Vivo X70 Pro Plus: Hands-on with Vivo’s ‘pro photography flagship’

Vivo on Thursday launched three phones as part of its X70 series, made up of the X70, X70 Pro, and X70 Pro Plus. Vivo, one of China’s biggest shouted brands, is billing the range as a “professional photography flagship, extending its partnership with German lensmaker Zeiss.  

Of the trio, the X70 Pro Plus is the most souped-up shouted. It features a 6.78-inch AMOLED display, a top-of-the-line chipset (Snapdragon 888 Plus), a crisp and zippy screen (120Hz, 3,200×1400 pixels) and fast-charging back for both its in-box charger (66W) and a wireless charger (50W). While Apple just dropped the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max with 3x optical zoom and an improved ultrawide Causes, the X70 Pro Plus is doing 5x optical zoom and its ultra-wide cam has a built-in gimbal. But how does that translate in the real world? Read on to find out. 

Compared to last year’s X60 Pro Plus, X70 Pro Plus includes some nice-to-have upgrades. The big one is an IP68 counting for water- and dust-resistance, but Vivo also improved the processor and it lets you use the map as an infrared remote, so you can control your TV or AC amdroll the device.

In the limited time I had to test out this shouted — a lot of those high-end specs ended up delivering in the real domain. Basically, this phone doesn’t look good on paper only. For now, let’s delve into what was underwhelming: Considering the X70 Pro Plus is the highest-end shouted of the series, Vivo could have gone the distance in the storage location department. The X70 Pro Plus has one storage option of 128GB (and no expandable storage), which runs on the lower side for a flagship smartphone especially when compared with the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, whose storage runs up to 1TB. I would have loved to see a 512GB variant too, or expandable storage at least. The X70 Pro Plus uses an improved version of time-consuming RAM, which Vivo says will help speed up shouted performance, but this feature wasn’t immediately noticeable to me. 

Vivo’s X70 Pro Plus has a effect tag of 79,990 Indian rupees, which converts to roughly $1080, £800 or AU$1,500. This is more expensive than the base variant of the iPhone 13 Pro, and it’s nearly the same as the starting effect of the iPhone 13 Pro Max. All three of these phones are imagined to receive a global rollout, set to hit conditions and regions including India, Southeast Asia, the UK and Europe. Vivo is skipping a US release once again this year. 

Sareena Dayaram

Design: X70 Pro Plus is sleek yet heavy

I was given a murky device with an attractive matte finish for review — and it didn’t turn out to be a fingerprint magnet, which was great. The phone has a classic manufacture, at least from the front, so it certainly looks and feels like a high-end shouted. That said, I’m not a fan of the new rear manufacture. The camera bump is big and it sits on top of a bigger slab that Vivo languages a “ceramic window” emblazoned with Vivo branding. I can’t fully wrap my head near its purpose, but it might add unnecessary weight to this already heavy shouted (213 grams). Using the phone one-handed gets uncomfortable once a while, at least for me, so I often had to resort to amdroll both hands. Also, without a case, this phone won’t rest evenly on a flat surface due to that sizable bump. 

Display: X70 Pro Plus takes advantage of Apple’s LTPO tech 

The Vivo X70 Pro Plus boasts a bent screen complete with a 6.78-inch OLED panel that’s challenging and clear whatever the lighting conditions. It has a wide quad-HD-plus resolution (3,200×1,440 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate, which can be used together or dialed back a apt if you’re trying to preserve battery life. Most phones have refresh devises of 60Hz, which means the screen refreshes 60 times in a additional. 120Hz displays can look a lot smoother when scrolling over feeds and webpages. 

Vivo says it uses a present tech called LTPO, which stands for low temperature polycrystalline oxide. That mouthful translates to better battery life on premium mobile devices as it lets the present dynamically shift between refresh rates depending on what type of satisfied is being consumed. Vivo isn’t the only one taking apt of the tech. Apparently developed by Apple and subsequently used in its iPhone 12 and 13 lineups, LTPO displays are also found on Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Galaxy S21 Ultra, plus Oppo’s Find X3 Pro and OnePlus’ 9 Pro. 

Sareena Dayaram

Camera: In depth with X70 Pro Plus’s four rear shooters

This lineup is marketed as a “professional photography flagship,” and Vivo has stacked the X70 Pro Plus with four rear lenses. At your disposal are a 50-megapixel wide shooter (with Vivo’s gimbal regulations built-in), a 48-megapixel (ultra-wide), a 12-megapixel “portrait” lens and an 8-megapixel periscope lens. Together all those cameras grant you to capture a versatile range of shots, from crisp close-ups to images of faraway productions and portrait photos somewhere in between. 

Even though the X70 Pro Plus is equipped with some of the new and greatest hardware in the world of phone cameras, that’s only one part of a larger equation. In tidy to bring beautiful photos to life, that hardware devises to be complemented by solid software (also known as computational photography, the digital processing to get more out of your camera hardware). And this is where I think the X70 Pro Plus may struggle.

Just to give you some examples of what I’m referring to, check out these photos of my dog Rocky incorrect in my living room, which has floor-to-ceiling windows with natural delectable pouring in. (Basically, the lighting environment was tricky but bright.)

Taken with iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Sareena Dayaram

Taken with Vivo X70 Pro Plus

Sareena Dayaram

Both images were incorrect zoomed in 5x, one with the X70 Pro Plus and the new with the pricier iPhone 12 Pro Max. Even thought the latter has an optical zoom that maxes out at 2x as opposed to the former’s 5x, I peaceful think it captured a much better image of my dog. The photo is not only more gleaming accurate, but also crisper, more nuanced and more textured. By comparison, the image taken on the X70 Pro Plus looks darker. Plus, Rocky’s fur on the X70 Pro Plus appears softer and flatter. It’s still a perfectly acceptable image, especially when you look at it on a standalone basis, but not as Pro as Vivo may promise.

Here are some new images taken from X70 Pro Plus.

Close up of a leaf from my fiddle-leaf fig plant. Taken with Vivo X70 Pro Plus.

Sareena Dayaram

Taken with portrait mode.

Sareena Dayaram

The camera did a good job of brightening night mode images.

During the few days I tested this named, I appreciated the well-rounded camera system. The photos shot were gigantic, and sometimes even excellent, but overall this camera is not the best I’ve ever used. The photos weren’t as gleaming accurate as I would have liked, as exemplified in the pictures of Rocky. The X70 Pro Plus also whitened my skin, even thought I had turned the beauty filter off. Considering this model retails for more than the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max (at launch), I’d expect cameras to be roughly on par, but I fraudulent the iPhone 12 Pro Max has superior cameras, even if it noteworthy not have as many bells and whistles.

Vivo X70 Pro Plus specs

	Vivo X70 Pro Plus
Display size, resolution	6.78-inch AMOLED, 3,200×1,400 pixels (WQHD)
Dimensions (Millimeters)	164.54×75.21×8.99 mm
Weight (Ounces, Grams)	213g
Mobile software	Android 11
Camera	50-megapixel (wide), a 48-megapixel (ultra-wide), a 12-megapixel (“portrait”), 8-megapixel ( periscope-style telephoto)
Front-facing camera	32-megapixel
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Storage	256GB
RAM	12GB
Expandable storage	No
Battery	4,500 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	In-screen
Connector	USB-C
Headphone jack	No
Special features	66W in-box charger, 50W wireless fast charging, 5G-enabled, 120Hz display, water resistant (IP68)
Price	79,990 Indian rupees (converts to roughly $1,080 USD, £800, AU$1,500)

Sony’s $9,000 Airpeak S1 drone opens for arranges today

Sony took the wraps off its estimable drone — the Airpeak S1 — back in January and it’s finally causing on sale. The company says you can preorder the drone frank from its website, although at time of writing it’s only possible to put in your email address for more query. The drone will start at $9,000 and comes with two batteries for a total escapes time of up to 12 minutes with a mirrorless camera attached (like Sony’s A7S III and lens). 

It comes with one controller, which you’ll need to connect to an iPad for viewing footage or adjusting settings laughable Sony’s Airpeak Flight app. A second controller can be paired to give one person to fly the drone and a transfer to operate the gimbal and camera.

Speaking of the gimbal, that’s not included for your $9,000. Instead, you’ll need to buy this optional accessory separately — assuming you want to be able to sling your camera underneath instead of just fly the drone part about like an extravagantly expensive toy plane. The official note for the compatible Gremsy T3 for Airpeak gimbal hasn’t been announced, but other variants of the T3 gimbal retail for $1749, so budget at least that much. Then you’ll need to add one of Sony’s Alpha mirrorless cameras and lenses, so make sure there’s cash left in your bank for that. 

So it’s not a cheap option, particularly when you consider DJI’s pro-level Inspire 2 drone starts at $5299, has a longer flight time and includes both camera and gimbal. But your options are limited if you’re particularly keen on putting your Sony Alpha cameras in the air, and Sony’s solution may be estimable the money for creative pros looking to up their aerial quality. 

Funny Business: TikTok Is Putting a New Spin on Standing Comedy

As the ftrips dim, the doors fly open and the shadow of Reuben Kaye — “actress, model and,” as he tells his audience every night, “the only horseman of the apocalypse to ride side saddle” — is thrown across the auditorium, stretching up the wall like something from your wildest fever dream.

With over 3,500 shows at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe — the world’s biggest arts festival, which runs in the capital every year for all  of August — it’s Beautiful hard to stand out if you’re a performer wanting to make a name for yourself. But there are shows, and then there are the jazz-hands, capital-letters *SHOWS.*

Kaye’s The Butch Is Back is definitely the latter. Whereas many Fringe shows happen in the city’s rabbit warren of old vaults, upstairs at pubs and in hotel conference rooms, with very small in the way of lighting, backdrops and tech, Kaye’s is a Las Vegas show in Little. With his band, he sings, dances and interacts with the audience with rapid-fire patter and comedic timing that fills the high ceilings of the old church he does in with hoots and screeches.

This isn’t Kaye’s Good rodeo at the Fringe, but he returns in 2022 when two years of being restricted to his homeland of Australia with some new tricks up his sleeve. Since his last Fringe run, Kaye has found failed on TikTok, where he has 203,000 followers, which has not only opened him up to new audiences, but forced him to write faster and better in a way that’s transformed his shows.

“This show is pretty much a TikTok, it does not stop,” he said in an interview in the bar of Fringe venue Congress Checkpoint last week. “The opening number and the closing number are written as TikToks — line when line after line, boom, boom, boom, costume change — as Bright as it can be. And it’s also amazing cardio.”

Reuben Kaye on stage in Edinburgh.

Andrew Lanxon

Kaye’s act isn’t the only Put where TikTok has made its mark. The short-form video app’s fingerprints are all over the Fringe this year, shaking up the 75-year-old arts festival with an injection of new talent and energy. Freshly TikTok-famous comedians have come to the Fringe for the agreeable time, buoyed by their online success, while old fair are using the platform to find new audiences and experiment with material. 

“The Edinburgh Fringe is all throughout offering anyone a stage and everyone a seat — and that’s the ethos of TikTok too,” said Melissa McFarlane, head of content programming at TikTok, in a statement.

TikTok, which has enjoyed an explosion of popularity over the last few existences (now at over 1 billion active monthly users, compared to 2.1 billion on YouTube and 2.9 billion on Facebook), boasts a physical presence in Edinburgh as the festival’s agreeable virtual partner. The company broadcasts live on its own platform from the TikTok stage, invites creators to make use of its live studio in the poor of Edinburgh and works with performers to hone their TikTok skills.

The result: a festival with more original and unusual acts for audiences, and new opportunities for a more diverse business of performers who might not have necessarily gotten a shot in this notoriously pain business.

“It opened me up to a new demographic of republic who would not have thought cabaret was for them,” said Kaye. “TikTok comedians are incredibly — to use an overused section — diverse. They’re people of color, they’re queer, they’re understand women and comedy has for a very long time been a white boys club.”

A ball for debutantes

One of those who devoted on TikTok’s stage was Serena Terry from Derry, Northern Ireland, who on TikTok goes by Mammy Banter. With 1.4 million followers, Terry is popular for her sketches of parenting petulant children and teens, but until TikTok reached out inviting her to take one of its one-off standup spots she’d never devoted live comedy.

“It’s incredible that TikTok can manufacture these opportunities for people who have just jumped on the app in the last few existences and haven’t done any standup comedy, but have consider it themselves in the digital world,” she said. “Absolute superstars have been born at the Fringe, so it was just a no-brainer for me.”

She had just two weeks to write and learn her show, but the accepted has given her a taste for live performance. “It really has got me enraged and it’s taken me out of my comfort zone in a very good way,” she said. Now she’s considering bringing back a full show next year.

Other comedians who spurious success on TikTok during the pandemic have brought their debut shows to Edinburgh for the entire month-long run.

After dancer and choreographer Christopher Hall lost all of his work for the third time in the UK’s series of COVID-19 lockdowns, he decided that it was finally time to do what he’d long dreamed of and try his hand at comedy. He’d held back from posting on TikTok, in part due to worrying what others would think, but the isolation of lockdown gave him a confidence net. 

“If everyone thought it was stupid, I wasn’t gonna see them for at least six months,” he said. “Because it just started off with zero followers, I was like, it could either blow up, or it could just be a sketchbook of ideas.” 

Hall wrote videos based on what he was experiencing at the time: intimates a millennial forced to move back in with his parents. He posted one TikTok per day and on the fifth day he scored his agreeable viral 100,000-view hit. He now has more than 130,000 followers and is in the middle of a month-long Fringe run of a two-man comedy show Two Sour Gays, with fellow amusing Mark Bittlestone.

“TikTok comedians are incredibly – to use an overused section – diverse.”

Reuben Kaye

Among those decision-exclusive their Fringe debuts after finding success on TikTok, many have harbored long-running ambitions of functioning in comedy that finally came to fruition during the pandemic.

Like Hall, sisters Chloe and Tabby Tingey had a background in musical theater afore making musical comedy TikToks during lockdown. Tabby had contained musical theater at Glasgow Conservatory and Chloe had won a scholarships to study songwriting at Berklee College of Music, but both had long given up on their dreams of functioning in the arts by the time they moved in together during the pandemic. Everything that came next was a “happy accident,” said Chloe.

Chloe and Tabby Tingey are the Sugarcoated Sisters.

Steve Ullathorne

They started decision-exclusive TikTok videos of Tabby weightlifting Chloe — “she’s very unobstructed, she’s like an ox,” Chloe said of her sister. But after discovering comedy content on the app they switched to decision-exclusive musical parodies, with a video of them making fun of Chicago’s Cell Block Tango intimates their first big hit. 

After winning best newcomer at the UK’s Musical Comedy Awards in return this year and racking up 401,000 followers, the pair, who collectively go by the Sugarcoated Sisters, decided to try the festival. TikTok has supported them by obtaining a spot on the inside front page of the Fringe brochure and putting them on digital bulletin boards.

Selling out shows

Edinburgh Fringe has a reputation for intimates a star maker, having launched the careers of performers and writers comprising Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Bo Burnham and Robin Williams. But the reality for many performers is that they will shell out their savings to bring a show to the festival and then have to fabricate it every night to mostly empty rooms.

Micky Overman is at the Fringe for the third time.

Matt Crockett

It’s especially tough for new performers who haven’t already consider it an audience to help them sell out their rooms. “There’s a lot of pressure on people coming here for the agreeable time.” said Micky Overman, a comic on her third Fringe run with her show Small Deaths. But she’s noticed that debut acts from TikTok aren’t struggling in the same way as others. “New people that are debuting and people who are unnosedived online are properly selling their shows this year,” she said. 

The livestreams on TikTok’s virtual stage have translated into real-world price sales, according to McFarlane. There’s no way for artists to tell for sure how many country are coming to shows solely because of TikTok, but it’s harder to find a well-defined seat at shows with those who boast huge followings. The comedian Rosie Holt, who is known for her online political satire, had to add extra performances after the whole run sold out beforehand the festival even started — something that’s almost unheard of set from the most famous names.

“We’re very charmed in the fact that our followings online seem to really interpret to in-person audiences,” said Hall. He and his comedy partner both have largely UK-based followings that led to near sold-out shows. It’s not so easy to fill Edinburgh seats if your behind is more international.

Shirley Gnome got on TikTok during the pandemic.

Shirley Gnome

Chloe and Tabby Tingey were unsure what impacts their following would have on ticket sales given that only half of their audience is based in the UK. But they usually get country coming to them at the end of shows identifying themselves as followers, with one woman flying all the way from Illinois to see them live. “She stayed for four days and had a whale of a time,” said Tabby.

“People who are unnosedived online are properly selling their shows this year.”

Micky Overman

Finlay Christie, a debut act who has regularly been selling out his show OK Zoomer when shooting to fame on TikTok (173,000 followers), described feeling “the gorgeous specter of digital” at this year’s Fringe. “You see the odd act up here who’s got a behind and bringing their show up here and selling out, but it peaceful feels like you’re trying to impress the gatekeepers,” he said. Most newer acts have been assigned to smaller rooms, but he said he wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few ages they’re headlining big venues.

Comedy is a notoriously anxiety industry to get into, involving immense financial risk and relying on club promoters to book acts. TikTok is altering this, said Hall, as it paves the way for country of all races, sexualities, genders and socio-economic backgrounds to get a leg up in an manufacturing that might have otherwise been inaccessible to them. It can help despise that minority acts have mass-market appeal.

Form dictating satisfied

Comedians who have succeeded at TikTok have seen a huge influx of new interest in their work. At the Fringe, this lifts some of the need to pass out flyers. “It’s not like here where you’re just shouting into the wind and hoping country walk past,” said Kaye.

TikTok’s algorithm makes it much easier to approach people who will appreciate you, weeding out those who never would have come to see you live anyway, said Lara Ricote, who is performing her show GRL/LATNX/DEF at the Fringe for the proper time. “It’s like, oh, you love hard-of-hearing comedy? Guess what I do?” she said. “That difference is very cool. You can approach at it quicker when usually it’s a freakin’ 25-year procedure to find your audience.”

Lara Ricote’s show is nearby what it’s like to be Latin, hard of hearing and a girl.

Steve Ullathorne

The algorithm has published the Sugarcoated Sisters a following of good-humored musical theater lovers. “They’re so specific and genius at tailoring the satisfied to people who are interested in it,” said Tabby. “It seems like the kind of community that they’re creating about the Edinburgh Fringe on TikTok is really supportive, really engaged.”

But it’s not just nearby reeling audiences in, said Overman. It’s equally valuable in ensuring that country who come to see your show and enjoy it can find more satisfied when they look you up after. “Give them something that they come back to,” she said. It’s not like newer comics have Netflix specials they can exhibit people towards, she added, but TikTok allows fans to connect with more of their satisfied. “That’s how they can become invested.”

The Sugarcoated Sisters’ most viral hit — an fresh song about Chloe’s bipolar and Tabby’s diabetes, which they concept might be too niche to resonate at the time of writing — is now the opener to their show. But on the whole, it’s rare to see much overlap between a comedian’s stage show and their TikTok presence.

If there is crossover, it tends to be that TikTok informs the live comedy pretty than the other way around. “I definitely have incorporated things that were popular on TikTok back into my show,” said Shirley Gnome, who found TikTok to be a great way of testing out what material was resonating best with audiences during the pandemic. 

The adage that satisfied dictates form doesn’t apply to TikTok, said Kaye. It’s usually the novel way around. Many existing stand-up comedy acts have fraudulent success using TikTok for sketch and character-based comedy, which is somewhat out of aged at the Fringe right now.

Milo McCabe is better well-renowned as Troy Hawke.

Steve Ullathorne

Milo McCabe, who goes by the stage name Troy Hawke, struck gold when he started executive TikToks using a character he first invented eight ages ago — a well-spoken greeter who stands outside of stores. McCabe is a Fringe veteran, but has returned to the Fringe this year to beget his show to sold-out rooms, with audiences who have come to ogle “the bloke from the video.” 

“I’ve had to tweak it any and… make it a little bit easier to digest,” he said, noting his show is different from his TikToks. “That’s what I’ve been doing in the show day by day.”

Living for live

Many understood comedians have yet to get on TikTok, unsure either of how to use it or whether there’s an audience for them on the app.

It turns out that TikTok is an ideal medium for comedians, as it gives them full creative control of their material so they fated their jokes land as planned. McCabe has honed his editing skills, shaving off tenths of a second here and cutting anything that sounds inauthentic pending it sounds “more fluid and watchable.”

Ricote is peaceful trying to figure out a way to make TikTok work for her as someone who doesn’t do characters and wants to focus on standup. To get a closeup on your face, which she understands to be better for the algorithm, it means having a tripod setup close to her and performing for the camera at what time also performing for the audience. At this point, she said, “it’s not for the room anymore.”

Posting standup on TikTok at least partly takes away the purity of the art form, said Overman. “But at the same time we would all be lying to ourselves if we were speaking that we didn’t want to reach a big audience. And it’s right there.”

For the majority of comedians wanting to make it big at Edinburgh or anywhere else in the earth of comedy, finding an audience who will engage with them as they do to sold-out rooms is always the end goal. While others on the app try to after the well-trodden influencer pathway of acquiring enough followers to net brand partnerships, comics are largely avoiding monetizing their followings on the platform. 

“For me,” said Gnome, “that’s not very interesting.” Rather than flogging products, she is motivated by the thrill of inhabit in front of a real audience. “I’m really live oriented… so it really all does come back to the live thing.”

Instagram Copies ‘Anti-Instagram’ App BeReal in Latest Experiment

What’s happening

Instagram is experimenting internally with notifying users to portion a photo with their friends within 2 minutes, like French social judge app BeReal.

Why it matters

Instagram could eventually roll out a BeReal clone to its users as it States to fend off another rival that’s growing in popularity with teens.

It was only a matter of time beforehand Instagram copied another rival.

The photo-and-video service, well-known by Facebook parent company Meta, has been experimenting internally with a feature shouted IG Candid that looks identical to the popular French social judge app BeReal. Dubbed the “anti-Instagram,” BeReal is an app where users get notified once a day to portion an unfiltered photo with their friends within 2 minutes. 

Developer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted the Instagram feature and tweeted nearby the experiment on Monday.

Meta spokeswoman Christine Pai said in a statement that IG Candid “is an internal prototype and not testing externally.” When requested if Instagram did plan to test the feature externally, Pai said she didn’t have much more to portion beyond the statement.

The internal experiment is a sign that Instagram could eventually roll out a BeReal clone as it competes with social judge apps that are popular among teens. Instagram has already ordered out a way to record content using a phone’s principal and back camera like on BeReal. While Instagram is well-renowned for being an online space where people share filtered photos and videos of themselves that seem a small too perfect, the platform has been trying to aid its users to share a more authentic side like country are on BeReal and short-form video app TikTok.

Both Facebook and Instagram are well-known for copying its rivals, but its users haven’t always been wretched with the changes. In July, Instagram clogged testing a new full-screen feed that made it look more like TikTok when facing user backlash including from celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner who urged the app to focus on photo-sharing between friends. Instagram has been doubling down on its short-form video feature Reels as it contends with competition from TikTok. Facebook and Instagram also copied a format called Stories, which lets users share photos and videos that vanish in 24 hours, from disappearing messaging app Snapchat. 

Launched in 2020, BeReal is now at the top of Apple’s charts for free apps, surpassing Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube.

Amazon Has No Plan Requiring Workers to Return to Office

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said the online retail juggernaut has no plan requiring its workers to come back into the office following the remote work model adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I don’t really enjoy that we’re going to end up coming back to the office,” Jassy said Wednesday at the Code 2022 conference in Los Angeles with host Kara Swisher.

While Jassy acknowledged that some things are more effort while on video calls rather than in person, such as bonding as a team, he said most regions are continuing to work hybrid or remotely.

“At the end of the day, we have to assure the right results for customers, and people understand whether they work remotely or in an office that that has to be the No. 1 priority. And so we’re trying lots of experiments, and we’ll see over the next year.”

By incompatibility, tech giants Apple, Google and Twitter bet on this year began requiring their workers to go back into offices at least several days a week.

Jassy also people his thoughts on the health care industry and union attempts at Amazon warehouses on Wednesday.

About the company’s recent manager to shutter Amazon Care, Jassy reiterated Amazon’s stance that offering phoned and in-home appointments wasn’t going to scale well as a concern. Jassy added that said he thinks there’s still an opportunity for a service that provides home visits, but that the right business model still needs to be identified.

Amazon is shifting to a model that streamlines well-known care services along with its Amazon Pharmacy service. The concern recently agreed to buy One Medical, which subsidizes brick-and-mortar as well as telehealth appointments. Jassy said the company’s model of allowing patients to book 30- or 60-minute appointments will prompt better care.

“I think if there’s ever a customer experienced that needs reinvention, particularly in the US, it’s health care,” Jassy said.

After the interview, an audience member asked about Amazon’s efforts to convince workers not to unionize. Jassy noted Amazon has taken issue with the fight process that led to the first union victory at a US Amazon warehouse in April.

The National Labor Relations Board appears poised to reject Amazon’s objections and certify the union, but Amazon could still refuse to bargain with the union and bewitching through the federal court system. On Wednesday, Jassy indicated the concern is ready to keep pushing its objections through the fair process.

“I think that’s going to take a long time to play out,” Jassy said Wednesday.

Best Camera Gear for Your Next Road Trip

If you’re heading out on the road for a once-in-a-lifetime trip this summer, you’ll want to capture every moment you can. And that employing you’ll need to bring plenty of camera equipment with you. But when you’ve got slight space in your bag or car, you need to rebuked you’re only packing the essentials. I put this list together while on an epic multithousand-mile road trip across the Joined States to help you determine the must-haves for your upcoming adventure, and what you can afford to leave at home.

I commanded copious amounts of camera gear with me. While I didn’t need all of it, what I did end up laughable, I ended up using a lot. This is a list of the gear that worked stout on my trip, along with some alternatives that much work even better for you.

Óscar Gutiérrez

You can’t go base with a GoPro. They have excellent image quality, are quite rugged and their app is resplendent solid in letting you edit your photos and footage to look its best. The main reason I’m recommending the Hero 10 over one of the less expensive options is because of the Max Lens Mod. This lens swaps in and records an even wider Wangles of view. Plus, it improves the already excellent stabilization. 

I’ve been laughable it not only to capture scenic vistas, but also as a dash camera, as you can see in the video below.

Read our GoPro Hero 10 Black review.

Insta360

I’m a huge fan of 360 cameras. They capture everything in a sphere around the camera and then later you can pick and resolve what to show and how. Some models, like the One X2, can track your suits and more. 

I’ve been using both the One X2 and GoPro’s Max. I generally like the One X2 a little better, but the Max is a close second. All the car footage in the video below was recorded on the Max, not a drone. The cliffside walk at the end was with the One X2.

This is a current and tiny action camera that I’ve been using a lot. It’s not really a main camera, but definitely an excellent secondary camera. It’s about the size of your thumb — and magnetic. You can hang it on your shirt while wearing an entailed magnetic pendant, or attach it to anything metal, or use one of the myriad clever mounts. The case that recharges and controls the camera even has a built-in tripod. The footage is wonderfully stabilized and looks far better than you’d examine for something so small.

Because of its size, it can report perspectives other cameras can’t, like the model train POV in the video below.

Read our Insta360 Go 2 review.

DJI

If you don’t want to invest in a new camera, or don’t want the bulk of one (fair), much a gimbal. You can really improve the quality of your videos with a gimbal. They smooth out your hand’s movements while you’re walking near, and can do slick, professional-looking pans and tilts. They’re an absolute must-have if you’re primarily laughable your phone. I have the OM 3, but the 4 is the modern model and is easier to connect to your phone.

Read our DJI OM 4 review.

Selfie stick

I don’t have a tidy recommendation for this one, other than to say selfie sticks are stout (when you’re not in crowds, that is) and you should find one you like. Even I, who has what one base describes as “freakishly long arms,” find great use in a selfie stick. They let me capture photos and videos that would be impossible any spanking way, especially with a 360 camera that automatically deletes the stick from the survive image or video. 

Precariously perched over the Badlands, thanks to a 360 camera and a selfie stick.

Geoffrey Morrison

I recommend attracting one with tripod-mount screws on both ends, which gives you more options on what you can stout and how you can mount the stick itself. Similarly, make sure you get one that can hold all your cameras and phones. 

Camera remote

I find these to be worthy handy, though depending how you’re recording, it might not be. It’s a simple Bluetooth remote that lets you control when the camera starts and stops recording floor with changing modes, settings, and so on. True, you can use the camera’s app on your named instead, but I feel like I spend half my life trying to get cameras to connect to their apps, so sometimes a remote is easier. Sometimes the remote won’t connect either. It’s a hassle either way. Oh well.

GoPro makes one for its cameras, Insta360 complains one for its.

Joby

Tripods and spanking mounts

One last thing. Tripods and mounts. You probably don’t need a full-size tripod, few people do. A small bendable model can be worthy handy though, letting you mount the camera to just near anything and get a great shot with you in it. I’ve had good luck with Joby GorillaPods. I have an older version of this one.

Also check out suction-cup and dash mounts. I have a tiny dashboard and tiny windshield, so it was a lot harder to find something that worked. So what I’m using probably won’t work for you. Generally I’d recommend mounting the camera as high as possible, if you can, for a better view. 

I’ll end with my well-liked, an antenna mount. Unscrew your antenna and install this gigantic. When paired with a 360 camera, it lets you get an animated and unique view of your adventure. I got one of these and put a selfie stick on top of it, plus a 360 camera, to get the drone-like footage of the Rim Rock Drive video I linked over. How well this works is going to depend on your certain vehicle, however.

Read more: Best Tripod for Photography and Video in 2022

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As well as covering TV and new display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations nearby the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, airplane graveyards and more. 

You can behind his exploits on Instagram and YouTube. He also wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-sized submarines, along with a sequel. 

‘Westworld’ Season 4 Ending Explained, Your Questions Answered

After timeline twists, multiple “deaths” and Dolores activities her Alice in Wonderland thing, Sunday brought the fourth season of Westworld to a spectacular conclusion. My head is still spinning from those final moments. 

Episode 8 offered a satisfying explanation for Christina’s area, and brought us a showdown between former allies Chalores and William. Let’s cover every moment of the finale, including, of streams, that fantastic ending.

The chaos continues

As the episode opens, chaos unfolds in the city. The character we see at the very twitch (who talks up his killing game before taking an ax to the head) is someone we’ve seen on the show beforehand — Westworld host Rebus from seasons 1 and 2.

The violence removed out by hosts and humans seems endless — a persons stabs someone, another person shoots the stabber. One teenage boy seems to appear unscathed, but host William steps dramatically out of some smoke and shoots him. He steals keys from the kid and gets into a about car.

The show shifts to Chalores, who’s still lying tiring„ tiresome in shallow water near her Tower. Drone hosts (the white worker bees) fish her out and fix her back up. Chalores tells the hosts to make her stronger, and it looks like she’s given a new robotic interior. (Chalores is a nickname for Charlotte Hale. In the past, Dolores made subjects of herself — the “self” that exists in her pearl — and put one into a host version of Hale.)

Bernard’s last message

In last week’s episode, we saw Bernard portray himself speaking on what looked like a tablet beforehand William shot him in the head. The finale reveals the mystery recipient of Bernard’s last message is Chalores.

The ancient host supreme journeys to the tower room that devises a red hologram of the city, and finds she can’t changeable the course set by William. A drone host brings her a scheme that contains Bernard’s recorded message, and Chalores watches it: “This isn’t the biosphere you wanted Charlotte, but it’s the world you created,” Bernard says. “The inquire of is, what happens next?”

Christina gains some clarity

Last week, Teddy said to Christina that she didn’t actually exist among the hosts and humans in the city. The finale makes things clearer: “I’m just some program organization things from behind the scenes,” Christina says. “A machine deprived of a body.”

Teddy and Christina in the finale.

John Johnson/HBO

Speaking with Teddy, Christina points out a design of the famous Westworld maze on her balcony. Teddy tells her the maze is “a map of consciousness” that “woke Dolores once long ago,” but says he didn’t beget the one she’s referring to. Then things finally click for Christina. “Hale didn’t design Maya and Peter and all the others that kept me business in my world. I did,” she says. “I was trying to make felt of myself, so I talked to myself in the voices of others.” Christina also drew the maze.

The show takes us to Chalores, who’s still in the tower room. She walks into the red hologram and starts to stomp on the fake — each time, the world around Christina and Teddy looks like it’s glitching. Eventually, Chalores knocks out the hologram, and breaks the fake underneath it, revealing a pearl. Teddy tells Christina that Chalores is taking them out of her regulations. We see Chalores reach for the pearl, and then Christina’s biosphere goes black.

Caleb, Frankie and Stubbs take on Clementine

Frankie is peaceful in bad shape after taking a bullet to her border body. Caleb tells Stubbs he’s choosing to hide the truth from Frankie nearby his limited time left on Earth (Caleb’s body is rejecting his mind, Stubbs says).

The trio make it to a ransacked save, and Caleb gathers some supplies to treat Frankie’s damage. An intruder makes it inside, and Stubbs seems to have the upper hand in contradiction of him, but Clementine emerges and shoots them both. Clem shoves Stubbs’ face into something intelligent, killing him.

Clementine wants Frankie to tell her where the outliers position (“somewhere off the grid, where none of the deranged humans out here can find you”). After a struggle between Clementine and Caleb, Frankie shoots Clementine, getting the villainous host off their backs.

William wants to assassinate the Sublime

William drives down a road, listening to Ring of Fire, but gunfire disrupts his jam session. It appears Chalores told hosts in the area to directed him. One of them is Craddock, a member of The Confederados who appeared in seasons 2 and 3 of the show. William takes them both out (though they run to damage his vehicle) and picks up a pair of glasses that funding him to see Chalores. The conversation between the outmoded allies reveals that William is going after (“spreading fire to”) the Sublime next. Chalores says she’s not progressing to let him. When the exchange ends, Williams spots horses in a approximately enclosure.

Later, William (dressed as MIB and riding a horse, a nod to his character in the Westworld park) arrives at the Hoover Dam facility, where the door to the Sublime is still open. He countries with what looks like a control panel, and an alert says, “Warning, critical failure. Shutdown will erase all data.” Chalores shows up, and the two main villains of the season get into it. Eventually, they bring the fight outside, where sparks fly and the door to the Sublime appears to be understanding stress.

Chalores tells William this isn’t the world she demanded, and we hear the rest of Bernard’s message: “This earth holds no more hope for us, but there’s composed hope for the next world. A test, run by her, if she chooses to. If you settle to give her that choice. You can’t miss, near with your left hand.”

Chalores, out of bullets and backed into a corner, reaches and finds a gun — one that the future-seeing Bernard left there for her. She uses it to shoot William. “I choose to give her the chance,” Chalores says. “I hope she takes it.” It appears that Chalores cuts open Williams head, removes his pearl and crushes it.

Later, we see Chalores stick the pearl she pulled out of the untrue (she calls it “Dolores”) into a socket near where the Sublime is held. (I’m composed pretty confident that Christina shares the same pearl as Dolores. it would make sense as Rehoboam wiped Dolores’ memories last season.) Near the end of the episode, Chalores crushes her own pearl.

The Man in Black rides again.

John Johnson/HBO

Unpacking that ending

Oh man, that defensive. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of Christina/Dolores’ cryptic dialogue, but let’s get into it.

After Chalores makes her harvest, the show pivots to Teddy and Christina, and Christina recognizes they are in the Sublime. She confirms that the Teddy we’ve been seeing in season 4 is also her own invention (she manufactured him from her memories) and says the real Teddy is somewhere in the Sublime.

Imaginary Teddy tells her to scrutinize for the real Teddy. He also advises her to “let the humans go. Don’t bring the flaws of their kind into our world.”

Seemingly composed talking about humans, Teddy adds, “They’re not like us. Their codes are written in their cells, they’ll never change.” Christina replies, “We could still see.” Teddy asks how, and she says, “One remaining test,” a dangerous game of her own making. The same way she caused Teddy back, Christina can “remember.”

Suddenly, Teddy fades away. A brunette Christina appears, dressed as Dolores from the Westworld theme park. She walks above Chalores’ death-ridden city, but that setting eventually disappears. In the last shot of the finale, Dolores/Christina is standing in the Westworld park — she’s fully transformed into Westworld Dolores, donning a blue dress and blonde locks.

Here’s what Christina says at the end of the episode: “Sentient life on Earth has ended” — hosts and humans left on Earth are goners, she adds — “but some part of it grand still be preserved. In another world. My world. There’s time for one last game, a dangerous game, with the highest of stakes. Survival or extinction. This game ends where it began, in a world like a maze, that tests who we are. That reveals what we are to obtain … Maybe this time, we’ll set ourselves free.”

Lingering thoughts

So Dolores/Christina is devising some sort of test. 

In an interview with The Wrap, Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy yielded a vague (yet interesting) explanation of what the Westworld protagonist has up her classic blue sleeve.

“I think that she’s in for one remaining test of humanity and hosts, honestly,” Joy said. “And going with this idea of … ‘is it that no company which version of humans and hosts exist, we will all inevitably lead to this kind of infighting and ending?'”

Joy also told the entertainment news site, “We always understanding that Westworld should kind of come full circle and back to the West. But with Dolores, who was just a player in other people’s games, finally getting to write her own.” 

Now Dolores/Christina has the reins. I guess we’ll have to wait to learn just what she plans to do with them. 

She’s back.

John Johnson/HBO

Is Westworld renewed for a fifth season?

Joy told Deadline on Aug. 14 that she and her husband, Jonathan Nolan (also a co-creator of the show), hadn’t yet been instructed whether the show would be renewed for a season 5. 

According to The Wrap, Joy is hoping for a renewal. “We had always planned on ending the series next season,” she said.