You don't need to have been following along with the Apple rumors too closely to have known that Apple is expected to announce a raft of new iPads as soon as next month. We've been hearing as much for weeks now, and after many false dawns, it now seems that Apple will indeed launch the updated iPad Air and iPad Pro tablets in the first couple of weeks of May. We've heard a variety of things about these new tablets and the arrival of the 12.9-inch iPad Air might actually be the most interesting. Now, a new report appears to suggest that the tablet is going to be even more interesting than we first thought.

The addition of a new 12.9-inch size to the iPad Air lineup is notable because it will give buyers a new option if they want a big tablet but won't or can't buy the iPad Pro. But according to a new report, the larger display won't be the only interesting news, with the type of display that's being used will also raise some eyebrows. If the report is accurate, the 12.9-inch iPad Air will have a mini-LED display.

That would be a first for the lineup and the 11-inch iPad Air is expected to stick to its existing LCD construction. But the new mini-LED design has been reported by Ross Young, a display supply chain analyst who is normally very well connected. He also has an extremely positive history and reputation in terms of this kind of report, so we see little reason why this information would turn out to be incorrect.

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Buying an Apple Watch Ultra 2 just got cheaper in China after Apple started to allow people to buy a refurbished model via its website. Apple regularly offers refurbished products but this is the first time that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 has been offered in this way outside of the United States. It now seems more likely than ever that the refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 will start to go on sale in other countries around the world sooner rather than later.

Buying a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 will save you around 15% off the price of a new one, according to MacRumors which was the first to report on the new buying option. The refurbished products do tend to come and go in terms of stocks however, so make sure to place your order for a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 if you want to be sure of getting one soon.

Apple's refurbished products have all been thoroughly checked and cleaned and come with the usual 12-month warranty and 14-day return window. They also offer people the chance to take out AppleCare+ for additional coverage while all wearables come with all of the usual accessories and are fully functional. Buying a refurbished product from Apple is definitely a batter option than buying refurbished elsewhere unless you can get a particularly good deal.

After announcing its plans to make it easier for people to watch content via AirPlay in hotel rooms during the WWDC event in June of 2023, Apple has finally started to make good on those plans. Today, the company announced that guests staying at some IHG Hotels & Resorts properties including Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, Candlewood Suites, and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts can use AirPlay like never before,

According to the press release shared via the Apple Newsroom, people can look forward to using AirPlay to privately and security stream content including TV shows, movies, and more. The press release even says that Apple Music and even Apple Arcade games can be sent to the big-screen TV in hotel rooms. On top of that, there will also be support for workouts and meditation via the Apple Fitness+ subscription, too.

The press release says that there are now more than 60IHG properties across North America that support AirPlay as of right now and that more hotels are set to be added to the list in the coming months.

The Apple TV+ streaming service continues to go from strength to strength with new TV shows, movies, and documentaries appearing seemingly every other week. Now, the streamer has announced the impending arrival of another TV show with some big names involved.

Executive produced by and starring Rashida Jones, Sunny is a TV show that Apple TV+ describes as being a mystery thriller with a darkly comic bent, which should be enough to get the attention of many people. It'll premiere globally with two episodes being made available on Wednesday, July 10. After that, a new episode will debut every Wednesday through September 4 when the 10-episode run will come to its finale.

Apple TV+'s press release announcing the new show says that it is created by Katie Robbins of The Affair and The Last Tycoon fame. Lucy Tcherniak will also act as executive producer as well as director, coming off the back of Station Eleven among other things. In terms of stars, Rashida Jones will be joined by Hidetoshi Nishijima, Joanna Sotomura, Judy Ongg, and others.

Bethesda isn't done with Starfield yet, and there are some 'really good updates' planned for the sci-fi RPG which will be revealed soon enough.

That's the word from Bethesda's Todd Howard, in an interview with IGN that mostly focused on the currently very popular Fallout TV show (streaming on Amazon Prime Video).

The gaming side of the equation did come up in the interview, unsurprisingly, and indeed IGN questioned whether the success of the show on Prime might lead Bethesda to switch priorities and have Fallout 5 come out before Elder Scrolls VI.

Sony and Microsoft may be direct competitors, but sales charts also show just how mutualistic the two companies are.

If nothing else, the FTC v Microsoft trial in 2023 taught us one important lesson: PlayStation and Xbox are as cooperative as they are competitive. Microsoft depends heavily on Sony's storefront to sell its games, including mega-hits like Minecraft and Call of Duty, and Sony in turn welcomes Microsoft's revenue contribution. This cooperation has evolved now that Microsoft has broken first-party Xbox game exclusivity.

Microsoft has grown considerably now that it owns Activision Blizzard King, so by virtue of its sheer size, it's not really a surprise that its games now have a larger share and populate multiple charts. To get a better idea of both Xbox's size and its synergistic relationship with Sony, we can take a quick look at best-selling games on the PlayStation Store.

Earlier this week we got confirmed specifications on Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro, with many of the consoles innerworkings being revealed we learned Sony will be including a CPU with a 10% performance boost compared to the standard PS5. But what does this mean for gamers?

In a recent video by Digital Foundry, the gold-standard when it comes to reviewing gaming hardware and technology, a question was posed to the tech experts regarding the impact of the 10% CPU performance boost. The experts explained that a 10% increase in performance is likely to not be enough to enable developers to push CPU-bound titles from 30FPS to 40FPS, as the CPU would still need to require some headroom.

However, it's probable that 40FPS may be enabled for titles that already run at 30+FPS on the standard PS5. While the aforementioned may be an option for developers, Sony is pushing for higher visual fidelity over framerate, with an emphasis on raytracing. This means that developers will likely choose to go for better graphics than framerate. However, the upgraded CPU should offer better stability in 40FPS modes, but the number of games utilizing this mode may be very limited.

Microsoft is testing a new idea for the Photos app in Windows 11, namely the ability to directly send an image you're editing in the client to Microsoft Designer.

The idea is to implement a 'Designer' button in the Photos application which when clicked sends the current image straight over to the Microsoft Designer site.

Designer is an online app that allows for considerable exercising of various AI abilities, so you can go to town on the image in question in that respect.

We've just had further bits of info drip through on next-gen Ryzen CPUs which suggest that Zen 5 desktop chips are set to arrive sooner rather than later.

What will presumably be the Ryzen 9000 series has already been the subject of a couple of recent leaks in beta BIOS releases from ASUS and MSI.

Well, now those hidden-away-mentions have become official, with both of those motherboard makers announcing up front that their new firmware for AM5 chipset toting boards supports next-gen Ryzen processors.

In a somewhat concerning development for people who are running Windows 11 without activating the OS, it appears that Microsoft is taking some initial steps - in testing - to punish those folks via its Edge browser.

Punish them how, exactly? Essentially by blocking off all access to any settings in Edge for those who haven't activated their Windows 11 (or Windows 10) installation.

Windows Report (via TechRadar) picked up on the move Microsoft has made which is being tested in Edge (the Canary version of the browser in preview).