OpenAI has announced a new AI model, esoterically dubbed o1, that it describes as even more capable than anything that has come before – and even more dangerous. But before you start worrying about the machine apocalypse, it is worth thinking about what purpose such warnings serve.

While previous models such as GPT-4 were considered “low” risk for public release, according to OpenAI’s in-house framework, its new o1 model is the first to qualify as “medium” risk on half the criteria. OpenAI bases…

Apple has officially launched the iPhone 16, and now you can begin to make your iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max orders. Here we’re focusing specifically on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, which are housed separately in the Apple store, but we’ve also covered iPhone 16 and iPhone Plus deals. We’re going to look at how to get the best deal via Apple or other retailers’ offers. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max officially released starting on September 20.

We found that getting the best deal from the Apple store was not entirely straightforward. Follow along with our guide for your best price.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max — Apple deal guide

At the top of you’ll see the basics on order deals all in one spot. At the top of the page (in the red rectangle in the image above) you’ll see a brief overview of all of the current offers. It’s worth noting, though, that there is some fine print and navigating through the store page isn’t a perfect experience. To see what we mean, tap the button below and follow along with our iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max ordering guide, where we’ll show you exactly what to click to get the lowest price.

Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max carrier deals — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

Getting and understanding the available carrier deals from Apple’s store is the trick to getting the best preorder deal on the phones. Unfortunately, the numbers and steps to get there are somewhat confusing. By the end of this section, however, you’ll know how to get an iPhone 16 Pro for as low as $0.00/month from your favorite carrier and get the best Apple Store deal on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

We’ll start by entering a phone into “Apple Trade In.” but ignore the price — it is wrong. When we go to get the best carrier deals, later, you’ll find that the trade in is worth more than stated. It makes planning frustrating, but at least it errs in your favor and they’re letting you get started early. Also note that Verizon makes ordering easier, as they’re offering a flat rate on any trade in phone of any condition. So, if you’re going with Verizon everything will be a little easier to navigate.

If the supplied phone meets all of the conditions to be in “good condition” go ahead and tap “Yes” for the relevant box. Note, however, that you can still trade in a phone that is missing one of the conditions to be considered “good” by Apple. Just tap “No” and follow the on-screen questionnaire to the best of your ability. With this requirement out of the way, you’re now ready to find your best rate on an iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max via AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile.

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Once you’ve input your trade-in phone, tap “Finance” under “Payment options.” and hit the “Carrier” button. You’ll get a screen that looks something like the image above. These financed deals on the phone offer the very best rates on the phone in exchange for committing to a carrier for two or three years.

On this screen you’ll get your carrier-specific pre-order offers from Apple. In orange, at the top of each offer, you’ll see the full amount you’re getting back in bill credits from the carrier. Then, just below the bolded text you’ll see a monthly price for the phone and how many months you’ll need to be with them. Remember, you’ll need to stay with the carrier for the full duration of the term, so you’ll still be paying for service even with a great deal. Note that the amount that you can expect to get back will change depending on the version of the phone and how much storage you are after.

At this time, you’ll want to do your planning to see how much you get back on each phone, with each carrier, at each storage amount until you find something that fits your budget and needs. You can quickly change to other version of the phone (and storage sizes) by scrolling up and choosing them. However, you’ll need to remember to tap the ‘Carrier’ button again when you scroll back down to properly compare the offers. While experimenting with the page, my entered phone sometimes deleted itself when switching between the Pro and Pro Max versions, but not always. This seems to be an error happening on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max page only, so be sure to check if your trade-in phone is still inputted if you see an odd price increase.

So, what’s the best deal you can get this way? For AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile you can get $999 in trade-in credit applied to the iPhone 16 Pro 128GB storage version when we traded in a “good” iPhone 15 Pro Max. This makes it $0.00/month with your phone plan purchase. All other versions of the iPhone 16 Pro and all of the iPhone 16 Pro Max storage versions required some additional payment for the phone.

Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max deals — Boost Mobile

Don’t have a trade in phone? No problem — if you want to go with Boost Mobile. When you finance with Boost Mobile and connect on their Boost Mobile Infinite Access Plan for 36 months, you’ll receive $1,000 in Boost Mobile credits. That means that you can get the 128GB version of the iPhone 16 Pro for $0 additional dollars per month.

This is one of the best ways to get an iPhone 16 Pro ordered on the cheap if you don’t have a phone for trade-in.

AT&T’s iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max deals

Boost Mobile’s iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max deals

If you don’t have an old phone that’s worth much or just don’t like to part with your old iPhones, you may want to take advantage of Boost Mobile’s deals. Boost Mobile’s deals do not require a trade in phone.

You’ll save $1,000 on an iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max when you sign up with Boost Mobile’s Infinite Access plan. It’s a $65/month plan that provides unlimited 5G, global roaming, and an annual iPhone upgrade (up to $830 in value). Check it out on their website by tapping the button below. You can also find and deals on Amazon.

Verizon’s iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max deals

T-Mobile’s iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max deals

T-Mobile’s offers for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max largely revolved around a trade in and having or getting one of their 5o5G plans, the best of which is 5o5G Next. 5o5G Next offers consistent phone upgrades that don’t leave existing customers paying worse prices than new customers. It also comes with bonuses like Apple TV+ and Netflix so you can enjoy using your data for good entertainment. Deals also exist for 5o5G Plus and the standard 5o5G plans, but they’re somewhat less good, especially on the Pro Max version of the phone. Here’s how it all breaks down.

Between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, the absolute best deal we’re seeing from T-Mobile is on the iPhone 16 Pro, where you can get it for free if you have an eligible trade in and get it on Go5G Next. Remember, you can also switch to Go5G Next at this time to get the deal. Alternatively, you can save $830 off of the iPhone 16 Pro (bringing it from $1,000 to $170) if you trade in a phone and get a new standard Go5G line or trade in with a Go5G Plus plan.

T-Mobile’s deals on the iPhone 16 Pro Max offer the same dollar value as for the iPhone 16 Pro, but the feeling isn’t quite the same. By this, we mean that with an eligible trade in and a 5o5G Next plan you’ll get $1,000 off or you can get $830 off with either a new line and a trade in or a trade in with Go5G Plus. The big difference? The Pro Max costs more, so that $1,000 off will still make it cost $200 instead of being free. In other words, you’ll get the same value for your trade in no matter the phone you pick, but the psychological crunch factor might feel better for the iPhone 16 Pro.

Presently, T-Mobile has six promotional offers on each phone in the iPhone 16 series lineup. Tap the button below to see the ones covered here as well as what else they have to offer.

Best Buy’s iPhone 16 Pro deals

Recently, Snap announced a new model of Spectacles, its series of “smart glasses.” The product caused a divide in the community due to poor design and feature choices. Now, a former Snapchat engineer who worked on the latest Spectacles claims that they are “obviously bad.” He also hints at problems during development.

New Snapchat Spectacles redesign and features a “disaster,” says engineer who worked on them

Creating a good tech product requires more than just integrating all the impressive technologies available. You also need to strike a balance between functionality and practicality. The new Spectacles boast a miniature LCOS projector in a limited space, which is a technological milestone. However, they did so at the cost of multiple drawbacks, such as a clunky design, a limited 45° FOV, and a battery life of just 45 minutes.

Sterling Crispin, a former Snap Spectacles engineer, lamented about the final result. “I worked on these for about a year at Snap, and I have a million negative things to say about the experience and the device, but I think the product speaks for itself and is obviously bad,” Crispin said on X. The engineer was especially harsh on the product, even calling it a “disaster.” So, even though he worked on the project, it seems he wants to completely disassociate himself from it.

Crispin also suggests that problems arose from misdirection during development. “This device is a set of very bad decisions that compounded, making them even worse,” he said. “Everyone working on it knew the problems and who was making them.”

The Industry may not yet be ready for standalone AR glasses

That said, it seems that even the social media company is aware that the product is not suitable for the consumer market. Snap is currently offering the glasses to developers looking to enter the Snap OS AR ecosystem. Developers can access the new Spectacles through a rental model, which costs $99 per month (with a minimum one-year period). Previous models stood out for their aesthetics and capabilities of creating content to share on the app.

Smart glasses technology is advancing rapidly, and products are reaching more and more people. However, it seems that it is still too early to achieve a compelling standalone AR product with such a form factor. Recent reports say that Apple has realized this, so its first Apple Glasses will be similar to Ray-Ban Meta’s, without AR features. Current technological limitations are still an obstacle to overcome. However, Snapchat made it easy to backlash against the new Spectacles with an aesthetically bad redesign.

CHEERS TO THE NEXT ERS OF AR GLASSES WITH @Spectacles!!! pic.twitter.com/L0cKKipY2q

— Sophia Dominguez (@sophiaedm) September 17, 2024

The outlook for “Doomsday Glacier” just got gloomier. 

Scientists are warning the Antarctic Ice Sheet, known formally as the Thwaites Glacier, will deteriorate “further and faster” and that sea level rise triggered by the melting could impact “hundreds of millions” in coastal communities.

“Towards the end of this century, or into the next century, it is very probable that we will see a rapid increase in the amount of ice coming off of Antarctica,” said Dr. Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado. “The Thwaites is pretty much doomed.”

The findings are the culmination of six years of research conducted by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, a collective of more than 100 scientists.

The “Doomsday Glacier,” roughly the size of the state of Florida, is one of the largest glaciers in the world. Scientists predict that its collapse could contribute to 65 centimeters, or roughly 26 inches in sea levels to rise.

The sea level rise could be even higher though if you account for the ice the Thwaites will draw in from the large surrounding glacial basins when it collapses. “That total will be closer to three meters of sea level rise,” Scambos said.

According to the researchers, the volume of water flowing into the sea from the Thwaites and its neighboring glaciers has doubled from the 1990s to the 2010s.

Approximately 1/3 of the front of the Twaites is currently covered by a thick plate of ice — an ice shelf — floating in the ocean that blocks ice from flowing into the sea. However, Scambos said the melting is accelerating and that the ice sheet is “very near to the point of breakup.” 

“Probably within the next two or three years, it will break apart into some large icebergs,” he said. This will eventually leave the front of the glacier exposed. This may not necessarily lead to a sudden acceleration in melting, but it will change how the ocean interacts with the front of the ice shelf, Scambos said.

Deep ridges that prevent ice from flowing into the ocean are on their way out. The ridges, in the bedrock below the ice sheet in Antarctica, provide a “resistive force” against the ice, Scambos said, that slows down its flow into the ocean. As the Thwaites collapses, it will lose contact with these protective ridges, causing more ice to empty into the ocean.

One of the more surprising findings to come from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration was how tidal activity around the glacier is pumping warmer sea water into the ice sheet at high speed. That water, which is a couple of degrees above freezing, is getting trapped in parts of the glacier and forced further upstream.

“It goes in every day, it gets squashed up under the glacier. It completely melts whatever freshwater ice it can, and then it gets ejected, and then the whole thing starts again,” said Scambos.

The new findings from the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration add to a vast body of research on how the deterioration of glaciers worldwide could contribute to sea level rise. In May, a study found that high-pressure ocean water is seeping beneath the “Doomsday Glacier” leading to a “vigorous ice melt.”  

Study co-author Christine Dow called the Thwaites the “most unstable place in the Antarctic” and said the speed at which its melting could prove “devastating for coastal communities around the world.” 

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine predicted the ocean could rise by about 60 centimeters, or about 23.6 inches, roughly on par with the predictions from scientists part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration.

Scientists also have also warned about the potential consequences if the Greenland ice sheet were to melt. Greenland’s melting ice mass is now the No. 1 driver of sea level rise, according to Paul Bierman, a scientist at the University of Vermont. If it melts completely, scientists project it could lead to 20 to 25 feet of sea-level rise.

Rising global temperatures linked to climate change have made oceans warmed and generated new wind patterns that make these glaciers more susceptible to melting.

“It is very likely related to increasing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, which changed wind patterns around Antarctica, and therefore changed ocean circulation around Antarctica,” said Scambos. “That’s the main culprit.”

Scientists project that without intervention, the Thwaites could completely disappear by the 23rd century.