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Rotten Tomatoes’ critic and audience divide for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has come to light, and it is just like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, except in reverse. J.J. Abrams returned to the director’s chair for the ninth and final installment in this over 40-year-old film saga, and The Rise of Skywalker has seemingly pulled out all the stops by bringing back Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), utilizing unused footage of Carrie Fisher as General Leia, and also concluding the Kylo Ren and Rey story, which has dominated this brand new trilogy that started with Star Wars: The Force Awakens....

Samsung has already announced that its next flagship will skip the traditional Mobile rld Congress unveiling this year, now Sin of Forbes reports that none of the phones released before it will include the new Qualcomm silicon. That includes HTC’s Ultra U, which was already announced to include the Snapdragon 821, most likely ’s G6. According to Sin’s source, “The Snapdragon 835 won’t be available in large quantities until after the Galaxy S8 launches....

After arriving on the iPhone late last year, Hotwire, the popular travel discount site for flights and hotels, has arrived on the iPad via an intuitive App Store app. The iPad version launches today as a free, universal update to the existing iPhone app. The iPad app is very simple to use. From the start screen of the app, a user can input either their current location or another location where they want to travel, check-in/check-out dates, a number of rooms and guests, and tap a single button to immediately search for matching hotels....

MacBook sleeves and bags are practically a commodity today, with a wide variety of options and styles available for purchase at almost all online and offline retailers, and for good reason. Even as Apple’s portable computers trend towards lighter and more durable designs, a practical carrying case is still essential for any kind of travel. I’ve been using Inateck’s felt sleeve style MacBook cover for the past several weeks- a durable, unobtrusive, and light way to protect a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro or 11-inch MacBook Air....

A beautiful new weather app called Perfect Weather for iOS launched this morning. Perfect Weather is designed for iOS 7, as it plays off of the updated color palette and uses the new weather icons introduced in iOS 7 Weather. However, Perfect Weather is a lot more in depth and informative than the default Weather app. Upon opening Perfect Weather you can easily see the different locations in which you saved and view the weather for each....

SanDisk’s latest iXpand product is a Lightning flash drive in the form of an iPhone case, allowing you to easily have extra storage for your iPhone at all times. And the iXpand Memory Case has an optional battery pack that attaches magnetically, turning the case into a single solution for both extra storage and battery life. The alternative for storage would be a Lightning flash drive in the form of a more traditional thumb drive (I reviewed some previously from SanDisk and others)....

Not for the first time, a Star Wars movie has conflicted fans of the franchise. Some are happy with The Rise of Skywalker, believing it brings a satisfying end to a story that has spanned 40 years, over 10 movies and countless video games and other media. Others, however, believe the blockbuster suffers from a convoluted plot, poor decision-making and the unenviable task of having to please everybody. We like the new movie, but some things are a little odd....

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker could solve the Death Star’s greatest weakness. Darth Vader may have been famously unimpressed by the power to destroy planets, but both the Empire and the First Order have always been fascinated by the idea. There have long been rumors that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker would see yet more superweapons unleashed, with the novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi hinting that the First Order may have those superweapons....

Specifically, the policy includes AU$23 million to raise awareness of the eSafety Commissioner’s support for Australian schools, provide training programs for teachers, improve online safety resources for schools, and enhance support for schools with external online safety providers. It also includes an additional AU$10 million for the eSafety Commission to further expand coordination with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies, ensuring victims “tell-us-once” and are supported with the right service....

Qualcomm gets all the attention from the media these days, but there are other chip companies out there who serve their particular markets extremely well. You’ve likely heard of MediaTek and their efforts to dethrone Samsung’s octa-core crown, but what about Rockchip? Rockchip is a Chinese company that makes silicon for devices that usually don’t leave the country, but that’s starting to change with devices like the HP Slate 7....

Vince Zampella, head of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, is taking on a new role leading DICE LA. Respawn and DICE LA are both owned by Electronic Arts, which purchased Respawn in 2017. Respawn itself was formed in 2014 by Zampella and fellow Infinity Ward executive Jason West. It’s not surprising that EA wants to expand Zampella’s role considering what a great year 2019 was for Respawn....

As you doubtless gathered from my recent Scrivener review, I’m a massive fan of the best Mac app I’ve ever used for creative writing. The TL;DR version is that I wouldn’t dream of attempting to write a novel in anything else. My only real grumble is that we’ve as yet seen no sign of the long-promised iPad version of the app. I’ve used PlainText with a Dropbox sync as a way of working on Scrivener projects on my iPad, and that works well enough at the writing stage....

For the past few months, I’ve been testing Underwater Audio’s waterproofing service for Apple’s iPod shuffle. As the name implies, Underwater Audio is a company that created a technique to waterproof the iPod shuffle without changing the design, form-factor, size, overall weight and thinness of the wearable, lowest-cost iPod… Underwater Audio sells both a brand-new iPod shuffle that is waterproofed and offers the ability for fourth-generation iPod shuffle owners to send in their device for waterproofing....

A new report published today by non-profit organization Green America and industry watchdog China Labor Watch accuses Apple of various violations of Chinese labor laws at one of its suppliers in the country (via NYTimes). The investigation focused on Apple supplier Catcher Technology in Suqian, China and claims to have found violations similar to those found during an audit of the same supplier last year: The plant manufactures metal casings for a number of consumer electronics companies including Apple, Inc....

As I noted in yesterday’s review of the Nomad Stand for Apple Watch, I wasn’t initially certain that the Apple Watch needed a dock, but actually using a Watch changed my mind: just as the Apple Watch Edition’s custom charging cases hinted, it’s best to keep metal or metal-accented Watch bands from rubbing against nightstands during charging, and even Apple’s fluoroelastomer Sport Bands tend to flop around when the Watch’s charging puck is connected....

The OWC Express 4M2 is a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure that can accommodate up to four M.2 NVMe SSDs simultaneously for up to 8TB of storage. It features a compact design and dual Thunderbolt 3 ports for daisy chain setups along with DisplayPort for connecting to an external display. OWC says that speeds for the 4M2 can reach up to 2800 MB/s read. To reach those speeds, you’ll need four fast drives configured with RAID 0 using the included SoftRAID software....

When Razer first announced its Mechanical Keyboard Case for the 12.9″ iPad Pro, I had mixed feelings about the idea. On one hand, the thought of using a true mechanical keyboard with decent key travel, real actuation, and reset points sounded glorious. On the other hand, just how good could a mechanical keyboard case for an iPad possibly be? To be honest, when you consider what typical mechanical keyboards look like, the whole idea seems a little absurd....

For the last year or so I’ve been on the fence about picking up a new router. But along with moving into a new house, I decided to finally retire my Time Capsule. After a lot of deliberation, I landed on TP-Link’s deco mesh Wi-Fi system and I’ve been really impressed with the features it offers, such as the app, performance, and price. Read on for our full review. Even though I had heard lots of great things about mesh systems and could have improved my wireless situation long ago, I had an attachment to my 2009 Time Capsule....

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker co-writer Chris Terrio wishes the movie was split into two parts. With the film serving as the finale to not only the sequel trilogy, but the entire Skywalker saga, it would be an understatement to say The Rise of Skywalker had a lot on its plate to take care of. Writer/director J.J. Abrams and Terrio looked to tackle an abundance of story threads, including the surprise return of main villain Emperor Palpatine....

An actor and a comic genius, Robin Williams left a hole in our hearts when he passed away in 2014. Williams was only 63, but he left behind a legacy that spun over many many decades. To some, Williams will be best remembered for his portrayal of a therapist in Good Will Hunting. Still, to others, he will be romanticized as an English teacher who once said that “medicine, law, business, engineering were all noble pursuits, but poetry, beauty, romance, love are what we stay alive for....