Emporio Armani outs new Wear OS-powered smartwatches

Canadian pop superstar Shawn Mendes continues on as the face of Armani Connected smartwatches

The Wear OS platform isn’t getting its big update just yet, but that doesn’t mean fashion brands trying to break into the tech space aren’t going to release anything. Emporio Armani just introduced the latest entry into its Connected series of watches. The new fall models looks pretty similar to its other entries in the market. But since they come from a fashion brand, you get options of either getting a metal mono-link or a rubber/leather two-piece strap bracelet, while the other has a metal mesh or leather bracelet.

These model carry a 1.19-inch AMOLED front and come with a heart-rate monitor, GPS, and NFC support for Google Pay mobile payments. These smartwatches also has up to 5 ATM water resistance, Google Assistant support, and running the old Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. These are now available for pre-order on Armani’s website with the mono-link model coming in at US$395 (around CA$520) and the mesh or leather one at US$295 (around CA$390). These will be available worldwide starting September 2018.

Source: Engadget

Apple’s site displays ‘emoji-fied’ headshots of its executives

If you visit Apple’s executive leadership team page today, you’ll be in for a surprise. The official headshots of its exec team have been replaced by emoji-fied portraits. It’s the company’s tongue-in-cheek way to both celebrate World Emoji Day and announce the 70 new emoji it’s introducing for its platform.

A ‘quieter’ keyboard is reportedly exclusive to the 2018 MacBook Pro

iFixit

The new MacBook Pros are getting a new “quieter” keyboard that is also said to protect against damage from dust. Unfortunately, if you have an existing MacBook that did suffer some damage by dust, you won’t be getting this new keyboard. CNET reports that both Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers won’t be permitted to replace the old keyboards with the new one because these are considered to be exclusive to the 2018 model.

It isn’t clear why this is the case but one theory is that it just won’t fit. A teardown done by iFixit of the 13-inch model found the top case has been shaven down, which is said to make more room for the larger battery on the laptop.

New ‘Stranger Things’ trailer teases possible key location

A new Stranger Things season 3 trailer shows us what could be a key plot location for the new season. The 1:26 minute clip introduces us to Hawkins, Indiana’s newly opened Starcourt Mall. With it being described as opening in 1985, this seems to set the new season a year after season two. We can’t exactly glean how important this location will be but Steve (played by Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) are seen working at Starcourt Mall’s Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream shop. Netflix hasn’t revealed a release date yet for the new season but the trailer does hint at “summer next year.”