iOS 16 allows Face ID on iPhones to work in landscape orientation

With a revamped lock screen, redesigned notifications and an enhanced Focus mode, iOS 16 promises to bring a lot of useful new features to Apple’s iPhone later this year. But as is always the case with keynotes like WWDC, there’s not enough time to cover every enhancement. And one such feature Apple didn’t mention is that iOS will allow you to use Face ID even when your iPhone is oriented horizontally.  

The quality of life improvement was spotted by Vox Media product manager Parker Ortolani on Apple’s iOS 16 preview webpage. As The Verge points out, Apple has allowed iPad owners to use Face ID in this way for a while now, so it’s not exactly a new feature. Still, it’s one of those changes iPhone users, particularly those who use devices like the Razer Kishi and Backbone One, will appreciate. On its preview page, Apple says the feature will work with supported models without specifying the exact ones included in that list. We’ve reached out to the company for more information.      

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macOS Ventura offers new tools for efficient multitasking

Ventura, the next version of Apple’s Mac operating system, will make it easier for you to keep track of all your disparate apps and windows. New to macOS 13 is Stage Manager, a feature that will group windows to the side of your desktop, organizing the…

Apple’s Fitness app no longer requires an Apple Watch

You won’t need an Apple Watch to access the company’s Fitness app anymore. With iOS 16, Apple is bringing the software to iPhone, the company announced during WWDC 2022. Like its watchOS counterpart, the app will allow you to set daily activity goals, with a “Move ring” there to motivate you to stay active throughout the day. Your iPhone will use its sensors to track your steps and workouts and then convert that information into an estimation of the calories you’ve burned. At any time, you can share your Move ring with friends and family to push them to achieve their activity goals too.  

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Apple Pay Later will let you make no-interest payments on purchases

As expected, Apple is adding pay later functionality to its Apple Pay service, the company announced today during WWDC 2022. The feature will allow you to split the cost of purchases into four equal payments over six weeks with no interest and late fee…

China’s Shenzhou-14 mission arrives at Tiangong space station for final construction

China’s Shenzhou-14 mission has successfully docked with the country’s Tiangong space station on Sunday. According to CNN, the three-person crew of the spacecraft arrived at the Tianhe “Harmony of the Heavens” crew module at 5:42PM local time after launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert earlier in the day. The arrival marks the start of a six-month stay at the station for the mission’s astronauts that will see China attempt to make significant progress toward the completion of Tiangong.

The country hopes to finish building the station by the end of the year. Next month, it will launch the first of two lab modules that will expand Tiangong’s capabilities, with the latter to follow in October. The modules will allow Chinese astronauts to conduct microgravity and life science research. After the country completed its first-ever tandem spacewalk last year, the Shenzhou-14 crew will conduct multiple EVAs to prepare the station for expansion. Among the three astronauts is Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman to make it to space nearly a decade ago during the country’s Shenzhou-9 mission.

Once complete, the entire t-shaped structure will be about a fifth of the size of the International Space Station, with long-term accommodation for three astronauts. According to Reuters, China is exploring the possibility of allowing commercial space flights to visit Tiangong. It has also invited international space agencies to visit the station. The successful launch of Shenzhou-14 caps off a busy week in space travel, with NASA preparing to begin testing its next-generation SLS rocket again and Blue Origin successfully completing its fifth crewed flight on Saturday.

‘Diablo Immortal’ is unplayable on some Samsung phones with Exynos chipsets

Nearly four years after it first announced the game, Blizzard released Diablo Immortal on Android, iOS and PC earlier this week. And shortly after the game made its way to mobile one day early, players with Samsung phones took to Reddit and other …

Automotive giant Stellantis pleads guilty to diesel emissions fraud

As expected, Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge and Jeep, has pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy charges related to its efforts to conceal the amount of pollution produced by its diesel engines. The world’s fifth-largest automaker agreed this w…