at $799 while the iPhone 15 Plus will begin at $899. The devices will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacities.

    Where the higher-end models are concerned, the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max offer an array of new features, including a titanium frame, the A17 Pro chip, an Action Button, and more.

    The Action button, the first of its kind on an iPhone, replaces the mute switch. With a press and hold, users can toggle between ring and silent, with haptic feedback to indicate a change of state. Users can switch between different actions, allowing them to start recording in voice memos, launch the camera, activate a favorite accessibility, feature, or run a Shortcut.

    Apple’s A17 Pro chip represents the first-of-its-kind thanks to a 3-nanometer production process. The A17 Pro boasts a six-core CPU 10 percent faster CPU and 20 percent faster GPU performance. It has a two-times faster 16-core neural engine to accelerate machine learning such as more accurate autocorrect or pulling a subject from an image. It can process up to 35 trillion operations per second.

    The A17 Pro also offers a new GPU with an Apple-designed shader architecture, which Apple says is the biggest redesign in the history of Apple GPUs, with a focus on performance and efficiency, running complex applications, and new rendering features. The chip offers hardware-accelerated ray tracing and new Mesh shading capabilities. Console games like Resident Evil 4 can now be played on the ‌iPhone‌.

    Other new features on the iPhone 15 Pro include an improved camera system. The main camera has a larger sensor, a new coating to reduce lens flare, better low light performance for Portraits and Night mode, a range of focal lengths, a new 24MP super-high-resolution default mode, and more. The ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max’s telephoto camera now offers 5x optical zoom at 180mm focal length with a 25 percent larger sensor. This is combined with optical image stabilization and an autofocus 3D sensor-shift module, t. The Ultrawide camera has a new anti-reflective coating, as well as improved Night mode and Smart HDR.

    The iPhone 15 Pro models also offer a USB-C port for charging and data transfer and can support up to 10Gbps transfer speeds with a USB 3 cable. The camera now supports 4K60 for the first time, as well as Log encoding. Additional new features include a next-generation Portrait mode that automatically detects when there’s a subject in the frame, allowing users to switch to Portrait mode after an image has been taken. There are also new focus and depth control tools, allowing users to switch focus from one person to another after the photo has been taken. The Night mode has also been improved, while Smart HDR allows the device to capture the sky and subject simultaneously.

    Apple has also included its second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, which allows equipped devices to connect from up to 3x as far away and friends that share their location with you to be located directionally like an AirTag. The new models support Wi-Fi 6E, Qi2 charging, and Thread, which opens up new possibilities with Home app integrations. Adding to the iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via Satellite, users can now connect to a satellite for roadside assistance. The audio quality for calls has been updated with a more advanced machine-learning model that prioritizes the user’s voice.

    The ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ models are available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium. The ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ starts at $999 for 128GB of storage, while the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max starts at $1,199 for 256GB of storage.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors (1, 2)