John Routledge - Technoshia

10 Sep

It’s a good year to buy the vanilla iPhone 16 (and avoid the SE at all costs)

John RoutledgeLatest News

Every year, the calculus of choosing which iPhone to get feels increasingly frustrating. Do you opt for the standard iPhone? Do you splurge for the latest and greatest Pro model, something that might take two years to pay off completely? Or should you just buy a slightly older used or refurbished model to get the best deal possible? And of…

10 Sep

Game Pass Standard is now available on Xbox

John RoutledgeLatest News

The Xbox Game Pass Standard plan is available starting today. Microsoft announced a revamp to its Game Pass subscription plans in July, introducing the Standard option alongside a price increase for the Ultimate tier. The Standard plan costs $15 a month, while Ultimate will run you $20 a month.The Standard subscription tier will offer the essential features of the Game…

10 Sep

The new Carmen Sandiego game will let you play as Carmen Sandiego

John RoutledgeLatest News

If you grew up in the 1980s, then you probably remember the Carmen Sandiego games and how they turned learning boring old geography into a fun, criminal-catching adventure. Netflix, Gameloft and HarperCollins Productions are bringing the Carmen Sandiego franchise back with a brand new game that lets you play as the famous, fedora festooned felon.Netflix Games announced today that Carmen…

10 Sep

Why are Apple’s AirPods Max still saddled with 2020 hardware?

John RoutledgeLatest News

As I write this, I’m listening to tunes on my 2020-vintage AirPods Max. Yes, that makes me a bit of an Apple fanboy, and we currently recommend at least six pairs of headphones over them. But for me, they still sound outstanding, have great active noise cancellation and work well with my most-used devices. They also are missing a few…

10 Sep

Majority of Attorneys General support a warning label for social media platforms

John RoutledgeLatest News

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an op-ed in June calling for social media to come with a warning label about its negative health impacts, similar to the warnings placed on cigarettes and tobacco products. Now, 42 attorneys general have drafted an open letter to Congress to signal their support for Murthy's plan."This ubiquitous problem requires federal action—and a surgeon…

10 Sep

Huawei’s first tri-fold phone starts at an eye-watering $2,800

John RoutledgeLatest News

If you thought the price of a fully specced iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was high, Huawei has a new flagship that might require some folks to pull off a bank heist to afford. The Mate XT, which the company claims is the first triple-fold phone to hit the market, will debut in China and…

10 Sep

Apple’s 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is cheaper than it was on Prime Day

John RoutledgeLatest News

The venerable M3 Apple MacBook Pro is on sale via Amazon and the prices are cheaper than what we found on Prime Day. You can pick up a base model for $1,300 that comes with 512GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. The typical price for this version is $1,500, so this is a discount of 15 percent.AppleThis is the…

10 Sep

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet is more than half off and close to its Prime Day price

John RoutledgeLatest News

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet is more than half off, bringing the cost down to just $55. The original asking price is a whopping $130, so this is quite a bargain. As a matter of fact, it’s just $5 shy of the Amazon Prime Day price.This is a decent tablet, even at the original sum. It boasts a hexa-core processor,…

10 Sep

In its first Threads case, Meta’s Oversight Board asked for clarity on death threats

John RoutledgeLatest News

Meta’s Oversight Board has weighed in on its first Threads case and reversed the company’s initial decision and first appeal. Regarding a post about the outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, using a phrase that translates to “drop dead / die” in English, the board determined the phrase was used figuratively and not as a literal threat or call to…

10 Sep

How Apple’s Hearing Aid and Hearing Test will work on AirPods Pro

John RoutledgeLatest News

The second-generation AirPods Pro have had hearing health features for a while now. However, those tools are being expanded in iOS 18 with Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection that will soon be available on the earbuds. Apple's three-prong approach to hearing health now covers awareness, assistance and prevention, but it all starts with the "clinically validated" hearing test…