Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has just announced that 16GB of RAM is now the minimum for the M2 and M3 MacBook Air, giving the laptops the same RAM bump as all of the company’s other new computers this week. The cheapest MacBook Air still starts at $999. Before this, it was a $200 upsell to get a MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM. Now, that’s no longer the case, bringing Apple’s cheapest laptop more in line with its competitors. Apple made a similar move in 2016 when it made 8GB the minimum for the 13-inch MacBook Air and discontinued the 4GB 11-inch version months later. Of the company’s new iMacs, a smaller Mac Mini, and refreshed MacBook Pros introduced this week, none start with less than 16GB. Given the high RAM floor of the existing Mac Studio and Mac Pro... Continue reading…

Screenshot: Apple Apple appears to have wrapped up its week of Mac announcements — and it had a lot to share. Along with updating several devices across its Mac lineup with a more powerful M4 chip, Apple showed off some revamped accessories, too. If you want to catch up on all the news, here’s a quick rundown. The M4 iMac adds new colors and 16GB of RAM Image: Apple The new iMac comes with an upgraded M4 chip, offering up to a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. It comes with a 24-inch display with an optional “nano-texture glass” to help reduce glare, along with a base 16GB of RAM. The entry-level iMac starts at $1,299 and has two Thunderbolt 4 ports. There’s also a more expensive $1,499 model with four Thunderbolt 4 ports. The new iMac... Continue reading…

They look a whole lot like last year’s models, even down to the wallpaper choice. | Image: Apple Apple is updating the MacBook Pro and introducing some even more powerful chips. Announced this morning via a low-key press release, the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are being updated to the M4 line of processors, which now includes the M4 Pro chip that debuted yesterday in the Mac Mini and a new, even higher-end M4 Max. The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is also getting a small design upgrade in the form of an extra USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 port on the right-hand side and a space black option to match its more premium brethren. Like previous models, the M4 Pro-equipped laptops will start at $1,999 for the 14-inch and $2,499 for the 16-inch, but both are getting an upgrade from 18GB of base RAM to 24GB. The basic 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge This week’s new Macs all have one thing in common: a minimum of 16GB of RAM. That’s true of the new Mac Mini, MacBook Pros, and iMac, which were all refreshed with M4 processors this week. The MacBook Air was updated to start at 16GB of RAM, too, even though it didn’t get a bump up to the M4 chip. The change brings an end to the long-running era of 8GB of RAM as the default on consumer-grade Macs. Apple had transitioned most of its Macs to 8GB of RAM by 2016. But now, after eight years, that quantity feels increasingly insufficient. Reviewers have criticized the entry-level RAM as limited since at least 2022. Local AI features like Apple Intelligence, which need constant RAM to work, have only accentuated the need to change things. That... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple’s week of episodic hardware releases continues today with a new video announcing the updated MacBook Pros with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips. Their announcement follows the updated M4 iMac on Monday and the redesigned M4 Mac Mini on Tuesday. Like the iMac and Mac Mini videos, the new MacBook Pro video is available to watch on Apple’s website by clicking the “watch the announcement” link on the product page or over on the company’s YouTube channel. This video yet again starts with Apple’s SVP of engineering, John Ternus, doing the hardware reveal honors. He says it’s “packed with pro features, Apple Intelligence, and Apple silicon that’s more powerful than ever before.” Then he opens the new notebook and a gust of wind blows his hair... Continue reading…

Image: CD Projekt Red Cyberpunk 2077 is making the jump to Macs. According to Apple’s announcement video for the new M4-equipped MacBook Pros, CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi RPG will be available on Macs “early next year.” “Taking full advantage of Apple silicon and advanced technologies of Metal, the world of the dark future is available to Mac gamers for the very first time,” CD Projekt Red says in an announcement. “Players can enjoy advanced features like path tracing, frame generation, and built-in Spatial Audio for even more immersive gameplay and stunning visuals. The game will be available on the Mac App Store and Steam when it launches next year. The version launching on Mac is the Ultimate Edition, which includes the very good Phantom Liberty expansion,... Continue reading…

The latest video shared by Boston Dynamics demonstrates the new Atlas robot’s autonomous navigation and handling capabilities. | Screenshot: YouTube Boston Dynamics has shared another look at the latest version of its humanoid robot, Atlas. Earlier videos of the all-electric robot demonstrated its unique range of motions, but this time Atlas is shown using machine learning and its upgraded sensors to perform sorting tasks in a simulated factory environment. The task of moving engine covers “between supplier containers and a mobile sequencing dolly” isn’t especially exciting, but it demonstrates several of the new robot’s capabilities working together. After being provided with only a “list of bin locations to move parts between,” Atlas uses various sensors and machine learning models to determine the location of bins and how it needs to manipulate its body, arms, and three-fingered... Continue reading…

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Waymo has long touted its ties to Google’s DeepMind and its decades of AI research as a strategic advantage over its rivals in the autonomous driving space. Now, the Alphabet-owned company is taking it a step further by developing a new training model for its robotaxis built on Google’s multimodal large language model (MLLM) Gemini. Waymo released a new research paper today that introduces an “End-to-End Multimodal Model for Autonomous Driving,” also known as EMMA. This new end-to-end training model processes sensor data to generate “future trajectories for autonomous vehicles,” helping Waymo’s driverless vehicles make decisions about where to go and how to avoid obstacles. But more importantly, this is one of the first indications... Continue reading…

Apple just announced the hotly anticipated new M4 MacBook Pro lineup, the last of the three Mac models getting refreshed this week. But I didn't even have to look at the M4 MacBook Pro’s press release to tell you that if you’re dying to buy the M4 MacBook Air, you’re in for a massive upgrade.  Apple’s lightest and most portable laptop will get the same M4 treatment early next year. The M4 will give the 2025 Air the same performance as the M4 iMac, M4 Mac mini, and base M4 MacBook Pro. That means 16GB of RAM will be included in the cheapest configuration, which will make the upcoming MacBook Air an incredible value.  I’m speculating about a laptop that won’t hit stores for several months. Rumors say the M4 MacBook Air is coming in early 2025. But I’m right, and it’s all because of that one feature that Apple keeps harping on left and right even though it's lagging so far behind rivals: Apple Intelligence. Continue reading... The post MacBook Air got bumped to 16GB of RAM – now the upcoming M4 model will be unbeatable appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: Free Echo Pop & Amazon Smart Plug, $30 Philips OneBlade 360, $38 Sony headphones, more Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: $56 for 2024’s easiest Halloween costume, $699 M2 MacBook Air, 20% off Dyson, more Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $365+ free

Lisa Bitel/The Conversation This time of year, I often run across articles proclaiming Halloween a modern form of the pagan Irish holiday of Samhain – pronounced SAW-en. But as a historian of Ireland and its medieval literature, I can tell you: Samhain is Irish. Halloween isn’t. The Irish often get credit – or blame – for the bonfires, pranksters, witches, jack-o’-lanterns and beggars who wander from house to house, threatening tricks and soliciting treats. The first professional 19th-century folklorists were the ones who created a through line from Samhain to Halloween. Oxford University’s John Rhys and James Frazer of the University of Cambridge were keen to find the origins of their national cultures. They observed lingering customs in rural areas of Britain and Ireland and searched medieval texts for evidence that these practices and beliefs had ancient pagan roots. They mixed stories of magic and paganism with harvest festivals and whispers of human sacrifice, and you can still find echoes of their outdated theories on websites. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyHistoryAncient TraditionsRead Later