Which gaming keyboards are worth buying?
The act of building a great gaming rig isn’t just about finding the most powerful processor, a capable graphics card or massive amounts of RAM. It’s also about what you use to interact with the machine itself — the peripherals you bring to the table. A few months ago, we told you about the best gaming mice available. Now we take a look at some recent gaming keyboards to see which ones have the most to offer in terms of lighting, macros and, of course, how good they feel to type on.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Developer makes Amazon’s Echo control Wink and Nest devices
After Amazon gave select developers access to an SDK for its Echo wireless speaker last month, we now have a few examples of what you can do with it. Developer Jeffrey Bachand has built apps allowing Echo to control his smart lights, which are connected to Quirky’s Wink hub, as well as his Nest smart thermostat. In the video below, you can see the apps in action. Unfortunately, there’s still no way for developers to publish apps to the Echo platform, but you can be sure Amazon will fix that soon once there are more apps lined up. Bachand also notes that the NDA for SDK testers has just ended, which means you can expect to see more Echo apps soon. Amazon added support for Belkin WeMo and Philips Hue devices to the Echo earlier this month, but the addition of third-party developers should dramatically increase the amount of devices it works with.
Latest Ubuntu hits the web with mostly minor refinements
Today’s release of Ubuntu 15.04 is yet another installment in the slow and steady march forward from Canonical. The company knows that not every OS release needs to be accompanied by fanfare and dramatic changes to your desktop. And this edition of the popular Linux distro perfectly epitomizes that philosophy. There are basically zero user-facing interface changes, except for the ability to set application menus to always show, instead of only popping up when you mouse over them. Otherwise most of the changes are under the hood. The OS should be faster and more stable, thanks to updates to updates to the underlying system, like the Unity desktop and Linux kernel. The default apps also got some minor version bumps, including Firefox and LibreOffice.
Ubuntu 15.04, or Vivid Vervet, is almost like a placeholder release. This is simply Canonical biding its time and applying Band-Aids while working towards a more dramatic revision that will accompany Unity 8, the next generation of its desktop environment. Like Microsoft, the company is pushing to unify its OS across platforms. That means one core system and a consistent UI across phones, tablets and desktops. When that goal will be realized remains to be seen, but until that time expect your favorite Linux distro to simply tread water.
Filed under: Software
Source: Ubuntu
Video Software Chief Randy Ubillos Retiring After 20 Years at Apple [Mac Blog]
Apple’s former Chief Architect of Video Applications Randy Ubillos announced on Twitter today that he is retiring after working for 20 years at the Cupertino-based company on professional video and photo software. Ubillos is best known as the creator of the first three versions of Adobe Premiere and KeyGrip, which was sold to Apple and released as Final Cut Pro.
After an amazing 20 years working on Apple products, today is my last day. I look forward to retirement and the adventures ahead. 
— Randy Ubillos (@ubillos) April 23, 2015
While not a household name like some other Apple employees, Ubillos is well known among those who have used Final Cut Pro or other professional video software. In June 2010, he made a brief appearance on stage during WWDC to demo the latest version of iMovie for iPhone 4 and returned on stage in October 2010 during Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event for another demo.
Apple Releases iMac Graphics Update to Fix JPEG Freezing Issue on OS X Yosemite [Mac Blog]
Apple today released an iMac Graphics Update for users of the more recent iMacs, fixing an issue that caused the computers to freeze up after viewing very large JPEG Files.
Affected iMacs include the late 2014 27-inch Retina iMac, the late 2013 21.5-inch iMac, and the late 2013 27-inch iMac.
Apple has also released an accompanying support document that describes the issue in more detail, suggesting the problem occurs when opening a large JPEG image in Finder or Preview on OS X Yosemite 10.10.3.
If you’re using using OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 and one of the following iMac models, viewing certain very large JPEG (.jpg) images in the Finder or Preview can cause your iMac to briefly stop responding, display a black screen, and restart to a message that your computer restarted because of a problem.
People who own one of these three iMacs are encouraged to update their machines right away to fix the bug.
Apple Watch User Guide Now Available
Apple has published the official Apple Watch User Guide on its website, providing detailed information about the wrist-worn device broken down into categories such as Basics, Watch Faces, Notifications, Glances, Timekeeping, Messages, Digital Touch, Mail, Phone Calls, Calendars and Reminders, Health and Fitness, Apple Pay and Passbook, Maps and Directions, Music, Photos, Accessibility and more.
The user guide provides a wealth of information about the Apple Watch in one place for easy access, and should serve as a valuable resource for customers that pre-ordered the Apple Watch for delivery starting April 24. The user guide provides step-by-step information and visuals on a wide variety of topics from setting up your Apple Watch and pairing with an iPhone to using apps and tracking your daily activity.
There are also instructions on how to remove, change and fasten Apple Watch bands for the Classic Buckle, Leather Loop, Link Bracelet, Milanese Loop, Modern Buckle and Sport Band. Apple advises that leather bands be cleaned with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth that is lightly dampened with fresh water and then air dried, while other bands can be dried using a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth.
Apple Shares List of Must-Have Apps as Apple Watch App Store Goes Live Today
Ahead of the Apple Watch launch tomorrow, Apple has shared a selection of apps that it believes all new Apple Watch owners should download. Provided to Buzzfeed, the list covers a wide range of apps, from those that provide news coverage to those that help people share photos or travel around town.
Today marks the debut of the Apple Watch App Store, which should go live in just a few hours, letting people browse through available apps and download content before getting their watches tomorrow. The Apple Watch App Store will be accessible through the pre-installed Apple Watch app on the iPhone, available to all iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3 users.
Image courtesy of Buzzfeed
For sharing on social media, Apple recommended both Twitter and Instagram, noting that the latter includes support for emoji comments on the Apple Watch. The New York Times was recommended for news, and Mint was recommended for tracking finances.
Yelp got a mention, as did Target‘s app, which includes a useful shopping list feature, and Dark Sky was highlighted as the must-have weather app. Citymapper was mentioned as a useful transit app, showing the fastest public transit routes, and Pacemaker‘s music mixing app was the only music app on the list. Elevate‘s brain training app was Apple’s most unusual pick.
Given the Apple Watch’s position as a health and fitness device, Apple also shared several notable fitness and nutrition apps, including Fitstar Yoga for yoga, Strava for runners, and Golfshot for golfers. Apple recommended Lifesum for tracking calories and Centered for meditation.
Several of these apps have been previously highlighted by Apple either during one of its Apple Watch events or on its Apple Watch app website, but several of the above apps are new picks that Apple has not previously shared.
When Apple Watches reach the hands of customers tomorrow, there will be more than 2,000 Apple Watch apps available for the device.
How to Add and Organize Images in Photos for OS X Yosemite [Mac Blog]
Once you’ve migrated your image library from iPhotos or Aperture (or both), you’ll probably want to add all the images from your iPhone or iPad and get everything organized so you can quickly find pictures from specific dates and events in the future.
To help you accomplish both of these tasks, we’ve written up a tutorial that provides an overview of how to import pictures into the Photos app on OS X Yosemite and gives a few suggestions for how to organize your collection.
Importing Pictures
- Connect your device (iPhone, iPad, or digital camera) to your computer using the USB connector and open the Photos for OS X app.
- Select “Import” from the list of tabs at the top of the screen in the app.
- Select the images you wish to add to the Photos app, or select “Import All New Items” to add everything from your device.
Imported images will automatically be added to the “Last Import” album in Photos. You can see your photos using a number of different views, including the main Photos tab, which displays all pictures that you have added to the app and any pictures that you have taken using an iOS device that is connected using My Photo Stream.
Read more 
Xiaomi announces $205 Mi 4i with FHD screen, Snapdragon 615 SoC & Android Lollipop
Xiaomi today launched the Mi 4i, the low-cost variant of its flagship phone – the Mi 4 – in India. This $200 packs some really impressive specifications including a 5-inch Full HD (1080 x 1920) display, primary snapper with a 13-megapixel sensor and a 5-megapixel selfie camera. Also on board are 16GB of native storage, Snapdragon 615 chipset, 2GB of RAM and Android 5.0 Lollipop out-of-the-box.
Despite its thin frame, the device packs an impressive 3,120 mAh battery. According to Xiaomi, the phone uses a new high-density battery technology to fit that much juice in such a small space. Also, the device comes with a quick-charging feature that is capable of charging the device up to 40 percent in just an hour.
In terms of design, the device features a polycarbonate unibody with a thickness of around 7.8mm. It also has a soft touch coating to avoid fingerprints. The device also comes with fully laminated OGS Corning Concore display that offers the same level of protection as Gorilla Glass 3. The latest Xiaomi handset is available in black, white, light blue, orange and pink colors.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i will be released on April 30 in India for a price of $205. It will land in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia in May.
Source: TechCrunch
The post Xiaomi announces $205 Mi 4i with FHD screen, Snapdragon 615 SoC & Android Lollipop appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge-optimized Gear VR available for pre-order tomorrow
Back at MWC we took a look at a revamped version of the Samsung Gear VR, designed with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in mind. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are available, it seems that the Gear VR is finally ready to hit the market, with pre-orders beginning on April 24th through Best Buy.
So what’s new with this latest model? While the biggest difference here is the that the new Gear VR version is made with the Galaxy S6 series in mind, the revised model also is said to be 15% lighter, has an expanded 96-degree field of vision, and a few other improvements beyond this.
Samsung has yet to disclose how much the new Gear VR “Innovator’s Edition” will cost, but considering the Note 4’s model was $199, we imagine that Samsung will keep pricing about the same. What do you think, anyone planning on picking up the new Gear VR for use with their Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge?
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Already own a GS6 or GS6 Edge? Be sure to check out our roundup of best accessories for pairing with your handset.
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