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Traditional carmakers and tech giants alike are making big moves into the electric vehicle industry at CES.In a sign of how increasingly crowded the market will become as the world transitions from petrol and diesel, the biggest event in consumer electronics has more floor space dedicated to EVs than ever.
Ahead of the show officially opening at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday, German car giant BMW announced its vision for the future - one that would look right at home in Blade Runner.The BMW i Vision Dee (the Dee stands for "digital emotional experience") concept car may appear like a relatively normal saloon, however it comes equipped with an augmented reality windscreen and a voice assistant. Image: The BMW i Vision Dee concept car shows off its colour-changing abilities Drivers would be able to use a "mixed reality slider" to tune how much they would want on their windscreen - from familiar data like speed and directions, to projections of virtual worlds (only with autonomous driving, to be clear).
And then there's the vehicle's grille, no longer purely for the safe passage of air in and out of the vehicle, but for displaying expressions to those outside - the closest we've got to a real-life character from Pixar's Cars.In concept, it will work using BMW's "e-ink" technology, which is employed across the vehicle's entire body, to let owners digitally repaint it with 32 different colours. Image: The i Vision Dee concept car has an augmented reality windscreen. Pic: BMW 'The vehicle as a platform is evolving'Such concepts may sound inherently ridiculous, more science-fiction than science-fact, but such announcements represent an ever-increasing convergence between carmakers and the tech world. In one of CES's most notable moments so far, Japanese tech giant Sony made its EV debut, teaming up with compatriot carmaker Honda to show off the Afeela. Image: Sony and Honda's Afeela was announced at CES. Pic: Sony According to the head of automotives at electronics heavyweight Qualcomm, which is one of the world's biggest producers of semiconductors, it's a sign that the coming years will see the "complete transformation of the car"."The vehicle as a platform is evolving," Nakul Duggal told Sky's Ian King Live.Qualcomm reported $30bn worth of semiconductor orders in September, up from $11bn in July, which reflects the industry's keenness to evolve beyond vehicles simply being used to drive.If cars are to host more powerful electronics, from augmented reality windscreens to onboard gaming, then more semiconductors are required.Read more:Ed Conway: Without these chips, we are in big trouble Image: Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at the BMW keynote Mr Duggal said the vehicle industry was undergoing a "sea change", where cars are used "just as we might use a television or a PC or a phone".Sony and Honda's Afeela sports more than 40 sensors to detect hazards and enable self-driving, and is tipped to leverage the PlayStation maker's entertainment heritage to compete with industry leader Tesla, which has integrated video games into some of its models.In a sign of just how seriously Sony is taking its first venture into cars, the company has broken with tradition by announcing no new TVs at CES this year.Read more:The most eye-catching gadgets at CES 2023 Image: Tesla is the current industry leader in EVs, but competition is ramping up. Pic: AP Meanwhile, rumours persist of Apple launching its own electric car, having already become a staple of many people's driving experience through its CarPlay platform.Two of its rivals, LG and Samsung, announced their own CarPlay-style products at CES, with the latter's so-called Ready Care working in tandem with its range of wearables to measure a driver's tiredness."The car is becoming this incredible platform," said Mr Duggal."That requires a very close alignment between the semiconductor, the software in the cloud, and a large number of applications and services that are developed not just by the automaker, but clearly by the entire ecosystem." | Consumer Electronics |
Samsung said it will begin making chips with a 2 nanometer process in 2025 and 1.4 nanometer process in 2027. These would be some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world. Samsung is in a race to catch up with market leader TSMC.SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSamsung said Tuesday it aims to make some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world in five years' time, as the race between the South Korean electronics giant and the world's largest chip maker TSMC heats up.The company laid out a roadmap for its chip production plans, and said it will begin making chips with a 2 nanometer process in 2025 and 1.4 nanometer process in 2027.The nanometer figure refers to the size of each individual transistor on a chip. The smaller the transistor, the more of them can be packed onto a single semiconductor. Typically, a reduction in nanometer size can yield more powerful and efficient chips.For comparison, the processor in Apple's latest iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models is a 4 nanometer chip.Samsung began producing 3 nanometer chips earlier this year.Shares of Samsung in South Korea closed nearly 4% higher on Tuesday.The South Korean firm, known for consumer electronics and memory chips, is looking to ramp up its contract chipmaking, or foundry business, in a bid to catch up with Taiwan's TSMC.Samsung is the second-biggest foundry globally by revenue, with a 17.3% market share compared to 52.9% for TSMC, according to TrendForce.For its part, TSMC expects to begin 3nm chip production this year with production of 2nm set to begin in 2025. However, the company has not officially announced plans to mass produce 1.4nm chips."This is the first time that SEC (Samsung Electronics) guides for its long term foundry roadmap and I think it is more aggressive than TSMC and market expectations," SK Kim, analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, told CNBC. Samsung's ambitious plans come amid global economic headwinds and signs of a slowdown in semiconductor demand. Global chip industry sales fell 3.4% in August compared to July, according to the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association.Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC ProDespite this, Samsung said it plans to expand its production capacity for the most advanced chips by more than three times by 2027 compared to this year, highlighting its bullishness on future demand.These include its factories in the U.S. Samsung has a plant in Austin, Texas, and is currently building a $17 billion facility in Taylor in the same state.Washington has been looking to attract chipmakers like Samsung and TSMC to set up factories in the U.S. so that it can reduce reliance on the manufacturing hubs of Taiwan and South Korea.While Samsung has put a big focus on cutting edge chips, the company also said semiconductors for high-performance computing, automotive and 5G uses will make up more than 50% of its foundry business by 2027. These are usually less advanced chips. | Consumer Electronics |
AYN has been ever-so-slowly unveiling more details about its upcoming Odin 2 handheld console for the past several weeks. Now, the company shared specs for its upcoming Steam Deck competitor, including storage, processor, and, most importantly, its competitive price: $299.
On Monday, AYN revealed the Odin 2 will be another Android-based handheld console running on a Qualcomm chip. This time, instead of the older Snapdragon 845, the sequel device will be packing the powerful and increasingly ubiquitous Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This is the same processor powering several of Samsung’s latest premium phones, and it has managed to keep pace with competitors like Google’s proprietary Tensor chip.
The original Odin went for about $240 for the base model, while the Odin Pro started at around $290. Meanwhile, the Odin 2 will start at $299 for the minimum version containing 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. Two other versions will contain 12 GB/256 GB and 16 GB/512 GB respectively, though the company did not reveal pricing on its beefier models. There are a range of colors to choose from, including some attractive clear plastic blue and purple versions a la early Game Boy models. The company is gearing up for an upcoming Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, though we don’t have a start date, either.
China-based AYN first released the Odin back last year as a kind of ultra-light Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch competitor. Instead of playing games from Windows or the Linux-based SteamOS, the platform ran on open source Android and was designed for mobile games and retro emulation. It measured slightly smaller than the Switch but included a 6-inch, 1080p touchscreen display. We haven’t received exact dimensions of the Odin 2’s display, but by the photos we can guess it’s going to be very similar to the previous iteration.
Being the Android-only odd man out among handheld consoles does have its benefits. Beyond accessing mobile games, you can download game streaming apps like Geforce Now to access your Steam library or get Xbox Game Pass (and maybe eventually PlayStation) and play them all on the Odin, though that would require a constant internet connection. If you compare the Odin 2 to other streaming-only handhelds, it’s slightly cheaper than the larger, streaming only Logitech G Cloud, at least at launch. Other companies like Razer failed to beat the Steam Deck’s cheapest price point for streaming-only, but there’s also the cloud-gaming focused Abxylute with its 7-inch LCD screen and just above $200 price tag.
All handheld console pricing orbits around Valve’s Steam Deck in this moment. The ultra-customizable platform is singularly built for the largest game library service around, which makes it hard to topple from its throne. The Asus ROG Ally is priced just a little bit more than a base 256 GB Steam Deck. We don’t know where Lenovo’s supposed Legion Go handheld will land in terms of pricing, but if it wants to run a native Windows 11, that will likely put the price somewhere in the realm of a mid-range gaming console, at the very least.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
Giant party speakers are the easiest way to bring the tunes to wherever your guests are hanging out, but once everyone has gone home, you’re probably not going to drag it around to listen to NPR every morning. They’re usually only rolled out for specific occasions, but Sony’s latest party speaker is useful for more than just parties or karaoke, as it can also be used as a standing soundbar for your TV.
Standing a little over 28-inches tall, the new SRS-XV800 stretches the definition of a portable wireless speaker, but Sony does include a pair of wheels on the bottom so you can simply drag it from room to room without worrying about leaving behind scrape marks. The speaker also features sturdy handles built into the top and the bottom, as it can be used standing on its own, or lifted onto a table and laid on its side—a built-in sensor will determine how it’s being used and adjust the sound output accordingly.
A built-in rechargeable battery promises up to 25 hours of sound from the SRS-XV800's five tweeters—three on the front and two rear-facing units on the back that help to fill an entire room with sound—which are paired with dual X-Balanced speaker units on the front that help boost bass performance. And because a bumping soundtrack isn’t always enough to get a party in gear, the SRS-XV800 also includes color-changing LED lighting accents that can be synced to the beat of what’s being played.
The SRS-XV800 is first and foremost designed for music, and includes inputs on the back for a guitar so you can use the speaker as an amp, as well as a karaoke input (you supply the microphone) with controls on the back for echo effects and Key Control.
If after a long night of listening to party guests butchering Bohemian Rhapsody, you feel more like watching movies on the couch the next day, the SRS-XV800 includes an optical port and even a bundled optical cable so you can easily connect it to your TV and use the speaker as a standing soundbar. When positioned at the front of a room near a TV, Sony also claims the SRS-XV800's pair of rear-firing tweeters will produce sound that bounces off the nearby wall and better fills the room, but you definitely shouldn’t expect a surround sound experience.
The Sony SRS-XV800 is currently available for pre-order through Sony’s website and other retailers for $649, with shipping and availability expected to start on May 15.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
- The semiconductor shortage that affected everything from cars to games consoles during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic has turned into a chip glut in some parts of the market.
- It comes after companies began to stockpile chips to build up inventories, but then the economy slowed down and demand for products like smartphones and laptops evaporated.
- Memory chipmakers Samsung and its rivals SK Hynix and Micron have had a tough time as a result.
The semiconductor shortage that affected everything from cars to games consoles during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic has turned into a chip glut — and some of the world's biggest chipmakers are taking a hit.
Semiconductors are tiny components that are integral to a slew of products including refrigerators, cars, smartphones and LED bulbs.
related investing news
The Covid-19 pandemic caused huge disruption in the supply chains and production of chips, as consumers stuck at home went mad for products like PCs and smartphones.
There was also increased demand for less-advanced chips required for processes like power management in devices.
It led to a widespread shortage of products such as games consoles and even components for washing machines, which continued through the first half of 2022. There was also a lack of semiconductors that go into cars, leading to a drop in the production of vehicles from major automakers.
While the supply and demand dynamics for some chips have since become more balanced, in other areas, the chip shortage has turned into a glut.
Two types of chips are in oversupply right now: NAND and DRAM memory. These go into devices like laptops and also servers in data centers.
The glut came after companies began to stockpile chips amid the shortage to build up inventories.
But then the economy slowed down.
Demand for products like smartphones and laptops has dropped off in a big way — particularly as many people bought them during the pandemic.
"So, the makers of these end products stopped ordering chips and instead focused on selling through the inventory they already had," Peter Hanbury, partner in the telecoms, media and technology practice at Bain & Company, told CNBC.
"This led to a strong 'bullwhip' effect for the semiconductor markers further back in the supply chain where sky high demand during the chip shortage suddenly dried up as end markets stopped ordering chips and instead focused on selling through the inventory they already had."
Not all types of semiconductors are in oversupply, however, with demand for chips from the auto sector remaining strong.
Hanbury said that some chips made for specific purposes are not easy to exchange for other semiconductors, and so "their lead times and prices are improving but remain quite high."
The pandemic-induced shortage of semiconductors helped boost chip makers' profits as prices jumped. This included Samsung, the world's largest memory chip manufacturer.
This year, however, Samsung and its rivals SK Hynix and Micron, have had a tough time.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's largest chipmaker, said last week that net income for the second quarter fell 23.3% from a year ago. It was its first quarterly profit decline in 4 years.
Looking ahead, the PC market appears weak, which is likely to impact Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.
For TSMC, the global smartphone market — a major revenue driver — is also under pressure.
"The smartphone market is still the biggest part of TSMC's revenue. That part is still not seeing any meaningful pick up," Sze Ho Ng, an analyst at China Renaissance Securities, told CNBC via phone.
In an effort to boost the price of chips and reduce supply in the market, the major memory chip firms have announced production cuts.
Samsung said it expects global demand to recover in the second half of the year, and others have echoed a similar sentiment.
TSMC, however, said last week that it expects "continued inventory adjustment" from customers.
"After this year's correction, I think there will be a second-half growth scenario for TSCM, but how strong that will be will be dependent on the macro environment," Ng said.
Ultimately, recovery for these firms will depend on whether demand picks up for end products like consumer electronics, but that's related to a macroeconomic recovery which looks far from certain. | Consumer Electronics |
Philips Hue is making a move on the smart home security world with plans to debut four cameras in the near future, according to Hueblog.com, which has reported reliable smart home leaks in the past (via SmartApfel.com). The Hue line will also introduce a new door and window contact sensor, according to the report.
The article, which was written in German and translated by Google Translate, named the four cameras in English:
- Hue Camera Wired — €199.95 (about $218.79 USD)
- Hue Camera Wired Desktop — €229.99 (about $251.66 USD)
- Hue Camera Battery — €249.95 (about $273.50 USD)
- Hue Flood Light Camera — €349.95 (about $382.92 USD)
Yesterday, the same blog reported that Eric Rondolat, CEO of Philips Hue parent company Signify, said on an investor call that at least one new camera is coming and that Hue’s cameras will be end-to-end encrypted. That’s significant, as end-to-end encryption is all too rare in smart home cameras. Signify also owns Wiz, which has its own camera with that type of encryption, so its inclusion in Hue cameras isn’t surprising.
Philips Hue often drops new products at the IFA consumer electronics trade show, so it’s possible we’ll learn more, including whether they’re coming to the US, if the cameras are debuted at the show in September.
In addition to the cameras, Hueblog reports that the company will release door and window sensors, called the Hue contact sensor, also in black and white. The rumor claims the company will release them in single and double packs, for €39.95 (about $43.71 USD) and €69.95 (about $76.54 USD), respectively.
Finally, Hueblog wrote that the company is releasing new 12-volt spotlight bulbs with GU5.3 sockets, both in Hue white ambiance and Hue white and color ambiance variants and a twice as long as before 500-bulb version of the Hue Festavia string lights our own Jennifer Pattison Tuohy thought were great but a little pricey (bad news there — Hueblog also says the 250-bulb model will cost even more this time around).
And of course, these are all rumors, and Hue hasn’t announced any of these products or their prices yet, so take this with a healthy grain of salt. | Consumer Electronics |
Nothing’s Phone (2) has finally struggled out of the muck into the light of day. It’s got a beefier processor, a better camera, more of Nothing’s signature blinking lights, and it costs more than $100 more than its first iteration.
The Phone (2), victim of a protracted guerilla marketing campaign by CEO Carl Pei, will cost $599 to start, and should be available for locals at the company’s London shop and New York pop-up kiosk on July 13. The phone is going to be publicly available after that in the US, UK, and Europe on July 17.
Confirming earlier reports, the new Phone (2) finally has a processor and camera that can measure up to other phones in the same price point. It’s sporting the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, the same as last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S22, before the S23 went over to the Gen 2. The Gen 1 chip is powerful, but the Phone (2) won’t be quite as beefy as other companies’ recent flagships as far as processing power goes. The new phone also has an extended 4700 mAh battery capable of wireless or fast charging. The company claims it can reach 0 to 50% in 20 minutes, though we’ll need full tests to see if it lasts longer than last year’s iteration.
The front camera has been upgraded to a 32 MP sensor from the Phone (1)’s 16 MP. The rear dual sensor array now includes the Sony IMX890 50 MP camera. According to Nothing, the Phone (2) can process camera data “up to 4,000 times more” than the Phone (1). The company also claimed the device has enhanced focus and 4K, 60fps video recording capability.
Though the latest Nothing flagship device retains the 6.7-inch dimensions with an OLED main screen, the famed backplate and its “glyph” lights have seen some changes. While the device is still clear plastic on its rear, the LED strips have been segmented into several lighting zones. Like the Phone (1), the lights can track how much charge you have left. In addition, though, the Phone (2)’s lights can act as a volume checker and timer. Users can also set up the phone to notify them about new messages from select contacts or apps.
Along with these notifications to the glyphs, users can also use a special Glyph Composer app to create their own Glyph ringtone with select beeps and boops that correspond to different lights. The feature sits alongside the so-called Nothing OS 2.0, an Android-based system featuring homemade home and lock screens, alongside custom widgets. Nothing promises its new operating system should be twice as fast than the Phone (1)
The Phone (1) started at about $475 in places like Europe and cost $300 when it finally saw a U.S. release. That price bump Gizmodo’s biggest complaints with the Phone (1) was that it was a rather middling, mid-market device that was full of unnecessary features while lacking slightly in power and sensors compared to mass market giants like Google or Samsung. Pei, who used to head OnePlus, has finally taken a note from his former company and has included some higher-grade parts while costing $599 for the 8GB/128GB version, $699 for the12GB/256GB, and $799 for the 12/512GB.
The Nothing Phone (1) was just a start. It was a slick-looking tadpole, though it was still just one among hundreds in a rather big pond. The Phone (2) seems to be much the same as the first iteration, though the little tadpole has grown its first legs that could make it a legitimate option for bored Android users in the upper-mid-range phone market. Time will tell whether the Phone (1) sequel makes more of a (transparent) case for itself.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.com Inc., presents the Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker during an unveiling event at the company's Spheres headquarters in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.Andrew Burton | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAmazon hasn't given up on its Alexa voice assistant, hardware chief Dave Limp said Friday, even though the team behind the technology was a prime target of the largest layoffs in the company's history.Amazon last year began laying off employees in its corporate workforce as part of CEO Andy Jassy's broader move to curtail expenses amid a worsening economic outlook and slowing revenue growth. The company's devices and services organization, which oversees the development of products like Alexa, Echo smart speakers and Kindle e-readers, was among the groups affected.related investing newsJust under 2,000 people in Limp's division were let go as a result of the job cuts, he told CNBC's Jon Fortt in an interview on TechCheck.This week, Jassy said the company aims to eliminate more than 18,000 roles, mostly in its stores and human resources organizations. Previously, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC that 10,000 employees would be cut, but noted that the number was fluid and could change.Alongside the layoffs, Amazon has also frozen new hiring in its corporate workforce, and shuttered some of its more experimental projects, like its telehealth service and a video-calling device for kids."What we did is we looked at projects that were probably, in this uncertainty, the risk-reward for those projects and what they might deliver for customers wasn't quite there," Limp said. "Part of that was in Alexa, part of that was in other parts of my organization."Still, Amazon remains "fully committed" to the Alexa unit despite the company taking steps to be more disciplined with costs in "a very uncertain economy," Limp said."There's still thousands and thousands of people working on this project," said Limp, speaking from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "It's a big project."Since its launch in 2014, Amazon has made big investments in Alexa and assigned top talent to grow the technology, largely at the direction of Jeff Bezos, who first pitched Alexa and strongly believed voice would play a key role in how people interact with computers in the future. At one point, Amazon had 5,000 people working on Alexa and Echo.Amazon has sold devices like the Echo at or near cost because its goal isn't to make money from them. Instead, the company sees them as a vehicle for bringing customers into the broader Amazon ecosystem, where they'll purchase something from amazon.com or its other properties.Limp rejected the idea that Amazon may have to raise prices significantly as it takes a harder look at costs. The prices of some commodities used in Amazon devices, such as memory and displays, has increased, and those could get passed along to consumers, he said. But generally Amazon's hardware business model remains the same, Limp said."We try to sell our products roughly at break-even, sometimes a little bit more," Limp said. "Then, as customers use them, say they shop from their Alexa, that benefits all of Amazon, and gives the customer a great shopping experience, and that's how we want to monetize these things moving forward."WATCH: Amazon's Dave Limp explains the company's auto innovation heading into 2023 | Consumer Electronics |
In May this year, Alexis Hancock’s daughter got a children’s tablet for her birthday. Being a security researcher, Hancock was immediately worried.
“I looked at it kind of sideways because I’ve never heard of Dragon Touch,” Hancock told TechCrunch, referring to the tablet’s maker.
As it turned out, Hancock, who works at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, had good reasons to be concerned. Hancock said she found that the tablet had a slew of security and privacy issues that could have put her daughter’s and other children’s data at risk.
The Dragon Touch KidzPad Y88X contains traces of a well-known malware, runs a version of Android that was released five years ago, comes pre-loaded with other software that’s considered malware and a “potentially unwanted program” because of “its history and extensive system level permissions to download whatever application it wants,” and includes an outdated version of an app store designed specifically for kids, according to Hancock’s report, which was released on Thursday and seen by TechCrunch ahead of its publication.
Hancock said she reached out to Dragon Touch to report these issues, but the company never responded. Dragon Touch did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions either.
The first worrying thing Hancock said she found on the tablet were traces of the presence of Corejava, which in January cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes analyzed and concluded was malicious. Also this year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and independent security researchers discovered the same type of malware embedded in the software of cheap Android-powered TVs. The good news, Hancock said, is that at least the malware seemed inactive, and was programmed to send data to dormant servers.
According to Hancock’s technical report, the tablet also came pre-loaded with Adups — the same software found in those Android TVs — which is used to do “firmware over the air” updates. Malwarebytes has classified Adups as malware and a “potentially unwanted program” for its ability to automatically download and install new malware from the internet.
Finally, the tablet came with a pre-installed and outdated version of the KIDOZ app, which serves as an app store that allows parents to set parental controls and kids to download games and apps. The app store “collects and sends data to ‘kidoz.net’ on usage and physical attributes of the device. This includes information like device model, brand, country, timezone, screen size, view events, click events, logtime of events, and a unique KID ID,” according to Hancock’s report.
KIDOZ founder Eldad Ben Tora told TechCrunch that the app is certified to respect COPPA, the U.S. federal law that carves out some online privacy protections for children, and that the app “underwent a rigorous assessment process by an FTC-approved COPPA Safe Harbor Program called PRIVO, which included a thorough review of our data collection, storage, and usage practices.”
“This process ensures that our services fully comply with COPPA requirements, prioritizing the protection of children’s privacy,” Ben Tora told TechCrunch.
The Dragon Touch tablet that Hancock analyzed used to be on sale on Amazon until this week, when the listing went down and was replaced with a listing for the same tablet, which claims the tablet runs Android 12, which was released in 2021. Images on the listing, however, say the tablet runs Android 10, released in 2019.
It’s unclear how popular these tablets are, but the Amazon listings showed more than 1,000 reviews.
Amazon spokesperson Adam Montgomery told TechCrunch in an email that the company is “looking into these claims, and will take appropriate action if needed.”
The Dragon Touch tablet was also available on Walmart until this week. After TechCrunch reached out to the company, Walmart removed the listing from its website.
“We have removed this third-party item from our site while our Trust and Safety conducts a review,” Walmart spokesperson John Forrest Ales said in an email. “Like other major online retailers, we operate an online marketplace that allows outside third-party sellers to offer merchandise to customers through our eCommerce platform. We expect these items to be safe, reliable, and compliant with our standards and all legal requirements. Items that are identified to not meet these standards or requirements will be promptly removed from the website and remain blocked.”
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Dragon Touch is listed on the official Android website as a “certified” device that’s been “tested for security and performance.”
Google spokesperson Ed Fernandez told TechCrunch by email that the company was “thoroughly evaluating the claims in this report to determine whether the manufacturer’s device meets the security standards required for Play Protect certification.”
Children’s internet-connected products have long been a target for hackers. In 2015, a hacker broke into the servers of VTech, a consumer electronics company that made gadgets for children. The hack resulted in the theft of personal information of almost five million parents, including names, email addresses, passwords, and home addresses, and the personal data of more than 200,000 kids, including names, genders and birthdays. The hacker also obtained thousands of pictures of parents and kids and a year’s worth of chat logs.
After finishing her research, Hancock said she had to keep the tablet because her daughter got attached to it during a trip with her cousins. But Hancock didn’t return the tablet to her daughter until after making changes to protect her daughter’s privacy.
“I have talked to her about why I had her tablet, and why I had it for so long away from her. I told her that it was sick, it had a virus, and I had to make it better and I had to take it to the doctor,” Hancock said.
In practice, Hancock said that she “nuked everything” she could.
First, Hancock said she installed a VPN profile on the tablet on a private server that runs Pi-hole, an ad blocking software; then, she limited the number of apps her daughter could use; redirected the DNS — the internet system that connects IP addresses to domain names, for “any problematic domains;” and even installed Tor, a browser that is designed to protect the anonymity of its user.
Hancock, however, said parents shouldn’t need to do all this to protect their children’s privacy, especially because not everyone has the technical chops, or the time, to research their kids’ tablet’s cybersecurity and privacy issues.
“Parents really can’t do too much,” she said. “And honestly, it shouldn’t be left up to them.” | Consumer Electronics |
The Canadian startup Glüxkind displayed their AI-powered smart stroller “Ella” at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas. Now that we were gradually getting used to self-driving cars, Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang, the co-founders of Glüxkind came up with a self-driving smart stroller. What inspired the makers of self-driving stroller? CES 2023 Innovation Award Winner Features of Ella Self-Driving Stroller Sensors, Motors, and AI Power Assist Downhill Brake Assist Automatic Parking Cameras Rock-My-Baby White Noise Find-My-Baby Self-Driving mode works when the stroller is empty Safety Concerns Regarding Self-Driving Strollers Cost of Glüxkind Self Driving Stroller Where Can You Buy Self-Driving Stroller? What inspired the makers of self-driving stroller? The founders of Vancouver baby gear startup GlüxKind, came up with the idea of Ella smart stroller when they became parents in 2020. Their aim was to “take the load off your shoulders” and provide an “extra set of eyes” to ensure the safety of the baby. The Glüxkind Ella Smart Stroller The name of the company, GlüxKind, was inspired by the German word Glückskind. “Glück” translates to lucky and “Kind” means child. In this case, I believe, more than the child, the parents would be lucky to have a smart stroller to carry their MOST PRECIOUS CARGO. CES 2023 Innovation Award Winner The Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered smart stroller of Gluxkind won the CES Innovation Award Honoree title. It was recognized as the most innovative product of 2023. Ella received the top score in the category of Vehicle Tech and Advanced Mobility out of a record-breaking 2000 submissions this year. The Glüxkind Ella Smart Stroller At Ces 2023 Features of Ella Self-Driving Stroller Sensors, Motors, and AI The stroller is equipped with sensors, motors, and artificial intelligence (AI), and it can drive itself while it is empty, follow parents while they carry their infants, and stop automatically if it gets too far away or runs encounters an obstacle. The Glüxkind Ella Smart Stroller Power Assist The robust dual electric motors also assist when manually pushing the 13.6kg stroller uphill, just like an e-bike, with a maximum speed of about 4mph. Downhill Brake Assist Ella adjusts to your pace, stays within arm’s length, and stops when you do. With the Intelligent Adaptive Braking System, you do not need to worry about a runaway stroller again. Automatic Parking The multi-level braking technology allows the stroller to be automatically parked when stopped, resolving any runaway pram concerns. The Glüxkind Ella Smart Stroller Cameras Parents are forewarned of any possible collision hazards through sounds and lights flashing in the handle thanks to cameras peppered over the frame of the buggy, which detects and track mobile and stationary objects such as people, bikes, and benches in real-time. Rock-My-Baby Ella has an automatic “rock-my-baby” feature to help you both at home and while you’re out and about. The gentle rocking motion imitates the motion of the stroller, prolongs your baby’s sleep, and provides you some time to relax. White Noise The built-in white noise machine soothes your child. It produces a soothing womb-like atmosphere for newborns, allowing them to stop fussing, fall asleep sooner, and sleep longer. Find-My-Baby Ella allows you to check in on your baby at any time. You can utilize the Glüxkind smartphone app and the Find-My-Baby feature when you are not the one out exploring with your baby. It displays the exact location of the stroller. Self-Driving mode works when the stroller is empty The stroller is only capable of driving itself when empty. It is intended to be used while holding your child at a park or a mall without a spare hand pushing the stroller. Safety Concerns Regarding Self-Driving Strollers Self-driving stroller aims to reduce the burden on parents while they hold their babies. The self-driving feature works only when the baby is not in the stroller so apparently the stroller is safe for your baby. But is it safe for the children of others? Would the motion sensors accurately detect other children in the park? Or is it a safety hazard for others? We certainly need a little more assurance from the makers regarding the safety of others. Cost of Glüxkind Self Driving Stroller The smart self-driving stroller costs a total of $3,300. Where Can You Buy Self-Driving Stroller? The stroller is now available for preorder in North America, with a crowdfunding campaign expected to launch in the spring. You can place your order here. Delivery is set to begin in April. Although $3,300 is fairly expensive for a stroller, tech-savvy parents who want the newest gadgets will undoubtedly be interested in it. The self-driving stroller provides an almost ideal fusion of innovation and functionality. Read More: DC Metro buses go fare-free by July 2023 Netherlands’ Utrecht library offers cyclists to recharge their e-devices by cycling Amsterdam’s RESILIO blue green roofs offer solution to urban flooding, heat island effect The Aya: Thoughtful architectural design for homeless families in D.C. Tesla semi delivery event: Elephant moving like a cheetah I am a Transportation Engineer by profession and also a voracious reader. I read everything, from novels to the ingredients written on my jar of peanut butter. Read Next December 14, 2022 New Bugatti Baby II Carbon Edition; a tribute to W16 Mistral Roadster December 11, 2022 The Game Awards 2022: Winners, nominees, and new trailers of future games December 11, 2022 Google and Meta step in new era for Pakistan’s content creators December 5, 2022 Netherlands’ Utrecht library offers cyclists to recharge their e-devices by cycling December 4, 2022 How many cell towers are there in the world? December 4, 2022 5 best Chrome extensions for students productivity November 30, 2022 Jim Carrey shares his rare cartoon with fans before leaving Twitter forever November 27, 2022 Suspended Twitter accounts to receive amnesty: Elon Musk November 18, 2022 How to reduce screen time for students? November 18, 2022 The 11 Best Amazon Black Friday 2022 Deals to Shop Right Now! | Consumer Electronics |
Apple stores in the U.S. are now selling an exterior door lock that can be unlocked by a user's Apple Watch or iPhone. The $329 Level Lock+ is the first Home Key-supported lock that's been sold in Apple stores.When the Level Lock+, made by Level Home, is installed in a door, users can unlock and relock their homes with a tap using Apple Home Key, a feature that uses NFC and secure tokens in Apple's software. Users can text keys to their friends or automate when the door is locked.For Apple, it's a milestone in the development of a highly anticipated feature that was first announced in 2021. Home Key is an example of Apple continuing to digitize stuff that's normally carried in a physical wallet or pocket, from cash to keys.Many of Apple's new software features in recent years have been aimed at making the iPhone more valuable to users to prevent them from switching to other phone brands. A user whose front door is tightly integrated with their phone could be less likely to switch to an Android phone.Some of Apple's newer initiatives, especially its smart-home ambitions, require extensive third-party hardware or systems support in order to work. But compared with features in iOS updates where Apple controls the hardware and software, these new integrations can take longer to become widely available.In addition to Home Key, Apple has announced Car Key, which unlocks supported cars from BMW and Hyundai, and Room Key, which puts hotel keys from chains such as Hyatt in Apple's Wallet app. Apple's iPhone is integrating more deeply with vehicles through CarPlay, and extending financial services to its users with Goldman Sachs.For Level, it's an opportunity to stand out as a technology company in a marketplace dominated by a few large, older lock makers, by offering a software feature that's been hotly demanded by a core subset of smart-home enthusiasts."There's a question that's been posed right now in this category," Level CEO John Martin told CNBC. "The question is, is a smart lock a consumer electronics device? Or is it a traditional lock that's now smart?"Smart-home fans might simply be enthusiastic about a new Home Key lock option. Since Home Key's debut in 2021, there has only been one supported lock model on sale in the U.S., the Schlage Encode Plus. Smart-home enthusiasts on forums such as Reddit have speculated at length about which companies might launch additional Home Key devices over the past year.The elevated level of Apple consumer desire for a new Home Key lock was revealed after reporters and users were able to buy or locate Level Lock+ at certain Apple stores after they accidentally went on sale early in some locations over the past week.Martin said the company immediately noticed the blog posts and social media buzz around its new lock."[Andrew] Samson, who's our CMO, former Nike guy. He's great," Martin said. "And he calls me in the night like, 'Oh my God, we're trending!'"Some people on the forums will be disappointed to hear Level won't update the firmware on its old locks to support Home Key. For Home Key support, users will need the Level Lock+ sold at Apple stores or online."We don't plan to do a firmware update for Touch," Martin said. "We needed to innovate the base part of the technology that's inside of the product to support Home Keys in a way that was going to be first class." | Consumer Electronics |
The strong developments in battery technology adoption cannot be seen apart from developments in the automotive industry. “The automotive market is the kingmaker. Ninety percent of the battery cells go to cars”, says Dr. Philipp Wunderlich, Director & Head of Battery Consulting at Accenture. In recent years, Wunderlich observed the market from the early days of consumer electronics to electric mobility and the first steps in stationary energy storage systems.
“We’re not there yet, but we will be in a few years.” That’s mainly due to a wider variety of larger batteries, he adds. “It’s a global market, with more niche markets as well.” There are pilot projects for heavy machinery, the marine industry (ferries), and drones. Wunderlich sees the next big step in battery production in the bus and truck market. “Automotive is pushing the truck market. All the lessons learned there can be useful for heavy transport.”
In his presentation during the 2023 Automotive Week in Helmond, Wunderlich showed the main three parts of the battery value chain. Upstream, there are the battery cell manufacturers: the key technology players are the main drivers for innovation and industrialization. The second part is for the battery system integrators: these typically local companies make sure that battery cells or modules are packaged in the most effective way. Finally, the vehicle producers are working on their fleet electrification. “Of course, these three parts are not totally separated. For example, OEMs like Volvo and MAN are developing their own batteries. Not the cells but the integrated systems. This also means that the battery integrators are facing competitive pressure from upstream and downstream: they may end up in an OEM dependency or developing products for a niche market.”
Variety of applications
Wunderlich sees a lot of new developments and innovations for the battery industry in the next few years. But there are technical and chemical limitations, he says. “There is a popular saying among battery experts: ‘You can have all desired properties of a battery, but not at the same time.’ In a growing industry with a wide variety of applications, this reminder of the fundamental limits of electrochemical energy storage is more relevant than ever. There will not be a single battery chemistry on the market to serve all technological purposes. The evolution of batteries will instead produce multiple winning cell chemistries, and the next battery generations will be adapted to their respective use cases.”
Lithium-ion technology has reached maturity and scale through extensive research and leverage in the automotive industry. “Depending on the target industry, lithium-ion batteries compete with various technologies like the internal combustion engine or lead-acid batteries. So to prevail in a particular market, the properties of the battery are typically adjusted to the existing technology.” Examples are batteries with nickel-rich NMC cathodes for electric vehicles with long-range requirements or durable LFP cathodes for stationary energy storage systems. “Ultimately, the fundamental battery properties are dictated by the materials.”
Large-scale cell production plants in Europe
Wunderlich expects to see further market diversification around 2025, when European players will eventually succeed in setting up large-scale cell production plants. “The manufacturing cost will keep falling through advanced production processes and increased scale, but materials will account for 70% or more of the battery cell price, and the demand for critical resources will grow to levels of geostrategic relevance. Material cost and criticality will be the big technology filters for the next generations of batteries, which may accelerate the development of battery technologies based on sodium, silicon, or sulfur. Novel materials will be used as product differentiators and stimulate further growth of the battery industry.”
Dr. Wunderlich expects innovations in cell chemistry, cell format and design, and in battery integration. Still, there will be a market for all three main formats – Pouch, Cylindrical, and Prismatic. “More attention will go to design for disassembly, recycling and replaceability. Also, we will need to find a solution to the high scrap percentage in the production process. Sometimes up to 30% of the products need to be scrapped. This is the recyclers’ cash cow.” | Consumer Electronics |
- Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it plans to invest 300 trillion Korean won ($228 billion) in a new semiconductor complex in South Korea.
- The move is part of a broader push by the South Korean government to boost its prowess in areas including chips, displays, batteries and electric vehicles.
- Samsung's new facility will be part of a "semiconductor cluster" which the government says will be the largest in the world.
Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it plans to invest 300 trillion Korean won ($228 billion) in a new semiconductor complex in South Korea, which the government says will be the world's largest, as part of an aggressive push by the country to take a lead in critical technologies.
The investment will happen over the years to 2042, a Samsung spokesperson told CNBC.
The South Korean government is looking to join together its biggest technology companies to spur development in key areas. The government said Wednesday that 550 trillion won will be invested by the private sector by 2026 in areas including chips, displays, batteries and electric vehicles.
But the big focus is on semiconductors — critical components that go into everything from smartphones to cars — and that have increasingly become a geopolitical focal point. South Korea's expansive move is seen as a way to catch up with the U.S.'s own aggressive chip investments.
"President Yoon Suk-yeol said, while it's important for a high-tech industry such as semiconductors to grow through a mid-to-longer term plan, we must swiftly push ahead with these plans as if it's a matter of life and death, given the current situation of global competition," Yoon's spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a briefing.
The new 300 trillion won chip complex Samsung is building will be just outside of the South Korean capital of Seoul.
South Korea's government aims to connect chip facilities in the area from Samsung to other companies to create a "semiconductor mega cluster." The idea is to link up various parts of the semiconductor supply chain from chip design to manufacturing.
"In selecting the new locations, we've taken into consideration the synergy effect that could be seen from existing semiconductor clusters," Lee Chang-yang, South Korea's trade, industry and energy minister, said.
The South Korean government said that companies will build five chip manufacturing facilities in the cluster.
Samsung is the world's biggest memory chip maker. These are semiconductors that go into devices such as laptops and servers. South Korea is also home to SK Hynix, the second-biggest memory chip maker.
Semiconductors have become a highly politicized technology and have created a complex dynamic between allied countries, driven by the U.S.'s twofold strategy.
On the one hand, Washington has pushed to bring chip manufacturing back to U.S. shores and has got commitments from companies including Samsung and Taiwan's TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, to build factories.
On the other hand, the U.S. has sought to hold back China's semiconductor development. Last year, Washington introduced sweeping rules aimed at cutting China off from obtaining or manufacturing key chips and components and the tools required to make them.
In its tech battle with China, the U.S. has looked to strike alliances with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Netherlands to help cut China off from key technology.
But at the same time, the U.S. signed the Chips and Science Act which includes $52 billion in support for companies producing chips in a bid to attract investment into America and boost the country's standing in the semiconductor industry.
That has created a competitive landscape between allied nations even as they seek partnerships.
"As of now, every country is trying to build its own competitive strengths. There is a flood of tax breaks and capital commitments from governments seeking to onshore semiconductor production," Pranay Kotasthane, chairperson of the high tech geopolitics program at the Takshashila Institution, told CNBC.
"The impulse for competition is stronger than the impulse for cooperation. Incentives might change if the planned incentives don't work or when the semiconductor industry sees a downward trend in the investment cycle."
For Samsung, the government's support could help it catch up with TSMC — the biggest contract chipmaker. TSMC manufactures some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world for companies such as Apple.
Samsung, known for consumer electronics and memory chips, is looking to ramp up its contract chipmaking, or foundry business.
In October, the company laid out an ambitious roadmap to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world by 2027.
Samsung shares closed 1.3% higher in South Korea on Wednesday after the announcement of its chip investment plans. | Consumer Electronics |
In a former life, Nirav Patel, the CEO of modular laptop startup Framework, worked on a project called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) which promised to deliver a sustainable computing resource to every kid at a reasonable price.
OLPC was a catalyst for a lot of technologies that found their ways in our daily lives - it encouraged Intel to develop cheap, low power CPUs (Atom) for example - and has certainly influenced Nirav's vision of what computing should look like.
Sustainable, upgradable, customizable and open. I conversed virtually with him to find out more about what Framework has in store with us and what trajectory Nirav wants the business to follow, as well as the surprising success of AMD-based hardware, what businesses want from the company, and whether Framework has any plans to go beyond laptop and who knows, revive something akin to Project Ara.
1. Can you give us a brief description of what Framework does and doesn't do?
We build high-performance consumer electronics products that are designed to last, through upgrade, repair, and customization. Our first product is the Framework Laptop 13, a 13.5" thin and light notebook in which every part is replaceable using the single tool we include in the box. We first launched it in 2021 with 11th Gen Intel Core processors. We've since released a 12th Gen Intel Core refresh, a Chromebook Edition, and recently, 13th Gen Intel Core and AMD Ryzen 7040 Series versions. Later this year, we're shipping our second product, the Framework Laptop 16, a 16" notebook that takes all of the great parts of the Framework Laptop 13, and adds upgradeable discrete graphics and a fully customizable input system.
2. Others before you have tried to come up with modular devices (e.g. Google Ara) and failed. What makes Framework different?
One of the core lessons behind Ara and other attempts at modular devices is not forcing users to accept tradeoffs. Ara was conceptually interesting, but ultimately flawed in execution. It was thick, heavy, expensive to build, and fragile, and had to compete with thin, sleek, durable smartphones. Ultimately, that product never went beyond pilot shipments. The Framework Laptop 13 is instead almost exactly the same thickness and weight as a 13" MacBook Pro and is as durable as premium commercial notebooks from major brands. In day-to-day use, it looks and feels like any other premium notebook. The modularity, repairability, and upgradeability are all on the inside. Part of how we've been able to accomplish that is by leveraging fasteners to get inside of the device instead of an Ara-like magnetic attach system. This lets us achieve rigidity, durability, and a competitive form factor, while still enabling ease of access for repair.
3. What sort of buyers purchase Framework products? Do you have any data? How many of them are businesses?
Our primary audience today is consumers, and our earliest adopters tend to be tech enthusiasts, people who are concerned about the environmental impact of electronics, and overall power users who demand greater performance and flexibility out of their computers. We've also been running pilots with a number of small and medium size businesses over the last two years. What we've found is that in many cases, the decision maker around computing purchases is themselves an enthusiast and sees the importance of what we're solving with our products. One of the core draws for small businesses is the ability to fix and upgrade their employees' laptops easily right on the spot, minimizing downtime.
4. What features are the most requested (by businesses or consumers)? And which ones are in your pipeline?
The most requested features and functionality have been longer battery life and getting an AMD-powered version. We've been able to deliver on both of these with our 2023 product updates.
5. All your systems are x86 based; do you have any plans for Arm-based models? What sort of challenges you may encounter (lack of modularity? size of market?
We have seen asks for ARM-powered models. Today, there are no ARM SoCs available on the market with sufficient CPU and GPU performance to make sense for the Framework Laptop. We have seen intent from the major SoC brands to enable higher performance ARM processors targeting the notebook space though, so this is something we'll continue to track.
6. Framework has been a big proponent of open source hardware. What has been the uptake and what do you plan to do to get other vendors to adopt sustainability (maybe something like OCP for laptops?)
We've opened sourced documentation and reference designs for the main module systems we've developed. We've seen quite a lot of community projects come out of that, from cyberdecks to rackmount servers. We've also started to see some commercial products extend on the ecosystem, reusing Expansion Cards or the Framework Laptop Mainboard. We would certainly like to see more adoption of common module standards, with OCP being a great example from the server space.
7. Framework focuses only on laptops for now. Do you have plans to expand your remit to other devices (smartphones, desktop PC etc).
Our mission is to remake Consumer Electronics. Laptops were the first and one of the most important categories for us, but certainly won't be the last one.
8. You have a sub-forum dedicated to ideas; how much of it is fed back to the main project?
Several of the improvements we've made on the Framework Laptop 13 this year came out of asks from the community. An example is our revamped hinges, which we tuned based on feedback from the community.
9. AMD-based laptops have a much longer lead time than Intel ones? Why is that the case and what are you doing to improve that?
We've seen immense demand for the AMD-powered Framework Laptop 13, resulting in selling out of our first three batches of pre-orders quickly. We're continuing to scale our production capacity to respond to the demand.
10. Are you planning to have more SKUs and models with add in GPU cards (would be lovely for creatives).
With the Framework Laptop 16, we have modular, upgradeable graphics, which has long been the holy grail for high performance notebooks: something many have attempted but haven't achieved. We've solved it by designing our Expansion Bay system to allow modules to extend in depth and thickness, giving us immense design flexibility to handle generation over generation changes in GPU requirements. | Consumer Electronics |
Android’s answer to Apple’s AirDrop is almost ready for Windows PCs, and you can try it out now. In an official blog post, Google announced that Nearby Share in Beta is already available to download to your PC. It’s compatible with PCs running Windows 10 and up and phones on Android 6 and up. ARM-based machines, like the Microsoft Surface Pro X, will not work with this feature.
If you haven’t yet used AirDrop, it basically lets you easily and wirelessly send files between Apple devices with just a couple clicks. It’s useful for sharing pics with friends, but also for quickly moving files from your phone to your computer, assuming you have both an iPhone and a Mac. Android’s equivalent feature, Nearby Share, has been able to connect phones and Chromebooks for a while now, but until now not been able to connect to PCs.
Although it’s still baking, Nearby Share in Beta already feels native. I installed it and fired it up on my Windows 10 machine in minutes. Immediately, I started sending GIFs from my PC to my Pixel 7. The app could also easily detect and connect to the mass of other Android review devices I have floating around my office, too (I leave the Nearby Share permissions open wide at home because it makes my gadget life less of a headache). If I wanted to, I could have sent files to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy S23 Ultra, and Pixel 7 Pro. Google says devices should be within 16 feet of each other to work.
Nearby Share has been available between Android devices for over a year now, and Google opened it up to Chromebook users in September. But this integration with Windows is the one I’m most fired up about. It’s hardly convenient to plug in an Android device and manually move files between it and a PC.
Nearby Share uses a combination of Bluetooth and WiFi direct to enable the connection between your devices. If you don’t see devices pop up to share, you might need to adjust the permissions on your Android device. You’ll also need to put your PC in discoverable mode to send files. Also, file sharing can falter if you click outside the window of the PC app when it’s in the process of syncing between devices, so try not to go wild with the mouse while you’re trying it out.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. And if you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. | Consumer Electronics |
If you struggle with mild to moderate hearing loss, you can now buy less expensive, over-the-counter hearing aids without a doctor's exam or prescription.A new Food and Drug Administration rule allows retail sales of hearing aids beginning Monday for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Regulators said the new rule should give millions of adults less expensive options and broaden access for those who can't afford hearing aids.A federal report estimated 28.8 million people could benefit from a hearing aid, but only about 1 in 5 people with hearing loss use a hearing aid. Aging, exposure to loud noises, medical conditions and other factors contribute to hearing loss. Hearing aids can help make speech and sounds louder and allow people to better communicate.Major retailers such as Walgreens, CVS and Best Buy plan to sell hearing aids, which should give consumers plenty of options on which brands and models to choose.BACKGROUND: FDA allows over-the-counter sales of hearing aids MORE: What people with hearing aids wish you knew: 'Our struggles don't discount us'How much can consumers expect to save?Some hearing aids cost more than $5,000 between the price of the device and a professional fitting. Medicare covers a diagnostic test but does not pay for the device. With the new rule, officials estimate the new class of devices would save consumers thousands of dollars for a pair of hearing aids.Where will retail hearing aids be sold?Walgreens: The chain pharmacy and Lexie Hearing announced that Walgreens will begin selling hearing aids at stores nationwide and online for $799 per pair.CVS: Will offer retail hearing aids on CVS.com with prices on varying brands and models from about $200 to $999. The devices are not available in stores right now, but some CVS pharmacy locations will being selling the devices in November.Best Buy: As of Monday morning, the store has more than a dozen models listed on its website and some locations at various prices. The consumer electronics retailer will begin carrying the devices at more stores this month.Hy-Vee: Will sell hearing aids online and in stores in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The retailer will expand the number of stores carrying the devices later this year.Who can buy these devices?Millions of Americans suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss. However, over-the-counter devices are not meant for people with more severe types of hearing loss or children.People with mild hearing loss can hear some speech but have difficulty hearing soft sounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person with moderate hearing loss may not hear a person who talks at a normal level.Older adults are more likely to have hearing loss. Nearly 1 in 4 of adults aged 65 to 74 and 1 in 2 of those 75 and older have disabling hearing loss, according to federal estimates.People should seek medical care if they have more complex hearing loss or symptoms such as discomfort or bleeding, officials said.What types of hearing aids will be available?The FDA rule is for "air-conduction" hearing aids fitted behind or inside the ear.The rule requires retail hearing aids to have lower maximum sound and user-adjustable volume controls. The new rule also limits how deep the device can be placed in the ear canal. Manufacturers must meet performance and device design specification to sell the retail devices.Ken Alltucker is on Twitter as @kalltucker or can be emailed at [email protected] article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hearing aids now sold over the counter at CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy | Consumer Electronics |
If the granules of news falling out of the rumor mill end up true, the iPhone 15 could be a huge shakeup for Apple’s phone line. The next iteration of the Cupertino company’s flagship phone will reportedly grant a 48-MP lens—currently only a feature of Pro iPhones—to the everyman.
This latest rumor comes thanks to a supply chain report from the Chinese site ITHome. The news stems from an analysis of the camera supply chain—in particular, Sony’s production capacity shortages for its camera units, thanks to the regular iPhone camera being upgraded to the 48-megapixel size. According to ITHome, Sony has had trouble filling Apple’s orders for more higher-quality camera modules than previous generations of iPhones, so it’s reached out to Taiwan Semiconductor for help. Why is Apple order more of these camera modules? Because it’s equipping not only the premium iPhones with the 48-MP camera, but also the basic ones, perhaps. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This isn’t the first time this rumor has floated to the surface. Last month, MacRumors first reported on a research note from analyst Jeff Pu that claimed a 48-megapixel lens on the regular iPhone 15 would use a three-stacked sensor that could support even better image quality. However, that more-complicated sensor has also led to some production delays for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. The device still maintains an expected shipping date of September this year.
So what about the 15 Pro line? The 48-MP primary sensor on the phone’s tri-camera array was one of the main selling points for Apple’s more expensive model, though as we noted in our review of the 14 Pro, the sensor usually only shoots at 12MP with quad-pixel tech enabled. Enabling the full might of the Pro’s rear sensor creates some very large images mostly useful for professional photographers. The night sight capabilities on the Pro Max’s largest sensor are also comparable to its Google counterparts.
Based on everything we know about the upcoming iPhone 15, the Pro versions of the phone could still have three cameras, but it could also come with a periscope-style rear sensor, while the other sensors maintain the expected ultra wide and telephoto lenses. Depending on the capabilities of a three-stack 48-MP lens on a regular iPhone, the Pro versions would need to have some more bells and whistles to truly justify the price jump.
Currently, rumors from respected sources have it the iPhone 15 could sell in four models, including a new “Pro Ultra” variant at the highest end. At release, the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 could have a 6.7-inch twin called the iPhone 15 Plus. Otherwise, sure we’re finally getting access to USB-C on iPhone (though there are rumors Apple will try to limit the capacity on non-Apple cable products).
The company sitting at the corner of 1 Infinity Loop has reportedly been trying to shake up things for its upcoming phone. One of those attempts was to create new “taptic”-style buttons on the phones exterior that wouldn’t so much click down but offer users some rumble feedback. However, an Apple supplier’s quarterly report implied that feature was no longer on the table.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
How To Check Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO Allotment Status?
Here's everything you need to know about the allotment of the recently concluded Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO.
The initial public offering of Cellecor Gadgets Limited ended on September 20. The company aims to raise around Rs 50.77 crores through the IPO.
The Cellecor Gadgets IPO has been subscribed 116.33 times. The price band is fixed between Rs 87 and Rs 92 per share. Cellecor Gadgets IPO will list on NSE SME.
In a statement on Friday, the company said that it has taken a giant leap towards achieving a "historic milestone" in India's consumer electronics sector.
Established in 2020, Cellecor Gadgets is poised to become the first company in India's consumer electronics industry to list its initial public offering (IPO), the statement said.
According to the information on the company's website, Cellecor Gadgets has more than 1,200 service centers and over 800 distributors spread across the country.
Its products are available in over 24,000 retail stores, reaching more than 100 million users across India.
Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO Allotment Date
Cellecor Gadgets IPO share allotment is expected to take place on September 25.
Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO Listing Date
The listing date of Cellecor Gadgets Limited's IPO is Thursday, September 28, 2023.
How To Check The Allotment Status Of Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO On Skyline Financial Services Private Ltd
Visit the Skyline Financial Services Private Ltd website at https://www.skylinerta.com/ipo.php
From the dropdown menu, select the "Check Application Status" option.
Then, choose "Cellecor Gadgets Limited" IPO from the available options.
Enter your DPID/Client ID, or Application Number or PAN of the Investor.
Click on the "Search" button.
Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO Timeline
IPO Open Date: September 15
IPO Close Date: September 20
Basis of Allotment: September 25
Initiation of Refunds: September 26
Credit of Shares to Demat: September 27
Listing Date: September 28
Cellecor Gadgets Limited IPO Issue Details
Fresh Issue Size: 5,518,800 shares aggregating up to Rs 50.77 Crores
Face Value: Rs 10 per share
Fixed Price Band: Rs 87 to Rs 92 per share
Minimum Lot Size: 1200 Shares
Listing: NSE SME | Consumer Electronics |
- On Tuesday, Foxconn reported third-quarter profit rose 11.27% from a year ago, beating analysts' expectations despite an ongoing consumer electronics slump.
- The world's largest contract electronics maker, Hon Hai Technology Group assembles consumer products like Apple's iPhones.
- The Taiwanese firm reported operating revenue slipped 11.64% from a year ago to NT$1.543 trillion, while net income increased 11.27% from a year ago to NT$43.13 billion, beating analysts' expectations.
Apple iPhone supplier Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai, on Tuesday reported third-quarter profit rose 11.27% from a year ago, beating analysts' expectations despite an ongoing consumer electronics slump.
Here are Foxconn's results for the quarter ended September versus LSEG consensus estimates:
- Revenue: $1.543 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($47.71 billion), vs. NT$1.559 trillion expected
- Net income: NT$43.12 billion, vs. NT$35.078 billion expected
The Taiwanese firm reported operating revenue slipped 11.64% from a year ago to NT$1.543 trillion, while net income increased 11.27% from a year ago to NT$43.13 billion, beating analysts' expectations. Foxconn reported a NT$38.75 billion net profit in the same period a year ago.
The world's largest contract electronics maker, Hon Hai Technology Group, assembles consumer products like Apple's iPhones.
Data compiled by Counterpoint Research revealed that global smartphone sell-through volumes in the third quarter grew 2% quarter-on-quarter, despite falling 8% year-on-year – its lowest third quarter levels in a decade and the ninth consecutive quarter to record a decline.
A sell-through refers to when a consumer buys a good directly from a retailer.
"Volumes declined year-on-year largely due to slower than expected recovery in consumer demand. But the market's quarter-on-quarter growth, especially the positive performance in September despite one full week less of sales of the new iPhones, is likely a sign of positive news ahead," said Counterpoint Research in a report on Oct. 17. Apple's iPhone 15 series was launched on Sept. 22.
Research firm Canalys said last week that the global smartphone market is seeing a slowdown in its decline. The market saw just a 1% drop in the third quarter 2023, according to Canalys data.
"Bolstered by regional recoveries and new product upgrade demand, the smartphone market recorded a double-digit sequential growth in third quarter, ahead of the sales seasons," said Canalys on Oct. 17.
"Huawei and Apple's new launches electrified the market this quarter, outshining many other vendors' flagship series renewals," said Amber Liu, analyst at Canalys, adding that Huawei's latest smartphone Mate 60 Pro which was launched in September is drawing "enthusiastic" demand in Mainland China.
"Meanwhile, Apple is bolstering its new iPhone 15 series with much-enhanced performance and features to continuously stimulate demand," said Liu.
The ongoing electronics slump has badly impacted the global smartphone market.
Demand for electronic goods such as smartphones has slowed dramatically with global macro uncertainties. Amid rising inflation rates, consumers have been cutting back on purchases of consumer devices.
Foxconn said in its earnings report that it expects monetary policies, inflation, geopolitics and macroeconomics to affect its business in 2024.
In August, the government of Indian state of Karnataka said Foxconn will invest more than $600 million to build a phone production project and a separate semiconductor equipment facility.
India could account for 20% to 30% of Hon Hai's manufacturing, which is "very similar to China," chairman and CEO Young Liu told CNBC last month.
In October, Chinese state media Global Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that multiple offices of Hon Hai's subsidiaries across China had been subjected to tax audits and on-site investigations into land use. | Consumer Electronics |
Apple stores in the U.S. are now selling a front door lock that can be unlocked by a user's Apple Watch or iPhone. The $329 Level Lock+ is the first Home Key-supported lock that's been sold in Apple stores.When the Level Lock+ is installed inside a front door, users can unlock and re-lock their houses using Apple Home Key, a feature that uses NFC and secure tokens in Apple's software to unlock doors with a tap. Users can text keys to their friends or automate when the door is locked.For Apple, it's a milestone in the development of a highly anticipated feature that was first announced in 2021. Home Key is an example of Apple continuing to digitize stuff that's normally carried in a physical wallet or pocket, from cash to keys.Many of Apple's new software features in recent years have been aimed at making the iPhone more valuable to users to prevent them from switching to other phone brands. A user whose front door is tightly integrated with their phone could be less likely to switch to an Android phone.Some of Apple's newer initiatives, especially its smart home ambitions, require extensive third-party hardware or systems support in order to work. But compared to features in iOS updates where Apple controls the hardware and software, these new integrations can take longer to become widely available.In addition to Home Key, Apple has announced Car Key, which unlocks supported cars from BMW and Hyundai, and Room Key, which puts hotel keys from chains like Hyatt in Apple's Wallet app. Apple's iPhone is integrating more deeply with vehicles through CarPlay, and extending financial services to its users with Goldman Sachs.For Level Home, it's an opportunity to stand out as a technology company in a marketplace dominated by a few large, older lock makers, by offering a software feature that's been hotly demanded by a core subset of smart home enthusiasts."There's a question that's been posed right now in this category," Level CEO John Martin told CNBC. "The question is, is a smart lock a consumer electronics device? Or is it a traditional lock that's now smart?"Smart home fans might simply be enthusiastic about a new Home Key lock option. Since Home Key's debut in 2021, there has only been one supported lock model on sale in the U.S., the Schlage Encode Plus. Smart home enthusiasts on forums such as Reddit have speculated at length about which companies might launch additional Home Key devices over the past year.The elevated level of Apple consumer desire for a new Home Key lock was revealed after reporters and users were able to buy or locate Level Lock+ at certain Apple stores after they accidentally went on sale early in some locations over the past week.Martin, Level's CEO, said that the company immediately noticed the blog posts and social media buzz around its new lock."Andrew Sampson, who's our CMO, former Nike guy. He's great," Martin said. "And he calls me in the night like, 'Oh my God, we're trending!'"Some people on the forums will be disappointed to hear Level won't update the firmware on its old locks to support Home Key. For Home Key support, users will need the Level Lock+ sold at Apple stores or online."We don't plan to do a firmware update for Touch," Martin said. "We needed to innovate the base part of the technology that's inside of the product to support Home Keys in a way that was going to be first class." | Consumer Electronics |
Artistgndphotography | E+ | Getty ImagesTelevisions are among just a handful of consumer goods and services that have dropped in price in the last year — which may translate to steep discounts for shoppers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.What's more, 38% of shoppers say they'll likely buy a TV during Thanksgiving week, including Cyber Monday, according to a recent Consumer Technology Association survey."Those lucky enough to be in the market for a TV are going to find some excellent deals right now," said Rick Kowalski, director of industry analysis and business intelligence at the association.Why TV prices are falling amid broader inflationAverage TV prices fell by almost 17% in October 2022 compared with the same month in 2021, according to the consumer price index.They're an outlier at a time when stubbornly high inflation led prices to climb steeply for a broad basket of consumer products. By comparison, the index increased 7.7% in October versus a year ago — which is off recent highs but still hovering near levels unseen since the early 1980s.TVs (and consumer electronics broadly) generally get cheaper over time as the technology improves. And greater ownership of smart TVs lets manufacturers track consumer data and then sell it to advertisers, also offsetting some cost, said Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings expert.But prices began to rise from one month to the next starting in early 2021. Demand for consumer electronics remained strong as households upgraded in-home entertainment during the pandemic. At the same time, computer chips were in short supply, and broader supply chains were clogged as the global economy began to reopen, limiting the flow of goods to retailers.More from Personal Finance:The 'gold standard' for holiday purchases has 'a huge drawback'Why protections for crypto investors are linked to orange grovesThis map shows where Americans have highest, lowest credit scoresBy August 2021, that supply and demand imbalance had pushed up average TV prices by 13% in a year and by 3% just that month, according to the consumer price index.But prices are declining again. Manufacturers had cranked up production to historic highs to meet consumer demand — and retailers now have a glut of TVs, Kowalski said.The U.S. imported 46.5 million TVs in 2021 — a record year and well above the roughly 40 million in a typical year, Kowalski said.Retailers are slashing prices to clear the excess inventory, he added. And households that bought TVs earlier in the pandemic may not see a big need to buy again, reducing potential demand.Black Friday and Cyber Monday TV dealsRetailers have long used TV deals to draw in shoppers on Black Friday — the Friday after Thanksgiving and the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. Consumers often wait to purchase big-ticket technology items until then, Kowalski said.Deals may continue through the December holiday season, but it's not a guarantee, experts said."TVs are typically one of those items I'd recommend shopping for, if you're in the market for a new TV or buying one as a gift," Woroch said. "It doesn't mean every single TV will have the best deal you'll get all year."Plus, the TVs discounted on Black Friday may not be the best of the best — they're typically entry level sets and may not come equipped with the features you want.Some Black Friday deals from retailers such as Best Buy have been jaw-dropping, especially for some well-known brands, said Julie Ramhold, consumer analyst with DealNews.Some of the best she's seen among big-name brands: a 75-inch Samsung for $580, a 70-inch LG for $550 and a 32-inch Toshiba for $80, which comes with 3rd generation Amazon Echo Dot. Separately, she saw a 40-inch Hisense selling for $100 — a price level unseen for any manufacturer for a 40-inch TV since 2018, Ramhold said.That said, there are plenty of other sets selling for more than $1,000, depending on the brand and model, she added.Woroch recommends comparison shopping using sites like DealNews and BlackFriday.com, or the web-browser plug-in PriceBlink. Consumers can also search for coupon codes or cash back on sites like CouponCabin, she said.One thing to watch, experts said: Retailers sometimes sell a special, one-day Black Friday model of a TV to offer a doorbuster sale — but that special model often has components or features missing relative to its traditional cousin. Consumers should check the model number, read reviews and, if shopping in person, pose questions to a store associate, Woroch said.Consumers should probably skip bargains from the "no-name" brands on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Ramhold said."If it just doesn't ring a bell for you or it's ridiculously cheap — like a 75-inch set for $300 — I'd be wary about buying them," Ramhold said. "Because you still get what you pay for."The last thing you want to do is haul home a no-name set and be shopping again next Black Friday," she said. | Consumer Electronics |
Perovskite light-emitting diodes toward commercial full-color displays: Progress and key technical obstacles
Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have been considered the most potential application technologies for the next-generation display and lighting field. Since the first room temperature-emission PeLED was demonstrated in 2014, the performances of PeLEDs have improved rapidly within a few years. The external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of green, red, and near-infrared emission devices have exceeded 20%.
Recently, the EQEs of blue PeLEDs have also exceeded 17%. PeLEDs have shown performance indicators constantly approaching the state-of-the-art organic and quantum dot LEDs, and exhibited unique advantages in terms of color purity, material cost, and preparation process.
Despite the fantastic progress, several challenges exist for PeLEDs to achieve commercial display applications.
On the one hand, the high-performance PeLEDs only worked in small active areas. When the active area expands, high nonuniformity of large-area active layers is the major obstacle. On the other hand, most researches on PeLEDs concentrate on prototype devices with a single emission pixel.
However, lagging in the technology of high-resolution, full-color perovskite array patterning strategies and device integration technologies, the step of PeLED displaying commercialization is strongly impeded. In addition, high-performance PeLEDs are mainly prepared based on rigid substrates, thus limiting their potential application scenarios. Perovskite materials have solution-processable properties and intrinsic mechanical flexibility, which provides the prospects for preparing perovskite-based flexible optoelectronic devices.
In a new paper published in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, a team of scientists, led by Professor Mingjian Yuan from Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, China, and co-workers summarizes the representative attempts for PeLEDs in commercial display applications, and discusses the key challenges as well as development prospects in this field.
They outline three significant technical obstacles toward the needs of the consumer electronics market and the level of industrial production requirements. This review includes large-area PeLEDs preparation, PeLEDs' patterning strategies, and flexible PeLED devices.
The large-scale fabrication of PeLEDs is of significant importance towards display panels. High-performance PeLED devices demonstrated in lab-scale production usually have only a few square millimeters of emission area. When enlarging the emission region, the perovskite film shows decreased crystallinity and uniformity, resulting in low device performance.
These drawbacks make PeLEDs challenging to transfer their excellent electroluminescence (EL) features into scalable manufacturing lines. To achieve large-area and high-throughput production of the devices, developing feasible large-area perovskite film depositing technology is of necessity. It includes improving the existing spin-coating method and using large-scale compatible depositing technologies such as new-type blade-coating or vapor deposition methods.
Micro- or nano arrays and their fabrication methods are essential for developing advanced integrated optoelectronic platforms. Precise and highly integrated pixels are prerequisites for incorporating these emerging perovskite materials into full-color high-resolution displays. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing structured perovskite films, and demonstrating these obtained optical films in laser, super-surface, and nonlinear optic devices. However, integrating the patterned perovskite films into full-color, high-resolution electroluminescent devices remains challenging.
Delivering high-performance patterned PeLEDs requires pattern strategies compatible with the existing workflows in LED device building, and achieves the unification of high optical performance and low electrical loss. In this section, the authors focus on the attempts to apply patterned perovskite arrays on LED devices. They introduce the pattern strategies of the high-resolution perovskite active layer. These include mask-assisted photolithography technologies, mask-free jet printing methods, nanoimprinting, and transfer printing strategies.
Flexible LEDs have become revolutionary devices for their various potential applications, such as portable wearable displays and biomedical imaging. In this section, the authors briefly introduce the progress of Flexible PeLEDs. They describe mechanical property regulation strategies for perovskite emitting layers in flexible and stretchable devices. The relationship between structural optimization and material optoelectronic properties is also explained. They review electrode materials compatible with FPeLEDs, such as structured metals, conductive polymers, low-dimensional carbon materials and their composites.
Comprehensive improvement strategies for these candidate materials' parameters, such as flexibility, conductivity, and transmittance, are also proposed. They also discuss the interfacial and energy level engineering toward improving these electrodes' compatibility with the perovskite active layer.
More information: Changjiu Sun et al, Perovskite light-emitting diodes toward commercial full-colour displays: progress and key technical obstacles, Light: Advanced Manufacturing (2023). DOI: 10.37188/lam.2023.015 | Consumer Electronics |
A major bug in Apple’s latest iPhone is causing the camera to physically fail when using apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, some owners have reported.The bug in the company’s iPhone 14 Pro Max, the most expensive model in the iPhone 14 range, appears to affect the optical image stabilisation (OIS) feature, which uses a motor to eliminate the effects of camera shake when taking pictures. Opening the camera in certain apps causes the OIS motor to go haywire, causing audible grinding sounds and physically vibrating the entire phone.Apple did not respond to requests for comment about the bug, which has been reported by multiple users on social media.The vibration does not occur when using the built-in camera app, suggesting the problem’s roots are in a software fault. However, some have warned affected users to limit their usage of apps that trigger the bug, in case excess vibration causes permanent damage to the OIS system.The company has previously warned users about potential damage to the OIS motor, particularly in situations where their phones are experiencing significant vibration. In January this year, the company published a long warning note for users about the risk of mounting their iPhones near “high-power motorcycle engines”.“The OIS and closed-loop AF [autofocus] systems in iPhone are designed for durability,” the company said. “However, as is the case with many consumer electronics that include systems such as OIS, long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos. It is recommended to avoid exposing your iPhone to extended high-amplitude vibrations.“High-power or high-volume motorcycle engines generate intense high-amplitude vibrations, which are transmitted through the chassis and handlebars. It is not recommended to attach your iPhone to motorcycles with high-power or high-volume engines due to the amplitude of the vibration in certain frequency ranges that they generate.”The iPhone 14 models were released on Friday 16 September. They are the first phones from Apple to be equipped with its new “emergency SOS by satellite” feature, which lets users send a short message to emergency services via a satellite relay service, even when outside mobile coverage. The feature, which has initially launched in North America only, uses a directional antenna to send the messages, which take at least 15 seconds to transmit as a result of the incredibly low bandwidth of wide-range satellite communications. | Consumer Electronics |
Tim Cook introduces iPhone 13Source: Apple Inc.The global smartphone market may be in the toilet, but the iPhone 13 continues to sell well, and Apple is expecting its upcoming iPhone 14 to do even better at launch.Apple's slightly higher expectations for the forthcoming iPhone 14 underscore a growing belief among Wall Street analysts that the Cupertino, California company's sales are likely to hold up better than the broader smartphone industry if major economies enter a recession.Apple, which reports its fiscal third quarter earnings on July 28, conveyed its expectations to suppliers in initial forecasts as it carries out trial production of the iPhone 14, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.With Apple sitting at the higher end of the market, analysts believe that inflation in core items like food and fuel have taken a lesser toll on its relatively affluent user base. That comes as industry watchers such as Fubon Securities Investment Services chairman Charles Hsiao believe demand for consumer electronics will slow overall this year and next.An economic slowdown in China has already taken a huge bite out of the smartphone market, pulling global sales down 10% year over year to 96 million units in May, the most recent month for which full figures were available, according to Counterpoint Research. It's only the second time in nearly a decade that the monthly figure has slipped below 100 million handsets, the firm said.But two iPhone supply chain sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that iPhone sales have continued to do well in July despite signs of cooling market demand for other smartphone makers."Others are starting to take a hit," one of the sources said.The second source said July shipments for the iPhone 13 from one factory were a third higher than July last year. That pattern was especially unusual because sales of current iPhone models tend to slow down in July and August as consumers await new models that Apple traditionally releases in September."Judging by shipment, sales of iPhone 13 are fairly good," the second source said.The iPhone has continued to sell well late into its cycle in part because "China demand rebounded sharply after lockdowns ended and the iPhone was a beneficiary" of a June shopping holiday in China, Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote in a note to clients.In keeping with its annual schedule, Apple has started trial production of the iPhone 13's successor with the goal of ramping up mass production in August so the devices can start shipping in the fall. The initial shipment forecasts Apple has given suppliers is "slightly higher" than that of iPhone 13 a year ago, the second source said."It's slightly higher than last year. It's good, but not explosively good," the second source said.For the just-ended fiscal third quarter, some Wall Street analysts are bracing for a slight decline in iPhone 13 shipments even if volumes are higher at some individual factories. But analysts still expect the iPhone to fare better than rivals. Cowen, for example, expects Apple handset shipments to be down about 1% for the just-ended quarter, while overall handset shipments could be down as much as 13%.The divergence between Apple and the Android market is rippling through Apple's supply chain."For Samsung's display unit, a better-than-expected performance in Q2 is expected due to shipments for iPhones, which is the only smartphone with strong sales," said Song Myung-sup, analyst at HI Investment & Securities.Cowen held steady its "outperform" rating on shares of chipmaker Skyworks Solutions, noting that it gets about 55% of its revenues from Apple for a radio chip in the iPhone. Skyworks rival Qorvo, by contrast, gets 30% of its revenue from Apple and has greater exposure to the Android phone market. Cowen downgraded Qorvo to "market perform.""Skyworks' greater relative exposure to Apple in its mobile business likely insulates the company in the near term from significant impacts associated with ... downward demand revisions," Cowen analyst Matt Ramsay wrote in a note to clients. | Consumer Electronics |
The downturn in the chip industry started in the summer months, as crypto crashes caused blockchain miners to flood the market with previously hard-to-find graphics cards. Almost overnight, demand eased up and caused graphics hardware prices to drop by almost half. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang admitted in August that the company made too many graphics cards that now it has to sell them for less money. But Nvidia isn’t alone in this mess.Just last year, the only story about chips was that manufacturers couldn’t make enough of them to meet the strong demand for consumer electronics, cars, and other products that require semiconductors. But even as shortages continue for certain types of semiconductors, the story is becoming more nuanced, especially for giants like Samsung and AMD, who were flying high on revenues and profits in 2021 and into 2022. Now they are being bowled over by a tide that similarly swept up Nvidia and Intel this summer. As reported by Bloomberg, this week, Samsung is reporting a 32 percent sales guidance cut, while AMD warned investors it’s going to miss its previous forecast by about $1 billion.Slumping PC sales provide an obvious explanation for why processors from AMD and Intel are not in as high demand as they were early in the pandemic. Everyone simultaneously had an incentive to upgrade their laptops, gaming machines, and work-from-home setups, but now sales have slowed. One way manufacturers would like to turn that around, as Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger described on Decoder, is “to enable the PC ecosystem to have better products than what is done by the Mac. Period.” But that hasn’t happened yet, and for giants like Samsung, it doesn’t even begin to address the slowdown in demand for cloud servers and other machines.We emailed Gartner analysts Gaurav Gupta, Joseph Unsworth, and Jon Erensen, who confirmed to The Verge that other OEMs are also facing high inventory and low demand. “OEMs had piled inventory in 2021 and first half of 2022 — during shortages — panic buying / double-triple ordering, etc.” said the analysts. They also pointed out that these warnings from Samsung and AMD are due to the weak forecasts in PCs, smartphones, and consumer electronics, even though other areas like automotive are strong comparatively.Samsung’s memory and storage chip business made it the largest chipmaker over Intel in 2018, though the latter company primarily makes x86 processors. In July, Intel suffered losses and reported a 22 percent decline in revenue driven by low PC sales and operating losses to get its Arc GPUs out the door.Demand for chips of all kinds peaked at the turn of 2022, and companies like Samsung had record high revenue in 2021 with a 26 percent increase in profits (compared to its previous high in 2020) due to higher demand for consumer electronics like smartphones and TVs. But now WSJ reports that contract prices for DRAM chips dropped 15 percent, and 28 percent for NAND flash chips (the two main components Samsung makes), and cites a TrendForce prediction that those declines will continue to decline until nearly flattening by the end of 2023. There’s also concern about how the Biden administration’s just-revealed chip export restrictions to China could affect the semiconductor industry. Gartner’s analysts tell The Verge that this will slow down Chinese companies’ progress and hurt their long-term goals of becoming self-sufficient technology leaders. The new rules would require manufacturers like Intel and Micron to obtain a license to export semiconductors and chip-making equipment to Chinese companies as part of an effort reportedly intended to impair Beijing’s military and technological capabilities. | Consumer Electronics |
Several heavyweights in the technology sector recently gathered in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which provided a peek at the future of products in various markets. When it comes to audio advancements, a powerful portable speaker was among items featured and it’s currently available at a discounted price.
The Kapsule 360° Speaker normally sells for $199, but during our Tech Innovations Seen at CES campaign, you can grab it for only $128.99. Through March 5, you can score savings on a device that is primed to deliver high-quality sound in any room.
Kapsule supplies true 360-degree audio via four precision acoustic stereo driver, providing an immersive listening experience whether you’re looking to relax, pump yourself up, or are throwing the ultimate party. Compatible with phones, tablets and several other Bluetooth-equipped devices, this wireless speaker simplifies the process of transforming your environment.
Kapsule 360° Speaker, $129, original price: $199
This powerful speaker is designed to produce dynamic sounds that offer deep bass and genuine detail that music lovers will appreciate. And if you’re looking to take that audio experience to another level, it can be paired with another Kapsule speaker to create an even more mesmerizing listening atmosphere.
Plus, a powerful 2,000mAh lithium-ion battery presents the option of portability. Kapsule can offer up to 20 hours of operation on a single charge and weighs less than five pounds, so users can confidently bring this speaker with them while on the move.
And since it stands less than eight inches tall and less than six inches wide, this 360-degree speaker won’t occupy much space in areas where you don’t have a lot to sacrifice. Its light grey color will also blend in well with a variety of surroundings, and it can even be a chic (and highly practical) piece of decor for any room.
One user wrote of this speaker, “Incredible sound! Love that it’s easy to use and makes me feel like I have a concert going on in my kitchen. 360 audio has changed my life.”
If you want to enhance your audio approach at home or on the road, seize this opportunity to purchase the Kapsule 360° Speaker for only $128.99 (reg. $199). This sale ends March 5 at 11:59pm Pacific.
Prices subject to change. | Consumer Electronics |
Sony is finally going to give us a glimpse at what’s in store for its television lineup in 2023.
Today, the company took to Twitter to announce that it will unveil its Bravia XR television lineup for the year on March 1, 2023. Specifically, the announcement will come on March 1, 2023, at 7:00 AM PST. Sony says that it will share a link to a live stream on that day, so the announcement is likely to be streamed on YouTube and other platforms.
Regardless of how the company will announce the new lineup, fans of the brand are sure to be excited about the reveal. Sony has historically unveiled its next-generation television lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every year, but it skipped out on doing so this January. At the time, the company released a statement saying that the announcement would be “coming soon.”
In a statement from Sony Electronics provided by spokesperson Chloe Canta, the company confirmed that “Sony will not be sharing any TV details during CES 2023. However, please stay tuned for an upcoming announcement coming soon.” An earlier statement explained “we plan launch timings based on various factors, and are excited to bring new and exciting technology to customers soon again in 2023.”
Instead of announcing its television lineup at CES, Sony showed off its new electric car brand Afeela, a new partnership between itself and Honda. The company plans to actually start shipping those cars to customers as soon as 2026.
New television models usually launch in the spring between March and May, so the company is likely to start shipping the 2023 models shortly after it makes the announcement on March 1. I personally have the A80J, and while that model will now be two years old, I’m still incredibly pleased with its performance. | Consumer Electronics |
- Summary
- Companies
- US-sanctioned giant likely to produce 5G chips domestically
- Chips expected to use Huawei EDA tools and SMIC production
- Semiconductors could have relatively low yield rate of 50%
SHENZHEN, China, July 12 (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies is plotting a return to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of this year, according to research firms, signalling a comeback after a U.S. ban on equipment sales decimated its consumer electronics business.
Huawei should be able to procure 5G chips domestically using its own advances in semiconductor design tools along with chipmaking from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC), three third-party technology research firms covering China's smartphone sector told Reuters.
The firms, citing industry sources including Huawei suppliers, spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements with clients.
Huawei declined to comment. SMIC did not respond to a request for comment.
A return to the 5G phone market would mark a victory for the company that for almost three years said it was in "survival" mode. Huawei's consumer business revenue peaked at 483 billion yuan ($67 billion) in 2020, before plummeting by almost 50% a year later.
The Shenzhen-based tech giant once vied with Apple (AAPL.O) and Samsung (005930.KS) to be the world's biggest handset maker until rounds of U.S. restrictions beginning in 2019 cut its access to chipmaking tools essential for producing its most advanced models.
The U.S. and European governments have labelled Huawei a security risk, a charge the company denies. Since then, Huawei has only sold limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.
Stuck selling last-generation 4G handsets, Huawei fell from most rankings worldwide last year, when sales reached a low point, though it rose to a 10% market share in China in the first quarter, according to consultancy Canalys.
5G FORECASTS
One of the research firms said it expected Huawei to use SMIC's N+1 manufacturing process, though with a forecast yield rate of usable chips below 50%, 5G shipments would be limited to around 2 million to 4 million units. A second firm estimated shipments could reach 10 million units, without providing further details.
Huawei shipped 240.6 million smartphones worldwide in 2019, its peak year, according to Canalys, before selling its Honor unit that accounted for nearly a fifth of shipments that year.
The state-backed China Securities Journal newspaper this month reported Huawei had raised its 2023 mobile shipment target to 40 million units from 30 million at the start of the year, without referencing a return to 5G phones.
Huawei could produce 5G versions of flagship models like the iPhone rival P60 this year, with new launches likely in early 2024, the three research firms said, adding they were basing such predictions on information they had received via checks with contacts in Huawei's supply chain and recent company announcements.
However, U.S. restrictions cut Huawei off from Google's Android operating system and the bundle of developer services upon which most Android apps are based, limiting Huawei handsets' appeal outside of China.
CHIP DESIGN TOOLS
The research firms noted Huawei in March announced it had made breakthroughs in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14 nanometre (nm) technology.
Chip design companies use EDA software to produce the blueprints for chips before they are mass manufactured at fabs.
The research firms, citing their own industry sources, believe Huawei's EDA software could be used with SMIC's N+1 manufacturing process to make chips at the equivalent of 7 nm, the powerful semiconductors typically used in 5G phones.
Washington barred SMIC from obtaining an advanced chipmaking tool called an EUV machine from Dutch firm ASML (ASML.AS) that is critical in the process of making 7 nm chips.
But some analysts have found signs SMIC has nevertheless managed to produce 7 nm chips by tweaking simpler DUV machines it could still purchase freely from ASML.
The second research firm said it noticed Huawei had asked SMIC to produce chip components below 14 nm this year for 5G products.
The forecast yield rate of less than 50% means that 5G chips are "going to be costly", said Doug Fuller who researches chips at the Copenhagen Business School.
"I guess if Huawei wants to eat the cost they can do this, but I don't see such chips as price competitive," Fuller said.
($1 = 7.2023 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Consumer Electronics |
Decoding artificial intelligence 22:59 - Source: CNN New York CNN — Hang onto your baby bonnets: Self-driving technology is coming to strollers. Canadian-based baby gear startup Gluxkind was showing off its Ella AI Powered Smart Stroller at this year’s CES, the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas that offers some of the most cutting edge – and out-there – new technologies. The smart stroller offers much of the same tech seen in autonomous cars and delivery robots, including a dual-motor system for uphill walks and automatic downhill brake assist. Like a Tesla with “Autopilot,” the Gluxkind’s stroller’s onboard technolgy has sensors that detect objects around it – but it’s meant to serve as an “extra pairs of eyes and an extra set of hands,” according to the company’s website – not a replacement for a caregiver. The Ella stroller is able to drive itself for hands-free strolling – but only when a child is not inside. It uses cameras to monitor surroundings and navigate the sidewalks. For parents who are probably and understandably nervous about putting their baby in a stroller with a mind of its own, Gluxkind provided a YouTube video with some use cases. A parent walking a stroller down hill rushes to save a child’s dropped toy that is rolling away. The stroller brakes on its own. In another demo, a child is tired of sitting in the stroller and wants to be carried. The Ella strolls itself while the parent carries the child. Still self-driving technology isn’t totally proven and certainly not ready for prime time. Although companies that have implemented the technology in cars say they add an element of safety when used properly and the driver is paying attention, putting children in the care of AI may not be for everyone. Gluxkind, founded in 2020, also put additional stroller-specific features into the Ella including “Automatic Rock-My-Baby” and a built-in white noise machine to soothe sleeping toddlers. The entire system is outfitted with a car seat, infant bassinet and toddler seat. “The development has been driven by our own experience as new parents.,” Anne Hunger, Gluxkind CPO and co-founder, wrote in a November press release. “We’ve put a lot of hard work into this product and are excited to get it into more customers’ hands in 2023.” For $3,300, parents can join the pre-order list for the 30-pound Ella, one of the consumer tech products named as an Innovation Awards Honoree at the 2023 CES show. Deliveries of the stroller are expected to begin in April 2023, according to the company website. | Consumer Electronics |
A Best Buy store is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 13, 2017.Lucy Nicholson | ReutersBest Buy on Tuesday surpassed Wall Street's expectations for quarterly earnings, as demand for big-ticket consumer electronics held up despite inflation.The consumer electronics retailer, which had cut its forecast this summer, reiterated its outlook for the holiday quarter. It raised its full-year forecast to reflect the beat, saying it expects comparable sales to decline about 10%.Shares of the company rose more than 7% in premarket trading Tuesday.Here's how the retailer did for the three-month period ended Oct. 29 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, according to a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:Earnings per share: $1.38 adjusted vs. $1.03 expectedRevenue: $10.59 billion vs. $10.31 billion expectedNet income for the fiscal third quarter fell to $277 million, or $1.22 per share, from $499 million, or $2 per share, a year earlier.Best Buy is staring down a more uncertain sales environment this holiday season. Some inflation-pinched consumers are pulling back on discretionary items and spending more money on necessities and experiences. The company joined other retailers in slashing its outlook this summer. It said at the time that it expects same-store sales to drop by about 11% for the 12-month period ending in January.A month after Best Buy warned of slower sales, it cut jobs across the country.Yet, so far, the company has topped its own expectations.Comparable sales fell by 10.4%, less of a decline than the 12.9% that analysts expected, according to FactSet. The key metric, also called same-store sales, tracks sales online and at stores open at least 14 months.It was also less of a drop than the retailer anticipated. Best Buy had not given specific guidance for comparable sales in the third-quarter, but its Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas had cautioned it would drop more than the 12.1% decline in the second quarter. The company said it has resumed share buybacks, which it paused when it took down its forecast in July.Shares of Best Buy are down about 30% so far this year, underperforming the S&P 500 Index. Shares closed on Monday at $70.83, down nearly 2%. The company's market value is $15.95 billion.This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. | Consumer Electronics |
Media caption, CCTV footage from a recycling plant shows what is believed to be exploding batteries shooting across the roomBatteries thrown in household rubbish bins cause about 700 fires every year in dustcarts and waste-processing centres, local authorities say.Lithium-ion batteries can explode if damaged or crushed. The Environmental Services Association says resulting fires cost fire services and waste operators some £158m a year.Non-profit organisation Material Focus, which surveyed local authorities, runs an online search tool to help people find their nearest recycling point.Found in small, rechargeable devices such as toothbrushes, toys, phones and laptops, lithium-ion batteries have become more powerful in recent years.Smaller, frequently used and cheaper devices - even some musical greeting cards - often have "hidden batteries". Ben Johnson, from the Environmental Services Association (ESA), told BBC News "more and more people were putting devices containing these batteries in with household rubbish" or mixing them with other recycling. "That causes a real problem, because they have a tendency - when damaged - to explode or ignite," he said. "And when you put them in general rubbish or recycling, they're likely to be crushed, compacted, smashed or they might get wet. "That can cause them to short-circuit. And of course they're then in the presence of other flammable material like plastic, paper and card and that can lead to quite big fires."Image source, Shore RecyclingImage caption, A fire at a waste recycling facilityLithium-ion batteriesThe main type of rechargeable battery in portable consumer electronics, they consist of two electrodes divided by a separator that allows charged particles - lithium ions - to flow, through a solvent, from one to the other. Recharging the battery pushes the ions back to where they started. If the battery is intact and contained, it is generally very safe. But if the electrodes make direct contact with each other, it can cause all the charged particles to suddenly discharge in an explosion, which, as the chemicals inside the battery are flammable, can quickly cause a fire.Image caption, The source of a major fire at a recycling centre in Aberdeen was not confirmed but the company says it was most likely linked to a discarded batteryNational Fire Chiefs Council waste-fires lead Mark Andrews said the problem was growing as people used and disposed of more electronic devices."We urge people to recycle electricals and batteries and not to dispose of them with general household waste," he said. "These fires can be challenging for fire services to deal with, have a significant impact on local communities and present a real risk to staff working on lorries and waste plants. "Everyone can do their bit and prevent fires by ensuring they dispose of electrical items correctly."Laura Fisher, from waste-management company FCC Environment, said: "The best thing is for people to bring any batteries to their local recycling centre or to any major supermarket - most of them tend to have a recycling bin for batteries there."Fire safety experts and electrical-waste campaigners are also calling for clearer rules on the safe disposal of batteries - including how to recycle them. The government has now delayed a consultation on this issue until 2023. | Consumer Electronics |
IndieWire swaps emails with Chris Larson, Roku's VP of retail strategy, who promises Roku TVs will provide "a TV experience rooted in delight." Roku is having a moment. It’s evolved from set-top boxes to partnering on TVs to acquiring and producing original content like the well-reviewed “Weird” Al Yankovic parody biopic “Weird,” which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. And now, with the announcement that it will start making its own TVs, Roku’s starting to look a bit like… Amazon?
Just as Amazon created its Fire TV Sticks, Roku became a major player by manufacturing and selling streaming-gateway devices. Also like Amazon through its Prime Video, Freevee, and now MGM+, Roku is in the original-content game with The Roku Channel. (“Weird” in November was Roku’s most-watched launch ever.)
Amazon began selling its own televisions in fall 2021. Now Roku is doing the same thing with 11 models of Roku Select and Roku Plus Series TVs, available this spring, which will range from 24″ to 75″ (and cost from $119 to $999). However, it’s worth noting that Amazon Fire TVs didn’t exactly catch, well, fire. (A rep for Amazon’s devices business did not immediately respond to our questions about the success — or lack thereof — of Fire TVs.) IndieWire caught up with Chris Larson, Roku’s VP of retail strategy, shortly after the Tuesday announcement. We swapped emails during his downtime at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You can read our unedited Q&A below.
IndieWire: Is this the natural evolution of things? From devices, to licensing your name in software form to other TV makers, to making your own TVs? If so, what is the next step that could make sense down the road? Chris Larson: As an industry leader with two decades of experience in TV streaming, bringing a television to the market that’s made and designed by Roku just makes sense. The new Roku Plus & Select Series TVs are just the first step in our expansion of the Roku TV program, and we look forward to growing our entire Roku TV program by continuing to work closely with our OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) partners, as well as develop our own Roku-branded TVs. More to come!
Why is this better than the licensing strategy?
OEMs remain the cornerstone of our Roku TV program, both here in the U.S. and around the globe. Now, by introducing our own branded televisions, we have the ability to test and introduce new features and technology on our own products to ensure we’re delivering a great streaming experience.
I, like many people, have both Amazon Fire devices and Roku devices in my house. The margins in TV manufacturing/sales are not typically large — how do you avoid cannibalizing your bread-and-butter revenue/profit stream?
Our new Roku-branded TVs are an expansion to our overall Roku TV program and allow us to bring more innovation to our partners and create a halo of success for the entire Roku TV program. How can making your own TVs buoy The Roku Channel to new heights?
CL: The more households with a Roku-enabled device, Roku TV (either branded or OEM partner) and streaming devices, the higher the potential engagement for The Roku Channel.
Anecdotally, it seems Amazon Fire TVs have not really been a success. What will Roku do different/better?
Roku-branded TVs focus on the features that streamers have come to love and expect from Roku products. By purpose-building our Roku-branded TVs for streaming, we will deliver customers a TV experience rooted in delight, featuring user-favorite features like Private Listening, Find My Remote, and wireless surround sound expandability. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. | Consumer Electronics |
Samsung announced its latest smart fridge called the Bespoke Refrigerator Family Hub Plus. The new fridge includes a 32-inch screen so users can watch TikTok videos and buy Amazon groceries. It's the latest addition to Samsung's SmartThings home product line, though there's no release date. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Samsung just announced its new smart fridge called the Bespoke Refrigerator Family Hub Plus, the latest addition to its line of Family Hub smart fridges. The fridge has a 32-inch, built-in vertical touchscreen — more than double the screen on its existing model — that lets users watch TikTok videos and order groceries on Amazon. Videos can be minimized to a smaller window so users can multitask on the display.The Family Hub Plus also comes with the Samsung TV Plus service which includes more than 190 TV channels in the US and 80 channels in South Korea that can be accessed for free.In addition to Microsoft's cloud storage system OneDrive, the smart fridge is now also linked to the Google Photos cloud, which allows users to display personal photos on the screen. Art can also be displayed on the screen through Samsung's Bespoke Atelier app. Through the SmartThings app, the fridge can control air purification and monitor energy use.The Family Hub Plus is an expansion of Samsung's SmartThings home product line, which launched in 2016 and aims to automate tasks through a connected home.Lee Jun-hwa, vice president of Samsung Electronics' home appliances business division, said that the new fridge "provides a vastly expanded experience" that "will lead the innovation and evolution of refrigerators by reflecting style trends," according to a Samsung press release written in Korean.Samsung did not say how much the fridge will cost or when it will be available for purchase. More information could be provided when the fridge is shown at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show — the world's biggest consumer tech showcase based in Las Vegas — which starts on January 5th. The new fridge can connect to any Samsung smart device. Samsung | Consumer Electronics |
(Reuters) - Specialty glass maker Corning forecast third-quarter core sales below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, as it grapples with the ongoing slump in the consumer electronics market.
Corning said it expects core sales of about $3.5 billion in the three months ending September, compared with analysts' estimates of $3.70 billion, according to data from Refinitiv.
Shares of Corning, whose Gorilla glass for smartphones is used by companies such as Apple and Samsung Electronics, were down nearly 1.5% before the bell.
The company has seen a drop in demand from its consumer electronics clients as smartphone makers try to clear a build-up of inventory caused by high inflation and rising interest rates.
Corning has moved aggressively this year to cut down on costs to make up for the slump in its main markets, which, combined with earlier price hikes, has helped the company to still expand its core gross margin by 100 basis points to 36.2%.
"We expect to continue improving profitability and cash flow despite our relatively muted sales environment," said CEO Wendell Weeks.
In the second quarter, core sales fell 7.4% year-on-year to $3.48 billion, in line with estimates, according to Refinitiv, but have risen 3% from the previous quarter in a likely sign the slump in client spending may be starting to ease.
Revenue from the optical communications unit - Corning's biggest - fell 19% from a year earlier, hit by weak demand for its optical fiber cables used in telecommunications business.
The specialty materials business, home to Gorilla Glass, posted a 13% fall in revenue, but that was somewhat cushioned by a jump in sales at the display technologies unit.
Corning posted an adjusted profit of 45 cents per share, just short of the 46 cents estimated by analysts.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri) | Consumer Electronics |
We have good reason to believe that Samsung will put a new kind of hinge in its next flagship foldable, and a South Korean trade publication has just supplied more confirmation. Spotted by 9to5Google, The Elec reports that Samsung has started reliability testing a new water drop-style hinge for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The new hinge design would make the folded phone thinner and help reduce the appearance of a crease with the main screen unfolded. But according to this report, Samsung is testing the hinge to withstand 200,000 folds like the last one, which falls short of longevity claims from recent competitors like the Honor Magic VS and Oppo Find N2 — both rated to 400,000 folds.
The Elec’s report does mention that the hinge would be tested to a maximum “limit” of 300,000 folds, but 200,000 folds seems to be the main bar that this design needs to clear. After folding 200,000 times (which takes four to five days!), the hinge needs to maintain at least 85 percent of its original strength. That test, in theory, represents about five years of daily use if you open the phone a little more than 100 times per day. The Magic VS and Find N2, on the other hand, would last for around 10 years, which is roughly an eternity in consumer electronics years.
In fairness to Samsung, the Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 boast IPX8 water resistance ratings — neither the Find N2 nor Magic VS has an IP rating of any kind. If you drop your non-water-resistant foldable phone in a puddle two years into ownership, it’s not much comfort knowing that it would have kept folding for another eight years.
Still, we’re hoping to see Samsung pushing the limits of its folding devices a little further this year. It’s been basically running unopposed for Foldable of the Year the past couple of years in the US, where competition is scarce. With more candidates (hopefully) in the mix this year, it would be nice if Samsung felt a little more pressure to innovate — we’ll just keep our fingers crossed for bigger cover screens and better cameras. | Consumer Electronics |
Deeper integration with Big Tech and sector's greater dependence on advertising weigh on job securityPeople play virtual reality video games during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, earlier this month. AFPJan 22, 2023Job cuts in the tech industry have led many grim headlines recently. It’s a trend that the video games industry is hardly immune to.In fact, there was at one point a website called videogamelayoffs.com that had a second-by-second counter for “days since last mass layoffs”.The story went: Executives overhire before a big game’s release, work employees to the bone, and, once the fruits of their labours line the walls of GameStop, fire employees en masse.This browser does not support the video element.That video game layoffs website hasn’t been updated since 2021, but below is a rough tally of some of the recent pink slips.Microsoft this week announced 10,000 job cuts, including someat 343 Industries, the company behind 2021’s Halo Infinite, and Bethesda Game Studios, maker of the coming Starfield.League of Legends developer Riot Games, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings, retrenched dozens in its publishing, recruiting and e-sports departments.Riot said it plans on hiring for 150 positions, and that the roles cut “no longer make sense for us”.Game engine company Unity Software said it’s letting go 284 employees in its second round of downsizing in less than a year, slashing its sports and live entertainment division.And in December, Israeli gaming company Playtika Holding laid off more than 600 employees.With those kinds of numbers, it’s no wonder that last year also had one of the biggest-ever unionisation pushes in the gaming industry, as workers seek to insulate themselves from economic shifts and secure better pay.It sounds rough, but the factors behind these decisions are different than they were a decade ago.Sure, employees, particularly contingent workers, still suffer from job insecurity after a game’s release.But a game launch isn’t the single biggest factor in employees’ job security any more.The industry’s deeper integration with Big Tech — see Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard — more dependence on advertising, plus new models for game development, mean the game job narrative is merging with the broader tech story of “bloat collides with recession”,The tech industry has announced plans to shed more than 100,000 jobs in the past few months, as companies acknowledged they plumped up during the flush times of the pandemic and are now facing a new economic reality.Executives at Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent company Alphabet have all sent contrite emails to staff.“I don't think this is a game thing. I think this is a tech thing,” says Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities who follows the gaming industry.There was a time when the games industry was considered immune to recession.QuoteGames are not a recessionproof industry. Games are really reactive to marketsLaine Nooney, assistant professor of media industries, New York UniversityA high unemployment rate seemed to correlate with more people with their hands free to hold a controller. Recent trends have exploded that idea.“Games are not a recessionproof industry,” says Laine Nooney, assistant professor of media industries at New York University.“Games are really reactive to markets.”Despite the recent bad news, things could look better this year.After spending much of last year in a post-Covid funk, with games delayed and spending down an estimated 4.3 per cent, some analysts are banking on 2023 for a rebound.After all, it’s got the most stacked game release line-up in years.Updated: January 22, 2023, 4:00 AM | Consumer Electronics |
With the first E Ink devices having debuted almost two decades ago, it’s been a long road transitioning the technology from black and white to color. But yesterday, E Ink revealed some tantalizing details on its latest color electronic paper panels, Spectra 6, with color reproduction that looks almost as good as what you can get in LCDs.
Color e-paper has actually been around for quite some time, but the earliest versions could only display a very limited palette of solid colors and were mostly used to display static images and signage. If your grocery store has upgraded to those electronic price tags with text that switches from black to red to indicate a sale price, then you’ve already experienced E Ink’s basic color electronic paper technology.
E Ink’s development of its color electronic paper has had a trickle down effect when it comes to where it can be implemented. I can remember seeing an E Ink demo at CES years ago of a poster-sized e-paper panel displaying full color pieces of artwork. It looked great, but it took 10 to 20 seconds for the panel to completely refresh and display a different piece of artwork, making it all but useless for consumer devices like e-readers and e-notes, where page turns are now expected to be more or less instantaneous.
So while color E Ink devices have been available to consumers since 2020, their color performance doesn’t quite reflect the true capabilities of the technology, or how good color E Ink can really look. That’s soon going to change, with more devices adapting E Ink’s Kaleido 3 and Gallery 3 color panels, which can display 4,096, and 50,000 different shades, respectively.
But if you really want to see how good color E Ink panels can look, you need to look at the technology the company is developing for static signage, where it doesn’t really matter how long it takes to change the image on screen, because it doesn’t change that often. Spectra 6 won’t be showing up in consumer devices any time soon, but it promises to be a big step forward for digital signage, where imagery can be occasionally swapped out and easily updated without the hassle of having to get something physically printed.
E Ink hasn’t revealed the full technical specifications of Spectra 6 just yet, but it will be available in a variety of sizes with a contrast ratio of 30:1 and resolutions up to 200 pixels per inch. Where Spectra 6 improves on Gallery 3, which is capable of reproducing over 50,000 colors using a four particle ink system, is a bump to six different color particles in each microcapsule. E Ink has yet to divulge just how many colors the new Spectra 6, six ink system can reproduce, but the samples it shared alongside yesterday’s announcement look almost as good as an LCD screen.
It will be quite a few years before the Spectra 6 technology trickles down to consumer devices. Among the details E Ink didn’t share yesterday was how long it takes to refresh a Spectra 6 panel. However, the company did point out that the panels can create a “partial image flashing effect” to make messages or advertisements more dynamic and eye-catching.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. And if you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. | Consumer Electronics |
President Joe Biden is joining the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Tuesday to announce the opening of the company's second chip plant in Arizona, raising its investment in the state from $12 billion to $40 billion.The company will also announce it will be producing more technically advanced chips than originally proposed. The investment by TSMC is one of the largest foreign investments in U.S. history, and the biggest in the state of Arizona.Semiconductor chips are used in everything from computers and smartphones to cars, microwaves and health-care devices. The Covid-19 pandemic shined a bright light on U.S. dependence on Chinese manufacturers as lockdowns led to a global shortage of the high-tech chips.US President Joe Biden arrives to speak on rebuilding US manufacturing through the CHIPS and Science Act at the groundbreaking of the new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility near New Albany, Ohio, on September 9, 2022.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty ImagesBiden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law in early August, allocating billions to lure manufacturers to produce the widely used chips domestically. The law includes $52.7 billion in loans, grants and other incentives as well as billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.Once the TSMC plants open, they, along with existing investments, will produce enough advanced chips to meet the U.S. annual demand, 600,000 wafers per year, according to Ronnie Chatterji, National Economic Council acting deputy director for industrial policy who oversees CHIPS implementation."It's the foundation of our personal electronics, and also the future of quantum computing and AI," Chatterji said. "At scale, these two [factories] could meet the entire U.S. demand for U.S. chips when they're completed. That's the definition of supply chain resilience. We won't have to rely on anyone else to make the chips we need.""The passage of the CHIPS and Science Act was absolutely critical in providing the long term certainty for companies like TSMC to expand their footprint and expand their commitment to the United States," said Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council.The goal of the legislation was to spur private investment in chip manufacturing. CEOs from companies who will benefit from U.S. chip production, like Apple CEO Tim Cook, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, will also be in attendance.CNBC PoliticsRead more of CNBC's politics coverage:Live updates Georgia Senate runoff: Race between Trump pick Walker and Warnock is too early to callTrump Organization convicted in New York criminal tax fraud caseHouse Ethics Committee admonishes Rep. Madison Cawthorn over crypto promotion, failure to disclose stakeSenate Banking Chairman Brown to introduce bill closing 'shadow' banking loophole after Elon Musk says Twitter will process paymentsFormer FTX engineer quietly became multimillion dollar Democratic donor after new role at cryptocurrency exchangeTrump foe Michael Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing millions from clientsSupreme Court hears case of Colorado wedding website refusing gay marriage workOp-ed: FTX crash shows cryptocurrency market needs bank-like regulationGeorgia man arrested for shooting boy campaigning for Sen. Warnock in runoff election against WalkerBiden condemns antisemitism as Ye praises Hitler days after dinner with Trump, white nationalist FuentesBiden signs bill averting rail worker strike despite lack of paid sick daysInfoWars host Alex Jones files for bankruptcy protection, court records showFormer FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried met with top officials at the CFTC more than 10 times over the past 14 monthsBiden, Macron reaffirm their partnership, support for Ukraine at joint White House press conference"Whether it's in electric vehicles or consumer electronics, CEOs of major companies are making decisions about their plans 18 to 24 months forward," Deese said. "The build out in the United States gives them more confidence to operate as well."Biden is visiting the first plant in Phoenix which is expected to begin producing chips by 2024. It was initially slated to produce 5 nanometer chips, but now will create 4 nanometer chips. The second plant will open in 2026 and produce 3 nanometer chips, the most cutting-edge chips currently available.The opening of the plants will further help boost Arizona's economy which was hard hit by the pandemic. Phoenix had an unemployment rate of 6.5% in 2020 when more than 9,000 of the city's residents filed for bankruptcy. Phoenix's unemployment rate has since dropped to 3.2%. The state's economy grew by 6.3% in 2021, the most in 16 years.Clarification: This story was updated to reflect that the White House clarified that once open, the two factories, in addition to other investments, will produce enough chips to meet current annual U.S. demand. | Consumer Electronics |
A poster with a logo of Foxconn is seen at the IEEE Global Communications Conference in Taipei. Taiwan, December 9, 2020. REUTERS/Ann WangRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTAIPEI, July 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), the world's largest contract electronics maker, raised its full-year business outlook on Monday thanks to strong sales of smartphones and servers despite concerns of slowing demand due to rising inflation.Like other global manufacturers, the Taiwanese firm has grappled with a severe shortage of chips, which has hurt smartphone production including for its major client Apple (AAPL.O), partly due to COVID-19 lockdowns in China.But the company said in a statement late on Monday that June sales jumped 31% from a year earlier to a record high for the month, thanks to appropriate supply chain management and rising sales of consumer electronics. Smartphones make up the bulk of its revenue.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comFoxconn's better-than-expected June sales come at a time when investors are concerned about slowing tech demand during a downturn in major markets due to high inflation and the war in Ukraine.Chip stocks across the world tumbled on Friday after memory chip maker Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) forecast on Thursday significantly worse-than-expected revenue for the current quarter and said the market had "weakened considerably in a very short period of time." read more Foxconn said it was optimistic about its business in the third quarter, adding it could see "significant growth" compared with a year earlier.For 2022, Foxconn said the outlook has improved compared with earlier expectations for no growth, without providing details. read more The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said it has seen double-digit yearly growth in sales from servers and telecommunications products so far this year.The company has said that COVID-19 controls in China only had a limited impact on its production as it kept workers on-site in a "closed loop" system.Analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets in Taipei said in a report demand for servers from U.S.-based cloud service providers helped propel double-digit growth for the sector. They expected Foxconn's operating profit to grow 12-19% this year.Morgan Stanley analysts said Foxconn's upbeat guidance for the third quarter showed that strong demand for cloud servers and iPhone assembly will continue.The company's shares rose about 3% in Tuesday morning trade, outperforming the broader market (.TWII) which was up around 1%. They have dropped nearly 1% so far this year, giving the firm a market value of $46.52 billion.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard, Editing by Louise Heavens and Sonali DesaiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Consumer Electronics |
Apple is set to introduce its own mixed reality headset during the WWDC 2023 keynote in June. While rumors about this product have been swirling for years, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says this event will be Apple’s “last hope” for convincing investors that its mixed reality headset could have a chance to be the next “star product” in consumer electronics.
According to Kuo, “the current market consensus may overestimate AR/VR headset devices’ contribution to key component suppliers over the next few years, particularly in the optical related.” The analyst states that there is currently “insufficient evidence” to suggest that AR/VR headsets can become the next star product in consumer electronics “in the foreseeable future” for any company.
Besides Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset, there are other players in the market with AR/VR headsets – and they’re all struggling. Kuo gives three different examples:
- The recently-announced PS VR2 barely started selling, and Sony has cut its 2023 production plan by about 20%;
- The product lifecycle shipment for Meta Quest Pro is only around 300,000 units;
- Pico’s (China’s largest AR/VR headset brand) shipments in 2022 were more than 40% lower than expected.
With that, why would Apple be the one having success with its mixed reality headset? Current rumors show the device will be very expensive (around $3,000-4,000), its battery will only last a couple of hours, and some of its most interesting features may not work as expected with the first iterations of its software.
Although we could say the same about the first iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, neither of these devices (despite the Apple Watch being made of gold) cost that much while delivering a similar experience that users can already do on other platforms.
So far, the key rumored features of this headset are virtual reality FaceTime, in-air typing, and an immersive video-watching experience.
In two months, we might discover if that will be enough for Apple to call this its next star product. | Consumer Electronics |
Air Purifier Sales Surge As Air Quality Worsens In National Capital
this year has seen an early surge in sales due to a sudden surge in air pollution levels, companies said.
Air purifier makers are witnessing a sudden spike in sales and customer enquiries amid air quality worsening in the national capital and adjoining areas. The makers said they are receiving queries from Mumbai and some eastern parts of the country, alongside the New Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), where air quality levels have also gone down substantially.
Companies such as Philips, Kent RO, Xiaomi, Daikin and Havells expect a further uptick in demand in the coming days, as they anticipate air quality to be impacted by other reasons as well as from construction activities, along with rising health consciousness among consumers.
Air purifiers are a relatively new, small and niche segment in the home appliances space, whose demand picks up after Diwali.
However, this year has seen an early surge in sales due to a sudden surge in air pollution levels, companies said.
"In the past 4-5 days, we have witnessed a 15-20 per cent increase in demand, as people anticipated the need for a solution to combat the polluted air," Mahesh Gupta, CMD, Kent RO Systems Ltd, told PTI.
Gupta said this demand will continue to rise due to ongoing air quality deterioration, increased awareness about air purifiers, and growing health-conscious consumer base.
Xiaomi said it has witnessed a ten-fold increase in air purifiers sales this week.
"There has been a strong spike in demand for air purifiers. This week itself we witnessed a 10x increase in sales. With other metros like Mumbai seeing a rise in Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, the category itself has grown 40-50 pc through the year, compared to 2022," said a Xiaomi spokesperson.
Gulbahar Taurani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Versuni India Home Solutions (formerly Philips Domestic Appliances), said, "The recent alarming rise in air pollution in Delhi-NCR is driving a significant surge in Philips air purifier sales." Havells India Executive VP Rajiv Kenue said, "In recent weeks, air purifier sales have surged, driven by rising pollution levels in northern India, primarily due to stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab." Havells anticipates a further uptick in demand in the coming days.
Delhi's air quality plummeted to the 'severe plus' category on Friday morning, when the city's AQI skyrocketed to 471 from 351 on Thursday, reflecting a sudden increase due to highly unfavourable meteorological conditions and a sharp spike in stubble-burning incidents in neighbouring states.
Amid deteriorating air quality, air purifiers have become a staple in most households, KENT RO Systems CMD Dr Mahesh Gupta said.
Daikin India CMD KJ Jawa said the air quality in Delhi-NCR has gone past the 'severe' category, making it unsafe for humans. Breathing this kind of air may result in sudden rise of asthma attacks and have a long-term impact on the health of people, he said.
"Daikin air purifiers are equipped to solve this challenge of air pollution through HEPA filters and patented streamer technology. We are also offering free lifetime HEPA filter to ensure customers don't have to pay much for long-term care of their health," he said.
According to Taurani, "This year, we have observed a remarkable trend: consumers actively seeking air purifiers even during periods of low pollution. This de-seasonalisation of the category is a clear indication that air purifiers are becoming essential year-round investment." Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) said air purifier is a growing segment and most suppliers import products from China and neighbouring countries.
"Air purifiers have a very small window for sales, which is basically during this season when there is an increase in the pollution levels," CEAMA President Eric Braganza said.
British tech firm Dyson, a global market leader in the premium range of air purifiers, is also expanding its portfolio into the segment here.
It has launched two new models -- Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet and Dyson Purifier Cool -- in India in the last three months, priced at Rs 68,990 and Rs 32,900, respectively.
Dyson Senior Electronics Engineer Ginger Lee said, "With the changing season, recurring concerns about pollution persist, affecting our outdoor and indoor environments." "While we may be aware of outdoor air pollution, awareness of indoor air pollution remains low, which can be up to 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution. When sealing our windows and doors, it may seem like we're shutting pollution out. But in reality, we're keeping it confined." "By incorporating purifiers into your routine, you can safeguard your home from the harmful effects of pollution," he said. | Consumer Electronics |
Dish-owned live TV streaming service Sling TV is looking to catch up with competitors with the launch of new features like user profiles and the promise of more changes to come in 2023. The company began quietly rolling out the user profiles feature just ahead of the Consumer Electronic Show last week, initially on Android TV and Fire TV devices, with support for more platforms in the near future.
Over the past several months, it’s also expanded its newer direct-to-consumer subscription integrations with the addition of discovery+, which joins 50 other services now available through Sling. And it’s made a Sports Scores feature available across Roku, Fire TV and Android TV devices.
Sports Scores has been rolling out to users since last year, making it easier to access scores from NFL, college football, NBA, NHL, and MLB games while continuing to watch live TV or on-demand programming. Meanwhile, Sling TV’s subscription lineup, which now nears 50 services, has been available since last August.
Image Credits: Sling TV
Combined with the rollout of user profiles (which had not yet been formally announced), the changes suggest a streamer that’s again trying to innovate to attract subscribers.
Though one of the early leaders in live TV streaming, having launched in 2015, Sling TV lost traction as newer services like Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV arrived on the market. For the first three quarters last year, Sling TV faced subscriber losses, for example. However, the company more recently reversed that downward trend in its Q3 2022 earnings in November, when it reported a total of 2.41 million subscribers after 214,000 net additions. But this figure is still down from the 2.6 million subscribers Sling TV had in the third quarter of 2021, for comparison.
Sling TV needs to do more — and faster.
TechCrunch sat down with Sling TV EVP and Sling TV President, Gary Schanman, in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, to find out what’s next for the service in the months ahead.
Sling TV parent Dish hired the industry vet last year, whose experience includes pay TV with roles at Spectrum, Charter and Cablevision (now Altice USA), and in the streaming space. Most recently, Schanman served as Chief Product Officer at Common Sense Networks, where he led the launch of the kid-safe streaming service Sensical. Now he hopes to revitalize the Sling TV brand.
“Over the next number of quarters, you’ll see a lot faster innovation of the product and the product set,” Schanman told TechCrunch. “When people join our company, we expect them to be creative and innovative and be all about winning. And so we’re starting to bring a lot more people into the company to help grow that,” he said.
The company is also looking at how it can better serve the different types of streamers and their needs in the year to come.
“We’re focused on helping consumers find, consume, and engage all the content they want. And we are comfortable with a variety of different types of consumers that have different needs. And that includes…people that keep our paid service – and they’re completely subscribed to all of our add-on packs. But it could also be people that come in for a period of time and want to watch some free content,” Schanman said.
“Free is a part of our thoughts about how we think about that engagement with the customer. We want a lifelong relationship with the subscriber where they see value in what we provide — and [free content is] a piece of that,” he added.
Schanman couldn’t specifically comment on what Sling TV has in mind around any sort of free streaming plans to come.
But overall, the streaming industry has shifted a lot of its focus in recent months to serving consumers free “live TV” channels, also known as FAST channels, which appear in a grid-like guide that feels more akin to a cable TV experience rather than ad-supported video on demand. Roku, for example, has launched FAST channels via its Live TV Guide as has Amazon with Freevee, in addition to offerings from Pluto TV, Xumo and Plex. For some services, the idea is to lure in customers with free streaming — as Roku does via its free movies and TV hub, The Roku Channel — then upsell them paid streaming subscriptions.
Of course, if Sling TV were to go further down the free route, it could complicate its relationship with streaming media platforms, like Roku and Amazon, which want to direct consumers to their own free streaming products.
Beyond its plans to innovate on product, Schanman believes Sling TV has other advantages, including being simple and straightforward to use. He also touted the service’s reliability. It’s been a long time since “Game of Thrones” crashed its service, after all. But what Sling TV touts as simple could also be viewed as bare bones, depending on who you ask.
Still, the company believes that Sling TV’s bigger advantage is not necessarily the user interface, but how it organizes its programming into affordable le packages. Today, the streamer differentiates itself by way of a la carte programming packages that begin with a base subscription (Sling TV’s “Orange” or “Blue” packages) and various add-ons. Rival services, meanwhile, tend to bundle a larger number of channels into one offering, forcing subscribers to continually pay higher prices as new deals are forged.
“From the live TV perspective, we still have the best value in the market by far. We also have the most flexibility in the market. The truth is, you know, I think we’re a very pro-consumer customer offering. Most of our competitors are what I would call true one-for-one cable replacements, but they’re in some cases more expensive,” said Schanman.
The company plans to talk more about Sling TV’s affordability in the months to come, he said. That message is timely, as consumers are beginning to feel the financial impacts of having too many streaming choices and are facing a market where live TV plans are often no longer cheaper than traditional cable TV.
“We start at $40. So our flexibility and choice is a huge value proposition in the market,” the exec explained. “You can switch between packages any time you want. We have over six add-on packs that, when you add them on, are still less than what you’d have to pay on YouTube TV or Hulu TV,” he pointed out. “The more consumer choices there are, the more that our service has value in the market, because the share of wallet is challenged across the board,” Schanman said. | Consumer Electronics |
Some types of consumer electronics are already discounted more than a month before Christmas Day, but retailers are expected to roll out the sweetest deals of the year during the traditional price-slashing window between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Through November 16, shoppers can find 10% to 20% discounts on televisions, video game consoles, computers and other tech gear, according to Adobe Digital Insights. That lets consumers get a jump on their holiday shopping while still saving money.
"Now is a good period for consumers," Adobe Digital Insights manager Vivek Pandya told CBS MoneyWatch.
But consumers will have to weigh what is most important — getting the best deal or ensuring they getting the exact tech product they want.
"What they are negotiating is waiting for best discounts between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, or trying to get some of these items before they sell out," Pandya said.
When to find peak discounts
For shoppers who want to hold out for the greatest savings, it could pay to wait for the "Cyber Five" period, the five-day span between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, to buys products like TVs and sound systems. Other electronics will be discounted by as much as 30% on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe.
For TVs, look for discounts on Black Friday, which this year falls on November 24. The best day to shop for deals on computers will be Saturday, November 25, according to Pandya.
But retailers are nimble, and if they don't clear enough inventory during that period, they can introduce surprise discounts on other dates too.
"There are going to be competitive moments to get discounts throughout the season," he noted.
After Cyber Monday on November 27, discounts are likely to weaken but will remain as high as 16% off, Adobe projects.
Melissa Tatoris, vice president of retail at Zeta Global, also expects the best electronics deals to land on Cyber Monday, although shoppers could still find deep discounts later in the season.
"Retailers will be flexible if they have to go a couple basis points deeper toward the holidays because they didn't clear their inventory," she told CBS MoneyWatch.
After Christmas, retailers typically mark down any remaining seasonal inventory.
In years past, the best day of the year to score deals on electronics typically fell. But retailers are not expected to have a lot of excess inventory on hand this year.
"The risk with waiting until after Christmas is that typically that is when retailers mark down their extra seasonal inventory. However, retailers this year are signaling that they are doing a better job with forecasting and that their supply chains are in better shape," Deloitte retail strategy principal Brian McCarthy told CBS MoneyWatch.
"As a consumer, I could take my chances in getting a post-Christmas deal, but would risk the chance of not having a lot of selection," he said.
for more features. | Consumer Electronics |
Thomson To Consider Exporting India-Made Products To Global Markets; To Enter Domestic Laptop Segment
Thomson, which sells laptops in niche markets such as the U.S., France and other parts of Europe, will enter the laptop segment in India in the next two quarters in the entry, mid, and premium segments.
Consumer electronics major Thomson will enter the laptop market in India in the next two quarters and is also considering to export smart TVs and other products manufactured in the country to foreign markets, a company official said on Wednesday.
Thomson, a brand owned by US-headquartered Established Inc, said it is "pretty satisfied" with the quality and standards of manufacturing by its India brand licensee Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL), which is investing Rs 300 crore to set up a fully-automated plant at Hapur in UP to increase its manufacturing capacity to 2 million TV units per annum.
Thomson, which sells laptops in niche markets such as the U.S., France and other parts of Europe, will enter the laptop segment in India in the next two quarters in the entry, mid, and premium segments.
India is one of the fastest growing markets for Thomson, which re-entered India through SPPL in 2018 after 15 years and is aiming to be among the top five global markets, said Sebastien Crombez, Sales Director, Established Inc.
Thomson, which has global manufacturing facilities in various countries, is in talks to take TV units manufactured in India to some of its global markets.
"We would like to... we also have had discussions... Every company is interested in working with a manufacturer with a long-term relationship," Crombez told PTI.
The company is visiting manufacturing units of SPPL "also because we would like to motivate our partners in Europe to buy the products from India," he said.
They would not only save in terms of cost but "it is also very competitive", he said, adding, "Quality is also good... we would like them to buy products from India." "Such opportunities are not limited to televisions but also laptops and smartphones, where there are many things happening in India on the manufacturing side.
"A lot of companies are turning their back on China or are trying to find alternatives to manufacturing there. There are a lot of geopolitical aspects of the business that are also impacting us, so we need to remain open and look at these opportunities," Crombez said.
However, on whether Thomson has selected any specific market for 'Make-in-India' products, he said, "We do not have any specific markets (at the moment)." If there is any opportunity, Thomson will put SPPL in contact with all partners for discussions, he said.
Thomson, an online brand sold through channel partners such as Flipkart, has expanded its presence from smart TVs to appliances such as washing machines, airconditioners and small appliances.
SPPL Director and CEO Avneet Singh Marwah said starting with laptops, the company would like to collaborate with Thomson to introduce more technoplogy-based products.
India is the fastest-growing market in the category, he said.
On the technology part, he said, "Thomson is selling laptops in various countries, where it has partners." Besides, it has also selected "strategic dedicated Indian partners for the product", he said, adding that the recent government notification allows it to import laptops till September 2024.
Marwah did not share price details, but said "it would be disruptive".
On the smart TV segment, Marwah said the market was on the decline in the first half of 2023 but is expected to grow in the second half, led by festive sales.
SPPL, which has a portfolio of five global brands in the TV and appliances segment, including Thomson, Kodak, Blaupunkt, White-Westinghouse TV and White-Westinghouse (Trademark of Electrolux), is aiming to generate a revenue of Rs 1,200 crore in the current financial year. | Consumer Electronics |
Microsoft Wants to Make It Easier For You To Repair Your Devices. Here's Why That's a Big Deal.
Making repair more accessible will allow consumers to use older products for longer, saving them money and reducing the environmental impact.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In March, Irene Plenefisch, a senior director of government affairs at Microsoft, sent an email to the eight members of the Washington State Senate's Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee, which was about to hold a hearing to discuss a bill intended to facilitate the repair of consumer electronics.
Typically, when consumer tech companies reach out to lawmakers concerning right-to-repair bills — which seek to make it easier for people to fix their devices, thus saving money and reducing electronic waste — it's because they want them killed.
Plenefisch, however, wanted the committee to know that Microsoft, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, was on board with this one, which had already passed the Washington House.
"I am writing to state Microsoft's support for E2SHB 1392," also known as the Fair Repair Act, Plenefisch wrote in an email to the committee. "This bill fairly balances the interests of manufacturers, customers, and independent repair shops and, in doing so, will provide more options for consumer device repair."
The Fair Repair Act stalled out a week later due to opposition from all three Republicans on the committee and Senator Lisa Wellman, a Democrat, and former Apple executive. (Apple frequently lobbies against right-to-repair bills, and during a hearing, Wellman defended the iPhone maker's position that it is already doing enough on repair.) But despite the bill's failure to launch this year, repair advocates say Microsoft's support — a notable first for a major U.S. tech company — is bringing other manufacturers to the table to negotiate the details of other right-to-repair bills for the first time.
"We are in the middle of more conversations with manufacturers being way more cooperative than before," Nathan Proctor, who heads the U.S. Public Research Interest Group's right-to-repair campaign, told Grist. "And I think Microsoft's leadership and willingness to be first created that opportunity."
Across a wide range of sectors, from consumer electronics to farm equipment, manufacturers attempt to monopolize the repair of their devices by restricting access to spare parts, repair tools, and technical documentation. While manufacturers often claim that controlling the repair process limits cybersecurity and safety risks, they also financially benefit when consumers are forced to take their devices back to the manufacturer or upgrade due to limited repair options.
Why right to repair is better for the environment
Right-to-repair bills would compel manufactures to make spare parts and information available to everyone. Proponents argue that making repair more accessible will allow consumers to use older products for longer, saving them money and reducing the environmental impact of technology, including both electronic waste and the carbon emissions associated with manufacturing new products.
But despite dozens of state legislatures taking up right-to-repair bills in recent years, very few of those bills have passed due to staunch opposition from device makers and the trade associations representing them. New York state passed the first electronics right-to-repair law in the country last year, but before the governor signed it, tech lobbyists convinced her to water it down through a series of revisions.
Like other consumer tech giants, Microsoft has historically fought right-to-repair bills while restricting access to spare parts, tools, and repair documentation to its network of "authorized" repair partners. In 2019, the company even helped kill a repair bill in Washington state. But in recent years the company has started changing its tune on the issue. In 2021, following pressure from shareholders, Microsoft agreed to take steps to facilitate the repair of its devices — a first for a U.S. company. Microsoft followed through on the agreement by expanding access to spare parts and service tools, including through a partnership with the repair guide site iFixit. The tech giant also commissioned a study that found repairing Microsoft products instead of replacing them can dramatically reduce both waste and carbon emissions.
Microsoft has also started engaging more cooperatively with lawmakers over right-to-repair bills. In late 2021 and 2022, the company met with legislators in both Washington and New York to discuss each state's respective right-to-repair bill. In both cases, lawmakers and advocates involved in the bill negotiations described the meetings as productive. When the Washington state House introduced an electronics right-to-repair bill in January 2022, Microsoft's official position on it was neutral — something that state representative and bill sponsor Mia Gregerson, a Democrat, called "a really big step forward" at a committee hearing.
Despite Microsoft's neutrality, last year's right-to-repair bill failed to pass the House amid opposition from groups like the Consumer Technology Association, a trade association representing numerous electronics manufacturers. Later that year, though, the right-to-repair movement scored some big wins. In June 2022, Colorado's governor signed the nation's first right-to-repair law, focused on wheelchairs. The very next day, New York's legislature passed the bill that would later become the nation's first electronics right-to-repair law.
When Washington lawmakers revived their right-to-repair bill for the 2023 legislative cycle, Microsoft once again came to the negotiating table. From state senator and bill sponsor Joe Nguyen's perspective, Microsoft's view was, "We see this coming, we'd rather be part of the conversation than outside. And we want to make sure it is done in a thoughtful way."
Proctor, whose organization was also involved in negotiating the Washington bill, said that Microsoft had a few specific requests, including that the bill require repair shops to possess a third-party technical certification and carry insurance. It was also important to Microsoft that the bill only cover products manufactured after the bill's implementation date, and that manufacturers be required to provide the public only the same parts and documents that their authorized repair providers already receive. Some of the company's requests, Proctor said, were "tough" for advocates to concede on. "But we did, because we thought what they were doing was in good faith."
In early March, just before the Fair Repair Act was put to a vote in the House, Microsoft decided to support it.
"Microsoft has consistently supported expanding safe, reliable, and sustainable options for consumer device repair," Plenefisch told Grist in an emailed statement. "We have, in the past, opposed specific pieces of legislation that did not fairly balance the interests of manufacturers, customers, and independent repair shops in achieving this goal. HB 1392, as considered on the House floor, achieved this balance."
While the bill cleared the House by a vote of 58 to 38, it faced an uphill battle in the Senate, where either Wellman or one of the bill's Republican opponents on the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee would have had to change their mind for the Fair Repair Act to move forward. Microsoft representatives held meetings with "several legislators," Plenefisch said, "to urge support for HB 1392."
"That's probably the first time any major company has been like, 'This is not bad,'" Nguyen said. "It certainly helped shift the tone."
Microsoft's engagement appears to have shifted the tone beyond Washington state as well. As other manufacturers became aware that the company was sitting down with lawmakers and repair advocates, "they realized they couldn't just ignore us," Proctor said. His organization has since held meetings about proposed right-to-repair legislation in Minnesota with the Consumer Technology Association and TechNet, two large trade associations that frequently lobby against right-to-repair bills and rarely sit down with advocates.
"A lot of conversations have been quite productive" around the Minnesota bill, Proctor said. TechNet declined to comment on negotiations regarding the Minnesota right-to-repair bill, or whether Microsoft's support for a bill in Washington has impacted its engagement strategy. The Consumer Technology Association shared letters it sent to legislators outlining its reasons for opposing the bills in Washington and Minnesota, but it also declined to comment on specific meetings or on Microsoft.
While Minnesota's right-to-repair bill is still making its way through committees in the House and Senate, in Washington state, the Fair Repair Act's opponents were ultimately unmoved by Microsoft's support. Senator Drew MacEwen, one of the Republicans on the Energy, Environment, and Technology Committee who opposed the bill, said that Microsoft called his office to tell him the company supported the Fair Repair Act.
"I asked why after years of opposition, and they said it was based on customer feedback," MacEwen told Grist. But that wasn't enough to convince MacEwen, who sees device repairability as a "business choice," to vote yes.
"Ultimately, I do believe there is a compromise path that can be reached but will take a lot more work," MacEwen said.
Washington state representative and bill sponsor Mia Gregerson wonders if Microsoft could have had a greater impact by testifying publicly in support of the bill. While Gregerson credits the company with helping right-to-repair get further than ever in her state this year, Microsoft's support was entirely behind the scenes.
"They did a lot of meetings," Gregerson said. "But if you're going to be first in the nation on this, you've got to do more."
Microsoft declined to say why it didn't testify in support of the Fair Repair Act, or whether that was a mistake. The company also didn't say whether it would support future iterations of the Washington state bill, or other state right-to-repair bills.
But it signaled to Grist that it might. And in doing so, Microsoft appears to have taken its next small step out of the shadows.
"We encourage all lawmakers considering right-to-repair legislation to look at HB 1392 as a model going forward due to its balanced approach," Plenefisch said. | Consumer Electronics |
The iPhone 15 hasn’t even been officially announced, and yet the iPhone 16 hype train is already pulling out of the station. According to display supply chain consultant Ross Young, we could be set to see the largest iPhone yet with the “Ultra” version of the iPhone 16, currently slated for 2024.
Young is a routine analyst of upcoming Apple products, and according to his Twitter, the 16 Pro’s screen size could be around 6.2 inches, while the Pro Max-equivalent could stretch over 6.8 inches. For comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro display is 6.12 inches, while the Max is 6.69.
The iPhone 15 is expected to be about the same size as current models, with the regular iPhone expected to be 6.1 inches while the Plus and supposed “Pro Ultra” variants will extend to 6.7 inches.
One of the closest modern comparisons to the supposed iPhone 16 Ultra size would be the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, another large phone with a 6.8-inch display. Of course, all these large devices fail to compare to foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which extends to a 7.6-inch OLED display compared to its 6.2-inch exterior screen.
While folks with baseball glove-sized mitts might rejoice, those with small hands know that the bigger a phone’s screen size, the harder it is to handle. Apple could make a larger phone more ergonomic by rounding its edges more, though Apple has been extremely consistent in its iPhone silhouette from generation to generation.
A bigger phone could point to more room for mobile hardware such as camera lenses. The regular iPhone 14 as well as the Pro Max camera are already quality photo snappers, though size doesn’t mean everything, as the larger Galaxy still can’t shoot as well as the Pixel 7 Pro at night. The iPhone 15 is rumored to have a periscope-style rear camera akin to the Galaxy S23, allowing for more stabilization while zooming. Apple could be trying something else with an ever larger silhouette, though it’s all just speculation whether this means even more or at least larger lenses.
While we expect Apple to show off changes to iOS at WWDC 2023 in June, Apple is likely to keep on with its usual September release date for its new iPhones. Since we’re still more than a year out from any new next-gen model, things could easily change.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund took control of augmented reality pioneer Magic Leap for $450 million, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.The Florida-based company, founded in 2010 by Rony Abovitz, has burned through billions developing a headset that projects holograms onto the real world, intended to make users feel like they are immersed in the digital landscape.“Our goal is to make our interactions with the metaverse a more natural extension of how we view and operate in the physical world,” CEO Peggy Johnson said in a recent blog post.The company was a hit at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016, drawing buzzy interest and eventually more than $4 billion in funding from tech behemoths like Google and China’s Alibaba, along with telecom giant AT&T, chip maker Qualcomm, major investment banks like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley and Hollywood.Also Read: Canceled ‘Jihad Rehab’ Filmmaker Finds Vindication – and Now She Wants an Oscar NomWarner Bros. studio, then part of Time Warner, took part in at least one round of funding that poured $793.5 million round into Magic Leap in 2016.Saudi Arabia led another $400 million funding round for Magic Leap in 2018.Magic Leap also partnered with New Zealand’s Weta Workshop, the special effects company behind Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings,” on games for the headset.The hype was that augmented reality could be the engine behind a combined virtual reality, augmented reality market that could top $100 billion by 2021.Also Read: How Amazon Uses AI to Automate Work at Its Corporate Headquarters | PRO InsightBut its first prototype, Magic Leap One, launched in 2018, was a flop at $2,300. Its cumbersome design and high price tag kept many consumers from adopting it, particularly among the launch of other products like Facebook’s Oculus and HTC’s Vice headsets.The company slashed half of its workforce of about 2,000 people in April 2020 amid widespread lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic. At that time, it said it would restructure and prioritize sales to businesses.Magic Leap 2 went on sale in September, with a more modest scope. The headset costs $3,299 and is mostly aimed at industry customers, The Telegraph said. It is often used by businesses to visualize design or construction work or by medical professionals for surgical planning, the report said.In a release, the company said it will exhibit at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show net month, showcasing eight AR products, including an immersive 3D meetings app, training software and more.The Telegraph reported that Magic Leap had previously raised $150 million in funding and $300 million in debt so far this year, after pulling in $500 million in 2021. In August, it had $223 million in cash, The Telegraph said, citing public filings in Europe.Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, took a stake of more than half of the business, The Telegraph reported, giving it majority control. It is now entitled to appoint four of the company’s eight directors to its board.Also Read: The Challenge of Creating the Look of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water': ‘It’s Designing an Entire Universe’ | Consumer Electronics |
Where do you put the cassette tape? — Sony holds onto the beautiful dream of standalone portable audio players. The Sony Walkman NW-A300. It's a shame Sony never became a force in smartphones, because, wow, their product designs are still so good. Sony Yep, that's regular Android. Sony The bottom. From left to right we've got a headphone jack, lanyard hole, USB-C port, and a microSD slot. Sony Music buttons! So many music buttons! Sony The back has this nice scallop texture. Sony The frame is aluminum. Sony It comes in colors. That gray one really hits me in the nostalgic Sony sweet spot. Sony There are little folio cases! They are so cute. Sony The folio case lets it stand up! Sony Sony has a pair of new Android Walkmans out, the NW-A300 and NW-ZX700. Yes, that's right, Walkmans, Sony's legendary music player brand from the 1980s. Apple may have given up on the idea of a smartphone-adjacent music player when it killed the iPod Touch line recently, but Sony still makes Android-powered Walkmans and has for a while. The first was in 2012 with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-powered NWZ-Z1000, which looked like Sony just stripped the modem out of an Xperia phone and shoved it onto the market as a music player. Since then, Sony has made designs with more purpose-built hardware, and today there are a whole series of Android-powered Walkman music players out there. Sadly these new ones seem to only be for sale in Japan, the UK, and Europe, for now.
We'll start with the most consumer-friendly of the two, the NW-A300. This basic design debuted in 2019 with the NW-A105, but that shipped with Android 9. This is an upgraded version of that device with a less-ancient version of Android, a new SoC, and a scalloped back design. In Sony's home of Japan, the 32GB version is 46,000 yen (about $360), while in Europe, it's 399 euro (about $430).
The NW-A300 is a tiny little device that measures 56.6×98.5×12 mm, so pretty close to a deck of playing cards. And really, just look at these pictures. Sony might not be the consumer electronics juggernaut it used to be, but it still has an incredible product design department. I have no use for a standalone music player, but both of these Walkmans are so pretty that I just want to hold one. The front is dominated by a 3.6-inch, 60 Hz, 1280×720 touchscreen LCD. There's 32GB of storage, and the device supports Wi-Fi 802.11AC and Bluetooth 5. That's about all Sony wants to talk about for official specs. It touts "longer battery life" but won't say how big the battery is, promising only "36 hours* of 44.1 KHz FLAC playback, up to 32 hours* of 96 KHz FLAC High-Resolution Audio playback." Presumably, that's all with the screen off.
For more specs, we can visit The Walkman Blog, a wonderful site that is very serious about these little music players. In October, the site found documentation for the A300 listing a 1500 mAh battery. The system-on-a-chip in the older NW-A100 model was the NXP i.MX8M-Mini, a wildly slow 28 nm SoC that has just four Arm Cortex-A53 CPUs and 4GB of RAM. You can say, "This is just a music player," but that's not really true since it still runs full Android with an app store and everything. Geekbench scores show this has a new quad-core Qualcomm chip of some kind with 4GB of RAM, but we can't be sure of the model number. A newer chip with smaller transistors would probably account for a lot of that "better battery life" promise.
This is a music player, so of course, there's a headphone jack on the bottom of the unit. You'll also find a spot for a lanyard, a speedy USB-C 3.2 Gen1 port for quick music transfers, and a MicroSD slot for storing all your music. Buttons along the side of the device also give you every music control you could want, like a hold switch, previous, play/pause, next, volume controls, and power. Page: 1 2 Next → | Consumer Electronics |
Next week, Beats will have debuted its first product 15 years ago. The headphone maker quickly established itself as a status symbol, on the strength of partnerships with musicians and sports influencers. It was a rare feat in the world of consumer electronics, where cool factor largely takes a back seat to functionality.
For Beats, that sometimes meant sacrificing quality in those days. Its early products were notorious for overcompensating with overwhelming bass. In the decade and a half since, however, the company has improved products beyond the design language. More recent headphones have offered a much more well-rounded experience, and the company was ahead of the game when it came to adaptive noise-canceling technologies.
While Apple’s 2014 acquisition of Beats was primarily about hitting the ground running with a Spotify competitor, Apple has largely been a good steward. As a headphone maker, Beats continues to operate as its own brand, and while the companies do clearly share technologies (including Apple’s in-house silicon), Beats can continue focusing on the things that made it successful in the first place.
I likely say some version of this every time the company releases a new pair of headphones, but Beats isn’t — and likely will never be — an audiophile brand. If you prioritize sound quality above all else, I still recommend Sony’s WH-1000XM5 in the over-ear category. If you’ve asked me to recommend a pair of plane headphones in the past couple of years, I’ve almost certainly recommended them.
Beats, meanwhile, are vibing headphones. They’re the headphones you wear to pump yourself up. There’s a reason you see a lot more people at the gym lifting weights in them than any other company. It’s the same reason they’re one of the rare things in this world that can unite LeBron, Draymond Green, James Harden and Kevin Durant. They’re tuned and built for action. Touches like the large play/pause button on the ear cup make them much easier to operate on the go.
That certainly applies to the Beats Studio Pro. The new $350 headphones are very much in line with the brand’s trajectory. They’re effectively the long-awaited successor to 2017’s Beats Studio 3. They’re good walking around headphones. I’ve been wearing them a lot while cleaning my apartment. But if I’m looking to, say, appreciate the nuances of my favorite jazz album, I’m reaching for the Sony’s.
They continue to offer excellent noise-canceling and are quite comfortable. Coupled with a stated 40 hours of battery life on a charge, I wouldn’t hesitate to pop them in my carry-on for a long trip. They also fold up nicely and compactly. The audio quality has continued to be refined, but I would hesitate to recommend them over several pairs when it comes to offering the most well-balanced music-listening experience.
In terms of breathability, well, that’s all relative. It’s been humid and in the 90s here in New York, so I’ve largely avoided wearing them outside during the day. But I would say that for all over-ear headphones. They’re nice and snug and will probably stay comfortably on your head when going for a run, but I’ve reserved the Studio Buds+ for my morning workouts. I just can’t comfortably sweat with over-ear headphones on. I’m not LeBron James, as surprising as that might seem. I would also need to have them in perpetual transparency mode when navigating the city — it’s generally easier to be more alert in earbuds.
There are some nice touches here. The ability to continue listening while the headphones are charging is great — and not something everyone offers. Active noise-canceling and transparency are disabled when plugged in, but that’s mostly not a big deal. Those features, meanwhile, can be used when utilizing the 3.5 mm port — a must-have for flights. The color palette is more muted, which makes them a bit more versatile.
Spatial audio is present — that’s the Apple influence. I have yet to be convinced that it isn’t superfluous on headphones. It makes a lot more sense on speakers like the HomePod, which can offer a much more dramatic presentation of audio in a three-dimensional space. Here, it’s more about keeping the audio source fixed in space as you turn your head (Apple platforms only). Compatibility with lossless audio is far more useful, especially as that feature is one of Apple Music’s biggest selling points over Spotify.
Design wise, they’re not a huge departure from the Studio 3s — more of a refinement. In fact, that can probably be used to sum up the entirety. In spite of the five-year gap and the name change, the Studio Pros are a huge step up from the Studio 3s. And they bring some nice updates. Keep in mind, the 3s are so old they still feature micro USB — a mind-boggling fact in 2023. Also, kudos to Beats/Apple for maintaining the $349 price point after half a decade, particularly in an era when the price of electronics is continually on the rise.
If you’ve gravitated toward Beats in the past, you’ll find plenty to like here. They’re on sale starting July 23. | Consumer Electronics |
Graphic: PlexVideo streamer Plex announced it is bringing its rental service to consumers after a three-year delay stemming from the covid-19 pandemic. OffEnglishThe expansion will allow consumers to find movies or TV shows to rent or purchase on its marketplace, providing easier access to find a plethora of media content. Plex intends to roll out its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) store which will provide rental options by the second quarter of this year.The build-your-own streaming service hub initially revealed the expansion of its free service at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2020 but encountered unforeseen technical difficulties, meaning it had to reassess its plans for release.Plex co-founder and Chief Product Officer Scott Olechowski told TechCrunch that creating the TVOD store was more difficult than anticipated. He explained several problems including “getting all the DRM stuff working everywhere” saying Plex had to switch DRM providers. The company also “had to get approval from all the studios,” he told the outlet, adding they repositioned themselves away from a third-party partner Plex had been working with to support its ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service.G/O Media may get a commissionThe news comes a year after Plex was hit with technical problems when working with Nvidia’s updated Shield 9.0 (Android 11) update, causing Plex’s app to break and consumers to report issues with consistent streaming, saying the content would freeze during ad breaks. At the time, Nvidia placed partial blame on Plex, saying the app pushed a new update that caused an API change, effectively breaking Nvidia’s update. A Plex representative said in an email to Gizmodo that the technical “issues were not directly related to Nvidia’s update.” The company referred to that time period as Androidgeddon, which the representative said: “was coined due to streams randomly stopping at ad breaks on Android TV, Android mobile, and Amazon Fire TV platforms.” The disruption took several months to fix and reportedly utilized all of Plex’s engineering resources.The upcoming year will prove to be more successful, “with some huge new features coming soon,” CEO Keith Valory said in a year-in-review blog post. He added that the company is “super excited to share” the developments with the consumers.Updated: Jan 6, 2023 at 3:15 p.m ET: this story has been updated with corrected information about the origin of “Androidgeddon” from a Plex spokesperson. | Consumer Electronics |
The first images of what are believed to be Philips Hue’s new home security cameras have emerged online, just a few weeks after rumors first emerged that the company was entering the smart home security market. First spotted by the German-language tech site Hueblog, at least two of the four speculated camera models have now been granted regulatory approval by the FCC.
The registration documents contain some technical details alongside a breakdown of the cylindrical camera unit. The images show the black variant (though a white model will also supposedly be available) both with and without a battery unit. The battery adds some considerable length to the camera if you’re not looking to buy the wired version.
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According to a warning sticker on the camera unit, it’ll also come equipped with some strong magnets, which likely have something to do with how the camera itself is mounted. A diagram on the FCC documents also confirms that the new Philips cameras will support Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee standards. Bluetooth may be limited to the setup process here, but Zigbee’s inclusion — which is used across all Philips Hue products — at least implies it can be incorporated into the wider Hue ecosystem.
There’s currently no confirmed pricing for any of the camera models, though previous reports suggest the wired Hue camera will retail for around €199.95 (about $218). The battery-powered variant should be a little more expensive at around €249.95 (about $272). We might learn more next week if Philips officially unveils these new cameras at the IFA consumer electronics trade show, which is running from September 1st to September 5th. | Consumer Electronics |
Organizers of the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are expecting big crowds for the first time since the pandemic had people staying away from trade shows and other conferences. The latest leaps in artificial intelligence in everything from cars, robots to appliances will be on full display at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opening Thursday in Las Vegas. Forced by the pandemic to go virtual in 2021 and hybrid last year, tens of thousands of show-goers are hoping for a return to packed halls and rapid-fire deal-making that were long the hallmark of the annual gadget extravaganza.
"In 2022, it was a shadow of itself— empty halls, no meetings in hotel rooms," Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techspotential told AFP.
"Now, (we expect) crowds, trouble getting around and meetings behind closed doors—which is what a trade show is all about."
The CES show officially opens on January 5, but companies will begin to vie for the spotlight with the latest tech wizardry as early as Tuesday.
CES will be spread over more than 18 acres (seven hectares), from the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center to pavilions set up in parking lots. Ballrooms and banquet rooms across Sin City will be used to hustle up business.
With transportation now computing's new frontier, next generation autos, trucks, boats, farm equipment, and even flying machines are expected to grab attention, according to analysts.
"It's going to feel almost like you're at an auto show," said Kevan Yalowitz, head of platform strategy at Accenture.
More than ever, cars now come with operating systems so much like a smartphone or laptop computer, Accenture expects that by 2040 about 40 percent of vehicles on the road will need software updated remotely.
And with connected cars come apps and online entertainment as developers battle to grab passenger attention with streaming or shopping services on board.
Electric vehicles enhanced with artificial intelligence will also be on display "in a big way," Greengart said.
"What has really been the buzz is personalized flying machines," said independent tech analyst Rob Enderle.
"Basically, they are human-carrying drones." Gear for venturing into the budding 'metaverse' is expected at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, where Facebook-parent Meta will have its latest Oculus virtual reality headset. Metaverse momentum?
Led by Zuckerberg's Meta, immersive virtual worlds referred to as the metaverse are seen by some as the future of the ever-evolving internet, despite widespread criticism that the billionaire CEO is over-investing in an unproven sector. After being a major theme at CES last year, virtual reality headgear aimed at transporting people to the metaverse are expected to again to figure prominently. Formerly known as Facebook, Meta will be allowing selected guests to try its latest Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, trying to persuade doubters that the company's pivot to the metaverse was the right one.
Gadgets or services pitched as being part of the next-generation of the internet—or "Web 3"—are also expected to include mixed reality gear as well as blockchain technology and NFTs.
Web 3 promises a more decentralized internet where tech giants, big business or governments no longer hold all the keys to life online.
"The idea of how we are going to connect is going to be part of the big trend at CES," said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Analysts had expected cryptocurrencies to be touted among Web 3 innovations at the show, but there "could be pullback" because of the implosion of cryptocurrency platform FTX and arrest of its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, according Milanesi.
COVID and climate
CES offerings will likely show effects of the pandemic, since products designed during a time of lockdowns and remote work will be now heading for market even if lifestyles are returning to pre-COVID habits, noted Greengart.
Tech designed to better assess health and connect remotely with care providers will also be strong at CES.
And though the show is unabashedly devoted to consumerism, the environment will also be a theme from gadgets designed to scoop trash from waterways to apps that help people cut down on energy use.
A lot of companies are eliminating plastic from packaging and shifting to biodegradable materials, while also trying to reduce carbon emissions, according to analysts.
"If you are the kind of person who is off the grid growing vegetables, then CES is not for you," Greengart said.
"But, I do commend companies that find ways to make their products and the supply chain more sustainable." © 2023 AFP Citation: AI infused everything on show at CES gadget extravaganza (2023, January 2) retrieved 2 January 2023 from https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-ai-infused-ces-gadget-extravaganza.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. | Consumer Electronics |
Dutch social enterprise Fairphone is best known for its mission to build ethical smartphones via a brand that promises fairer wages for supply chain workers and design choices that encourage consumers to cherish and repair the hardware rather than toss last year’s model thanks to modularity and a web shop selling replacement (and upgradeable) spare parts.
Today it’s taking the leap into a new device category — applying the same principled approach to shipping the most sustainable and fair consumer electronics it can, within limits imposed by wider industry practices which set the availability (and compatibility) of electronics components, to a pair of its own-design, over-ear Bluetooth headphones. The latest repairable Fairphone product is called Fairbuds XL.
Confusingly, Fairbuds XL are very much not (in-ear) earbuds. So the choice of name is evidently a bit of a pun. Fairphone tells TechCrunch there was hot debate internally over what to call the headphones. We can only imagine what other options were toyed with and rejected. But, clearly, naming a pair of over-ear headphones “buds” will cause some to howl in disbelief. Still, at least they sidestepped the obvious (yet alluring) pitfall of calling the cans Fairphones (see what we did there!). The final name choice was favored for being “unique”, as they tell it.
The Fairbuds XL are available to buy through Fairphone’s website (and select retailers) from today — retailing for €249 in the EU. (As with the company’s smartphones they’re mostly only shipping to Europe at present so US readers are out of luck, or else will have to find their own creative shipping solution.)
The repairable headphones come in a choice of two colors: Speckled black (pictured above); or speckled green with some snazzy orange detailing (shown in non-exploded view below):
Fairphone is remaining tight lipped on projections of how many pairs of headphones it expects to ship. And clearly it’s taking a bit of a leap here.
That said, fans of the company may have noticed it does already sell a pair of wireless earbuds (with the more vanilla name of “True Wireless Stereo Earbuds“), so it has been dabbling in the audio accessory space for a while. However Fairbuds XL represent a new category for the device maker, according to Fairphone’s head of product management, Miquel Ballester, and audio product manager, Bob van Iersel, a more recent addition to the team. This is because — unlike with the (actually) earbuds it sells — they’re not working with off-the-shelf components for the over-ear ‘phones. Rather they’ve designed this new audio product from scratch themselves. And designed the headphones to be easily dissembled for repairability.
As with Fairphone’s eponymous (screwdriver-friendly) smartphones, Fairbuds XL are comprised of modular parts that connect up to support ease of repair and promote function longevity — furthering the core mission of shipping more sustainable electronics (vs the built-in-obsolescence industry modus operandi that quickly leads to heaps of environmentally unfriendly e-waste).
“The level of modularity is similar or even more than the phones,” says Ballester, discussing Fairbuds XL in an interview with TechCrunch. “All the [replaceable] parts will be available on the website. And [there are] more specific components that we’ve also designed to be easy to replace — those specific small parts we will not be offering at the beginning on our website. Later, based on need, and what we see on the market, we might want to make all these other parts available.”
“The headphones are built up out of nine modules slash spare parts,” continues van Iersel. “Some of these parts are really relatively simple mechanical parts. Think about the ear cushions, the headband, the hinges. And there are also more complex parts — like the right speaker module which also has the buttons, the Bluetooth chipset and whatnot. So that’s the more comprehensive spare part.
“But in theory, all of them are replaceable. So there is not one single part that defines what the base of the headphones is, let’s say. So even if your Bluetooth module breaks down for whatever reason it’s not the case that you can’t use all the other ones — it’s easy to simply order replacement parts for that and the rest of the headphones will work as they are supposed to.”
“With this product, we truly design it from the ground up,” van Iersel also tells us. “That’s reflected in the modularity, the repairability of the design… With the headphones we saw an opportunity to enter a market which could could benefit a lot from the Fairphone approach — with making products that are more repairable, more durable and really designed to last a long time. That’s that’s what we set out to do with these headphones and what we think that we achieved as well.”
“For us, the headphones is a way to bring to the market what we do in the supply chain in the design of our products,” rejoins Ballester. “So this is kind of a proof that it can be done. And — for me — we are closing a gap in the market… There are no other companies doing, in this case headphones, as an artefact for changing the industry.”
Other elements that check Fairphone’s core ethical electronics mission are a “living wage” pledge applied to the headphone’s suppliers to encourage them to provide fairer working conditions for workers in their factories. There’s also fairtrade gold integrated into the Fairbuds supply chain. While recycled materials make up over 80% of the plastic weight of the headphones — with 100% recycled aluminium in structural parts, too.
Some non-recycled plastic has been used in areas where acoustic considerations are more sensitive, per van Iersel. So there’s an element of Fairphone needing to balance core product performance against sustainability targets. But Ballester says they’ll continue seeking to push the boundaries of what’s possible on the recycled materials front.
Designing such a bespoke audiophile product necessitated Fairphone bringing audio expertise in-house (to supplement its existing mobile hardware smarts). They also worked with partners on tuning the audio — touting a “signature sound” for the Fairbuds XL, as van Iersel puts it. On the audio performance side, he expresses confidence that the sound quality is reflective of what consumers can expect for over-ear headphones retailing at this price-point. (Cheaper Beats cans are in the same sort of price range, for example.)
“Fairphone did not originally have the audio expertise in house to build these kinds of projects so we made sure to partner up really well — with both hardware suppliers as well as on the software side. We have partnered to ensure the great sound quality that we managed to achieve in the end. Because, with this product, we didn’t want to just offer a ‘fair’ version of what headphones could be; but they should also be able to carry their weight when it comes to sound quality,” he tells TechCrunch.
“On the hardware side, there are different things that make up for the sound quality. It’s not only the components that you put in but also how you put them in. So we’ve chosen a chipset that supports… a high fidelity audio codec to make sure whenever you throw at it from your phone it gets processed in a Hi-Fi definition. And next to that we use 40 millimetre dynamic drivers, which is comparable to what anything in this category would have. But also, we made sure not just to select the right drivers but also to have our partner carefully design the acoustic chamber in which they are placed inside the headphones themselves — because that’s massively affects the final sound as well.”
Other sound quality considerations van Iersel says the Fairbuds’ designers have paid attention to include the clamping force of the headphones and the material for the ear cushions to ensure a proper seal. As noted above, it also worked with a third party audio calibration partner, called Sonarworks, to tune the sound.
“We developed a custom Fairphone sound signature that is part of these headphones. And it’s even something that we could carry on over to future audio products as well,” says van Iersel, noting Sonarworks created a selection of audio pre-sets Fairbuds’ users can choose from in a companion app which is launching with the headphones (both for iOS and Android).
“We also intend to reach different or new target audience with this,” he adds. “Because with the phone there’s obviously a huge threshold for consumers to switch brands, to go for something that they don’t know yet. But we do have a lot of fans of Fairphone that like our mission and would be happy to support it but aren’t willing to take that leap to buy a smartphone. But this could be a much more like the entry level Fairphone [product].
“That’s also why we chose to develop the application not just for Androids but also for iOS. So we’re not just targeting current Fairphone customers… It’s really a product that’s meant to compete with all other headphones — and not just be seen as a Fairphone accessory because that’s absolutely not what it is.”
The need to build up the necessary expertise in new product category goes some way to explaining why it took Fairphone a (fair) bit longer than it had originally expected to get the Fairbuds XL to market (circa four months). But, well, hardware is hard and its repairable Bluetooth headphones are juggling both swappable mechanical (moving) parts and higher tech chipsets, as well as shipping with the aforementioned companion apps to let users custom-tune the sound. So there’s perhaps more work involved in Fairphone delivering decent modular cans than you might consider at first glance.
A range of spare parts are available to buy for the Fairbuds XL on its web shop from launch — such as new ear cap covers for a few Euros or a new battery for around €20. Consumers of the product get a two year warranty on purchase, so any component breakages in that time are likely to be covered by Fairphone (well, unless you damage the product by sitting on it or something).
Given Fairphone offers a five year warranty on its new smartphones, a two year warranty for Fairbuds XL may seem a little low ball for a brand that centers sustainability. And Ballester admits they had wanted to be able to offer the same five year pledge. But he says uncertainties attached to shipping a device in a new category, and specifically needing to see how the headphones stand up to real world daily use/abuse, led them to opt for the less risky choice of a shorter warranty at launch. He adds that they hope to be able to extend it in the future as they see how the Fairbuds perform in the wild.
One neat longevity feature he highlights is the product has been designed so it can always function as wired headphones — meaning that, even many years hence, when it might finally be impossible to get a replacement battery for this particular Fairbuds model (even from Fairphone’s own web shop), the headphones will still function without a battery by plugging them in — at least assuming there’s a USB-C socket to hand. (Regionally at least, that’s a fairly safe bet since EU lawmakers are pushing for USB-Type C to be the charging standard for consumer electronics.)
Talking of supportive policymaking, the EU is working on right to repair legislation that looks set to give Fairphone’s approach considerable regional uplift in the years to come. And Ballester welcomes the planned expansions to EU ecodesign legislation. Discussing this, he also suggests lawmakers could go further, too — flagging the need for them to pay greater attention to consumer electronics business models and find more ways to support models that aim to sell consumers on sustainability, rather than sticking with the dirty old gadget-makers’ game of driving resource-hungry hardware upgrade cycles.
In Fairphone’s home market of the Netherlands, it’s now offering a smartphone subscription service, called Fairphone Easy, that lets users rent its handsets for a flat monthly fee which covers the cost of any necessary repairs and/or replacement. When the lease expires or the device breaks the handsets are returned to the company for reuse (refurbishment) or else for recycling components at end of their useful life to maximize resource utilization and minimize e-waste.
“I think it’s two models that will have to coexist,” suggests Ballester, tracking where sustainable consumer electronics may be headed in the years to come. “You will have the type of consumers that are more convenience driven. Like ‘I am very sustainably minded but I don’t need to repair a product myself.’ [Who] will buy into a service proposition because [they] don’t get the burden of ownership. And that’s totally fair. And there will be a type of consumers that will be fine with that burden of ownership because they know they need to recycle at the end of life. They need to keep their device as long as possible. They know that they need to repair.
“So for me these two models will coexist in the future. And we’ll have to divert more convenience-driven consumers to our service propositions… And I think companies should be smart enough to create the business models that really unlock sustainability for any type of consumer. And I think service propositions have a role there.” | Consumer Electronics |
Enlarge / Dell's 6K USB-C monitor was the one of the most tantalizing displays at CES 2023.Scharon Harding The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) never fails to deliver a pile of new gadgets and gizmos, but finding products that bring something new and valuable to the table can be a real challenge. CES 2023 had its share of product refreshes, clones, and minor updates, but this year also proved there's still some "wow" factor to be found at the tech show.
And that includes the event's PC monitor selection. All the monitors on this list are promised to be real products coming out this year. Better yet, they all have some unique features that aren't readily available to consumers today.
Here are the seven most intriguing monitors from CES 2023.
Asus ProArt Display OLED PA32DCM
Enlarge / An office-appropriate OLED screen, plus a base that's half the size of its predecessor.Asus
I ended 2022 begging for a better OLED monitor selection in 2023. Those pleas have already started to be answered.
There haven't been too many OLED monitors smaller than 40 inches. That has meant limited OLED options for people looking for something to put on their desks for productivity and creative work. CES 2023 brought several desktop-sized OLED monitors, but most target PC gamers. That includes Acer's Predator X27U (27 inches), Asus' ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM (27 inches), and MSI's MEG 342c QD-OLED (34-inch ultrawide). Asus' ProArt Display OLED PA32DCM is a 31.5-inch 4K monitor aimed at creative professionals. Asus' blog markets the panel toward photographers, filmmakers, and people working with HDR content, comparing it to a reference display. It attempts to earn that not-so-humble brag with a claimed color error of Delta E <1 (many premium monitors claim a Delta E of <2 or 3). Asus also says the display has 99 percent DCI-P3 color coverage and a max brightness of 700 nits.
The company touts the OLED screen's use of an RGB stripe panel rather than RGBW, which can hurt text clarity, particularly in RGB-optimized Windows or the much-maligned PenTile layout. The tech is also different from that seen in the QD-OLED monitors that started releasing last year, largely targeting gamers seeking vibrant colors. It's exciting to see a new productivity-focused OLED option besides LG's UltraFine OLED monitors hit the market.
Asus said it's looking to get the PA32DCM VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, which guarantees 500 nits in a 10 percent pattern and 300 nits full-screen with an ultra-low black level. That would help set it apart from LG's OLED.
Some monitors announced at CES 2023 feature 140 W USB-C Power Delivery (PD), so the PA32DCM's 90 W Thunderbolt 4 port isn't very impressive. It's still sufficient for powering many ultralight PCs, though. We don't know the full port selection yet, but there should be a 15 W Thunderbolt 4 port and HDMI.
Asus didn't reveal the monitor's price but said it would come out in the first quarter of the year. | Consumer Electronics |
Best Buy, a major consumer-electronics giant, is reportedly going to stop its DVD and Blu-ray sales both in-store and online by early 2024.
In a decisive move reflecting the ongoing shift towards digital media consumption, Best Buy, one of the largest consumer-electronics retailers in the United States, is reportedly set to discontinue sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs both in-store and online starting in early 2024. This decision was initially set in motion approximately nine months ago, signaling a significant departure from traditional physical media retail.
This info, revealed by The Digital Bits has just unveiled a significant change in the world of DVDs and Blu-rays. And guess what? Video games will likely be affected too. The interesting thing is that this shift isn’t limited to Best Buy’s physical stores—it also involves their bustling online platform. So, it’s a big deal all around! Target is purportedly following suit with similar reductions in this domain.
As of mid-2023, Best Buy maintained a commendable presence with 1,129 store locations, of which 969 were situated in the U.S. This strategic move by the retail giant aligns with recent events, as Netflix, a pioneer in DVD-by-mail services, recently shipped out its last DVDs to customers on September 29, allowing them to retain their final discs.
With Best Buy’s anticipated exit from the physical media market, Walmart, Amazon, and Target are poised to emerge as the leading U.S. retailers still offering DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Additionally, Redbox, now under the ownership of Chicken Soup for Soul Entertainment, continues to maintain a network of approximately 29,000 DVD rental kiosks nationwide.
Best Buy is making this change because streaming services have been taking over, and fewer people are buying DVDs and Blu-rays like they used to. It’s all about adapting to the times! According to data from the Digital Entertainment Group, U.S. physical media revenue plummeted by 28% to $754 million in the first half of 2023, in stark contrast to $1.05 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Ingram Entertainment, a prominent DVD distributor, recently announced its decision to wind down operations after an illustrious 35-year tenure. The company has committed to supplying catalog products to customers through the fourth quarter of 2023.
Moreover, in a related development, Limited Run Games’ CEO, Josh Fairhurst, took to Twitter to suggest that there are speculations about Walmart potentially discontinuing the sale of physical Xbox games shortly too. While this may not have a significant impact on the PlayStation platform, where physical media still maintains a decent market share, it underscores the accelerating momentum of the digital transition across the industry.
For constant updates, keep following Gamevro. | Consumer Electronics |
The apps are coming for Apple’s not-VR/AR headset. Even though the Vision Pro headset won’t see release until 2024, Apple is hoping to have a wide suite of 3rd party apps available at launch, potentially some that could entice more customers to drop $3,500 on a its so-called “spatial computer.”
On Wednesday, Apple shared that it was releasing the software development kit for its upcoming Vision Pro headset. Apple said developers can now start crafting their own “spatial experiences,” which—if you want to avoid Apple’s stringent sense of proprietary nomenclature—is just more virtual and augmented reality software.
The company said that it would be opening up development labs in Cupertino, as well as in the U.K., Germany, China, Taiwan, and Japan for devs to fully test their apps on the Vision Pro hardware. Otherwise, teams can apply for dev kits to test their apps next month. In its release, Apple VP of developer relations Susan Prescott promised that making apps for the Vision Pro would be akin to coding on the company’s other platforms with similar “foundational frameworks” like Xcode, SwiftUI, ARKit, and TestFlight. The SDK and updated dev software are already available for those paying for an Apple Developer Program membership.
So far, Apple’s showcase of its upcoming device has centered on how the Vision Pro is used for existing apps like FaceTime and Safari. Other than in workplace apps, most other uses have been for home entertainment with a Disney tie-in for more 3D movies and “spatial” videos. External devs could potentially go wild with the visionOS AR infrastructure, though we’ll likely have to wait half a year or more to see how they can truly push the hardware.
9to5Mac also gained access to the visionOS suite, and used it to access a simulation of the Vision Pro UI. According to images of the OS posted by Ian Zelbo, the headset should come stock with a very macOS-like Control Center and Spotlight Search alongside existing Apple apps like Freeform.
While the photos show what we already know was included from Apple’s original announcement plus Gizmodo’s own hands-on, there’s a few extras not immediately available in demos. The UI will include a virtual keyboard and emoji keyboard, though it’s unclear if users will be able to use gesture controls to type when in use.
The App Store arguably made the iPhone what it is today. Having a legion of people working to make new apps, and make Apple money, catapulted the idea of a smartphone from “telephone with a screen” to miniature computer with social connectivity. Can Apple’s legion of dedicated third party developers do the same for the Vision Pro out the starting gate? The Cupertino, California-based tech giant likes to think so.
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
Apple stores in the U.S. are now selling a front door lock that can be unlocked by a user's Apple Watch or iPhone. The $329 Level Lock+ is the first Home Key-supported lock that's been sold in Apple stores.When the Level Lock+ is installed inside a front door, users can unlock and re-lock their houses using Apple Home Key, a feature that uses NFC and secure tokens in Apple's software to unlock doors with a tap. Users can text keys to their friends or automate when the door is locked.For Apple, it's a milestone in the development of a highly anticipated feature that was first announced in 2021. Home Key is an example of Apple continuing to digitize stuff that's normally carried in a physical wallet or pocket, from cash to keys.Many of Apple's new software features in recent years have been aimed at making the iPhone more valuable to users to prevent them from switching to other phone brands. A user whose front door is tightly integrated with their phone could be less likely to switch to an Android phone.Some of Apple's newer initiatives, especially its smart home ambitions, require extensive third-party hardware or systems support in order to work. But compared to features in iOS updates where Apple controls the hardware and software, these new integrations can take longer to become widely available.In addition to Home Key, Apple has announced Car Key, which unlocks supported cars from BMW and Hyundai, and Room Key, which puts hotel keys from chains like Hyatt in Apple's Wallet app. Apple's iPhone is integrating more deeply with vehicles through CarPlay, and extending financial services to its users with Goldman Sachs.For Level Home, it's an opportunity to stand out as a technology company in a marketplace dominated by a few large, older lock makers, by offering a software feature that's been hotly demanded by a core subset of smart home enthusiasts."There's a question that's been posed right now in this category," Level CEO John Martin told CNBC. "The question is, is a smart lock a consumer electronics device? Or is it a traditional lock that's now smart?"Smart home fans might simply be enthusiastic about a new Home Key lock option. Since Home Key's debut in 2021, there has only been one supported lock model on sale in the U.S., the Schlage Encode Plus. Smart home enthusiasts on forums such as Reddit have speculated at length about which companies might launch additional Home Key devices over the past year.The elevated level of Apple consumer desire for a new Home Key lock was revealed after reporters and users were able to buy or locate Level Lock+ at certain Apple stores after they accidentally went on sale early in some locations over the past week.Martin, Level's CEO, said that the company immediately noticed the blog posts and social media buzz around its new lock."Samson, who's our CMO, former Nike guy. He's great," Martin said. "And he calls me in the night like, 'Oh my God, we're trending!'"Some people on the forums will be disappointed to hear Level won't update the firmware on its old locks to support Home Key. For Home Key support, users will need the Level Lock+ sold at Apple stores or online."We don't plan to do a firmware update for Touch," Martin said. "We needed to innovate the base part of the technology that's inside of the product to support Home Keys in a way that was going to be first class." | Consumer Electronics |
The biggest new product at Samsung Unpacked is probably its smallest folding phone. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 makes bigger changes to its design and functionality than the larger Fold 5, largely on account of having a bigger, more functional exterior screen.
Having had a chance to go hands-on with both the new Fold 5 and the Flip 5, both are solid incremental updates to existing products, but worth a look if you’ve been thinking of making the leap to a folding phone.
When flipped open, the 6.7-inch screen on the Flip 5 looks and feels a lot like any other modern smartphone, if a bit on the narrow side. While folded in half, it shrinks down to a tiny square that should fit into any pocket, and simultaneously keep the main screen protected.
The previous Flip models had a secondary outer screen. Unlike the Fold line, this Flip’s outer screen was small, and frankly, not all that useful. This big upgrade here is that the outer screen goes from a tiny 1.9-inch model to a much larger 3.4-inch one, with added functionality and easier access to key apps and info.
The other main difference between last year’s Flip and this one is the CPU, which goes from a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 to a newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Like the earlier Flip and Fold phones, some apps automatically recognize when the screen is half-folded and rearrange themselves to take advantage of that, including the Camera app and YouTube. Setting up the Flip as a self-contained selfie-cam is satisfying, as it acts as its own stand and preview monitor, and gives you a simple timer to allow time for posing.
Like every folding phone, there’s still a crease in the screen material. It’s more visible in some lighting conditions than others, and I found the crease on the larger Fold 5 phone much more noticeable under most lighting conditions. Even several generations in, it’s a problem phone makers have yet to fully solve.
Stay tuned for a full hands-on review of both the Samsung Galaxy Flip 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 as part of our ongoing coverage of Samsung Unpacked.
Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 4: Specs
Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory. | Consumer Electronics |
Hon Hai Aims To Use AI To Expand Its Push Into Electric Vehicles
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., best known as the maker of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, is expanding its push into electric vehicles by integrating artificial intelligence, attempting to bolster its strategy for one of the hottest segments of the automotive industry.
(Bloomberg) -- Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., best known as the maker of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, is expanding its push into electric vehicles by integrating artificial intelligence, attempting to bolster its strategy for one of the hottest segments of the automotive industry.
At an event in Taiwan complete with lasers and thumping music, Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu drove on stage in a shiny blue Model B electric car with a surprise guest. Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of the AI chip leader Nvidia Corp., joined him to talk about their efforts to make vehicles smarter, with technologies like autonomous driving and other features.
The duo sketched out a concept they called an “AI Factory,” through which the companies would collect data from electric vehicles and then feed the information back to make improvements in a car’s technology.
“This car would of course go through life experience and collect more data, the data would go to the AI factory,” said Huang. “The AI factory would improve the software and update the entire end to end system.”
The pair joked that the Model B designation stood for “beauty” and “beast.”
Hon Hai built its success as a behind-the-scenes producer of consumer electronics gear for companies from Apple and Amazon.com Inc. to HP Inc. and Sony Group Corp. But as the personal computer and smartphone markets have stagnated, the Taiwanese company has tried to pivot into automobiles for growth.
Liu, as far back as 2020, had sketched out a goal of capturing 10% of the global EV market by 2025, from essentially nothing. But Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has stumbled in some of its early initiatives.
Hon Hai established an automotive outpost in the US last year by acquiring Lordstown Motors Corp.’s manufacturing facilities in Ohio, and then began building EVs for the company last September. But the two companies fell into a bitter dispute, leading to Lordstown’s bankruptcy filing in June. A second potential customer for the Ohio factory, IndiEV Inc., filed for bankruptcy in October.
Hon Hai’s electric vehicle unit, Foxtron, and Taiwanese partner Yulon Motor Co. are scheduled to deliver their first cars to customer Luxgen Motor Co. in the fourth quarter. But it is not clear when mass production of the car will start.
At the Taiwan event, Liu said the model of an AI factory could be replicated for all sorts of industries. His goal is to bring Hon Hai’s expertise in building behind-the-scenes capabilities for brand-name customers to sectors, including smart cities, smart manufacturing and smart EVs.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Consumer Electronics |
Researchers develop breakthrough prototype of stretchable fabric-based lithium-ion battery
Most people already know and appreciate the capabilities of smartphones. Now imagine the possibilities offered by smart spacesuits, uniforms and exercise clothes. The future of wearable technology has just received a big boost, thanks to a team of University of Houston researchers who designed, developed and delivered a successful prototype of a fully stretchable fabric-based lithium-ion battery.
The idea for this cutting-edge evolution of the lithium-ion battery came from the mind of Haleh Ardebili, Bill D. Cook Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UH.
"As a big science fiction fan, I could envision a 'science-fiction-esque future' where our clothes are smart, interactive and powered," she said. "It seemed a natural next step to create and integrate stretchable batteries with stretchable devices and clothing. Imagine folding or bending or stretching your laptop or phone in your pocket. Or using interactive sensors embedded in our clothes that monitor our health."
Some of these ideas are already becoming a reality. However, like all electronics, they need power, which is where the stretchable and flexible batteries come in. A major bottleneck in the development of the next generation of electronics or wearable technology embedded in fabrics is that conventional batteries are generally rigid, which limits functionality of the items, and they use a liquid electrolyte, which raises safety concerns. The traditional organic liquid electrolytes are flammable and can lead to the possibility of the batteries catching fire or even exploding under certain conditions.
The key to the UH research team's breakthrough lies in the researchers using conductive silver fabric as a platform and current collector.
"The weaved silver fabric was ideal for this since it mechanically deforms or stretches and still provides electrical conduction pathways necessary for the battery electrode to function well. The battery electrode must allow movement of both electrons and ions," said Ardebili, who is the corresponding author of a paper detailing this research in Extreme Mechanics Letters. The first author of the paper is Bahar Moradi Ghadi, a former doctoral student who based her dissertation on this research.
By transforming rigid lithium-ion battery electrodes into wearable, fabric-based, flexible, and stretchable electrodes, this technology opens up exciting possibilities by offering stable performance and safer properties for wearable devices and implantable biosensors.
How it all started
The idea for stretchable batteries occurred to Ardebili several years ago.
"I was interested in understanding the fundamental science and mechanisms related to stretching an electrochemical cell and its components," she said. "This was an unexplored field in science and engineering and a great area to investigate."
The science of coupling effects of mechanical deformation and electrochemical performance is an important field and stretchable batteries provide a great vehicle for exploring the fundamental mechanisms.
"Although we have created a prototype, we are still working on optimizing the battery design, materials and fabrication," said Ardebili.
Next steps
Ardebili is optimistic that the prototype for a stretchable fabric-based battery will pave the way for many types of applications such as smart space suits, consumer electronics embedded in garments that monitor people's health and devices that interact with humans at various levels. There are many possible designs and applications for safe, light, flexible and stretchable batteries, but there is still some work to be done before they are available on the market.
"Commercial viability depends on many factors such as scaling up the manufacturability of the product, cost and other factors," she said. "We are working toward those considerations and goals as we optimize and enhance our stretchable battery."
Whether the stretchy batteries end up powering spacesuits or workout clothes or some other innovative application, Ardebili wants them to be reliable and safe. "My goal is to make sure the batteries are as safe as possible," she said.
More information: Bahar Moradi Ghadi et al, Stretchable fabric-based lithium-ion battery, Extreme Mechanics Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.eml.2023.102026 | Consumer Electronics |
Display is a term used in computing to refer to the visual output of a device. It can be used to describe the physical display screen, such as a monitor or television, or it can refer to the image that is shown on the screen. The image is made up of pixels which are illuminated in a way that distinguishes them from other pixels. Displays are used for viewing images, videos, and text, and for playing games.
Displays come in various sizes and resolutions. The resolution refers to the number of pixels that make up an image; higher resolutions will produce sharper images. Displays also come with different aspect ratios which determine how wide or tall an image appears on the screen.
The technology behind displays has advanced significantly over the years, with newer models offering higher resolutions and better color accuracy than ever before. OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays are becoming increasingly popular due to their superior contrast ratio and energy efficiency compared to traditional LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays).
Explain OLED displays and how they differ from LCD displays?
Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) displays are a type of flat panel display technology that uses organic compounds to create light. OLEDs offer many advantages over traditional LCD displays, such as increased brightness, wider viewing angles, faster response times, and lower power consumption. OLEDs are used in a variety of applications such as television screens, computer monitors, smartphones, and handheld game consoles.
Unlike LCDs which use backlighting to illuminate the display, OLEDs generate their own light when an electric current is applied to them. This allows for higher contrast ratios and more vibrant colors than LCDs are capable of producing. Additionally, OLEDs can be made thinner and lighter than LCDs since they don’t require a backlight or color filters.
The main drawback of OLED displays is their limited lifespan due to the organic materials used in their construction. However, advances in technology have allowed manufacturers to increase the lifespan of OLED displays significantly in recent years.
Overall, OLED displays offer many advantages over traditional LCD displays and are becoming increasingly popular for use in consumer electronics devices such as smartphones and tablets.
What is the OLED stands for?
Organic Light Emitting Diode
What is LCDs stands for?
Liquid Crystal Displays
What is resolution refers to in display?
Term Resolution refers to the number of pixels that make up an image, higher resolutions will produce sharper images. | Consumer Electronics |
Move aside, James Corden! Carpool karaoke system links your car speakers to a MICROPHONE and gives passengers a choice of 100,000 songs to sing along to on road tripsCarpool karaoke system was announced at the Consumer Electronics ShowIt links your car speakers to a microphone and connects to an appThere, you can browse through 100,000 song options from 25 languages Published: 06:20 EST, 6 January 2023 | Updated: 06:20 EST, 6 January 2023 From Adele to Harry Styles, many of the biggest names in the music industry have joined James Corden in his car for his famous Carpool Karaoke.But the segment, which is part of The Late Late Show, could soon be available to everyone, thanks to a new car system.Karaoke company The Singing Machine Company has joined forces with tech firm Stingray to launch the world's first full-integrated carpool karaoke system.The system, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, links your car speakers to a microphone and gives passengers a choice of 100,000 songs to sing along to during road trips. Karaoke company The Singing Machine Company has joined forces with tech firm Stingray to launch the world's first full-integrated carpool karaoke system From Adele to Harry Styles, many of the biggest names in the music industry have joined James Corden in his car for his famous Carpool Karaoke CES 2023: Withings unveils a smart device that you wee onYou can now stick a smart device in your toilet that will monitor your metabolic and reproductive health when you wee on it.Withings, known for its smartwatches, has branched out with its latest product, dubbed the U-Scan, unveiled at CES in Las Vegas this week. It's a 'miniaturized health lab' that sits within any toilet bowl', with the results being sent to an app on your phone.Gary Atkinson, CEO of Singing Machine, said: 'We're thrilled to be working with our longtime strategic partner, Stingray, to create the world's first in-vehicle karaoke solution for the global market.'This launch represents a key shift in our product strategy, offering auto manufacturers a chance to integrate a new immersive karaoke experience within their product lineup.'The system gives passengers access to 100,000 songs across 25 languages, which they can browse for by title, artist, lyrics or genre.It connects to an accompanying Passenger App, where users can queue up to 100 songs, and skip, rewind or fast-forward songs.They can also toggle background videos on or off and choose whether to sing along with or without lead vocals.'We understand the desire among drivers for new in-car entertainment experiences,' said Eric Boyko, President, Co-founder, and CEO of Stingray.'Karaoke is the perfect product to demonstrate high-fidelity audio and video experiences available for electric and next-generation vehicles today. The system connects to an accompanying Passenger App, where users can queue up to 100 songs, and skip, rewind or fast-forward songs 'We're excited to continue to partner with Singing Machine to bring this new solution to the automotive market while expanding our brand presence worldwide.'It remains unclear how much the system will cost or when it will become available. The carpool karaoke system is just one of thousands of weird and wonderful gadgets unveiled at CES this week. During the event, we've also seen a supermarket gadget that can reveal if fruit has gone off in under a second, a 'smartwatch' with a gemstone in place of a display, and a colour-changing car concept. If you enjoyed this article:$2,000 toaster oven that claims to bake a pizza in 10 MINUTES is showcased at CES Arnold Schwarzenegger takes to the stage at CES 2023 to unveil BMW's futuristic colour-changing CAR Withings unveils a smart device that you stick in your toilet and WEE on to monitor your metabolic and reproductive health CES 2023: Supermarket gadget can reveal if bananas and avocados have gone off in under a second Shoppers will no longer have to squeeze their fruit and veg in British supermarkets to guess how ripe it is, thanks to technology being showcased at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. Three of the UK's biggest retailers are in talks to install new state-of-the-art scanners that predict the shelf life to within a day.Customers will be able to simply pick up an item - such as an avocado or mango – and put it under a machine that scans it with an infra-red beam.In under a second, a screen above will flash up with a score out of a 100 revealing how ripe it is and estimate the number of days until it goes off. Three of the UK's biggest retailers are in talks to install new state-of-the-art scanners that predict the shelf life to within a day. Pictured, what the product will look like in shopsDutch company OneThird say their invention will stop the huge levels of food waste that cost retailers and consumers billions of pounds every year globally.The 'ripeness checker' will be used for soft, exotic, and stone fruit and vegetables, which are particularly prone to spoilage.Using infra-red, the machine scans the product on a molecular level, for example its water, sugar, and starch content.Sophisticated AI then compares this to hundreds of thousands of other examples on its database and see how similar items fared.The accuracy of the machine – which is expected to be able to predict the shelf life of ten fruit and vegetables by the end of the year - depends on what is being tested.For avocados, a score will appear on the screen from zero to 100 – with those scoring over 70 likely to go off in four to five days for example and those in the mid-range around two to three days.For strawberries however the machine will be able to narrow its estimate down to a day.OneThird founder Marco Snikkers told the Daily Mail they were in talks with three major British retailers to install the machines, though he would not reveal exactly who.But he said all were already using the machines in their supply chains. Advertisement | Consumer Electronics |
- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged Japan not to support U.S. curbs on China's semiconductor industry.
- Semiconductors — critical components in everything from home appliances to military equipment — have been thrust into the center of a battle for tech supremacy between the U.S. and China.
- The U.S. has been trying to rally key countries in the semiconductor supply chain around its chip export restrictions.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged Japan not to support U.S. curbs on China's semiconductor industry, as Washington continues to try to rally nations behind its chip export restrictions.
"The U.S. has used bullying tactics to brutally suppress Japan's semiconductor industry, and now the same tactics are being used again against China. What you do not want, do not do to others," Qin said to his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi on Sunday, according to a CNBC translation of a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
"Japan should not help the tiger (U.S.), because the pain is still there. The embargo will only further inspire China's determination to stand on its own feet," Qin said.
Semiconductors — critical components in everything from home appliances and consumer electronics to military equipment — have been thrust into the center of a battle for tech supremacy between the U.S. and China.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce introduced sweeping rules aimed at cutting China off from obtaining or manufacturing advanced chips — a move analysts said could hobble the domestic semiconductor ambition of the world's second-largest economy.
For the U.S. restrictions to be effective, Washington requires the buy-in from other key nations in the semiconductor supply chain, including South Korea, Japan and the Netherlands.
Washington has been trying to rally some of these countries around its measures, finding some success.
Japan is a key part of the semiconductor supply chain, with key companies including Sony and Tokyo Electron. Japan on Friday announced export restrictions on 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, but did not specifically name China.
This comes after the Netherlands, home to one of the most critical semiconductor companies ASML, announced last month export limitations on "advanced" chip manufacturing equipment.
While these countries have put some export restrictions in place, they are still trying to maintain trade ties with China.
Japan, whose biggest trading partner is China, has maintained that its chip export curtailments are not aimed at any specific country.
Tensions are high between China and Japan, however, with Beijing expressing concern over Japan's military build up. Hayashi meanwhile urged China to release a Japanese national that was detained in Beijing. | Consumer Electronics |
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. devices chief Dave Limp plans to retire — the latest senior leader to announce his departure from the e-commerce and cloud computing giant.
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A longtime executive with the Seattle-based company, Limp oversees the unit that makes Echo smart speakers and the accompanying Alexa software, Fire-branded TV streaming sticks and tablets, among other gadgets. He’s a member of Amazon’s S-team, the senior group of leaders.
In a note to employees, also posted on Amazon’s corporate blog, Limp wrote that he’d been working in consumer electronics off and on for more than 30 years. “I love it, but I also want to look into the future through a different lens,” he said. “I am not sure what that future is right now, with the notable exception that it won’t be in the consumer electronics space.”
Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said the company would announce Limp’s successor “in the coming weeks.”
Limp is one of several Amazon executives who have departed since Jassy became CEO in July 2021. Other departures include retail and logistics chief Dave Clark and two of his deputies — who at the time were also Amazon’s top two Black executives — Alicia Boler Davis and Dave Bozeman. Jeff Blackburn, who oversaw Amazon’s media and entertainment businesses, retired in January.
The bench of executives in Limp’s division has also thinned in recent years. Gregg Zehr, president of Amazon’s Lab126 hardware skunkworks, and Tom Taylor, a senior executive on Alexa, retired last year. Toni Reid and Miriam Daniel, also previously top leaders in the Alexa and Echo business, are now both at Google.
Limp’s division was among those affected by an unprecedentedly large round of layoffs that affected 27,000 people.
“I remain excited and quite optimistic about the products and services we’re building in Devices and Services — we’re at the relative beginning of what’s possible and what I believe these businesses will add for customers and the company,” Jassy said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Limp’s pending departure earlier.
(Updated with company confirmation of Limp’s departure, comments from Limp and Jassy.)
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©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Consumer Electronics |
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, Europe’s only reigning queen and the continent’s longest serving monarch, has stripped four of her eight grandchildren of their titles, the palace announced.The official reason was to allow the four children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim, to live more normal lives, and follows similar moves by other royal families in Europe to slim down their monarchies, the palace said.“As of January 1 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will only be able to use their titles of Count and Countess of Monpezat, their previous titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark ceasing to exist,” a statement from the royal palace said on Wednesday.Prince Joachim, 53, has four children from two marriages: Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena, ranging in age from 23 to 10.“With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create a framework for the four grandchildren, to a much greater degree, to be able to shape their own existence without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation with the Royal House as an institution implies,” the palace said.“The queen’s decision is in line with similar changes that other royal houses have carried out in recent years in different ways,” the statement added.The mother of Prince Joachim’s two eldest sons told Danish media she was “shocked” by the decision.“This came from out of the blue. The children feel excluded,” Countess Alexandra told the daily BT. “They can’t understand why their identity is being taken from them.”The queen’s four other grandchildren, born to Crown Prince Frederik, 54, will retain their titles but when they come of age only the future king, Prince Christian, will receive an appanage, a decision taken in 2016. | Royal Families |
Every summer, Buckingham Palace opens to the paying public for a chance to look at the Palace’s sumptuous state rooms alongside a specially-curated exhibition. And it’s no surprise that the theme of this year’s opening is the coronation, with a chance to view up close some of the items that were center-stage on May 6.
The outfits worn by King Charles and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey will be displayed for the first time starting Friday, July 14, in a special coronation display. The outfits will be staged in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace, which was used by the royals as a rehearsal space for the big event. Robes, jewelry, and insignia also form part of the exhibition alongside the anointing screen, throne chairs and designs for the coronation invitation.
“People will really be able to look at the details of the craftsmanship,” Sally Goodsir, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Royal Collection Trust told T&C. “I think with the complexity of the coronation service and the distance that the television cameras had to be in the Abbey, we didn’t see things like the detail of the embroidery on the robes, the details of the coronation invitations…The anointing screen was seen from several meters away, but in the exhibition you are within a meter of it.”
A highlight is the embroidery on Camilla’s dress, which was designed by Bruce Oldfield and features floral emblems as well as the names of her grandchildren and images of her two Jack Russell Terriers, Beth and Bluebell. “The embroidery on the Queen’s robe is I think just absolutely stunning,” Goodsir said. “A detail that perhaps couldn’t be seen in the large congregation. And the thoughts that went behind it—why the certain flowers were chosen, what they mean to her, what they mean to the late Queen, meant to the King. There’s this real sort of family element and I think that’s reflected as well in the names of her grandchildren which were embroidered on the dress, so a little bit of her family went with her into this incredibly important occasion.”
The King and Queen were involved in the curation of the exhibition and toured in on Wednesday, July 12. The first thing visitors will see when they arrive at the Palace is the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which was used by the couple to travel to the May 6 ceremony. The Gold State Coach, which they returned in, remains on display in the Royal Mews.
Buckingham Palace is currently undergoing a 10-year £369 million refurbishment, with the state rooms and private apartments gradually being rewired and repaired. While the Palace supplements its income by opening to the public each summer, the royals are funded by the British taxpayer and receive millions from the Treasury each year. This year, annual accounts showed that the royal household dipped into reserve funds to cover spending in the financial year April 2022 to March 2023, in part because of the costs associated with the Palace refurbishment.
The special coronation display is included in a visit to the Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, July 14 – September 24, 2023. For visitor information and tickets visit rct.uk.
Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy has reported on the British Royal Family since 2010. She has interviewed Prince Harry and has travelled the world covering several royal tours. She is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America. Victoria authored Town & Country book The Queen: A Life in Pictures, released in 2021. | Royal Families |
Thousands of guests attended a Buckingham Palace garden party to celebrate the work of volunteers, military personnel and members of the public.
Eight thousand people were welcomed into the grounds for the event on Tuesday, where the Prince and Princess of Wales represented the King, alongside the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
Other members of the family including the Princess Royal were also pictured speaking to guests.
A 93-year-old guest told Prince William how she slept on the pavement for three nights to see his grandmother's coronation.
Dame Elizabeth Watts, who has lived through the past three coronations, said: "I came to Elizabeth's coronation and slept on the pavement for three nights.
"I had measles for George's coronation when I was seven years old. Of course, there was no television then so I couldn't watch it but we had an accumulator radio."
Speaking about the King’s coronation, she said: "We watched the coronation at home, on Sunday we had a street party and on Monday I had to recuperate ready to come here."
Dame Elizabeth added: "It means absolutely everything [to be at the garden party]."
She added that she was "so surprised" and was nominated by St John Ambulance Service for doing 79 years of voluntary service.
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Nation's support is 'greatest coronation gift', says King
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"I've done everything, I'm not being funny. I joined as a cadet then I ran a cadet division and since then I have been the deputy commissioner," she added.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were also introduced to representatives from the Scouts, Maternal Mental Health Alliance and the South Wales Police.
Millions of people in the UK and across the world tuned in to watch the King's coronation on Saturday as he was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
Celebrations took place across the bank holiday weekend, with members of the Royal Family attending volunteering events on Monday. | Royal Families |
Hundreds of foreign royals and heads of state are expected to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday for one of the biggest diplomatic gatherings in decades.Westminster Abbey has space for about 2,000 people. Around 500 heads of state and foreign dignitaries along with their partners are expected, according to BBC and Sky News reports.Also attending Britain's first state funeral for six decades will be the queen's family members, courtiers, public figures and UK politicians.- World royalty -A host of royals from Europe and further afield have confirmed their attendance at the funeral for Britain's longest-serving monarch.Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend -- their first overseas trip since assuming the throne in 2019. The visit marks a departure from Japanese tradition, which rarely sees the emperor attend funerals.Europe's royal families are closely related after centuries of mingling their bloodlines, so it will be no surprise to see several monarchs from the continent.King Harald V of Norway, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Philippe, King of the Belgians will all attend.Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, who scrapped a series of events marking her 50th jubilee following the death of her third cousin, Queen Elizabeth, is also coming.Spain's King Felipe VI will be there with his wife Queen Letizia. So too will his father, former king Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in disgrace in 2014 and now lives in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates.Although Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, had been invited, it emerged late on Sunday that he would not be attending.There has been international outrage at the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey by Saudi agents.- Global leaders -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's wife, Olena, seems likely to attend, having visited the queen's coffin at Westminster Hall on Sunday.US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill head the diplomatic guest list and flew into Britain late on Saturday, also paying their respects in front of the coffin on Sunday.Unlike some other leaders who have been asked to come in motor coaches arranged by the British government, Biden has reportedly been given permission to use his armoured presidential limousine, known as The Beast.French President Emmanuel Macron will attend, the Elysee Palace said, to show the "unbreakable" bond with Britain and pay respects to the "eternal queen".He is also among the leaders allowed to use their own transport, British officials said.Authoritarian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil are also coming.China will send its vice-president, Wang Qishan, at the UK government's invitation.Despite Britain's Brexit divorce from the European Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Charles Michel will go as well.Other heads of state at the funeral will include Presidents Sergio Mattarella of Italy, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Isaac Herzog of Israel and Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea.In a symbolic move to pay tribute to the queen, whose 2011 state visit to the Republic of Ireland helped heal decades of tensions over Northern Ireland's position in the UK, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin will be present.- Commonwealth countries -Numerous leaders will come from countries where Queen Elizabeth was the head of state.They include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern.Leaders will also come from other states in the 56-nation Commonwealth, of which Queen Elizabeth was the symbolic figurehead.They include South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Fijian PM Frank Bainimarama.- Not invited -Due to strained ties, the United Kingdom has opted to invite ambassadors, not heads of state, from several countries -- Iran, Nicaragua and North Korea.Russia and Belarus are among a small group of nations excluded altogether following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin -- under a travel ban to the UK due to sanctions -- had already said he would not attend.But not inviting any Russian representative to the queen's funeral was "particularly blasphemous towards Elizabeth II's memory" and "deeply immoral", the foreign ministry spokeswoman in Moscow said Thursday.Russia and Belarus have embassies in London and their presidents sent King Charles III messages of condolences.Other countries with no invitations are Myanmar, Syria, Venezuela and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.dk-am/jwp/rjm/imm/cdw/it | Royal Families |
Kings and Queens from around the world have paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II after attending her state funeral at Westminster Abbey yesterday.King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and Margrethe II of Denmark and her son Crown Prince Frederik all took to Instagram after appearing at the funeral to say their final goodbyes to Her late Majesty.Many of the European royal households shared an image showing them together in the historic abbey, when beside the Queen's coffin, while others, such as the Belgian Royal Palace and Queen Rania of Jordan, posted photographs of themselves at the funeral.Each reflected on the historic event, with the official account for the Luxembourg monarchy writing: 'Farewell. TTRRHH the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess bade a last farewell to HM Queen Elizabeth II during a highly emotional state funeral in Westminster Abbey today. 'Hundreds of Heads of State, members of royal families and world leaders gathered to honour her exceptional life devoted to service and duty.' Kings and Queens from around the world have paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II after attending her state funeral at Westminster Abbey yesterday. Pictured, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and Margrethe II of Denmark and her son Crown Prince Frederik (pictured together) all took to Instagram after appearing at the funeral to say their final goodbyes to Her late Majesty Each reflected on the historic event, with the official account for the Luxembourg monarchy writing: 'Farewell. TTRRHH the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess bade a last farewell to HM Queen Elizabeth II during a highly emotional state funeral in Westminster Abbey today.' Pictured, Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg The comment (pictured above) continued: 'Hundreds of Heads of State, members of royal families and world leaders gathered to honour her exceptional life devoted to service and duty.' Many European royal households shared the above image, showing the royals of the world next to the Queen's coffinElsewhere, the Norwegian royal family shared a selection of photographs from the funeral, with the caption: 'The British people and the rest of the world said goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II today. A 70-year era is thus over. King Harald and Queen Sonja attended the burial ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London and later in the day at the service at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle - where Queen Elizabeth was laid to rest. On the occasion of the burial of the British monarch, the flag was raised at half-mast from the Castle in Oslo, Skaugum, Bygdø Kongsgård, Stiftsgården in Trondheim and Gamlehaugen in Bergen until the ceremony in Westminster Abbey was over - when the flags were hoisted Full bar.'The Danish royal household shared similar images from the funeral - including one of King Charles III - as well as one of Margrethe and Frederik arriving at Westminster Abbey.The caption read: 'For seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II was Head of State for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the British Commonwealth Society. 'Queen Elizabeth died on the 8th September, and Westminster Abbey in London today formed the frame for the former monarch's state funeral. Elsewhere, the Norwegian royal family shared a selection of photographs from the funeral, with the caption: 'The British people and the rest of the world said goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II today. The Danish royal household shared similar images from the funeral - including one of King Charles III - as well as one of Margrethe and Frederik arriving at Westminster Abbey. The caption read: 'For seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II was Head of State for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the British Commonwealth Society' Queen Rania of Jordan shared the above image of her and her husband at the funeral with the caption: 'Bidding farewell to a Queen whose legacy will never fade or be forgotten' The Belgian Royal Palace (pictured) also marked their attendance at the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey yesterday The Netherlands' household also posted to Instagram about Princess Beatrix, Queen Máxima and King Willem-Alexander attending the funeral'From the Danish side, Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince participated in the ecclesiastical ceremony, which included both the sermon, Bible readings, two minutes of silence and where the church guests finally sang the national anthem "God save the King" in honour of the empire's new monarch, His Majesty King Charles III.'King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, were among those who arrived in Windsor following the funeral yesterday, with King Felipe VI pictured walking into the Chapel arm-in-arm with his mother, Queen Sofía.Emperors, kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and other foreign dignitaries descended on the British capital for Her Majesty's state funeral, with many stopping at Westminster Hall on Sunday to pay their respects to the monarch, who was lying in state. Later on Sunday evening, they attended the 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace, hosted by King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla. Foreign royals including Queen Sofía of Spain, King Felipe, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden take their seats ahead of the Committal Service Queen Máxima of The Netherlands walked alongside her husband King Willem-Alexander and in front of Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden as they headed to St George's Chapel in Windsor Margareta of Romania and Prince Radu of Romania speak with former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie at the committal service Foreign royalty all signed the Book of Condolences at Church House in London, before heading to Windsor for her committal service. Pictured: HRH Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco Prince Albert II of Monaco, who sent a heartfelt tribute to the Queen when her death was announced, also signed the book The Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife Empress Masako took turns leaving notes in the book of condolences for Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden walks up to St George's Chapel with King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden ahead of the Queen's committal service King Felipe VI of Spain was pictured leading his mother Queen Sofía into St George's Chapel in Windsor ahead of the Committal Service Princess Beatrix (left) Queen Máxima (centre) and King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands arrive in Windsor ahead of the Committal Service at St George's Chapel The King and Queen of The Netherlands arrive in Windsor for the committal service of Queen Elizabeth II King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden walks with Queen Silvia, just behind the Dutch Royals, as they head towards St George's Chapel ahead of the Queen's Committal Service Princess Haya bint Al Hussein of Jordan (right) arrives in Windsor for the Committal Service for the Queen at Windsor Castle, which will take place in St George's Chapel Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, who is representing his father King Constantine I at the funeral, arrives in Windsor alongside Queen Margrethe II of Denmark King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of The Netherlands standing outside Westminster Abbey following the funeral service of Her late Majesty on Monday Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain look dignified during the funeral service for Her late Majesty the Queen at Westminster Abbey Beatrix of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Spain's Queen Letizia and Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Mathilde and Phillipe of Belgium depart Westminster Abbey King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands looked sombre during the late Monarch's funeral at Westminster AbbeyKing Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden sat next to Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, not too far from King Harald V of Norway, right Queen Letizia of Spain appeared deep in thought during the Queen's state funeral service at Westminster Abbey Emperor Naruhito of Japan could count on the quiet support of his wife, Empress Masako, who sat by his side during the ceremony Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan (back right) take their seats next to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah of Malaysia and Her Majesty Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia while King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan sit in front Princess Charlene and Prince Albert of Monaco led the foreign royal arrivals at the Queen's funeral on MondayOne historic photo from the state funeral shows the monarchs from six of Europe's royal families exiting the Abbey - while another shows the royal families of Japan, Malaysia and Jordan taking their seats and Britain's most important church. Representatives of more than 20 Royal Families attended the funeral, including the reigning monarchs of the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Thanks to family ties that date back generations, many European royals have a particularly close relationship to the Queen. Spain's reigning King Felipe even knew her as his 'dear Aunt Lilibet'. Among the most anticipated guests was the Emperor of Japan, who rarely makes overseas visits. King Jigme & Queen Jetsun of Bhutan and the Sultan of Brunei also attended. A tearful King Charles III and his grief-stricken family surrounded the Queen's coffin at her state funeral in a moving and majestic farewell to the late monarch in an extraordinary service followed by a national two minute's silence and the Last Post. Queen Mathilde of Belgium and King Philippe of Belgium were among the foreign royals to pay their respects to the Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark arrive with many of European royal families Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain (pictured), took their seats behind the Queen and King of Sweden and Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (left) leads a group of international monarchs to pay their respects to Elizabeth II Queen Anne-Marie, Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece also attended the funeral Queen Rania and King Abdullah II of Jordan took their seats at Westminster Abbey as they joined the foreign royals paying tribute Queen Rania and King Abdullah II of Jordan pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey on Monday morning for the state funeral of Her late Majesty the QueenQueen Sofia of Spain (left) arrived for the service with her husband King Juan Carlos. Right, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her son Crown Prince Frederick arrived to pay tribute to Her Majesty on Monday King Harald of Norway, walking with the aid of two crutches, looked dapper in military dress as he arrived for the funeral Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei (left) was among the international royals to pay his respects to the late monarch His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah of Malaysia and Her Majesty Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia arrive at Westminster AbbeyKing Letsie III of Lesotho, Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein and his wife Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein (left) King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan arrive Kings and Queens from around the worlds sat side-by-side in Westminster Abbey as they mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth II during her state funeral (pictured: 1. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands 2. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands 3. King Willem-Alexander 4. Queen Silvia of Sweden 5. King Carl Gustaf of Sweden 6. Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark 7. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark 8. King Harald of Norway 9. Queen Sonja of Norway 10. Queen Sofía of Spain 11. King Juan Carlos of Spain 12. Queen Letizia of Spain 13. King Felipe of Spain 14. Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria 15. Princess Charlene of Monaco 16. Prince Albert of Monaco 17. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg 18. Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg 19. Queen Mathilde of Belgium 20. King Philippe of Belgium 21. Prince Radu of Romania 22. Margareta of Romania 23. Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece 24. Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece 25. Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein 26. Hereditary Prince Alois) Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan, and the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife, behind, arrive for the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday Queen Sofia of Spain (right) arrived for the funeral ahead of King Willem-Alexander and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands Princess Beatrix, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arriving at Westminster Abbey Queen Mathilde of Belgium, King Philippe of Belgium, Queen Letizia of Spain and King Felipe VI of Spain are seen in Westminster Abbey Royals from around Europe flocked to pay tribute to the Queen including (first row left to right) Beatrix of the Netherlands, her daughter-in-law Queen Maxima and son King Willem Alexander Members of Europe's royal families sat opposite the Queen's family at Westminster Abbey as the Queen's funeral service took place Spain's former King Juan Carlos (left) needed a hand as he arrived at Westminster Abbey on MondayHer Majesty made her final and saddest journey from Westminster Hall to the church where she married and was crowned as Britain mourned its longest-serving monarch and the royals bade goodbye to a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.Her coffin was placed close to the altar with her crown, orb and sceptre on its top surrounded by flowers chosen by the King from gardens she loved. A card in the flowers on top of the coffin read simply: "In loving and devoted memory. Charles R."The Archbishop of Canterbury hailed the Queen's 'abundant life and loving service' as he delivered the sermon at her state funeral, adding: 'She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.'State trumpeters from the Household Cavalry sounded the Last Post following the Archbishop of Canterbury's commendation over the Queen's coffin and a blessing pronounced by the Dean of Westminster. Two minute's silence followed across the country before Reveille was sounded by the trumpeters before the National Anthem was sung by the congregation. | Royal Families |
Good morning. There will be very little normal politics this week. Britain is focused on the events taking place to mourn and commemorate Queen Elizabeth, and prepare for her funeral next week, and to mark the accession of King Charles III to the throne, and the main coverage of all this is on a seperate live blog. It’s here.But parliament, and Westminster, have a huge role to play, and in the politics blog I will be focusing in particular on those aspects of the ceremonial events. I will also be covering any non-royal politics news that may be around. There won’t be much, but we are getting a Downing Street lobby briefing this morning.At Westminster the main focus will be on Charles’s first visit to the Houses of Parliament as King. He will be in Westminster Hall (the oldest surviving part of the palace) to received addresses of condolence from the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, on behalf of the Commons, and the Lord Speaker, Lord McFall, on behalf of the Lords. After that the King will reply. As I came into the office a few minutes ago MPs and peers were queuing up to get into Westminster Hall for the event, which is due to start after 10am. My colleague Jessica Elgot has a preview here.It all sounds quite formal and routine. But it all underlines quite how firmly embedded the monarchy is into the political life of the national. Britain is a constitutional monarchy, and one where the King is more visible and influential than other democracies with royal families. “If Liz Truss had been a Swedish political leader, she would have travelled to see the speaker of the Riksdag this week to be appointed as prime minister, not the monarch,” my colleague Martin Kettle pointed out, in a very good column on this last week. In the past it was common to hear people say that, after the Queen died, there would be a public debate about whether the reach of the royal family should be scale back. But since Thursday there has been no evidence to suggest that will happen at all, and events like this morning’s suggest this is a moment for continuity, not change.The King will then travel to Scotland where early this evening he will received a similar motion of condolence from MSPs in the Scottish parliament.Here are tweets from some parliamentarians at Westminster waiting to hear from the new King.From the Conservative MP Greg HandsFrom Labour’s Darren JonesFrom the Conservative MP Robert HalfonFrom the Labour MP Christian WakefordI try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected] | Royal Families |
It was a family affair.
During Sunday’s coronation concert at Windsor Castle, Prince William took to the stage to make a sweet tribute speech to his dad, King Charles, and also paid respects to his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Speaking out to a crowd of 20,000 people, Prince William, 40, began by honoring the late monarch, who died in September at the age of 96.
“As my grandmother said, when she was crowned, coronations are a declaration of our hopes for the future, and I know she’s up there fondly keeping an eye on us, and she’d be a very proud mother,”William said.
The prince then moved on to congratulating his 74-year-old father, who was officially crowned as King Charles III alongside Queen Camilla, 75, in a historic ceremony Saturday at Westminster Abbey.
In the speech, Prince William explained that his father had always had a passion for service.
“My father’s first words, on entering Westminster Abbey yesterday, were a pledge of service,” he said.
“It was a pledge to continue to serve, because for over 50 years, in every corner of the UK, across the Commonwealth, and around the world, he has dedicated himself to serve others, both current and future generations, and those whose memory must not be neglected.”
He used his father’s love for the environment as an example of that service, explaining that he had always been concerned about preserving the natural world before many others had started paying attention to it.
The proud son also boasted his dad’s support of different communities over the years.
“Perhaps, most importantly of all, my father’s always understood that people of all faiths, all backgrounds, and all communities deserve to be celebrated and supported.”
He wrapped up the emotional message by saying that he was not only proud of his father, but proud of the millions of U.K citizens who serve in their local communities, like military personnel and nurses.
“God save the King,” Prince William told the crowd before he ducked offstage.
However, it wasn’t all pomp and circumstance – the dad-of-three cracked a joke about performer Lionel Richie, 73, who had taken to the stage to sing “All Night Long” just moments before he did.
When Prince William introduced himself, he quipped, “But don’t worry, unlike Lionel, I won’t go all night long.”
Richie was just one of the many performers that took to the stage at the coronation concert, which marked a big celebration after yesterday’s formal events.
The “Endless Love” singer has known King Charles for quite sometime now, and is the Global Chairman of the Board of his Prince’s Trust.
He revealed last month that the royals had input about what she should sing.
“They gave suggestions,” Richie said. “I call them the royal suggestions. Of course, I say, ‘Oh my God, are you sure?’”
“Then, after saying ‘yes,’ I said, ‘I’m going to tell everybody,’ and they said, ‘You can’t tell anyone.’ So, it’s a secret, I can’t tell you. Boy, I wish I could tell you but all I can say to you it is going to be an evening fit for a royal occasion.”
Taking to big screen shortly after him was Katy Perry, who performed her hit 2013 song, “Roar.”
It was a relatively smooth performance, especially following the day that Perry had on Saturday, where she almost slipped and fell leaving the Westminster Chapel and couldn’t find her seat at the ceremony’s start.
The 38-year-old Perry also took selfies with fans, which is often seen as inappropriate.
However, she also garnered backlash for taking a picture of herself on Westminster Abbey’s memorial to Winston Churchill. | Royal Families |
Five things to watch in King Charles III’s coronation
On Saturday, the U.K. will hold a coronation ceremony to formalize the reign of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, an affair filled with pomp and pageantry that will draw a crowd of notable political and societal figures.
The U.K. is the only European country to hold a coronation ceremony, a tradition that dates back to 1066. King Charles III’s celebration will be held at London’s Westminster Abbey, the site of several other glitzy royal affairs including the 2011 nuptials of Prince William and Princess Kate of Wales.
The ceremony, dubbed Operation Golden Orb, will be the first in Britain in 70 years. All major U.S. and U.K. networks will be broadcasting the event, slated to begin at 11 a.m. local time, or 6 a.m. EST and 3 a.m. PST.
Here’s what to look for in Saturday’s ceremony:
Reactions from stateside
Madeline Monroe/Greg Nash
Former President Trump has already shared his thoughts surrounding the historic event, slamming President Biden in a recent interview for not attending the coronation while praising the British monarchs.
“Your new Queen is going to be terrific. She has a fantastic personality and Charles is a wonderful guy,” Trump told GB News.
President Biden will likely issue a statement in place of his attendance, as he did when expressing his condolences after learning of Queen Elizabeth’s death.
A new procession route
Britain’s King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, in Windsor, England, Sunday April 9, 2023. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP, File)
The procession route from Buckingham Palace to the church for Charles’s coronation is 1.3 miles long, making it shorter than the route taken by Queen Elizabeth in 1953. He and Queen Consort Camilla will also devolve from tradition by taking the same route home, instead of the 5-mile return procession route around London taken by his mother, notes the Associated Press.
Although monarchs typically travel to and from Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach, Charles and Camilla will head to the church in Diamond Jubilee State Coach, created for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The procession following the ceremony is likely to be a much larger ceremonial display, according to the Royal Family’s website.
‘Not My King’ protests
Protesters hold placards with the message “Not my king” before Britain’s King Charles III arrives to attend the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
British police are anticipating several anti-monarchy demonstrations during Saturday’s events.
“We will be protesting on Trafalgar Square and along the route of the coronation procession on Saturday,” activist group Republic, which is petitioning for a democratically-elected government, pledged in a Wednesday press release.
The British Metropolitan Police said the coronation will be one of its “largest security operations,” and includes the deployment of more than 29,000 police officers.
“Our tolerance for any disruption, whether through protest or otherwise, will be low,” the Met warned in a statement. “We will deal robustly with anyone intent on undermining this celebration.”
A modernized ceremony
In this June. 2, 1953 file photo, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, wave to supporters from the balcony at Buckingham Palace, following her coronation at Westminster Abbey, London. (AP Photo/Leslie Priest, File)
King Charles’s coronation will maintain most aspects associated with the tradition but is being pared down in size and duration in an attempt at modernization.
The ceremony is slated to last about two hours, compared to the three hours allotted for the coronation of his mother, and will be less extravagant and costly than past coronations. Additionally, the guest list maxes out at 2,800 people, while around 8,000 attendees joined Elizabeth’s crowning. It remains to be seen what other elements may be altered.
The ceremony is likely to include more religious diversity than those of the past. Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh religious leaders are expected to play a role in the ceremony, according to Time.
“I have always thought of Britain as a ‘community of communities,'” Charles previously said, per Time.
Prince Harry’s role in the ceremony
Britain’s William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry at the funeral of Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. (Alkis Konstantinidis/Pool photo via AP)
It’s unclear what role Prince Harry will take on in his father’s coronation, as tensions have plagued his relationship with the royal family since he and his wife Meghan Markle left the monarchy in 2021.
Markle will not attend the festivities, and Prince Harry is slated to be in London for less than 48 hours, per CBS News.
In the months since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, the last time Harry appeared publicly with his royal family, he released his tell-all novel “Spare.”
It appears that while Harry does not have a defined role in the fanfare, his brother, Prince William, will participate in an oath loyalty ceremony known as “The Homage of Royal Blood,” according to USA TODAY.
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Queen Elizabeth II faced a potential assassination threat during a 1983 visit to the United States, newly released FBI documents show.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a cache of files relating to the late Queen's travels to the US, following her death last year.
They show how the FBI, which helped secure the monarch's safety during her visits, worried about IRA threats.
The assassination threat was made to a police officer in San Francisco.
According to the file, an officer who frequented an Irish pub in San Francisco warned federal agents about a call from a man he had met at the venue.
The officer said the man told him he was seeking revenge for his daughter who "had been killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet".
The threat came on 4 February 1983 - about a month ahead of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip's visit to California.
"He was going to attempt to harm Queen Elizabeth and would do this either by dropping some object off the Golden Gate Bridge onto the Royal Yacht Britannia when it sails underneath, or would attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visited Yosemite National Park," the document says.
In response to the threat, the Secret Service had planned to "close the walkways on the Golden Gate Bridge as the yacht nears". It is unclear what measures were taken at Yosemite, but the visit went ahead. No details of arrests were published by the FBI.
The 102-page cache was uploaded to the Vault, the FBI's information website, on Monday, following a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by US media outlets.
Many of the late Queen's state visits to the US, including the 1983 visit to the West Coast, came during heightened tensions amid the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In 1976, the late Queen was in New York City for America's Bicentennial celebrations.
The documents reveal how a summons was issued to a pilot for flying a small plane over Battery Park with a sign that read "England, Get out of Ireland."
The files show how the FBI remained vigilant to what it considered to be the real potential of threats to the late Queen.
Her second cousin Lord Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bombing off the coast of County Sligo, Republic of Ireland, in 1979.
Ahead of a personal visit by the late Queen to Kentucky in 1989, an internal FBI memo read "the possibility of threats against the British Monarchy is ever-present from the Irish Republican Army (IRA)".
It continued that "Boston and New York are requested to remain alert for any threats against Queen Elizabeth II on the part of IRA members and immediately furnish same to Louisville," in Kentucky.
The late Queen, who owned racehorses, is known to have visited Kentucky several times during her life to enjoy the state's equestrian highlights, including the Kentucky Derby.
On a state visit in 1991, the late Queen was scheduled to see a Baltimore Orioles baseball game with President George H Bush.
The FBI warned the Secret Service that "Irish groups" were planning protests at the stadium and "an Irish group had reserved a large block of grandstand tickets" to the game.
The bureau told NBC News there might be "additional records" that exist besides the ones released this week, but it did not set out a timetable for their publication. | Royal Families |
London CNN — Queen Elizabeth II, who has died age 96 after the longest reign in British history, will be mourned around the globe as one of the last monarchs born to a classic age of European royalty, when kings and queens wielded genuine political power. Elizabeth’s death comes seven months after she marked the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne, yet another milestone achievement in the remarkable life of a queen who, though reluctantly thrust into the spotlight at a young age, won almost universal praise for her steadfast dedication to duty. Her long reign saw Britain transformed from a war-weary declining imperial power into a modern multi-cultural state that rarely looked to its monarch for leadership, but still held her in high esteem. And while it witnessed its fair share of joy – not least the 2011 marriage of the Queen’s grandson Prince William to Catherine Middleton, and the birth of their three children – Elizabeth’s rule also weathered many storms, both public and personal, as the monarchy tried to keep pace with changing times. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. But she didn’t become heir presumptive to the throne until 1937, when her father was crowned King George VI after the scandalous abdication of his older brother – events dramatized in the Oscar-winning film “The King’s Speech” and hit Netflix show “The Crown.” As World War II erupted, Elizabeth was quietly groomed for statehood. While living out the Blitz on London in nearby Windsor Castle, she was privately tutored in matters of constitution by Henry Marten, an eccentric yet respected teacher who reputedly kept a pet raven in his study. She began taking tentative steps into public life in 1940 when, aged 14, she made her first radio broadcast: a speech to children displaced by the conflict. At 16, she was made an honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards, a British army infantry regiment. Wartime offered her certain freedoms beyond the traditional constraints of royal life. In 1945 she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and spent four weeks getting her hands covered in oil and grease as she learned to drive and maintain military vehicles. When victory was declared in Europe, a uniformed Elizabeth mingled with jubilant crowds outside Buckingham Palace. Peacetime brought the return of Lieutenant Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a handsome young naval officer who had, by all accounts, won her heart when she was just 13. The pair married in Westminster Abbey in 1947. Their first son, Charles, was born just over a year later. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Eddie Mulholland/WPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II PA Images/Getty Images Elizabeth was born April 21, 1926, in London. She is held here by her mother, also named Elizabeth. Her father would later become King George VI. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth poses for a photo at her London home in 1928. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP Princess Elizabeth is seen with her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, during a visit to Balmoral, Scotland, in September 1933. He would go on to become King Edward VIII in 1936. But when he abdicated later that year, Elizabeth's father became King and she became heir presumptive. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Len Puttnam/AP From left, Princess Elizabeth, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret wave to the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 22, 1939. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Getty Images Elizabeth rides a horse in Windsor, England, in 1940. Her love of horses has been well documented. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP A 14-year-old Elizabeth, right, sits next to her sister for a radio broadcast on October 13, 1940. On the broadcast, her first, she said that England's children were full of cheerfulness and courage. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP Princess Elizabeth shakes hands with an officer of the Grenadier Guards on May 29, 1942. King George VI made Elizabeth an honorary colonel in the Royal Army regiment. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Getty Images Elizabeth, right, and Princess Margaret wear summer dresses circa 1942. Margaret is Elizabeth's only sibling. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Eddie Worth/AP With the Drakensberg Mountains behind her, Princess Elizabeth sits in South Africa's Natal National Park on April 21, 1947. It was her 21st birthday. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II PhotoQuest/Getty Images On November 20, 1947, Elizabeth wed Prince Philip, a lieutenant in the British Navy who had been born into the royal families of Greece and Denmark. After becoming a British citizen and renouncing his Greek title, Philip became His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His wife became the Duchess of Edinburgh. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP Princess Elizabeth arrives at a state banquet in London in March 1950. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AFP/Getty Images Elizabeth ascended to the throne in February 1952, when her father died of lung cancer at the age of 56. Here, she walks to the altar during her coronation ceremony on June 2, 1953. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II is photographed on the balcony of Melbourne's Government House during her tour of Australia in March 1954. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Fox Photos/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images From left, Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother visit Epsom Downs Racecourse in June 1958. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP The Queen holds her son Prince Andrew while his sister, Princess Anne, watches during a family holiday at Scotland's Balmoral Castle in September 1960. The Queen has four children, including sons Charles and Edward. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II AP Queen Elizabeth II is seen during the state opening of Parliament in April 1966. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Hulton Archive/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II with her oldest son, Prince Charles, in 1969. Charles is next in line for the throne. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Anwar Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images Prince Charles adjusts his coronet during his investiture ceremony as Prince of Wales in 1969. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Sadayuki Mikami/AP The Queen and Prince Philip wave from a plane ramp shortly before taking off from Tokyo in May 1975. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images The Queen takes a portrait at Windsor Castle for her 50th birthday on April 21, 1976. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Serge Lemoine/Getty Images The Queen meets the crowds during her royal tour of New Zealand in 1977. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Press Association/AP Elizabeth walks with some of her corgis at the Windsor Horse Trials in May 1980. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Tim Graham/Getty Images The Queen stands next to Prince Charles as he kisses his new bride, Princess Diana, on July 29, 1981. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Tim Graham/Getty Images Elizabeth takes pictures of her husband during a horse show in Windsor in May 1982. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Anwar Hussein/Getty Images Elizabeth drives her Land Rover during the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 1992. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Pool/AP While at Buckingham Palace, the Queen and Prince Philip view the floral tributes to Princess Diana after her tragic death in 1997. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Peter Marlow/Magnum Photos The Queen addresses the nation on the night before Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Toby Melville/AP Prince Charles looks back at his mother after wedding Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in April 2005. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Tim Graham/Getty Images The Queen arrives at St Paul's Cathedral for a Thanksgiving service in honor of her 80th birthday in 2006. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II James Devaney/FilmMagic/Getty Images The Queen, second from right, greets a crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in April 2011. Her grandson Prince William, third from left, had just married Catherine Middleton. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Irish Government/Pool/Getty Images The Queen's signature is seen in the visitors book at Aras An Uachtarain, the Irish President's official residence in Dublin in May 2011. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Fred Duval/Getty Images Madame Tussauds London reveals a wax figure of the Queen in May 2012. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Prince Charles kisses his mother's hand on stage as singer Paul McCartney, far right, looks on at the Diamond Jubilee concert in June 2012. The Diamond Jubilee celebrations marked Elizabeth's 60th anniversary as Queen. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Alastair Grant/AP The Queen tours the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London in December 2012. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images A boy in Belfast, Northern Ireland, takes a selfie in front of the Queen in June 2014. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Andrew Milligan/Pool/Getty Images The Queen enters the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle after attending a commemorative service for the Scottish National War Memorial in July 2014. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Arthur Edwards/Pool/Getty Images The Queen waits to give her speech during the state opening of Parliament in May 2015. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Chris Jackson/Getty Images Elizabeth listens to her great-grandson, Prince George, outside a church where George's sister, Charlotte, was being christened in July 2015. George and Charlotte are the children of Prince William, left, and Duchess Catherine. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Mary McCartney/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II via Getty Images The Queen is seated at her desk in her private audience room at Buckingham Palace in July 2015. She is seen with one of her official red boxes, which contains important papers from government ministers in the United Kingdom and from representatives across the Commonwealth and beyond. The photo was taken to mark the moment the Queen became the longest-reigning British monarch. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Annie Leibovitz/UPPA/ZUMA Press The Queen takes a photo with five of her great-grandchildren and her two youngest grandchildren in April 2016. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Annie Leibovitz/PA Wire/ZUMA Press The Queen poses with four of her dogs on the private grounds of Windsor Castle in April 2016. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Arthur Edwards/Pool/Getty Images The Queen and Prince Philip wave to guests in London who were attending celebrations for her 90th birthday in 2016. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Peter Byrne/Pool/Getty Images Elizabeth speaks to Evie Mills, 14, at a hospital in Manchester, England, in May 2017. Evie was injured in a bombing that took place as people left an Ariana Grande concert. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II John Stillwell/Pool/Getty The Queen sits at a desk in Buckingham Palace after recording her Christmas Day broadcast in 2017. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Gareth Fuller/WPA Pool/Getty Images The Queen arrives for the wedding of her grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images The Queen laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a bridge-opening ceremony in Halton, England, in June 2018. It was Meghan's first royal outing without her husband, Prince Harry, by her side. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Matt Dunham/WPA Pool/Getty Images Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Chris Allerton/Sussex Royal/Getty Images The Queen looks at her new great-grandchild, Archie, in May 2019. Archie is the first child of Prince Harry, second from left, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Prince Philip is on the far left. Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is next to her at right. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Victoria Jones/Pool/AFP/Getty Images The Queen welcomes Boris Johnson at Buckingham Palace, where she formally invited him to become prime minister in July 2019. Johnson won the UK's Conservative Party leadership contest and replaced Theresa May, who was forced into resigning after members of her Cabinet lost confidence in her inability to secure the UK's departure from the European Union. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images An image of the Queen appears in London's Piccadilly Square, alongside a message of hope from her special address to the nation in April 2020. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Steve Parsons/Pool/AFP/Getty Images The Queen rides a horse in Windsor, England, in May 2020. It was her first public appearance since the coronavirus lockdown began in the United Kingdom. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Handout/Steve Parsons/Press Association/Getty Images The Queen and Prince Philip pose for a photo in June 2020, ahead of Philip's 99th birthday. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Chris Jackson/Pool/AP The Queen and Prince Philip look at a homemade anniversary card that was given to them by their great-grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in November 2020. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Jonathan Brady/WPA Pool/Getty Images The Queen takes her seat alone at Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021. The ceremony was limited to 30 people, in line with England's coronavirus restrictions. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Steve Parsons/AP The Queen receives a Duke of Edinburgh rose from Keith Weed, president of the Royal Horticultural Society, in June 2021. The newly bred rose was officially named in honor of Prince Philip. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Steve Parsons/WPA Pool/Getty Images Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images The Queen drives her Range Rover as she attends the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, England, in July 2021. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images The Queen attends the Royal Windsor Cup polo match and a carriage-driving display by the British Driving Society in July 2021. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Alastair Grant/Pool/Getty Images The Queen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, greet guests during a Windsor Castle reception for international business and investment leaders in October 2021. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Joe Giddens/WPA Pool/Getty Images Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Steve Parsons/WPA Pool/Getty Images The Queen meets with Rear Admiral James Macleod, the outgoing Defence Services secretary, and Macleod's successor, Major General Eldon Millar, at Windsor Castle in February 2022. It was a few days before Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen tested positive for Covid-19. Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Jonathan Brady/Pool/AP The Queen watches the Trooping the Colour parade in London during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. She is the first British sovereign to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee -- 70 years on the throne. "I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee," the Queen said in a released statement. "While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family." Photos: The life of Queen Elizabeth II Jane Barlow/AP The Queen welcomes Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, formally inviting her to be the new prime minister in September 2022. The meeting would traditionally have taken place at London's Buckingham Palace, but the monarch has significantly reduced her duties and travel in recent months because of her mobility issues. With her father’s health in rapid decline, Elizabeth began accepting more official duties, taking his place at the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in 1949. In 1952, while Elizabeth and Philip were on an official trip to Kenya, news came of her father’s death. She was now Queen. The next decade saw the young monarch settle into her role. After her coronation in 1953, she embarked on numerous official trips, oversaw state openings of parliament, welcomed visiting leaders such as Dwight Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, and toured a coal mine. In 1964, the Queen became a mother for the fourth time as new son Edward joined Charles and fellow siblings Anne and Andrew. There was, however, barely any let-up in her busy schedule. By the arrival of her third decade on the throne, she was in her element. Prince Charles was embarking on a military career, Princess Anne, an acclaimed horsewoman, was married – drawing huge crowds of well-wishers. While indulging in her own equestrian pursuits, she continued to throw herself into public life, clocking up dozens of overseas tours and official visits around the UK – one of which, in 1976, saw her become one of the first people to send an email. There were family problems when her sister’s marriage collapsed, and constitutional issues as debate grew among Commonwealth countries about the role of the monarch, but these failed to dampen celebrations to mark the silver jubilee of her reign in 1977. Another royal wedding followed in 1981 when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Millions of people around the world watched the ceremony on television, happily unaware it would usher in the most turbulent period yet of the Queen’s life. The Queen’s 40th year on the throne, 1992, marked her lowest moment as three royal marriages fell apart. Princess Anne and Mark Philips divorced, Charles and Diana separated after claims of infidelities while Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew’s wife, was photographed topless with an American financial manager. To cap it all, a huge fire ripped through Windsor Castle, causing major structural damage. In the wake of the blaze, a furor broke out when it was suggested that public money be used to fund the restoration. This year was not one “on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure,” the Queen said in a speech later. “In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.” These problems overshadowed the Queen as she made an historic visit to meet South African President Nelson Mandela in 1995, but criticism reached new heights in the wake of Diana’s tragic death in 1997, when the royals were accused of being aloof and out of touch amid widespread public outpourings of grief. This marked a turning point. After days of silence, the Queen returned to London, talked to mourners and admitted there were lessons to be learned from Diana’s life. The gestures struck a chord with the public and criticism ebbed away. After Diana, the Queen’s popularity rebounded as she presided over what appeared to be a softer, more accessible and thoroughly modern royal family. This was evident in 2005 when, to public approval, she assented to the previously unthinkable marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. It was capped eight years later when Britain’s parliament ended the principle of men taking precedence over women in the line of succession to the throne. She witnessed two of her grandsons, Princes William and Harry, graduate as military officers in 2006 and five years later oversaw the marriage of William and Catherine, the woman who – as the wife of the now heir to the throne – will one day succeed her as Britain’s Queen. She also attended the wedding of Harry to Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in May 2018. In 2012, the Queen’s diamond jubilee was celebrated around the Commonwealth, culminating in a glittering river pageant on the Thames in London, and a concert showcasing some of the best music from her six decades on the throne. Three years later, she surpassed Queen Victoria’s 63-year-rule to become the longest-reigning British monarch and, in 2016, she marked her 90th birthday with a series of festivities and goodwill messages from around the world. In February 2022, she marked the start of her platinum jubilee year, as she became the first British monarch to reign for 70 years. The Queen’s final years were punctuated by challenges as well as celebrations, however. As the novel coronavirus swept through Britain in 2020, she gave two televised addresses in quick succession, one calling for unity in the face of the pandemic and the other, still amid a national lockdown, to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day. But while rallying the nation’s spirits, the Queen was facing upheaval within her own family. Less than two years after their spectacular Windsor Castle wedding, Harry and Meghan announced that they were stepping back from their roles as senior royals and leaving Britain. They subsequently set up home with son Archie in California and, in a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, accused “the firm” of leaving Meghan unprotected against racist abuse and unfair media coverage, as well as having neglected her mental health concerns. The couple – whose daughter Lilibet, named in honor of the Queen, was born in June 2021 – also made a damaging allegation of racism by an unnamed member of the royal family, although Winfrey later said they had clarified that this was neither the Queen nor Prince Philip. Meanwhile, Prince Andrew, often referred to as the Queen’s “favorite son,” had been forced to step back from public duties after a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC over his association with prominent sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2022, the Queen sought to distance the royal institution from a civil sex abuse lawsuit brought against Andrew in the United States by stripping him of his HRH status and royal patronages permanently. He subsequently settled the case out of court for an undisclosed figure and continues to reject the allegations against him. In April 2021, the Queen suffered the loss of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years and the longest-serving consort in British history. Pandemic restrictions meant she cut a lonely figure at his funeral, scaled back in terms of guests but still marked with military pomp. Elizabeth returned to her royal duties within days, now a widow but still dedicated to a lifetime of service. She even continued with light duties after testing positive for Covid-19 in February 2022. But as the year wore on, the monarch was forced to significantly slim down her diary due to mobility issues. On Tuesday, she met with outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his successor, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, rather than traveling to Buckingham Palace to do so. The nation had come together to mark her platinum jubilee in June 2022 – a crowning achievement in a long and storied life. By the time of her death in September, she had reigned for a little over 70 years – a constant, if regally distant, presence in the lives of several generations of Britons. | Royal Families |
The former and last king of Greece, Constantine, has died aged 82 in an Athens hospital, his doctors have announced. Constantine, who was the nephew of the late Duke of Edinburgh and godfather to Prince William, had been treated in an intensive care unit at the private Hygeia Hospital in the Greek capital.
Staff at the hospital had no further details pending an official announcement.The former monarch acceded to the throne as Constantine II at the age of 23 in 1964 after achieving an Olympic gold medal in sailing at the age of 20 with two other Greek sailors in Rome. Image: Constantine and his wife Princess Anne-Marie attending Charles and Camilla's wedding in Windsor in 2005 He began his reign as a hugely popular monarch, but squandered much of that support by the following year due to his active involvement in the machinations that brought down the popularly elected Centre Union government of prime minister George Papandreou.
Constantine was eventually forced into exile after clashing with military rulers, and the dictatorship abolished the monarchy in 1973.When democracy was restored in 1974, a referendum dashed any hopes Constantine had of reigning again.He was able to return to his home country for his final years and became a relatively uncontroversial figure from the past.Born on 2 June 1940 in Athens, Constantine was the nephew of Greek-born Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh. Image: King Constantine II of Greece (L) and Prince Philip pictured in Athens in 1965 While accepting that Greece was now a republic, Constantine carried on styling himself as the king of Greece to the end of his life, as well as referring to his children as princes and princesses, even though Greece no longer recognised titles of nobility.He lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb in London for most of his years in exile, and was said to be especially close to his second cousin, now King Charles.Constantine is survived by his wife, the former Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, youngest sister of Queen Margrethe II; five children, Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos, Theodora and Philippos; and nine grandchildren. | Royal Families |
Eight months into his reign, King Charles III is making it official with his coronation. The weekend begins with the traditional ceremony crowning the king and his wife, Queen Camilla, on Saturday morning, along with a full-scale military procession and a Buckingham Palace balcony appearance. It will continue with lunches, VIP receptions, and a star-studded concert at Windsor Castle featuring Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Andrea Bocelli.
Compared to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles’s has been scaled back, but there are still plenty of sights to take in, from the robes, costumes, and spectacular crown jewels to the shows of family togetherness to a few bites of coronation quiche. In addition to the appearances from international royals, like Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, there will be plenty of moments to see the extended Windsor clan—including Prince William and Princess Kate and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—as they don historical finery and watch the concert from the royal box.
Follow every moment of the action with Vanity Fair, where we’ll be explaining the events, spotlighting the outfits, and bringing you the tea from behind the scenes.
The Royal Who's Who
While the relationship between King Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry has dominated headlines in recent years, there's a lot more to be learned about the British royals. Queen Elizabeth II’s descendants include her four children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.
In this family, birth order and parentage are all important because it dictates the line of succession. So before King Charles's coronation officially begins, catch up on the ever-expanding family tree of the Mountbatten-Windsors, the royal family of England.
Prince Andrew Travels to the Ceremony in a Rolls Royce
Though Prince Andrew has no official role in the coronation, he is still joining the rest of his family in the congregation to watch as his older brother is crowned. He traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the backseat of a black Rolls Royce. According to the Mirror, he was booed by onlookers as his car passed the crowds gathered in the Mall.
Andrew’s daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice will also be in attendance at the service, reportedly sitting next to Prince Harry in a row of non-working royal family members. Last night, Andrew, Eugenie, and Beatrice were spotted out in London getting dinner with Princess Anne, Zara and Mike Tindall, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
South African Soprano Pretty Yende Headlines the Pre-Service Musical Program
Saturday’s ceremony isn't due to start for another hour, but plenty of dignitaries, government officials, and celebrities have already made their way in. Because it takes quite some time to seat 2,000 people in Westminster Abbey, the coronation planners scheduled a long program of pre-service music from the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Westminster Abbey’s organist Matthew Jorysz, and the Coronation Orchestra, who are playing behind a series of featured soloists. Famed South African soprano Pretty Yende served as a featured soloist as the orchestra played “Sacred Fire,” a new composition by Sarah Class with text by poet and librettist Grahame Davies.
Yende, who is currently performing with the Berlin State Opera, wore a yellow gown by Stéphane Rolland and jewelry by Graff. She opened up to Tatler recently about the shock she felt when she received the invitation to perform.
“I could not believe it,” she said. “This is a once-in-a-century kind of event. So for the King to have had me in his heart for this moment is super-humbling.”
First Lady Jill Biden Arrives at Westminster Abbey
First Lady Jill Biden just arrived at Westminster Abbey wearing a periwinkle suit, joined by her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden.
Biden is leading the American delegation to the coronation as the representative of her husband, President Joe Biden, who declined to attend the event. John Kerry, the current special presidential envoy for climate is also present in the Abbey this morning.
Yesterday, Jill Biden started her day in London with a meeting and series of engagements with Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, before visiting Buckingham Palace for a reception with other visiting dignitaries.
Katy Perry, who will perform during Sunday's Coronation Concert, has made her way to Westminster Abbey alongside Edward Enninful, Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue.
She's wearing a blush-colored ensemble from Vivienne Westwood, the late designer known for galvanizing British fashion through her punk and new-wave-inspired looks, complete with the label's trademark orb in the form of a necklace. Westwood died at age 81 last December.
In a recent interview, Perry opened up about her invitation for an overnight stay at a suite in Windsor Castle.
“They said I'm allowed to stay at Windsor Castle, which I’m really excited for,” she said. “I might be posting a lot, because I'm going to be in a castle for real. This is wild," she told Extra.
She also shared why she decided to perform at the Coronation Concert. “I’m an ambassador to one of his foundations for the British Asian trust, which primarily focuses on ending child trafficking, which is a huge issue of our time that people don’t talk enough about, and it just aligned with all my values,” she said. “[King Charles] asked me to sing and it all aligned.”
The Order of Service
Want to follow along with this morning's historic events? The Royal Family has released a 50-page document outlining the Order of Service for this morning's coronation.
Hello, Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie has arrived at Westminster Abbey. The Grammy Award-winner will perform at Sunday's Coronation Concert alongside artists including Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Take That, Freya Ridings, and Alexis Ffrench.
This morning, Westminster Abbey's seats will be filled with members of the Royal Family, the prime minister, representatives from the Houses of Parliament, heads of state, and other royals from around the world.
A Military Procession Six Months in the Making
It's almost time for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
It is the first time Britain—and indeed the world—will see the coronation of a king and queen since 1953, and though some elements of the day will be much smaller than in previous coronations, the Mall will still be filled with troops during the procession.
The initial procession will leave Buckingham Palace at 10:20 a.m. BST, taking about 33 minutes. The king and queen will travel in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach. The gilded black carriage, built in 2011 to honor the late queen’s 60th anniversary, has heat, air conditioning, power windows, and a suspension system.
Their Majesties will be escorted to Westminster Abbey by the Sovereign’s Escort, who have carried out this task since 1660. The procession will be led by the Household Cavalry Mounted Band, a group of 48 horses and musicians—with two distinctive drum horses, Atlas and Apollo—playing eight marches along the route. In total, 200 personnel and horses are involved. | Royal Families |
The death of the Queen - the longest-reigning monarch in British history - has not only rocked the nation, but the world. Her state funeral will be one of the largest diplomatic occasions of the century.Buckingham Palace has confirmed her funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday 19 September.Poignantly, it is the same venue where the Queen married Prince Philip 75 years ago, and just one year ago paid tribute to him there at his memorial service.Watch our live stream as the Queen lies in stateOn the day, the large venue - which can hold up to 2,000 people - will be full of family members, world leaders, politicians, monarchs from other countries, public figures and those who worked with the Queen, all paying their last respects.So, who can we expect to see at the Queen's funeral, and who won't be there? Image: The Queen's grandsons - William and Harry - and their wives Kate and Meghan will be there FamilyThe Queen's family will of course be there to mourn their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.Her four children - King Charles III, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, and Prince Edward - will be present, as will Camilla, the Queen Consort, and the Countess of Wessex, and the monarch's grandchildren - princes William and Harry, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, princesses Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will also be present at the ceremony.Read more:'Thank you for your infectious smile': Prince Harry's tribute to 'granny'Official guidance issued for Queen's lying in stateThe Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester - who are the Queen's cousins - are also likely to be there.Spouses of all close family would be expected to be present too, including Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and the Duchess of Sussex.Members of Europe's royal families will be attending, too, including Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan; King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain; Juan Carlos I, former King of Spain, and his wife Sofia; King Philip and Queen Mathilde of Belgium; Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary; King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden; and King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The Queen on the world stage World leadersAbout 500 foreign dignitaries are expected to attend.Many of the world leaders the Queen met during her long reign will be there.US President Joe Biden has confirmed he will attend, as will his wife, First Lady Jill Biden.Westminster Abbey will be so full for the event it will only be possible for a single, senior representative from each country and their partner to attend, according to Foreign Office documents obtained by Politico - which Sky News understands to be correct.It is therefore unclear whether former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and their respective wives Michelle and Melania, all of whom met the Queen, will be in attendance.Read more:World leaders 'to be bussed' to historic Westminster Abbey serviceQueen's final journey: The people from all walks of life who waited side-by-side for history to unfold before themLiz Truss, who is the last UK prime minister to be officially asked to form a government by the Queen, is expected to attend, as well as Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer.Irish prime minister Micheal Martin and President Michael D Higgins have confirmed they will be travelling to London for the event, and the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, is also expected to be there. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sturgeon on Scotland's farewell European leaders confirming their attendance include French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said she will be attending.Other world leaders who say they will be there include New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australia's Governor-General David Hurley, South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.It has been announced that Indian President Droupadi Murmu will be at Westminster Abbey too.Also, there will be Alexander Van der Bellen, president of Austria; Gitanas Nauseda, president of Lithuania; Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan president; Andrzej Duda, president of Poland; Justin Trudeau, Canadian prime minister; Charles Michel, president of the European Council; Egils Levits, president of Latvia; Paula-Mae Weekes, president of Trinidad and Tobago; Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestinian prime minister; Sauli Niinisto, president of Finland; Katalin Novak, Hungarian president; and Andrew Holness, the prime minister of Jamaica. 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Open Privacy Options Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcastsAnd away from high-profile figures, some of the Queen's closest staff, including her ladies-in-waiting and footmen, will want to be there to say a final goodbye.Key workers, volunteers and othersNearly 200 key workers and volunteers recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list have been invited to attend the funeral.The 183 everyday heroes include Ella Marks, an 88-year-old woman who records talking books and who attended George VI's coronation on her father's shoulders on The Mall in 1937.Another invitee is Natalie Queiroz, from Birmingham, who teaches children about the dangers of knife crime, as well as a man from Essex who runs a charity that helps pay for veterans' funerals, a woman from London who set up a charity to help adults deal with grief, and a woman from North Shields who built a play centre for disabled children.Tony Gledhill, 84, a former police officer who was awarded the George Cross after being shot at 15 times said he is "incredibly moved" to be attending the funeral. It is understood 17 Victoria and George Cross recipients are to attend the service.Sandra Oh, known for her role in BBC hit series Killing Eve, will attend the funeral as part of the Canadian delegation. She joins the delegation as a member of the Order of Canada alongside musician Gregory Charles and Olympic gold medallist swimmer Mark Tewksbury.Who will not be thereInvites have not been sent to Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria, Venezuela or Afghanistan, while Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua will only be represented at ambassadorial level, according to Whitehall sources.Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the King on the news of the Queen's death, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine was always going to make his attendance in London highly unlikely.The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will not attend the Queen's funeral.Many have also wondered whether any of the Queen's corgis will be at the funeral.While the formal nature of the event makes that highly unlikely, sadly the "no dog" rule at Westminster Abbey rules it out completely, with dogs not even permitted to walk on the grounds. | Royal Families |
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: Household Cavalry, Blues and Royals stand guard where Queen Elizabeth II's flag-draped coffin is lying in state on the catafalque at Westminster Hall on September 18, 2022 in London, England. Jeff J Mitchell/Pool via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - World leaders will join Britain's royal family, its political elite and members of the military, judiciary and charitable organisations at the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth on Monday.Below are details of what is expected:WESTMINSTER- The queen's lying in state at Westminster Hall will end at 6:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com- Shortly after 10:35 a.m. a bearer party will lift the coffin from the catafalque and carry it to the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy.- The State Gun Carriage is a field gun carriage that has previously been used for the funerals of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Winston Churchill, and Lord Louis Mountbatten.- The gun carriage will be drawn by 142 members of the Royal Navy, setting off at 10:44 a.m..- The route will be lined by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The procession will pass by Parliament Square where members of the navy, army and air force will form a Guard of Honour, accompanied by a band of the Royal Marines.- The procession will be led by Scottish and Irish regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Royal Air Force numbering 200 musicians. The gun carriage will be flanked by detachments of The King's Body Guards of The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, The Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers.- The coffin will be followed by King Charles and members of the royal family.- The procession will arrive at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey at 10:52 a.m.- Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families, governors-general and prime ministers of the realm will gather at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and travel together to the Abbey.- The congregation will be made up of representatives of the realms, the Commonwealth, parliament, devolved parliaments, charities and institutions, plus the law and emergency services.- The state funeral will begin at 11:00 a.m. (1000 GMT), conducted by the Dean of Westminster. Prime Minister Liz Truss and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth will read lessons.- The sermon will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will also give the commendation. The Dean will pronounce the blessing.- The last post will sound towards the end of the service at approximately 11:55 a.m. followed by a two-minute silence in the Abbey and throughout the United Kingdom. Planes will avoid flying over central London.- Reveille, the national anthem and a lament played by the Queen's Piper will bring the state funeral service to an end at approximately 12:00 p.m.PROCESSION TO WELLINGTON ARCH- The bearer party will return the coffin to the State Gun Carriage, followed by the royal family.- At 12:15 p.m. a procession including the king and some members of the royal family will set off for Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. Camilla, Queen Consort, and the wives of William, Harry and Prince Edward - Kate, Meghan and Sophie - will follow by car.- The route will be lined by the armed forces. The procession will include representatives from the Commonwealth, Canadian police, health workers and others. The procession is formed into seven groups, each supported by a service band.- Minute guns will be fired in Hyde Park. Big Ben will toll throughout the procession. The King's Guard in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace will give a royal salute as the coffin passes Queen Victoria Memorial.- The procession will arrive at 1:00 p.m. at Wellington Arch, where the coffin will be placed in the hearse to travel to Windsor. As it departs, the parade will give a royal salute and the national anthem will be played.- The royal family will travel to Windsor by car.WINDSOR BURIAL- At 3:10 p.m. a procession in Windsor will begin. It will be joined by the king and other members of the royal family at 3:40 p.m.- The route will be lined by the armed forces, minute guns will be fired. Both the Sebastopol Bell and the Curfew Tower Bell will be tolled.- The procession will halt at the bottom of the West Steps of St. George's Chapel at 3:53 p.m.- The committal service will begin at 4:00 p.m., conducted by the Dean of Windsor. Prayers will be led by the clergymen at churches near to her different homes. The congregation will include the queen's personal staff plus governors-general and prime ministers from countries where the British monarch remains head of state.- Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre will be removed from the coffin and placed on the Altar.- The king will place The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. The Lord Chamberlain will "break" his Wand of Office and place it on the coffin.- As the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, the Dean of Windsor will say a Psalm and the commendation before Garter King of Arms will pronounce the styles and titles of the queen.- The Sovereign's Piper will play a lament. As he walks away, the music inside the chapel will gradually fade.- The Archbishop of Canterbury will pronounce the blessing, followed by the singing of "God Save The King".- At 7:30 p.m. a private burial service will be attended by the family. The queen will be buried with her husband, Prince Philip, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Michael Holden and Kate Holton; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Royal Families |
Prince Harry’s highly anticipated memoir "Spare" hit bookshelves on Tuesday, but several royal experts believe that the damage has already been done.Ahead of the book's release, the Duke of Sussex gave several interviews that were broadcast in both the U.S. and the U.K. It has garnered incendiary headlines with its details of bitter family resentments. In the ghostwritten memoir, the 38-year-old describes his acrimonious split from the royal family alongside his wife, Meghan Markle, after their request for a part-time role was rejected."Friends of the Prince of Wales are commenting that he is ‘anxious’ and ‘sad’ about what Harry has said in his book but is focusing on his family," Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital about Harry's older brother, Prince William, the heir to the British throne. "One friend is known to have said that ‘he’s handling it so well on the outside — inside he’s burning.’" Prince Harry's highly anticipated memoir, 'Spare,' became widely available on Jan. 10. (Penguin Random House)"As for the king, he is said to be ‘extremely pained, very frustrated and anxious’ to reach a resolution with his son," Fordwich noted about King Charles III, 74. "Regarding remaining silent, as long as they continue to be supported by the British in sentiment via the polls, the royal family is expected to stick to what works, what Queen Elizabeth II lived by, and what is respected as the ‘high road’ by the British public — never complain and never explain."PRINCE HARRY'S TOP 5 '60 MINUTES' BOMBSHELLSBuckingham Palace officials have declined to comment on any of the allegations made by Harry. A spokesperson for the king, didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Kensington Palace, which represents the Prince and Princess of Wales, told Fox News Digital they don’t have a comment. Allies of the royal family have pushed back on Harry’s claims, largely anonymously."Spare" is the latest in a string of public pronouncements by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex since they quit royal life in 2020. At the time, they cited what they saw as the media’s racist treatment of the duchess and a lack of support from the palace. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior members of the British royal family in 2020. They spoke out to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and then participated in a six-part docuseries for Netflix in December 2022. (Netflix/File)Following their exit, the couple sat down with Oprah Winfrey for an interview that was viewed by 50 million people globally. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke out again in a six-part Netflix documentary released last month.On Monday, Harry appeared on "Good Morning America" with another appearance already scheduled with "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERThe father of two has defended the memoir, describing it as his effort to "own my story" after years of "spin and distortion" by others. In an interview with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes," Harry said his book wasn’t intended to hurt his family. Harry admitted that he hasn’t spoken to his father or older brother in a while, but he remains hopeful about making peace with them. Prince Harry sat down with Anderson Cooper for a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night. The Duke of Sussex spoke about his childhood, the loss of his mother and his rift with the royal family. (CBS via Getty Images)Fordwich suspects that Harry's popularity will continue to nosedive as he attempts to gain sympathy from the public, one that he feels has been misled by the British press."My prediction is that he’ll continue to sink in popularity, continuing his plummet in the polls," said Fordwich. "His timing is ghastly as the U.K. is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, somewhat of a winter of discontent where many are having to make the challenging choice of eating or heating all while he whines about his life of privilege. And we all know he is being paid multi-millions to do so."RONALD REAGAN'S DAUGHTER, PATTI DAVIS, WARNS PRINCE HARRY AHEAD OF BOOK RELEASE: 'BE QUIET' In addition to his interview with Anderson Cooper (pictured here), Prince Harry also spoke to ITV's Tom Bradby. (CBS via Getty Images)"He keeps stating he wants a reconciliation, yet interviewers have rightly asked why anyone should trust him to keep conversations private," Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital. "Why indeed?""Harry’s popularity is at a new low among Britons," he said. "A YouGov survey in January reveals that only 26 percent have a positive or fairly [positive] view of him and 64 percent have a negative one. Only 23 percent hold a positive view of Meghan and 65 percent a negative one. The Sussexes' main aim is undoubtedly to appeal to the United States and the wider world. … Harry has repeatedly charged the royal family with colluding with the press, which he claims drove him and his family out of Britain. He has, however, produced no proof of this."NBC’s chief international correspondent Keir Simmons told Hoda Kotb on TODAY that the royal family isn’t out of the woods when it comes to public perception either. He said, with Harry's claims in his interviews and memoir, that this is "a real test of the king’s reign. And there is polling this morning…that suggests that the popularity, the favorability of the royal family is falling amongst all this." King Charles III's coronation is taking place on May 6. It's unclear whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be in attendance. (Chris Jackson)Like a dark cloud, the release of "Spare" has loomed over the king's upcoming coronation in May. Harry’s father became king upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sept. 8. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was 96.Royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti told Fox News Digital that the royal family is said to be "quite angry" with Harry’s latest actions. He noted that Charles’ response was clear when he recently altered proceedings in his coronation.UK PALACE ALLIES FIRE BACK AGAINST PRINCE HARRY'S CLAIMS AHEAD OF TELL-ALL MEMOIR RELEASE"This means that if Harry is invited and does attend, he will be doing so as a family member, but not as a formal participant, and may well be given very little prominence," Sacerdoti said. "I expect that he may be invited because I think that the king is unlikely to want to make a bold statement by not inviting him. Perhaps behind the scenes, there will be discussions over whether he is genuinely expected to attend." Journalists in the U.K. were able to obtained leaked excerpts or copies of "Spare" that accidentally went on sale early in Spain. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)"Even if Harry and Meghan are invited, one would expect that they would find a polite way not to attend after all the trouble they have caused," he said. "But one can never quite predict their behavior. … [The royals] have to act carefully. … By not reacting publicly, they are at least leaving open the possibility that things can calm down. This allows the possibility of conversations to take place in the future, which might allow some form of reconciliation.""Despite Harry’s claims he wants any conversations they have to remain private, it seems almost impossible that anyone can trust him," Sacerdoti continued. "[Especially] after he revealed so many private, secret conversations and events in his book and interviews. Who would feel safe discussing things privately after an Oprah interview, six-part Netflix reality show and [now a] book?"PRINCE HARRY'S COMMENTS ON MILITARY SERVICE MAY INCITE TALIBAN VIOLENCE, FORMER COMMANDER SAYS: 'PROPAGANDA'Critically acclaimed author Christopher Andersen, who has recently written a book about the king, told Fox News Digital that he admires "Harry’s candor" because there’s "no other member of the royal family who has ever come close to baring his soul in this fashion." But in exposing what goes on behind palace doors, Harry is "leveling a devastating attack on his family and the monarchy." Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, is said to be infuriated with Prince Harry's explosive claims, several royal experts claimed. (Kirsty O'Connor/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)"King Charles and Prince William can only feel a deep sense of dismay and betrayal," said Andersen. "… As I've said many times before, the king and the Prince of Wales have hair-trigger tempers. They both must be in full temper-tantrum mode. Charles is almost certainly being counseled to retaliate because to do any less is to excuse a kind of insubordination within the Windsor ranks that could seriously undermine the king's credibility."Andersen also wondered if Charles would punish his son by stripping his HRH title. He pointed out that the queen allowed Diana to remain Princess of Wales but formally stripped her of her HRH standing. Charles and Diana's divorce was finalized in 1996, a year before her passing at age 36.Maintaining faithful to the royal motto of "never complain, never explain," isn’t enough this time around, he said.PRINCE HARRY REVEALS THAT MEGHAN MARKLE MISLED VIEWERS ABOUT KATE MIDDLETON FEUD DURING 2021 'OPRAH' SPECIAL Following the publication of "Spare," royal experts believe that a reconciliation between Prince Harry and the British royal family is unlikely. (Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)"Harry says he wants his father and brother back, but he has a peculiar way of going about it," said Andersen. "… It's impossible to imagine that the royal family will simply remain silent. And if they do, that in itself will be a mistake because it's clear Harry is determined to keep telling his side of the story until he gets a rise out of them. The bottom line is that this all constitutes a huge public relations disaster for the king at a time when he can least afford it."Harry told ITV that he wants reconciliation with the royal family, but "the ball is in their court.""They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile," he said.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex live in California with their two children. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com. | Royal Families |
World September 29, 2022 / 12:05 PM / AFP Denmark's Queen Margrethe, Europe's only reigning queen and the continent's longest serving monarch, on Wednesday stripped four of her eight grandchildren of their titles, the palace announced.The official reason was to allow the four children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim, to live more normal lives, and follows similar moves by other royal families in Europe to slim down their monarchies, the palace said."As of January 1, 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will only be able to use their titles of Count and Countess of Monpezat, their previous titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark ceasing to exist", the royal palace wrote in a statement. Prince Joachim, 53, has four children from two marriages: Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena, ranging in age from 23 to 10. Prince Felix, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim, Princess Athena, Prince Henrik and Prince Nikolai arrive for a luncheon on the Dannebrog Royal Yacht, in Copenhagen, on September 11, 2022, during the 50th anniversary of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's accession to the throne. MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images "With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create a framework for the four grandchildren, to a much greater degree, to be able to shape their own existence without being limited by the special considerations and obligations that a formal affiliation with the Royal House as an institution implies", it said. "The queen's decision is in line with similar changes that other royal houses have carried out in recent years in different ways", it added.The mother of Prince Joachim's two eldest sons told Danish media she was "shocked" by the decision."This came from out of the blue. The children feel excluded. They can't understand why their identity is being taken from them," Countess Alexandra told daily B.T.The queen's four other grandchildren, born to Crown Prince Frederik, 54, will retain their titles but when they come of age only the future king, Prince Christian, will receive an appanage, a decision taken in 2016. Queen Margrethe of Denmark reviews an honour guard as she arrives to the gala banquet at Christiansborg Palace on September 11, 2022, during celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne. MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images In: Denmark Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue | Royal Families |
Remko de Waal/AP
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Dutch King Willem-Alexander lays a wreath at the slavery monument Saturday after apologizing for the royal house's role in slavery in a speech greeted by cheers and whoop.
Remko de Waal/AP
Dutch King Willem-Alexander lays a wreath at the slavery monument Saturday after apologizing for the royal house's role in slavery in a speech greeted by cheers and whoop.
Remko de Waal/AP
The King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, on Saturday apologized for his ancestors' role in perpetuating a global slave trade that saw millions of colonized peoples trafficked away from their homes to work on enterprises that enriched the Dutch state.
"Today, on this day of remembrance, I ask forgiveness for the clear failure to act in the face of this crime against humanity," the monarch said.
Willem-Alexander, whose family has ruled over parts of the Netherlands for more than two centuries, was speaking at the 160th commemoration of the end of slavery in his country and its once widespread colonial territories, that ranged from Indonesia to the Caribbean.
He joins leaders across Europe that have expressed contrition for their respective nations' enslavement policies that for some continued well into the second half of the 19th century.
Late last year the long-standing Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, also apologized during a speech at the country's National Archives. The apology came amid a growing sense of frustration among those descended from the roughly 600,000 enslaved people who were transported to Dutch possessions, particularly in the Caribbean, including Suriname and Curaçao.
Many of the descendants of enslaved people now live in the Netherlands as Dutch citizens.
Of the activities enacted on behalf of the Dutch state over centuries, Rutte said he wished to apologize "posthumously to all enslaved people worldwide who have suffered from those actions, to their daughters and sons, and to all their descendants into the here and now."
But at the time the premier had insisted the Dutch government was not prepared to pay any form of financial reparations directly to such descendants. Instead, he announced the establishment of a dedicated fund that would underwrite initiatives designed to confront the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands and its former colonial territories, and enhance educational programs focused on the subject.
The Dutch were at one point — through a state-sanctioned private enterprise called the Dutch West India Company — the most prolific trans-Atlantic slave traders of all the European powers.
A report written by a government-appointed body of experts issued several recommendations, including one that called for the state to recognize the trade in human cargo had constituted "crimes against humanity" and that modern institutional racism was directly linked to this history of enslavement.
Willem-Alexander's address Saturday inside a park in the city of Amsterdam was laden with emotion, as he told a crowd that occasionally cheered: "Today, as your King and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul."
The Dutch monarch also promised a similar effort to that recently undertaken by King Charles III of Britain to examine his own family's history of involvement in the slave trade. | Royal Families |
On Monday, King Charles III observed his first Commonwealth Day as the head of the voluntary union of 56 nations with a traditional Westminster Abbey church service, joined by Queen Consort Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne and her husband, Tim Laurence, along with Prince Edward and Sophie, who were named the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh last week.
The theme for this year’s Commonwealth Day was “Forging a Sustainable and Peaceful Future,” and in a statement, the palace explained the service’s goals. “Working in collaboration towards shared economic, environmental, social and democratic goals, the Service seeks to highlight a vast community which spans every geographical region, religion and culture, embracing the diversity of its population of 2.5 billion people, of which over 60 percent are under 30 years old,” it read. The event also featured performances by an all-female choir from Cyprus, saxophonist Yolanda Brown, actors Roshani Abbey and Nuwan Hugh Perera, and Urukerereza, the Rwandan national ballet.
For the ceremony, Kate wore a navy Erdem blouse with white floral embroidery, a peplum, and a matching ruffled skirt, pairing the look with one priceless family heirloom, the Prince of Wales feather pendant worn as a brooch. The centerpiece features the Prince of Wales crest, surrounded by diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. She also wore a pair of diamond and sapphire earrings that used to belong to Princess Diana.
Kate first wore the pendant last September, adding a hanging 15-carat cabochon emerald, during a visit with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last November. Kate first wore the Prince of Wales pendant last First created in 1863, when the future Queen Alexandra married Queen Victoria’s son, the future King Edward VII, the brooch was later given to the Queen Mother.
It was lent to Diana throughout the 1980s, and instead of wearing it as a brooch, Princess Diana attached it to a diamond necklace and wore it throughout the 1980s, most memorably with a pair of emerald earrings that Kate has also sported from time to time. The pendant was returned to Queen Elizabeth after her death in 1997. Though Camilla chose not to be called Princess of Wales, she did begin wearing the pendant in 2006. At the time, the Daily Mail reported that the queen gave her the pendant at Charles’s request.
On Monday, Camilla wore a bright blue suit and honored her late mother-in-law with a Russian diamond and sapphire brooch. According to UK jewelers Steven Stone, the brooch, believed to have once been owned by Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, is worth about $680,000. | Royal Families |
‘Tis the season to sparkle, it would seem. Princess Beatrice stepped out in London Tuesday evening, spangled from head to toe in rose gold sequins.
The princess attended a party for designer Monique Lhullier’s new London flagship store wearing an ankle-length design from the line, accessorized with a matching short capelet on top. She kept the rest of her look fairly simple, choosing to forgo a necklace and accessorize with a low-key bracelet and earrings, rosy nude heels, and softly glowing makeup.
Lhullier shared a photo of the princess to her Instagram account with the caption “London Nights.”
Beatrice’s rose gold moment is a sparkling echo of not one, but two past ensembles by Kate Middleton, a fellow princess and Beatrice’s cousin-in-law.
Most recently, the Princess of Wales attended King Charles III’s private celebration of his 75th birthday Tuesday evening, the same night as Beatrice’s own glittery outing, in a dramatic green Needle & Thread gown festooned with sequins.
To look a little further back in the royal sequin sequence, Kate stunned at the June royal wedding of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa in a full-length rose gold sequined Jenny Packham gown. Beatrice was also in attendance at the nuptials, and also glowed in a shimmery champagne-colored Reem Acra gown with sparkly accents. Both princesses wore tiaras selected from the palace’s vault: the diamond and pearl Lover’s Knot Tiara for Kate (paired with diamond chandelier earrings belonging to Queen Elizabeth), and for Beatrice, the diamond York Tiara.
Neither royal, it would appear, is afraid to sparkle bright. | Royal Families |
Thousands of street parties and lunches are due to take place on Sunday ahead of a star-studded concert on the second day of events for the Coronation.
Members of the Royal Family will attend Coronation community events during the day before seeing Katy Perry and Take That perform at Windsor Castle later.
The more relaxed nature of Sunday's events come after King Charles and Queen Camilla were crowned on Saturday.
But there has been anger at the police following the arrests of 52 protesters.
MPs and campaigners accused the police of stifling free speech after members of the group Republic, which wants to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state, were arrested on Saturday morning ahead of a planned protest in Trafalgar Square.
On Sunday, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a Coronation Big Lunch in Cranleigh, Surrey, while the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will join a community street party in Swindon.
The Duke of York's daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will also attend a big lunch in Windsor.
Later at 20:00 BST, the Coronation Concert takes place at Windsor Castle and will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Radio 2.
As well as performances from big names including Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Take That, Olly Murs and Paloma Faith, a world-class orchestra will play an array of musical favourites.
There will also be a joint performance from The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera House, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal College of Music and The Royal College of Art.
More than 2,000 people including 90 foreign leaders came to Westminster Abbey in central London on Saturday to see the coronation of the King and Queen.
As well as overseas dignitaries including President Emmanuel Macron of France and US First Lady Jill Biden, the congregation included celebrities, everyday heroes and family and friends of Charles and Camilla.
The two-hour service saw the King pledge "not to be served, but to serve" before receiving the orb and sceptre which are symbolic of his regal power.
After he and his wife Queen Camilla were crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, they returned to Buckingham Palace to take their places on the balcony with other members of the Royal Family for a reduced flypast by British military helicopters and the jets of the RAF Red Arrows aerobatic team.
The couple delighted crowds waiting in the rain as they appeared on the Buckingham Palace for a second time.
The armed forces staged the biggest ceremonial military operation since Queen Elizabeth's II 1953 coronation, with 4,000 servicemen and women from across the world taking part in the procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.
The King's younger son Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was not among members of the Royal Family at the Palace following the Coronation, as the BBC understands he was not invited.
The duke, who travelled alone to London from his home in California, where his wife Meghan stayed with their two young children, sat two rows from his brother Prince William, the Prince of Wales, at Westminster Abbey.
It is the first time he has been seen publicly with his family since his controversial memoir Spare came out, in which he revealed tensions and disagreements with other members of his family.
He left the abbey shortly after the end of the service to catch a plane back to the US where his son Archie was celebrating his fourth birthday. | Royal Families |
Prince Harry took aim at his older brother, sister-in-law and stepmother in his first promo interview for his upcoming memoir, Spare, making another raft of allegations about his life in the royal family. The King's youngest son sat down with ITV's Tom Bradby, whom he has known for many years, to discuss some of the main lines from the book - details of which have been leaked after the book accidentally went on sale early last week. Adding context to some of his claims, Harry admits Prince William and Princess Kate never got on with Meghan Markle, accusing them of 'stereotyping' her. He also denies accusing the royals of racism during his interview with Oprah Winfrey and said he faced a "horrible reaction" from his family when the Queen died. The 90-minute ITV interview is the first of four chats he's recorded ahead of the book launch. These are the top points from Harry's interview with Bradby. Prince Harry gave a 90-minute interview to ITV (
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ITV/REX/Shutterstock) Harry denies labelling royals racist in Oprah interview One of the most sensational claims in the interview by Harry was when he denied labelling the royal family racist after previously telling the world a senior royal questioned the colour of his unborn son’s skin. Harry and wife Meghan sent shockwaves through the British monarchy when they spoke of their disgust at “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born”. The royals were left to defend serious allegations of racism after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Harry was asked about some of the shocking claims made in his Oprah Winfrey interview (
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Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese) Addressing the storm for the first time, Harry said the royal family were not guilty of racism but of "unconscious bias". During the interview Bradby said to Harry: "In the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism". Duke snapped back: saying "no I didn't", adding "the British press said that". In a further snipe at his family, Harry denied he'd "describe that as essentially racist", retorting: "I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family." Harry defends royal aide who quit over race row In another moment from the chat, Harry backed a loyal aide of the late Queen, who became embroiled in a race row, as "great". Lady Susan Hussey , 83, resigned as an honorary member of the royal household and apologised after charity boss Ngozi Fulani said she was repeatedly asked where she "really came from" at a Buckingham Palace reception. Lady Susan Hussey meeting Ngozi Fulani, founder of the charity Sistah Space (
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PA) Harry threw his support behind her and said: "I'm very happy for Ngozi Fulani to be invited into the palace to sit down with Lady Susan Hussey um, and to reconcile, because Meghan and I love Susan Hussey. “She thinks she's great. And I also know that what she meant – she never meant any harm at all. But the response from the British press, and from people online because of the stories they wrote was horrendous. Was absolutely horrendous, the response.” Harry accuses Kate and William of 'stereotyping' Meghan Harry admits Kate and William didn't get on with Meghan "from the get-go", while also making the surprising admission that they couple were huge Suits fans. Asked why the relationship got off on a bad note, Harry says there were "lots of different reasons". He goes on: "I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get into a relationship with someone like Meghan, who had, you know, a very successful career. "There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening, that I was guilty of as well, at the beginning." Harry recalls the couples' early meetings (
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Getty Images) Pushed on what he meant by that, Harry continues: "American actress, and that was playing out in the British press in the media at the time as well. "I had that in the back of my mind, and some of the things that my brother and sister-in-law – some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really sort of, you know, introducing or welcoming her in." Asked specifically what he means. Harry adds: "Well, American actress, divorced, biracial - there's all different parts to that and what that can mean but if you are, like a lot of my family do, if you are reading the press, the British tabloids, [yeah] at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality." William used 'secret code' at Prince Philip's funeral In a particularly moving part of the interview, Harry recalls arguing with his brother at their grandfather's funeral. Harry recall how William forced him to look into his eyes so he could tell him that he loved him and wanted him to be happy. Harry then says he told his brother that he loved him too but that his "stubbornness is extraordinary" and pulled away. He goes on to claim that William pulled him back and said: "Harold you must listen to me, I just want you to be happy, Harold, I swear, I swear on mummy’s life." Harry said this stopped them both as William had "used the secret code, the universal password, ever since we were boys those three words were to be used only in times of extreme crisis, ‘on mummy’s life’. Harry and William walked behind their grandfather's coffin at his funeral in 2021 (
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WPA Pool/Getty Images) He goes on to detail how they had reserved that vow for times when they believed one of them needed to be heard. And Harry adds: "It stopped me cold, as it was meant to. Not because he'd used it, but because it didn’t work. I simply didn’t believe him." Harry received 'horrible reaction' from royals when Queen died Recalling the last time he was with his family at the Queen's funeral, he tells Bradby: "The last moment that we were together was during, you know, our – or the Queen’s funeral. "And that, in my mind – and I think globally people felt the same, was a really good opportunity to bring the family together. "Um, but the day that she died was – was – was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members and then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting, I was like ‘We're here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know – I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that." Harry hits back at Jeremy Clarkson's 'horrific and cruel' comments Former Top Gear presenter sparked outcry in December when he wrote that he "dreams of the day when [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her." He also brazenly added that "everyone my age agrees" with his thoughts on the Duchess. Following the huge backlash to his column in the Sun, Jeremy said he was making a "clumsy reference" to a scene from Game Of Thrones. Clarkson's comments caused outrage (
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Getty Images) During his ITV interview, Harry spoke of how he wants to hold the UK press to account, which led him on to the infamous column, and it's impact. He said: "Just recently, which I know you know about, the Jeremy Clarkson article, so not only did, what he said was horrific and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK and around the world, men particularly, to go and think that it's acceptable to treat women that way." He added, quoting Queen Consort Camilla: "To use my stepmother’s words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violent – violence against women." Harry has 'no intention' of hurting royals with book Harry also insisted he never meant to ‘harm or hurt’ his family with his bombshell tell-all memoir Spare, but wanted to share his own version of his life story. He said: “Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been to any intention to harm them or hurt them. “The truth is something that I need to rely on and after many, many years of lies being told about me and my family, there comes a point where – again, going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right?” Harry recalls seeing Princess Diana in dreams Harry spoke honestly about how he dealt with the death of his mother when he was just 12, saying he sees the late Princess in his dreams. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997. Heartbreakingly, he reveals he "lost a lot of memories" of his late mother - something he thinks was a "defence mechanism" and a way to deal with his loss. Tom then says to Harry: "But just on that, one of the things that really surprised me in the book is the way you talk about genuinely appearing to have half-convinced yourself that your mother was in fact still alive and in hiding. Harry with his beloved mum, Princess Diana (
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Getty Images) He was just a boy when she passed away He adds: "I mean, like, you talk about seeing her in your dreams and saying, “Mummy, Mummy, is that you?" "Mm-hmm" Harry replies, as Tom continues to discuss the topic with him. "I mean, it, it, it's a haunting description of really, post-traumatic stress disorder really, isn't it?" Tom asks Harry, "I mean, that's what, that's what the whole early part of this book is." Harry argues how he prefers to refer to the condition as "post-traumatic stress injury" due to the fact he does not see himself as a person with a disorder. Tom proceeds to ask Harry about how he "bottled it up for years" and how the Duke of Sussex felt he couldn't even discuss his mother's death with his brother, Prince William. Harry admits he cried one at Diana's burial - something he goes into detail about in his memoir - but recalls it feeling strange at the time. Harry says William 'found it hard' he had a beard At one point of the chat, Tom said it was puzzling when he read in Spare that Harry and William had an argument over beards - and whether Harry should be clean-shaven on his wedding day. Harry claimed: "I remembered that William had a beard himself and that granny and other people, the ones to tell – told him that he had to shave it off. Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is the most anticipated book of the year - full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief. As we eagerly await the book's release on Tuesday, January 10th 2023, here's where you can pre-order your copy of Spare. Amazon Waterstones W H Smith "Um, the difference for me, if there was a difference, but the difference for me was, as I explained to my grandmother, that this beard I'm still – that I'm still wearing, felt to me at the time like the new Harry. Right? As almost like a shield to my anxiety. "That was – that was the time of my life when – when I – you know, when I – when I grew my beard. "Um, and I think William found it hard that other people told him to shave it off, and yet here I was on my wedding day wearing military uniform, no longer in the military, um, but thinking as though I – believing as though I should shave it off before my wedding day. "And I said ‘Well I don’t believe that Meghan’s gonna recognise me if she comes up the aisle and sees me beardless’." | Royal Families |
King Charles III, shared a sweet moment with his eldest son, Prince William, as the pair carried out a centuries-old tradition at the coronation.
In the middle of Charles’ crowning moment at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, the Prince of Wales, 40, kneeled before his father and swore his loyalty as the heir to the throne.
When William leaned in for the customary kiss on the cheek, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Charles, 74, touchingly whispered “Thank you, William.”
“This really was a beautiful moment,” one onlooker tweeted of the father-son exchange.
Charles and William’s united front was doubly affecting in light of the rifts created by the king’s younger son’s decision to move to California with his wife, Meghan Markle.
Since stepping down as senior royals in 2020, Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan Markle, 41, have hurled overseas lobs at the royal family through their bombshell Oprah sit-down and Netflix docuseries.
The Duke of Sussex then released a bombshell, protocol-shattering memoir “Spare” in January.
After weeks of speculation, Harry announced last month that he would attend the coronation in London solo, while Meghan stayed in California.
The ginger-haired prince, who was seated with minor royals in the third row, barely looked at his father and brother throughout the Saturday morning service.
He also did not interact with them after the ceremony, as he immediately got into a car bound for Heathrow Airport.
Meanwhile, King Charles was supported by his siblings, Princess Anne, the disgraced Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.
William was joined in the front row by his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, 41, and their children Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
Prince George, 9, was a Page of Honour for his grandfather during the ceremony.
Charles was crowned and anointed alongside his wife, Queen Camilla, 75.
The royal family then processed back to Buckingham Palace, where they greeted the crowds from the balcony and observed a military flypast. | Royal Families |
Prince Harry recalls moment King Charles told him Princess Diana had died and claims his father didn't hug him because he's 'not good at expressing his emotions'Harry's explosive memoir Spare relives the moment he found out about DianaHe recalls being sat down on the bed and told about the car crash in ParisHarry says he and William thought Dodi Fayed was 'a pretty nice guy' Read more: Prince Harry killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan Published: 11:45 EST, 5 January 2023 | Updated: 11:45 EST, 5 January 2023 King Charles didn't hug 12-year-old Prince Harry when he broke the news to his youngest son that his mother Princess Diana had been in a car accident, the Duke of Sussex's memoir claims.Prince Harry, 38, revealed the moment he found out about the car crash in Paris in August 1997 for the first time in his long-anticipated memoir Spare. He also revealed how he and William each have a lock of their mother's hair, which was cut from her head by her sister Sarah shortly after she died, and recalls being introduced to Dodi Fayed, who was his mother's 'friend', and whom he and William thought was a 'pretty nice guy'.The Duke writes about how the King sat him down on the bed to break the news of the car accident, calling him 'my dear son' as he told how Diana had sustained head injuries that didn't look likely to improve. He writes: 'What I do remember with stunning clarity is that I did not cry. Not a tear. My father did not hug me.' Prince Harry (pictured with William and King Charles at Princess Diana's funeral in 1997) has recalled the moment he was told about his mother's death by his father, whom he claims did not hug him while breaking the news. The revelation comes from his explosive new memoir 'Spare' which has been released in Spain todayHarry recalls how the King 'examined the folds of the old quilts, blankets, and sheets' on the bed while breaking the terrible news - as Harry struggled to understand how bad the crash had beenAs it dawned on Harry how grave his mother's condition was, he recalls 'silently begging my father, or God, or both' that it wasn't true.He recalls the King telling him that there had been 'complications' with Diana's condition after she had been 'seriously wounded' in the crash. Harry (pictured with Princess Diana and Prince William in 1995) revealed how he met Diana's 'friend' Dodi Fayed and thought he was a 'pretty nice guy' The heartbreaking recollection of finding out his mother had died is in Spare, Harry's explosive memoir which is set for release in the UK on MondayHowever at first, Harry recalls his 12-year-old self asking to go and visit his mother in the hospital, before the King explained her condition 'hasn't recovered anymore' Although Harry says some aspects of his memory may not be entirely accurate, there are things he remembers 'clear as day' all these years on.While he claims his father did not cry while breaking the news, he said the king put his hand on Harry's knee and claimed everything would be ok. After his father left, he recalls sitting by himself while his brother William, whom he affectionately calls 'Willy', sat in a separate room. Harry claims his memory has undergone 'decades of effort to reconstruct that morning', but after all this time he has come to an 'inescapable conclusion' - that he stayed alone in the room until 9am the following morning when the piper began to play outside. He recalls: 'I didn't bathe, I didn't pee. I didn't get dressed. I didn't call out to Willy or Mabel.' Harry's heartbreaking recollection of his mother's death comes as one of many explosive claims from Spare, his long-anticipated memoir which is set for release in the UK on Monday 10 January.The emotive passage comes after Harry speaks about Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed after he and William had met him while on holiday with Diana in St Tropez.He recalled the three of them laughing a lot as they holidayed together before being introduced to Dodi.Harry recalls seeing his mother light up in Dodi's presence as he described the filmmaker as 'cheeky' - nonetheless, he seemed 'nice'.He reflects on a conversation he had with William about their mother's new partner - and how they both agreed that, as long as she was happy, then they were happy for her. Elsewhere in the book, Harry relives his memory of the days following his mother's death and how he battled with himself to accept the truth of the situation. Despite being told what had happened, he recalled telling himself his mother was just 'hiding' and not really dead - a theory he revealed later in the book that he often returned to for comfort.He recalled how he and William were forbidden from watching the TV so they could be shielded from news reports about Diana's death.After the King and Diana's sisters had gone to France to identify Diana's body, Harry recalls being reunited with his father and aunties in London.When they arrived and met with their Aunt Sarah (Lady Sarah McCorquodale), Harry recalled her handing each brother a little blue box which contained a lock of Diana's blonde hair.Even so, Harry recalled not believing the hair belonged to his mother, and convincing himself it was someone else's so he did not have to come to terms with the reality of her death. Read more: Prince Harry 'begged Prince Charles not to marry Camilla' and feared she would one day be his 'wicked stepmother', his new book claims EXCLUSIVE: Meghan was 'offended' when she was 'reprimanded' for telling Kate that she 'must have baby brain because of her hormones' which sparked a huge row, Harry reveals in his memoir Prince Harry brands Prince William his 'ARCH-NEMESIS' in explosive memoir, as he admits he has 'always been in competition' with his 'beloved brother' because of his role as the 'spare' Advertisement | Royal Families |
Leaders and heads of state from across the globe will come together in central London on Monday to attend the state funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Around 500 foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the service at Westminster Abbey, including President Joe Biden, kings and queens from across Europe, and leaders of Commonwealth nations.The queen is lying in state at the Palace of Westminster to allow members of the public to pay their respects. On Monday morning, her coffin will be moved to the church for the state funeral service, which is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. ET.A police official declined to detail how the leaders would travel to Westminster Abbey on Monday, citing security reasons. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy added in a media briefing Friday that London’s Metropolitan Police is engaged in its largest policing operation ever. The White House confirmed that Biden will attend the funeral and will be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden.Members of royal families across Europe have confirmed that they are attending, including Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and the previous Spanish king and queen, Juan Carlos and Sofia. Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her heir, Crown Prince Frederik, will also be attending. Royal households from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium have all confirmed that they will be traveling to London for the funeral, according to Reuters. Monarchs attending from outside Europe include Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.Among the national leaders in Europe who have confirmed their attendance is French President Emmanuel Macron. On Thursday, he wrote in a tweet that the link between France and the United Kingdom is "unbreakable."French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II after her death. Ludovic Marin / AFP - Getty ImagesOther high-profile leaders from Europe who are coming, as reported by Reuters, are German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Irish President Michael D. Higgins.Heads of state from the Commonwealth have also confirmed that they are attending, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian President Droupadi Murmu.Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan is expected to attend, angering some British lawmakers who were banned from traveling to China last year, after they criticized Beijing's mistreatment of Muslim Uyghurs. China has denied any abuse of the Uyghurs.Pope Francis has said he will not be present at the funeral service and will instead send a senior representative from the Vatican. Invitations to the funeral were sent to heads of state of nearly every country in the world except Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus and Myanmar. Britain does not have full diplomatic ties with Syria, Venezuela or Afghanistan, and relations with Russia and Belarus collapsed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February. Russia's military has used Belarus as a base to launch attacks into Ukraine.And the U.K. has reduced its diplomatic presence in Myanmar after a military coup there last year. | Royal Families |
September 19, 2022 01:11 PM The funeral of England's longest-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II on Monday consisted of many memorable and heartfelt moments as the world mourned the loss. Held at Westminster Abbey in London, here is a list of eight memorable moments, including an emotional moment of the queen's eldest son, King Charles III, a reading from new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, a sermon from Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and two minutes of silence held in honor of Elizabeth. JOE AND JILL BIDEN HONOR QUEEN ELIZABETH II IN LONDON AHEAD OF FUNERAL 1. King Charles III gets emotional at mother's funeral. Charles, England's new monarch, was visibly emotional at the funeral of his mother. The queen's eldest son, Charles became king directly after the death of his mother on Sept. 8. The new monarch was seen wiping away tears during the service as he sat with other members of the royal family, including his sons Princes William and Harry, and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla. Sophie, Countess of Wessex and wife of the queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, was also seen in tears during the service. 2. Key attendees, including global leaders. The funeral service was attended by many internationally recognized faces, including President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron with his wife Brigitte, and the members of other royal families, such as royals from Spain, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and Irish President Michael Higgins were also in attendance. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at the Westminster Abbey. (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP) Invitations to the funeral were sent to the heads of state of every country except Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus, and Myanmar. China received an invitation, but it was rescinded on Sunday, according to NBC. 3. Truss and her living predecessors attend funeral Truss and her living predecessors were also present at the funeral, including Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Theresa May, Gordon Brown, and John Major. Top row from left, Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey, Hugh O'Leary, Prime Minister Liz Truss, middle row from left, Carrie Johnson, Boris Johnson, Philip May, Theresa May, David Cameron, Samantha Cameron, bottom row from left, Sarah Brown, Gordon Brown, Cherie Blair, Tony Blair, Norma Major, and John Major attend the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. (Gareth Fuller/Pool Photo via AP) Truss also partook in the service, delivering the second reading, which came from the Book of John. London Mayor Sadiq Khan was also in attendance. 4. Justin Welby pays tribute to queen's COVID-19 speech, stating, 'We will all meet again' One of the queen's most influential moments in recent years was her speech during the global COVID-19 pandemic, in which she recited a portion of a World War II song "We'll Meet Again." The Archbishop of Canterbury, in his sermon, paid tribute to her speech, reminding mourners that those who share the queen's religious beliefs would meet her again in heaven. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby gives a reading at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP) "We will all face the merciful judgment of God. We can all share the queen's hope, which in life and death inspired her servant leadership," Welby said. "Service in life, hope in death; all who follow the queen's example and inspiration of trust and faith in God can with her say: 'We will meet again.'" 5. Welby honors queen's devotion to God The archbishop also reflected on how the queen gave allegiance to God before the country gave its allegiance to her. "Her allegiance to God was given before any person gave allegiance to her," Welby said. "Her service to so many people in this nation, the commonwealth, and the world had its foundation in her following Christ. In all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten. The grief of this day, felt not only by the late queen's family but all round the nation, the commonwealth, and the world, arises from her abundant life and loving service — now gone from us." 6. King Charles III leads royal family in the procession Charles was the first person behind the queen's casket after it was taken from Westminster Hall. Other members of the royal family followed behind Charles, including his sister, Anne, the Princess Royal, and two brothers Princes Andrew and Edward. Prince George, 9, also attended the funeral. Anne was the only one of the queen's children to accompany her mother on all legs of the tour following Elizabeth's death at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. 7. Two minutes of silence. Two minutes of silence in honor of the queen occurred toward the end of the service, allowing mourners two minutes to reflect personally on the legacy Elizabeth left behind. All mourners stood and bowed their heads in silence. The two minutes followed a rendition of “The Last Post,” which is played at remembrance services and military funerals, according to CNN. The flag of the United Kingdom is flown along Pennsylvania Avenue near the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) 8. God Save the King. The service concluded with a rendition of "God Save the King," and although it was not the first time since the queen's death that the commonwealth had switched the genders of the monarch, it was perhaps the most monumental. Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years, so the transition of the phrase from "queen" to "king" marked the conclusion of the commonwealth celebrating a woman as its head of state. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Following the service, the queen was transported to Windsor Castle, where a separate and more intimate service occurred as she was lowered into the royal vault. The queen will be moved to King George VI's memorial chapel at a later date to rest alongside her husband, Prince Philip. | Royal Families |
The death of the Queen, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, has not only rocked the nation, but the world - and her state funeral will be one of the largest diplomatic occasions of the century.Her funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday.Poignantly, it is the same venue where the Queen married Prince Philip 75 years ago, and just one year ago paid tribute to him there at his memorial service.Watch our live stream as the Queen lies in stateThe large venue - which can hold up to 2,000 people - will be full of family members, world leaders, politicians, monarchs from other countries, public figures and those who worked with the Queen, all paying their last respects.So, who can we expect to see at the Queen's funeral, and who won't be there? Image: The Queen's grandsons - William and Harry - and their wives Kate and Meghan will be there FamilyThe Queen's family will of course be there to mourn their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.Her four children - King Charles III, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, and Prince Edward - will be present, as will Camilla, the Queen Consort, and the Countess of Wessex, and the monarch's grandchildren - princes William and Harry, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, princesses Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will also be present at the ceremony.Read more:Queen's funeral plans: Everything you need to know Image: US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden (far right) view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall on Sunday The Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester - who are the Queen's cousins - are also likely to be there.Spouses of all close family would be expected to be present too, including Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and the Duchess of Sussex.Members of royal families from other countries will be attending, too, including Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan; King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain; Juan Carlos I, former King of Spain, and his wife Sofia; King Philip and Queen Mathilde of Belgium; Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary; King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden; and King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player President Joe Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, have paid their respects at the Queen's coffin in Westminster Hall. World leadersAround 500 guests from nearly 200 countries and territories will attend the funeral - represented by nearly 100 presidents and heads of government, and over 20 royals, according to a Foreign Office source.Many of the world leaders who met the Queen during her long reign will be there.US President Joe Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, have already been to view the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the "sheer silence" was one of the things that made the lying-in-state so moving, adding she had shared her moment on Friday with people who had queued for 20 hours or longer.Leaders from Ireland, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere have also paid their respects.France's President Emmanuel Macron was seen walking near the River Thames earlier on Sunday, mingling with those gathered in the streets around parliament.Other European leaders set to attend include German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Westminster Abbey will be so full for the event it will only be possible for a single, senior representative from each country and their partner to attend, according to Foreign Office documents obtained by Politico - which Sky News understands to be correct. Image: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie viewing the Queen lying in state But the Foreign Office source did say royal representation at the funeral will include:• The Crown Prince of Bahrain• The King of the Belgians• The King of Bhutan• The Sultan of Brunei• The Queen of Denmark• The Emperor and Empress of Japan• The King of Jordan• The Crown Prince of Kuwait• The King of the Kingdom of Lesotho• Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein• The Grand Duke of Luxembourg• The Malaysian Sultan• The Prince of Monaco• The Crown Prince of Morocco• The King of the Netherlands• The King of Norway• The Sultan of Oman• The Amir of the State of Qatar• The King of Spain• The King of Sweden• The King of Tonga• The President of the United Arab EmiratesRead more:World leaders 'to be bussed' to historic Westminster Abbey serviceQueen's final journey: The people from all walks of life who waited side-by-side for history to unfold before themLiz Truss, who is the last UK prime minister to be officially asked to form a government by the Queen, is set to attend, as well as Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.China's Vice President Wang Qishan will attend as the special representative of President Xi Jinping, officials have said. Image: French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron walk the day before Queen Elizabeth's funeral in Westminster Abbey, London, Britain September 18, 2022. Heiko Junge/NTB/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD P Some concerns had been raised about the invitation to China following sanctions being imposed by Beijing against a group of MPs and peers.Other world leaders who are set to be there include New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australia's Governor-General David Hurley, South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.It has been announced that Indian President Droupadi Murmu will also be at Westminster Abbey.Also, there will be Alexander Van der Bellen, president of Austria; Gitanas Nauseda, president of Lithuania; Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan president; Andrzej Duda, president of Poland; Justin Trudeau, Canadian prime minister; Charles Michel, president of the European Council; Egils Levits, president of Latvia; Paula-Mae Weekes, president of Trinidad and Tobago; Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestinian prime minister; Frank-Walter Steinmeier, president of Germany; Sergio Mattarella, president of Italy; Sauli Niinisto, president of Finland; Katalin Novak, Hungarian president; and Andrew Holness, the prime minister of Jamaica.The King and Queen Consort will host world leaders and official overseas guests at Buckingham Palace ahead of Monday's funeral.The King's spokesman has described the reception as an "official state event". 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Open Privacy Options Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcastsAnd away from high-profile figures, some of the Queen's closest staff, including her ladies-in-waiting and footmen, will want to be there to say a final goodbye.Key workers, volunteers and othersNearly 200 key workers and volunteers recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list have been invited to attend the funeral.The 183 everyday heroes include Ella Marks, an 88-year-old woman who records talking books and who attended George VI's coronation on her father's shoulders on The Mall in 1937.Another invitee is Natalie Queiroz, from Birmingham, who teaches children about the dangers of knife crime, as well as a man from Essex who runs a charity that helps pay for veterans' funerals, a woman from London who set up a charity to help adults deal with grief, and a woman from North Shields who built a play centre for disabled children.Tony Gledhill, 84, a former police officer who was awarded the George Cross after being shot at 15 times said he is "incredibly moved" to be attending the funeral. It is understood 17 Victoria and George Cross recipients are to attend the service.Sandra Oh, known for her role in BBC hit series Killing Eve, will attend the funeral as part of the Canadian delegation.She joins the delegation as a member of the Order of Canada alongside musician Gregory Charles and Olympic gold medallist swimmer Mark Tewksbury. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player King Charles has met with Commonwealth leaders at Buckingham Palace. Who will not be there?Invites have not been sent to Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria, Venezuela or Afghanistan, while Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua will only be represented at ambassadorial level, according to Whitehall sources.Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the King on the news of the Queen's death, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine was always going to make his attendance in London highly unlikely.The Vatican announced that Pope Francis will not attend the Queen's funeral.Reports suggest the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, will not be at the funeral on Monday, with Prince Turki al-Faisal attending instead.Many have also wondered whether any of the Queen's corgis will be at the funeral.While the formal nature of the event makes that highly unlikely, the "no dog" rule at Westminster Abbey rules it out completely, with dogs not even permitted to walk on the grounds. | Royal Families |
'Three years too late': Richard Madeley slams Prince Harry for 'failing to correct claims' the Royal Family were racist Published: 09:15 EST, 9 January 2023 | Updated: 09:16 EST, 9 January 2023 Richard Madeley has slammed Prince Harry after he denied accusing the Royal Family of racism.Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Monday, the TV presenter, 66, blasted the Duke for not correcting the shocking claim - adding he 'doesn't buy the rewrite'.This comes after Prince Harry denied calling the Royal Family racist on Sunday night in his bombshell interview with Tom Bradby, despite Meghan's claim that an unnamed royal had expressed 'concern' about son Archie's skin colour. Unimpressed: Richard Madeley has slammed Prince Harry after he denied accusing the Royal Family of racism (pictured with co-host Susanna Reid on Monday's show) Richard said: 'If we misunderstood it and it was the front page story in the world, why didn't they correct it?'Why didn't Harry or Meghan say at some point on one of their podcasts or one of the opportunities that they've had and say "By the way, we didn't mean it the way you guys took it, we weren't accusing the family of racism".'Why didn't they correct it, the day after it went out?'Co-host Susanna Reid then interjected: 'He blames the press for saying it was racism. He says they never said it was racism. Controversial: This comes after Prince Harry denied calling the Royal Family racist on Sunday night in an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby (pictured)'There was a clarification that was issued in the wake of that Oprah interview because the day after it went out Oprah herself told CBS that the accusation wasn't against the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh.'Reflecting on the Duke's recent claims, Richard added: 'Sorry, I don't buy that rewrite in the interview, there was a clear implication at the very least that there was a racist element about the skin colour of the forthcoming baby.'It was never corrected, it was corrected last night, but two and a half three years too late. You can't have it both ways Harry, I'm sorry.' In 2021 Harry and Meghan's tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview was one that shocked the world. Angry: Richard said, 'If we misunderstood it and it was the front page story in the world, why didn't they correct it?'One moment that remained in people's minds over the years was when Oprah asked Meghan in 2021: 'They were concerned that if he were too brown, that would be a problem? Are you saying that?'. Meghan responded at the time: 'If that's the assumption you're making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?'It prompted a worldwide guessing game about the senior royal who said it and hours later Harry's estranged brother, Prince William, was forced to publicly remark that they were 'very much not a racist family'. The Queen also gave a rare statement and said 'the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning' but stressed that 'recollections may vary'.But on Sunday night, in an interview to plug his new memoir, he told ITV's Tom Bradby that the Royal Family is not racist. Confusion: Bradby a friend of Harry's, raised the 2021 Oprah interview and said: 'You accused members of your family of racism' Mr Bradby was visibly stunned - as were millions of viewers - by his screeching U-turn from previous incendiary claims. The British broadcaster, a friend of Harry's, raised the 2021 Oprah interview and said: 'You accused members of your family of racism.'But Harry snapped back: 'No I didn't. The British press said that. Did Meghan ever mention that they're racist?'. Harry then insisted the comments made about his son Archie's skin colour were 'unconscious bias'. Mr Bradby appeared taken aback by the answer - while experts said that Harry clearly didn't understand the term he was now using.Harry, promoting his autobiography Spare, asserted: 'There was – there was concern about his skin colour.'He was then asked: 'Wouldn't you describe that as essentially racist?' Unforgettable: In 2021 Harry and Meghan's tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview (pictured) was one that shocked the worldBut the 38-year-old replied: 'I wouldn't, not having lived within that family.'Harry and Meghan's 'tell-all' conversation with Oprah in 2021 marked their first major interview since they stepped down as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.In the couple's Netflix series Harry & Meghan, the Duke claimed:'In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias.'The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one's fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right. It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.' Harry told Netflix: 'In [the Royal Family], sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias' Advertisement | Royal Families |
The King and Queen unveiled statues of the Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as they arrived for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
The life-sized bronzes, commemorating the late Queen and her husband's dedication to the concert hall, were installed as part of its 150th anniversary.
King Charles appeared emotional as he looked up at the statue of his late mother at Saturday's unveiling ceremony.
The King and Queen were later accompanied at the festival by nine other members of the Royal Family, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak observed the event from a box to the left of the royals alongside his wife Akshata Murty while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sat in a separate box to the right with his wife Lady Victoria.
Hosting the annual event, Clare Balding said that servicemen and women who have lost their lives are "kept alive with our words, our memories, our tributes".
There were performances from British soul singer Mica Paris, pop star Calum Scott, Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery and tenor Alfie Boe, who performed Bring Him Home.
The Princess Royal led a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest military campaign of the Second World War.
This year's Festival of Remembrance marked 80 years since the battle, which saw around 65,000 seamen lose their lives.
Other tributes at the festival included to the bereaved who have lost loved ones through military service.
Footage marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War was shown, with contributions from people who had served.
There were also tributes to the Windrush generation and their contribution to the British armed forces, marking the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush's arrival in the UK.
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The royals joined the crowd to sing Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind after the remembrance book, containing the names of British war dead, was brought into the centre of the hall.
It was carried by petty officer Stuart Jones and his family, accompanied by recently reunited Royal Navy families.
The event ended with a rendition of God Save The King followed by three cheers after which King Charles waved to the crowd who applauded as he left with the other royals.
On Sunday, His Majesty will lead the nation in remembrance at the Cenotaph following a day of violent clashes in central London between counter-protesters and police, who attempted to stop them from interfering with a major pro-Palestinian march. | Royal Families |
FBI documents revealed that Queen Elizabeth II was under threat of assassination during a visit she made to the US in 1983.
The documents, which are about the late queen's visit to the US, reveal that the FBI, which took part in her security, feared threats from the Irish Republic Army (IRA).
According to the documents, on February 4, 1983, about a month before the queen visited San Francisco, a local police officer alerted federal agents of a potential threat to her. The same police officer, who frequented a pub in the city, got a phone call from a man he met in the pub who told him that he was determined to avenge the death of his daughter who was killed in Northern Ireland by a rubber bullet.
According to the police officer, the man "would try to harm Queen Elizabeth by dropping an object from the Golden Gate Bridge onto the Royal Britannia yacht while it was sailing under the bridge or would try to murder the queen while she was visiting the Yosemite national park."
After hearing about the threats, the Secret Service planned to block all the roads leading to the bridge while the yacht was passing under it.
It's unclear what security measures the Secret Service took for the queen's visit to Yosemite, but the visit was made without incident.
Documents show FBI was always wary of threats to the queen
A database of 102 pages of FBI documents about Queen Elizabeth II's visits to the US was publicized this week in response to a "Freedom of Information" law request filed by NBC News.
The documents also revealed that FBI agents regularly shared intelligence with the Secret Service and local police stations regarding the IRA and its supporters leading up to the queen's visits to the country.
The American fear of possible harm to the royal family while visiting the US was not taken lightly. In another incident in 1989, before the queen's visit to the East Coast, an internal FBI memo stated that despite a lack of intelligence reports on specific threats, "Boston and New York are being asked to prepare for any threat against Queen Elizabeth II by IRA members." | Royal Families |
King Charles and the Queen's three other children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin on Friday night before her funeral on Monday, which will end with a two-minute national silence.The monarch's children and members of the Royal Family will then walk behind the Queen's coffin to Wellington Arch when it leaves Westminster Abbey - before Her Majesty is taken to Windsor to be laid to rest next to her beloved husband Prince Philip.Buckingham Palace has released the details of the 11am state funeral and the ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor ahead of her private interment at 4pm on Monday. The King will scatter earth on his mother coffin at 7pm at a private family service.After the state funeral, attended by some 2,000 guests, including visiting heads of state and other dignitaries, the late queen's coffin will be transported through the historic heart of London on a horse-drawn gun carriage before being driven by the state hearse to Windsor. The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, who is in overall charge of the ceremonial arrangements including the Queen's funeral, said: 'The events of recent days are a reminder of the strength of our Constitution, a system of government, which in so many ways is the envy of the world. King Charles looks tearful as he marches with Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Anne, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence'The Queen held a unique and timeless position in all our lives. This has been felt more keenly over the past few days as the world comes to terms with her demise.'Her Majesty's passing has left many people across many continents with a profound sense of loss.'The respect, admiration and affection in which the Queen was held, make our task both humbling and daunting. An honour and a great responsibility.'It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths, whilst fulfilling Her Majesty and her family's wishes to pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign.'The King will once again lead his family in marching behind the Queen's coffin when it is moved, at 10.44am on Monday, from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the Queen's funeral service.He will walk with the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex and behind the quartet will be the Queen's grandsons Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales.They will be followed by the late monarch's son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen's cousin, and her nephew the Earl of Snowdon.The Queen's coffin will be carried during the procession on a 123-year-old gun carriage towed by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a tradition dating back to the funeral of Queen Victoria.The Procession will be led by a massed Pipes & Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force - numbering 200 musicians.At 8am the doors of Westminster Abbey will open for the congregation to begin taking their seats.Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families, governors general and Realm prime ministers, will gather at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and "travel under collective arrangements" to the Abbey, the Earl Marshal said.He added that other representatives of the Realms and the Commonwealth, the Orders of Chivalry including recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross, Government, Parliament, devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, the Church, and Her Majesty's Patronages will form the congregation, along with further representatives from law, emergency services, public servants and professions, and public representatives.Members of our the British royal family who are not processing from Westminster Hall will have arrived at the abbey and been escorted to their seats in the South Lantern. Hour-by-hour guide to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, September 19 6am-8.30am: Last vigil at Queen's coffin in Westminster Hall At dawn on the last day of national mourning, the King's bodyguards will begin their final vigil at the Queen's oak coffin in the Houses of Parliament. It will then close at 8.30am in preparation for the procession.9am: Big Ben will strikeBig Ben will strike clearly, before the bell's hammer is covered with a thick leather pad to muffle its strikes for the rest of the day, out of respect and deference to the late monarch.10.30am: Queen's coffin is carried from House of Parliament to Westminster AbbeyThe Queen's coffin will be moved onto the state gun carriage which will be outside the north door of Westminster Hall.From there, it will be pulled by naval ratings using ropes instead of horses from the Hall to Westminster Abbey.Enormous crowds of mourners are expected to line the streets in Westminster as King Charles and senior members of the Royal Family follow the coffin as they did at the funeral for Princess Diana and for Prince Philip. The military will also join the procession. 11am: The Queen's coffin is carried to the High AltarAround 2,000 guests including members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Liz Truss, former British premiers, foreign dignitaries including US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and possibly Japanese Emperor Naruhito, and other VIPs, will fill the Abbey and watch as the Queen's coffin is moved down the nave to the High Altar, before the nation falls silent. The state funeral at Westminster Abbey (pictured) be led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury11am-12pm: The state funeral at the AbbeyThe state funeral will be led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is being televised and is expected to be beamed to millions around the world - and could well be one of the most watched live events in human history. Royal experts believe that the choice of the Abbey could be both because it is so big - it has a capacity of 2,000 though can hold as many as 8,000 - and more live TV broadcasts have already been held there.It is also believed that it could be a better place for large crowds to gather to pay their respects, since it is in Central London.And the Abbey was the setting for many of the most important events of the Queen's life - from her Coronation to her wedding to Prince Philip. The Princess Royal and the Duke of York, and the Queen's sister Princess Margaret, were also married there.Other royal funerals have been held at the Abbey, including Princess Diana's in 1997 and the Queen Mother's in 2002. The funeral of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Philip's uncle, was also held there in 1979.Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey The Queen is photographed on June 2, 1953 smiling after her Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London12pm: The Last Post At the end of the service, the Last Post and Reveille will be played.12pm-1pm: Queen's coffin is carried to Wellington Arch via The MallThe Queen's coffin will then be placed back on the state gun carriage, before the royal funeral procession will solemnly move through Parliament Square, Whitehall, Constitution Hill and The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, to arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm.1pm-4pm: The coffin is transported to WindsorThen the coffin will be transported to Windsor, where the Queen spent much of the last years of her life, to her final resting place at St George's Chapel via the Long Walk. The Queen's coffin will be lowered into the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel in Windsor (pictured), where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Princess Margaret Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in an official wedding photograph taken on their wedding day in 19474pm: Queen will be buried at St George's Chapel by her husband Prince PhilipThe committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor will then begin, and will also be televised around the world.Before the last hymn, the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb will be removed from the Queen's coffin by the crown jeweller. Then at the end of the service, a lament will be played by a lone piper as the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Margaret.7pm: King Charles will attend private family burial service at chapelKing Charles and his closest family will return to the chapel for a private family burial service, where - as the late Queen did for her father - the monarch will scatter earth upon the coffin. | Royal Families |
King's stamp unveiled by Royal Mail - and there's one big difference from the Queen's
They will not go on sale immediately because King Charles wants existing supplies of stamps adorning the late Queen to go out of stock first.
Wednesday 8 February 2023 03:18, UK
A key milestone of King Charles's reign has come as Royal Mail unveiled stamps bearing his profile.
The image of the King featured on first and second class stamps has been revealed as a simple profile image, showing his head and neck in the style of the late Queen, and all British monarchs since Queen Victoria.
In keeping with stamp tradition, the King faces to the left - but unlike the Queen's stamp, he is not wearing a crown.
The same image, of a profile sculpture made by artist Martin Jennings, has been used by the Royal Mint to make coins. An image of the sculpture was adjusted and relit for use on the new stamps.
It's the first time his likeness is being featured on stamps since the death of his mother in September.
The world's first stamp - known as the penny black - was issued in 1840 and bore Queen Victoria's image.
The King guided Royal Mail to keep the style consistent and to use up existing Queen stamps rather than pulping them.
"The guidance we got from His Majesty was more about continuity and not doing anything too different to what had gone before," Royal Mail's director of external affairs and policy said.
"I think perhaps there's an acknowledgement that, for 70 years people have been so used to seeing the image of Her Majesty, even though actually the current image only started in 1967, they didn't want to do anything too different to what had gone before," David Gold said.
Retailers will not start selling the new stamps until stocks featuring the late Queen are sold.
However, people can register interest in the new stamps now on the Royal Mail's website.
"The King gave very clear directions he didn't want anything to be pulped, he didn't want things being shredded, he didn't want stock being thrown away," Mr Gold said.
"He was very clear, however long it takes you to clear the stock, there's no rush." | Royal Families |
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of King Charles III as he travels between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey before and after his coronation on 6 May.
Soldiers and royal footmen, marching bands and ornate coaches, magnificent horses and an Irish wolfhound called Seamus will all be taking part in the UK military's largest ceremonial operation for 70 years - and it will all end with a spectacular fly-past. Here is what to look out for.
King's Procession to the abbey
The day will begin at 10:20 BST with the relatively modest King's Procession - the first of two processions on Saturday - in which the King and Queen Consort Camilla will travel from Buckingham Palace to the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey.
They will travel in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, created in 2012 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's 60th year on the throne.
The coach, accompanied by the Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry, will head down The Mall to Trafalgar Square, then along Whitehall and Parliament Street before turning into Parliament Square and Broad Sanctuary.
The 1.42-mile route will be flanked by 1,000 members of the military from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
Almost 4,000 armed forces veterans and NHS and social care workers have been invited to watch from specially built grandstands in front of Buckingham Palace.
The 200-strong procession is expected to arrive at the abbey at 11:00 for the service.
How to follow events live
The service and both processions will be broadcast online, on TV and radio but you can also follow events on big screens in London's Hyde Park, Green Park, St James's Park and sites around the country.
If you are planning to watch the processions up close along The Mall and Whitehall, viewing areas will be open from 06:00 on Saturday 6 May and are expected to get very busy. The big screen areas in Hyde Park open at 05:00.
Gun salutes mark crowning
About halfway through the two-hour coronation ceremony, gun salutes involving 400 personnel will mark the moment St Edward's Crown is placed on the King's head.
Twenty-one rounds will be fired at 11 locations around the UK - including Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast - and on Royal Navy ships at sea.
And in London, a 62-round salute will fire at the Tower of London, along with a six-gun salvo on Horse Guards Parade.
Coronation Procession to palace
After the ceremony, in the second procession of the day, the King and Queen Consort will travel back to the palace in the ornate Gold State Coach as part of the Coronation Procession - a much larger ceremonial display than the morning's procession.
At the head of the procession will be Brigade Major Lieutenant Colonel James Shaw riding Sovereign's Shadow, about a mile in front of the coach.
The Gold State Coach, which is covered in gold leaf and carved decorations, was first used by King George III to travel to the State Opening of Parliament in 1762 and has been used at every coronation in the last 200 years.
The panels feature Roman gods, and sculptures of cherubs and tritons ride on the roof and over the wheels.
Queen Elizabeth II, who used the coach for her coronation as well as jubilee celebrations, said it might look luxurious but it was a horrible, uncomfortable ride because of the lack of suspension.
It weighs four tonnes and is pulled at walking pace by eight grey horses, with a mounted rider or postilion for each pair.
Alongside the coach, walk eight grooms, six footmen and four Yeomen of the Guard.
Also present will be members of the Royal Watermen, who traditionally rowed the Royal Barges up and down the River Thames between the royal palaces, but now have ceremonial duties.
Reports suggest the Prince of Wales' three children, princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, will be in a carriage with their parents behind the Gold State Coach.
And more than 4,000 members of the armed forces from the UK and across the Commonwealth, 19 bands and flag-bearers will join them.
Among those taking part will be members of the Blues and Royals and Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and the Irish Guards with their mascot Seamus, the Irish wolfhound.
The Ministry of Defence says Saturday's event will be the largest military procession in London since more than 16,000 people took part in Queen Elizabeth II's coronation procession in 1953.
Some soldiers involved have returned to represent their regiments from operational duties or training exercises abroad, in places like Cyprus, Iraq, Kenya and Estonia.
And the Royal British Legion is providing a 100-strong guard of honour to line the procession route in Parliament Square.
The standard-bearers will represent the legion and seven other associated armed forces charities: the Royal Naval Association; Royal Marines Association; Army Benevolent Fund; Air Forces Association; Royal Commonwealth and Ex Services League; Merchant Navy Association; and SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity.
The procession will leave the abbey and travel along Whitehall, past the statue of King Charles I at Trafalgar Square, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall to the palace.
The coach is expected to make the 1.42 mile journey in about 30 minutes.
Once the procession has passed, members of the public will be allowed to move up The Mall to fill the area around the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace.
The marching bands will keep a beat of 108 paces a minute, which is slightly slower than a standard quick march of 116 paces a minute, because of the speed of the heavy Gold State Coach.
The personnel on parade will also have to negotiate a tricky drill manoeuvre after marching down The Mall 12 abreast to pass through the gates of Buckingham Palace six abreast, without dropping their pace.
Royal Salute and three cheers
In a coronation first, all those marching will form up in the palace gardens where they will give a Royal Salute and three cheers to the King and Queen Consort.
The King and other members of the Royal Family will then proceed to the front balcony of Buckingham Palace to greet the public crowds assembled in The Mall.
Palace fly-past
They will then move to the palace balcony, with other family members for a fly-past at about 14:30 BST.
The six-minute fly-past will include more than 60 aircraft from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Among the aircraft on display will be helicopters, Spitfires, the new P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, F-35B Lightning II jets, the new Envoy IV CC1 and transport aircraft.
They will be followed by the Red Arrows display team.
If you are not in London, you might catch a glimpse of some of the aircraft as they approach from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex - or after the fly-past as they disperse over Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Written and produced by Dominic Bailey and Chris Clayton, design by Lilly Huynh and Zoe Bartholomew, illustration by Jenny Law.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan - sign up here. | Royal Families |
Prince Andrew secretly visited Bahrain last week as personal guest of their royal family: Duke flew on Swiss billionaire's private jet and stayed at £8,600 hotel amid claims he is eyeing return to public life as trade envoyPrince Andrew took a trip to Bahrain as the royal family's 'privately-funded' guestSources allege Andrew was on holiday at a five-star, all-expenses paid hotelHe is said to have flown to the nation on a Swiss billionaire's private jetOther insiders claim Andrew is bidding for another government trade positionThey say he believes he could get Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production Published: 04:23 EST, 20 November 2022 | Updated: 04:26 EST, 20 November 2022 Prince Andrew took a secret holiday to Bahrain last week as he 'fancies his chances' at an unofficial role as the intermediary between the West and Gulf states amid the global energy crisis, sources say.The Duke of York, 62, flew to the country - located in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Qatar - last week on a private jet owned by a Swiss billionaire.Insiders told The Sun that Andrew was on holiday as a 'privately-funded' guest. He is said to have been staying in five-star, all-expenses paid luxury accommodation provided by his friends in Bahrain's royal family. Other sources allege the disgraced royal is looking to become a government special representative for international trade and investment, believing he could get Saudi Arabia to increase oil production.Last week's visit marks Andrew's first voyage out of the UK since 2019, when he visited Spain weeks after the death of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.Andrew, who is no longer a working royal, quit his government trade role after being linked to Epstein, 66. He was also accused of sexual abuse by Epstein sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. Andrew has consistently and vehemently denied the claims. Prince Andrew took a secret holiday to Bahrain last week, sources allege. He is pictured with the Crown Prince of Bahrain at the Royal Ascot in June 2010Despite 'no longer having a wide circle of friends,' sources close to Andrew say he has been 'close' with the Bahraini Royal Family for 'many years.''Prince Andrew no longer has a wide circle of friends but Royal Families do have a habit of sticking together,' the insider told The Sun of Andrew's recent travels. 'There are people there who have been loyal to the Queen’s son and have deep pockets.'He is believed to have stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manama which is so luxurious that coffee is served in 24-carat gold cups, the newspaper reported.The royal suite at the hotel, which boasts itself online as a 'lush urban island resort,' is said to cost £8,600 per night. Andrew was on holiday as a 'privately-funded' guest of the royal family. He is believed to have stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manama. Pictured: A bedroom in the hotel's royal suite The royal suite at the hotel, which boasts itself online as a 'lush urban island resort,' is said to cost £8,600 per night. Pictured: The dining room in the royal suite The Duke of York flew to Bahrain last week on a private jet owned by a Swiss billionaireAndrew has been a 'regular visitor' to Bahrain over the years, having visited in January 2014 to meet with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's second son Sheikh Abdullah.During that visit he attended a Bahrain-British Business Forum dinner at the Radisson Diplomat Hotel. He met with King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman at the event.He visited again in April 2018 to open a UK naval base and police training centre. He met with King Hamad again, as well as Bahrain’s interior minister.He then returned the following March to visit the naval base with the Bahrain king.In May 2019 he flew to the country yet again to take his then-wife Sarah Ferguson to the Bahrain Grand Prix. Andrew stayed at the Ritz Carlton as the royal family's guest during that visit.He was then expected to return to Bahrain in November 2019, but the trip was cancelled due to his links to Epstein. Political activists have slammed Andrew's relationship with the 'toxic' Bahrain royals, alleging it is 'toxic and shameful.'Sayed Ahmed Al Wadaei, of the Bahrain Institute for Rights & Democracy, criticised Andrew for, on multiple occasions, meeting with the nation's police force regardless of its 'record of violence, extreme interrogation tactics, and use of torture.'Mr Al Wadaei told the news outlet that Andrew was seen laughing with King Hamad the same year the Bahrain royal 'ratified the execution of three political prisoners whose confession was forced through torture.'He also claimed Andrew considered fleeing to Bahrain when his relationship with Epstein first came to light.'This reflects how deep his disgraceful relationship is with Bahrain’s corrupt dictatorship,' Mr Al Wadaei argued.Another source told the Sun that if Andrew is 'not wanted in the UK' he could have a 'home and new life in Bahrain.' Andrew, 62, paid Giuffre, 39, a reported £12 million to settle a civil case in which she accused him of sexual abuse. He has consistently and vehemently denied the claims. This photo was developed in 2001, when Giuffre was 17News of Andrew's trip to Bahrain comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed relations at the top of the UK Royal Family turned decidedly frosty after Andrew was spotted at a shooting party on the Windsor estate last Saturday.Andrew was seen with two of his siblings – Princess Anne and Prince Edward, along with other members of the Royal Family - at the Windsor shoot two days before King Charles' 74th birthday. But what had been intended as a show of support for the embattled Duke of York has had repercussions for their relationships with the new King. A source told The Mail on Sunday that the King had decided not to attend the shoot – and was displeased that his younger brother Andrew was in attendance. Prince Andrew was spotted at a shooting party on the Windsor estate last Saturday with two of his siblings – a gathering from which King Charles has been keen to distance himselfThe source added: ‘King Charles was said to be displeased that Edward and Anne had been publicly meeting up with Andrew and wanted it made clear that he had not been part of the shoot. ‘Anne and Edward had been privately concerned about Andrew and wanted to check on him. 'But Charles’s view is that he should not be in the public eye. His Majesty was not thrilled at all.’ While Andrew is expected to be received by the King at Sandringham for Christmas, he will not be included in the Royal Family’s annual walk to St Mary Magdalene Church on Christmas Day. Advertisement | Royal Families |
Tributes have been paid to Queen Elizabeth II, just days before the first anniversary of her death, as the King and Queen enjoyed events at the Braemar Gathering in Scotland.
The highland games event, which takes place just a short drive from Balmoral Castle where Queen Elizabeth died on 8 September last year, was always a firm favourite of hers.
Welcoming the King and Queen to the showground, commentator Robert Lovie said: "We were all so saddened by the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth who had been such a great supporter of these highland games throughout her life."
Reflecting on the King's long personal connection with the event, he added: "Your Majesty has been attending this world-famous gathering since the tender age of six.
"Today, as we welcome Your Majesties to this iconic Highland gathering, in a part of Scotland that you love so dearly, may I, on behalf of everyone here, wish both Your Majesties a long, happy and glorious reign."
Queen Elizabeth was patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society. At the moment it is unclear who will take up the role but the new monarch has been invited to replace his mother.
The King and Queen were joined by his sister Princess Anne and her husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence.
Looking relaxed, they seemed to enjoy watching the events together, which included tossing the caber, the sack race and girls dancing the Highland Fling.
The King was laughing with his sister, while Anne at one point was seen shouting and giving a thumbs up towards the showground.
The King, always a fan of wearing a kilt when north of the border, was dressed in a newly created King Charles III tartan for the first time.
The green, blue and red tartan was designed by the Scottish Tartans Authority to mark the occasion of his coronation and to recognise his strong support in preserving the culture and traditions of Highland Dress and Scottish Tartans.
Read more:
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Charities affiliated with late Queen await news on new royal patron
Every year, Queen Elizabeth was photographed at the event alongside her family, often in fits of laughter watching the sack race.
This year her son and heir have also followed her tradition of spending part of the summer at Balmoral Castle.
Later on Saturday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was due to arrive - another annual tradition started by the late Queen, who had 14 of her 15 prime ministers to stay.
Liz Truss was the exception after becoming prime minister days before her death.
The King and Queen are due to spend the anniversary of his mother's passing at Balmoral. | Royal Families |
Jordan’s Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif were married on Thursday in a lavish event chock full of international VIPs, including First Lady Jill Biden and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The pair wed in a traditional Muslim ceremony held at Zahran Palace in the Jordanian capital of Amman. The ceremony, known as “katb al-ketab,” took place in a flower-bedecked gazebo nestled among landscaped gardens. As soon as the ceremony ended, applause broke out as Alseif became Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein, per royal decree.
The likes of everyone from Mrs. Biden to Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton attended the nuptials of Hussein, 28, and Alseif, 29. Middleton stunned in a blush-colored gown by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, who also made Princess Rajwa Alseif’s bridal dress. The appearance of the Prince and Princess of Wales was a surprise, revealed by the palaces in Great Britain and Jordan just hours before the event.
Viewing parties for the livestreamed event were held across the kingdom, including one of 18,000 people who gathered in an ancient Roman amphitheater to watch on a wide screen.
After the ceremony, the newly minted royal couple traversed Amman in a motorcade to attend their reception at the Al Husseiniya Palace. Escorted by a military band, the two stood in an open-roofed Range Rover and waved to the well-wishers who lined the side of the road, cheering.
Hussein will inherit the throne in one of the Middle East’s oldest monarchies. He is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Alseif has ties both to Saudi Arabia’s royal family through her mother, Azza al-Sudairi, and to an ancient, prominent Arab tribe, the Subai, through her billionaire businessman father, Khalid al-Saif.
Both Hussein and Alseif are U.S.-educated. The princess earned her architecture degree from Syracuse University in 2017.
“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” the bride’s aunt Noura Al Sudairi told The Associated Press. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”
With News Wire Services | Royal Families |
Prince Harry has denied calling the Royal Family racist in his 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex previously told the US chat show host about a conversation with an unnamed member of the Royal Family about how dark their unborn baby Archie's skin would be while Meghan was pregnant.
Now, in his latest round of TV interviews, to coincide with the release autobiography Spare, Prince Harry has denied calling the Royal Family racist.Instead, he said the word "racist" was used by the British tabloid press in the aftermath of the couple's comments.Here Sky News looks at what was said and the reaction to it.
Harry and Meghan's claims in the Oprah interviewIn March 2021, following their stepping back from frontline royal duties and their move to the US, Harry and Meghan sat down with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey to discuss their decisions to leave the UK behind. More on Meghan Markle Prince Harry's 'self-destructive' behaviour could be sign of PTSD - and he should be protected, says Army veteran 'People are excited about reading it': Harry and Meghan's neighbours await release of prince's book Prince Harry: Biggest revelations from his new book Spare Among a number of claims was one in which Meghan, who describes herself as biracial, said there were discussions between Prince Harry and his family about the colour of their then unborn child Archie's skin colour. Image: Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey. Pic: CBS She said: "(There were) concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born." Oprah, visibly shocked, responded: "What? Who is having that conversation with you?"Meghan replied: "There were several conversations about it.Oprah said: "There's a conversation with you?"Meghan interjected: "With Harry."Oprah continued: "About how dark your baby is going to be?" Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Meghan told Oprah there were 'several conversations' about her son Archie's skin tone Meghan replied: "Potentially, and what that would mean and look like."Meghan did not name any family member involved, adding: "I think that would be very damaging to them."Harry was also asked to name names, adding: "That conversation, I'm never going to share."The royal family's reactionHarry and Meghan's interview was broadcast on 7 March 2021, with the Royal Family issuing a response two days later, on 9 March."The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan," the statement read. Image: Pic: AP "The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately," it added."Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members."There was a further response two days later by Prince William in response to a question by a journalist during a visit to a school in east London on 11 March. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Prince William says the Royal Family are "very much not a racist family" Prince William was asked: "Are the Royal Family a racist family, sir?"He responded: "We are very much not a racist family."Reaction to the claimsMany of the UK's national newspapers led on the claims made about comments around Archie's skin colour following the broadcasting of the Oprah interview.The Times newspaper's main frontpage headline was: "Palace in turmoil over Meghan's racism claims".The Daily Mail, with the headline "What have they done?", said: "Toxic accusations. Incendiary racism claims against their family. Palace left reeling and Queen, 94, in emergency talks".The Guardian, on its front page, carried the headline: "Palace in crisis following devastating racism claims".The paper said at the time that Buckingham Palace was "under pressure to respond to allegations of racism within the highest echelons of the royal family". Image: The front pages of UK national newspapers showing the reaction to the interview of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Oprah Winfrey It said the claim, which it described as "the most shocking disclosure", "threatened to have a devastating effect on the reputation of the monarchy".Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, an author and activist, also labelled the alleged comments as racist.Writing in a comment piece for the US magazine Harper's Bazaar in March 2021, she claimed that racism had become "so normalised" in the UK that "white people are able ignore what is blatantly racist in front of them"."People will watch the Oprah interview, listen to concerns a member of the royal family had over the colour of Archie's skin, and still deny that it's racism," she wrote at the time.In December last year, the couple accepted a Ripple of Home award in New York for their stance against racism. Image: Harry and Meghan at the 2022 Ripple of Hope Awards The award was given by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights organisation (RFKHR), which is run by Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F Kennedy.Ahead of the award ceremony, she said she had picked Harry and Meghan for the award because of their "heroic" stance against what she described as "structural racism" in the Royal Family.What has Harry said about the comments now?The comments were brought up again in Prince Harry's ITV interview with Tom Bradby, ahead of the publication of the royal's biography Spare.The journalist asked: "In the Oprah interview you accused the royal family of racism."Harry then shakes his head and says: "No I didn't. The British press said that. Did Meghan ever mention they were racist?"Mr Bradby responds: "She said there were troubling comments about..."Harry replies: "That there were concerns about his skin colour." Image: Prince Harry speaks to ITV Mr Bradby responds: "Right. Wouldn't you describe that as essentially racist?"Harry replies: "I wouldn't. Not having lived in that family."Going back to what my understanding is, because of my own experience, the difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different."Once it has been acknowledged, or pointed out to you, as an individual or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you, therefore, have an opportunity to learn and grow from that, in order that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.""Otherwise unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism." | Royal Families |
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