Razer’s Slim Yet Crazy-Powerful Laptop Inches Closer to Perfection

Razer’s Slim Yet Crazy-Powerful Laptop

The last 14-inch Razer Blade laptop was released less than a year ago, and it was great enough to score a 9/10 in WIRED’s full review. A great laptop is about to get even greater, because there’s already a newer and even more powerful version of the high-powered gaming notebook.
Razer is calling its new 14-inch Blade “the highest power-per-cubic-inch laptop in the world,” and it looks like that isn’t just empty talk. It’s incredibly thin and light, but it’s built to be a gaming workhorse. Pound-for-pound power aside, the marquee feature of this new laptop is its 3200 x 1800-resolution IGZO touchscreen display.

“Many people were asking us for a 1080 screen,” Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told WIRED. “We’ve gone way above that with a QHD+ display… This is, hands down, the world’s best laptop screen there is right now.”

Samsung’s Ativ Book Plus 9 and Toshiba’s 4K laptops may have a bone to pick with that claim. But the new Blade’s display is certainly sharp, bright, and vivid, and the sum of its parts looks like something far different from those laptops.

Its QHD+ screen has a significantly higher pixel density than the 13- and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros, and it offers a near-identical pixel density as the iPad Air’s IGZO display (262 ppi vs. the Air’s 264 ppi). The Blade’s screen has a 160-degree-wide viewing angle for its vivid, sharp picture, and IGZO’s power efficiency means that it can get bright (400 nits) without taxing the battery as much as it probably should.
“There’s a huge premium that we are paying for this (Sharp IGZO panel) versus a normal IPS panel, but the difference is that the IGZO panel’s response rate is incredible,” says Tan. “It’s much better than a normal IPS screen, so it fulfills our need for great resolution, super thin, and super fast response rate. Its color vibrancy and color gamut is incredible.”

Aesthetically, the new Blade isn’t much of a departure from the last version. If a MacBook Pro played football for the Oregon Ducks, it would look like the Razer Blade. The Windows 8.1 laptop offers the same black aluminum unibody and lime-green backlit chiclet keyboard as its predecessor, as well as the trio of lime-green-accented USB 3.0 ports.

However, it’s been redesigned from the inside out in order to make its next-generation components run smoothly. There’s some serious firepower under the hood: Nvidia’s brand-new GeForce GTX 870M GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 2.2GHz fourth-generation quad-core Intel i7 CPU with 8GB of 1600 MHz RAM.

“We’ve completely reengineered again the thermal system around the Blade, and we’re now using a GTX 870M,” says Tan. “It was all about making sure we optimized the thermals in this. We really made as much space as possible to put the battery in there. We’ve got a 70 Wh battery. We’ve also worked with Nvidia to do a battery boost.”

Specifically, Razer says the Blade’s 70-Watt-hour battery offers up to six hours of juice per charge. The laptop is a bit thicker and heavier than the last iteration of the Razer Blade, but not by much: The new Blade clocks in at 0.7 inches thick and 4.5 lbs., as compared to the predecessor’s 0.66-inch thickness and 4.1-pound weight.

It still doesn’t have an SD-card slot, which is a shame for photographers looking to view and manipulate images on that super-high-resolution touchscreen. But that just means there’s some room for improvement in the next-generation Blade.

“We constantly design and iterate over and over again, and it’s a little nuts,” says Tan. “But that’s how I think we’ve gone from launching our first laptop three years ago to probably the best laptop in the world right now.”

This premium portable will certainly cost you: The new 14-inch Razer Blade will start at $2,200 for its 128GB SSD base version. 256GB and 512GB SSD configurations will also be available for a bit more than that. Pre-orders start today, and the laptops are slated to ship in two weeks.

View the original article here

Razer’s Slim Yet Crazy-Powerful Laptop Inches Closer to Perfection

Posted by maghestra No comments

Razer’s Slim Yet Crazy-Powerful Laptop

The last 14-inch Razer Blade laptop was released less than a year ago, and it was great enough to score a 9/10 in WIRED’s full review. A great laptop is about to get even greater, because there’s already a newer and even more powerful version of the high-powered gaming notebook.
Razer is calling its new 14-inch Blade “the highest power-per-cubic-inch laptop in the world,” and it looks like that isn’t just empty talk. It’s incredibly thin and light, but it’s built to be a gaming workhorse. Pound-for-pound power aside, the marquee feature of this new laptop is its 3200 x 1800-resolution IGZO touchscreen display.

“Many people were asking us for a 1080 screen,” Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told WIRED. “We’ve gone way above that with a QHD+ display… This is, hands down, the world’s best laptop screen there is right now.”

Samsung’s Ativ Book Plus 9 and Toshiba’s 4K laptops may have a bone to pick with that claim. But the new Blade’s display is certainly sharp, bright, and vivid, and the sum of its parts looks like something far different from those laptops.

Its QHD+ screen has a significantly higher pixel density than the 13- and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros, and it offers a near-identical pixel density as the iPad Air’s IGZO display (262 ppi vs. the Air’s 264 ppi). The Blade’s screen has a 160-degree-wide viewing angle for its vivid, sharp picture, and IGZO’s power efficiency means that it can get bright (400 nits) without taxing the battery as much as it probably should.
“There’s a huge premium that we are paying for this (Sharp IGZO panel) versus a normal IPS panel, but the difference is that the IGZO panel’s response rate is incredible,” says Tan. “It’s much better than a normal IPS screen, so it fulfills our need for great resolution, super thin, and super fast response rate. Its color vibrancy and color gamut is incredible.”

Aesthetically, the new Blade isn’t much of a departure from the last version. If a MacBook Pro played football for the Oregon Ducks, it would look like the Razer Blade. The Windows 8.1 laptop offers the same black aluminum unibody and lime-green backlit chiclet keyboard as its predecessor, as well as the trio of lime-green-accented USB 3.0 ports.

However, it’s been redesigned from the inside out in order to make its next-generation components run smoothly. There’s some serious firepower under the hood: Nvidia’s brand-new GeForce GTX 870M GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 2.2GHz fourth-generation quad-core Intel i7 CPU with 8GB of 1600 MHz RAM.

“We’ve completely reengineered again the thermal system around the Blade, and we’re now using a GTX 870M,” says Tan. “It was all about making sure we optimized the thermals in this. We really made as much space as possible to put the battery in there. We’ve got a 70 Wh battery. We’ve also worked with Nvidia to do a battery boost.”

Specifically, Razer says the Blade’s 70-Watt-hour battery offers up to six hours of juice per charge. The laptop is a bit thicker and heavier than the last iteration of the Razer Blade, but not by much: The new Blade clocks in at 0.7 inches thick and 4.5 lbs., as compared to the predecessor’s 0.66-inch thickness and 4.1-pound weight.

It still doesn’t have an SD-card slot, which is a shame for photographers looking to view and manipulate images on that super-high-resolution touchscreen. But that just means there’s some room for improvement in the next-generation Blade.

“We constantly design and iterate over and over again, and it’s a little nuts,” says Tan. “But that’s how I think we’ve gone from launching our first laptop three years ago to probably the best laptop in the world right now.”

This premium portable will certainly cost you: The new 14-inch Razer Blade will start at $2,200 for its 128GB SSD base version. 256GB and 512GB SSD configurations will also be available for a bit more than that. Pre-orders start today, and the laptops are slated to ship in two weeks.

View the original article here

This Week’s Apple Rumors, Ranked From Dumbest to Most Plausible

iTunes Radio could get more visibility through its own iOS 8 app. Image: Apple
Each week, there are dozens of Apple rumors, reports, and patent filings that hint at what’s coming out of Cupertino next. Some are legit, but many are totally bogus. This week, reports on what to expect in iOS 8 have started rolling in. But as always, we’ve parsed the week’s rumors, ranking them in order from “utterly ridiculous” to “duh, of course.” First up…

DON’T COUNT ON IT: iOS 8 Icons Leaked
Apparently someone in China got their hands on an early build of iOS 8, and has leaked images of its homescreen, including icons of yet-to-be-released iOS 8 apps. Some of the icons are essentially copycats of their OS X counterparts, and as such, don’t fit in with the iOS 8 aesthetic at all. While 9to5Mac says these images align with what they’ve heard the icons will look like, we would expect them to look different in the final build of iOS 8, so we’re calling bogus on this one.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Exploring Optical Sensing for 3-D Gesture Recognition
A a pair of patent applications published Thursday highlight how Apple could use 3-D gesture recognition to enhance its mobile and desktop products (and it’s certainly not the first time). Apple could perform Microsoft Kinect-like object identification, according to the first of the two patents, “Imaging Range Finding Device and Method.” The method involves an array of light emitters and photodetectors that would direct light at an object, which would then bounce back and get analyzed through an optical lens. Adding a couple more lenses would be an option that increases the system’s accuracy. This technology could be used in a variety of ways, including to help guide the visually impaired, to scan 3-D objects, for photo editing, and for night vision. The second patent describes how optical sensing could be used in a trackpad scenario. Your position on the pad is tracked by reflected light, and it can measure vertical, horizontal, and angular positioning as well as things like acceleration, pressure, velocity, force, and pressure. Thus, the system could detect different gestures that mean different things based on the angle and force that are applied. This sounds like it could allow for a variety of complicated gestures, particularly ones geared toward accessibility.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Next iPhones to Take Design Cues From the iPhone 5c, 7th Gen iPod
Japanese Apple blog Macotakara says that the two new iPhones coming out this year, rumored to be 4.7 and 5.7 inches in size, will take design cues from the iPhone 5c and fifth gen iPod nano. Think anodized aluminum, but available in a wide variety of colors, with the mute and volume button styled like those on the iPhone 5c. It would also have rounded rear edges, akin to the 5c. These rumors don’t sound completely far-fetched, but it’s still fairly early in the year, so accuracy and validity are still in question.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Looking Into Better Pedometer Step Detection
Oh look, another wearable-related patent! Also applicable to the iPod nano, which has a built-in pedometer, the patent filing “Wrist pedometer step detection” looks into how Apple could perform better, more accurate step detection with a device worn anywhere on your body. The system would be able to detect steps, filter out noise, and tell when a step is “missed” (in terms of signal detection) because you were swinging your arm. Using a technique called a Fourier Transform, the device would also be able to automatically tell if it’s worn on the wrist.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Updating Lightning Connector to Stop Counterfeits
An Apple patent application published Thursday describes a way for Apple to put unique identifiers in Lightning cables to stop third party counterfeits from working. While we think, in some respects, this is totally lame, on the other hand, faulty third party chargers have also been known to explode. No signs as to whether this would roll out any time soon, but it does seem like something Apple would do.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Making All Sorts of Tweaks for iOS 8
Apple will likely give us a first look at iOS this June at WWDC — just three months away. So it’s not too surprising that the look and features of the next version of iOS are starting to take shape. Each iteration of iOS features a number of enhancements, but 9to5Mac lists a few possibilities: The Game Center app may get nixed, while the service continues to exist in apps that use it; Apple could implement automatic deletion of iMessage threads to free up space on your device; and a redesign of the Voice Memos app could make it more intuitive. At the moment, these particular examples are all “maybes,” according to 9to5Mac, but no doubt small (and large) changes like these will eventually show up in the new OS.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Moving iTunes Radio to Its Own App in iOS 8
In an effort to boost usage, Apple could move iTunes Radio from the Music app to its own app in iOS 8 this year. This would give the feature greater visibility, and make it more of a direct competitor with other streaming apps like Rdio, Spotify, and Pandora. Apple does have a history of doing this: Its Podcasts app had its beginnings in the Music app, and Apple gave iTunes University content its own app too.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Expanding iCloud Functionality in iOS 8
Apple will likely be expanding iCloud to make it a more robust file system replacement with new features in iOS 8. Namely, Apple will introduce TextEdit and Preview apps so that you can view those files (saved in iCloud) both on iOS and OS X devices. However, the apps will be read only, according to 9to5Mac’s report, with document editing available in iBooks, for PDFs, and Pages, for TextEdit documents. TextEdit and Preview were two of the questionable leaked icon images we mentioned above.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: iOS 8 Will Include Vastly Upgraded Maps App
9to5Mac is also offering a detailed look at one of the biggest new features of iOS 8: Maps. Maps launched with iOS 6 so riddled with errors and mistakes that Apple fired both SVP Scott Forstall and Maps manager Rich Williamson over the debacle, and issued a public apology. Since then, Apple’s improved the looks of the app, and has made several acquisitions that will let Apple improve data on the backend, including better labeling and points of interest. Apple will also finally add public transit directions — perhaps the largest missing feature of the app (at least for city dwellers). Apple could also add an augmented reality feature for finding nearby points of interest in the app, but this could be further down the pipeline.

View the original article here

This Week’s Apple Rumors, Ranked From Dumbest to Most Plausible

Posted by maghestra No comments

iTunes Radio could get more visibility through its own iOS 8 app. Image: Apple
Each week, there are dozens of Apple rumors, reports, and patent filings that hint at what’s coming out of Cupertino next. Some are legit, but many are totally bogus. This week, reports on what to expect in iOS 8 have started rolling in. But as always, we’ve parsed the week’s rumors, ranking them in order from “utterly ridiculous” to “duh, of course.” First up…

DON’T COUNT ON IT: iOS 8 Icons Leaked
Apparently someone in China got their hands on an early build of iOS 8, and has leaked images of its homescreen, including icons of yet-to-be-released iOS 8 apps. Some of the icons are essentially copycats of their OS X counterparts, and as such, don’t fit in with the iOS 8 aesthetic at all. While 9to5Mac says these images align with what they’ve heard the icons will look like, we would expect them to look different in the final build of iOS 8, so we’re calling bogus on this one.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Exploring Optical Sensing for 3-D Gesture Recognition
A a pair of patent applications published Thursday highlight how Apple could use 3-D gesture recognition to enhance its mobile and desktop products (and it’s certainly not the first time). Apple could perform Microsoft Kinect-like object identification, according to the first of the two patents, “Imaging Range Finding Device and Method.” The method involves an array of light emitters and photodetectors that would direct light at an object, which would then bounce back and get analyzed through an optical lens. Adding a couple more lenses would be an option that increases the system’s accuracy. This technology could be used in a variety of ways, including to help guide the visually impaired, to scan 3-D objects, for photo editing, and for night vision. The second patent describes how optical sensing could be used in a trackpad scenario. Your position on the pad is tracked by reflected light, and it can measure vertical, horizontal, and angular positioning as well as things like acceleration, pressure, velocity, force, and pressure. Thus, the system could detect different gestures that mean different things based on the angle and force that are applied. This sounds like it could allow for a variety of complicated gestures, particularly ones geared toward accessibility.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Next iPhones to Take Design Cues From the iPhone 5c, 7th Gen iPod
Japanese Apple blog Macotakara says that the two new iPhones coming out this year, rumored to be 4.7 and 5.7 inches in size, will take design cues from the iPhone 5c and fifth gen iPod nano. Think anodized aluminum, but available in a wide variety of colors, with the mute and volume button styled like those on the iPhone 5c. It would also have rounded rear edges, akin to the 5c. These rumors don’t sound completely far-fetched, but it’s still fairly early in the year, so accuracy and validity are still in question.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Looking Into Better Pedometer Step Detection
Oh look, another wearable-related patent! Also applicable to the iPod nano, which has a built-in pedometer, the patent filing “Wrist pedometer step detection” looks into how Apple could perform better, more accurate step detection with a device worn anywhere on your body. The system would be able to detect steps, filter out noise, and tell when a step is “missed” (in terms of signal detection) because you were swinging your arm. Using a technique called a Fourier Transform, the device would also be able to automatically tell if it’s worn on the wrist.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Updating Lightning Connector to Stop Counterfeits
An Apple patent application published Thursday describes a way for Apple to put unique identifiers in Lightning cables to stop third party counterfeits from working. While we think, in some respects, this is totally lame, on the other hand, faulty third party chargers have also been known to explode. No signs as to whether this would roll out any time soon, but it does seem like something Apple would do.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Making All Sorts of Tweaks for iOS 8
Apple will likely give us a first look at iOS this June at WWDC — just three months away. So it’s not too surprising that the look and features of the next version of iOS are starting to take shape. Each iteration of iOS features a number of enhancements, but 9to5Mac lists a few possibilities: The Game Center app may get nixed, while the service continues to exist in apps that use it; Apple could implement automatic deletion of iMessage threads to free up space on your device; and a redesign of the Voice Memos app could make it more intuitive. At the moment, these particular examples are all “maybes,” according to 9to5Mac, but no doubt small (and large) changes like these will eventually show up in the new OS.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Moving iTunes Radio to Its Own App in iOS 8
In an effort to boost usage, Apple could move iTunes Radio from the Music app to its own app in iOS 8 this year. This would give the feature greater visibility, and make it more of a direct competitor with other streaming apps like Rdio, Spotify, and Pandora. Apple does have a history of doing this: Its Podcasts app had its beginnings in the Music app, and Apple gave iTunes University content its own app too.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Expanding iCloud Functionality in iOS 8
Apple will likely be expanding iCloud to make it a more robust file system replacement with new features in iOS 8. Namely, Apple will introduce TextEdit and Preview apps so that you can view those files (saved in iCloud) both on iOS and OS X devices. However, the apps will be read only, according to 9to5Mac’s report, with document editing available in iBooks, for PDFs, and Pages, for TextEdit documents. TextEdit and Preview were two of the questionable leaked icon images we mentioned above.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: iOS 8 Will Include Vastly Upgraded Maps App
9to5Mac is also offering a detailed look at one of the biggest new features of iOS 8: Maps. Maps launched with iOS 6 so riddled with errors and mistakes that Apple fired both SVP Scott Forstall and Maps manager Rich Williamson over the debacle, and issued a public apology. Since then, Apple’s improved the looks of the app, and has made several acquisitions that will let Apple improve data on the backend, including better labeling and points of interest. Apple will also finally add public transit directions — perhaps the largest missing feature of the app (at least for city dwellers). Apple could also add an augmented reality feature for finding nearby points of interest in the app, but this could be further down the pipeline.

View the original article here

Psyched About In-Flight Gadgets? They Could Make Your Trip Even Worse

Modern air travel is miraculous. It’s cheap, fast, and makes it easy to cross the country or globe in a matter of hours. It’s also excruciatingly tedious and uncomfortable for all but the wealthiest passengers. Yet new federal rulings promise to either improve it drastically or make it much worse—depending on whom you sit next to.

The FAA has at long last ruled that reading Fifty Shades of Grey on your Kindle during takeoff won’t fry the instrument system on a 767, transforming the plane into a rubble-filled crater at the end of the tarmac. In other words, we can finally use our gadgets from gate to gate. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now feel free to play Candy Crush nonstop or snap that skyline Instagram you’ve always dreamed of. You’ll never have to talk to the mouth-breather in the seat next to you again. Nor will you ever have to break away from your ebook to pretend you’re watching a safety demonstration pantomime you could perform yourself. The FCC is even considering allowing airlines to install picocells on US planes that would let you make calls or surf using your own cellular data. Guh. Cell service on planes. Great.

The airlines are going to need to step in with some rules here.
The airplane used to be one of the last refuges from our always-on world: a big Internet black hole where you could legitimately say you couldn’t be reached. That culture has already changed once, with the introduction of in-flight Wi-Fi in 2004, and it’s about to undergo another radical shift. The airplane is going to be more like an overcrowded Starbucks than an electronic sanctuary.
Look, I’m sure you can restrain yourself, but that isn’t going to be true of everyone—at least not without some rope or some rules. And while, yes, it’s great that the FAA loosened its guidelines, here’s hoping the airlines put some new forward-thinking ones in place.

Think of all the annoying things people do today at coffee shops. The loud conversations you can only hear one side of. Hogging power outlets for hours on end. Using bandwidth-intensive applications that cripple everyone else’s Internet. Playing videos or music without headphones. The airlines should address these issues before they become a problem.

Take the power outlets in between seats, for example. There are certainly going to be cases where people refuse to unplug. No problem if everyone has one, but in a three-seat row, there are typically only two (if they’re present at all). Who gets to use the one between two seats? And for how long? Should we be charged for power the same way we are for Wi-Fi?

Some airlines, like Virgin America, JetBlue, and Delta have embraced in-flight Wi-Fi as a marketing feature, acknowledging that the ability to get things done is just as important as leather seats or personal entertainment systems. Airlines that guarantee you won’t have to suffer louts with bad electronics etiquette—no matter where you’re seated—will have a similar selling point. Because honestly, the worst thing about the flight of the future isn’t going to be your seatmate hogging the armrest. It’ll be him prattling on to his buddy below while you’re trying to work—or, heaven forbid, relax.

View the original article here

Psyched About In-Flight Gadgets? They Could Make Your Trip Even Worse

Posted by maghestra No comments

Modern air travel is miraculous. It’s cheap, fast, and makes it easy to cross the country or globe in a matter of hours. It’s also excruciatingly tedious and uncomfortable for all but the wealthiest passengers. Yet new federal rulings promise to either improve it drastically or make it much worse—depending on whom you sit next to.

The FAA has at long last ruled that reading Fifty Shades of Grey on your Kindle during takeoff won’t fry the instrument system on a 767, transforming the plane into a rubble-filled crater at the end of the tarmac. In other words, we can finally use our gadgets from gate to gate. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now feel free to play Candy Crush nonstop or snap that skyline Instagram you’ve always dreamed of. You’ll never have to talk to the mouth-breather in the seat next to you again. Nor will you ever have to break away from your ebook to pretend you’re watching a safety demonstration pantomime you could perform yourself. The FCC is even considering allowing airlines to install picocells on US planes that would let you make calls or surf using your own cellular data. Guh. Cell service on planes. Great.

The airlines are going to need to step in with some rules here.
The airplane used to be one of the last refuges from our always-on world: a big Internet black hole where you could legitimately say you couldn’t be reached. That culture has already changed once, with the introduction of in-flight Wi-Fi in 2004, and it’s about to undergo another radical shift. The airplane is going to be more like an overcrowded Starbucks than an electronic sanctuary.
Look, I’m sure you can restrain yourself, but that isn’t going to be true of everyone—at least not without some rope or some rules. And while, yes, it’s great that the FAA loosened its guidelines, here’s hoping the airlines put some new forward-thinking ones in place.

Think of all the annoying things people do today at coffee shops. The loud conversations you can only hear one side of. Hogging power outlets for hours on end. Using bandwidth-intensive applications that cripple everyone else’s Internet. Playing videos or music without headphones. The airlines should address these issues before they become a problem.

Take the power outlets in between seats, for example. There are certainly going to be cases where people refuse to unplug. No problem if everyone has one, but in a three-seat row, there are typically only two (if they’re present at all). Who gets to use the one between two seats? And for how long? Should we be charged for power the same way we are for Wi-Fi?

Some airlines, like Virgin America, JetBlue, and Delta have embraced in-flight Wi-Fi as a marketing feature, acknowledging that the ability to get things done is just as important as leather seats or personal entertainment systems. Airlines that guarantee you won’t have to suffer louts with bad electronics etiquette—no matter where you’re seated—will have a similar selling point. Because honestly, the worst thing about the flight of the future isn’t going to be your seatmate hogging the armrest. It’ll be him prattling on to his buddy below while you’re trying to work—or, heaven forbid, relax.

View the original article here

Nikon’s New Mirrorless Wonder Fires 60 Shots a Second

A good thing has happened in the world of cameras recently. The megapixel wars are all but dead. Instead, much of the focus in recent cameras has shifted to speed: Faster autofocus systems, and faster continuous-shooting speeds.

The combination of those two things — fast shot-to-shot times and the camera’s ability to automatically adjust focus between each photo in a rapid-fire sequence — isn’t just useful for the paparazzi and sports photographers. It can also come in handy for capturing that split second when your baby is actually smiling or your skittish dog is sitting in a perfect pose. You have a lot better chance of catching that perfect shot if you’re taking dozens of them in a single second.

The Nikon 1 V3 is the new clubhouse leader when it comes to continuous-shooting speeds with (and without) autofocus enabled. The new mirrorless camera is able to fire off 20 shots per second while automatically adjusting focus from shot to shot, and that ramps up to 60 shots per second with focus fixed on the first frame.

Those high-speed antics should also translate well to the V3’s super-slow-motion video mode. The camera shoots 720p video at up to 120fps in slow-motion mode, as well as 1080p video at 60fps.
The camera’s AF system looks like it will offer plenty of coverage: 105 phase-detection points (which are the important ones when it comes to the autofocus system adjusting to fast-moving subjects approaching or moving away from the camera) and 171 contrast-detection AF points.

Like the other cameras in the Nikon 1 mirrorless series, the V3 is built around a smaller sensor than most interchangeable-lens cameras. But the 18-megapixel sensor should be a good one: It’s the same 1-inch-type size found in Sony’s RX series of premium compact cameras. The crop factor is certainly larger than most, as any 1 Nikkor lens mounted on the V3 will have a focal-length multiplier of 2.7x.

Other key features include built-in Wi-Fi with sidecar apps for iOS and Android, ISO equivalency of up to 12,800, and an adjustable 3-inch touchscreen around the back. It’ll cost quite a bit more than any other Nikon 1 camera announced previously, including the everything-proof Nikon 1 AW1. Due in April, the Nikon 1 V3 will sell for $1,200 as a kit with a stabilized, electronic-zoom 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

View the original article here

Nikon’s New Mirrorless Wonder Fires 60 Shots a Second

Posted by maghestra No comments

A good thing has happened in the world of cameras recently. The megapixel wars are all but dead. Instead, much of the focus in recent cameras has shifted to speed: Faster autofocus systems, and faster continuous-shooting speeds.

The combination of those two things — fast shot-to-shot times and the camera’s ability to automatically adjust focus between each photo in a rapid-fire sequence — isn’t just useful for the paparazzi and sports photographers. It can also come in handy for capturing that split second when your baby is actually smiling or your skittish dog is sitting in a perfect pose. You have a lot better chance of catching that perfect shot if you’re taking dozens of them in a single second.

The Nikon 1 V3 is the new clubhouse leader when it comes to continuous-shooting speeds with (and without) autofocus enabled. The new mirrorless camera is able to fire off 20 shots per second while automatically adjusting focus from shot to shot, and that ramps up to 60 shots per second with focus fixed on the first frame.

Those high-speed antics should also translate well to the V3’s super-slow-motion video mode. The camera shoots 720p video at up to 120fps in slow-motion mode, as well as 1080p video at 60fps.
The camera’s AF system looks like it will offer plenty of coverage: 105 phase-detection points (which are the important ones when it comes to the autofocus system adjusting to fast-moving subjects approaching or moving away from the camera) and 171 contrast-detection AF points.

Like the other cameras in the Nikon 1 mirrorless series, the V3 is built around a smaller sensor than most interchangeable-lens cameras. But the 18-megapixel sensor should be a good one: It’s the same 1-inch-type size found in Sony’s RX series of premium compact cameras. The crop factor is certainly larger than most, as any 1 Nikkor lens mounted on the V3 will have a focal-length multiplier of 2.7x.

Other key features include built-in Wi-Fi with sidecar apps for iOS and Android, ISO equivalency of up to 12,800, and an adjustable 3-inch touchscreen around the back. It’ll cost quite a bit more than any other Nikon 1 camera announced previously, including the everything-proof Nikon 1 AW1. Due in April, the Nikon 1 V3 will sell for $1,200 as a kit with a stabilized, electronic-zoom 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

View the original article here

Laser-Packing Robotic Vacuums That Work Like Google’s Driverless Cars

Laser-guided cleaning machine. Photo: Neato

The robotic vacuum is still the closest thing we have to the Jetson’s robo-maid Rosie. Sure, the vacuums lack the sassy demeanor of the future family’s robo-servent, but they get the floor clean. Mostly. After smashing into the wall about 400 times.

The new line of Neato Robotics BotVac vacuums continue the automated vacuuming of your house. But instead of repeatedly bumping into walls, chairs, tables, and lazy cats, the tiny robots rely on lasers to map your house. Using the same SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) laser technology found in Google’s driverless cars, the BotVacs lasers constantly track 12 to 15 feet in front of the vacuum to create a cleaning path. This leads to a more uniform back-and-forth cleaning of your floor, according to Neato.

Instead of the ever-expanding spiral pattern of the Roomba vacuums, the BotVac maps out the room and cleans along a traditional grid going back and forth. Like the Roomba, the BotVac will return to its charging station once the battery is nearly depleted. Unlike the Roomba, once it’s charged, it will return to were it left off and continue sucking up dirt.

The new Neato BotVac robot vacuums have a larger capacity filth bin, longer battery life, and better brushes over the current generation. The tiny suckers are priced at $480 for the budget BotVac 70e model and $600 for the top-of-the-line BotVac 85, with better brushes and particle filters. The robots will ship in April.

Roberto is a Wired Staff Writer for Gadget Lab covering cord-cutting, e-readers, home technology, and all the gadgets that fit in your backpack.

Read more by Roberto Baldwin

Follow @strngwys on Twitter.

View the original article here

Laser-Packing Robotic Vacuums That Work Like Google’s Driverless Cars

Posted by maghestra No comments

Laser-guided cleaning machine. Photo: Neato

The robotic vacuum is still the closest thing we have to the Jetson’s robo-maid Rosie. Sure, the vacuums lack the sassy demeanor of the future family’s robo-servent, but they get the floor clean. Mostly. After smashing into the wall about 400 times.

The new line of Neato Robotics BotVac vacuums continue the automated vacuuming of your house. But instead of repeatedly bumping into walls, chairs, tables, and lazy cats, the tiny robots rely on lasers to map your house. Using the same SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) laser technology found in Google’s driverless cars, the BotVacs lasers constantly track 12 to 15 feet in front of the vacuum to create a cleaning path. This leads to a more uniform back-and-forth cleaning of your floor, according to Neato.

Instead of the ever-expanding spiral pattern of the Roomba vacuums, the BotVac maps out the room and cleans along a traditional grid going back and forth. Like the Roomba, the BotVac will return to its charging station once the battery is nearly depleted. Unlike the Roomba, once it’s charged, it will return to were it left off and continue sucking up dirt.

The new Neato BotVac robot vacuums have a larger capacity filth bin, longer battery life, and better brushes over the current generation. The tiny suckers are priced at $480 for the budget BotVac 70e model and $600 for the top-of-the-line BotVac 85, with better brushes and particle filters. The robots will ship in April.

Roberto is a Wired Staff Writer for Gadget Lab covering cord-cutting, e-readers, home technology, and all the gadgets that fit in your backpack.

Read more by Roberto Baldwin

Follow @strngwys on Twitter.

View the original article here

A Snap-On iPhone Gadget That Adds Physical Camera Controls

Image: Bite My Apple

The past few years have seen some clever experiments aimed at making smartphones act more like cameras and vice versa. We’ve seen standalone cameras that run Android, phones with optical-zoom lenses, phones with ridiculously good cameras, high-end truncated cameras that communicate with phones, and smartphone lens accessories galore. Wi-Fi/NFC connectivity is now a standard feature on cameras, and camera specs are now a marquee feature for phones. No one’s completely cracked the camera/phone hybrid nut, but the attempts have been fascinating to watch and play around with.

Snappgrip is another unique gadget built around the fact that a whole lot of people use phones as their primary cameras. It’s been around in concept form for quite a while now — there was a prototype on display at CES 2013 and a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $45,000 for the project — but now it’s on sale for everyone. Almost. It’s available for pre-order now and will ship at the end of March.

For $70, you get an iPhone-mountable handgrip that snaps onto a special case that comes included in the package. The Micro USB-rechargeable grip communicates with the handset via Bluetooth, letting you use physical controls for the camera while it’s connected. The device only works with the iPhone 5 and 5S right now — and you’ll need Snappgrip’s free iOS app to make it work — but the company says it is opening up its API for developers to add its hardware controls to third-party apps.

On the top of the handgrip, there’s a shutter button that works like the one on most autofocus digital cameras: You half-press it to focus and fully press it to snap a shot, and there are physical buttons that operate the iPhone’s digital-zoom controls.

A mode dial is in the mix, but it won’t magically give you access to manual ISO, shutter, and aperture settings. Instead, it flips the aspect ratio from landscape to portrait, lets you physically dial in video mode, and turn on the flash. There’s a standard tripod mount on the underside of the grip, too.

So it’ll give iPhone photographers a more-comfortable grip, hardware camera controls, and a bona fide tripod mount for their shooting needs. Will it quash the eternal argument whether smartphone photographers are “real” photographers? Not a chance.

View the original article here

A Snap-On iPhone Gadget That Adds Physical Camera Controls

Posted by maghestra No comments

Image: Bite My Apple

The past few years have seen some clever experiments aimed at making smartphones act more like cameras and vice versa. We’ve seen standalone cameras that run Android, phones with optical-zoom lenses, phones with ridiculously good cameras, high-end truncated cameras that communicate with phones, and smartphone lens accessories galore. Wi-Fi/NFC connectivity is now a standard feature on cameras, and camera specs are now a marquee feature for phones. No one’s completely cracked the camera/phone hybrid nut, but the attempts have been fascinating to watch and play around with.

Snappgrip is another unique gadget built around the fact that a whole lot of people use phones as their primary cameras. It’s been around in concept form for quite a while now — there was a prototype on display at CES 2013 and a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $45,000 for the project — but now it’s on sale for everyone. Almost. It’s available for pre-order now and will ship at the end of March.

For $70, you get an iPhone-mountable handgrip that snaps onto a special case that comes included in the package. The Micro USB-rechargeable grip communicates with the handset via Bluetooth, letting you use physical controls for the camera while it’s connected. The device only works with the iPhone 5 and 5S right now — and you’ll need Snappgrip’s free iOS app to make it work — but the company says it is opening up its API for developers to add its hardware controls to third-party apps.

On the top of the handgrip, there’s a shutter button that works like the one on most autofocus digital cameras: You half-press it to focus and fully press it to snap a shot, and there are physical buttons that operate the iPhone’s digital-zoom controls.

A mode dial is in the mix, but it won’t magically give you access to manual ISO, shutter, and aperture settings. Instead, it flips the aspect ratio from landscape to portrait, lets you physically dial in video mode, and turn on the flash. There’s a standard tripod mount on the underside of the grip, too.

So it’ll give iPhone photographers a more-comfortable grip, hardware camera controls, and a bona fide tripod mount for their shooting needs. Will it quash the eternal argument whether smartphone photographers are “real” photographers? Not a chance.

View the original article here

Microsoft’s Surface 2 Finally Gets an LTE Infusion

Image: Microsoft

The Surface 2, the second iteration of Microsoft’s Surface RT, already runs laps around its predecessor thanks to vastly improved internals and a 1080p screen. And now it’s about to get even better.

Microsoft has added a micro-SIM card slot to the Surface, which will let users access the web on the go with AT&T’s 4G LTE. The slot is unlocked too, so you should be able to insert a micro-SIM from any GSM carrier, like T-Mobile, and still get data on the device.

The new LTE version will go on sale tomorrow online at the Microsoft Store and at Best Buy locations around the U.S. — no word on availability in the rest of the world just yet.

While the Surface 2 with LTE is identical in almost every way to the non-LTE version, it is ever so slightly heavier than the Wi-Fi-only versions (about .02 pounds). I’ve held both in my hands and can verify the weight difference is all but impossible to notice, so it shouldn’t make any difference for day-to-day usage.

There is, however, a considerable price difference between the two devices. The LTE version will cost $679 for the 64 GB version — $130 more than the version with no LTE. There’s also no option for a 32 GB version with LTE yet. That might seem like a steep price to pay for a device that only runs apps from Microsoft’s Windows Store, but the Surface 2 comes bundled with Microsoft Office 2013. It’s also $150 less than Apple’s 64 GB LTE iPad Air, which retails for $829.

We wouldn’t normally suggest jumping to a newer version with so few tangible updates, but if you’re a current Surface owner and productivity is important to you, it’d make sense to at least consider trading up in this case. After all, there are few things more beneficial to productivity than LTE. Now, how about a Surface Pro 2 with LTE, Microsoft?

View the original article here

Microsoft’s Surface 2 Finally Gets an LTE Infusion

Posted by maghestra No comments

Image: Microsoft

The Surface 2, the second iteration of Microsoft’s Surface RT, already runs laps around its predecessor thanks to vastly improved internals and a 1080p screen. And now it’s about to get even better.

Microsoft has added a micro-SIM card slot to the Surface, which will let users access the web on the go with AT&T’s 4G LTE. The slot is unlocked too, so you should be able to insert a micro-SIM from any GSM carrier, like T-Mobile, and still get data on the device.

The new LTE version will go on sale tomorrow online at the Microsoft Store and at Best Buy locations around the U.S. — no word on availability in the rest of the world just yet.

While the Surface 2 with LTE is identical in almost every way to the non-LTE version, it is ever so slightly heavier than the Wi-Fi-only versions (about .02 pounds). I’ve held both in my hands and can verify the weight difference is all but impossible to notice, so it shouldn’t make any difference for day-to-day usage.

There is, however, a considerable price difference between the two devices. The LTE version will cost $679 for the 64 GB version — $130 more than the version with no LTE. There’s also no option for a 32 GB version with LTE yet. That might seem like a steep price to pay for a device that only runs apps from Microsoft’s Windows Store, but the Surface 2 comes bundled with Microsoft Office 2013. It’s also $150 less than Apple’s 64 GB LTE iPad Air, which retails for $829.

We wouldn’t normally suggest jumping to a newer version with so few tangible updates, but if you’re a current Surface owner and productivity is important to you, it’d make sense to at least consider trading up in this case. After all, there are few things more beneficial to productivity than LTE. Now, how about a Surface Pro 2 with LTE, Microsoft?

View the original article here

Luxury Electric Car for Kids Comes With 4-Wheel Drive, Sound System

The Henes Broon F Series is the sporty option in this luxury kids-car lineup. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Henes Broon F Series is the sporty option in this luxury kids-car lineup.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon M Series has your preschooler's sedan needs covered. The fully loaded version of each car costs around $800. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon M Series has your preschooler's sedan needs covered. The fully loaded version of each car costs around $800.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon T Series is an SUV -- minus the gas-guzzling, because these cars are electric and four feet long. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon T Series is an SUV -- minus the gas-guzzling, because these cars are electric and four feet long.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon cars have a modular design that allows different bodies to be placed on the same high-end chassis. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon cars have a modular design that allows different bodies to be placed on the same high-end chassis.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon's highest-end models include a 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car's dashboard and infotainment system. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon's highest-end models include a 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car's dashboard and infotainment system.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The glossy, 90-page brochure for the Henes Broon cars is equally impressive and extends the luxury-car experience to the shopping end of the equation. Photos by Tim Moynihan

The glossy, 90-page brochure for the Henes Broon cars is equally impressive and extends the luxury-car experience to the shopping end of the equation.Photos by Tim Moynihan A peek inside the Henes Broon brochure. This is the M series sedan. You could read the Broon brochure for a few minutes before realizing that these are kids' cars. Photos by Tim Moynihan/WIRED

A peek inside the Henes Broon brochure. This is the M series sedan. You could read the Broon brochure for a few minutes before realizing that these are kids' cars.Photos by Tim Moynihan/WIRED

If your lemonade stand has strong sales this summer, you might be able to buy a new scooter. But that kid who owns a chain of neighborhood lemonade stands from Elm St. to Main? The kid who pops his Garanimals polo-shirt collar? That kid rolls in a third-generation Henes Broon.

The Broon is an electric luxury car for kids, and its high-end features go far beyond its absurdly slick exterior. Inside and out, these 4-foot-long vehicles are more like miniature cars than toys.

We’re talking independent suspension systems, disc brakes, differential steering regulated by aluminum-alloy gear trains, and four-wheel drive on the fully loaded versions (yes, there are tiered configuration options for each model). They also have a hood, trunk, and doors that open as they would on a full-size car, as well as functional headlights, turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights.

Those luxe features extend to the main cabin, where the Broon cars are available with a swank leather seat, an MP3 player with stereo speakers, and a removable 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car’s dashboard and infotainment center. There’s also a “simulation mode” available via the tablet that teaches kids how to drive and lets them race digital cars onscreen. The cars come with a Bluetooth remote so that parents can prevent youngsters from pulling a Jack Kerouac or Thelma and Louise.

If you don’t like one of the three existing body styles — the F series is the sports car, the T series is like an open-top Hummer, and the M series is a sedan — the Broon series offers an ingenious solution: The car chassis has a modular design that allows for different bodies to snap right on top of it in parts. Henes is working with major car companies — Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar among others — on licensing mini-sized versions of their rides.

Even flipping through the Broon series’ 90-page glossy catalog simulates the experience of buying a real high-end car. Don’t expect a lot of horsepower though: Each car tops out at about 10mph, which can be adjusted down to about 5mph if parents want to curb their little speed freaks.

Prices haven’t been finalized for the cars yet, but a Henes representative at Toy Fair in New York told me the fully loaded versions of the F series, T series, and M series will go for around $800. There are entry-level options of each car that don’t include the leather seat, the 7-inch tablet, the independent suspension system, four-wheel drive, and other features.

Your move, Shriners.

View the original article here

Luxury Electric Car for Kids Comes With 4-Wheel Drive, Sound System

Posted by maghestra No comments

The Henes Broon F Series is the sporty option in this luxury kids-car lineup. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Henes Broon F Series is the sporty option in this luxury kids-car lineup.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon M Series has your preschooler's sedan needs covered. The fully loaded version of each car costs around $800. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon M Series has your preschooler's sedan needs covered. The fully loaded version of each car costs around $800.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon T Series is an SUV -- minus the gas-guzzling, because these cars are electric and four feet long. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon T Series is an SUV -- minus the gas-guzzling, because these cars are electric and four feet long.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon cars have a modular design that allows different bodies to be placed on the same high-end chassis. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon cars have a modular design that allows different bodies to be placed on the same high-end chassis.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The Broon's highest-end models include a 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car's dashboard and infotainment system. Photos by Henes Co., Ltd.

The Broon's highest-end models include a 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car's dashboard and infotainment system.Photos by Henes Co., Ltd. The glossy, 90-page brochure for the Henes Broon cars is equally impressive and extends the luxury-car experience to the shopping end of the equation. Photos by Tim Moynihan

The glossy, 90-page brochure for the Henes Broon cars is equally impressive and extends the luxury-car experience to the shopping end of the equation.Photos by Tim Moynihan A peek inside the Henes Broon brochure. This is the M series sedan. You could read the Broon brochure for a few minutes before realizing that these are kids' cars. Photos by Tim Moynihan/WIRED

A peek inside the Henes Broon brochure. This is the M series sedan. You could read the Broon brochure for a few minutes before realizing that these are kids' cars.Photos by Tim Moynihan/WIRED

If your lemonade stand has strong sales this summer, you might be able to buy a new scooter. But that kid who owns a chain of neighborhood lemonade stands from Elm St. to Main? The kid who pops his Garanimals polo-shirt collar? That kid rolls in a third-generation Henes Broon.

The Broon is an electric luxury car for kids, and its high-end features go far beyond its absurdly slick exterior. Inside and out, these 4-foot-long vehicles are more like miniature cars than toys.

We’re talking independent suspension systems, disc brakes, differential steering regulated by aluminum-alloy gear trains, and four-wheel drive on the fully loaded versions (yes, there are tiered configuration options for each model). They also have a hood, trunk, and doors that open as they would on a full-size car, as well as functional headlights, turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights.

Those luxe features extend to the main cabin, where the Broon cars are available with a swank leather seat, an MP3 player with stereo speakers, and a removable 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as the car’s dashboard and infotainment center. There’s also a “simulation mode” available via the tablet that teaches kids how to drive and lets them race digital cars onscreen. The cars come with a Bluetooth remote so that parents can prevent youngsters from pulling a Jack Kerouac or Thelma and Louise.

If you don’t like one of the three existing body styles — the F series is the sports car, the T series is like an open-top Hummer, and the M series is a sedan — the Broon series offers an ingenious solution: The car chassis has a modular design that allows for different bodies to snap right on top of it in parts. Henes is working with major car companies — Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar among others — on licensing mini-sized versions of their rides.

Even flipping through the Broon series’ 90-page glossy catalog simulates the experience of buying a real high-end car. Don’t expect a lot of horsepower though: Each car tops out at about 10mph, which can be adjusted down to about 5mph if parents want to curb their little speed freaks.

Prices haven’t been finalized for the cars yet, but a Henes representative at Toy Fair in New York told me the fully loaded versions of the F series, T series, and M series will go for around $800. There are entry-level options of each car that don’t include the leather seat, the 7-inch tablet, the independent suspension system, four-wheel drive, and other features.

Your move, Shriners.

View the original article here

Brilliant Bike Glows Like the Sun When Headlights Hit It

The Lumen is the new bike from Mission Bicycle Co. that lights up when headlights hit it. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The Lumen is the new bike from Mission Bicycle Co. that lights up when headlights hit it.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The powdercoat has millions of tiny spheres embedded inside that reflect light Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The powdercoat has millions of tiny spheres embedded inside that reflect lightPhoto courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The reflection is still quite brilliant, even from far away. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The reflection is still quite brilliant, even from far away.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company By day, it looks just like a sparkling gray paint job. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

By day, it looks just like a sparkling gray paint job.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The Lumen can be set up as an 8-speed with riser bars. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The Lumen can be set up as an 8-speed with riser bars.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company A different configuration: single-speed with bullhorns. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

A different configuration: single-speed with bullhorns.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company Even the rims are coated in the super-reflective paint. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

Even the rims are coated in the super-reflective paint.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company It's a handsome machine, all aglow. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

It's a handsome machine, all aglow.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company Visibility is less of an issue when your whole bike lights up in traffic. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

Visibility is less of an issue when your whole bike lights up in traffic.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

We city-bound cyclists invest countless dollars in gear to make us more visible to the giant SUVs, surly cabbies, and enraged Ubers we coexist with on our commutes. We glue, sew, strap, and tie lights and reflective strips to our packs, bikes, helmets, and shoes–all in an effort to reduce, however slightly, the chance of getting killed by a driver who will ultimately claim he “just didn’t see you there.”

So here’s a bright idea that turns not just the rider, but the entire ride, into one big glowing road-going HEY!.

The Lumen is the latest bike from the artisanal builders at San Francisco’s Mission Bicycle Company. The entire bike– frame, fork, and rims–has been sprayed with a retro-reflective coating. Hundreds of thousands of tiny transparent spheres are embedded in a top-layer of powdercoat. This trick was mastered by a company called Halo Coatings, which joined Mission Bicycle Co. to develop the Lumen.

During the day, the Lumen looks like a city bike with a snappy, slightly sparkling gray paint job. But at night, it comes alive. The reflective action relies on the “cat’s eye” effect. When illuminated by a car’s headlights (or any light source), each microscopic sphere reflects light back at the source. The closer the car gets, the greater the intensity of the reflection. It’s a trick that’ll surely get you noticed–as long as the driver’s view isn’t completely obscured by the screen of his Galaxy Note.

The Lumen comes in different configurations–both single-speed and internally geared–and is available as a frameset ($499) or a complete bike ($1,245).

Pre-orders are being handled through Kickstarter, and the frames will be delivered in July. Normally, we’d encourage you to take delivery dates on Kickstarter campaigns with a big grain of salt, but Mission Bicycle Co. is a real-deal company with a brisk business and plenty of experience in honoring web pre-orders — I rode the company’s last Kickstarter project, the Sutro, in 2012 and really liked it — so you can feel confident the Lumen will arrive in a timely manner.

Michael oversees WIRED's consumer products coverage. He plays bass, rides bikes, and collects spacer GIFs. Write to him at mike at wired dot com.

Read more by Michael Calore

Follow @snackfight on Twitter.

View the original article here

Brilliant Bike Glows Like the Sun When Headlights Hit It

Posted by maghestra No comments

The Lumen is the new bike from Mission Bicycle Co. that lights up when headlights hit it. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The Lumen is the new bike from Mission Bicycle Co. that lights up when headlights hit it.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The powdercoat has millions of tiny spheres embedded inside that reflect light Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The powdercoat has millions of tiny spheres embedded inside that reflect lightPhoto courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The reflection is still quite brilliant, even from far away. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The reflection is still quite brilliant, even from far away.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company By day, it looks just like a sparkling gray paint job. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

By day, it looks just like a sparkling gray paint job.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company The Lumen can be set up as an 8-speed with riser bars. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

The Lumen can be set up as an 8-speed with riser bars.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company A different configuration: single-speed with bullhorns. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

A different configuration: single-speed with bullhorns.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company Even the rims are coated in the super-reflective paint. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

Even the rims are coated in the super-reflective paint.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company It's a handsome machine, all aglow. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

It's a handsome machine, all aglow.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company Visibility is less of an issue when your whole bike lights up in traffic. Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

Visibility is less of an issue when your whole bike lights up in traffic.Photo courtesy of Mission Bicycle Company

We city-bound cyclists invest countless dollars in gear to make us more visible to the giant SUVs, surly cabbies, and enraged Ubers we coexist with on our commutes. We glue, sew, strap, and tie lights and reflective strips to our packs, bikes, helmets, and shoes–all in an effort to reduce, however slightly, the chance of getting killed by a driver who will ultimately claim he “just didn’t see you there.”

So here’s a bright idea that turns not just the rider, but the entire ride, into one big glowing road-going HEY!.

The Lumen is the latest bike from the artisanal builders at San Francisco’s Mission Bicycle Company. The entire bike– frame, fork, and rims–has been sprayed with a retro-reflective coating. Hundreds of thousands of tiny transparent spheres are embedded in a top-layer of powdercoat. This trick was mastered by a company called Halo Coatings, which joined Mission Bicycle Co. to develop the Lumen.

During the day, the Lumen looks like a city bike with a snappy, slightly sparkling gray paint job. But at night, it comes alive. The reflective action relies on the “cat’s eye” effect. When illuminated by a car’s headlights (or any light source), each microscopic sphere reflects light back at the source. The closer the car gets, the greater the intensity of the reflection. It’s a trick that’ll surely get you noticed–as long as the driver’s view isn’t completely obscured by the screen of his Galaxy Note.

The Lumen comes in different configurations–both single-speed and internally geared–and is available as a frameset ($499) or a complete bike ($1,245).

Pre-orders are being handled through Kickstarter, and the frames will be delivered in July. Normally, we’d encourage you to take delivery dates on Kickstarter campaigns with a big grain of salt, but Mission Bicycle Co. is a real-deal company with a brisk business and plenty of experience in honoring web pre-orders — I rode the company’s last Kickstarter project, the Sutro, in 2012 and really liked it — so you can feel confident the Lumen will arrive in a timely manner.

Michael oversees WIRED's consumer products coverage. He plays bass, rides bikes, and collects spacer GIFs. Write to him at mike at wired dot com.

Read more by Michael Calore

Follow @snackfight on Twitter.

View the original article here

Android’s New OS for Wearables Is Like Google Now for Your Body

Google clearly knows what time it is. Today it announced Android Wear, a project to bring Android to wearable computers. The company is starting with smartwatches and rolled out a slick demo video showing how notifications and speaking commands will work. If Google Glass is Google Now for your face, this is pretty much Google Now for the rest of your body.

The preview shows watch-users getting Google Now-style notifications automatically delivered (there’s a jellyfish warning at this beach, here’s another one closeby!) based on cues like location and prior activity. You’ll be able to ask questions in natural language, prefaced by “OK Google,” and get a reply. For that to work well, we’d expect that the watches need to always be listening for the OK Google prompt, Moto X style. It’s also going to be able to control other devices, you can sling a movie to your TV, or fire a playlist on your phone. It’s going to work with health apps to do things like notify you to move when you’ve been too inactive, or track how far and fast you’ve run. And clearly, it’s going to enable all kinds of new actions just as smartphones themselves did.

What Google is actively rolling out today is a developer preview that’s going to let application makers plug into this capability. Your apps will be able to do some of the same kinds of things Google Now can to send you a notification without being asked, or complete a request that you’ve spoken.

Google Now is already the killer feature of Glass. It’s incredibly well-suited to wearables. It makes far more sense to fire notifications to a wearable than a phone, because you can’t always glance at a hand-held screen. You may be driving, for example, or have it tucked away in a bag. As we’ve noted before, wearables are barreling towards us and it won’t be long before you’re going to be wearing the future all over yourself. And that future looks a lot like Google Now.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

Android’s New OS for Wearables Is Like Google Now for Your Body

Posted by maghestra No comments

Google clearly knows what time it is. Today it announced Android Wear, a project to bring Android to wearable computers. The company is starting with smartwatches and rolled out a slick demo video showing how notifications and speaking commands will work. If Google Glass is Google Now for your face, this is pretty much Google Now for the rest of your body.

The preview shows watch-users getting Google Now-style notifications automatically delivered (there’s a jellyfish warning at this beach, here’s another one closeby!) based on cues like location and prior activity. You’ll be able to ask questions in natural language, prefaced by “OK Google,” and get a reply. For that to work well, we’d expect that the watches need to always be listening for the OK Google prompt, Moto X style. It’s also going to be able to control other devices, you can sling a movie to your TV, or fire a playlist on your phone. It’s going to work with health apps to do things like notify you to move when you’ve been too inactive, or track how far and fast you’ve run. And clearly, it’s going to enable all kinds of new actions just as smartphones themselves did.

What Google is actively rolling out today is a developer preview that’s going to let application makers plug into this capability. Your apps will be able to do some of the same kinds of things Google Now can to send you a notification without being asked, or complete a request that you’ve spoken.

Google Now is already the killer feature of Glass. It’s incredibly well-suited to wearables. It makes far more sense to fire notifications to a wearable than a phone, because you can’t always glance at a hand-held screen. You may be driving, for example, or have it tucked away in a bag. As we’ve noted before, wearables are barreling towards us and it won’t be long before you’re going to be wearing the future all over yourself. And that future looks a lot like Google Now.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

Please Let This Be Peak Selfie

Not a selfie. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

Did you hear the one about the idiot kid in Italy who broke a 19th century statue when he sat in its lap to take a selfie? Oh, wait, that’s not a joke, it’s a real thing.

The selfie is eating culture. There are so many selfie apps Apple felt the need to add a selfie section to its app store, despite the fact that taking a selfie is as easy as holding your phone in front of your face, and all any moron needs to do it is the camera app. There’s even a selfie social network for people who just want to see selfies. It’s been the subject of trend piece, after trend piece, after trend piece.

Last week, a woman took a selfie when her plane crashed. Turns out, she wasn’t even the first person to do this, some dude beat her to it by a few weeks. Another woman took a selfie in front of a jumper on the Brooklyn Bridge. And then there’s the selfie head-lice story, essentially someone in Santa Cruz with a head lice business attributed a rise in teenage head lice to selfies because as we all know correlation equals causation, or whatever. There’s also some nonsensical flim-flam going around claiming that selfies are leading to more plastic surgery. And, yes, we’re as guilty as anyone.

I am pretty sure–or at least I am earnestly hopeful–that we have reached peak selfie.

Look, can we stop talking about everything as a selfie? Or at least have a modicum of common sense about it? What these incidents and stories really have in common is an opportunistic news hook. Let me reframe the above stories: Idiot kid breaks statue while being an idiot. Lady documents plane crash. Guy documents plane crash. Callow woman shows appalling lack of regard for human life. Media desperate for dumb trend story; loves to reference head lice. Commonplace practice of headshot as profile photo makes an already narcissistic America even more obsessed with its own self image. Tiny camera displays 3-D images of vital organs.

Yes, people do take pictures of themselves quite a lot now–probably because they always have cameras. But the reality is that people have always been captivated by their own images, long before we had a clever new term for self-portraiture. Because that’s ultimately all a selfie is: a dumb word for a common practice that’s as old as photography itself(ie). In fact, it even predates photography. You know who was really good at selfies? Van Gogh. I mean, at least he had the decency to cut his ear off to make his selfie more interesting–that beats the hell out of making a duck face, every time. You might be interested to hear that there was once this dude named Narcissus who … ugh. Forget it.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

Please Let This Be Peak Selfie

Posted by maghestra No comments

Not a selfie. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

Did you hear the one about the idiot kid in Italy who broke a 19th century statue when he sat in its lap to take a selfie? Oh, wait, that’s not a joke, it’s a real thing.

The selfie is eating culture. There are so many selfie apps Apple felt the need to add a selfie section to its app store, despite the fact that taking a selfie is as easy as holding your phone in front of your face, and all any moron needs to do it is the camera app. There’s even a selfie social network for people who just want to see selfies. It’s been the subject of trend piece, after trend piece, after trend piece.

Last week, a woman took a selfie when her plane crashed. Turns out, she wasn’t even the first person to do this, some dude beat her to it by a few weeks. Another woman took a selfie in front of a jumper on the Brooklyn Bridge. And then there’s the selfie head-lice story, essentially someone in Santa Cruz with a head lice business attributed a rise in teenage head lice to selfies because as we all know correlation equals causation, or whatever. There’s also some nonsensical flim-flam going around claiming that selfies are leading to more plastic surgery. And, yes, we’re as guilty as anyone.

I am pretty sure–or at least I am earnestly hopeful–that we have reached peak selfie.

Look, can we stop talking about everything as a selfie? Or at least have a modicum of common sense about it? What these incidents and stories really have in common is an opportunistic news hook. Let me reframe the above stories: Idiot kid breaks statue while being an idiot. Lady documents plane crash. Guy documents plane crash. Callow woman shows appalling lack of regard for human life. Media desperate for dumb trend story; loves to reference head lice. Commonplace practice of headshot as profile photo makes an already narcissistic America even more obsessed with its own self image. Tiny camera displays 3-D images of vital organs.

Yes, people do take pictures of themselves quite a lot now–probably because they always have cameras. But the reality is that people have always been captivated by their own images, long before we had a clever new term for self-portraiture. Because that’s ultimately all a selfie is: a dumb word for a common practice that’s as old as photography itself(ie). In fact, it even predates photography. You know who was really good at selfies? Van Gogh. I mean, at least he had the decency to cut his ear off to make his selfie more interesting–that beats the hell out of making a duck face, every time. You might be interested to hear that there was once this dude named Narcissus who … ugh. Forget it.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

Supercharge Google Drive With These Clever Third-Party Apps

Image: Google

I confess: When it comes to storing files in the cloud, I am firmly in Microsoft’s region of the sky. The company’s OneDrive currently holds all my crucial data, including my entire music collection, five years’ worth of pictures, and every single Word document and PowerPoint presentation I’ve reason to hold on to. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do with all this data unless I sync it to a desktop or a mobile device. OneDrive might be a great backup service, but when it comes to manipulating all this data, it’s next to useless.

This is where Google Drive shines. Thanks to built-in integration with literally hundreds of third-party apps, Drive not only stores all your files, it brings powerful, PC-like capabilities straight to your browser.

To access these apps, open your Google Drive and click on the Gear icon on the right. Click “Manage apps” and then click “Connect more apps” in the window that pops up. Welcome to your new life in the browser. Check out your superpowers below.

It’s kind of unbelievable, but Adobe actually wants you to shell out $10 a month and install its bloated, insecure Reader for the privilege of being able to combine two or more documents into one single PDF. That’s obviously crazy. If all you want to do is merge some PDFs into one single file, simply connect PDF Mergy to your Google Drive. You can then select any number of PDF files in Google Drive and snap them into a single, seamless PDF that you can then save to Drive or download to your desktop.

If you want to crop, straighten, brighten, adjust the focus, or add over 250 effects to your images, you no longer have to leave your browser. Heck, you don’t even have to leave Google Drive. Thanks to Pixlr Express, you can choose to save the processed images to your Drive, use them to replace the original image, or download them to your computer.

Hook up CloudConvert to your Google Drive and never worry about file formats again. CloudConvert supports over a hundred file formats for videos, music, ebooks, and zip archives. Once you uploaded your file, simply select the output format and let CloudConvert chug away. You can convert AVI videos into MP4, for instance, for MOBI ebooks into standard PDFs that open on all your devices. You can even dive right in and fine-tune conversion options (adjust resolution or bitrate for videos, for instance). But the best part about CloudConvert is that it accepts Dropbox in addition to Google Drive as an input or an output destination. That means you can start a conversion on one service and have your converted file appear magically in the other.

Nothing beats Audacity, the free, open-source audio editor for Mac and PC. But if you don’t want to leave your browser, TwistedWave is a close second. It allows you to import sound files directly from your Google Drive and then provides you with the traditional waveform, effects, mono-stereo conversation, pitch correction, and a lot more directly in the browser. When you’re finished, you can export the sound file back to Drive or directly to SoundCloud.

View the original article here

Supercharge Google Drive With These Clever Third-Party Apps

Posted by maghestra No comments

Image: Google

I confess: When it comes to storing files in the cloud, I am firmly in Microsoft’s region of the sky. The company’s OneDrive currently holds all my crucial data, including my entire music collection, five years’ worth of pictures, and every single Word document and PowerPoint presentation I’ve reason to hold on to. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do with all this data unless I sync it to a desktop or a mobile device. OneDrive might be a great backup service, but when it comes to manipulating all this data, it’s next to useless.

This is where Google Drive shines. Thanks to built-in integration with literally hundreds of third-party apps, Drive not only stores all your files, it brings powerful, PC-like capabilities straight to your browser.

To access these apps, open your Google Drive and click on the Gear icon on the right. Click “Manage apps” and then click “Connect more apps” in the window that pops up. Welcome to your new life in the browser. Check out your superpowers below.

It’s kind of unbelievable, but Adobe actually wants you to shell out $10 a month and install its bloated, insecure Reader for the privilege of being able to combine two or more documents into one single PDF. That’s obviously crazy. If all you want to do is merge some PDFs into one single file, simply connect PDF Mergy to your Google Drive. You can then select any number of PDF files in Google Drive and snap them into a single, seamless PDF that you can then save to Drive or download to your desktop.

If you want to crop, straighten, brighten, adjust the focus, or add over 250 effects to your images, you no longer have to leave your browser. Heck, you don’t even have to leave Google Drive. Thanks to Pixlr Express, you can choose to save the processed images to your Drive, use them to replace the original image, or download them to your computer.

Hook up CloudConvert to your Google Drive and never worry about file formats again. CloudConvert supports over a hundred file formats for videos, music, ebooks, and zip archives. Once you uploaded your file, simply select the output format and let CloudConvert chug away. You can convert AVI videos into MP4, for instance, for MOBI ebooks into standard PDFs that open on all your devices. You can even dive right in and fine-tune conversion options (adjust resolution or bitrate for videos, for instance). But the best part about CloudConvert is that it accepts Dropbox in addition to Google Drive as an input or an output destination. That means you can start a conversion on one service and have your converted file appear magically in the other.

Nothing beats Audacity, the free, open-source audio editor for Mac and PC. But if you don’t want to leave your browser, TwistedWave is a close second. It allows you to import sound files directly from your Google Drive and then provides you with the traditional waveform, effects, mono-stereo conversation, pitch correction, and a lot more directly in the browser. When you’re finished, you can export the sound file back to Drive or directly to SoundCloud.

View the original article here

Why Twitter Can’t Keep Crashing

Illustration: Yiying Lu

Twitter was down for quite some time yesterday. Once upon a time, that was an annoyance. But not anymore. Now, when Twitter goes down, it’s a full-on problem. Twitter is no longer simply a place where people come to make jokes and drop quickie status updates. It’s practically infrastructure: a core component of the global communications system. Twitter is too big, too grown up, too vital to experience significant downtime anymore.

Twitter is not just a social network for chatting with your bros anymore. Sure it has social aspects, and they’re key to its ability to amplify. But its true nature is as a globally distributed, real-time information delivery system. It is the definition of breaking news. Twitter is increasingly the key place where information is born–stuff that maybe starts with one person but is important to the whole world.

It’s how this tweet from an individual who spotted a tornado:

@ryanvaughan looking north of Steele pic.twitter.com/GX4GfHDs5V

— Jon Jones (@jonjones50) February 20, 2014

Becomes news from The Weather Channel:

From earlier: Photo of a possible developing #tornado taken by @jonjones50, near Steele. Mo. pic.twitter.com/f7volARaWr

— TWC Breaking (@TWCBreaking) February 20, 2014

Twitter is definitely aware that it has become the labor and delivery room for information. That’s why the company felt the need to hire Vivian Schiller to serve as its head of news; Schiller isn’t just some blogger (like me), but was formerly the head of NPR and also ran NBC’s digital news efforts.

That also explains the partnership with Dataminr for News, which is meant to help journalists find emerging information and sources on Twitter. It’s important to pick up on why Dataminr for News is necessary at all, and it’s because within Twitter’s cacophony, there exist important, vital nuggets of information that need to gain widespread distribution. Sometimes this is a cry for help. Other times, it can be an announcement of how to get it.

Look, it may seem like I’m making too big of a deal about a simple service outage. But Twitter isn’t a simple service anymore. It’s a key way for the world to communicate. And besides, this isn’t just my opinion. It’s Twitter’s, too. Last year, when WIRED interviewed Twitter’s senior vice president of engineering Chris Fry, he noted:

We are a service that people turn to in moments of joy, and also when things are going horribly wrong in the world. So I feel a personal commitment, as does I think does everybody that works here, to having a service that’s available when anyone needs it. And sometimes Twitter may be the only thing that’s working during a flood or during a major disaster. So we’re very committed to being the most reliable service that we can be.

The emphasis is mine, but Fry is right on target. The world has come to depend on Twitter. And these kind of extended outages–yesterday’s apparently lasted for half an hour or more–don’t just affect our ability to share links and poop jokes, they actually can affect lives in very real ways. People count on the notion that Twitter is working in real time.

Be on the look for DSS041GP my boyufriend has just been hijacked and is in the boot please RT

— Lynn Peters (@onebadvillynn) April 7, 2012

What if there were a revolution going on half a world away right now? One where people were using Twitter to communicate with each other? Oh, right, there is. In fact, there are two. And, really, all the proof you need that Twitter has become something we require now, instead of just want, is to see the effort some governments put in to blocking it. Or Twitter’s efforts, like advising Venezuelan users to use SMS to access the service, to keep going in the face of those disruptions.

Because when Twitter goes down, there’s really nothing that can take its place. Facebook doesn’t have Twitter’s public nature. Google Plus doesn’t have its reach. Individual weblogs don’t have its ability to automatically republish and spread information. It’s become its own, very unique thing. For now, when it comes to a real-time, public facing, highly-networked, global communications system, Twitter is what we’ve got. It’s not only the most effectively reliable way for any individual to disseminate information to large groups of people in real time, it’s pretty much the only way.

Malcolm Gladwell decried Twitter’s “weak ties” way back in 2010. Today that complaint (which always seemed naive) is fundamentally flawed. More important than whether or not ties are weak or strong is that they exist, which allows information to be broadcast and amplified.

You don’t need a strong connection to note that there’s a riot going on. You don’t need a strong connection to let the world know you’ve been shot in the neck; to let everyone know you are dying. You don’t need a strong connection to report there’s a fire, a flood, an earthquake, and that people need help.

But you do need a connection. And Twitter has to make sure it’s capable of keeping that connection going all the time now.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of the Knight-Batten award-winning Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

Why Twitter Can’t Keep Crashing

Posted by maghestra No comments

Illustration: Yiying Lu

Twitter was down for quite some time yesterday. Once upon a time, that was an annoyance. But not anymore. Now, when Twitter goes down, it’s a full-on problem. Twitter is no longer simply a place where people come to make jokes and drop quickie status updates. It’s practically infrastructure: a core component of the global communications system. Twitter is too big, too grown up, too vital to experience significant downtime anymore.

Twitter is not just a social network for chatting with your bros anymore. Sure it has social aspects, and they’re key to its ability to amplify. But its true nature is as a globally distributed, real-time information delivery system. It is the definition of breaking news. Twitter is increasingly the key place where information is born–stuff that maybe starts with one person but is important to the whole world.

It’s how this tweet from an individual who spotted a tornado:

@ryanvaughan looking north of Steele pic.twitter.com/GX4GfHDs5V

— Jon Jones (@jonjones50) February 20, 2014

Becomes news from The Weather Channel:

From earlier: Photo of a possible developing #tornado taken by @jonjones50, near Steele. Mo. pic.twitter.com/f7volARaWr

— TWC Breaking (@TWCBreaking) February 20, 2014

Twitter is definitely aware that it has become the labor and delivery room for information. That’s why the company felt the need to hire Vivian Schiller to serve as its head of news; Schiller isn’t just some blogger (like me), but was formerly the head of NPR and also ran NBC’s digital news efforts.

That also explains the partnership with Dataminr for News, which is meant to help journalists find emerging information and sources on Twitter. It’s important to pick up on why Dataminr for News is necessary at all, and it’s because within Twitter’s cacophony, there exist important, vital nuggets of information that need to gain widespread distribution. Sometimes this is a cry for help. Other times, it can be an announcement of how to get it.

Look, it may seem like I’m making too big of a deal about a simple service outage. But Twitter isn’t a simple service anymore. It’s a key way for the world to communicate. And besides, this isn’t just my opinion. It’s Twitter’s, too. Last year, when WIRED interviewed Twitter’s senior vice president of engineering Chris Fry, he noted:

We are a service that people turn to in moments of joy, and also when things are going horribly wrong in the world. So I feel a personal commitment, as does I think does everybody that works here, to having a service that’s available when anyone needs it. And sometimes Twitter may be the only thing that’s working during a flood or during a major disaster. So we’re very committed to being the most reliable service that we can be.

The emphasis is mine, but Fry is right on target. The world has come to depend on Twitter. And these kind of extended outages–yesterday’s apparently lasted for half an hour or more–don’t just affect our ability to share links and poop jokes, they actually can affect lives in very real ways. People count on the notion that Twitter is working in real time.

Be on the look for DSS041GP my boyufriend has just been hijacked and is in the boot please RT

— Lynn Peters (@onebadvillynn) April 7, 2012

What if there were a revolution going on half a world away right now? One where people were using Twitter to communicate with each other? Oh, right, there is. In fact, there are two. And, really, all the proof you need that Twitter has become something we require now, instead of just want, is to see the effort some governments put in to blocking it. Or Twitter’s efforts, like advising Venezuelan users to use SMS to access the service, to keep going in the face of those disruptions.

Because when Twitter goes down, there’s really nothing that can take its place. Facebook doesn’t have Twitter’s public nature. Google Plus doesn’t have its reach. Individual weblogs don’t have its ability to automatically republish and spread information. It’s become its own, very unique thing. For now, when it comes to a real-time, public facing, highly-networked, global communications system, Twitter is what we’ve got. It’s not only the most effectively reliable way for any individual to disseminate information to large groups of people in real time, it’s pretty much the only way.

Malcolm Gladwell decried Twitter’s “weak ties” way back in 2010. Today that complaint (which always seemed naive) is fundamentally flawed. More important than whether or not ties are weak or strong is that they exist, which allows information to be broadcast and amplified.

You don’t need a strong connection to note that there’s a riot going on. You don’t need a strong connection to let the world know you’ve been shot in the neck; to let everyone know you are dying. You don’t need a strong connection to report there’s a fire, a flood, an earthquake, and that people need help.

But you do need a connection. And Twitter has to make sure it’s capable of keeping that connection going all the time now.

Mat Honan is a senior writer for Wired's Gadget Lab and the co-founder of the Knight-Batten award-winning Longshot magazine.

Read more by Mat Honan

Follow @mat on Twitter.

View the original article here

You Can Now Hide Those Unwanted Apple TV Channels

Photo: Josh valcarcel/WIRED

Apple keeps adding channels to its Apple TV set-top box. That’s great, except it also means icon clutter and wasted screen real estate for all those channels you don’t use. Thankfully, Apple just came out with a way to fix that.

Apple dropped the Apple TV 6.1 update on Monday morning. Now, in addition to arranging channel icons, you can completely hide channels from view. To banish a channel, select it and then press and hold the center button on the Apple TV remote. The icons should begin to jiggle–just like on iOS. To hide it, press the Play/Pause button. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to hide the channel. You do! So click on “Hide This Item.”

If you accidentally hide the wrong channel, or decide to plunk down for HBOGO after all, you can unhide channels by heading to Settings > Main Menu. There you’ll see a list of all the available channels. Hidden channels have text that reads “hide” next to them. Click on that to change it to “show.” The channel will be available once again on the main screen.

You can also hide channels quickly from this settings page. Just click on a channel and it’ll be hidden from view. Adios, unused subscription channels.

Roberto is a Wired Staff Writer for Gadget Lab covering cord-cutting, e-readers, home technology, and all the gadgets that fit in your backpack. Got a tip? Send him an email at: roberto_baldwin [at] wired.com.

Read more by Roberto Baldwin

Follow @strngwys on Twitter.

View the original article here

You Can Now Hide Those Unwanted Apple TV Channels

Posted by maghestra No comments

Photo: Josh valcarcel/WIRED

Apple keeps adding channels to its Apple TV set-top box. That’s great, except it also means icon clutter and wasted screen real estate for all those channels you don’t use. Thankfully, Apple just came out with a way to fix that.

Apple dropped the Apple TV 6.1 update on Monday morning. Now, in addition to arranging channel icons, you can completely hide channels from view. To banish a channel, select it and then press and hold the center button on the Apple TV remote. The icons should begin to jiggle–just like on iOS. To hide it, press the Play/Pause button. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to hide the channel. You do! So click on “Hide This Item.”

If you accidentally hide the wrong channel, or decide to plunk down for HBOGO after all, you can unhide channels by heading to Settings > Main Menu. There you’ll see a list of all the available channels. Hidden channels have text that reads “hide” next to them. Click on that to change it to “show.” The channel will be available once again on the main screen.

You can also hide channels quickly from this settings page. Just click on a channel and it’ll be hidden from view. Adios, unused subscription channels.

Roberto is a Wired Staff Writer for Gadget Lab covering cord-cutting, e-readers, home technology, and all the gadgets that fit in your backpack. Got a tip? Send him an email at: roberto_baldwin [at] wired.com.

Read more by Roberto Baldwin

Follow @strngwys on Twitter.

View the original article here

How to Keep Vile Websites Out of Your Facebook Feed

View the original article here

How to Keep Vile Websites Out of Your Facebook Feed

Posted by maghestra No comments

View the original article here

Batman: Arkham Knight coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4

Rocksteady Games has unveiled the teaser for the final installment of the Batman Arkham series. “Batman: Arkham Knight” will be available “at some point in 2014? on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and is set to complete the successful video game trilogy that began in 2009, consisting of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

Gamestop, a video game retailer, has listed the released date as “October 14, 2014.” Since the alleged date does not appear even on official press releases of Batman: Arkham Knight, let’s take that info with a grain of salt.

The video teaser features an array of Batman’s famous villains, including Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and Scarecrow. It also shows a decked-up rendition of the Batmobile.

“In the explosive finale to the Arkham series, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city he is sworn to protect. The Scarecrow returns to unite an impressive roster of super villains, including Penguin, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn, to destroy The Dark Knight forever,” the caption on the video indicates.

Gamers who pre-order now will be able to pick Harley Quinn as a playable character with her own set of abilities, weapons, and gadgets. The add-on also includes four exclusive challenge maps.

Source: Engadget

View the original article here

Batman: Arkham Knight coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4

Posted by maghestra No comments

Rocksteady Games has unveiled the teaser for the final installment of the Batman Arkham series. “Batman: Arkham Knight” will be available “at some point in 2014? on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and is set to complete the successful video game trilogy that began in 2009, consisting of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

Gamestop, a video game retailer, has listed the released date as “October 14, 2014.” Since the alleged date does not appear even on official press releases of Batman: Arkham Knight, let’s take that info with a grain of salt.

The video teaser features an array of Batman’s famous villains, including Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and Scarecrow. It also shows a decked-up rendition of the Batmobile.

“In the explosive finale to the Arkham series, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city he is sworn to protect. The Scarecrow returns to unite an impressive roster of super villains, including Penguin, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn, to destroy The Dark Knight forever,” the caption on the video indicates.

Gamers who pre-order now will be able to pick Harley Quinn as a playable character with her own set of abilities, weapons, and gadgets. The add-on also includes four exclusive challenge maps.

Source: Engadget

View the original article here

Apple’s New Car System Turns Your Dashboard Into an iPhone Accessory

Apple’s CarPlay interface in the upcoming Volvo XC90 SUV. Image courtesy Volvo

Apple’s CarPlay looks like a slick, Siri-enabled way to interact with your iPhone in the car. While not a standalone in-car operating system, it is a “second screen” iOS interface optimized for the car — one that allows for deeper integration with iOS devices than any in-car system to date. This should make the creators of full-featured infotainment systems very nervous.

The system will debut at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, and new cars from Mercedes, Volvo, and Ferrari will ship with CarPlay built in. Or make that half of CarPlay built in: In addition to a CarPlay-enabled car, you’ll need an iPhone with an upcoming iOS 7 update to use it. According to Apple, the system only works with Lightning-connector iPhones — you’re limited to using the system with the iPhone 5, 5s, and 5c — that will need to be connected to the car in order for the features to work.

Think of it as a car-infotainment system by proxy, because everything’s still running through the iPhone. For the screen mirroring and car-touchscreen interaction with the phone, CarPlay uses a system based on streaming H.264 video. A Volvo press release mentioned that Wi-Fi connectivity is planned for its own implementation of CarPlay, but the real brains of the system — the iPhone itself — will need to stay physically tethered via a Lightning cable for now.

That physical connection will offer much deeper integration than things like the Siri Eyes Free system found in Chevy cars, which only requires Bluetooth connectivity. In CarPlay, as in Siri Eyes Free, Apple’s voice-control system can read messages aloud and receive voice dictation as you drive. But with the CarPlay system, you can get turn-by-turn directions from Apple Maps while navigation information appears on the big screen. Your car’s touchscreen console will become an in-car extension of the iPhone screen, providing access to certain third-party apps on a larger, less-distracting display (Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Beats Radio, among others). You’ll see familiar iOS icons and have a better idea of what does what.

Indeed, this is really what makes Apple’s announcement so compelling. Instead of today’s fragmented universe of in-car infotainment systems and sometimes-kludgy interfaces, some cars will now have a combination of Apple’s proven design chops, the now-familiar iOS interface, and what should be a rich in-car app ecosystem. You’ll be able to use an Apple-designed interface for navigating music, maps, and other iPhone features in your car — via voice, touchscreen, or the buttons and knobs on the steering wheel and console.

For many in-car infotainment systems, that could make CarPlay a service provider. As explained in WIRED’s analysis of Apple’s iOS for the Car demo at last year’s WWDC, many carmakers offer basic, bare-bones in-car infotainment systems. CarPlay could be a centerpiece for future in-car offerings. Among those car manufacturers, Honda, Hyundai, and Jaguar are slated to have CarPlay-enabled cars coming out later in 2014.

(One interesting side note: If you’re looking for a dual-boot car, you might be best off buying a Honda or a Hyundai in the near future. Both of those carmakers are listed as being part of the 2014 CarPlay lineup and are also members of the Android-focused Open Automotive Alliance.)

Of course, CarPlay’s reliance on Apple’s own core apps is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the ability to develop apps for an already successful platform with a loyal user base will be an attractive proposition for developers. On the other hand, sometimes-frustrating core services, like Apple Maps and Siri, will certainly need to improve in order for CarPlay to realize its full in-car potential. It will also be interesting to see whether apps that offer competing functionalities — Google Maps, most notably — will be allowed to run on the in-car arm of Apple’s platform.

It’s also possible that this is simply Apple kicking the tires on the in-car OS game before they really step on the gas. Remember the Motorola Rokr E1? That “iTunes phone” came out a few years before the first iPhone. Similarly, this could be an example of the company fine-tuning its in-car interface, app presentation, and services before launching its own full-fledged in-car platform.

In the meantime, it really doesn’t matter that this isn’t a “true” in-car OS — in fact, it may have key advantages compared to a full-bore Apple OS for cars. In terms of functionality and interface for iPhone users, it’ll look like a duck and act like a duck. If it’s a success, factory-installed in-car systems of the future will simply be “dumb terminals,” relying on connected mobile devices for all the entertainment features. That’s probably a great thing for both consumers and developers.

For the foreseeable future, you’ll still have to buy a car that has the CarPlay features built into it instead of being able to add them down the line. There haven’t been any announcements about aftermarket consoles or add-ons that include CarPlay functionality.

View the original article here

Apple’s New Car System Turns Your Dashboard Into an iPhone Accessory

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Apple’s CarPlay interface in the upcoming Volvo XC90 SUV. Image courtesy Volvo

Apple’s CarPlay looks like a slick, Siri-enabled way to interact with your iPhone in the car. While not a standalone in-car operating system, it is a “second screen” iOS interface optimized for the car — one that allows for deeper integration with iOS devices than any in-car system to date. This should make the creators of full-featured infotainment systems very nervous.

The system will debut at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, and new cars from Mercedes, Volvo, and Ferrari will ship with CarPlay built in. Or make that half of CarPlay built in: In addition to a CarPlay-enabled car, you’ll need an iPhone with an upcoming iOS 7 update to use it. According to Apple, the system only works with Lightning-connector iPhones — you’re limited to using the system with the iPhone 5, 5s, and 5c — that will need to be connected to the car in order for the features to work.

Think of it as a car-infotainment system by proxy, because everything’s still running through the iPhone. For the screen mirroring and car-touchscreen interaction with the phone, CarPlay uses a system based on streaming H.264 video. A Volvo press release mentioned that Wi-Fi connectivity is planned for its own implementation of CarPlay, but the real brains of the system — the iPhone itself — will need to stay physically tethered via a Lightning cable for now.

That physical connection will offer much deeper integration than things like the Siri Eyes Free system found in Chevy cars, which only requires Bluetooth connectivity. In CarPlay, as in Siri Eyes Free, Apple’s voice-control system can read messages aloud and receive voice dictation as you drive. But with the CarPlay system, you can get turn-by-turn directions from Apple Maps while navigation information appears on the big screen. Your car’s touchscreen console will become an in-car extension of the iPhone screen, providing access to certain third-party apps on a larger, less-distracting display (Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Beats Radio, among others). You’ll see familiar iOS icons and have a better idea of what does what.

Indeed, this is really what makes Apple’s announcement so compelling. Instead of today’s fragmented universe of in-car infotainment systems and sometimes-kludgy interfaces, some cars will now have a combination of Apple’s proven design chops, the now-familiar iOS interface, and what should be a rich in-car app ecosystem. You’ll be able to use an Apple-designed interface for navigating music, maps, and other iPhone features in your car — via voice, touchscreen, or the buttons and knobs on the steering wheel and console.

For many in-car infotainment systems, that could make CarPlay a service provider. As explained in WIRED’s analysis of Apple’s iOS for the Car demo at last year’s WWDC, many carmakers offer basic, bare-bones in-car infotainment systems. CarPlay could be a centerpiece for future in-car offerings. Among those car manufacturers, Honda, Hyundai, and Jaguar are slated to have CarPlay-enabled cars coming out later in 2014.

(One interesting side note: If you’re looking for a dual-boot car, you might be best off buying a Honda or a Hyundai in the near future. Both of those carmakers are listed as being part of the 2014 CarPlay lineup and are also members of the Android-focused Open Automotive Alliance.)

Of course, CarPlay’s reliance on Apple’s own core apps is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the ability to develop apps for an already successful platform with a loyal user base will be an attractive proposition for developers. On the other hand, sometimes-frustrating core services, like Apple Maps and Siri, will certainly need to improve in order for CarPlay to realize its full in-car potential. It will also be interesting to see whether apps that offer competing functionalities — Google Maps, most notably — will be allowed to run on the in-car arm of Apple’s platform.

It’s also possible that this is simply Apple kicking the tires on the in-car OS game before they really step on the gas. Remember the Motorola Rokr E1? That “iTunes phone” came out a few years before the first iPhone. Similarly, this could be an example of the company fine-tuning its in-car interface, app presentation, and services before launching its own full-fledged in-car platform.

In the meantime, it really doesn’t matter that this isn’t a “true” in-car OS — in fact, it may have key advantages compared to a full-bore Apple OS for cars. In terms of functionality and interface for iPhone users, it’ll look like a duck and act like a duck. If it’s a success, factory-installed in-car systems of the future will simply be “dumb terminals,” relying on connected mobile devices for all the entertainment features. That’s probably a great thing for both consumers and developers.

For the foreseeable future, you’ll still have to buy a car that has the CarPlay features built into it instead of being able to add them down the line. There haven’t been any announcements about aftermarket consoles or add-ons that include CarPlay functionality.

View the original article here