The Morning After: WhatsApp might finally launch an iPad app

WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption requirements demand a “main device,” which seemed to halt the kind of seamless messaging you’d get with Apple’s messaging app and other third-party options. In July, WhatsApp said it was working on next-generation encryption that would enable a true multi-device connection without requiring a connection to a smartphone. Part of that might include a dedicated tablet app, according to tweets from WABetaInfo, an account that often reveals incoming WhatsApp features ahead of time.

The update will apparently be part of a multi-device beta, with both iPads and Android tablets usable as “linked devices” to a WhatsApp account, with a native app in tow.

I’m a WhatsApp user. Apple’s iOS Messages never caught my attention, and let’s just ignore Android’s equivalent. I know I should be using the more secure, less ‘Facebook’ Telegram app, too, but I always come back to WhatsApp, probably because it took so long to coax my family and international friends across from SMS and email years earlier.

Along with the web app, meaning I can use WhatsApp from my work laptop (sorry, boss), it’s to keep WhatsApp seamlessly working across my life. And make it harder to leave the Facebook-owned messaging app, even if I want to.

-Mat Smith

And how to install one.

Aaron Souppouris/Engadget

If you’re eager to expand the storage on your PS5, you’ll need access to the early beta — easy enough to do — and the confidence to open up your new console and install a speedy SSD yourself.

Fortunately for you (and me) Executive Editor Aaron Souppouris, who knows a little too much about hard drives, has done the research and even installed a new SSD, sharing the process with the rest of us.

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What you got, Game Gear?

James Trew / Engadget

If you’re a retro gamer, it’s hard not to ignore the Atari Lynx. While it was the first color hand-held console, its small library of games (under 100 official titles) and general mishandling by Atari itself earned it little more than a walk-on role in gaming history. A few dedicated folks still hold a candle for it, however, with new titles now more common than they were a decade ago. Here are four new games you can play on original hardware, complete with cartridge and box. 

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These tools may actually make you want to hit the books.

It’s time to upgrade your study-at-home setup so you’re not crushing essays from a corner of a couch and giving yourself neck pain. Yep, we’ve got several ergonomic posture savers alongside decent wireless keyboards, mice and more.

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The Pixel 6 should be here soon.

Chris Velazco / Engadget

Google just released the excellent and relatively inexpensive Pixel 5a, and the company has taken the opportunity to clean house, shedding the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G from its online store. On Google’s store in the US, both phones are out of stock currently, which means the only Pixel phones currently available are the Pixel 5a (which doesn’t arrive until August 26th) and the Pixel 4a, which doesn’t have 5G.

Google announced the Pixel 5 on September 30th last year, so it seems likely that we’ll get an official release date (and price) for the Pixel 6 sometime in the next month. 

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It might run on the same “M1X” processor rumored to come to the MacBook Pro.

A redesigned Mac mini with an “M1X” chip could arrive in “the next several months.” The M1X hasn’t been announced, but it’s been the shorthand over the last year or so for a chip that can outperform the M1 that Apple currently offers. This timeline comes from the reliable Mark Gurman at Bloomberg.

Apple is also expected to redesign the Mac mini and add more ports to the small desktop computer. This Mac mini might be more focused on power users and will also likely cost more than the current models Apple offers. The company may keep the M1 model around as a more basic and affordable option.

In addition to the Mac mini, Apple is also expected to introduce redesigned MacBook Pro models this fall. 

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