First iPhone SE Cases Start Appearing With Conflicting Designs

Last week, we saw some conflicting designs for what the upcoming 4-inch iPhone 5se or SE might look like, based on information obtained from case manufacturers. With less than three weeks to go before the device’s introduction, we’re now seeing the first actual “iPhone SE” cases surface online, although it’s clear these companies have yet to nail down just what the phone will look like.

iPhone 5se/SE case with iPhone 5s-like design including power button on top
As revealed in images obtained by MacRumors, distributors offering “iPhone 5se” cases for bulk purchase are carrying cases of both rumored designs, which include one very similar to the iPhone 5 or 5s design with the power button on the top and another more like the iPhone 6 design with rounded edges and the power button on the side.

iPhone 5se/SE case with iPhone 6-like design including power button on side
Early case leaks have historically been fairly accurate indicators of new iPhone designs, though there have been a few notable exceptions. With two distinct case designs still floating around this close to the iPhone SE’s launch, it’s clear there is still confusion over just what Apple intends to release.

Yesterday, we published our own take on one way to reconcile the conflicting rumors, combining a curved-edge front glass panel that has been a consistent feature of iPhone 5se/SE rumors with a metal chassis that has a bit of the iPhone 5s design aesthetic including glass antenna windows at the top and bottom of the device’s back.

Related Roundups: iPhone 5se, iPhone SE
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Original Musical ‘The Crazy Ones’ Will Depict Steve Jobs’ ‘Powerful Demons’

A new musical centering around the founding of Apple Computers by Steve Jobs is debuting this month in New York. Developed at the New York Musical Festival, the Musical Theatre Factory, and the New York Theatre Barn, “The Crazy Ones” is billed as “a thrilling new original pop-rock musical” that aims to depict Jobs’ genius as well as his “very powerful demons.”

In 1982, Steve Jobs was in control. His company, Apple Computer, was on top of the world: his products were changing the work and home life of hundreds of thousands of users every day, and he was exorbitantly, extravagantly rich. But something sinister was brewing underneath the surface – both at Apple, and in Steve’s own mind. The Crazy Ones tells the story of the man behind the genius and how he strove to leave behind a legacy, despite some very powerful demons.

The music and lyrics were written by award-winning composer Zack Zadek with a book by Alexander Pototsky, who’ve been working together on the idea for The Crazy Ones for over two years. Their creation will finally see its debut on March 15 at Feinstein’s/54 Below in New York City. Those interested in attending can check out ticket pricing here.

This isn’t the first time Steve Jobs’ life has been the subject of dramatization outside of film — last year it was announced that an opera depicting the Apple co-founder’s life will debut in 2017.

Tag: Steve Jobs
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Save space and organize spices on your fridge – CNET

Alina Bradford

If you don’t have much room in your kitchen, then a magnetic spice rack for the fridge is a great way to store your herbs and spices while keeping them fresh. This DIY takes absolutely no skill, so if you’re not crafty, don’t worry.

All you need for are small containers with sealable lids, self-adhesive magnets, adhesive labels and a marker. I used 4-ounce plastic storage containers that you can buy at the grocery store, but you can find pretty metal containers at craft stores. Also, if you don’t have any labels laying around you can use clear office tape for labels.

Once you have your supplies gathered, just peel the sticker off of the magnets and stick one on the bottom of each container. Fill the containers with herbs and spices and label the lids. Then, line the containers up on your refrigerator door.

My favorite part about this hack is that you can line your herbs and spices up alphabetically so that they are easy to find.

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Here’s how you can buy an Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Tap – CNET

I’d really like to get Amazon’s smaller new Echo Dot for my apartment, but unfortunately I can’t. Since I don’t already own an Amazon Echo or Amazon Fire TV, I’m not able to buy one just yet.

Amazon today debuted the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap, two new voice-activated personal assistant devices. The Echo Dot is the Echo’s little sister; smaller and without a speaker (you provide your own), but with the same features of the Echo.

Amazon Tap is a portable, rechargeable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker that uses the voice assistant Alexa to control the music, deliver news, get weather reports and more. The key difference with Tap is that it’s not always listening like the Echo; instead you have to press a button to talk to Alexa.

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But before you head over to Amazon to buy them, there are few things to know.

Amazon Echo Dot, $89.99 (approximately £64)

The Amazon Echo Dot.

James Martin/CNET

To get an Echo Dot, you need to be an Amazon Prime member and already own an Echo or a Fire TV. You have to use Alexa Voice Shopping to buy one. Say the magic words, “Alexa, order Echo Dot” and you’re all set. There’s a limit of one Dot per order and two per customer, and Echo Dot is currently available only in the US, though Amazon plans to sell them internationally soon.

Amazon is expected to eventually sell the Dot alone on its website, but for now you need to be a Prime member and already have an Echo or a Fire TV.

Amazon Tap, $129.99 (approximately £93)

The Amazon Tap.

James Martin/CNET

Getting an Amazon Tap is far easier: you can just purchase it from Amazon’s website. There’s no purchasing limit as there is with the Dot, though it’s available only in the US for now, retailing for $129.99. It ships on March 31.

Get our hands-on impressions of the Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Tap on CNET to decide if either is worth buying.

Make your own Netflix button with the Pebblebee Stone – CNET

Taylor Martin/CNET

Back in September, Netflix released instructions for what it called The Switch — and what everyone else referred to as “The Netflix and Chill Button.”

In essence, it’s a DIY button that dims the lights, silences your phone, powers on the TV and launches the Netflix app. All of this happens with the press of a button.

The company provided the schematics and the source code for the button so anyone who wanted could make a Netflix button for themselves. That said, the instructions require basic coding knowledge, soldering skills and assembly or fabrication of the button housing.

You can make your own Netflix button with a lot less hassle, however. Here’s how.

What you will need

While you won’t need a soldering iron or a 3D printer to make your own Netflix button, you will need some smart lights that are compatible with the Web service IFTTT, a Harmony smart hub or smart switch and an IFTTT account. Optionally, you can choose to pick up a Pebblebee Stone, Flic or Bttn.

Also, before starting, make sure all the necessary IFTTT channels are active. From ifttt.com, click Channels in the upper right corner and search for the brand of your smart bulb or smart switch and click on the icon. Click Connect, login to your account for the smart device and authorize the connection.

How to set up your own Netflix button

The first step to creating your own Netflix button is to create a series of IFTTT recipes, all with the same trigger.

Before that, however, you need to select what you will use as the trigger. For this example, I’m going to repurpose the Pebblebee Stone as The Switch.

• Start by creating a new recipe. Go to ifttt.com from your browser, login and click on your username. In the dropdown menu, click Create.
• Click This to advance and search for Pebblebee. Click on the Pebblebee channel icon and click Stone press for the Trigger.
• Select which Stone and press type (press or hold) you want to activate the recipe, then click Create Trigger.
• Click That to continue, and for the Action Channel in this example, we’re going to automate the most important part of any movie night: dimming the lights. Search for your smart bulb channel — in our case, Lifx — and click on the channel icon.
• Select Change color of lights and choose which lights the recipe will affect. Select the color and brightness you want the lights to change to, whether they should turn on first and how long the transition duration should be.
• Click Create Action, followed by Create Recipe to complete the recipe.

This will just be one recipe in a series that you will need to create to setup your own Netflix button. Some ideas for additional recipes are:

• Use the Harmony channel to power on the TV
• Use the Android Text channel to text Dominos to order pizza
• Use the Nest channel to raise the temperature 1 or 2 degrees
• Use the Android Device channel to mute ringtone
• Use the Smartthings channel to lock the doors

If you don’t want to spend the cash on a Pebblebee Stone, another neat solution is using a DO Button recipe with an Android Wear device or Apple Watch to send a request to the Maker IFTTT channel. Using a series of Maker IFTTT recipes, you can create an entirely virtual Netflix button.

Amazon Echo Dot Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Amazon Echo Dot.

James Martin/CNET

Chop off the top inch and a half of the Amazon Echo smart speaker, and you’d be looking at the new Amazon Echo Dot, announced this morning. At $90, the Echo Dot is half the price of the original Amazon Echo, but just as smart.

Like with the original Echo, you’ll control things by talking to Alexa, Amazon’s always-on, always-listening virtual assistant. Like the original Echo, Dot connects to the cloud to stream music, read the day’s headlines, or control your connected home.

The difference with Dot is that Echo’s full-size speaker is gone. Instead, you’ll hook it up to your own audio setup, either via Dot’s line out jack or Bluetooth.

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That means that you’ll be able to use Alexa with whatever speakers you want — a great solution if you’ve already invested in an audio setup. Plug in Dot, and you’ll be able to ask Alexa to stream music from Amazon Prime Music, Pandora or Spotify. You’ll also have access to internet radio and podcasts through iHeartRadio and TuneIn, as well as audiobook support from Audible and the Kindle Store.

Dot also features tiny built-in speakers that put out about as much audio as your phone does. That’s obviously not enough to fill a room with sound the way that Echo can, but it would work as an additional control point for smart homes anchored by Alexa.

Those smart home controls are a growing part of Alexa, and thus Echo and Echo Dot’s, feature set. Along with existing support for Philips Hue and Lifx smart bulbs, Belkin WeMo’s smart switches, and connected home platforms like SmartThings, Wink and Insteon, Amazon is set to roll-out a newly announced set of third-party developer tools that’ll help Alexa work with smart thermostats. That includes the Nest Learning Thermostat, which hasn’t worked directly with Alexa before now.

Open up the Alexa app and you’ll also find a growing number of “Skills,” which are basically the apps of Amazon’s voice platform. These include additional smart home device controls, voice-activated games, branded integrations from third-parties ranging from Uber to Domino’s, and numerous other Alexa tricks and gimmicks. If it works with Echo, it works with Dot, too.

You can connect Echo Dot with your existing audio setup via Bluetooth, or using the Dot’s line out jack.

James Martin/CNET

Like the Echo, you’ll need to keep the Echo Dot plugged in. For a wireless, more portable take on the Alexa-powered smart speaker, there’s Amazon Tap, the other Echo offshoot unveiled by the online mega-retailer this morning.

For now, Amazon Echo Dot is an Amazon Prime exclusive, and, in a bit of an odd move, you’ll only be able to pre-order one by asking Alexa. You’ll only find Amazon’s virtual assistant with the Echo smart speaker and with the Amazon Fire TV — if you don’t own either one, your dreams of Dot will have to wait.

Amazon wouldn’t say how long the Alexa-only pre-order period will last, but said that the Echo Dot is expected to start shipping at the end of March.

Like the Echo, the Echo Dot will only be available in the US, though an Amazon representative tells us that expanding internationally is “super important,” adding, “we expect over time to go everywhere Amazon is.” For what it’s worth, that $90 price comes out to about £65, or roughly AU$125.

At any rate, we’ll look forward to testing the Echo Dot out in the CNET Smart Home, where the Amazon Echo already plays a central role.

Amazon Tap Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Amazon Echo Tap.

James Martin/CNET

We’ve heard reports that Amazon was working on a smaller, battery-powered version of the Amazon Echo smart speaker. Today, the online mega-retailer made it official.

The product is the Amazon Tap and, as expected, it’s a smaller, more portable, more affordable version of the popular cloud-connected speaker, complete with full access to Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant. It’ll cost $130 — $50 less than the Amazon Echo (like the Echo, the Tap is only available in the US at this point, but Amazon tells us they’d like to expand to new markets in the future).

Unlike the Echo, the Amazon Tap is totally wireless. You’ll charge it by setting it down in the included cradle, then take it wherever you want to listen to it. Amazon tells us it’ll stream up to nine hours of audio on a full charge, or last up to three weeks in standby mode.

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That battery life comes with a trade-off: The Tap isn’t an always-on, always-listening device like the Echo is. That means you can’t wake it up just by saying “Alexa” — you’ll instead need to press the microphone button on the front of the device. Once you do, you’ll enjoy full access to all of the tricks in Alexa’s toolkit (provided, of course, that you’re connected to Wi-Fi. Take Tap to the beach, and it’ll function as little more than a standard Bluetooth speaker that plays songs from your phone or tablet.)

Alexa’s tricks include streaming music from Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, and Spotify, along with streaming internet radio from TuneIn and iHeartRadio. You can also ask her to play your audiobooks from Audible or the Kindle Store, or read the morning headlines from sources like NPR, CNN and ESPN.

Amazon Devices Senior Vice President Dave Limp demonstrates the Tap at Amazon’s UX Lab in San Francisco.

James Martin/CNET

Alexa is also a growing player in the smart home. As of now, you can put her in control of Philips Hue and Lifx smart bulbs, Belkin WeMo Switches, connected home platforms like SmartThings, Wink, and Insteon and the Ecobee3 connected thermostat. A new set of developer tools for third-party manufacturers promises to bring more smart thermostats into the mix, including the popular Nest Learning Thermostat.

As for sound, the Tap promises the same sort of room-filling audio quality as the Echo. Amazon gave us a quick demonstration at its UX Lab in San Francisco. To my ear, it sounded similar to what I expect from the Amazon Echo I use in my own home. Which is to say that it’s a perfectly sufficient streamer for casual listening.

The Tap wasn’t the only new Alexa gadget Amazon announced today — there’s also the Amazon Echo Dot, which features all of the same smarts as the original Amazon Echo, but without the full-size speaker. Instead, you plug Dot into your existing audio setup, putting Alexa in control of it. That’s an intriguing solution for audiophiles who aren’t sold on the quality of the Echo or Tap’s sound.

The Tap is available for pre-order on Amazon starting today, and open to anybody who wants it, regardless of whether or not they’ve got an Amazon Prime subscription. It’s scheduled to start shipping out at the end of March.

Rythm Dreem Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Every night I go to bed with a mini Darth Vader mask on my face. It’s a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. I do it because I hope it’ll make me sleep better.

There’s a company that wants to make a headband that can help you sleep better. And that headband can double as a brainwave-reading machine. It’s called the Dreem. The Dreem has nothing to do with CPAP machines, and it isn’t even meant to do anything with apnea. It’s not an approved medical device, either. But it does claim to improve your sleep…by interrupting your brainwaves, just a bit.

Sound weird? Yeah, to me too. I haven’t had a chance to test it yet, but I did get to wear one on my head briefly during a demo in New York. I remain skeptical, as any sane person would. But Rythm’s CEO and co-founder Hugo Mercier confidently claims it works.

What the final Dreem hardware will look like.

Ariel Nunez/CNET

A metronome for your deep sleep

According to Mercier, who I met with at CNET’s office in New York, Dreem is an “active” neurological wearable. This means it not only monitors and measures, but can take action based on what it perceives.

The Dreem is a compact EEG-measuring device. When I got my CPAP machine outfitted, I first had to undergo a sleep study using a complicated, multi-wired full-body system that measures breathing, oxygen levels, brain activity with wires pasted to my head and body movement. The Dreem just measures brain activity. According to Mercier, it can see whether you’re in deep sleep, REM or light sleep — each phase is different (deep sleep can be the most body-restful; REM sleep involves dreams). And it can do more than that: it senses eye movement, and potentially a whole lot more.

The Dreem pairs with an iOS or Android device to sync sleep data, but it operates on its own at night. It measures brain activity, and then sends optimally timed noises via bone conduction that are meant to trigger deep sleep cycles, and keep the sleeper in deep sleep for longer. The goal is faster entry into deep sleep, and more rest in less time.

Sounds like magic to me. I had no way of actually vetting whether the Dreem could do this in my office demo. Instead, I wore a delicate prototype device and saw it was measuring activity via the phone’s paired display, which showed changes in brain waves when I looked around, or blinked.

Trying on the prototype model.

Ariel Nunez/CNET

Occasionally, I’d hear a soft hiss. That, Mercier told me, is the bone conduction sound the Dreem sets off: a “pink noise” that’s meant to impact brain waves. The little hiss is odd. Would I get used to this as I slept?

The Dreem costs $349, and is available for pre-order now on Rythm’s website (UK and Australian prices are yet to be announced but that converts to about £250 or AU$475). I still have no idea what the Dreem actually does versus what Rythm claims it can do, so I certainly wouldn’t get one yet. We’ll get a review unit sometime this spring, hopefully, and I’ll get to sleep with one. That’s the only way I’ll know if this works.

My bulky Philips DreamStation CPAP machine is already something I use each night, and helps me get some rest by opening my air passages. The Dreem isn’t a medically approved device yet, so it can’t be a true replacement for anything. But I want to see if it can do what it promises, as I had no way of vetting Dreem’s claims during my demo.

My brain waves are…being read?

Ariel Nunez/CNET

A future AR/VR mind controller?

Rythm isn’t just setting its sights on sleep quality. I was reminded of other brainwave-controlled toys and wearables, and demos I’ve seen of brain-controlled games. I asked Mercier about this and he smiled. AR/VR interfaces are definitely a future goal of Rythm. Whether that manifests in the Dreem or in another device isn’t exactly clear. But if the Dreem is a very good EEG monitor (something I also can’t vet yet), maybe it could be very good at a lot of other things, too.

Neurological wearables are coming (maybe)

This should prepare us for the inevitable: brain-monitoring wearables are probably going to be a popular pitch of the near future, especially if EEG-sensing technology is feasible and somewhat I don’t think I’d want to wear a crazy band on my head all the time, but a new category of brain devices might be the next wave of wearable tech beyond the stuff of basic things like wristbands. Rythm imagines devices that could measure mood and other states. It reminds me a bit of what the Muse headband promised a couple of years ago.

I wouldn’t necessarily want a brain-sensing band on my head, and I don’t think my wife would be a fan. But what if this could be built into a pair of headphones, or a VR headset? Mind-controlled virtual reality…I’d go for that.

In the meantime, though, I’d settle for a decent night’s sleep.

No Man’s Sky Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

No Man’s Sky is a game unlike any we’ve seen before: As a starship pilot, you’ll explore a universe so vast, its developers think explorers won’t set foot on 99 percent of its planets. That seems ridiculous, but Hello Games estimates No Man’s Sky has 18 quintillion planets. It has to estimate, because of course it didn’t craft them by hand — they’re all the result of algorithms, procedurally generating each one as it’s discovered.

The idea that any one player could be the first — and last — to ever set foot on an alien world? It’s incredibly exciting stuff. And on June 21, 2016, you’ll be able to jump into No Man’s Sky on PlayStation 4 and PC, and start exploring.

Hello Games, a tiny British company which until now has been reticent to share much about its hotly anticipated game, is ready to give us more of an idea of what to expect. There are alien civilizations in this universe, and we don’t mean simple animals, minerals or vegetables. We’re talking worlds occupied by intelligent beings. And they might want to meet you — that is, if you can find them.

A procedurally generated, living universe is a fascinating prospect for gamers. But since its official announcement almost two years ago, we’ve had to survive on tidbits revealed in developer demos. We haven’t seen what a regular player might experience as they explore and discover planets in the No Man’s Sky universe.

Earlier this week, I had the chance to play the game for about 30 minutes in a solar system with a more advanced ecosystem — planets farther from the sun might be less developed, but have elements players might want for crafting. As I zipped around in my spacecraft, taking off and setting down on various planets in the system, the transition between space, atmosphere and land were impressively seamless. No loading screens here.

Ominous, to be sure. Let’s play dumb and pretend we need its help, just in case it’s an angry monolith.

Hello Games

While on one planet, I discovered various animal species (shout-outs to Bailey and Jenkins, small lizard-like creatures now officially named after my dogs), gathered resources from the planet, protected myself from the elements, and died to a large nocturnal predator; all mechanics we’re familiar with in video games. But then, I arrived at a large monolith covered in unintelligible inscriptions.

In my own personal “2001: A Space Odyssey” moment, it turns out these monoliths are relics left by alien races, and you can interact with them. Hello Games’ Sean Murray says there are “thousands” of potential options — watch our interview with him below. I told the slab I was a pitiful, lower intelligence being and asked for mystical learning, which it then bestowed upon me via an alien word. Learning a particular alien race’s words help you decipher what a member of that race has to say to you, which could be the difference between life, death and sweet loot.

I found an occupied station with a strange parrot-like being inside, and after trading niceties with him, I was gifted an upgraded gun, and went on my way. Murray explained that each race has its own lore, and some are focused on a particular pursuit, like military strength or science.

The addition of these alien characters made the game feel much more immersive than previous demos I’ve seen. After hearing previously that you might never run into another player in No Man’s Sky because of the vastness of the universe, I had concerns the game would be a terrifyingly lonely experience. The addition of alien races made me feel like I was truly exploring living planets, almost like an astro-archaeologist. Yes, I just called myself the Indiana Jones of outer space.

There’s still that nagging question though, the one that’s been out there since we learned about No Man’s Sky: What’s the balance between lush, advanced worlds like the ones we explored earlier this week, and barren planets devoid of life? The inherent problem with demoing the game is that there isn’t really a way to figure that out — because the universe is so large, and its developers don’t even know what’s on most planets (they had to spend days playing around in this particular system before we sat down for our demo, so they could help show us around if we needed help), it’s almost impossible to gauge how interesting most planets might be.

After playing the game for a half hour, all I wanted was more time. No matter if you want to catalog one single planet’s life, see as much of the universe as you can, or something in between, No Man’s Sky seems to welcome you with open arms. If Hello Games can pull off a launch relatively free of bugs and glitches, gamers who love open sandboxes will be in for a treat that’s well worth the price of admission.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 makes its debut in India for ₹9,999

At a media event in New Delhi, Xiaomi has unveiled the Redmi Note 3 in the Indian market. The handset is priced at ₹9,999 ($146), and is set to go on sale starting March 9 on the vendor’s online portal as well as Amazon.

The metal-bodied Redmi Note 3 features a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display, Snapdragon 650 SoC with four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.4GHz and two newer Cortex A72 cores at 1.8GHz, microSD slot, 16MP camera with phase detection autofocus, 5MP front shooter, LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 4000mAh battery. There’s also a fingerprint sensor at the back. On the software front, you’re looking at the latest version of MIUI 7 running on Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The phone comes in two variants: a model with 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal memory for ₹11,999 ($176), and a base model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal memory for ₹9,999 ($146). The handset will be assembled in India under the government’s “Make in India” initiative.

Xiaomi was the first Chinese vendor to offer attractive hardware in the budget segment, but the market has matured since the launch of the Mi 3 a few years ago, with the likes of Lenovo, Huawei, and LeEco aggressively targeting the segment. As such, the Redmi Note 3 goes up against Lenovo’s Vibe K4 Note, the Honor 5X, and the LeEco 1S.

There’s no question that the Redmi Note 3 holds its own — at least in terms of specs — when compared to other handsets on sale in this segment, but it remains to be seen if the vendor manages to make enough units available at launch to deal with the inevitable demand.

Last year was a largely forgettable one for Xiaomi in India due to its litigation with Ericsson, which prevented the manufacturer from launching its marquee products in the country. With the case now settled, it looks like Xiaomi is gearing up for a massive 2016, with its flagship Mi 5 slated to make its debut in the coming months.

Indian readers, how many of you are looking to buy the Redmi Note 3?

See at Mi.com