May the 4th be with you: Best Star Wars gadgets and toys to celebrate

Happy holiday, Star Wars fans!

May the 4th is here again – a day in which fans of the space opera celebrate the franchise’s film series, books, and culture. This is a global holiday, so chances are you will hear someone say “May the Force/fourth be with you” today. You might also see memes being shared across the interwebs, movie marathons on cable, and sales across the web on all-things Star Wars related.

And if you’re a total diehard, you might even get a Star Wars toy from a loved one. You could do some gift-giving too, if that’s your thing. Either way, we know you’d love to see a few Star Wars-themed gadgets, so we’ve rounded up some of the best ones to help you celebrate 4 May. We’ve included stuff like an official TIE pilot leather jacket and a Death Star planetarium.

Sphero BB-8

Firebox

Price: $190.89Find it here: FireboxDescription: The official app-enabled BB-8 Droid made by Sphero. Control the way it moves with your tablet, smartphone, or voice.

Stormtrooper Bluetooth speaker

Firebox

Price: $58.79Find it here: FireboxDescription: A 5W bluetooth speaker shaped like a Stormtrooper’s helmet. It has a rechargeable battery and connects to mobile devices.

R2D2 desk vacuum

Firebox

Price: $22.09 (pre-order)Find it here: FireboxDescription: This vacuum is powered by USB and will actually clean crumbs from your desk, desktop, and other surfaces.

Star Wars Monopoly – The Force Awakens Edition

Firebox

Price: $44.09Find it here: FireboxDescription: Monopoly has an all new board, with new rules and figurines based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars Millennium Falcon Bluetooth speaker

Firebox

Price: $62.39Find it here: FireboxDescription: A 4W Bluetooth speaker shaped like the Millennium Falcon. Lets you answers calls via speakerphone, and offers a 40-foot range.

Stars Wars Millennium Falcon multi-tool

Firebox

Price: $14.69Find it here: FireboxDescription: A multi-tool shaped like the Millennium Falcon. Features 11 tools, including a screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, and more.

Star Wars 3D Death Star wall light

Firebox

Price: $73.39Find it here: FireboxDescription: Wall-mounted, battery-powered Death Star light that can be used as a cool night light and includes a crack sticker.

Imperial “TIE Pilot” leather jacket

Thinkgeek

Price: $499.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: Officially-licensed, limited edition TIE pilot-inspired jacket made from lamb leather and suede.

Han Solo in carbonite business card case

Thinkgeek

Price: $19.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: All-metal, spring-loaded business card case that looks like a solid block of carbonite with a tiny Han Solo frozen inside.

Star Wars X-Wing knife block

Thinkgeek

Price: $99.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: A knife block that looks jus like an X-wing and features five knives, including a paring knife, utility knife, and more.

Star Wars Chewbacca camera bag

Thinkgeek

Price: $34.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: A camera bag inspired by Chewbacco. It features three padded dividers and utility section for your phone, SD cards, pen, etc.

R2-D2 architectural desk lamp

Thinkgeek

Price: $59.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: A desk lamp inspired by R2-D2. It features a 60-inch long cord and works with 40w incandescent or 13w fluorescent bulbs.

Star Wars Force FX lightsabers

Thinkgeek

Price: $229.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: Officially-licensed lightsabers with glowing blades with power-up/down effects, motion sensors, and sounds from the movie.

Star Wars 3D holodisplay

Thinkgeek

Price: Up to $249.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: Full-parallax, 3D hologram mounted on black gloss acrylic. You get the display base with Trench Run or optional Kylo Ren hologram.

Star Wars Death Star planetarium

Thinkgeek

Price: $29.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: This is a tabletop planetarium that looks like death Star and projects teh star Wars galaxy and planet names or Earth’s night sky.

Star Wars first edition on-ear headphones

Thinkgeek

Price: $129.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: Street by 50 has made Star Wars-inspired, on-ear headphones with 40mm drivers and leather and foam ear cushions.

Star Wars lightsaber selfie stick

Thinkgeek

Price: $11.99Find it here: ThinkgeekDescription: An actual selfie stick but this one is unique because it features the hilt of Vader’s lightsaber.

Staar Wars BB-8 USB car charger

Thinkgeek

Price: $39.99Find it here: FireboxDescription: A BB-8 unit that fits into a car cupholder and plugs into a 12V power adapter to supply a charge via two USB ports.

Want more Star Wars toys and gadgets?

Amazon

Amazon.com is celebrating “May the Fourth” by offering a Star Wars Store as a a one-stop shopping destination for toys, collectibles, fan memorabilia and more from the classic franchise. You will find deals, for instance, on the following items:

• Comic Images Oversize 40-inch Chewy Plus
• Comic Images Yoda 21-inch giant Doll Plush
• Star Wars Jewelry Unisex 3D Storm Trooper Stainless Steel Stud Earrings
• Star Wars Jewelry Rebel Alliance Stainless Steel Dangle Hook Drop Earrings
• Revell Poe’s X-Wing Fighter Building Kit
• Star Wars Girls’ Graphic Tees (Pack of 3)

In addition, the Amazon Appstore is offering discounts across Star Wars apps, including Star Wars Uprising, Star Wars Commander, and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: What’s the story so far?

The idea of HTC launching a wearable has been kicking about for some time now. Whether these rumours are wishful thinking or whether they have any truth behind them remains to be seen though.

That might all be about to change however as the rumours and speculation surrounding a HTC wearable have started up again following a year of silence.

The device is going under a couple of codenames including the HTC Petra smartwatch, the HTC One Wear smartwatch and there was also talk of a device called the HTC Halfbeak. Here’s everything we know so far about the possible HTC smartwatch.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: Release date

The HTC Petra smartwatch has been the subject of rumours for well over a year. It was thought back in February 2015 that the Petra would be announced at MWC in Barcelona as “the official companion to the HTC One M9”. Several reports claimed the device would go on sale during the first quarter of 2015 but that was clearly not the case.

Things fell silent for a few months after nothing but the smartphone was revealed at MWC 2015, but as we said, they have started to pick up again. The HTC Halfbeak was rumoured to be coming on 29 September but again, nothing appeared, even though the Halfbeak sounded more smartwatch than fitness tracker like the Petra.

Serial leakster Evan Blass has since claimed we would see a HTC wearable in mid-April 2016, which would have tied in with the launch of the HTC 10. Blass has more recently said its release has been pushed back till June though after the new flagship was revealed without a wrist companion.

Whether a HTC smartwatch will appear at all is very questionable, but if it does, June is currently the only idea we have of when as all the other dates have long gone.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: Design

HTC is renowned for offering well-designed devices. Its flagship smartphones have solid, all metal builds with beautiful features, including curved rears and lovely chamfering. If the company has decided to actually produce a smartwatch, the same solid design will be expected by fans. There are enough plastic smartwatches around that no one wants to wear so hopefully HTC will offer something more desirable.

Previous leaks suggested the HTC smartwatch would place a focus on fitness and with the company’s recent collaboration with Under Armour at CES, this wouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Although it could be that this fitness focus rumour was referring to the UA partnership rather than a separate smartwatch.

A spokesperson for HTC told VentureBeat a while back that its new wearable would be worn on the wrist and that it would be “very different from anything currently on the market”.

Drew Bamford, head of HTC Creative Labs, further admitted in late 2014 that there’s not a strong reason to wear a general-purpose wearable every day, and that when HTC does bring its product to market, it wants to “make sure the product has a strong point of view and there is a really compelling reason to strap it on your wrist.”

Evleaks

This was almost two years ago so if the company has been developing its wearable for that long, we’d hope it’s taken into consideration where others have failed to deliver.

Since things died down last year, there have been little details regarding what the design of the HTC smartwatch might look like. Last year, it was thought it would arrive with a 1.8-inch display, which would put it at a similar shape to the Samsung Gear Fit. It was also said it would weigh 23g, be IP57-rated for dust and waterproofing and come in teal and lime or black and blue-grey colours with three size options.

We’d take all of this with a pinch of salt now though as these rumours are over a year old so even if they were true, chances are things have now changed. As we said, they could also very easily have been referring to the tracker that comes with the UA Healthbox that launched in partnership with HTC at the beginning of this year rather than the separate smartwatch that is now rumoured. At the end of last year, the Halfbeak rumours appeared. These referred to a round smartwatch but there were little other details revealed.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: Hardware

Just like its design, the hardware rumours related to the HTC smartwatch are probably now significantly dated and again, possibly of no relevance at all. The 1.8-inch display was said to be PMOLED and offer a resolution of 160 x 32. Most of the round-faced smartwatches available have 320 x 320 displays at the very least. The Halfbeak was rumoured to offer a 360 x 360 round display though so this is at least on the right track.

The Petra display was said to be flexible and it was thought it would feature an ST Micro STM32L151 chipset, Bluetooth and GPS support. The leak, which at the time came from @upleaks, also claimed there would be a three-day battery life and USB or POGO pin charging.

These specs are now pretty outdated and given HTC’s longstanding partnership with Qualcomm, we would expect the HTC smartwatch to feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear chip over anything else.

If, as we suspect, the leaked Petra specs were actually referring to the tracker that came as part of the UA Healthbox rather than a separate HTC smartwatch, there are very few details surrounding the new wearable. The Halfbeak rumours seem more plausible but even they are extremely thin on the ground.

We’d expect any smartwatch HTC do launch to have at least the same specs as current smartwatches though, if not better given it would be newer. A three-day battery life would be a pleasure, but realistically, this is unlikely if HTC goes down the touchscreen display route like Samsung and LG, rather than the analogue route like Fossil.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: Software

Previous leaks suggested the Petra might not run on Android Wear and instead use its own proprietary operating system that was said to be called RTOS. We would say this is definitely worth taking with a big pinch of salt though as HTC doesn’t tend to invent anything new and this would be a serious uphill battle.

The HTC 10 offers a very refined software experience in comparison to previous HTC devices, moving closer to vanilla Android than many of its competitors. The company is also rumoured to be making the next Nexus devices so HTC and Google certainly seem to have a pretty decent relationship.

As there is little else out there when it comes to smartwatches and operating systems except for Samsung’s Tizen and the platforms like Martian, we would expect HTC to take on Android Wear if it does launch a smartwatch.

HTC Petra / One Wear smartwatch: Conclusion

If we’re honest, we are still very much on the fence as to whether we believe HTC will announce a smartwatch at all.

Many of the previous leaks are all old news now and if the company launched a device with those specs reported for Petra, many would probably be bitterly disappointed. The Halfbeak perhaps less so but we have only heard of the screen resolution which isn’t much to go on.

If HTC does do a smartwatch, we would expect a good, solid design, decent specs that probably include Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear, and Android Wear as the platform. As we said though, we aren’t convinced but we will be updating this feature as we hear more.

Star Wars Holochess is coming to your AR galaxy, soon

That game of Holochess in Star Wars: A New Hope and now The Force Awakens, is famous as one of the most iconic holographic experiences. It’s creator, Phil Tippett, is working to make that a reality called HoloGrid.

The game is set to work like a card-based tactical strategy game that will combine the physical world and the virtual. Initially the game is getting Kickstarter funding in order to create the full board game experience complete with cards, game board and tablet mount.

Users will be able to place the cards and see the characters on a phone or tablet screen via AR. Then, in battle mode, the tablet can be stood by the board so the virtual characters can be seen on the physical board. Then, using the tablet, turn based attacks can be carried out on your opponent.

This is stage one. The future, says Tippett, will be in augmented reality play. This will allow users, with the right hardware, the ability to ‘see’ the characters right in front of them and manipulate them as if they were real – just like in Star Wars. This requires the hardware to catch up a bit but it’s good to know there will be a well developed and thought out game ready for AR once it hits the mainstream.

HoloGrid is currently on Kickstarter with a goal of $100,000 where a $30 backing will get you everything you need to start playing.

READ: May the 4th be with you: Best Star Wars gadgets and toys to celebrate

Opera’s speedy built-in ad-blocking goes wide and mobile

Back in March, Opera introduced its native ad-blocking feature to developers. Today, the feature is available to everyone — on desktop and mobile. The company claims that compared to Chrome, browsing with its native ad-blocking on is 45 percent faster than Google’s browser with third-party ad-blocking extensions running. Beyond that, Opera says that the update makes pages load up to 89 percent faster than without the feature activated.

Those numbers came from a rig built with an AMD Phenom II X6 processor, 8 GB of RAM and running the 64-bit version of Windows 10. No specific names were given, but Opera says it used 66 “content-rich” websites as test environments, loading each one 15 times and measuring speeds with WebDriver.

On the mobile side of things, the outfit says that Opera Mini runs 40 percent faster with ad-blocking enabled than not. Fifty content-rich sites were visited over WiFi on a Nexus 5X running Android Marshmallow and an Appium-based automation setup for measurements.

But given that Ad Block Plus is pretty much multiplatform, and that Chrome and Safari lead the pack for user share, the speed boosts Opera offers changing anything seems unlikely. For Opera die-hards (the company boasts 60 million of them on desktop and 120 million for mobile on a monthly basis) this is a pretty big deal, though.

Google moves every Blogspot domain to HTTPS

Google’s quest to make the internet a more secure place is taking another step. The internet juggernaut’s flipped the switch on HTTPS for all Blogspot domains, according to a post on the Google Security Blogspot account. Naturally. It’s automatic and doesn’t rely on you using the “HTTPS Availability” option, but if you were worried about not having a switch of your own to flip anymore, Google has you covered there with HTTPS Redirect.

It’s exactly what it sounds like, too: If someone types in an HTTP address to get to your blog, this sends them to a secure version instead. Otherwise, they’ll have the choice of browsing securely or not should you not opt in. This could cause a few hiccups if you have a fancy template or add-on running on your blog, but the folks in Mountain View have a warning tool for anything that might run into issues following the changeover. And just like that, your blog’s visitors can browse a little more safely.

Source: Google Security Blog

Pebble’s Time Steel smartwatch gets a £60 price cut in the UK

When were first introduced to the Pebble Time Steel, we loved the way it looked but weren’t sure whether it justified its £200 price tag. The company has stuck to its guns and kept with its pricing strategy for more than 8 months, bit now it’s joining its wearable-making rivals in slashing the cost of its premium smartwatch, reducing it by £60 to £140.

If you’ve been looking to get your hands on the Time Steel, which features its 1.25-inch colour display, rich notifications and impressive battery life — both Amazon and Argos are selling the smartwatch at its new lower price, although Pebble has yet to make the change on its official website. Both retailers are also offering the discount on all three colour variants — black, silver and gold — suggesting that the company is possibly looking to run inventory down before it adds another model to its e-paper range.

Via: GSM Arena

Source: Amazon UK, Argos

‘Terraria’ explores a touch-friendly path on Wii U in June

Terraria, the 2D sandbox action-adventure title that made its debut on PC in 2011, is ready for another frontier. Today, 505 Games and Re-Logic announced the wildly popular game is coming to Wii U June 28th in North America and June 24th in Europe.

It’s almost like Minecraft in 2D, with charming throwback graphics. Like Minecraft, it’s also enjoyed its share of tie-in merchandise like figures, novels, and trinkets outside the gaming world. Players explore randomly generated pixel worlds while crafting special items, fighting off enemies, and blazing a path for themselves.

The Wii U version of Terraria has been given a touch-friendly makeover. Instead of having to deal with the mouse or a controller you can now draw structures direct from the Gamepad via stylus. If you’re worried about striking it out alone, it comes with four-player multiplayer co-op and eight-player online multiplayer complete with achievements via Miiverse. When you’re trying to survive the night and blaze a trail for yourself within this game, the more friends you can depend on, the better.

The varying environments, enemies, and crafting materials are largely the same as previous releases, but there’s plenty of content to keep you busy here. If you didn’t check it out during its run through PC and various console releases, it sounds like it’s worth checking out even if only for the touch screen implementation.

Source: 505 Games

ProtonMail iOS App Integrates TouchID for Unlocking Encrypted Messages

Swiss-made encrypted email app ProtonMail received a significant update yesterday, bringing Touch ID integration and other security enhancements to iOS users.

Logging into the app previously required users to remember their login and mailbox password to access their inbox, but as of version 1.2.3 they can turn on the Touch ID feature to unlock encrypted email with their finger on opening the app.

An optional second layer of security has also been included, requiring users to enter a PIN code instead of or as well as their fingerprint. A new automatic lock function also lets users set ProtonMail to auto-lock every time they come out of the app, or after a set amount of time.

Elsewhere, ProtonMail users can now add attachments from iCloud and other third-party storage apps directly to their messages, while an option to automatically show images in messages and password manager support for iOS have also been introduced. Paid ProtonMail Plus account holders additionally get mobile signature editing, with a number of bug fixes and smaller improvements also among the updates.

ProtonMail was launched in March by Swiss software developer and civil liberties outfit Proton Technologies. The service made waves in the security community as the first free end-to-end encrypted email service built on the back of a half a million dollar crowdfunding campaign.

ProtonMail invisibly integrates PGP encryption into a modern user interface and operates on the service’s “zero access” policy, meaning all messages are stored in encrypted format so that not even ProtonMail has access to their contents.

ProtonMail is a free download for iPad and iPhone. [Direct Link]

Tag: Encryption
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Xiaomi’s Mi Band 2 runs into production issues

It looks like Xiaomi’s Mi Band 2 won’t be available to consumers this month. CEO Lei Jun shared on Weibo that issues with mass production of the wearable have led to a delay of one month. The tracker was initially slated to launch alongside the Mi Max phablet and MIUI 8.

Xiaomi could still unveil the Mi Band 2 next week, opting to make the fitness tracker available to consumers at a later date. Recent leaks suggest that the Mi Band 2 will feature a display as well as a physical button, with the overall design similar to what we’ve seen from the first-generation Mi Band.

Uber’s Paytm integration will let you pay for your ride abroad in rupees

If you use Uber in india, you know that the only form of payment currently accepted by the service is Paytm. While it’s convenient to use the payment wallet in the country, the service doesn’t work outside of India, which makes hailing an Uber in other countries particularly cumbersome.

That’s all set to change soon, as Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced that the service will be integrated into Uber on a global scale, allowing you to pay for your ride in rupees even when you’re abroad.

In a statement to The Hindu, Sharma said:

By the end of May, Paytm will be able to launch the Uber-Paytm in-app integration feature for its Indian customers so that Indian travellers will be able to pay for their Uber rides outside of India through their Paytm account.

The best part about the upcoming integration? There won’t be any hidden charges, which means that you’ll be able to track your fares abroad just as easily as you would a domestic transaction:

We will have no hidden conversion charges and will charge the regular forex exchange rates.

Having seen just how difficult it is to add a credit card to the service while abroad, I am very excited about the upcoming integration. What do you guys think of the move?