🪦 RIP Redbox, 📸 1st Samsung camera pics, 🧠 Severance Season 2, 💔 Xbox is broken

10 tech stories in the quickest format possible

Today’s 10-story newsletter is below my Samsung camera pics ⤵️
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📸 1. First nighttime photos with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 camera

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 in folded mode taking a 50MP photo of the Empire State Building at night (Credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

• 📸 I uploaded the first nighttime photos from the Galaxy Z Fold 6

• 🌃 Samsung’s 50MP camera captures NYC well in 🔒 paid subscribe post

• 🆕 I’ll upload 20-30 more photos tonight of daytime and nighttime shots

• 💰 All Samsung discounts (below) end on July 23; devices ship July 24

• 📬 Look out for my full reviews & scores next week after more testing

My Samsung reviews will land in your inbox next week – after more testing but before those massive pre-order discounts (linked below) end on July 23.

In the meantime, I’ve been wearing the Galaxy Ring and taking photos with the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 before they officially ship to you. The Fold 6 cameras haven’t changed much since my Z Fold 5 review, and I favor certain night shots seen in my iPhone 15 Pro review, but Samsung’s 50MP camera still does NYC justice. And I dig this year’s wider foldable design, a form factor Apple doesn’t offer – yet.

The result – without edits – is below, followed by the affiliate links for discounts.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 camera photo (no edits) of the NYC skyline with a bright Empire State Building, a particularly tough photo for smartphones

I have uploaded more photos in this post (sparing your inbox) to demonstrate how well Samsung’s slim foldable phone can capture the NYC skyline at night.

*Some prices listed include part of the Reserve campaign (if you signed up)

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🔒 For paid subscribers only (bottom of the page)

• 🟦 🔥 $100 PlayStation Gift Card for $83

  • Use funds for PS5 digital games or your PS+ renewal

• 🟩 $50 Xbox Gift Card for $41

• 🟩 $100 Xbox Gift Card for $83

• 🟩 50% off Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $26 (MSRP is $51 and will go up in September)

➡️ I’ll put the codes at the very bottom of this page until they run out

🐦 Ask Matt Swider on Twitter or Instagram for hand-picked deals from Walmart / Best Buy / Amazon / B&H / Samsung / Google / GameStop / Xbox / Microsoft Office (PC) / MS Office (Mac)

Today’s 10-story newsletter continues below the calendar ⤵️

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📆 Your Tech Calendar

• 🚨 Today: Walmart Deals end

• ⚽️ July 14, Sun: UEFA Euro 2024 final

• 📦 July 16, Tue: Amazon Prime Day begins

• 🏈 July 16, Tue: EA Sports College Football 25 - preorder now

• 🚨 July 17, Wed: Amazon Prime Day ends

• 🏆 July 18, Tue: Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition - preorder now

• 🎮 July 21, Fri: Asus ROG Ally X release date

• 🥇 July 26, Fri: Summer Olympic Games begin

• 📱 Aug 13, Tue: Google Pixel 9 & Watch 3 launch event

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🪦 2. RIP Redbox – the disc-rental kiosks are going away forever

• 😢 Redbox’s parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul is being liquidated

• 😭 It means the 24,000 remaining Redbox disc-rental kiosks will soon be gone

• 💿 Redbox kiosks rented physical discs of movies & video games for $1

• 📆 Redbox initially launched with 12 kiosks in 2002 and has rented more than one billion DVDs nationwide

Remember Redbox? You haven’t used it in a while, have you? Well, now you’ve done it! All of the red movie rental kiosks are going to be hauled away with no return date (and plenty of late fees now that it’s in liquidation).

Believe it or not, the movie rental kiosks first started showing up 22 years ago (2002), offering an automated way to rent DVDs, Blu-rays, and video games. Netflix and streaming killed Blockbuster, but it just went back for seconds.

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🧠 3. Severance season 2 finally gets a release date – and a trailer

• 📆 Season 2 of Severance comes to Apple TV+ on January 17, 2025

• ⏳ Season 1 was released on February 18, 2022, so it’s been quite the wait

• 🤩 The show stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette

• 🍿 Severance is about a team who underwent a procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and their personal lives

No Waffle Party for you in 2024 🙅‍♂️🧇! New episodes of Severance won’t be coming to Apple TV+ until 2025, almost three years after the show first came to us.

Severance Season 2 will premiere on January 17, 2025, nearly three years after Ben Stiller’s sci-fiction psychological thriller first made its way to Apple TV+. Whatever is happening inside the fictional Lumon Industries in season 2 won’t be fully understood when the first two episodes drop on January 17. Like a lot of Apple shows, episodes of the 10-episode second season will be released on Fridays through March 21, 2025.

You know this episode-slow-drip pain if you’re currently watching Presumed Innocent (recommended) on Apple TV+ right now.

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🌟 4. Walmart’s big anti-Prime Day sale ends tonight

• 🛍️ Walmart 10,000 deals are expiring right before Amazon Prime Day

• 🏷️ Walmart+ is 50% off until the end of today

• ✂️ Price cuts span gaming, TVs, monitors, computers, LEGOs, toys, headphones & speakers, smartwatches, smart home and kitchen deals

• 🏆 Best sellers: $69 AirPods, $169 AirPods Pro, $35 LEGOs & 4KTVs

➡️ The Shortcut to all deals

• 🎮 Walmart Gaming deals

• 📺 Walmart TV deals

• 🖥️ Walmart Monitor deals

• 💻 Walmart Computing deals

• ⌚ Walmart smartwatch deals

• 🧱 Walmart LEGOs deals

• 🧸 Walmart Toys deals

• 🎧 Walmart Headphones & speaker deals

• 🏡 Walmart Home deals

• 🍽️ Walmart Kitchen deals

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🎮 5. Mobapad Nintendo Switch Dock review: a desirable upgrade but not essential

🏆 Review Score: 3 out of 5

Pros:

• ✅ 📐 Smart integrated design solution

• ✅ 💡 Visual charging indicators

• ✅ 😅 Switch fits into the Dock smoothly w/o risk of scratching the screen

• ✅ 🌡️ Built with temperature control & safety in mind

• ✅ ⚡ Charges Switch Pro Controller or Mobapad Chitu controller

• ✅ 🔋 Reduces charging time of controller by 20%

Cons:

• ❌ 🔌 No HDMI-CEC support

• ❌ 🌐 No Ethernet port

• ❌ 👉👈 Contact adapters need to stay connected to your controller

• ❌ 😐 Charging can be a bit finicky when a controller is placed

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📸 6. Sony ZV-E10 II is a camera for vertical video content creators

• 📸 Sony ZV-E10 II packs a sharper 26MP back-illuminated APS-C sensor

• 🎯 Almost than 2x larger 759-point phase-detect autofocus system

• 📹 Added touch Cinematic Vlog mode and Creative Look shooting modes

• 🧐 Sony also announced an updated Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS II lens

• 🏷️ Sony ZV-E10 II will be available by the end of July 2024 for $999

• 📦 Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS II lens releases in August for $299

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💔 7. Microsoft broke another promise with its new Xbox Game Pass deal

• 😐 Microsoft has backtracked on another one of its promises

• 🤝 In May, the Xbox president said subscribers will “get every single one of our games, day one, on Xbox Game Pass.”

• 🤬 That will no longer be the case from September 12 if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Standard

• 💰 Microsoft is raising the prices of all its Xbox Game Pass tiers, including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

• 🛍️ Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at a great discount before the price hike

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☁️ 8. Switching between iCloud Photos & Google Photos just got easier

• 📸 Apple & Google’s new photo + video transfer tool will make it easier to switch

• 🔜 The transfer tool is rolling out over the next week

• 🔄 It’ll directly transfer images & video. No need to download files to your device

• 🌎 Apple says it’ll be available to users in over 240 countries & regions

• 🚨 Transferring photos & videos to iCloud Photos using the tool will not automatically delete them from Google Photos

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📡 9. SpaceX’s Starlink Mini no longer requires an invite

• 🇺🇸 Starlink Mini is now available to anyone in the US

• 🔒 Starlink Mini was previously only an add-on for current Residential subscribers

• 💰 It costs $599 for SpaceX’s laptop-sized all-in-one dish

• 💸 Monthly fees for service are $50 for Mini Roam or $150 for Regional services

• 👉 We’ll have a Starlink Mini review up soon (I tested it out)

I’ve been testing the Starlink Mini this month, and it’s been wonderful to have internet anywhere on Earth from space (and SpaceX) when I travel. It works remotely but also in densely populated areas (in my case use case, during NYC’s Macy’s fireworks, where people couldn’t even send simple text messages on 5G).

While I reached download speeds of 160 Mbps, upload speeds haven’t impressed me so far. I tried to livestream the fireworks on X, but couldn’t get more than 5 to 10 Mbps. But I have to continue testing the Starlink Mini in more remote areas. Right now, the impressive download speeds make it great for backpackers, RVs and boats.

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🍿 10. Three-minute Gladiator 2 trailer has more likes than dislikes on YouTube

• 🍿 Ridley Scott’s historical epic sequel is in theaters on November 15

• 🤩 It stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington

• 👎 But the trailer has more dislikes than likes on YouTube right now

• 🤔 Unknown: will Russell Crowe, star of the 2000 film, will make a cameo?

👀 I love the top YouTube comment: “So Denzel is basically portraying Denzel as an ancient Roman.” See you in November, no matter how many dislikes it gets.

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🔒 Bonus: $100 PlayStation & Xbox gift card deals, 50% off Xbox Game Pass

We’re expanding our discount codes for paid subscribers as a pack-in. It’s sort of like CD-ROM pack-ins for subscribers of 90s magazines.

😬 Can’t afford it? Totally fine. I’m opening up more ways to be a paid subscriber for people who can’t spare the $5/mo ($4.16/mo) to keep us going. Support us in other ways by referring your friends & family to The Shortcut. Help us grow!

• 🟦 $100 PlayStation giftcard for $83

• ❎ Xbox Game Pass discount 50% off $26 (Microsoft’s MSRP is $51 and soon to be a lot more)

• 🟩 $50 Xbox Gift Card for $41

• 🟩 $100 Xbox Gift Card for $84