Technologies

Apple Breaks Boundaries by Filming Event Video on iPhone 15 Pro Max

Apple unveiled new Macs with M3 chips, but one of the most significant reveals was that it used an iPhone to record the event video.

When Apple launched the new M3 chip series for its Macs alongside new MacBook Pros and iMacs at its Scary Fast event earlier this week, it wasn’t a new product that made a big splash, but one released in September. At the end of the presentation a title card appeared that stated: «This event was shot on iPhone and edited on Mac.»

The fineprint under the text said that all the presenters, locations and even drone footage were recorded with an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple has used slickly shot and edited prerecorded videos in lieu of in-person live presenters for product launch events since 2020. But this is the first time Apple ever broadcast a keynote event video that was filmed entirely with an iPhone.

Yes, the same phone you use to record your kids playing around the house, or concerts or your pets being cute was used to record Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives launching updated Macs. But this wasn’t the case of an eager Apple employee holding their new iPhone 15 Pro Max in landscape orientation, recording video and helping Cook find his best light.

The $1,199 phone was mounted on pricey accessories like a camera crane, drone, gimbal and dolly, all while feeding video previews to multitudes of monitors. The iPhone 15 Pro Max was in a BeastGrip cage, which, depending on the specific model, costs anywhere from $140 to $325. There were external hard drives connected to the iPhone to save recordings, external mics used to record the audio, professional lighting and modifiers to make everyone from Cook to Issa Rae look their best.

The video shoot and post-production involved a small army of professionals. Meaning that everything else, aside from the iPhone, still costs tens of thousands of dollars if not more.

Apple isn’t shy about promoting videos shot on an iPhone. Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot full-length films like Unsane and High Flying Bird. There’s no shortage of iPhone-shot music videos for singers like Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo. Heck, Steven Speilberg shot his first music video (Marcus Mumford’s Cannibal) on an iPhone.

In a press release that provides a behind-the-scenes look, Apple mentions that an iPhone 15 Pro Max with the free Blackmagic Camera app was used to record ProRes video in Apple Log, which allows a lot of leeway to color grade videos and minimize image noise in the shadows. Even with all the lighting, large stretches of Apple’s event video were filmed in darkness, with Cook standing outdoors under a night sky and wishing us all a «good evening» instead of his usual «good morning.»

You can learn more about how Apple made the prerecorded event video here.

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Dec. 27

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 27.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty long for a Mini Crossword, and some of the clues are tricky. The answer to 10-Across is not an expression I use, for sure. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Fashionable
Answer: HIP

4A clue: Product sold on «The Office»
Answer: PAPER

6A clue: One writing a performance review
Answer: MANAGER

8A clue: With 5-Down, redundant synonym of «outcome»
Answer: END

9A clue: Quiet ___ mouse
Answer: ASA

10A clue: Gives constant compliments, in slang
Answer: GASESUP

12A clue: Ski mountain bump
Answer: MOGUL

13A clue: Uneasy feeling
Answer: ANGST

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Personally involved
Answer: HANDSON

2D clue: Hoppy beer, for short
Answer: IPA

3D clue: Mythical horse whose name is an anagram of 10-Across
Answer: PEGASUS

4D clue: Last word in the palindromic sentence «A man, a plan, a canal …»
Answer: PANAMA

5D clue: See 8-Across
Answer: RESULT

6D clue: Ryan of «When Harry Met Sally …»
Answer: MEG

7D clue: Genre for Playboi Carti and Cardi B
Answer: RAP

11D clue: Something in an Easter basket
Answer: EGG

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 27, #460

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 27, No. 460.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a real challenge. That purple category wants you to hunt out something related in four different words, and it’s a toughie. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Something you save.

Green group hint: An Olympic sport.

Blue group hint: Toronto pitchers.

Purple group hint: Think about the alphabet and look for something hidden.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Memento.

Green group: Types of wrestling.

Blue group: Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award.

Purple group: Ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is memento. The four answers are collectible, keepsake, memorabilia and souvenir.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is types of wrestling. The four answers are arm, freestyle, Greco-Roman and sumo.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Blue Jays to win Cy Young Award. The four answers are Clemens, Halladay, Hentgen and Ray.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a homophone for a letter of the alphabet. The four answers are batter’s eye (I), blue jay (J), golf tee (T) and pool cue (Q).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 27, #1,652

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 27, No. 1,652.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle came together pretty quickly for me this time. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.