As is increasingly becoming the case, social media users are stating their preferred pronouns in their profile. This is for a number of reasons, with ease of communication and show of solidarity and inclusivity chief among them.
Instagram has announced in a tweet that it will be officially introducing an entry field in its bio section to allow users to share their preferred pronoun, with the new option currently "available in a few countries, with plans for more".
Add pronouns to your profile ✨The new field is available in a few countries, with plans for more. pic.twitter.com/02HNSqc04RMay 11, 2021
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This means that users will be able to save space in their bio write-up that they otherwise would have given to identifying their pronoun. Instead, the pronoun will appear next to a user's name in their Instagram profile.
Users are able to add up to four pronouns, and decide whether they'd like to share these with 'followers only' – a nice privacy consideration for those that would prefer not to have this detail public.
When you begin typing a pronoun, a list of matches will appear beneath it and you're required to select from this list. This means that you won't be able to type just any text into the box, but will have to choose from the available list (we expect the selection will likely expand with user feedback, but it currently seems rather comprehensive).
As mentioned, this feature is already available in 'a few countries' (it was available to this author in Australia at the time of writing) and will be rolling out to more in the future, so if you don't have access to it, update your app and see if it's landed. If it hasn't, we don't expect you'll be waiting too long.
The end of financial year sales form one of the biggest shopping events in Australia, and now EOFY is already right around the corner. It’s the time of year when Aussie retailers offer significant discounts on a wide variety of products, from cars to kitchen appliances, to tech and beyond.
Australian retailers will be looking to clear stock – quite often last year’s stock – to make way for newer items arriving in the year. It can be a lot to trawl through, but excellent deals can be found if you know where to look.
That’s where the Australian TechRadar team comes in – we’ll be on hand during EOFY sales to help you hunt down the best bargains on electronics over the month of June, and we’ll list all our finds right here. So, whether you need a new laptop or phone, a TV or some audio gear, you’ll be able to save a packet.
EOFY 2021 sale: what and when is it?
Australia’s end of financial year is June 30. That means, from July 1 to the end of October 2021, individuals and businesses will need to file their tax returns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Prior to that, retailers will be racing to shift old stock to make way for fresh items, and they’ll be slashing prices on plenty of products – which could be tax deductible if you use them for work-related purposes.
Australia’s EOFY sales traditionally begin June 1 and end on June 30, although many retailers tend to jump the gun, offering a few tempting discounts to lure shoppers in towards the end of May. The best EOFY offers will arrive in June though, and not all retailers will have month-long sales.
We’ve found that offers often change through the month, so you’ll need to keep checking back in to see if what you’re after has seen a price drop.
EOFY 2021 sale: deal predictions
If you’re looking to save some money on electronics during Australia’s EOFY sale, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve been following tax-time deals for a few years now and can safely predict what you can get for a cheaper price.
So, what kind of tech can you find during EOFY sales in Australia? Plenty. From computers to gaming gear, the best flagship smartphones to noise-cancelling headphones. Here are our predictions for EOFY 2021:
Laptops, PCs & peripherals
Computing gear are some of the most popular items that’s purchased during EOFY. Manufacturers such as Microsoft, Lenovo, Dell and HP will host sales on their sites, but you’ll also be able to grab laptops and desktop PCs from major retailers as well, with average discounts of about 15% to 20%. You’ll be able to snag bargains on accessories as well, with printers, keyboards, mice and SSDs – maybe even those elusive RTX 3000-series GPUs – all going on sale during this time.
Gaming
From Nintendo to Sony and Microsoft – there were plenty of deep discounts on gaming gear last year, but we’re not so certain about 2021. The current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X are in short supply and often out of stock, so it’s highly unlikely we’ll see them for less. On the other hand, the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite could see some cracking deals (and keep an eye out for bundles too). There’ll also be some blockbuster gaming titles available for cheap if you’d like to expand your gaming library.
Smartphones & tablets
Good smartphone discounts are few and far between throughout the year, but there can be decent deals to consider during EOFY if you’re looking to upgrade your handset. Last year saw some great discounts on Samsung’s then-flagships, so if you’re an Android user, you may be able to score a new phone without having to pay full retail price. It’s also a great time to pick up a discounted tablet as well – particularly iPads – and they’re often tax deductible if you use them for work.
Home entertainment & personal audio
There were plenty of TVs, sound bars and speakers on sale during the last couple of EOFY sales, and we don't expect that trend to change any time soon. And with some excellent 4K smart TVs already seeing price drops outside of big sales, we're looking forward to seeing how much more affordable they'll be during 2021 tax-time.
Portable Bluetooth speakers and headphones will be discounted as well. We’re expecting to see deals on the top-notch Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones and the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. We may also get surprised by a rarer discount on the Apple AirPods. While discounted prices may not match Black Friday offers, tax-time deals still see a decent chunk of change saved on premium products.
Cameras
The EOFY sales are also a great time for photographers – beginners, pros or hobbyists – to grab the latest gear. Last year saw plenty of cameras go on sale, particularly from Nikon. We also saw action cameras from GoPro and DJI drop in price last year, so keep your eyes peeled for excellent bargains. Sales on DSLRs, mirrorless snappers, compacts and more are highly likely to see a discount, or if you’re happy with the camera body you already own, we’re expecting lenses, tripods, bags and SD cards to see some decent price drops as well.
Smart home devices
Smart gadgets can now be found for every room in the home – from smart lights to smart security systems, and the speakers and displays to control them all. Amazon discounted its Echo range of smart speakers last year and we're quite sure that will happen again, along with the other smart devices found on Amazon, such as Philips Hue smart lights. You’ll also find plenty of retailers offering discounts on Google's range of smart speakers and displays.
Home appliances
If the appliances in your home are looking a little out of date, the EOFY sales will help you save plenty on the brand-new appliances you want. You can expect to see bargains on Dyson vacuum cleaners, robovacs, fridges, dishwashers, washing machines and plenty more. Retailers such as Myer, David Jones and Peter's of Kensington will certainly have sales, where you could find great deals on smaller kitchen appliances too.
EOFY 2021 sale: best offers from last year
To get an idea of what to expect in 2021, let's take a look at what was on offer last year:
There was a huge packet to save on this dream gaming machine. The series is rated by our colleagues at PC Gamer as one of the best gaming laptops you can buy, making this steeply discounted Razer an absolute steal at the time.
In addition to gaming laptops, we saw plenty of discounts on premium machines, such as this Dell XPS 13. This powerful configuration was a fairly new model at the time, but it was still available with a 20% price drop from Dell. Take that as evidence that it’s not just older tech discounted during EOFY sales.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus (128GB) | AU$999 (save AU$300)
Last financial year, this Samsung S10 Plus was knocked down just shy of the AU$1,000 mark by Amazon. Samsung has now released its S21 family of flagships, so there’s a decent chance we’ll see the S20 series on sale this June.
These excellent noise-cancelling headphones were 20% off during last year’s EOFY sales. We’ve since seen the Bose 700 drop as low as AU$359 during Black Friday in 2020, which could be a promising sign of what’s to come this June.
Sonos Playbar | AU$759 (save AU$240)
This is one of our favourite soundbars, and it usually doesn’t come cheap. But last financial year, Amazon slashed AU$240 off the excellent soundbar, making it a little more tempting to update your home entertainment setup.
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Sony's WF-1000XM3 made quite the splash when they launched, topping our list of the best wireless earbuds and remaining in pole position to this day, thanks to their top-notch noise-cancelling and audio quality.
Rumors of the earbuds' inevitable successors – the Sony WF-1000XM4 – have been steadily growing over the past months, but now we've been given a good idea of what they'll look like and even when they'll land (early June) thanks to The Walkman Blog.
While the images shared on the blog are of prototype models, they're very likely to reflect the final design (albeit with a slightly more rough-and-ready appearance) and they line up with the leaked images we saw in February this year, giving the legitimacy of the leak further weight.
If these leaks are legitimate, it seems like the longer pill-shaped form factor of the WF-1000X series' previous iterations has been done away with here, instead moving for a much more compact yet bulbous bud shape.
Current speculation around the cylindrical protrusion is that it could be a housing for the external microphones needed for noise-cancellation, ambient sound, and voice calls.
(Image credit: The Walkman Blog)
The Walkman Blog also revealed leaked imagery of the WF-1000XM4 charging case, noting that its slightly higher output rating (5V at 140mA rather than 120mA) could hint at a slightly faster charging rate for the buds when housed in the case.
Using the USB-C port as a guide, The Walkman Blog has estimated the size of the new charging case to be roughly 60x38x28mm (LxHxD), which is a good deal more compact than the WF-1000XM3 case, which measures 78x62x28mm.
Launch date?
We've had a hint of what the redesigned buds will look like before, but this is the first time we have an idea of when we'll actually get them in our hands.
The original FCC filing listed a date of September 27 as the time at which 'short term confidentiality' would cease – a typical indicator of when a product gets officially revealed by the company – but now that date has been updated to June 9.
While this is in no way an official date from Sony, based on past releases and how they have been handled in FCC filings, we have a fairly good reason to believe that we'll be seeing the Sony WF-1000XM4 get announced in the first half of June – not long to wait to find out for certain.
