Amazon Music subscribers can get a free Disney+ subscription

Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, both new and old, will get several months of free Disney+. Old subscribers will get 3 months free, whereas new subscribers will get 6 months free when they sign up. This is one of the best ways to try out Disney+ currently, as there are no official trial programs for testing Disney+ before you buy a subscription.

If you sign up to Amazon Music Unlimited, you’ll get a 6-month subscription which is worth just under $48. Disney+ has a lot of content from Disney and Disney-owned studios like Marvel, 21st Century Fox, and Lucasfilm. If you already use Music Unlimited, then you’ll only get a 3 months free subscription, though it’s better than nothing for sure, and is still plenty of time to try the streaming service out. There are a couple of caveats though — you won’t be able to use this offer if you already have a Disney+ account, and it’s only available in the U.S. and Canada.

Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon’s Spotify competitor, costing $8 a month if you have a Prime subscription. If you don’t, it costs $10 a month. It features over 60-million songs, curated playlists, and more. It’s a service existing on top of Prime Music and offers additional features.

Disney+ is home to international favorites like The Simpsons, Star Wars, and the newly-premiered Loki. It’s a bit behind Netflix in terms of features and how far it has to go, but the platform is always improving and adding more content as time goes on. If you have Amazon Music or want to try out Disney+, then it’s definitely worth picking up this offer to see what it’s like.

Amazon Music x Disney+ Promotion Sign-up

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How long will Microsoft support Windows 11?

Microsoft is set to release Windows 11 this holiday season, and while there’s a lot of anticipation, there are also many questions. As we prepare to start seeing Windows 11 in laptops all over, it’s important to know what we’re signing up for. One major question is how long the Windows 11 support period will be for. You want your PC to stay functional and updated as long as possible, so this is an important question. While Microsoft hasn’t given us a full answer just yet, we have a good idea of what to expect.

Before we start, the first thing you may want to know is whether Windows 11 supports your PC in the first place. Microsoft has shared the system requirements for the new OS, and the changes from Windows 10 are significant. You’ll need 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a TPM 2.0 module. There’s also a list of compatible CPUs that will rule out quite a few older devices, so you’ll want to make sure your CPU is on the list, too.

Feature updates have different support periods

The first thing to know is that Windows 11 will get feature updates once per year. Windows 10 also got these updates, but they actually happened every six months or so. What this means is the Windows 10 we know today is very different from what was launched in 2015 — and the same will happen with Windows 11. The initial release of Windows 11 will be this holiday season, but we’ll see big updates every year after that. This is what Microsoft calls the modern lifecycle policy.

In addition to looking very different, each of these Windows 11 updates will have its own support cycle. Microsoft has actually already said publicly that each annual update is going to get 24 months support for Home and Pro editions. For Enterprise and Education editions, that goes up to 36 months. That’s a notable change from Windows 10, where each feature update got 18 months of support. Even for Enterprise and Education users, some updates only got 30 months of support. Everyone will benefit from this new and upgraded support cycle.

That means you’ll need to install each of these new updates to get access to that new support period. With Windows 10, Microsoft has forced users to install the latest feature update when their current one is nearing the end of support. That way, you’re always supported. It’ll seemingly be the same with Windows 11.

Does Windows 11 as a whole have an end-of-support date?

One thing that’s easy to forget is that, despite this continuous update system, Windows 10 as a whole still has an end-of-support date. Microsoft says it will keep supporting the OS until October 14th, 2025, which is about ten years from the original release of Windows 10. In fact, that tends to be the case with every major Windows version. They get five years of mainstream support from their release and ten years of extended support. Microsoft hasn’t officially announced when Windows 11 will stop being supported, but we can probably expect that about ten years from now, too.

Of course, these things can change, and those periods can be extended. Microsoft supported Windows XP for over 12 years thanks to its sheer popularity and the reluctance of some users to move on. With Windows 11, we could end up seeing that date extended as new feature updates are released. Or Microsoft might end up making a Windows 12 at some point, and we’ll just get the minimum ten years of support. After all, Windows 10 was supposed to be the last version of Windows, but that has now changed.

Another thing to keep in mind for business users is the Long-Term Servicing Channel. Releases in this channel have ten years of support, no matter what. For example, Windows 10 version 1809 was released as Windows 20 2019 LTSC, and it’ll be supported until 2029. We’ll likely see similar releases based on Windows 11, and they’ll get 10 years of support from whenever that LTSC release happens.

In conclusion, you can expect Windows 11 to be supported for the foreseeable future. Every year, there’ll be a big feature update, and you’ll eventually have to install it to extend your support period. Windows 11 as a whole should be supported for about ten years, provided you have the latest feature update installed.

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Microsoft has a new PowerToys tool to keep your PC awake

Have you ever left your PC running a task only to find that it went to sleep while you were gone? It can happen sometimes. For example, if you’ve used DaVinci Resolve, you may have found that your PC can go to sleep while exporting a video. Thankfully, someone at Microsoft has acknowledged that problem, and now there’s a solution. The company has recently updated its PowerToys tool to keep your PC awake as long as need.

Simply called Awake, this tool does exactly what it sets out to do. Once you enable it, you can set it to keep your PC awake indefinitely or set a timer for it to go to sleep again. The tool is similar to caffeinate, which is a command line tool for macOS.

That may sound a bit redundant for some, because Windows already lets you set when your PC should go to sleep. However, that means changing your power plan settings, which are persistent. You may need to keep your PC awake for a specific task, instead of making it a recurring thing. If you tend to leave your PC idle, this can use a lot more power than needed since your PC will be awake a lot longer. With PowerToys Awake, you can keep your PC awake just one time until you enable it again.

That’s the biggest addition of version 0.41 of PowerToys, but the other tools in the suite have also received tons of fixes and improvements. FancyZones, which lets you create custom layouts for your desktop windows, now has full keyboard support, for example.

PowerToys includes a number of tools including a system-wide color picker, an image resizer, and a quick launch tool. You can also use it to remap keyboard shortcuts, and rename multiple files at once. It’s mostly a tool for advanced users, and it lets you make Windows a bit more tailored to your preference. But there’s also a shortcut guide that might be more useful for beginners. it lets you see all the Windows shortcuts that can be activated with the Windows key.

If you haven’t yet, you can download PowerToys from the GitHub releases page. It’s also an open-source project, so you can help shape it. Seeing as Microsoft has added tools like Power Automate to Windows 11, it wouldn’t be surprising if PowerToys was eventually added, too.

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iPhone 13 Pro’s upgraded ultra wide-angle camera may support autofocus

The iPhone 13 series will likely launch in September later this year, so long as the global chip shortage doesn’t get in the way. While there hasn’t been a single major leak extensively detailing every aspect of the new iPhone, we’ve gotten bits and pieces thanks to reputable leakers. One of the most reputable sources of information on Apple products is TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has revealed new information about the upcoming iPhone 13 Pro model.

In his latest note to investors obtained by MacRumors, Ming-Chi Kuo apparently reports that the iPhone 13 Pro will have an upgraded ultra wide-angle camera with an autofocus lens. The current ultra wide-angle camera on the iPhone 12 models has a fixed focal length.

Kuo has previously mentioned that the iPhone 13 series will have improved cameras in low-light and in other ways too. Adding auto-focus to the iPhone 13 Pro’s ultra wide-angle camera will also help it to take sharper and clearer images, as it can actually focus on a specific object no matter its distance. Of note is that this is a feature that is currently present on many flagship Android smartphones, and that an autofocus lens apparently won’t be added to the ultra wide-angle cameras of non-Pro models in the iPhone 13 series.

To look to the future, Kuo says that all four of the iPhone 14 devices will have autofocus support on their ultra wide-angle cameras. Recent leaks have also suggested that the entire iPhone 13 lineup will feature sensor-shift stabilization, which debuted with the iPhone 12 Pro Max last year. There were rumors months ago that an upgraded ultra wide-angle camera would come to all iPhone 13 devices, though Kuo at the time contradicted that report as well. Given how secretive Apple is, it’s hard to say exactly what will happen, but it’s likely that at least some of the iPhone 13 series will have an ultra wide-angle camera with auto-focus.

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ASUS finally brings its compact ZenFone 8 phone to the US

Last month, ASUS unveiled two new affordable flagships in the ZenFone 8 and ZenFone 8 Flip. At the time, both phones were limited to Europe, but ASUS did promise it would bring the smaller ZenFone 8 to the stateside later on. Keeping its word, the company has now finally brought the phone to the US.

The ASUS ZenFone 8 is now on sale in the US, and you can purchase it unlocked directly from ASUS’s website right now. The base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB goes for $600, while the top 8GB/256GB variant will set you back $700. ASUS mentions on its site that the phone is compatible with all GSM networks, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and MVNOs. It doesn’t work with CDMA networks like Verizon, though.

The ASUS ZenFone 8 is the small phone to beat in 2021

The ASUS ZenFone 8 is one of the few smartphones on the market offering a true flagship experience in a compact footprint. If you have been looking for a compact phone that fits nicely in your hand and pocket but at the same time doesn’t compromise on performance, the ASUS ZenFone 8 is definitely worth checking out. It has everything you would want from a 2021 flagship: a smooth 120Hz AMOLED panel from Samsung, Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 888 chip, a capable primary camera, IP68 rating, well-optimized software, 5G support, and even a 3.5mm audio jack.

ASUS ZenFone 8 XDA Forums

ASUS ZenFone 8: Specifications

Specification	ZenFone 8
Dimensions and Weight	148 x 68.5 x 8.9mm 169g
Display	5.9“ FHD+ (2400 x 1080) Samsung E4 AMOLED display 90.02% screen-to-body ratio, 20:9 ratio, 445ppi 120Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, 240Hz touch sampling rate 112% DCI-P3, 151.9% sRGB, Delta E average < 1, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio 800nits outdoor-readable brightness 1100 nits maximum brightness Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus SGS Eye Care 6.5% & SGS Seamless Pro (120Hz)
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 1x Kryo 680 (ARM Cortex X1-based) Prime core @ 2.84GHz 3x Kryo 680 (ARM Cortex A78-based) Performance cores @ 2.4GHz 4x Kryo 680 (ARM Cortex A55-based) Efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz Adreno 660 GPU 5nm manufacturing process
RAM and Storage	8GB LPDDR5 + 128 UFS 3.1 8GB LPDDR5 + 256 UFS 3.1 No microSD card slot
Battery & Charging	4000mAh 30W wired fast charging (3.3V-11V/3A) Supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0/USB PD 3.0 PPS
Rear Camera	64MP Sony IMX686 image sensor with OIS 1/1.7″ sensor, Quad Bayer Technology, 0.8µm/1.6µm effective pixel size, f/1.8, 78.3° FoV (26.6mm to 35 mm equivalent), 2×1 OCL PDAF, Up to 8K (7680×4320) video recording at 24fps with EIS 12MP Sony IMX363 image sensor 1/2.55″ sensor, 1.4µm pixel size, f/2.2, 113˚ FoV (14.3 mm to 35 mm equivalent) Dual PDAF, Real-time distortion correction, supports 4cm Macro shot Up to 4K (3840×2160) video recording at 60fps with EIS Dual LED flash Video features HyperSteady: 1080p video recording at 30 or 60fps Motion Tracking video: 4K video recording at 60fps Time-lapse: 4K video recording Slow Motion: 4K video at 120fps/1080p video at 240fps/720p video at 480fps
Front Camera	12MP Sony IMX663 image sensor 1/2.93″sensor, 76.5˚ FOV, 1.22µm effective pixel size, F2.45 (27.7 mm to 35 mm equivalent ) Dual PDAF, records up to 4K/30fps or FHD/60fps
Ports	USB Type-C (USB 2.0) with OTG support 3.5mm Audio Jack: Headphone with Qualcomm Aqstic WCD9385
Connectivity	Bands (US): FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 30, 34) TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 66, 71) WCDMA (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19) EDGE/GPRS/GSM (2, 3, 5, 8) 5G Non-Standalone (NSA): n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20,n25, n38, n40, n66, n71, n77, n78 5G Standalone (SA): n77, n78 WiFi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax [6E]), 2×2 MIMO, tri-band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/6 GHz WiFi Bluetooth 5.2 (EDR + A2DP) & HFP + AVRCP + HID + PAN + OPP Bluetooth audio codecs: LDAC + aptX, aptX HD, aptX, Adaptive + AAC NFC FM radio GNSS support: GPS (L1/L5), Glonass (L1), Galileo (E1/E5a), QZSS (L1/L5) and NavIC (L5) Dual SIM dual standby Dual Nano SIM (DSDV 5G LTE+LTE)
Security	In-display fingerprint scanner
Software	Android 11 with ZenUI 8

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Google Play adds stricter ID requirements and 2 Step Verification for developers

Last August, Google Play announced that it planned to make two-factor authentication (2FA) mandatory for new developers. In a new blog post, Google has outlined the steps it’s taking to improve security on the platform and for developers. These measures include stricter ID requirements for new developers and mandatory 2-Step Verification for all developers when logging in.

In a blog post, Google says that new developers that create a Google Play developer account need to provide the following information:

• Your email address
• Your phone number
• Your account type — whether it’s personal or belongs to an organization (New)
• A contact name (New)
• Your physical address (New)
• Verification of your email address and phone number (New)

The company says that these rules ensure that everyone creating a Google Play developer account is a real person. It also makes it possible for Google to reach out to developers about their apps, should the developer need to be contacted. Google assures developers that this information is not public-facing and is only used for verification and communication purposes.

Declaring an account type is optional for now, though it will be required when updating contact details. It will be mandatory for all new developer accounts in August. Later this year, all developers will be required to declare an account type and provide the outlined information as stated above. Developers will also be required to enable 2 step verification for sign ins at the same time.

Google also suggests using a different email for the Google Play developer console than the one tied to your main account, particularly if your account is representing a business or organization. The company also says that this should not be a generic address and to make sure that it is associated with the company that it’s supposed to represent. Previously, rules for signing up were fairly lax, and it was possible for scammers to make lots of accounts that automatically paid the Google Play developer registration fee and upload spam apps.

Google has recently moved to bolster the security of a lot of its services, including with unlisted videos on YouTube and files on Google Drive that are accessible via a public access link. These changes to the Play Console — while not related — are part of a broader effort to help users secure their own content.

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HP’s Pavilion Aero is an AMD Ryzen laptop that weighs under a kilogram

Today, HP is announcing the Pavilion Aero 13, and the company says that this is its lightest consumer laptop yet. It weighs in at under a kilogram, something that we’ve only seen on the business end of things from the firm with the Elite Dragonfly.

Perhaps even more interesting is that the HP Pavilion Aero 13 uses AMD Ryzen processors, a rarity in laptops that are this light. A full spec sheet isn’t available just yet, but this product comes with up to a Ryzen 7 5800U, and HP did confirm that you’ll be able to upgrade it to Windows 11 when it’s available.

“Today’s consumers are looking for a device that is both powerful and incredibly lightweight to keep up with
their increasingly mobile lifestyles,” said Josephine Tan, global head, general manager, Consumer PCs at
HP Inc. “The HP Pavilion Aero 13 Laptop PC brings the gorgeous premium look and feel of our Spectre and
ENVY portfolios to the Pavilion line-up so more people can experience HP’s best-in-class design and
performance – in a stunning and incredibly lightweight form factor.”

It’s also HP’s first consumer laptop to use a 13.3-inch 16:10 display with a 2.5K resolution. The taller aspect ratio adds 10% more space to the top of the screen. The new aspect ratio is something that we’ve seen a lot in the space over the last year or so, but the HP Pavilion Aero 13 puts it more in the mainstream.

If you haven’t guessed, it’s made out of a magnesium-aluminum alloy. If the company had used only aluminum in the HP Pavilion Aero, it simply couldn’t be as light as it is. It comes in Pale Rose Gold, Warm Gold, Ceramic White, and Natural Silver. It’s coming next month, starting at $749.

HP is also announcing a couple of monitors today, coming in 24- and 27-inch sizes. They include the M24fwa and M27fwa FHD Monitors, and they promise better cable management, dual speakers, AMD FreeSync, and 99% sRGB. They’re made from 85% recycled materials, 5% recycled plastics, and they come in recyclable packaging. The M24fwa and M27fwa are coming in July, starting at $229.99 and $289.99, respectively.

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