Best iPad Pro cases: Protect your new huge 12.9-inch Apple tablet

The Apple iPad Pro was announced in September 2015 after months and months of rumours and speculation. It is no small device with a display size of 12.9-inches in comparison to the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 and its smaller brother, the 7.9-inch iPad mini 4, but it is a powerful one.

The company claims this huge tablet has nearly double the CPU of the iPad Air 2, along with improved multi-touch technology but it isn’t just about the size – it is the iPad that is supposed to enable you to be more creative and productive.

Whatever you plan on using it for however, chances are if you are reading this feature, you want to keep it protected. Like its siblings, the iPad Pro has a stunning design (even if it is the same size as our head) and although it always seems a shame to cover that beautiful aluminium build, scratches and bumps happen all too easily.

There are several cases out there already and no doubt more will appear soon. We have rounded up some of the best ones we have found so far but as usual, we will be updating this feature regularly so be sure to keep checking back if you don’t find one that suits you just yet.

Click here to see the best Apple iPad Pro cases

ICYMI: Expando-cubes, Roboctopi and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers at Harvard have created a “tunable” material that can grow, shrink and change shape on command, which could lead to Capsule Corp-style housing. Italian scientists invented a robotic octopus that leverages shape memory alloys to propel it along without the need for internal robo-bones. Finally, the Intelligent Sensor Design company of Japan has developed an industrial machine capable of tasting in the same manner as the human tongue.
Then there’s the guy who decided to swordfight a quadcopter. Remember kids, it’s all fun and games until the UAV puts out your eye. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Nintendo kills 3D ‘Zelda’ tribute game on the web

About a half million people were amused by a browser-based Zelda tribute, but Nintendo’s lawyers weren’t among them. As we predicted, the company told the folks behind Zelda30Tribute to take it down on account of copyright infringement. “I guess [the game] was a little too pixel perfect,” say developers Scott Lininger and Mike Magee. Overall, the duo feel that building the 2.5D enhanced demo was worth the legal action, though. “We learned a bunch and wrote some code that others might learn from, too,” they say.

That means it’s not quite the end of the fun. Magee and Lininger plan to strip out Nintendo’s Moublins and other IP and replace them with “triangles and such.” They’ll then post the source code on GitHub where anyone can play or add to it. They might want to take care to do a thorough job on removing that IP, however, as Nintendo is ultra-touchy on fan remakes and even YouTube gameplay content.

Via: Eurogamer

Source: Zelda30Tribute

Microsoft beats Google to offline translation on iOS

Microsoft updated its Translator app to support offline translation on Android back in February, and it’s just added the same feature to the iOS version. Like the Android app, the translation works by way of deep learning. Behind the scenes a neural network, trained on millions of phrases, does the heavy lifting, and the translations are claimed to be of “comparable” quality to online samples. Your mileage will apparently “vary by language and topic,” but even an adequate translation is probably worth it when you’re saving on data costs abroad.

When Microsoft launched the offline functionality for Android, it was really bringing the experience in line with Google’s offering on the platform. But while the search giant’s Translate app for Android does offline translation of text (and even photos containing text), its iOS app is online-only. That makes Microsoft’s Translate app the first from a major company to offer the functionality, and the first ever on the platform to use a neural network to achieve it.

The iOS app supports 43 languages, although you’ll have to download the relevant libraries before going offline. That’s a lot more than the nine the Android version launched with, but Microsoft says it’s updating that app to support the expanded catalog. Supported languages include Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish.

I fed the app a couple of very pretty lines from Jules Verne’s French novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, and it did a pretty decent job. The official translation is as follows:

The undulation of these infinite numbers of mountains, whose snowy summits make them look as if covered by foam, recalled to my remembrance the surface of a storm-beaten ocean. If I looked towards the west, the ocean lay before me in all its majestic grandeur, a continuation as it were, of these fleecy hilltops.

And here’s Microsoft’s neural-network powered, offline translation:

The ripples of these endless mountains, their layers of snow seemed to make foaming, reminded my recollection the surface of a choppy sea. If I went back to the West, the Ocean is developing in its majestic scope, as a continuation of these fleecy summits.

It’s lost its structure, and is no longer grammatically sound, but all of the meaning is still there. If all you’re going to do is translate a menu or a sign post, this is pretty impressive stuff. The app is a free download from the iOS App Store and Google Play. It’s a relatively small download at 60MB, but each language packs will add around 250MB to that figure.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: Microsoft Translator blog, (App Store)

The best electric vehicle

By Rik Paul

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.

After doing three months of research, interviewing leading experts, and driving all 11 electric vehicles that are available in the US, we’re convinced that the Kia Soul EV is the best car for most people who want to drive gas-free. Costing about $34,000 (or $26,500 after a federal tax credit), the Soul EV is a comfortable, versatile everyday car that’s easy to live with and drives better than most other EVs. Its 93-mile driving range is one of the longest you’ll find, which reduces range anxiety. It’s stocked with nifty high-tech features that make driving an EV easier. And it has a superlong warranty. Overall, the Soul EV is a great car that will cut both your driving costs and your carbon footprint.

Why you might consider an EV

An all-electric car is for people who want to drive completely gas-free, whether to cut driving costs or be more environmentally friendly. Unlike a hybrid car, an electric car runs completely on electric power and doesn’t have a backup gas engine. You can plug the car into any electrical outlet to recharge the battery, although recharge times are definitely longer than filling up at a gas pump (see Ins and outs of plugging in below).

You can save money by driving an EV because electricity is typically cheaper than gasoline; at the national average of 12 cents per kWh, electricity costs the equivalent of $1-per-gallon gas. EVs also require no oil changes or “tune-ups,” so you save money on maintenance. And in some areas you can get access to carpool lanes and other driving privileges. From the environmental perspective, an EV uses only about one-third the energy of a similar gas-powered vehicle. And it doesn’t produce any tailpipe emissions. Yes, emissions are generated by the power plants that charge an EV, but when broken down per vehicle the emissions are still much less than those from driving a typical gasoline car. EVs are also pleasantly quick and quiet to drive.

Downsides? EVs have a limited range before you need to recharge them—100 miles or less for most models. That’s enough for most commutes and around-town runs, but unless you have access to public charging you won’t be able to do longer trips. EVs cost more than a conventional car, although a federal tax incentive of $7,500 and various regional incentives help lower the price. Also, EVs aren’t sold in all states yet.

It may look like an engine under the hood, but there’s no combustion happening here.

Questions you should ask before getting an EV

• How far do you drive in a day? Estimate the average distance you travel in a day so you can choose a model that easily gets you there and back before you need to plug it in.
• Are there places where you can charge when away from home? Public chargers can give you a lot more flexibility in your daily driving.
• Do you have access to another car for longer trips? If you don’t, are you okay with renting a car for those treks?
• Do you have a convenient place to plug the car in for recharging (ideally a 240-volt outlet)? If not, how much would it cost to run an electrical line to a good location?
• Does your utility company offer special rates for EVs? If not, can you charge the car during lower-rate, off-peak hours?
• Will you need to drive the EV in freezing temperatures? Cold weather (and running the heater) can reduce an EV’s range by up to 40 percent, so add a buffer to your range estimates. If that adjusted range creates a pinch, you might consider a plug-in hybrid, such as the 2016 Chevrolet Volt, which provides a gas engine while still giving you lots of gas-free miles.
• Are you okay with leasing a car? We think it’s better to lease an EV rather than buy one. You get the federal tax incentive up front, and leasing provides a hedge against the possibility of the battery pack failing prematurely (a part that might cost you thousands of dollars to replace) and possible rapid depreciation of the car because of how quickly EV technology is advancing.

Ins and outs of plugging in

Think of filling up your electric car as being more like charging your cell phone than remembering to stop for gas.

While you can plug any EV into a normal 110-volt household electrical outlet (called Level 1 in EV speak), a full charge can take a very long time: 16 to 20 hours or more. For most people, it’s much more practical to use a 240-volt charger (called Level 2) because it cuts those charging times by half or even more. But setting up your home for Level 2 charging can cost $500 to $1,200, plus installation and any necessary electrical upgrades. Some public charging locations have even-faster Level 3 chargers to give your EV a quick boost when you’re on the road.

Our pick

The Kia Soul EV has great range, an affordable price, and the best set of high-tech features.

Among affordable electric cars, the Kia Soul EV offers the best combination of a long range, a reasonable price (especially with the federal tax incentive), and a practical layout. Its 93-mile range is 15 miles more than most EVs, and it offers the best collection of features that are important to EV owners. The Soul is comfortable and space-efficient and it drives nicely, which isn’t something you can say about a lot of EVs (the regular Soul is our top pick for subcompact crossover SUVs). And Kia’s extra-long five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty keeps the Soul covered longer than most cars; the powertrain, EV system, and battery are covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. The one notable drawback is that it’s available in only 10 states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

The best EV—if money doesn’t matter

The Tesla Model S is the best electric vehicle. But because of its price tag, we can’t say the Tesla is the best electric vehicle for most people.

If you can handle its nearly $90,000 price, the Tesla Model S is easily the best overall electric car available, especially with the optional 90-kWh battery. It treats you to a long 200-mile range, luxury-car comfort, blistering acceleration, and sports-car cornering. It’s also a high-tech tour de force that makes you feel like you’re driving a bona fide car of the future.

An affordable runner-up

The Nissan Leaf SV is the go-to electric vehicle that most people know because it has been available for so long and has sold more than any other EV.

The 2016 Nissan Leaf SV, which costs about $35,000 (or about $27,500 after the federal tax credit), provides many of the same benefits as the Kia Soul EV, has an even longer range than the Soul (107 miles), and is sold nationwide. We recommend getting it with Nissan’s Quick Charge Package. The Leaf isn’t our top pick, though, because it’s not quite as roomy, comfortable, or versatile for carrying cargo and passengers as the Soul is.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

BMW launches premium car-sharing service in Seattle

Automakers continue to push into the shared-car market. Today BMW announced ReachNow, a premium, free-floating car sharing service in Seattle. Users can get short-term one-way rentals of BMW 3 Series, Mini Cooper or i3 vehicles anywhere in the city.

The service is more like Car2go than ZipCar. ReachNow is launching with 370 vehicles which can be picked up and dropped off anywhere within the city including metered parking spots that are free for the vehicles.

The automaker noted that approval for new users to start renting cars takes only about two minutes or less. Helpful if you’re in a bind and there’s a vehicle nearby. In fact, the people of Seattle can sign up and drive a car today. ReachNow live right now and apps for iOS and Android are available in their respective app stores.

The service charges a per-minute rate of $.49 while the car is being used and $.30 while it’s parked. There’s also a one-time registration fee of $39. There are hourly caps of $50 for three hours, $80 for 12 hours and $110 for 24 hours. The fees include gas, insurance and parking meters within the service area.

BMW plans to expand the service to three more cities by the end of 2016. It will also be rolling out enhancements to the service like car delivery, long term rentals, chauffeurs, and the chance for BMW owners to rent out their personal cars.

This isn’t BMW’s first shot at car sharing. It suspended the DriveNow service in San Francisco last year after running into regulatory issues. The City by the Bay wants all car sharing-services to have designated parking spaces. The German automakers free-floating service just didn’t fly.

Source: ReachNow

Senator Al Franken takes on Oculus over VR data mining

With all of the groundbreaking aspects of virtual reality come a slew of new privacy concerns. Oculus, for example, says in its privacy policy it will track information about your location, physical movements, and how you’re using the Oculus Rift headset. Most of that is pretty standard hat for any technology product today, though the notion of tracking your movements is something unique to VR. Still, it was only a matter of time until Senator Al Franken, a consumer advocate who has made a point of pushing back against invasive privacy policies like Uber’s, weighed in.

In a letter addressed to Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, Franken pushed for more information about how, exactly, Oculus is using all of the data it collects. “I believe Americans have a fundamental right to privacy,” Franken wrote. “And that right includes an individual’s access to information about what data are being collected about them, how the data are being treated, and with whom the data are being shared.”

We’re awaiting comment from Oculus about all of this, but for now Franken’s letter seems more about due diligence than stomping out any major privacy concerns. Ideally, it’ll lead to the company offering a more detailed privacy policy, like what HTC has done for its Vive headset.

As Ars Technica points out, Oculus isn’t collecting much more than most technology companies, aside from the physical movements of the headset. That’s the sort of data we’d probably want the company to have, as it’ll help refine how its head tracking technology works. But it’s also worth having Facebook and Oculus clarify what its headset is tracking when you’re not wearing it (there’s no off button, so it’s always sitting in a semi-ready state).

Perhaps Oculus might be able to add a “privacy mode” that keeps its app from recording what you’re doing, but I can’t imagine security advocates would put much faith in that. It might end up limiting the sort of data the Oculus Rift server app collects — right now it’s always on, even if you’re not using the Rift. For now, data collection is just something you’ll have to live with if you want to experience Oculus’s spin on virtual reality.

Via: UploadVR, Ars Technica

Source: Oculus

Apple vs the FBI continues in New York encryption battle

We said it wasn’t over. The federal government plans to pursue a Brooklyn drug case in which it’s compelling Apple to unlock an iPhone. This is completely separate from the San Bernardino case that ignited a public debate about encryption and privacy.

“The government’s application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple’s assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant,” US Attorney Robert Capers writes, as reported by Re/Code.

Throughout 2016, the FBI and Apple fought in court and the public eye over the limits of encryption. Invoking the All Writs Act, the FBI ordered Apple to help it unlock the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple refused, calling the request unconstitutional and other unpatriotic phrases. Many tech giants, including Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Reddit, sided with the company. The FBI halted its case against Apple in late March after a third party offered to unlock the 5c.

Apple attorneys fear the Department of Justice is attempting to set a precedent with the Brooklyn case that would allow the government to crack any device as it sees fit. The FBI is relying heavily on the All Writs Act, a 227-year-old law that attempts to address cases that defy the existing legal process. Apple’s supporters argue the AWA is a “gap-filling measure,” not a broad allowance of power for the DoJ. Though the AWA is positioned as a last resort, the federal government has invoked it in 70 cases involving Apple and Google, according to court documents from October.

The Brooklyn drug case is one of a dozen lawsuits in which the DoJ is seeking access to locked iPhones.

Via: Re/Code

FBI to Keep Pushing for Court Order Forcing Apple to Unlock iPhone in N.Y. Case

The U.S. Justice Department will continue pushing for a court order forcing Apple to help investigators unlock the iPhone 5s belonging to Brooklyn drug dealer Jun Feng, as part of a case that dates back to October 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“The government’s application is not moot, and the government continues to require Apple’s assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant,’’ the prosecutors write in a brief letter to U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie.

Like its recent high-profile standoff with the FBI over unlocking the passcode-protected iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook, Apple has said it “would be impossible” for the company to access data on a locked iPhone running iOS 8 or later without creating a modified software version, which it refuses to do.

In late February, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled that the FBI lacked the legal authority to force Apple to bypass the iPhone’s passcode, and that the prosecution’s use of the 1789 All Writs Act was an unconstitutional overreach.

The U.S. Justice Department formally appealed the decision with U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie in early March in an effort to overturn Orenstein’s ruling, and today’s brief court filing reiterates that the FBI will not back down from its request without a fight.

While the FBI dropped its San Bernardino case with Apple after enlisting a private party to unlock the shooter’s iPhone 5c, FBI director James Comey said earlier this week that the undisclosed method does not work on newer devices like the iPhone 5s or later.

Apple remains committed to device encryption and will continue fighting this legal matter.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Apple-FBI
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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Duet Apple Watch and iPhone Dock From Antsy Labs

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with Antsy Labs to give away three of the company’s Duet docks for the Apple Watch and iPhone.

The Duet features a dock for any Lightning-enabled iPhone along with an arm that can accommodate any Apple Watch, with both able to be charged at the same time through user-supplied official charging cables. The design of the Duet lets it support iPhones from the SE to the 6s Plus, even when in a case. According to Duet’s website, most cases on the market today are supported.

Priced at $89, the Duet started out as a Kickstarter project that was successfully funded last year. The Duet is machined from solid aluminum and is available in Silver, Space Gray, Gold, and Matte Black to match Apple’s devices. It’s also available in both left and right orientations, so you can choose your preferred layout.

What’s neat about the Duet is that while two dock pieces work together, you’re also able to use them separately. They’re held together via magnets and will snap apart so one can be used on a bedside table while another’s located on a desk. Both the weight of the aluminum and a suction material underneath each section keep the docks in place whether they’re used together or alone. For more details on the Duet, make sure to check out our review.

The Duet can be purchased from the Antsy Labs website for $89, but for the next week, MacRumors readers can get a 15 percent discount using the code MACRUMORS15. Three of our readers will also get a Duet of their choice for free. 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 (April 8) at 10:15 a.m. Pacific Time through 10:15 a.m. Pacific Time on April 15. The winners will be chosen randomly on April 15 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.

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