Amazon’s Echo speaker can control your Wink-powered smart home
If you’ve filled up your home with Wink-based lighting and similar smart appliances, you’re about to get an easy (and official) way to manage it all with your voice. As of now, you can tell Amazon’s Echo speaker to control Wink devices — so long as they’re paired, you only have to ask Alexa to “turn on the light” or “turn off the fan.” Range limits will likely prevent you from using Echo’s new trick around the whole house (you won’t be putting on backyard light shows, for example), but this could still save you some hassles when you just want to relax after a hard day.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, HD, Amazon
Hands-On With Apple’s ‘News’ App Introduced in iOS 9 Beta 3
Apple released the third beta of iOS 9 to developers this morning, bringing some significant changes to the operating system, including the new Apple News app.
First introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, “News” provides curated lists of personalized news content for iOS users, offering up content from popular websites and newspapers and displaying it in an iOS-friendly layout. We went hands-on with News to give our readers a detailed walkthrough of the app and the different features that it offers.
News is built around topics and channels that are selected by each individual user, which are then used to populate an individualized “For You” tab that displays a list of stories each day. There’s a Favorites section that display the sites you’ve added to a favorites list for quick browsing, a search feature for finding new content, and an Explore tab for casual browsing. Explore suggests topics or channels you might be interested based on what you’ve previously read.
If you come across a favorite story, you can add it to the “Saved” section in News, and you’re able to share stories with friends by using the Share Sheet when reading content. In Safari, there’s also a feature that will let you add any RSS feed to News by visiting a site and choosing “Add to News.”
News includes more than a million topics, and as you read more stories, the app will get better at offering content that might interest you. Media content like photos and videos can be displayed full screen and there are features like built-in audio and photo galleries.
News is only available in iOS 9 beta 3, which is limited to registered developers. Public beta testers will likely get access to News in the near future when the first public beta test is released, and the general public will be able to access the app when iOS 9 launches in the fall.
Your pals can broadcast during your Meerkat streams, if you let them
To let viewers feel like they’re part of the action, Meerkat announced a new feature that lets you ask for some crowd participation. The video-streaming app now has a Cameo tool that’ll allow broadcasters to hand the reins over to viewers for up to a minute. “It’s a simple yet powerful way to create a deeper human connection with people - going from ‘broadcasting to’ towards ‘broadcasting with,’” the company said in a blog post. The ability to highjack streams popped up back in March and was quickly nixed. Now, it’s an actual feature, which makes me wonder if someone flipped the switch a little early.
To invite someone to join, you can visit a user’s profile or comment with “Cameo @username.” Once accepted, the invitee takes over for up to 60 seconds. When the Cameo time is up, or when you’ve had enough and end it manually, the stream goes back to you. What’s more, you can also link your Facebook profile to be notified when friends and Pages you follow are streaming. There’s also easy access to your library of videos too, so that you can decide what’s public and what’s not right after a broadcast.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Meerkat (Medium)
Best calendar apps [2015]
For me, digital calendars are a go-to for scheduling, planning, and inviting others to events. Whether it be a lunch, business meeting, or simply a barbecue, a digital calendar can be handy. They’re convenient and go anywhere you are.
If you haven’t made the jump yet, and want to take one for a spin, we’ve put together a list of our favorites. Check it out and see if any of these calendar apps work for you and improve your productivity.
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is one of the best calendar apps for Android, particularly because it is integrated with Android. It’s easy to create events, invite friends and family to events, and Google Calendar helps you stay on top of these dates by sending convenient notifications. Google Calendar also integrates with other services such as Exchange, allowing you to import everything in one place.
Microsoft Outlook
Outlook has a lot of features packed into it, including email, contacts, access to native and cloud files, and finally, an excellent calendar. While it’s a hub for all your day-to-day email and file transferring, it actually handles the calendar really well. Since it is built into your email, you can easily create and schedule events and share them with friends or coworkers. Outlook will also send you a notification to your device, reminding you of upcoming events. Honestly, it’s really the best way how to handle calendars–you never have to leave your email, fumbling around menus looking for your calendar app and events.
aCalendar
aCalendar is another intuitive calendar app, focusing on accessibility and offering plenty of helpful features. aCalendar features smooth navigation and smooth transitions for different calendar views. It automatically adds birthdays to itself by pulling information from your contacts, it has a few handy built-in widgets, and you can share events through QR codes and NFC. It’s free and ad-free, but if you want all aCalendar has to offer, you’ll need to complete an in-app purchase.
New Calendar
New Calendar has a lot of your basic calendar features–scheduling events, sharing events, inviting friends, and more. However, where New Calendar really shines is with its Google Calendar integration and a bevy of widgets. If you need a calendar widget on your screen, New Calendar offers clean and card-like looking calendar widgets. Voice reminders worked into this app which can notify you of an event with a voice.
Today Calendar
Today Calendar implements many of the features you’d find in a stock calendar app, but builds them from the ground up, focusing on speed, performance, and better productivity. On the unique side of the spectrum, Today Calendar supports themes, a night mode, seven different calendar views, and much more. Where Today Calendar really shines is in its design. It has a colorful Material Design interface paired with fluid animations.
Sunrise Calendar
Sunrise Calendar is an intuitive app that connects with all of your favorite services–Google Calendar, Exchange, and iCloud. It also works flawlessly with things like Facebook, Todoist, Evernote, Foursquare, making sure your calendar is always up to date. Sunrise aims to be a one-stop-shop for all of your calendar needs, never having to worry missing a scheduled event in some other app. It also syncs between your computer, tablet, and Android phone, so it’s always up to date and can be accessed from anywhere. Aside from all of the convenient features, it’s also beautifully designed and delivers a gorgeous user interface.
Business Calendar 2
Business Calendar comes with all of your standard calendar features–integration with Google Calendar and Exchange, four different views for day, week, month, and year, a seamless interface, and much more. What makes Business Calendar unique is the many unique features it comes with, such as integration with Google Tasks, design customization options, heat maps, an integrated event planner and task manager, improved event reminders, and much more. Keep in mind that some of these features you’ll only have access to with the Pro version, which can be unlocked through an in-app purchase.
DigiCal Calendar
DigiCal Calendar offers a clean and crisp interface and can connect with any of your favorite calendar services. This particular calendar has helpful integration with Google Now and integration with weather forecasts. It helps you keep an eye on current traffic, any delays, and tells you when you need to leave to get to your appointment on time. Six gorgeous lock-screen widgets are included with this package, and they’re getting ready to roll out Material Design shortly. Devices running as low as Android 2.2 can download this calendar, but keep in mind that some of the features DigiCal Calendar has won’t work on a version that low.
Conclusion
There are a lot of varying calendar apps out there in the Play Store, and they all do different things. Some focus on being easy-to-use by offering a clean and crisp Material Design, while others focus on organization, adding a package of features to help you stay on top of meetings.
What’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments.
Come comment on this article: Best calendar apps [2015]
Finally, an official Bluetooth ‘Star Trek’ communicator
Star Trek fans have settled for toy prop replicas, DIY projects and the occasional off-brand (but functional) Starfleet comm-badge–but the age of compromise is almost over. In January of 2016, you’ll finally be able to buy an official, screen-accurate, Bluetooth-enabled Star Trek Original Series Communicator.
Technically, the replica prop is just a simple Bluetooth handset with pretty basic functionality: it takes calls and plays music. That’s about it. It’s pretty snazzy looking though–the Communicator is a die-cast metal, aluminum and ABS replica modeled after a 3D scan of the original “Alpha Hero” prop, made and manufactured by The Wand Company. Its magnetic charging connector turns the unit into a pretty nice display piece, too. It’s pricey, though: the Communicator will cost $150 when it starts shipping in January–the same price as the replica phaser (and TV remote control!) the manufacturer made last year.
Source: Star Trek
The Wirecutter’s best deals: the UE Boom, a Samsung SSD, and more
This post was created in partnership with The Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Logitech UE Boom Bluetooth Speaker Crystal Edition
Street Price: $180; MSRP: $200; Deal Price: $145
Around mid-June we shared a deal where Amazon offered up the Crystal edition as part of their Deal of the Day for $150. Since then it has sold for $170 or higher, and most of the other colors are selling at $190 or higher. We have seen better deals in the now-distant past, but this is the best price since that June sale.
This is now our runner-up for the best water-resistant Bluetooth speaker because Logitech released a newer and larger version, the UE Megaboom. The Megaboom generally sells at around $300, so this deal definitely beats it on price. Brent Butterworth said, “The Boom is an easy speaker to live with. It’s about the size of a slightly stretched 12-ounce soda can, and weighs about half as much as a full soda can, so you can fit it in a beach bag or even most computer bags. It’s IPX4-rated, which means it’ll survive a splash and can probably being left out in the rain, but a hose blast or dunking might silence it forever.”
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB Internal SSD
Street Price: $178; MSRP: $270; Deal Price: $150
This deal comes from retailer Rakuten’s official eBay storefront, Buy. It’s a tie for the best price I’ve ever seen on this SSD. It has also been selling at a record low on Amazon for $162.
The Samsung 850 EVO 500GB is our pick for the best solid state drive. Nathan Edwards said, “Samsung has made some of the best SSDs on the market for the past four hardware generations; this is no exception. It’s not quite the cheapest great SSD, but it’s the best cheap SSD. It has a great combination of price, performance, and capacity, plus 150TB write endurance (which means it’ll last a really long time), hardware encryption, and a five-year warranty.”
GoPro Hero4 Silver Action Camera
Street Price: $400; MSRP: $400; Deal Price: $350
This isn’t the lowest price ever on this action camera, but it’s still a pretty good deal and the best price around at the moment. With a new GoPro on the horizon, this version will likely start seeing more and more discounts. This isn’t the lowest price we’ve seen, as it has gone as low as $330, but it’s still a good price for a great action camera. The retailer is Adorama Camera through their official eBay storefront.
The GoPro HERO4 Silver is our pick for the best action camera. Brent Rose said, “The GoPro Hero4 Silver takes everything we loved about the GoPro Hero3+ Black and makes it easier to use, thanks to a touchscreen and overhauled menu system. Throw in more low-light shooting options and the same price tag, and you have a clear pick for best action camera.”
Aukey CC-01 4-Port USB Car Charger
Street Price: $15; MSRP: $40 Deal; Price: $10 with code J79AK6NY
This car charger is available for $10 with the promo code J79AK6NY. This deal price is a couple bucks better than the last deal we had, and it’s a 33 percent discount from its street price. You’ll need Amazon Prime to qualify for free shipping.
The Aukey CC-01 is our four-port pick in our best USB car charger article. Alexander George and Nick Guy wrote, “Since it has two more ports, the Aukey is physically larger than our main pick. But you can orient it horizontally or vertically, however fits best in your car.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
iPhone encryption has locked out Manhattan cops just 74 times
You’ll frequently hear law enforcement complain that it can’t break the full-drive encryption in newer smartphone operating systems, but how often does the police run into that problem, really? Thanks to a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, you now have a better idea. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has revealed that, out of the 92 cases where an iPhone with iOS 8 has been involved so far, the cops have been locked out 74 times. District Attorney Cyrus Vance portrays this as proof that officers need backdoors or other forms of guaranteed access, noting that there’s at least one case (in Illinois) where evidence from a victim’s iPhone led to a conviction. Police shouldn’t simply be told that there’s “nothing [they] can do,” he says.
Context is everything, however, and this isn’t quite as dire a situation as Vance made it out to be. The Manhattan DA typically handles 100,000 cases a year — 0.07 percent is a drop in the bucket. Moreover, there’s no records showing whether or not the encryption actually stopped the investigation cold. It’s possible that the security merely forced officers to rely on other forms of evidence. While there’s still a concern that clever criminals will take advantage of encryption, there’s also no data showing that there would be enough arrests to justify the reduced privacy.
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: Wired
Paramount tries bringing movies home faster than ever
Despite attempts by Mark Cuban, Comcast, Netflix and others over the years, movie studios and big theater chains have combined to keep the “release window” in place — until now. That window is the period of time between when a movie premieres in the theaters until you can actually buy or rent it to watch at home, and since the dawn of VHS it’s usually remained at about 90 days or so. Now the Wall Street Journal says Paramount is testing out a plan with AMC and Cineplex to release a couple of movies in theaters just six weeks after they premiere instead of three months.
The only two movies it’s announced plans for are Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, but there could be more movies and theaters in the works. Paramount convinced the theaters to play ball by promising a split of the revenue from VOD outlets like iTunes, an interesting hedge against the possibility people will skip theaters to wait for the home release. While exec Rob Moore tells THR the industry is no longer “sticking their heads in the sand” release windows extend to more than just flicks, and hopefully this is just the first step to bring things closer.
[Image credit: shutterstock]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, Deadline
Deal: Amazon Fire Phone discounted to just $159 today, includes full year of Prime
Next Wednesday, July 15th, Amazon is celebrating its 20th birthday by hosting a gigantic ‘Prime Day’ sale. This big promotion will last for just 24 hours and will offer Black Friday-like discounts and lightning deals for Prime subscribers in nine different countries – US, UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada and Austria.
More on Amazon
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If you aren’t an Amazon Prime subscriber, unfortunately you won’t get to take advantage of any of the deals. Lucky for you, though, you might not need to spend the $99 fee to get a one-year subscription to Prime, because right now, Amazon has dropped the off-contract price of its Fire Phone to just $159, which is just about a $20 discount. Plus, it comes with a one-year subscription to Prime ($99 value), so in all, you’re basically paying an extra $60 for the smartphone.
Some folks would say the device may not be worth the money, but considering this price point comes with a full year of Prime, we’d say it might be worth your while. It runs a heavily customized version of Android 4.4 KitKat and comes with a few arguably gimmicky features that many folks might not use too often. Even so, it comes with a 4.7-inch 720p display, a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 32GB of on-board storage, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and a 2400mAh battery.
While the specifications of the Fire Phone might not be worth $159, they’re certainly worth $59 with the added bonus of a Prime membership. There are plenty of ways to install Google Play Services on the device (even without rooting), which might make this a great option if you’re looking for a backup phone for emergency situations.
Taking into account all of the deals you might score during the upcoming Prime Day, this Fire Phone offer may be worth your consideration. If you’d like to take advantage of the deal or sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription, check out the links below.
Logitech redesigns brand with new ‘Logi’ sub-brand
For years, Logitech has developed products and accessories to work with everything from our computers and televisions to phones and tablets. Whether it is a mouse, keyboard, case, or remote among other things, Logitech has an affordable option. The only issue is that the brand has aged and the consumers view the products as having unassuming design, leading them to look elsewhere for innovation. Logitech aims to change that starting today with a brand redesign and the introduction of a new sub-brand.
The company’s focus will now be on design and how everything looks and feels to consumers, a transition that many companies are making to remain relevant and stand out from the crowd. To prove its commitment to design, Logitech has appointed Alastair Curtis, former design leader at Nokia, as its own chief design officer. Curtis will be exploring new categories and businesses for Logitech to innovate with.
Product design, though, is not the only thing that Logitech is changing. The company has a new logo (seen above) and an entirely new color palette to use across different media. This is a new brand, a new Logitech.
Logitech believes that design is vital to success:
We’ve put design at the core of everything we do and everything we are, from our products to our brand identity.
Logi, the sub-brand that Logitech created today, will be used for the aforementioned experiments that Curtis embarks on with the company. Among them will be products for the Internet of Things and that means we will see Logitech become involved in home automation and connected car platforms.
It is currently undecided whether or not the Logitech name will be retired and changed to Logi.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Logitech
Come comment on this article: Logitech redesigns brand with new ‘Logi’ sub-brand
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