Google Inbox adds two time-saving snooze options

One of the great things about Google Inbox’s snooze function is being able to set the exact date and time to resurface emails you intend to read and reply to later. Sometimes, though, you just want to get non-urgent emails out of the way without thinking too hard. This latest Inbox update allows you to do just that. Now, when you choose to toss a digital missive into your read-it-much-much-later pile, you can choose from two new snooze times: Later this week and This weekend. And since different people have different weekends, you can choose a particular day when you think you’ll be ready to face what you’ve put off.

They sound a bit dangerous for the eternal procrastinator, but incredibly useful for people who have lot going on in their lives. Google is rolling out these features over the next week, so you’ll be able to use them soon enough.

Correction: This post originally attributed some additional features recently added to the Android Gmail app to Google’s Inbox apps. These features appear to still be exclusive only to Gmail for Android.

Source: Gmail

‘Dragon Front’ is Oculus Rift’s most exciting game yet

High Voltage debuted its newest offering for the Oculus Rift, an immersive, turn-based collectable card game called Dragon Front. It plays much like Magic: the Gathering in that players draw from customized 30-card decks, arrange them on a standardized playing field — in this case a 4 x 4 grid — and attempt to whittle down the HP of the opposing player, as well as their forces, to win. Players can choose from single player (vs AI) or multiplayer matchups. Like similar physical card games, these various assets all consume Mana to operate. However, with the added capabilities of VR, the actual combat is closer to a Dejarik match than a simple card game.

Players can choose among four warring factions, each with their own relative strengths and weaknesses. Along with the attacking and defending characters, the game offers a litany of buffing and debuffing spells, encampments — even ultra-powerful “Heroes” that can be called upon to wreak havoc on the opponent’s base. What’s more, players can heavily customize their decks from 250 available cards to accommodate their preferred combat style or to counter an opponent’s tactics. Dragon Front is currently scheduled for release in the first half of this year. Plus, three additional add-on packs are already in the works.

I had an opportunity to play the Beta version on Tuesday and, though I totally got smoked in my first non-tutorial game, I found Dragon Front to be surprisingly engaging. It definitely takes a good deal of inspiration from Magic but also incorporates a much more straightforward damage/defense metric, more akin to RISK. That’s helpful given how much is going on throughout the game. Overall I found it to be really enjoyable. Despite the initial drubbing, I’m raring to play more.

Have some cake and enjoy the ‘Indie Dev Supershow’ this weekend

Alix Stolzer was one of the first game developers to truly embrace the power of livestreaming. She’s the feline half of independent studio Robot Loves Kitty (her husband, Calvin Goble, is the android), and she’s been using Twitch as a marketing and communication tool since 2013. That year, she organized the inaugural Indie Dev Supershow, a weekend marathon on Twitch highlighting a handful of games trying to score spots on Steam.

Since then, the annual Indie Dev Supershow has garnered roughly 700,000 unique views. This year’s show kicks off today at 11 AM EST, and it’s poised to add a lot more viewers.

“I’m really happy with the number,” Stolzer says. “My goal is to get other devs into the eyes of the public, and it’s better than the turnout of a year’s worth of expos like PAX and E3. That doesn’t mean I’m not trying to grow what we have, though.”

This year’s Indie Dev Supershow is the largest yet, featuring more than 40 games and their developers over three days. Games include 20XX, Guns of Icarus, Ninja Pizza Girl, Catacomb Kids, Renowned Explorers, Brawlhalla and cake. Like, real cake. Stolzer and friends encourage their audience to enjoy a slice with them at the end of the show (and no, this isn’t a lie — it’s a tradition). The live event ends on Sunday, February 28th at 4 PM EST.

One game missing from the lineup is Stolzer’s own, Legend of Dungeon: Masters. It’s a stylish, pixelated romp that utilizes Twitch in fascinating ways: If someone is streaming the game, viewers can boot up the Masters client and drop items into that streamer’s game, live. Some items help, while others most certainly do not.

Stolzer and Goble will play Legend of Dungeon: Masters during the pre-show each day, but it’s not on the official lineup and they don’t want to draw attention to it.

“I’ve actually made a point of leaving our own games out of the Supershow,” Stolzer says. “This year we’ll be playing a bit of our stuff before the Supershow starts and even that feels a bit… dirty? I’ve always felt that it’s a more meaningful show when I do it selflessly.”

That’s how the Supershow started, after all.

Back in the early days of Steam Greenlight, Valve’s new system was incredibly frustrating for many independent developers. It was 2012 and Greenlight was supposed to streamline the submission process: Hordes of independent games were vying for spots on Steam, and Greenlight allowed the community to vote in the games they liked. If a title got enough votes, it would launch on Steam.

Valve accepted Greenlight games in batches at first, launching a handful every month or so. Then, that transformed into nearly 100 games every month. Then, Valve stopped announcing Greenlit games entirely and just started rolling out the titles at the top of the list with no announcements. The system drastically increased the number of games available on Steam, and it heightened competition among independent developers. Everyone was looking for a way to stand out in the crowd.

That’s why Stolzer started the Supershow. She wanted to find a fun way of marketing Legend of Dungeon for the Greenlight voting audience. This was back when Valve was accepting just 10 games a month. The Supershow seemed like a perfect solution, and it might have been, had the Greenlight gods not intervened.

“I came up with the idea, but then Legend of Dungeon got Greenlit days later,” Stolzer says. “I decided to do the Supershow anyhow because it was something I wanted to see, and I thought the idea could help other devs connect with the community.”

The Supershow is a huge undertaking and it’s only getting bigger. Stolzer estimates she’ll have spent about 200 hours planning this year’s run.

“The most stressful part of organizing the Supershow is the sheer size of it and the fact that I’m organizing it alone while also trying to make my own games,” she says. “I play every game that gets submitted (100-plus), and am in frequent contact with the devs in the show, guest streamers and all kinds of planning things.”

Indie Dev Supershow Day 1 is live!https://t.co/twRoiCPskv pic.twitter.com/eT30zePUxx

— i[o o]i ♥ =^.^= (@RobotLovesKitty) February 26, 2016

However, planning the Supershow isn’t the hardest part.

“The most harrowing part is having to inform the devs who I couldn’t fit in the show that they aren’t in the show,” Stolzer says. “It breaks my heart, even though I know curation makes the show better.”

Stolzer knows how to run a live event, make a game, live in a tree (yes, really) and how to use streaming to boost her brand. At the core of all these things, Stolzer is driven to have fun and help people at the same time.

“Robot Loves Kitty is one of the studios that jumped into streaming really early on, pretty much as soon as we knew it was possible,” she says. “It’s definitely affected everything we do. We think of it as a great way to stay in touch with our community and fans.”

Apple Working on Fix for Spotify Kernel Panic Bug on OS X

Spotify team member Johan Lindstrom has confirmed that Apple is working on a fix for a bug that occasionally triggers a kernel panic on OS X when running the streaming music service’s official Mac desktop app.

The issue first arose in the Spotify support community in October, when a user claimed that OS X 10.9.5 was crashing after updating to Spotify version 1.0.15.133. Since then, dozens of other affected users have shared kernel panic logs.

I’ve been in contact with Apple and they have confirmed that this is a known bug in the current and recent versions of OS X. They are working on a fix, but I don’t know when they will roll that out. The bug that is causing the kernel panic is being triggered when running Spotify simply because the Spotify app is making network requests (to stream music etc.) and there are several other apps that also cause the same kernel panic to occur.

In the meantime, the user-suggested workaround is to disable OS X’s built-in system firewall under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Firewall. The firewall is normally used to control which apps send or receive network traffic, so be aware of the potential security implications of disabling it.

Spotify has sent the kernel panic logs to Apple and pointed them towards the support community topic, but it remains unclear when the bug will be fixed. Apple seeded the fourth beta of OS X 10.11.4 to developers for testing earlier this week, while OS X 10.12 will likely be previewed at WWDC in June.

(Thanks, Daniel!)

Tags: Spotify, OS X
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Apple Loses Appeal in Samsung Case: Two Patents Ruled Invalid, $120 Million Verdict Overturned

The long-running dispute between Apple and Samsung continues, with an appeals court today handing the Cupertino-based company a defeat by invalidating two Apple patents and ruling a third had not been infringed by Samsung (via Bloomberg). The ruling, which covers Apple patents related to slide-to-unlock, autocorrect, and interactive phone number features, also threw out the original $119.6 million in damages Apple had been awarded in the case.

In addition, Apple’s guilty verdict from nearly two years ago has been upheld: the company still has to pay $158,400 for violating Samsung’s patent describing an “apparatus for recording and reproducing digital image and speech.” Regarding the three operating system features Apple attempted to validate, the court ruled that Apple’s claim for Samsung’s patent infringement was “invalid.”

In this case, Apple claimed that Samsung infringed patents for the slide-to-unlock feature, autocorrect and a way to detect phone numbers that can then be touched to make phone calls. The autocorrect patent is invalid and the detection patent wasn’t infringed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an opinion posted on its electronic docket. The court upheld the jury’s verdict that two other Apple patents, for universal search and background syncing, weren’t infringed.

In a separate court battle over patent infringements, last December Samsung decided to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court in one final effort to avoid paying $548 million to Apple. Just this month, Apple attempted to convince the Supreme Court to deny Samsung’s appeal in the five-year-old case, claiming that the South Korean company was simply attempting to prolong the case even further following the announcement of the settlement.

Tags: Samsung, lawsuit
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Apple’s Upcoming 4-Inch Smartphone May Be Called ‘iPhone SE’

Rumors surrounding the 4-inch “iPhone 5se” continue today with new information pointing to the possibility of Apple dropping the “5” from the name altogether and simply calling it the “iPhone SE.” As reported by 9to5Mac, the new name would be a shift in focus on the 4-inch iPhone’s “enhanced and special edition” status, making it stand out from the numerically named crowd of the iPhone family.

A design mock-up of the iPhone SE shows similarities to the iPhone 5s

Based on Apple reinvigorating the 4-inch iPhone screen size at a time where the market is mostly moving toward larger smartphone screens, it would make sense for Apple to position this device as simply the “SE.” Sources say that the dropping of the “5” from the name also simplifies the iPhone lineup as bringing back an iPhone “5” variant amid the iPhone “6” lifecycle could potentially confuse customers. The iPhone SE will replace the existing iPhone 5s and will take its price points.

Mock-ups from earlier in the week suggested that the iPhone SE will look near-identical to that of the iPhone 5s, with a body measuring in at 123.8mm tall, 58.6mm wide, and 7.6mm thick. The device is said to have an A9 processor, an M9 chip to accommodate the new fitness tracking features of iOS, and include “Hey Siri,” Apple Pay, and Live Photos support.

The design renderings of the iPhone SE show conflicting claims in regards to the new iPhone’s power button placement and camera, but the latter feature is said to support an 8-megapixel system. The iPhone SE is believed to come in the four expected color options of the iPhone line — Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, and Gold — and be available in 16GB and 64GB sizes.

It won’t be long until we find out everything about the iPhone SE, with reports pointing towards a March 15 media event for the reveal of the new 4-inch iPhone. On the same day, Apple is predicted to announce what was thought to be called the “iPad Air 3,” but is now believed to be a smaller 9.7-inch addition to the iPad Pro family.

Related Roundups: iPhone 5se, iPhone 6c
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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a MOS Pack Backpack With Built-In Power Strip

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with MOS to give away three of its MOS Pack backpacks. The MOS Pack, which got its start on Kickstarter, features a built-in MOS Reach power strip and cable management system that allows devices stored inside to be charged using a single cord and without removing any items from the backpack.

The MOS Pack can accommodate a MacBook (up to 15 inches), an iPhone, and an iPad all at once, with each one plugging into the power strip, which is equipped with a standard port for charging a MacBook and two USB charging ports.

Inside the MOS Pack, cords are threaded through cable management sleeves to keep them hidden from sight, while the power strip is tucked away in a special compartment and held in place with magnets. The MOS Pack has a padded laptop sleeve, tablet sleeve, iPhone pocket, waterproof water bottle pocket, passport pocket, a padded case for glasses, and slots for pens, pencils, and other accessories.

Available in Onyx and Slate, the MOS Pack is made from rugged nylon, with nylon infused rubber at the bottom. It has a rigid (but soft) back and foam-padded straps for comfort. While it looks slim, the MOS Pack has a 20-liter storage capacity. The MOS Pack is available for $149.95, but MOS is offering MacRumors readers a 20 percent discount.

Three MacRumors readers will also have a chance to win a MOS Pack through our giveaway. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize.

You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page. Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (February 26) at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 4. The winners will be chosen randomly on March 4 and will be contacted by email. The winners have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen. The prizes will be shipped to the winners for free.

Tags: giveaway, MOS
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Make use of space over the kitchen sink with this DIY pot rack – CNET

Frohoss/Reddit

Notoriously, pots and pans are the most frustrating items to store. They’re bulky, never sit flat and crash out of the cabinet every time you open the door.

Often, the best solution is to hang your pots and pans. Chances are, if you aren’t hanging them already, it’s likely because there isn’t a viable place to hang them.

If you have a gap between your cabinets, Reddit user Frohoss has an elegant and simple DIY solution.

What you will need

The design is both clever and simple to construct, and the materials will cost between $30 and $40.

To make the cross pieces or slats, you will need a total of six pieces of 1 inch by 2 inch (2.54 by 5.08 centimeter) hardwood which are longer than the distance between the cabinets. For the support braces on the ends, you need two pieces of wood approximately the depth of the cabinets — or short enough to slot into the trim along the top of your cabinets.

Additionally, you will need a handful of wood screws, wood glue, and some swivel hooks. You will also need a stain to match your cabinets or paint for an accent color.

How to make a pot rack

Essentially, you will need to cut all the cross pieces to the same length. The total length will equal the sum of the width of the gap between the cabinets, the width of the trim on top of both cabinets and the width of both support braces.

Frohoss/Reddit

Use the cross pieces in groups of two, spaced just far enough apart to account for the width of the swivel hooks. The groups of slats should be spaced evenly across the support braces at both ends. Apply wood glue to the bottom of each cross piece and screw the braces on the end into the cross pieces.

Drop the swivel hooks through the slats and rotate the hook to hold them in place.

The pot rack should slot perfectly into the tops of the cabinets, and the weight of the rack and the pots and pans will hold it in place. Thinner sauce pans and skillets can be hung from the hooks, while lids and larger pots can be stored on top of the rack.

5 ways orange peels help your kitchen appliances – CNET

Alina Bradford

Think orange peels are trash or that they need to go straight to the compost bin? Hold up! That peel can do a lot. In fact, your kitchen appliances are probably begging for that peel.

Shine your stainless: Orange peels produce natural oils that are used in many cleaning products because the oils shine surfaces so well, especially stainless steel. You can skip the cleansers and go straight to the source, though. Every time you eat an orange, take a few seconds and use the orange side of the peel to polish smudges on your fridge or stove. I find that the fresher the orange, the better this trick works.
Clean your microwave: Throw your orange peels in a bowl with some water and put it in your microwave for 60 seconds. The steam will loosen dried on food for quick clean up and the peels will freshen any bad odors in your microwave.
Make a natural cleanser: You can also use peels to make an all-natural appliance cleaner. Put your peels in a jar and fill the jar with white vinegar. Let the mixture soak for two weeks, then strain it into a spray bottle. This cleaner is great for stovetops, fridge doors, microwaves and more.
De-funk your disposable: Is your garbage disposal smelling a bit funky? Grate some orange zest into the disposal and let it sit for a few minutes. Run the disposal with hot tap water for a few seconds and the funk with transform into a citrusy clean smell.
Get your fridge fresher: Stinky fridges can be caused by many different problems. To make it smell better, make an orange peel powder. Dehydrate your peels in the oven at 200 degrees for two to three hours and grind them into powder using your food processor. Mix the powder with baking soda, put your mixture in a bowl and place it in the back of your fridge. Your fridge will smell sweet and fresh.

Oven tips to make baking go smoothly

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Use this hack to keep your cabinet doors shut – CNET

Enlarge Image

Taylor Martin/CNET

Through most of my high school days, I lived in a 1960s construction house that had settled a lot. Some doors wouldn’t close all the way, the paint on the walls and ceilings had cracked and, worst of all, there was a specific spot on the kitchen floor that when stepped on would cause two or three cabinet doors to swing open.

If you have similar issues in your home, there is a very simple fix you can apply to every cabinet door in your kitchen or bathroom in minutes and without breaking the bank.

Here’s how it’s done.

What you will need

The most important parts of this hack are the magnets. While just about any magnet will help, what you’re actually looking for are neodymium magnets, also known as rare-earth magnets. These have a much stronger pull than your typical ferrite magnets.

You can usually find them near the fasteners in your local hardware store. You will need at least one magnet per troublesome cabinet door.

Taylor Martin/CNET

You will also need one large binder clip per cabinet or some other thin piece of metal. I chose to use binder clips because they’re cheap and easily removable if you decide to upgrade to something more official later on.

How to hack your cabinets

Taylor Martin/CNET

On the inside corner of the door, find a place where the magnet will make contact with the cabinet trim. Use the adhesive to mount the magnet.

Next, line up and attach the binder clip. Pull the arms back and stretch the clip over the trim inside the cabinet, then pinch the sides of each arm to remove them from the binder clip.

When you close the cabinet door, you should feel a small amount of pull from the magnet. This will help keep the door closed when it would otherwise swing open.

As inconspicuous as this is, it obviously isn’t meant to be a permanent solution, especially when you consider that more permanent latching mechanisms for cabinet doors are relatively inexpensive. However, this is useful if you have only a few cabinet doors that won’t stay closed and it will hold you over until you can find a more permanent solution.