Today was supposed to be the day that Apple and the FBI squared off in federal court over the whole iPhone unlocking matter that you may have heard of. Funny thing though, the FBI decided to cancel the hearing at the last minute saying, “hey never mind, we figured it out ourselves”.
Apparently a 3rd party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking the iPhone 5c of one of the San Bernadino shooters. And the FBI is so confident that it no longer needs Apple’s help, it decided the hearing wasn’t necessary. This comes just a day after Tim Cook started Apple’s iPhone SE launch event with a brief statement reaffirming Apple’s stance in issues surrounding privacy and encryption. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean the whole thing is over. This new method of cracking the iPhone’s security may not be successful, and if that’s the case then expect to see a new hearing in the case next month.
2016 is shaping up to be the year that VR makes its way into the hands of the masses and Sony is making its mark by starting a price war. The standalone PlayStation VR is available for pre-order today at just 400 dollars, that’s 200 less than an Oculus Rift. For a bundle that adds motion controllers the price goes up just 100 bucks. That 500 dollar price point undercuts the HTC vive by a full 300 bucks. Beyond price, Playstation VR is a compelling choice because it doesn’t have to be plugged into a high end gaming PC to operate. It instead pairs with the much more affordable PS4.
Pre-orders on Amazon sold out in just minutes this morning, but it’s still available on sites like gamestop and Best buy. Unfortunately the Playstation VR won’t ship until around Halloween.
Vizio unleashed today a refresh of its P-Series lineup. Now, if you weren’t aware Vizio had a P-Series, that’s ok, most people didn’t. We had trouble understanding where it stood ourselves, but now we know, and it’s impressive enough to have us believing we might be looking at a real contender for TV of the year. The P-Series adds HDR and Wide Color Gamut to 4K resolution and supports it all with an advanced full array backlight system with 128 zones of local dimming. Translation: the TV has excellent black levels and contrast for an LCD/LED TV and, that’s going to make it a strong competitor against those going thing for thin’s sake. The new line also sports a Google Cast-based operating system, which means you can control everything with this included 6-inch Android tablet.
And the prices are as surprising as we’d expect from Vizio. The brand has come a long way from the Costco floor, and deserves a serious look this year. That’s it for DT Daily today, we’ll see you back here for the next one, tomorrow.
