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California charges 17 people in organized crime ring that stole $1 million from Apple Stores
Compared: iPhone XS Max video quality trounces iPhone X
Is Sony Ditching PSX In 2018 A Sign PlayStation 5 Is Coming Soon?

California charges 17 people in organized crime ring that stole $1 million from Apple Stores

Posted: 28 Sep 2018 03:09 PM PDT

17 people have been charged with a string of robberies targeting Apple Stores across California, the state’s Attorney General announced in a press release Friday. The robberies resulted in the loss of over $1 million in iPhones, laptops, and iPads from stores across 19 counties, the AG says.

Eight of the 17 suspects have been arrested and remanded in custody, while arrest warrants have been issued for the nine other suspects. The suspects are being charged with conspiracy to commit grand theft, thanks to the value of the items taken.

The “scheme” that the Attorney General alleges the suspects dreamed up isn’t exactly complicated: wearing hoodies, a group would enter an Apple Store and grab everything within sight from the display tables. A TV segment from ABC7 shows the group in action, and gives a timeline for some of the robberies. According to ABC7, there were at least 21 robberies this summer, sometimes hitting the same store multiple times. Each haul netted around $30,000 in stolen goods.

Although the value of the stolen Apple products might be north of $1 million, the theives are likely to have netted much less. Stolen iPhones are only good for parts, since they can be remotely locked down and blacklisted from cellular networks, while stolen laptops will be limited in what Apple services they can use.

“Organized retail thefts cost California business owners millions and expose them to copycat criminals. Ultimately, consumers pay the cost of this merchandise hijacking,” the Attorney General said in a statement. “We will continue our work with local law enforcement authorities to extinguish this mob mentality and prosecute these criminals to hold them accountable.”

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Compared: iPhone XS Max video quality trounces iPhone X

Posted: 28 Sep 2018 08:06 AM PDT

Of the major additions to this year's iPhone lineup, Apple paid closest attention to the camera, with changes like a larger sensor on the wide angle lenser, a brand new depth control feature and Smart HDR functionality. This all amounts to a tangible upgrade in video quality over iPhone X.

Apple's improvements go beyond the rear-facing dual-camera array. The new XS and XS Max have an updated front camera sensor that can shoot 1080p video at 60 frames per second.

Recording in 1080p at 30fps, the XS Max achieves much better dynamic range compared to the iPhone X thanks to internal component buffs. The increased dynamic range is available as long as users are not shooting at 60fps.

Switching to 1080p at 60fps on the XS Max drops dynamic range a bit, but the result is still better than 1080p at 30fps on iPhone X.

Turning to the rear camera, shooting 4K 30fps on iPhone XS Max's wide lens produced an image with stunning detail. As expected, dynamic range is also much improved from iPhone X, with better color reproduction most apparent in the sky.

A shot of a lake's shoreline provides exquisite detail in the trees. The iPhone X is not able to reproduce the same level of fidelity as the XS Max, nor can it compete on color accuracy.

Switching to the telephoto lens, the additional detail offered by XS Max is immediately apparent.

Testing autofocus capabilities, both phones are incredibly quick when transitioning focus between background content and a nearby object. However, there is a very noticeable difference between the two devices when a face enters the scene.

Panning between the background and a face — making sure the phone locks in focus each time — the iPhone XS Max focused at an impressive rate, much faster than its predecessor. While not confirmed, we believe the ultra-fast face detection is thanks to synergy between the iPhone XS and XS Max's new Neural Engine and updated Image Signal Processor.

Both the XS and XS Max can now record audio in stereo, which adds another layer of depth to recordings. By contrast, all iPhone models up to 2018, including the iPhone X, recorded sound in mono.

Interestingly, Apple appears to have improved upon the optical image stabilization system included in iPhone X. Still attached to both wide and telephoto lenses, the new version on iPhone XS Max delivers silky smooth video even while walking at a fast pace.

The stabilization on XS Max is evident when reviewing stills from previously captured footage, as seen below in the highly detailed leaves. There's also a huge difference in the color reproduction of the grass. The XS Max is the clear winner here.

Comparing slowed down footage captured at 4K 60fps and 1080p 240fps, the XS Max again displays better dynamic range and a noticeable difference in detail.

Moving into a low-light environment with some bright lamps in the background, the dynamic range improvement is just as noticeable. The iPhone X blows out brightly lit subjects, while the XS Max is able to keep every detail looking balanced and colorful. Noise was also reduced on the XS Max, again thanks to the new ISP.

On the front-facing camera, we noticed the XS Max had better white balance and detail when indoors. It also seemed to be zoomed in a bit more than the iPhone X.

Our final nighttime shot exhibited the largest gap in dynamic range performance between the two handsets. The iPhone X completely blows out a brightly lit Comfort Inn sign positioned against a nearly pitch black background. The XS Max, on the other hand, is able to accurately portray the sign's blue background, red/yellow logo and white text. The blue lights that trim the building are actually blue on the XS Max, whereas they look washed out and white on the X.

Looking at the darkest areas of the scene, the XS Max is able to keep it just as bright as the iPhone X, further showing off Apple's efforts to improve dynamic range.

Based on the observed video quality differences, it's obvious that the XS and XS Max received a pretty serious camera upgrade that not only assists in still photography, but video as well. We were expecting some change in quality, but not to this extent. Apple truly upped the mobile videography ante with iPhone XS and XS Max.

Deals on the iPhone XS Max

If you haven't already ordered Apple's iPhone XS Max, wireless carriers are incentivizing the purchase. Want to get your hands on a new device asap? eBay sellers are also shipping units now.

Carrier deals:

AT&T Wireless: Buy one iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, get a second $700 off when you add a line.
Verizon Wireless: Buy one iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, get a second $700 off when you add a line. Or save $100 with an eligible trade.
Sprint: Get the 64GB iPhone XS for $0 per month with eligible trade-in and Sprint Flex lease.
T-Mobile: Save up to $300 on the iPhone XS with an eligible iPhone trade.

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Is Sony Ditching PSX In 2018 A Sign PlayStation 5 Is Coming Soon?

Posted: 29 Sep 2018 06:37 AM PDT

The Last of Us Part IINaughty Dog

Many Sony fans are disappointed today with the news that there will be no PlayStation Experience (PSX) this year, despite the event taking place the last four years in a row. It’s not in the cards for 2018, and Sony’s Shawn Layden explained why to the PlayStation Blogcast:

"We won't have it in the States this year," he continued. "The reasons behind that really are we don't have...we have a lot of progress that we're making on our games...Now that we have Spider-Man out the door, we're looking down into 2019 games like Dreams and Days Gone.”

Sony has had a tremendous year with the release of God of War and Spider-Man, but it seems that things may be winding down to the point where they really do not have all the much to share. I had to Google what Dreams even was, and the fact that The Last of Us Part 2 isn’t even mentioned here implies that game is still miles away, and may not even arrive next year.

But there’s one thing being left unsaid here that may have a lot to do with this decision. Sony’s exclusive slate looks a tad barren because what new exclusives are being developed are probably for PlayStation 5. And even though Sony may not be ready to talk about PS5 this winter, it stands to reason that we could easily see a separate debut event sometime next year like we did with PS4, or they could be old fashioned and announce it at E3.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC

Microsoft has been a little bit more chatty about the “family” of Xbox devices that will be coming out at some point, killing talk that there might not be another Xbox console after the One as they move totally to the cloud or something like that. But Sony has said even less.

Despite all this, it still doesn’t feel quite right to guess that PlayStation 5 would be coming in Fall/Holiday 2019, however, even if some analysts are guessing at that. The PS4 is still selling very well and is the talk of the town every few months with its big exclusive releases. Announcing PS5 say, this spring, and releasing it that fall feels quick, even if it is six years after the PS4’s debut in 2013.

Rather, the “correct” plan would seem like a winter/spring 2020 release of The Last of Us Part 2, followed by a late spring announcement of PS5, followed by more details and games at E3, followed by a fall 2020 release. That’s a timetable that makes sense to me.

If anything, I could see Microsoft being the one to try to beat Sony to market with an Xbox Two and whatever other devices it’s coming out with in 2019. The Xbox One is selling…less well, and I think Microsoft is probably eager to move on. And I don’t think they want to go head to head with Sony again considering how poorly that went in 2013. So perhaps 2019 is less unrealistic for them.

We’ll know soon enough.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi novel HEROKILLER, which combines my love of fighting games and action movies. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy.

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