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The wait is finally over for the iPhone 16 and our tech reporter David Phelan was at the launch event at Apple HQ in California.
The new phones come with longer lasting batteries, more powerful chips and enhanced privacy features, and they were built specifically to handle new Apple Intelligence tools.
The iPhone 16 range comes in a number of colours and is equipped with a handy new DSLR-like button, that you can use to take pictures and videos as well as adjust settings.
David runs through all the key features as well as the other products announced, including the new Airpod headphones and the Apple Watch Series 10.
The legendary actor and voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, James Earl Jones, has died at the age of 93.
In 2022, Jones signed over the rights to his archival voice work to a Ukrainian AI startup, Respeecher, which allows the company to recreate the sound of his voice and has already been used for the Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This means that hopefully, despite James’s death, his voice as Darth Vader can live on forever.
SpaceX’s latest mission, Polaris Dawn, successfully launched this morning, Tuesday 10th September.
The spacecraft with a four-person crew onboard lifted off at 5:23am Eastern Time in the US - 10.23am UK time.
It’s a five-day mission with a lot to fit in, including an attempt to conduct the first privately-funded spacewalk on Thursday 12th September.
And the rest
Elon Musk reveals first Mars mission date as China brings forward its launch by two years, doctors say they are ‘truly amazed’ by a man’s recovery after receiving the world’s first whole-eye transplant, and scientists find ‘granny’s gargle’ does help children get over a cold faster.
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Here’s a fully automated transcript of this episode:
Hi, I'm Rochelle Travers, and this is The Standard's Tech and Science Daily podcast.
Coming up, how James Earl Jones' voice can still live on forever.
Now, let's get into it.
If you're new here, make sure to hit follow.
The wait is finally over for the iPhone 16.
The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up.
It marks the beginning of an exciting new era.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is speaking there at the company's ‘It's Glowtime’ event.
The new phones come with longer lasting batteries, more powerful chips, and enhanced privacy features, and they were built specifically to handle their new AI tools.
The innovation and invention these products deliver will continue to deepen the meaningful impact they have on all of our lives.
I'm proud of our teams and what they've accomplished, and I can't wait for you to experience these amazing products.
Clips there courtesy of Apple.
Our tech reporter David Phelan was invited along for the event.
Here he is reporting right from the heart of all the action for Tech and Science Daily.
I'm at the iPhone 16 launch in Apple's HQ in Cupertino, where all four of the new phones will boast the company's big news software update, Apple Intelligence.
It's designed to help improve your writing style, or summarize meetings, or email chains, and it introduces a much smarter Siri voice assistant.
The iPhone 16 range comes in a number of colours and is equipped with a handy new DSLR-like button that you can use to take pictures and videos as well as adjust settings.
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have even bigger displays than before, and while they don't feel that much bigger in the hand, there could come a point when they'll just be too big to hold and that day may come soon.
At the keynote event, the tech giant also announced updates to its airpod headphones, which will allow them to automatically drop the volume when users start in-person conversations and to decline calls with the shake of a head.
They also said the Pro version of its airpods would be able to be used as a clinical-grade personal hearing aid for people with mild or moderate hearing loss, something they're expecting marketing approval from regulators for soon.
The Apple Watch Series 10 was also revealed at the event as David Phelan explains.
There's a new Apple Watch called Series 10, which somehow manages to have a bigger screen than the previous Apple Watch Ultra, even if the case is still smaller.
The new Sleep Apnea monitoring feature will be useful to a lot of people, and it will also come to some existing Apple Watches.
Now, James Earl Jones, the legendary actor and the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King, as well as Darth Vader in Star Wars, has died at the age of 93.
Jones was born in Mississippi in the US in 1931, and managed to overcome a speech impediment to have a distinguished acting career spanning many decades, eventually becoming one of the most iconic voices of all time in stage and screen.
In 2022, Jones signed over the rights to his archival voice work to a Ukrainian AI startup, Respeecher, which allows the company to re-create the sound of his voice, and has already been used for the Disney Plus series, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This means that hopefully, despite James' death, his voice as Darth Vader can live on forever.
Next.
SpaceX's latest mission, Polaris Dawn, successfully launched this morning, Tuesday the 10th of September.
The spacecraft with a four-person crew on board lifted off at 5:23 a.m. Eastern time in the US, which was 10:23 a.m. UK time.
It's a five-day mission with a lot to fit in, including an attempt to conduct the first privately funded spacewalk on Thursday the 12th of September.
The mission is being bankrolled by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is mission commander.
He's joined by Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
In other SpaceX news, Elon Musk has revealed the first SpaceX Mars mission day, as China brings forward its launch by two years.
Musk says the launch date is scheduled for when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens in November 2026, which could see up to eight uncrewed starship missions to the Red Planet.
The announcement comes just two days after China's space agency pushed forward its own mission to Mars by two years.
The Tianwen-3 sample return mission will now reportedly take place in 2028.
Let's go to the ads.
Coming up, why granny knows best when it comes to colds.
To stay up to date with all the latest tech and science news, just hit follow during the break.
Welcome back.
Doctors say they are truly amazed by a man's recovery a year on after receiving the world's first whole eye transplant.
47-year-old Aaron James from Arkansas in the US lost his left eye due to a high voltage electrical accident at work three years ago.
In May 2023, he underwent 21 hours of surgery involving more than 140 health care professionals to replace his face, which included getting a new eye.
Eduardo D Rodriquez, Chairman of the Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Health in the US, who was part of the team that carried out the surgery, has been explaining the results:
I was impressed by these patients.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage.
And now we're many months after the initial transplant, which could essentially end his life.
The quality of the result is truly spectacular.
His functional result is spectacular.
And when we look at his quality of life measures, also at a maximum level.
Although the transplanted eye has not regained vision, electroretinography, a test that measures the retina's electrical response to light, shows a photoreceptor response, including that the light-sensitive nerve cells in the eye survive the transplant.
The electrical response converts light into signals that ultimately the brain could interpret for vision, giving hope for the future of whole-eye transplants with an aim to restore sight.
I'm very proud of this achievement, and I'm also very much proud of what's happening with the eye.
None of us ever expected that we would transplant an eyeball with a face and all of a sudden he would see, but I think it's one major step forward in that direction.
Clips there, courtesy of NYU Langone Health.
And finally, it turns out that your nan might actually know best when it comes to remedies for getting over a cold.
Researchers found that gargling with cheap salt water, also known as granny's gargle, can help children get over a cold faster, as well as help reduce the transmission of colds to family members, including adults.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh recruited 407 children aged up to six.
When 301 of the kids developed a cold, 150 of them were given sea salt liquid, while 151 resorted to usual cold care.
They found that children having usual care had symptoms for eight days, while those given saline solution treatment by their parents only had it for six.
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Come back at 4pm for The Standard podcast for all the latest news and analysis.
Tech and Science Daily will be back tomorrow at 1pm.
See you then.
