Monday 23 March 2020

Siri has a COVID-19 questionnaire now

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It's Monday, March 23, 2020.

Hey, good morning!

COVID-19 continues to dominate most of our news this morning. Major stores are swapping to curbside delivery, Siri is trying to help unravel whether your symptoms are connected to the coronavirus and in France and Italy, Amazon isn’t taking some non-essential orders as it focuses on vital supplies.

In more buttoned-down news, Huawei’s next flagship, the P40 Pro, looks like another imaging beast. The leaks point to a 50X zoom and plenty more -- though some of us won’t be taking group photos for a while.

-Mat

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Plus, 40W wireless fast charging if the leak is accurate.

Huawei P40 Pro may feature 50X zoom, custom photography chip
 

Huawei P40 Pro may feature 50X zoom, custom photography chip<br />    Ahead of the official debut on March 26th, more leaks have surfaced about both the P40 Pro and P40. As expected, the P40 Pro is all about photography. The phone will reportedly feature a 50-megapixel wide camera, 40-megapixel telephoto camera, a time-of-flight depth sensor and one more (likely ultra-wide) 12-megapixel camera. The telephoto camera will be able to zoom in on subjects by a factor of up to 50x -- less than the 100X zoom on Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, but then that didn’t exactly work that well anyhow. 40W fast-charging? Yep, that’s rumored to be there, too.

It’s focusing on more important supplies. 
 

Amazon halts orders on some non-essentials in France and Italy
 

Amazon halts orders on some non-essentials in France and Italy<br />   

Amazon is prioritizing orders in areas hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The online retailer said it would temporarily stop taking orders for "some non-essential products" in France and Italy to help Amazon warehouses focus on more vital deliveries. 

The company didn't say what it was stopping, but the Reuters source believes essentials include groceries, health products, household items, personal care, industrial goods, scientific products and pet supplies. The restrictions only affect sales fulfilled through Amazon. You can still buy non-essentials from Amazon third parties in France and Italy.
 

Hopefully it’s just a cold.
 

Apple's Siri has a coronavirus diagnosis tool

It’s no screening test, but Apple has quietly updated Siri in the US to provide a questionnaire (using US Public Health Service and CDC data) when you ask if you have the coronavirus. The voice assistant will ask if you're exhibiting symptoms like a fever or respiratory problems and advises you to avoid contact with others if you appear infected. Siri also urges you to call 911 if your symptoms are extreme and will point you to the App Store to download telehealth apps for remote consultations. It could help take some of the weight off emergency service hotlines.
 

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If you're working from home, grab these essentials

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Yes it still exists.

MoviePass owner sells Moviefone for a fraction of its original worth
 

Moviefone is far from its glory days. The defunct owner of MoviePass, Helios Matheson and Analytics, has sold the once-legendary movie listing service for just over $1 million as part of bankruptcy proceedings. That's just a fraction of the $388 million AOL (subsumed into Engadget's parent company, Verizon Media) bought it for in 1999. It's not clear what winning bidder, Born in Cleveland LLC, intends to do with Moviefone, but it's safe to say Moviefone's heyday isn't coming back. 

The eventual ubiquity of internet access was not kind to Moviefone, which started as an automated phone offering in 1989. Although it did embrace the web and mobile apps, the era of Moviefone was already over.
 

But wait, there's more...

1. Oprah debuts free Apple TV+ series discussing COVID-19

2. Best Buy, GameStop limit stores to curbside pickup

3. After Math: We're not ready for the new normal

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.

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Saturday 21 March 2020

First impressions of the new MacBook Air

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It's Saturday, March 21, 2020.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

In a week where very few things felt normal, sitting down with a new laptop is one of the most regular things that happened. Our review of Apple’s new MacBook Air won’t be ready until next week, but even just a few hours is enough time for Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman to have some opinions about its upgraded new keyboard.

Give that a read right here, check out the latest Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 trailer to see if its new CG-style works and then check out other highlights from this week below.

-- Richard

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Inevitable.

Google I/O 2020 is canceled

Google I/O 2020 is canceled

After initially shifting its annual developer event to an online-only affair, Google announced Friday afternoon that “we sadly will not be holding an I/O event in any capacity this year.” For the time being, Google plans to share details about upcoming Android updates in blog and community forum posts.

On non-race weekends, fans will go head-to-head with drivers.

Real F1 drivers will compete in an esports series

Real F1 drivers will compete in an esports series Starting Sunday, several drivers will square off in the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, using the PC version of F1 2019 and playing remotely for safety reasons. First up is the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on what was supposed to be the second weekend of the actual F1 season. You'll be able to watch it all go down live on the F1 YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels at 3PM ET.

Plus Moog and Korg synthesizer apps for free.

The best deals we found this week: 'The Sims 4,' Fire TV Sticks and more

The best deals we found this week: 'The Sims 4,' Fire TV Sticks and more

Digital deals dominated this week, but there are also numerous deals on gadgets as well. Square Enix cut the prices of all of its Nintendo Switch games, so now's the time to grab a Final Fantasy title (or three) while they are up to 50 percent off. Amazon Prime members can also snag a Fire TV Stick 4K for only $25.

Here are all the deals from this week that you can still get today.

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Safeguard your data with 1TB of ultra-secure cloud backup

Safeguard your data with 1TB of ultra-secure cloud backup

Should’ve seen that coming.

'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie gets an early digital release on March 31st

'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie gets an early digital release on March 31st The new Sonic movie had an unusual path to release that included a delay to change the hedgehog’s computer generated look. But the final product was better than most expected, and now the movie will be available to watch at home much sooner than expected. The digital release will come through on March 31st, just over a month after it hit theaters.

Dolores is in control.

‘Westworld’ remembers that TV is supposed to be fun

‘Westworld’ remembers that TV is supposed to be fun Season two of Westworld was all over the place, and not always in a good way. Devindra Hardawar explains why the premiere of season three is a welcome return to form for HBO’s robots-in-the-big-city cyberpunk tale.

Can telehealth save us?

The Engadget Podcast

The Engadget Podcast

This week, many of us found out exactly which meetings could’ve been emails. On the podcast, Cherlynn and Devindra explore the rise of telehealth during the global coronavirus pandemic. It's not all serious conversation; our hosts also dive into the gaming hardware news from this week, as well as a few fun recommendations to help you hold it together.

Listen on Apple PodcastsGoogle PlaySpotifyPocket Casts or Stitcher.

But wait, there's more...

1. 'Half-Life: Alyx' is proof Valve answers to no one

2. SpaceX aborts Falcon 9 launch with rare 'Liftoff! Disregard' sequence

3. PlayStation 5 will feature a 10.2-teraflop GPU and a speedy custom SSD

4. Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ review: Smaller is better

5. 'World of Warcraft' keeps players indoors with a 100 percent XP bonus

6. 'Call of Duty: Warzone' hits 30 million players in 10 days

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.

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Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Play  |  iHeart Radio

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