Use Google Calendar Goals to make time for what matters – CNET

Taylor Martin/CNET

Achieving your goals isn’t always as easy as it seems, but Google wants to help with that. In the most recent Google Calendar update, it added a new feature called Goals, which exists alongside events and reminders.

Choose an area in which you want to improve or an activity you wish to schedule more time for, choose how often you want to do said activity, and select the best time of day for the activity — morning, afternoon or evening.

Google will take care of the rest. It will adaptively schedule your goals in the available free time in your calendar.

Here’s how to setup Goals in Google Calendar.

Creating Goals in Google Calendar

First, make sure you’re using the latest version of Google Calendar on your Android device or iPhone. Then, to create a new Goal:

• Open the Google Calendar application and tap the plus button in the lower right corner.
• Select the type of goal, such as Exercise, Build a skill, Family and friends, Me time or Organize my life.
• Next, select an activity. Each type of goal has a set of preset activites you can choose from, such as Work out, Learn to code, Eat with family or Meditate. You can also create your own custom goal if none of the presets meet your needs.
• Answer any additional questions that the app may ask, such as specifying what your personal hobby is.
• After choosing your activity, select how many days per week you want to do it and for how long (e.g. once per week for 30 minutes or three times per week for 15 minutes).
• Finally, choose what time of day is best: Morning, Afternoon, Evening or Any time.
• Confirm all the settings and tap the check mark to create the Goal.

Google will analyze the events in your calendar and select the best time for each occurrence of your goal. You can then defer a scheduled event for a goal or, when in the Schedule view, swipe the event to the right to mark it as complete.

Alternatives to Google Calendar Goals

Goals in Google Calendar is the only thing I’ve come across that’s truly adaptive and automatically schedules your free time activities between already scheduled events. That said, intuitive and helpful as it may be, it won’t work as intended for everyone, especially those who don’t add everything to their calendar.

If you’re in search of something similar and aren’t married to a calendar, here are some habit and goal tracking applications that may be of some use:

• Fabulous (Android)
• Rewire (Android)
• Habit Bull (Android)
• Habit List (iOS)
• Golden Scale (iOS)
• Productive (iOS)

Meizu Pro 6 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Meizu

As with many a smartphone from China, Meizu’s new Pro 6 looks a lot like an Apple product. As is also the case with many Chinese devices though, it’s more than a simple iClone.

The Pro 6 has some impressive specs, the most notable of which is its MediaTek processor. Most smartphones operate on dual or quad-core processors: The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus both run on a dual-core Apple A9 chipset, for instance, while Samsung’s Galaxy S7 houses a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor. But the Pro 6’s chipset has 10 cores, an ultra rarity among smartphones.

Whether or not 10 cores will result in drastically better performance remains to be seen — I rather doubt it — but the phone isn’t exactly a slouch in other areas.

Meizu Pro 6 specs and features:

• 5.2-inch 1,920×1,080-pixel Super AMOLED display
• 4GB RAM
• 21-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera
• mCharge, which promises to charge the phone’s 2,560mAh battery in under 60 minutes
• Dual SIM slots
• Fingerprint sensor on the home button
• USB-C slot
• Black, silver and gold colour options

The Pro 6 strongly resembles Apple’s oft-imitated iPhone 6S range, sharing a similar shape and identical placements of speakers, the headphone jack and charger slot. Also like the 6S and 6S Plus, Meizu’s latest smartphone features 3D Touch capabilities (though it refers to it as 3D Press), meaning it can register different levels of pressure your finger applies to the screen.

Meizu opted for a screen size of 5.2 inches, as did HTC with the recently announced HTC 10. It’s a different strategy to industry leaders such as Samsung who offer similar models at different screen sizes, as in the case of the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 Edge. Additionally, it will run on the company’s FlyMe 5.6 software, a customised version of Android latest 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.

The Pro 6 looks to be a solid phone that won’t break your budget. The variant with 32GB of storage is priced at 2,499 yuan, which converts to roughly $385, AU$500 or £270. The 64GB version will fetch 2,799 yuan — that’s about $430, AU$565 or £300.

The device will compete in a similar space to Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Oppo, who in recent months have come out with the Mi 5 and the R9 respectively.

There’s currently no word on availability outside of China, though Meizu’s smartphones often end up being available throughout the US, UK and Australia through third-party online retailers.

Plantronics Rig 4VR Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Plantronics Rig 4VR ships this fall.

Bruce Ashley Photography

PlayStation VR won’t ship till this fall, but Plantronics is jumping on the VR bandwagon with a $70 gaming headset, the Rig 4VR, that’s designed to be used specifically with Sony’s upcoming virtual reality accessory for the PS4. There’s no word yet on international pricing, but Plantronics Rig 500 gaming series headsets, which this headset is based on, cost around £60 in the UK and AU$100 in Australia.

Like the Rig 500 series, the Rig 4VR is constructed with a light, flexible frame. Plantronics says it has a “unique oval earcup design” that’s been ergonomically designed to offer a very comfortable fit when used with the PlayStation VR. It’s also been tuned for PlayStation VR, Plantronics reps tell CNET.

The PlayStation VR ($400) includes Sony earbuds, but a lot of people will want to use better headphones that deliver a more immersive audio experience — or at least that’s what Plantronics is hoping.

Here are the Rig4’s key specs:

• Along with interchangeable cables for use with PlayStation VR and the PlayStation 4 wireless controllers, Rig 4VR features 40mm drivers paired with low-frequency resonators for enhanced bass while maintaining accuracy of sounds.
• The removable flip-to-mute boom with noise-canceling mic can be attached when using the headset with a PS4 controller, offering immersive stereo audio and exceptionally clear chat.
• Light, flexible frame, with a unique oval earcup design.
• Earcups allow in some ambient sound, helping players maintain natural balance during VR sessions. A vented design also makes it possible for in-room conversations during social VR gaming experiences and provides greater heat dissipation so players stay comfortable.
• Can be customized with any Rig 500 Series accessories, such as additional headband designs and finishes, interchangeable earcups and more.
• 3.5mm audio connector.
• Available this holiday season for $70.

M3D Micro 3D Printer review – CNET

The Good The M3D Micro is super compact and affordable. It’s also easy to setup and simple to use.

The Bad The printer needs to be physically connected to a computer at all times to function. Even simple items take hours to print and their quality is subpar.

The Bottom Line The Micro 3D Printer is a fun and easy way to make stuff, but that stuff isn’t all that great.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

The new M3D Micro is like a toy that you’d get for your 10-year-old kid, or use the kid as the excuse to get it for yourself.

For one, it’s affordable, costing just $350 — there’s a retail version on Amazon that costs $450 that includes filaments and extends the warranty from three months to a year. (It’s not widely available in the UK or Australia, but $350 converts to around £250 or AU$450.) Not exactly a tiny amount of cash, but in the world of 3D printers, where prices can run up to a few grand, it’s definitely one of the cheapest. It’s super compact and cube-shaped, measuring a mere 7.3 inches (18.5 cm) in each dimension and weighs slightly more than 2 pounds (1 kg).

And it’s simple to use. Everything you need to know about getting it up and running can be found in this instructional YouTube video and as long as I followed those instructions, the printer worked smoothly with nary an issue. That said, it’s far from perfect.

View full gallery

The Micro is a super compact cube, measuring just 7.3 inches on each side.

James Martin/CNET

The Micro has one major shortcoming: It needs to be physically connected to a computer at all times in order to function. If during a print job the computer is turned off, goes to sleep or if you accidentally close the printing software, the job will fail. Most 3D printers I’ve tested only require a connection to a computer to initialize a printer job, but are able to finish the job on their own. This one can’t.

Additionally, the Micro can only print small objects, its print speed is slow — an iPhone 6 case would take about 2 hours on normal-quality setting — and the print quality is lacking. However, these are common flaws of the popular Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology the Micro uses. If you want truly high quality prints, you’ll need a stereolithography (SLA) printer. (Read more about 3D printing technologies here.)

M3D Micro 3D printer specs

Fused Filament Fabrication 3D printer

7.3-inch (185mm) cube

2.2 pounds (1kg)

Base: 109 by 113mm, at 74mm and above: 91 by 84mm; max height: 116mm

1.75mm

$14 (regular) or $18 (tough) for a spool of 0.5 pound

USB

.stl, .obj

Windows 7 or later, Mac OS 10.6 or later

If you’re looking to ease into the world of 3D printing, the Micro is a safe buy. It’s a fun and easy machine to use, even for most kids, and won’t dig a huge hole in your wallet. However, if you’re serious about 3D printing and are ready to pretty much learn a new trade, a larger printer, such as the XYZprinting Da Vinci Jr. — which costs the same, but is more capable! — will serve you better with more printing options. And if you really want to make high-quality objects, save up for the $3,000 Formlabs Form 2.

Oppo F1 Plus unboxing and first impressions: Promise it’s not an iPhone

We know what you’re all thinking.

This is the Oppo F1 Plus, a beefed up version of its recent, camera focused F1. And if you read the slogan on the box, this phone is a “selfie expert.”

That would be because the signature feature of this phone is its whopping 16MP front facing camera.

Sixteen. Megapixels. Those are going to be some high-resolution selfies.

We’ve had one shipped over from China to take a look at, and while it’s only been here for little over 24 hours, it’s at least long enough to crack it out of the box and get an early feel for it.

The retail packaging for the F1 Plus is on par with recent Oppo phones, to say, very good. Everything you might need is inside, including a clear TPU case to keep your shiny new metal phone shiny and new.

The included charging brick is of particular importance since it enables Oppo’s VOOC rapid charging. When used with a compatible phone it runs at 4A and will charge the phone quickly, while it tones down to 2A should you plug into anything else.

And you’re hooking up via micro-USB still. The lack of USB-C may be down to the first-party quick charging, but it’s here regardless.

Once you’re out of the box here’s the main specs to look at:

Operating System	Color OS 3.0 based on Android 5.1
CPU	MediaTek MT6755 Octa-core
RAM	4GB
Display	5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 AMOLED
Rear Camera	13MP f/2.2
Front Camera	16MP f/2.0
Storage	64GB + microSD
QuickCharge	Yes VOOC Flash Charge at 4A
Battery	2,850mAh
SIM	Dual nano-SIM
Connectivity	MicroUSB
NFC	No
Fingerprint scanner	Yes
Dimensions	151.8 x 74.3 x 6.6 mm
Weight	145g
Price	€389 or £299

There are some things which stand out immediately. For me, the 64GB storage, 4GB of RAM and £299 price point are all extremely pleasing to see. For a couple of hundred pounds less than the likes of a Galaxy S7 and an LG G5 you’re getting twice the internal storage while still retaining a microSD card slot.

They’re not necessarily competing, but it’d be nice to see more of the big players offer more than 32GB of internal storage.

Then we’ll get to the obvious: Yes, the F1 Plus looks a lot like an iPhone 6s. That’s either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your outlook. But treating it on its own, it’s well designed and it certainly feels well built. It’s very slim and fairly light for a phone with a 5.5-inch display, and of course, it comes in gold.

Yes, the Oppo F1 Plus does look a lot like an iPhone

Gold shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone in 2016, not least a phone coming from a Chinese brand. Customers in China like gold phones, so there’s going to be plenty more to come.

On the front of the phone you find a couple of noticeable things. The first is the physical home button which is also a fingerprint scanner. I’m not sure if it’s just me doing something wrong, but the fingerprint scanner seems pretty bad. It doesn’t seem to work with your finger on it in just any orientation and it’s barely worked to unlock the phone in the time I’ve had it so far.

We’ll have to see what it’s like after some more prolonged use, but initially at least, it’s been turned off.

The second thing you notice on the front are the really slim side bezels. This helps keep the F1 Plus’ size manageable since it’s not as wide as some other phones, making it nicer to hold.

Touching quickly on the software and the first thing that’s apparent to anyone who’s ever seen Color OS before is that this is different. We’re up to version 3.0 now and there are both good and bad things to say about it.

Starting with the bad: It’s still based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. For an April 2016 phone, that’s not good. Not at all. It’s practically unacceptable.

As is always the case with Color OS the entire Android operating system has been reworked. This latest iteration looks a lot like Xiaomi’s MIUI which in turn takes cues from iOS. There’s a lot of white and pale colors, though you can also download any one of a huge number of themes from Oppo’s store.

Bloatware is fairly minimal, with the only thing pre-loaded on this unit a copy of WPS Office and Oppo’s own, stock apps. The Oppo browser is based on Opera, so you get chance to use the data saving features you’d find in the standalone app, but aside from that it’s pretty standard fare.

One thing that’s a little confusing is that the settings for the stock apps have all been migrated to the main Settings app on the phone. Just like on iOS. If you’re not going to use them, it won’t bother you, but it’s still strange to see on an Android phone.

Color OS has finally said goodbye to Mr Lag

What is however immediately noticeable and positive about Color OS 3.0 on the F1 Plus is performance. The last couple of Oppo phone’s that have come our way have suffered from some pretty horrible lag in even simple tasks. That seems to have gone away and the F1 Plus is smooth and snappy throughout.

Whether it’s software optimization or the extra hardware that’s been thrown in to it, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that using it doesn’t suck anymore.

The “selfie expert” claim will be put to the test in the course of our full review, mainly because I haven’t been outside since it arrived. And we’ll give a good look at the rear camera as well, for those who like to take pictures of other things. The camera app is still basically the same as previous Oppo phones, very simple, easy to use and with a few manual controls for the more adventurous.

So, to wrap up. First impressions are pretty good. Personally I don’t care whether it looks a lot too much like an iPhone in hardware or software, but I know others will. The F1 Plus is a good looking, well made phone with a great display and software that now feels actually pleasant to use.

24 hours isn’t enough time to begin to touch on how good this phone is or isn’t, but we’ll be back with a full review in the days ahead.

This is why C-3PO has a red arm in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

If you’ve seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens you’ll remember that an old favourite character, the protocol droid C-3PO, is sporting a new red arm. What you likely didn’t know is why.

The film did draw attention to the arm with C-3PO even talking about it, but little more is even hinted at. If you were left feeling teased this is likely because that was exactly the plan.

Following on from the movie Marvel has released a comic for the gold robot himself dubbed Star Wars: C-3PO #1. Within that comic is the backstory of just how the new red arm was acquired. So, while it’s clear this was all done as a way to get movie fans reading comics, this spoiler should negate the need to read. Although the comic is worth a read too.

The comic tells the story of Admiral Ackbar’s imprisonment by The First Order and consequent rescue attempt by a team of robots. All are slaughtered as, you know, “it’s a trap”. But C-3PO gets out only losing an arm. He replaces that with the arm of a fallen robot comrade, Omri, so he won’t forget that the bot died so C-3PO could be saved.

There you have it, tale told. Although, of course, reading will be far more interesting and moving as the writers have done a good job of showing the robot’s perspectives.

Will C-3PO keep the arm for future films, where promoting the comics isn’t as big a concern? We’ll have to wait until 2018 to find out.

READ: Watch Game of Thrones intro in 360-degree VR for some cool easter eggs, right here

How to set up HTC Vive in the real world and the problems you will face

It’s amazing that after years of promise, virtual reality is finally here and accessible to everyone. Everyone with a pukka PC and a healthy bank balance admittedly, but here nonetheless.

Exciting times.

Both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are available to buy for normal consumers (as long as you’re willing to wait for shipping in the case of the latter) and they are packed full of potential. Virtual reality isn’t just a gimmick, it’s here to stay we feel and these two headsets are leading the charge.

We’ve been playing with the full consumer release of the HTC Vive for a few days and it genuinely offers experiences that are new, fresh and interesting.

However, being an early adopter might not be all it’s cracked up to be. Regardless of how amazing virtual reality and the Vive in particular can be, getting to the point where you can try it out for yourself is a rocky road. Setting the darn thing up can be a frustrating process, as we found out for ourselves.

We’ll be publishing our extensive review of the HTC Vive and the SteamVR games available in due course – when we’ve played with it more – but first we feel the need to detail our experiences during the setup process.

READ: HTC Vive preview: An experience that’s out of this world

We encountered several key issues that caused more than a few expletives to fly, so hopefully our obstacles and the way we overcame them will help you if you come across the same problems.

To give you context, we set-up the Vive in a normal, average London flat’s living room, with (just) enough space for the movement aspects of the Vive to work. We also used a gaming-specific tower PC recently built (by ourselves) that exceeds all of the recommended requirements.

After, we also set it up on an amazing gaming laptop for good measure, to give a second side to the story. Here is what we found out…

Pocket-lint

HTC Vive unboxing

Considering how much tech is involved, the HTC Vive kit comes in a reasonably compact box. However, lift the upper compartments and you soon find so many leads and power supplies that the whole task ahead of you seems daunting.

Technically, the setup process when started on a PC takes a quoted 30 minutes, but opening the box, unsealing all the components, and laying them out in front of you so you can see what’s what before you even download the setup software can take anywhere up to 15 minutes before.

We recommend you do this, as you’ll then get an idea of what cable goes with what device, as the package comes with the HTC Vive headset, two base station room sensors, two motion controllers, the link box you need to connect to a PC, and a pair of in-ear headphones.

HTC Vive setup software

The next stage is to download the software from HTCVive.com/setup.

It does a good job of guiding you step by step through the process and is clear and concise. It will even download and install both HTC’s Vive software and Steam if you don’t already have it. It will also install SteamVR – the main software that is needed to recognise and pair all of your Vive components.

If you don’t have a Steam account already, the setup software will also help with that. All the HTC Vive experiences and games are available through the Steam platform, so you will need one for sure.

We already have a Steam account with more than 400 games (you’ve got to love a Steam sale), so no trouble there.

The software then dwells on each of the components, explaining how you set them up adequately. And it was with the first of these we realised our first problem.

HTC Vive base station sensors

The HTC Vive kit comes with two base stations, sensors that map where the headset and controllers are and facing at any one time. They are essential to the experience and need to have clear line of sight to the entire play area.

They need to be in opposite corners so that their vision overlaps for a better reading of the space and therein lies the problem.

HTC provides a wallmount for each of the base stations, so you can screw them into the wall – the setup software even advises you might need a drill.

We live in a rented accommodation, however, and are planning to move in the near future, so don’t want extra holes in the walls. In addition, we already have a 55-inch TV, Kinect sensor and PlayStation Camera for the Xbox One and PS4 respectively, so additional wall space for gadgetry is at a premium.

The sensors, though, need to be above head height and angled downwards and we don’t have any high shelves in the room at all.

Pocket-lint

Luckily, one answer came in the form of a tripod we use for photography, so that was one base station sorted. It just about reached above head height.

The other base station would be more of a problem as we don’t have two tripods laying around.

The only solution we could come up with was to use the living room door, opened inwards, as a makeshift base station stand. We placed it on top of the door, facing the play area and angled downwards by shoving a USB stick under the rear (as the stations are simply cubes with no tilting mechanism of their own).

Pocket-lint

It’s also worth remembering that each base station gently vibrates – we suspect they have optical motors inside – so you do need to fix them down even if placing them on a shelf. We used duct tape in a very inelegant solution. Worked though.

Another issue we were then faced with is that while the base stations communicate to each other and your PC wirelessly, they still required power.

Only the one we set-up with the tripod was anywhere near a power socket. The other required a four-way power strip to be stretched across the rear of the living room, getting in the way somewhat and looking clumsy. It also took a while to find as we don’t just have spare ones lying around. They don’t say that in the manual.

Nevertheless, the green lights on each of the sensors lit – to show they are connected and are facing in the right direction – and that stage of the process was complete.

HTC Vive wireless controllers

We love the style and functionality of the wireless controllers supplied with the HTC Vive, as you will find out in our final review. But nowhere did it say in the setup process that you should charge them before use.

Maybe you don’t, as most products come with quite a bit of charge in them beforehand – enough to get you going anyway. Force of habit though had us putting them on charge as soon as we got them out of the box, so they could be fully charged by the time the setup was complete.

It’s not a problem, more a helpful tip this time.

Pocket-lint

They each come with Mini-USB to USB leads and charging adapters, so if you don’t have enough USB sockets on a PC to do it, you need to find even more plug sockets.

What was more of an issue is that one of the controllers, no matter how we followed the instructions, where we placed it in the room, or how many times we switched it off and on again, it wouldn’t pair. The other did straight from the box, so it caused more than enough agitation and Basil Fawlty style shouting at the faulty one (see what we did there?).

Eventually, we pressed the Menu and System buttons together for 10-15 seconds and that surprisingly did the job. It paired immediately after.

This is probably something you can find out online or in the manual, but we fluked it.

Pocket-lint

HTC Vive link box

The next step is to connect the link box, which hooks up to your PC through HDMI and USB 3.0. However, we don’t have a spare HDMI socket on our Nvidia GTX Titan X graphics card.

Very few graphics cards have two HDMI outputs and we use ours to connect to a 1080p monitor. There’s no passthrough on the link box (unlike the forthcoming PlayStation VR) so you can’t split the visuals to run to both a monitor and the headset on the device HTC supplies so we were faced with an all-new, more infuriating issue.

You need the monitor on to continue the setup process, so can’t just plug the link box and headset in instead. So what to do?

That’s when we realised the link box also has a mini-DisplayPort input and the GTX Titan X has four DisplayPorts. What we didn’t have to hand however, was a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. And there’s not one included in the HTC Vive box – just a HDMI cable.

Aaaaarrrggghhh!

Those yet to set-up their HTC Vive’s and have time need to consider a couple of solutions. Either use a different video output to feed a monitor (or TV), thereby leaving the HDMI port free for the link box to connect to, or buy a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable in advance.

We had neither option available to us, so it was time to scratch our heads.

We could have stopped and bought a cable from a nearby store, but that kind of lead isn’t just available at Argos (we know, we checked). Also, with the setup now sprawled everywhere, we were not to be beaten.

Instead, Amazon Prime Now came to the rescue. We found the required cable was available to us, for around a tenner, and bought one to be delivered within a two-hour time slot.

It was, we plugged it into the link box and our graphics card, and a bit of restarting and graphics driver updating nonsense, we were fit to go again.

It’s also worth noting that the link box also requires power, so you’ll need yet another empty power socket to hand. That’s five now, counting the USB charging adapters for the controllers.

HTC Vive room setup wizard and calibration

Now that all the hardware was correctly set-up and paired, we needed to calibrate the software for our room dimensions. That also threw up a few issues.

Even when running the room setup software on the mega gaming laptop (as we’ll discuss a bit further down), we had error messages and one seemingly common fault.

The software asks if you want to set up the HTC Vive for room scale or standing operation. Room scale enables you to move around and therefore presents wireframe barriers inside games and experiences so you don’t bump into walls or furniture. The standing still option is best for smaller rooms without the required space (of 6.5ft by 5ft).

Pocket-lint

We opted to set it up for room scale as our space was almost exactly right (slightly more, but just a fraction). The software asked us to point a controller at the monitor to get an idea of overhead direction, and on the next screen asked us to calibrate the position of the floor by placing the controllers in the centre of the space and clicking an on-screen button. An on-screen button that failed to appear. An on-screen button that failed to appear during setup on both the desktop and laptop PCs.

This is apparently a common issue and can be solved by clinking next, completing the rest of the setup and then going back into the SteamVR software and running the room setup process again. When run straight from the menu (that appears when you click on the SteamVR icon in your Windows 10 taskbar) you get a calibration button on the exact same page in the wizard. Many have reported that it fails to appear when run from the setup tutorial.

This isn’t disastrous but is confusing and likely to befuddle normal consumers who aren’t already cynical about PCs and hardware installation.

Thankfully, the rest of the calibration steps went without fuss. We do have a tip, however; you will be asked to trace the outline of your play area using one of the controllers. We found that the advanced option (enabled through a tick box) offered the chance to simply click in the four corners of the area and the software did the rest. It provided a more accurate reading, we found.

HTC Vive tutorial game and sound

Finally, we were in a position where the HTC Vive was usable. We had video running to box the headset and our desktop computer. The controllers worked and worked well, and we were in a wonderful and empty holding landscape. We were in VR, hurrah!

Hang on though, where’s the sound? The sound was coming from our PC speakers rather than the in-ear headphones supplied.

Not once did it give us an option to change that in the setup wizard. The start of the tutorial mentioned sound, but without any options to change it.

If you find yourself without sound like us, you have to explore the SteamVR software options again, where you will find the settings. Once the settings pop-up has appeared, you’ll need to change the options in the audio section so that sound is fed to the headphones. Our default was just to our PC speakers, but we changed it to feed the headphones only when we were using the HTC Vive.

Pocket-lint

You can have it feed both headphones and speakers simultaneously, or just the speakers if you have a cool 5.1 or 7.1 system cunningly placed around the play area and want the full effect. But we opted for headphones and even decided to ditch the in-ears for a better pair of headphones as it’s really tricky to get the earbuds the right way round when you’ve already put the Vive on your noggin.

At least now we had the whole effect going on, VR visuals and surround sound. We hadn’t downloaded any games or other experiences yet, so there wasn’t much to do (you can download them from within the virtual world, but we’d advise you download them prior to play otherwise you’ll be stood around waiting for them to install). Instead, we checked out the included tutorial. Which promptly crashed.

HTC Vive PC specifications

As well as have strange error messages pop up during setup, we had many crashes during gameplay. It’s a weird feeling too, as it’s like the world just goes blank while you’re in the middle of something.

Pocket-lint

It could be our PC but considering we exceed the recommended spec for HTC Vive it can’t be the hardware surely. We have the aforementioned Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X graphics card, Intel Core i7-4790K processor running at 4GHz and 16GB of RAM. We’re running 64-bit Windows 10 but doesn’t everything these days with multi-core processors the norm?

Crashing wasn’t something we ever expected.

It’s worth noting that these are early days for the HTC Vive and much of the software is updated regularly, but the tutorial will be the first port of call for all newbies, and it crashing often would leave many of them with a poor first VR experience.

We did find a workaround that seemed to do the job. We downloaded the beta version of SteamVR instead of the one installed with the setup software. That didn’t crash at all. It also required firmware on the controllers to be updated, so is a more advanced version of the software (although might have some flaky features we haven’t encountered yet thanks to being in beta).

To download and try it for yourself, head into your games section on Steam, right click SteamVR in your software list and select properties. The last tab is labelled “Betas” and in there you will find a drop down menu where you can select “beta – Steam VR Beat Update”. Once selcted and confirmed, it downloaded a new version of SteamVR which worked for us.

If that causes you problems down the line, you can always repeat the process and reselect the “opt out” option instead.

Pocket-lint

HTC Vive on a gaming laptop

We finally got Vive working well with our desktop PC although we also highly recommend you close all other programmes before entering the virtual world. These could have been another reason for our occasional crashes.

Now it was time to check the setup process with a gaming laptop. We chose to run the HTC Vive using an Asus ROG G752VY – a powerhouse of a machine running an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor and 32GB of RAM. It has an Nvidia GeForce GTX980M GPU which, while not being quite as powerful as the Titan X, makes mincemeat of anything you run through it.

The laptop also, mercifully, has a HDMI output that works while simultaneously feeding video to the monitor. That potentially makes a gaming laptop a more attractive option to run Vive from, especially for those who haven’t even heard of a DisplayPort.

We still had issues with the room scale setup and error messages, and you’ll still have all the practical quibbles with finding places to place the sensors and their power supplies, but in many ways setting up the Vive with the Asus was a smoother operation.

We also didn’t experience the same level of crashing when running the general SteamVR software rather than the beta build. But then, the ROG G752VY costs more than £2,000. We built our own PC for less than a grand.

It does though have the added benefit of being portable. Our gaming tower PC is not.

HTC Vive final thoughts

Although this isn’t our review of the headset or the games, we still have some thoughts worth sharing at this stage.

These are early days for virtual reality and we’re certain that there will be future headsets that refine the process, but we found the setting up of the HTC Vive to be a partly frustrating and lengthy experience. It didn’t help that we didn’t have the right cable, or the right cable but the wrong output, but that’s something normal consumers will face too.

Every problem was solved eventually and the end result is well worth it, we feel.

We’re also sure that software niggles will be sorted through patches and updates, it’s just that at this moment in time, based on our own encounters, VR and the HTC Vive specifically is not consumer-friendly enough for our parents.

Not unless we set it up for them first.

Finally, a smart fridge with a useful feature: Here’s to no more warm beer

When it comes to appliances, there aren’t many exciting features that warrant their own story. That is, unless the words “party mode” appear, then we enter an entirely different realm of excitement.

Thankfully, we may never have to endure a luke warm white wine again because Whirlpool has an app for that. Yes really.

The company’s smart refrigerator connects to an app called 6th Sense Live and it’s your ultimate party companion. The “Party Mode Smart” feature automatically calculates how long it will take for your drinks to reach the optimum drinking temperature.

Pocket-lint

You can add a variety of drinks and the app will alert you when each is ready, as well as offer a countdown timer so you’ll never forget about that bottle of champagne in the freezer again.

You can choose between beer, soft drinks or wine, followed by the type of container it is in such as a 330ml can or a 750ml glass bottle.

For future party reference, a bottle of wine takes 25 minutes to chill, a bottle of beer takes 30 minutes and a can of Coke is 34 minutes. You now have absolutely no excuse for serving anyone a warm bottle of beer. Ever.

We are still waiting on pricing and availability details for the Whirlpool 6th Sense Live range of smart appliances but you can try the demo mode on the app, available for Android and iOS, to see what else there is or test the Party Mode Smart yourself. You can also read more about the 6th Sense Live range and the other app features in our separate story here.

READ: Cooking for dummies: Whirlpool’s SmartCook puts a chef by your side

Obama forms commission to bolster US cyber security

The sad state of US cyber security was laid bare when attackers stole the sensitive data of 21 million government employees from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last year. President Obama pledged $19 billion to fix the problem in February, and just unveiled a commission of private, public and academic experts to come up with a plan. Called the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, it will be co-chaired by former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano and Tom Donilon, the President’s former national security adviser.

Notable members include MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, Microsoft Research VP Peter Lee, Uber’s current (and Facebook’s former) Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan, Frontier Communications Executive Chairperson Maggie Wilderotter, and Annie Antón, chair of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. The aim is to fend off not just attacks on US government computers, but also private sector hacks like the infamous Sony Pictures breach. The commission’s specific goals are to:

Raise the level of cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors, deter, disrupt, and interfere with malicious cyber activity aimed at the U.S. or its allies and respond effectively to and recover from cyber incidents.

One of the main reasons that Chinese attackers were able to hack US systems was that the computers are so antiquated that files can’t be encrypted. A good chunk of the budget, some $3.1 billion, will be spent upgrading the networks and systems underpinning America’s cyber-backbone. The Chinese government denied that state-sponsored attackers were responsible for the OPM breach and blamed the problem instead on rogue hackers. Following the attack, however, both governments formed an “understanding” to ward off future attempts by both nations.

The commission will make long-term recommendations to ratchet up cyber security in the US government and private sector. The new commission will hold its first meeting tomorrow at the U.S. Department of Commerce, joined by Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Obama’s Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism advisor, Lisa Monaco.

Via: Reuters

Source: The White House

Scientists harness mobile gamers to build a supercomputer

If anyone tells you that playing computer games is a waste of time, you can now offer up a raised middle digit without any guilt. After all, mobile title Quantum Moves isn’t just a way to kill an hour, but is actually helping a group of Danish scientists build a quantum computer. The team out of Aarhaus University studied how people played the game in order to crowdsource people’s knowledge of fluid dynamics. It turns out that the human brain is far better at solving complicated fluid dynamics problems than a room full of supercomputers.

Quantum Moves asks you to move a quantity of volatile fluid that’s balanced upon a bendable line, from one side of the screen to the other. You do this by manipulating the line up and down, cajoling the droplets to roll across towards the target. It may seem simple, but that’s because humans have an innate ability to understand physics in a way that no existing computer can. In technical-speak, it’s because our minds develop “low-dimensional heuristic strategies” that can out-think a number-crunching box.

Since launching the game, the team has been analyzing how people move the liquid around by manipulating the wire. The solutions that people have come up with are significantly more efficient than existing, software-driven methods. It’s thought that this knowledge can be used to help push the volatile atoms around inside a quantum computer, since the dynamics are the same. All we can say that between Portal making us smarter and Quantum Moves cresting new fields of scientific research, we feel much more justified playing a few rounds of Fifa 15 this evening.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: Nature