At $299, the iPad with 128GB of storage is this week’s best deal

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

This weekend, you can save on a variety of tech products, including the sixth-generation iPad, the PlayStation Classic retro console, Sony’s WH1000X-M3 wireless noise-canceling headphones, and more.

The sixth-generation iPad is $299.99 at Best Buy. What makes this deal worth your while is that it’s for the 128GB model, which is rarely available at a discount. This configuration has stayed at $329.99 for a while, so this is a pretty sharp price drop. Amazon currently offers this discount, too, but it has gone in and out of stock since yesterday.

Since this iPad was released in early 2018, Apple has released four other models (the 11-inch iPad Pro, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the iPad Air, and the iPad mini). Still, Dieter Bohn’s review rings…

Continue reading…

Ikea goes all in on smart home tech

Ikea

Ikea is formalizing what has recently become all too obvious: the company is making a major bet on smart home tech as a source of new revenue. To do this, Ikea announced that it will invest heavily in a new “Ikea Home smart” business unit with end-to-end responsibility for its burgeoning portfolio of smart devices. With access to 780 million shoppers who visit Ikea stores each year, the announcement also serves as a wake-up call to smart home incumbents like Google and Amazon.

“We have decided to invest significantly in Home Smart across IKEA to fast-forward the development. This is the biggest New Business we are establishing since the introduction of Children’s Ikea,” said Peter van der Poel, manager Ikea Range & Supply, aka, the box…

Continue reading…

New ceramic and titanium Apple Watch models spotted in watchOS 6 beta

Apple’s latest watchOS beta appears to have revealed the company’s plans for new Apple Watch models. Just days after spotting a potential iPhone 11 announcement date, iHelp BR has discovered references to new ceramic and titanium watch models in the latest watchOS 6 beta. Both new watch models will reportedly come in both the 40mm and 44mm versions, and iHelp BR has found animations for the initial Apple Watch setup process.

Apple has never released an Apple Watch in a titanium finish, but 9to5Mac notes that this is the same finish used on the company’s new Apple Card. A ceramic Apple Watch was first introduced with the Series 2 and 3, but Apple didn’t produce a ceramic version of the Series 4 Apple Watch.

It’s not clear…

Continue reading…

Bugatti Reveals the Ultra-Powerful $10 Million Centodieci Hypercar

For more than a century, French automaker Bugatti has been laser-focused on making sleek, powerful, virtually one-of-a-kind sports cars. That tradition culminates in the remarkable hypercar Bugatti announced Friday, August 16, the Centodieci.

The model name means 110 in Italian and the hypercar’s design is inspired by the EB110 Bugatti, which flourished in the early 1990s. There’s a good reason for selecting the earlier car as a basis for the Centodieci design—the original was essentially the vehicle designed to renew Bugatti’s brand.

Bugatti President Stephan Winkelmann said in a press release that with “the EB110, Bugatti catapulted itself to the top of the automotive world once again after 1956 with a new model.” It was a return to the brand’s French roots and a nod to the original hypercar itself, the Veyron.

“The challenge” in dedicating the Centodieci to the EB110 “was not to allow oneself to be captivated too much by the design of the historic vehicle and work solely in retrospect,” said Bugatti Head Designer Achim Anscheidt, “but instead to create a modern interpretation of the shape and technology of that time.”

The Centodieci takes what enthusiasts love about Bugatti classics like the Chiron and doubles down on those elements. It’s both extreme and like the La Voiture Noire, an elegant, artistic elevation of automotive engineering.

Here’s how the Centodieci measures up to the Chiron:

  • It’s got 1,600 horses under the hood, compared to 1,500 for the Chiron.
  • The Centodieci is larger yet weighs less.
  • In a mere 2.4 seconds it can go from a standstill to 60 mph.
  • Speed-wise it tops out at 236 miles an hour, so the Chiron still laps it on the track.

“It’s not just the top speed that makes a hyper sports car,” Winkelmann said in the release, “With the Centodieci, we once again demonstrate that design, quality and performance are just as important.”

Here’s the bad news for anyone moving $10 million into their bank account in anticipation of purchasing one: Bugatti is only making ten Centodiecis and they’ve already been pre-sold.

Then again, Bugatti only makes about 70 vehicles a year. And it’s not like all those collectors will just hang on to their Centodiecis forever—though no one would blame them if they did.