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Samsung keeps improving its wireless earbuds and now lets you customize your own refrigerator. Plus, how to show proof of vaccination on an older smartphone.

Galaxy Buds2 are Samsung’s best wireless earbuds yet

Samsung’s latest wireless earbuds are the Galaxy Buds2 ($190) and they fit my ears better than any other earbud before now.

Now earbud fit is a very personal thing, so I don’t expect everyone to be as happy with the fit in their own ears, but because the Galaxy Buds2 are so small and light, I expect that most of you will find they fit.

The Buds2 feel like they disappear in my ear canal and because they sit flush against the side of my head, they don’t catch the wind like other earbuds do.

And wind, let me tell you, wreaks havoc with earbuds, especially if you’re trying to make a phone call.

The sound with the Buds2 is also better than before, on par with the Galaxy Buds Pro.

The active noise cancelling (ANC) with the Buds2 isn’t as powerful or feature-filled as the Buds Pro – there’s no intelligence here – but the microphones and whatever Samsung has done to cut down on background noise, means better quality phone calls using the Buds2.

Designed to work best with Samsung handsets, the Galaxy Buds2 work fine with any Android or iOS smartphone, and are available in white, graphite, olive, and a lovely lavender.

Customize your own fridge with Samsung’s new Bespoke line

Samsung’s new Bespoke refrigerators can fit into any space or decor because you can mix and match components for your unique context.

The combinations are many. You can go with tall single units and line them up, or opt for four-door units, then select from different colours of glass or steel for the outer panels.

And you can customize the features, too. Water dispenser or autofill water pitcher? Cube ice or ice nuggets?

The new custom fridges from Samsung can be preordered now, and will start shipping next week.

QR codes on older cellphones

Last week on the Shift, a listener asked about displaying QR codes with limited access to Wi-Fi or cellular data. While you need to have a connection to use the websites managed by the various health agencies, you don’t need to generate that QR code on the fly every time you need it.

The QR code is unique to you, so once you’ve got it, take a picture of it with your phone. Then you can show that picture anytime you need it, whether you’ve got a Wi-fi or data connection or not.

If you can take a picture with your phone, you can have the QR code on your phone.

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This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about the Playstation Showcase from last week and the announcements about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Marvel’s Wolverine, and God of War: Ragnarok, as well as tricks to easily display your vaccination status on your smartphone, and details about the iPhone 13, new iPad mini, and Apple Watch Series 7.

The conversation about games starts at 43:18; consumer tech starts at 52:24.

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This week, new iPads, iPhones, and a new Apple Watch. Plus, how you can make it easy to display your vaccine status on your smartphone.

iPhone 13, upgraded iPad mini, and Apple Watch Series 7 get unveiled by Apple

Yesterday (September 14, 2021) was the latest product briefing from Apple, and while the new models of iPhone 13 may be incrementally better than earlier iPhones, there were some interesting innovations revealed during the event.

The new iPhones are all getting the newest A15 Bionic chip, which brings improvements to speed and battery life, and the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini base models get double the storage capacity as well as the optical image stablization that was exclusive to the Pro models in the iPhone 12 era.

The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max get a new 1 TB storage option as well as a Super Retina XDR ProMotion display, which automatically adjust the frame rate of the image depending on what you’re doing on the handset. The premium iPhones also get serious improvements to video capabilities with Cinematic mode and ProRes video. The former delivers an automatic focus and the ability to change the focus of the video after it’s been shot. The latter, meanwhile, is an advanced video codec used in the professional video arena.

The standard 10.2-inch iPad is also getting updated with features like Center Stage that used to be exclusive to the iPad Pro series.

But iPad mini gets more of an upgrade, with a larger screen in the same size device, a 5G connection, and the A15 Bionic chip. The iPad mini also gets a USB-C port, like the iPad Pro and iPad Air, which foreshadows the continuing shift by Apple away from Lightning with the rest of its portables.

The new Apple Watch, we’re at Series 7 now, gets a larger display that enables a full keyboard and larger on-screen buttons. It also fully supports cycling activity tracking, too. Including fall detection for those of us who live on the North Shore and only know how to ride a mountain bike downhill.

And Apple continues to enhance its subscription offerings with new additions to Fitness+, including pilates, guided meditation, and “workouts to get ready for snow season”. You can also take part in group workouts with up to 31 friends using Fitness+ and Facetime.

Create a shortcut to make accessing your vaccine status easier on your iPhone

For those of us who will be willingly sharing our vaccination status for the privilege of participating in certain extra-curricular activities, there’s a way you can make it easy to pull up that QR code on your handset no matter whether you’re on Android or iOS.

But you should not use the image as your wallpaper, because there is information encoded in the image that is easy to decipher. These QR codes are not encrypted.

Instead, on your iPhone, follow the steps provided by technical writer Kimli, who uses the iOS Shortcuts software to make displaying your code a one-tap task.

Cybersecurity engineer Kevin has the details for Android users.

For businesses that need to verify vaccination status, the province has developed an iOS app, BC Vaccine Card Verifier that allows an iOS device to be used to scan and verify the QR codes.

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What Playstation showed off last week, Ubisoft’s next move into live-action, and the Nintendo Switch gets an update.

Playstation shows off more than a dozen games coming to the PS5

A couple of things stood out for me while watching the Playstation Showcase last week. One is that there are still more great games from years past that are being brought out for new consoles. The second is that Playstation has some important exclusives for the PS5 in the next year and a bit.

I guess a third would be that Insomniac Games is on a tear.

Insomniac, which came out with Spider-Man Miles Morales a scant two years after the grounbreaking Marvel’s Spider-Man, and then released Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart about six months later, has two new games in the queue.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 merges the storylines of Peter Parker and Miles Morales and is scheduled for release in 2023.

Marvel’s Wolverine was something of a suprise. Insomniac only showed a tease of what we might expect from the game, which does not have a release date, but knowing what this studio has done I think it’s fair to have high hopes.

Among the games being remastered or remade that were shown at the Playstation Showcase was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This is a remake, coming from Aspyr (which is good at these sorts of things). It’s been nearly 20 years since Bioware, a small studio in Edmonton, which had proved its skill at developing role-playing games with the Baldur’s Gate games, stormed the industry with the Star Wars property. This remake will be a PS5 exclusive when it releases.

The popular Uncharted series, which helped sell plenty of PS4 consoles, is getting the last couple of games – Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – remastered for the PS5.

But the most exciting of the trailers was God of War: Ragnarok, which is expected sometime next year. This is a direct sequel to the 2018 game that cleverly rebooted the series in Norse mythology while honouring the Greek mythology from which Kratos emerged.

Ubisoft’s Driver game getting a live-action series on Binge.com

Ubisoft has been very aggressive at getting its various gaming franchises into other media.

Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia are two recent examples of movie adaptations, and now the Driver franchise is becoming a live-action series that will stream on Binge.com, a new online platform expected to launch next year.

You can now use Bluetooth headsets with your Nintendo Switch

Nintendo quietly rolled out an update to the Switch that supports Bluetooth wireless headsets.

There are a few limitations:

  • You can’t use a Bluetooth microphone, so the wireless headset is no good for multiplayer gaming.
  • Only one headset can be in use, although you can store pairings for up to 10 devices.
  • If you’ve got a Bluetooth headset connected, you can only use up to two wireless controllers.

Here’s how can connect your headset.

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