Camera retailers around the world have started listing the upcoming pro-level full-frame mirrorless camera on their websites – including B&H Photo in the US and Georges Cameras in Australia.
While none of them actually mention a price on their sites, a Google Search shows a price tag of $6,000 listed under US retailer Adorama.
The Canon EOS R3 listed with US price information on a Google Search result(Image credit: Google Search)
These placeholder listings may indicate that the Canon EOS R3 could be launching soon. We were expecting it to arrive in time for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo that's scheduled to start on Friday, July 23 (provided all goes well on the pandemic front), but we may not need to wait until next month for the official launch announcement.
We've already had product images leak on Twitter thanks to prolific and oft-reliable camera leaker Nokishita, as well as plenty of whispers on the wind on how much the body will cost.
Reports have suggested that Canon plans to undercut the competition and price the EOS R3 lower than what the EOS 1-D X Mark III and the Sony Alpha A1 costs right now – at launch, rumors suggest the EOS R3 will carry a price tag of $5,999 (about £4,215 / AU$7,725). This is seemingly confirmed by the $6,000 price that's displayed on Google Search results as seen on the screenshot above.
To put that price into perspective, the 1-D X Mark III had a launch price of $6,499 / £6,499 / AU$9,999 in 2020, while the Sony A1 arrived earlier in 2021 for $6,500 / £6,499 / AU$10,499 body only.
That, as Canon explained, would put the EOS R3 between the Canon EOS R5 (priced at $3,899 / £4,199 / AU$6,899) and the 1-D X Mark III – not the 'flagship' we thought it was supposed to be.
Given what we already know about the EOS R3's specs and features, it's definitely shaping up to be a pro sports shooter. But if the EOS R3 is coming in cheaper than the Sony A1, could it be missing out on some features that the Sony boasts of? It could come in the form of lower sensor resolution, which would make sense if Canon is prioritizing speed (it's rumored to be able to shoot bursts of 30fps like the A1).
Looking at the leaked images, especially the one of the rear control layout, it seems the R3 is identical to the 1-D X Mark III – the new Smart Controller included. That indicates the camera is designed for the pros, and coming in cheaper than the 1-D X Mark III will allow budding professionals to reach for the Canon R system, especially now that there are some excellent telephoto optics in the RF arsenal.
Sadly that also indicates that Canon is likely not going to be looking at making any more pro DSLRs and is hoping the existing 1-series users will switch to its mirrorless system.
Another factor that could help Canon price the R3 lower is weather sealing. While it will have some degree of weather sealing, the memory card slot lacks the twisting lock that's available in the 1-series DSLRs. It also lacks the smaller LCD display that shows the shooting settings on the 1-D X.
A closer look at the rear of the R3 also indicates that it's coming with a fully articulating display, which has never been used in the DSLR version. This provides versatility to different types of photographers, which means Canon is not just targeting news and sports photographers, but potentially making this type of camera more mainstream.
All this is still conjecture though. We still have no idea when Canon will officially launch the EOS R3 and what the final feature list will look like. But a camera priced competitively and coming with some high-end specs is definitely looking like a good tactic from Canon.
AMD has unveiled laptop versions of its Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards, which aim to take on Nvidia’s mobile RTX 30-series GPUs.
The lineup is headed by the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which sees AMD making a long-awaited return to high-end mobile gaming. The graphics card is based on a Navi 22 GPU with 40 CUs - putting it on par with the full-fat AMD Radeon RX 6800.
AMD claims the mobile GPU, which also features 12GB GDDR6 memory and a 145W TGP, will render on average 120 frames per second, and is promising major performance gains over a 2019 gaming laptop packing an Nvidia RTX 2070 graphics card. The Radeon RX 6800M will deliver a 1.7x improvement in Resident Evil: Village, according to AMD, and a 1.4x boost in Cyberpunk 2077.
Amazon Prime Day 2021 might boast some hardware bargains
More interestingly, AMD is also claiming its high-end mobile GPU will outperform the Nvidia RTX 3070 and, in some cases, the Nvidia RTX 3080. The AMD Radeon RX 6800M averaged 141 fps in Resident Evil Village compared to 132 and 137 fps, respectively, and managed to beat out both of Nvidia’s mobile GPUs in Borderlands 3 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
AMD is claiming even more impressive gains when it comes to gaming on battery, suggesting the AMD Radeon 6800M will offer 1.4x the performance of the RTX 3080 in both Resident Evil: Village and Dirt 5.
AMD has also unveiled two lesser-powered mobile GPUs - the AMD Radeon RX 6700M and Radeon RX 6800M. The former, which packs 36CUs, 10GB GDDR6 memory and a TGP of up to 135W, promises up to 100fps gaming at 1440p, while the latter features takes aim at the Nvidia’s mobile RTX 3060 with its 26CUs, 8GB memory and TGP of up to 100W.
According to AMD, the Radeon RX 6800M will deliver impressive gains over the Nvidia RTX 3060 in a number of 1080p games including Borderlands 3 and Dirt 5. However, according to AMD’s own benchmarks, it failed to match the Ampere GPU in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Cyberpunk 2077.
AMD says its new GPUs, which it’s touting as the fastest “AMD Radeon Graphics for laptops” are available starting now - the Radeon RX 6800M and RX 6600M are shipping starting today, with the RX 6700M set to follow soon.
The first laptops to pack AMD’s new graphics have also started shipping. The all-AMD ROG Strix G15, which pairs an AMD Radeon RX 6800M mobile GPU with a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, is available today.
This year, Computex is going virtual, but we'll still be bringing you all the breaking computing news and launches as they happen, so make sure you check out all of TechRadar'sComputex 2021coverage.
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After around a year of teasing that it's coming, AMD has finally confirmed that its FidelityFX Super Resolution tech is coming on June ...
After around a year of teasing that it's coming, AMD has finally confirmed that its FidelityFX Super Resolution tech is coming on June 22.
AMD made the announcement as part of its Computex 2021 keynote, and it looks to deliver a similar performance boost to Nvidia's DLSS (deep learning super sampling) technology. However, unlike Nvidia's upscaling tech, FidelityFX Super Resolution will work on any recent graphics card, as AMD has demonstrated the tech working on an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 in GodFall.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, based on Team Red's own claims, should provide a up to a whopping 2x performance jump on AMD graphics cards using the Quality mode of Super Resolution, and up to a 2x performance boost in its Performance mode. These numbers come from GodFall at 4K with ray tracing on an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, so it's not clear if these numbers will change at all on other graphics cards.
AMD does share some brief information about the technology working with its competitor's graphics cards, but not the same breakdown we see for the 6800 XT. Also in Godfall, but at 1440p, AMD claims that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 can go from 27 fps to 38 fps at 1440p, using the Epic Preset and FidelityFX Super Resolution with its Quality mode. That's not the same 2x performance jump that AMD's own card boasts, but that's still a 41% performance jump.
We'll have to see for ourselves how this technology fares once we can get our hands on it for some more in-depth testing on June 22. But for right now, just based on AMD's own claims, this technology is looking extremely promising.
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Last month saw Covid-19 cases zoom in India, and because of which production of smartphones at Apple assemblers like Foxconn and Samsung's own unit in Uttar Pradesh were hit.
And just as these companies were scurrying to make alternate arrangements to keep up with their shipment targets, which included ramping up their output in Vietnam --- their main production base now --- things have taken another turn for worse. Or so it seems.
Now, there is an uptick in the number of Covid-19 cases in Vietnam, and the local government is issuing tough guidelines on commuting in places like Bac Ninh Province, which as it happens houses Samsung factories. It must be noted here that Samsung units are also suppliers for Apple.
Many factories have split its workforce over two shifts or operating below capacity to allow for easier social distancing and employee management.
But as lockdown measures are set to kick in, supply chain industries of tech industries in Vietnam fear missing production targets. This development, of course, puts huge pressure on Apple and Samsung, and raises questions whether they can meet their shipment numbers this year.
If Samsung and Apple are unable to stick to their targets, it can have a cascading effect on the entire industry, analysts say.
Foxconn, Luxshare, which are well known names as assemblers, also have units in Vietnam. And aside from Samsung and Apple, Chinese smartphone companies like Xiaomi, Vivo, Huawei and Oppo also source electronic parts from factories here.
The Vietnamese government, understanding the importance of keeping running these factories, has suggested to the companies to try and provide ad hoc accommodation to their workers at their site or nearby location. The on-site sleeping arrangements for workers can help operations to continue while containing the virus.
But these companies are finding it tough to find such locations or make such arrangements in the numbers as needed. "It is not easy to immediately secure temporary shelters for tens of thousands of people, including local partners, so there are concerns that operations and supply may be disrupted," the local media reported.
LG also faces the heat
It is not just Apple or Samsung. LG, which is operating production lines for home appliances, mobile devices, and auto parts in Hai Phong, is also finding the going tough.
Although the situation is not as urgent as in Bac Ninh Province, things are not all that hunky-dory at Ho Chi Minh city, too. It is here where Samsung produces TVs and home appliances. The company is closely monitoring the provincial government's guidelines while operating its factories normally.
Samsung and suppliers to Apple have also been asked by the Vietnam government to secure Covid-19 vaccines for their workers at the factories.
But if the situation persists, Vietnam could lose the manufacturing gains it has made amid the US-China trade war.
Get up close with consumer tech news that you can use, latest reviews and buying guides. Follow TechRadar India on Twitter, Facebookand Instagram!
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Zenyum , a startup that wants to make cosmetic dentistry more affordable, announced today it has raised a $40 million Series B. This include...
Zenyum, a startup that wants to make cosmetic dentistry more affordable, announced today it has raised a $40 million Series B. This includes $25 million from L Catterton, a private equity firm focused on consumer brands. The round’s other participants were Sequoia Capital India (Zenyum is an alum of its Surge accelerator program), RTP Global, Partech, TNB Aura, Seeds Capital and FEBE Ventures. L Catteron Asia’s head of growth investments, Anjana Sasidharan, will join Zenyum’s board.
This brings Zenyum’s total raised so far to $56 million, including a $13.6 million Series A announced in November 2019. In a press statement, Sasidharan said, “Zenyum’s differentiated business model gives it a strong competitive advantage, and we are excited to partner with the founder management team to help them realize their growth ambitions.” Other dental-related investments in L Catteron’s portfolio include Ideal Image, ClearChoice, dentalcorp, OdontoCompany, Espaçolaser and 98point6.
Founded in 2018, the company’s products now include ZenyumSonic electric toothbrushes; Zenyum Clear, or transparent 3D-printed aligners; and ZenyumClear Plus for more complex teeth realignment cases.
Founder and chief executive officer Julian Artopé told TechCrunch that ZenyumClear aligners can be up to 70% cheaper than other braces, including traditional metal braces, lingual braces and other clear aligners like Invisalign, depending on the condition of a patients’ teeth and what they want to achieve. Zenyum Clear costs $2,400 SGD (about $1,816 USD), while ZenyumClear Plus ranges from $3,300 to $3,900 SGD (about $2,497 to $2,951 USD).
The company is able to reduce the cost of its invisible braces by combining a network of dental partners with a technology stack that allows providers to monitor patients’ progress while reducing the number of clinic visits they need to make.
First, potential customers send a photo of their teeth to Zenyum to determine if ZenyumClear or ZenyumClear Plus will work for them. If so, they have an in-person consultation with a dentists, including an X-ray and 3D scan. This costs between $120 to $170 SGD, which is paid to the clinic. After their invisible braces are ready, the patient returns to the dentist for a fitting. Then dentists can monitor the progress of their patient’s teeth through Zenyum’s app, only asking them to make another in-person visit if necessary.
ZenyumClear is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan, with more markets planned.
Sequoia India principal Pieter Kemps told TechCrunch, “There are 300M customers in Zenyum’s core markets—Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan—who have increased disposable income for beauty. We believe spend on invisible braces will grow significantly from the current penetration, but what it requires is strong execution on a complex product to become the preferred choice for consumers. That is where Zenyum shines: excellent execution, leading to new products, best-in-class NPS, fast growth, and strong economics. This Series B is a testament to that, and of the belief in the large opportunity down the road.”
Traditionally, PS Plus subscriptions are only discounted a couple of times per year, usually in relation to Sony's Days of Play promotion.
Having said that, PS Plus subscriptions are currently being offered at full price on the PlayStation Store, so if you're looking to save money right now, you can get a redeemable code sent out in the mail for 25% off the usual price by clicking on the deal below.
12 month PS Plus subscription for PS4 and PS5| AU$59.95 (usually AU$79.95)
Get AU$20 off an annual PS Plus subscription with this deal from Amazon AU. Along with online multiplayer access across PS4 and PS5, you also get three free games a month for the remainder of your subscription. This month's free games include Star Wars Squadrons, Operation: Tango and Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown.
A subscription to PS Plus not only brings you online play – you also get a selection of free games every month. June 2021's PS Plus offerings include Star Wars Squadrons and Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown for PS4, and the espionage-themed adventure game Operation: Tango for PS5.
You better hurry, though – this offer is only available while stocks last, and we imagine there will be plenty of Aussies taking up this offer.
Already have a PS Plus subscription? No worries: redeeming this code will simply add on an additional 12 months to your remaining time.
There are more than 400 million Arabic speakers globally and that number isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Arabic, to most people, is a tough language even to those who speak it.According to Duolingo, someone fluent in Egyptian Arabic might notfullyunderstand Yemeni Arabic speakers because of the vast difference in dialect.
While individuals can easily navigatedialects, it can berelativelyhard for them to find tailored Arabic content essential for everyday life.
Dr Ihab Fikry and Ibrahim Kame founded Almentor.net in 2016 as an online video learning platform to compensate for this lack of online learning content for Arabic speakers.In collaboration with hundreds of leaders, educators, and experts, the platform offers courses and talks in various fields like health, humanities, technology, entrepreneurship, business management, lifestyle, drama, sports, corporate communication, and digital media.
In 2016, Almentor closed a $3.5 million seed round and two years ago raised $4.5 million Series A led by Egypt’s Sawari Ventures. With this Series B investment, the Dubai-based edtech company has raised $14.5 million in total.San Francisco and Paris-based VC firm Partech led the financing round with participation from Sawari Ventures, fellow Series A investor Egypt Ventures, and Sango Capital.
Almentor provides Arab learners with the necessary skillscruciallyneeded to advance their professional careers and personal lives.The platform claims to have the biggest continuous learning library in the region and one of the biggest worldwide.With offices in Dubai, Cairo, and Saudi Arabia, its video contentis developedin-house and made in Arabic and English.
“The vision and reason behind starting Almentor is we understand that in our region of more than 100 million people, of which 90% cannotproperlylearn with any other language other than Arabic,” Fikry said to TechCrunch.“So we wanted to have a cutting-edge state of the art platform that will change people’s ideology and help them beobjective, and focus based on topics that canbe taughtas prodigious learning.”
For first-time products like Almentor, it can be hard to get both investors and customers on board.According to CEO Fikry, the first challenge was to convince the investment community in the MENA region that Almentor was creating a new industry in video e-learning that “had lots of potential to power tools in the region.”
Almentor’s business is an intersection of education, media, and technology. Its offeringsare dissectedinto three: the flagship B2C product, a white-label B2B model for blue-chip companies, and the last, which Fikry calls the ‘special project’ for governmental bodies.
For the B2C product, Almentor sells courses to users for $20-$30 of which they get to keep for a lifetime.Fikry says that in June, the company is planning to introduce a subscription-based model where users can have unlimited access toall ofits 12,000 video content for a fee to its more than 1 million registered users.
The B2B model is where Almentor opens its library to companies to customize their content for employees.These videos aremainlytutorials or training needed to thrive at work, and since 2016, Almentor has executed 78 deals with partner companies.
The special project’s model highlights Almentor’s work with the government.One time, the company had a partnership with the Egyptian government to upskill the country’s movie industry. It has completed 11 more similar special projects since launching five years ago.
Across all three models, Fikry says Almentor hassuccessfullydelivered more than 2 million learning experiences. With this investment, thecompany wants to improve content production and quality and educate people in the MENA region on why they need the product.
“We are now leading the continuous video learning industry in the Arab region, and we have a responsibility that goes beyond our ambitions for Almentor.Our responsibility now is to workunceasinglyto improve the industry as a whole in the Arab region, and this can onlybe achievedthrough gaining the confidence of the Arab learners in the value, professionalism and impartiality of the content provided by the platform and working in line with the global learning trends.”
Speaking on the investment for Partech, general partner Cyril Collon said: “Since our first interaction, we have been very impressed by Ihab and Ibrahim, two fantastic mission-driven entrepreneurs who have been executing on a bold vision since 2016, and who built the leading Arabic self-learning go-to content provider in the Middle East and Africa. We are looking forward to supporting the company in its next phase of growth to serve the 430 million Arabic-speaking population and expand access to on-demand cutting-edge personal learning & developments options.”
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There's a very good chance Amazon Prime Day 2021 is just around the corner.
While we're already being bombarded with bargains during Amazon's Mid-Year Sale, the deals aren't nearly as good as what we saw during last year's Prime Day and Black Friday sales.
But what makes us claim that Prime Day is coming soon?
How to shop during Prime Day 2021
The only way to maximise your savings during the Prime Day sale is to become a Prime member. Click on the link below to sign up in the lead up to Prime Day 2021 and you'll get a 30-day free trial, plus access to a lot of other Amazon services, including Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Gaming (previously called Twitch) Sign up for Amazon Prime now
This was then followed by a more recent leak that actually gave us potential dates. According to a report from Bloomberg, Amazon Prime Day 2021 is supposedly scheduled for June 21 to June 22. Take that into the Australian perspective, where Prime Day is a whopping 66 hours and we're thinking we'll see the deals bonanza kick off at midnight AEST on June 21and carry on until about 5pm on June 23.
With potentially just a few weeks to go before Prime Day deals land, we're showing you how to prepare for the retailer's biggest sales of the year. You'll find all our Prime Day deal predictions here, as well as our top tips on grabbing the biggest savings when the big day does roll around.
Prime Day sales are the perfect opportunity to save a packet on a whole variety of goodies – from clothing and footwear, to pantry essentials and tech. It's a great source for picking up laptops, cameras, smart home devices and so much more on the cheap. However, to shop during Prime Day, you'll need to be a Prime member.
The 2020 Prime Day sale was Amazon's third shopping event in Australia, having only arrived Down Under in 2018, three years after the sale kicked off in the US. In that short time, the retail giant has garnered a huge Prime following locally, and its Prime Day sale only keeps getting bigger.
Amazon Prime Day began in the US in 2015 as a celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary, with more deals on offer than Black Friday back then. Prime Day then quickly transformed into Amazon’s mid-year sales event where members of Amazon Prime get exclusive discounts on a wide range of items.
While it began as a one-day sale, by 2018 it has expanded to two days, and that meant that in Australia we could shop for 36 hours – i.e. until the sale ended in the US. In 2019, however, it got even bigger and Aussie shoppers were treated to a whopping 65 hours of discounts. 2020 brought 66 hours of shopping spree only because of daylight savings in October.
Why does Amazon have Prime Day? It's presented as a neat ‘thank you’ to its paying members, but one that involves giving Amazon more money and shifting a lot of stock at the same time.
Prime Day isn’t just about selling Amazon-branded products – many other brands and third-party sellers also save their best deals for Prime Day, completely aware that thousands of extra shoppers will be hitting the online store.
To make the most of Prime Day you’ll need to get yourself an Amazon Prime membership which, in Australia, will set you back just AU$6.99 a month or AU$59 a year – half the cost of the US subscription.
While you’re paying for the privilege of free, swift delivery, signing up for Prime means you’ll also have free access to Amazon’s streaming services, including Prime Video, Prime Music and Twitch. Members also get free access to Prime Reading and Prime Photos for all their ebook and storage needs.
If you'd like to know more about how a Prime membership can benefit you, head to our dedicated page on Amazon Prime in Australia where we explain it all.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2021?
While there's no official word on when exactly Prime Day 2021 will kick off in Australia – Amazon has always been quite tight-lipped about it, giving us a few weeks' notice to prepare – the tech giant has confirmed it will go ahead some time in June. And if the report from Bloomberg is to be believed, it's going to be on June 21-23 in Australia.
It's usually held mid-July and kicks off on a Monday. Last year, though, the global pandemic caused some serious issues with stock and delivery, and Amazon moved the sale to October 13, which was a Tuesday.
And even though it's not quite back to the usual schedule of mid-July, we're still expecting another whopper 65-hour sale. In the meantime, Amazon continues to offer some excellent discounts each day if you're looking for a quick bargain.
(Image credit: Amazon)
What to expect from Prime Day 2021
We’re not expecting shopping trends during Amazon Prime Day 2021 to change very much. The Nintendo Switch is still going to disappear within minutes of being discounted, and this could happen to the Switch Lite too if you aren’t quick enough. And given the stock issues plaguing the next-gen game consoles from Sony and Microsoft, we're not sure you'll be able to score a PS5 or an Xbox Series X – although we can hope.
Of course, Amazon’s Echo devices will likely be flying off the shelves like before, and we’ll still see the Paperwhite beating out the other Kindle ereaders in terms of sales. You can even expect to pocket some decent savings on Ring’s range of security devices, including the Doorbells and the cameras.
Premium headphones have been very popular on Amazon over the last couple of years and 2021 will likely see that continue, particularly for Sony and Bose headphones. With the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 one of the more expensive ANC cans on the market, Prime Day will be a great time to get a set for less, especially if Amazon offers a bigger discount than last year's AU$200 off.
With more TVs available on Amazon Australia now, we think Prime Day 2021 would be an ideal time to upgrade your home entertainment system, especially if you’re in the market for a good 4K smart telly – we've already seen Sony's TVs discounted on the site on a regular basis. It's also a great time to snap up that soundbar you've probably been eyeing.
It will also be a good time to get yourself a new fitness wearable, be it from Garmin’s very premium GPS sports watch range or more affordable options from Fitbit. Likewise, cameras and drones will see a price drop, too, so keep that credit card handy.
The Nintendo Switch Pro is rumoured to be releasing later this year, but if you don't want to wait, you can pick up the always-popular Nintendo Switch for less. The hybrid console is now AU$70 off on Amazon, available in both neon and the more reserved grey version.
It may not be as powerful as the Xbox Series X – which is hard to come by – but it can still comfortably play next-gen games with clarity, speed and high frame rates. While it's a digital-only device, it's ideal for those who want to get stuck into Xbox Game Pass.
Tired of the next-gen rat race? If you think the PS5 hype is a little overplayed and you just want to dive into a huge catalogue of classic games, the PS4 is still a mighty machine, and this is a mighty discount.
Bose’s flagship headphones feature more levels of noise cancellation than the QuietComfort 35 II, in a sleeker design. With an over-ear fit, you’ll be able to tune out all unwanted sounds and immerse yourself in music. Even when using the headphones on a call, the noise cancellation promises you’ll hear each other clearly. Amazon has taken AU$223 off these premium cans in silver and black.
We think Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones are the best you can buy, with stellar sound quality and adaptive noise-cancelling capabilities. This isn't the biggest discount we've seen on these cans, but it's close, so if you're keen to buy you can save just over AU$150 on Amazon.
Bose has applied its expertise in noise cancellation to these true wireless earbuds. Sound quality is rich and clear, though a little less bassy in comparison to Sony's WF-1000XM3 earbuds. Our review found them incredibly comfortable to wear too. Now down to AU$317 in black and white when you buy from Amazon.
What happened during Prime Day last year?
Despite last year's Amazon Prime Day deals event being pushed back to mid-October and concerns over stock and shipping during the pandemic – particularly international shipping from the US and UK – Amazon says it surpassed the previous year, selling an extra AU$3.2bn-worth of goods.
About US$10.4 billion-worth of products were sold globally, but what exactly did shoppers buy? According to Amazon – and our own data confirms this – the top selling items were Amazon's own devices: the Echo smart speakers and Kindle ereaders.
Other bestselling products included robot vacuum cleaners, noise-cancelling headphones from Bose, and Fitbit smartwatches and fitness trackers.
Want to know more? Here are a few of the best tech offers we saw during the most recent Prime Day deals event.
Amazon Echo Show 8 |AU$229AU$159 on Amazon
As the middle child of the Amazon's smart displays, the Echo Show 8 proved to be a hot seller last year, thanks to a really good saving of AU$70. That made it a pretty affordable smart device that would fit into any home. Its retail price has now dropped on Amazon to AU$179, so expect it to be cheaper still this Prime Day.
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 |AU$599AU$399 on Amazon
While its lowest price ever was in December 2020 at AU$359 a set, the AU$399 discount during Prime Day last year was the best we'd seen until then. So here's hoping we see an even bigger discount this time round.
Nintendo Switch + Minecraft |AU$509AU$409 on Amazon
This was a pretty good offer during Prime Day 2020, which saw you save AU$100 when you added Minecraft and the Switch console to your shopping cart. Considering the Switch usually retails for AU$447 (but can be had for AU$399), and Minecraft normally going for AU$40, this wasn't a bad buy.
Samsung T5 2TB portable SSD |AU$615AU$363.66 on Amazon
Storage solutions don't get better than this portable SSD. And while the T7 could be this year's hot buy, a 2TB storage flavour of the T5 has always been an expensive proposition... until Prime Day 2020, when the price dropped by some AU$250.
Acer Swift 3 14-inch ultrabook |AU$1,100AU$899 on Amazon
We've been big fans of the Acer Swift 3 for a couple of years and it's usually quite affordable, making it the ideal "ultrabook for the masses". With a 25% discount on Amazon during the last Prime Day, it became even more affordable.
Are Prime Day deals competitive?
Amazon has a plethora of offers on its site each day and those are usually some of the best prices you can find on consumer tech. Whether you’re after a Samsung Galaxy S21 or a Philips Hue smart lighting system, chances are you’ll get them cheaper on Amazon than any other Aussie retailer. It’s even more the case with Prime Day deals.
Leading the raft of deals during Prime Day 2021 will be Amazon’s own products, including all the Echo and Kindle products, not to mention Ring security devices. Amazon is also one of the most convenient places to score a discount on the Oculus VR headsets and, now, lay your hands on official stock of Samsung devices, Xiaomi phones, Instant Pots and Nikon photography gear.
You can easily score about 35% off on Amazon’s own devices during Prime Day which, for the rest of the year probably don’t drop more than 28% or thereabouts. If you’ve managed to score a AU$500 discount on Samsung or Huawei devices during one of Amazon’s regular deals, then it’s highly likely that the discount will be much deeper come Prime Day. It’s the perfect time to snag a Nintendo Switch or find the lowest prices on the best premium headphones – cheaper than any other retailer who will likely be scrambling to price-match.
How to shop on Prime Day in 2021
1. Check out our deals predictions and, eventually our Prime Day deals list
There are too many deals available on Prime Day. It's never a problem finding discounts, it's always an issue of figuring out what deals are worth your money. That's why we always set up a curated list during the sales marathon.
2. Amazon Prime Day has historically required being a Prime member, so be sure to have a subscription on Prime Day
Amazon started Prime Day as a clever way to drive up its Prime subscription count, and this online shopping marathon – conveniently opposite Black Friday – accomplished just that.
3. Create a wish list to curate what you want, as there will be loads of deals
You're also going to want to create a wish list ahead of time, which will let you sort out what you want and how much everything costs. This will give you a head start. You'll be able to see which deals dropped in price and which did not.
4. Snap up the best Prime Day 2021 deals before they're gone
We often find the best deals to go in a matter of minutes, at which time Amazon rolls out a waitlist for those who were just behind the curve.
Apple only recently launched iOS 14.6, but the company is keeping the updates coming as iOS 14.7 is now available in beta, and as such we know about some of what it offers.
That said, it’s possible that some features of iOS 14.7 are yet to be revealed, and even if it does end up being a small update, it’s still sure to be worth having, as if nothing else there will probably be bug and security fixes in it.
Below you’ll find everything we know about iOS 14.7 so far, including the features found in the beta and the likely release date of the finished software. We’ll be updating this article whenever there’s any additional iOS 14.7 news or leaks too, so check back regularly to stay in the loop.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The next small iOS update
When is it out? Probably late June or early July
How much will it cost? It will be free
iOS 14.7 release date
Generally Apple has been launching new iOS 14.x updates roughly once a month. Indeed, iOS 14.6 landed almost exactly a month after iOS 14.5. So while there are no guarantees, we’d think the same will probably be true with iOS 14.7.
If so then it will likely land in either late June or early July, as iOS 14.6 was rolled out on May 24.
Of course, if you don’t want to wait until then you can always grab the beta, but this will likely be buggy and unstable, and may not include all the final features, so we wouldn’t recommend it for most people.
iOS 14.7 features
Either iOS 14.7 isn’t going to be a very big update or we just don’t know very much about it yet, but below you’ll find the features that have turned up in the beta and that we currently expect to be included. If we hear about any others we’ll be sure to add them.
HomePod timers in the Home app
(Image credit: TechRadar)
One new feature spotted by 9to5Mac in the iOS 14.7 beta is the ability to set HomePod timers from the Home app. The option can be found right below HomePod alarms in the app, and you can also name your timers, see the countdowns for them in the app, and cancel them with a tap.
Previously, timers for HomePod had to be set using Siri, so for anyone who’s lost their voice or just isn’t on speaking terms with Siri, this should be handy.
Air quality details
Apple has been displaying a rating for air quality in the Weather app since the launch of iOS 14, but only in some countries. Now, with the iOS 14.7 beta, 9to5Mac has spotted that Twitter and Reddit users in Canada, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain have reported seeing these details for the first time.
So if you live in one of these places you could soon get an indication of the quality of the air you’re breathing, and if you live somewhere else that doesn’t yet have the feature, it’s always possible you will get it by the time iOS 14.7 launches in finished form.
A fix for battery life bugs
While not specifically mentioned in the beta, some users reported on Twitter that they experienced excessive battery drain with iOS 14.6, so there’s a chance this will be fixed with iOS 14.7. It’s not clear how widespread this issue is though, or how quickly Apple will fix it, so for now this is just a possibility.
With so many shows and movies to choose from on Australia's major streaming services, it can often be difficult to find the best new stuff to entertain yourself with each week.
In an effort to make things easier, we've hand-picked the best new shows and movies of the week to watch on Aussie streaming platforms, covering the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus, Binge, Foxtel Now, Stan and Amazon Prime Video.
Below, you'll find a list of this week's highlights, with binge-worthy new shows sitting alongside some great big-budget new movie arrivals – and a couple of oddball left-of-field entries, just for some variety.
The big new shows and movies this week include Sweet Tooth on Netflix and the Kung Fu reboot series on Binge and Foxtel Now. Here are our streaming picks for the weekend of May 31-June 6, 2021.
Sweet Tooth
(TV Series – arrives 04/06/2021)
From producers Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey comes Sweet Tooth, the story of a young boy who was born half-deer. Based on the DC comic of the same name, Sweet Tooth is a post-apocalyptic coming-of-age adventure story for the whole family.
Remember Kung Fu? That old show where David Carradine played a westerner-turned-monk who walks the Earth handing out chop-socky lessons to those who aren't living righteously? Well, like everything else that's old, Kung Fu has been given the reboot treatment, only this time we follow Nicky (Olivia Lang), a young Chinese-American woman who drops out of law school and heads off to an isolated monastery in China.
In a case of 'better late that never', Stan is adding This Is England '90 to its library, joining previous instalments This Is England '86 and '88 and completing the series once and for all. If you're unfamiliar with Shane Meadows' brilliant coming of age saga, start with the original This Is England film (also on Stan), which is an absolute masterpiece about Northern England's skinhead culture in 1983.
This Australian Amazon Original documentary series takes a deep dive (hehe) into the world of competitive swimming, focusing on swimming legends Ian Thorpe, Bronte Campbell, Kyle Chalmers and Cody Simpson, offering a look at how athletes deal with the pressure in and out of the pool.
Cloud kitchens are already meant to reduce the burden of infrastructure on food and beverage brands by providing them with centralized facilities to prepare meals for delivery. This means the responsibility falls on cloud kitchen operators to make sure they have enough locations to meet demand from F&B clients, while ensuring fast deliveries to end customers.
Indonesian network DishServe has figured out a way to make running cloud kitchen networks even more asset-light. Launched by budget hotel startup RedDoorz’s former chief operating officer, DishServe partners with home kitchens instead of renting or buying its own facilities. It currently works with almost 100 home kitchens in Jakarta, and focuses on small- to medium-sized F&B brands, serving as their last-mile delivery network. Launched in fall 2020, DishServe has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Insignia Ventures Partners.
DishServe was founded in September 2020 by Rishabh Singhi. After leaving RedDoorz at the end of 2019, Singhi moved to New York, with plans to launch a new hospitality startup that could quickly convert any commercial space into members’ clubs like Soho House. The nascent company had already created sample pre-fabricated rooms and was about to start leasing property when the COVID-19 lockdown hit New York City in March 2020. Singhi said he went on a “soul searching spree” for a couple of months, deciding what to do and if he should return to Southeast Asia.
He realized that since many restaurants had to switch to online orders and delivery to survive the pandemic, this could potentially be an equalizer for small F&B brands that compete with larger players, like McDonald’s. But lockdowns meant that a lot of people had to pick from a limited range of restaurants close to where they lived. At the same time, Singhi saw that there were a lot of people who wanted to make more money, but couldn’t work outside of their homes, like stay-at-home moms.
DishServe was created to connect all three sides: F&B brands that want to expand without spending a lot of money, home entrepreneurs and diners hungry for more food options. Its other founders include Stefanie Irma, an early RedDoorz employee who served as its country head for the Philippines; serial entrepreneur Vinav Bhanawat; and Fathhi Mohamed, who also co-founded Sri Lankan on-demand taxi service PickMe.
The company works with F&B brands that typically have between just one to 15 retail locations, and want to increase their deliveries without opening new outlets. DishServe’s clients also include cloud kitchen companies who use its home kitchen network for last-mile distribution to expand their delivery coverage and catering services.
“The brands don’t to have to incur any upfront costs, and it’s a cheaper way to distribute as well because they don’t have to pay for electricity, plumbing and other things like that,” said Singhi. “And for agents, it gives them a chance to earn money from their homes.”
Before adding a home kitchen to its network, DishServe screens applicants by asking them to send in a series of photos, then doing an in-person check. If a kitchen is accepted, DishServe upgrades it so it has the same equipment and functionality as the other home kitchens in its network. The company covers the cost of the conversion process, which usually takes about three hours and costs $500 USD, and maintains ownership of the equipment, taking it back if a kitchen decided to stop working with DishServe. Singhi said DishServe is usually able to recover the cost of a conversion four months after a kitchen begins operating.
Home kitchens start out by serving DishServe’s own white-label brand as a trial run before it opens to other brands. Each can serve up to three additional brands at a time.
One important thing to note is that DishServe’s home kitchens, which are usually run by one person, don’t actually cook any food. Ingredients are provided by F&B brands, and home kitchen operators follow a standard set of procedures to heat, assemble and package meals for pick-up and delivery.
Screenshots of DishServe’s apps for home kitchen operators and customers
DishServe makes sure standard operating procedures and hygiene standards are being maintained through frequent online audits. Agents, or kitchen operators, regularly submit photos and videos of kitchens based on a checklist (i.e. food preparation area, floors, walls, hand-washing area and the inside of their freezers). Singhi said about 90% of its agents are women between the ages of 30 to 55, with an average household income of $1,000. By working with DishServe, they typically make an additional $600 a month once their kitchen is operating at full capacity with four brands. DishServe monetizes through a revenue-sharing model, charging F&B brands and splitting that with its agents.
After joining DishServe, F&B brands pick what home kitchens they want to work with, and then distribute ingredients to kitchens, using DishServe’s real-time dashboard to monitor stock. Some ingredients have a shelf life of up to six months, while perishables, like produce, dairy and eggs, are delivered daily. DishServe’s “starter pack” for onboarding new brands lets them pick pick five kitchens, but Singhi said most brands usually begin with between 10 to 20 kitchens so they can deliver to more spots in Jakarta and save money by preparing meals in bulk.
DishServe plans to focus on growing its network in Jakarta until at least the end of this year, before expanding into other cities. “One thing we are trying to change about the F&B industry is that instead of highly-concentrated, centralized food business, like what exists today, we are decentralizing it by enabling micro-entrepreneurs to act as a distribution network,” Singhi said.
Just days after Dyson’s most innovative cordless vacuum to-date, the Dyson V15 Detect (that comes with lasers, no less), went on sale the floorcare stalwart has dropped another new cordless vacuum.
The Dyson Omni-glide is a new type of cordless vacuum cleaner that’s designed for hard floors and is more compact and lighter than any of Dyson’s cordless cleaners to date.
The biggest upgrade is the cleaner head that has not on,e but two, brush bars meaning cleaning takes less time.
The cleaning head also sits on four 360-degree castors so it can move in any direction, and the vacuum cleaner can even lay flat, making it good for hard to reach corners and ensuring areas under furniture are dust-free.
But aside from their differing cleaning heads, you’re probably wondering exactly what the differences are and whether they’re both among the best vacuum cleaners on the market right now - and we've tested both in depth to find out.
Best Dyson V15 Detect and Dyson Omni-glide deals
Read on to find out just how these cordless vacuums compare – or, if you know which Dyson cleaner device you want, check out the best prices right now for both products below:
(Image credit: Dyson)
Price
At $399.99 / £349.99 / AU$599.99, the Dyson Omni-glide is Dyson’s most affordable vacuum cleaner to date, although it’s still relatively expensive compared to many other cordless vacuums, and is available to buy now in the US and Australia, and will go on sale in the UK in July.
In contrast, the Dyson V15 Detect, which is known as the V15 Detect Absolute in the UK and the V15 Detect Total Clean in Australia, is priced at $699.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,399.
There are two variants of the V15 available. In the US the second model is called the Dyson Outsize Absolute+ and is priced at $899.99 while in the UK it's known as the Dyson Outsize Absolute and costs £699.99.
It has a larger 0.5-gallon / 1.9-litre dust bin, although it can’t count and sort the dust particles, and the US model comes with two batteries.
In Australia, the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute Extra is also available and comes with a free-standing dock, for a cost of AU$1,449.
The Dyson Omni-glide and Dyson V15 Detect certainly look different from each other.
While they both have a main section that contains the motor, cyclones - which generate centrifugal force to keep dust and dirt in the canister - and a dust canister, the Dyson Omni-glide is much smaller and more compact than the V15 Detect.
The Dyson Omni-glide has a vertical handle, which houses the swappable battery, rather than the traditional trigger-style handle found on the V15 Detect, which is also where the swappable battery is fitted.
The Omni-glide’s power button, which can be found on the front of the handle, ensures the vacuum cleaner runs continually until it’s turned off, while the trigger on the V15 Detect means it’s only powered when this is held down.
The dust canister on the Omni-glide holds 0.05 gallons / 0.02 liters, compared to the 0.2 gallon / 0.75 liter dust canister on V15 Detect. Both cordless vacuums can be used in stick mode, with a wand and cleaning head attached to the canister, or converted into handheld mode and used with any of the tools they come bundled with.
Because of the long handle, we found the Omni-glide cumbersome to use in handheld mode. On that note, the Omi-glide comes with one cleaning head, and three tools, while the V15 Detect has two cleaning heads, and six tools bundled with it.
Battery life and power
The runtimes of each vacuum vary wildly too. During testing, the Omni-glide lasted 20 minutes on the lowest power setting, although this dropped to just shy of 18 minutes on maximum power.
Meanwhile, the V15 Detect lasted a respectable 59 minutes between charges on the lowest-power mode. We were also disappointed that the Omni-glide has no real way of gauging the battery level, whereas the V15 has an (awesome) LCD screen that shows the remaining runtime, as well as any blockages and a breakdown of the dust it’s collected thanks to the piezo sensor (more on that below).
When it comes to suction, the Omni-glide has two power levels while the V15 Detect has three, meaning the latter is more adept at sucking around the house.
More suction power means the vacuum is better at pulling up ground-in dirt from carpets, making cleaning your floors a much quicker task - but when you consider the Omni-glide is designed solely for hard floors while the V15 Detect can be used on carpet as well as hard floors, this reduced suction isn’t really an issue.
On test, we found both vacuums whipped away fine dust and cereals from hard floors in just one slow sweep, so the reduced suction on the Omni-glide certainly hasn’t hampered its cleaning ability.
The Dyson Omni-glide(Image credit: Dyson)
Features
The Omni-glide and the V15 Detect both have cleaning heads that offer very different functions.
The Omni-glide’s cleaning head has two as two brush bars covered in soft nylon to capture large particles without damaging hard floors, while anti-static carbon fiber filaments collect fine dust at the same time.
The head sits on four 360 degree castors that, along with an articulating neck, allow the vacuum cleaner to be steered in any direction. It can also lay completely flat, making it great for cleaning under low-lying furniture and in tight spaces.
On test we were impressed at just how smoothly the cordless vacuum glided on hard floors and how easy it was to steer around a circular trash can in the kitchen, and underneath a sideboard in the living room.
The V15 Detect’s hard-floor cleaning head can’t be steered in any direction and only has one brush bar, but it does feature a laser, which shines a beam of green light in front of the head, to highlight hidden dust that can’t be seen by the human eye.
The V15 Detect is also fitted with an acoustic piezo sensor that can count and identify the size of the dust particles it collects, displaying the information on the LCD screen - not something the Omni-glide offers but a handy feature if you want evidence just how thorough your clean has been.
Finally, the V15 Detect also ships with a High Torque cleaning head that can be used on carpet as well as hard floors.
When this head, which has 56 polycarbonate teeth that shred hair into small sections so they won’t get tangled around the brush bar, is used on Auto mode, the vacuum cleaner will adjust the suction power to suit the floor type it’s being used on automatically.
Verdict
When it comes to choosing between the Dyson Omni-glide vs the Dyson V15 Detect, the type of flooring you have in your home will affect which cordless vacuum cleaner is best for you.
If you have only hard floors then the Dyson Omni-glide will be a great buy. If you have carpet, the Omni-glide won’t be your main vacuum cleaner, but it will work as an additional vacuum for quick cleans.
The V15 Detect is a real powerhouse when it comes to carpet vacuuming, and many will enjoy the 'gamified' nature of the seeing the cleanliness of your floor on the LCD screen.
Also, you know... lasers.
The Omni-glide is more compact than the V15 Detect, making it good for homes that are short on space, and can easily get under low-lying furniture or in tight spaces, so if this sounds like your home, it’ll be a winner.
It’s also more affordable too, so is a good choice for those on a budget - saving heavily if you don't have carpet.
However, for those that want to use the vacuum in handheld mode a lot - an area where we found the Omni-glide uncomfortable to use - or want proof that your vacuuming sessions really are thorough, then the V15 Detect steps up to the plate here and is a worthwhile investment.
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