Apple Meets With Podcasters to Hear Wide-Ranging Community Grievances
Apple has held a special meeting with leading podcasters in an attempt to address concerns that the company is failing to adequately support the iTunes broadcast community, reports to The New York Times.
According to the piece, the meeting took place last month at the company’s Cupertino headquarters, where seven top iTunes podcasters were invited to air their grievances regarding Apple’s handing of the popular audio format in recent years.
The podcasters expressed in “frank terms” their biggest issues to a room full of Apple employees, according to two attendees, who spoke on condition of anonymity after signing nondisclosure agreements.
Top of the complaints list was a frustration among podcasters at their lack of ability to make money through subscription downloads, mainly due to insufficient access to data about their listeners – data that they argued Apple is in a unique position to provide.
The program producers also took issue with iTunes’ limited sharing features, which take multiple clicks to advertise content on social media. In addition, podcasters said they had been “relegated to wooing a single Apple employee” when it came to discussing issues, such as perceived inconsistencies in the way iTunes elects to promote content.
After the meeting was over, SVP Eddy Cue met with Apple employees separately in a closed-door session to discuss the issues that had been raised by the podcasters, but the company did not make any promises to address their concerns, according to the sources.
Apple essentially gave birth to the mainstream podcasting community in 2005 when it released iTunes 4.9 with native support for podcasts. Within a year, public radio networks like the BBC, CBC Radio One, and National Public Radio had placed many of their radio shows on the platform.
The format’s popularity has surged in recent years, with many amateur podcasters going professional and major media organizations posting new shows every week. In 2014, breakout hit “Serial” garnered 110 million downloads as listeners avidly followed the radio spin-off’s re-examination of a murder case. In 2015, at least 46 million Americans listened to podcasts each month. That figure is expected to reach 57 million by this year’s end, according to a survey by Edison Research.
The report notes that podcasts bring Apple no direct revenue and its iTunes podcasting hub has changed very little since it was introduced, while promotion is decided by a small team that fields pitches and conducts its own outreach.
In a statement to The New York Times, Apple SVP Cue said, “We have more people than ever focused on podcasting, including engineers, editors and programmers.” Cue added, “Podcasts hold a special place with us at Apple.”
With Google and Spotify now actively promoting their own podcast promotion and distribution services, time will tell whether broadcasters agree.
Tag: Podcasts
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Keep track of your Kids phone and tablet habits with Familoop (Review)
Overview
In our protective world, parents are always looking for ways to keep tabs on their children; we (or they, depending on your age) always want to know when, where, how, and who in regards to their children’s lives. In comes Familoop, a parental control app that lets you keep up with what your kids are doing on the web, as well as where they are and what pictures they take.
Developer: Familoop
Cost: Free, 10-day trial (two different pay tiers of $39.99 and $69.99)
Setup
Login Screen
After signing up for an account, simply download the app to the device you want to monitor. Once installed and in the app, click the “Parent” tab and sign in. Once you have set up the device for monitoring, you can then monitor it via the Familoop Hub.
Review
The initial setup was a little daunting, but once I figured out that you install the app on the device you want to control (and not your own as well) it was easy from there. I hadn’t realized that you couldn’t monitor from the app, but instead from your phone or computer via browser. I have reached out to the developers and confirmed they are working on bringing this functionality to the app.
There are numerous features that this app offers, which include but not limited to:
- An in-depth look at how many hours per day the device is used, broken down by apps
- What kinds of searches are being performed
- Who is being contacted via Phone and Texting
- Pictures that are being taken
- Where the device is going
- My personal favorite: Time-Out Mode
It’s worth talking about a couple of these features a bit more. “Safe Zones” are GPS locations that trigger notifications when the tracked device enters or leaves.
Set Safe Zones
Another neat feature I really like is your ability to use protections based on age. Not all children are the same – a 16-year old is dramatically different from an eight-year old, for instance – so the ability to filter apps by age is extremely useful. It can get a bit extreme (like blocking YouTube for children under 13), but manually adding or subtracting apps from the built-in whitelist is a breeze.
Conclusion
While Familoop is not fool-proof (anyone with children knows that they can break into or out of anything), it’s one of the best options out there for tracking the little ones in your life. If you really want to monitor your kid’s tablet time, see where they’re going, or perhaps most importantly, make sure they aren’t taking inappropriate pictures, this is a very good option.
Download Familoop from the Play Store.
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Oppo F1 Plus review: iPhone-esque, but Oppo’s best yet
Oppo has seen massive growth in the last 12 months, and this is its best phone yet.
The quick take
Oppo is a name still alien to the smartphone masses in the West, but that hasn’t stopped it from working hard in the East. It’s been steadily putting out better and better phones in the last year or so, culminating in the F1 Plus — its best yet. It looks a bit too much like an iPhone for some tastes, and the software is a big departure from the Android many know and love. But there have been so many steps forward it’s hard not to be impressed. If only it wasn’t running Lollipop.
Pros
- 64GB internal storage as standard
- Excellent build quality
- One of the fastest fingerprint sensors around
Cons
- Uninspired design
- Color OS still has some flaws
- Still on Lollipop
The selfie expert
Oppo F1 Plus Full review
The Chinese are coming. That’s no secret. While Samsung and Apple still account for the largest share of the smartphone market, from there the Chinese brands are starting to make their mark. Some, like Huawei and Xiaomi are well publicized, but Oppo has quietly become a major player.
It’s been adopting something of a Huawei approach in recent times. The hardware has been pretty good. Well made, decently designed and for the most part, fairly priced.
Oppo is already making its mark in its native China, but with a big push planned for India in 2016 as well as starting to push for a presence in Europe, it could well become a name we begin to get more familiar with.
The F1 Plus is the latest to bear the badge, and it’s the so-called “selfie expert.” The 16-megapixel front facing camera is very much the marketing focus. But, hey, people take selfies. Hopefully there’s a good smartphone behind it all, and that’s what we’re here to find out.
About this review
We’ve been using a Southeast Asia model F1 Plus for the purposes of this review provided by Oppo, on both EE and Vodafone in the UK. There was also a spell where the phone was roaming in China and Hong Kong on local networks.
During the course of the review period of two weeks, the F1 Plus received a software update to build number X9009EX_11_A.13_160413. The software has been Color OS 3.0 throughout, based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
The phone we’ve been using (X9009) is in most regards identical to the European spec F1 Plus, with the exception that it doesn’t support LTE Band 20. The retail models made for sale in Europe will have this we’re informed by Oppo,
The video
Unboxing and hands-on
The numbers
Oppo F1 Plus specs
| 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 |
It’s not an iPhone, promise
Oppo F1 Plus Hardware
The F1 Plus follows recent Oppo trends in a sense that it’s metal, metal, metal. But while Chinese phones are often criticized for being to Apple-esque, here it’s fairly warranted. Whether that’s a bad thing or not depends on your personal outlook. Either way, it’s a good looking, well put together phone.
It’s slim, sleek and yes, looks a bit like an iPhone
The F1 Plus is very slim, and yet doesn’t feel awkward to hold as can be the case when things go on too much of a diet. The metal back and sides meet the front of the phone with a chamfer, and creates just enough of a lip not to be too slippery. Oppo includes a TPU case in the box, if that’s something you’re worried about.
It’s fairly well balanced, too, with the almost non-existent side bezels keeping the width of the phone in check while it’s quite tall. That’s mostly down to the fingerprint sensor, which for the F1 Plus comes around to the front and marks Oppo’s first phone with a physical home button.
In the hands-on video above I criticized the fingerprint sensor, as out of the box it just refused to work. After some better time with it that opinion has changed dramatically. This is one of, if not the fastest around. The key is in the setup.
During my first out of the box set up I didn’t move my finger around that much. And I noted that it only worked with the finger dead straight. Turns out if you move your finger around and change the orientation to horizontal when you’re recording the print, everything works just fine.
I’m such a noob.
Huawei has been the recipient of significant praise for the speed of its fingerprint scanners, but Oppo may have taken the crown. It’s definitely faster than the iPhone. You still have to tap the home button to wake the screen, but the scanner is so fast you never see a hint of the lock screen.
Oppo’s fingerprint scanner is insanely fast. Class-leading type of insanely fast.
The display is nice, if unremarkable. Oppo has stuck with full HD at 5.5-inches, and anyone who says that isn’t perfectly fine is probably lying. This isn’t a top of the line phone, anyway, but even so, it’s good. The AMOLED panel is vibrant and still plenty sharp enough to make the pixels disappear. So everything looks fairly crispy.
The rest of the F1 Plus bares regular phone parts. You have a charging port down the bottom, microUSB for now, with support for Oppo’s own VOOC quick charging. Along the bottom edge you also get the solitary speaker and the 3.5mm headphone jack. Yes, it’s on the bottom, where it belongs.
The one design choice I’m not so fond of is splitting the power and volume controls across opposite sides of the phone. It might be muscle memory on my part, but I’ve turned the display off way too many times when I actually wanted to turn the volume down. The positioning is at least very handy for taking screenshots. Using two fingers with either hand wrapped around the phone you can snap them with ease, which is pretty good for a fairly large phone.
The other thing I really want to point out is the internal storage. The F1 Plus has a microSD card slot, which is great. But what’s even better is the 64GB that’s built in. More than the LG G5, the Galaxy S7 or the HTC 10. Oppo did good. Really good.
Ultimately what we have in the F1 Plus is a nice looking, well made, slim and light phone with an amazing fingerprint scanner. On the hardware side it ticks most of the boxes, especially if you’re looking for a solid mid-ranger. There’s lots to like, and nothing that sticks out as being something to dislike.
Color OS 3.0
Oppo F1 Plus Software
Remember when we collectively drew a line in the sand about phones launching in 2016 and not running Marshmallow? The F1 Plus does not run Android Marshmallow, so consider a line drawn.
That’s not it, though, review over, because there’s a lot to talk about. And believe it or not, a lot of good that Oppo has done with its custom version of our favorite mobile operating system, Color OS.
The first is with the overall performance. Previous versions have been pretty bad in places, with the sort of lag and jerky behavior that you’d have found back in 2011. Not good. But with version 3.0, that’s all gone. Hello Smooth City, population Oppo F1 Plus.
It could also be the extra hardware found in this phone over previous ones, but whatever it is, it’s now a smooth, speedy experience. And one that makes Color OS mostly enjoyable to use.
As with EMUI and MIUI, the appearance of Color OS will split opinions. There’s lots of white, lots of color and a whole heap of themes to download and change it even further. There continues to be no app drawer, and that’ll either bother you or it won’t.
You can’t see notifications that have black text. You just can’t.
One of the changes over regular Android, and one that takes Color OS down the iOS rabbit hole, is how the stock apps’ settings can all be found within the main settings menu on the phone. You might not use any of them, but it’s still a little confusing to see. It affects basically everything except the stock browser.
That’s probably because the stock browser is Opera. It’s not labelled as such, more that it’s “powered by Opera” but it’s the exact same app you’d get if you downloaded Opera from the Play Store. I like this, partly because I use Opera anyway, but the approach is better than Oppo making its own, sub-par experience. You still get Chrome pre-installed as ever, but for once the stock browser isn’t some hideous app you’ll never want to touch.
It’s mostly pretty good stuff. Aside from the notification tray. Both looks and how it behaves. It suffers from the Huawei problem of being a dark, translucent background, which means any apps pushing notifications with dark text (like Gmail and Slack) become unreadable.
The bigger issue is that sometimes you just don’t get notifications at all or when you do, tapping on them does nothing. I do like the split-screen approach where all the quick settings are together, a swipe over away from a full screen of notifications. But, there are definitely bugs to be worked out.
But issues aside, Color OS 3.0 is a big improvement on what came before it, especially as we wait to see what happens with Project Spectrum. But it’s hard to hide our disappointment at Android Lollipop in April 2016. Especially since that excellent fingerprint scanner on the front can’t be used with apps that make use of the APIs in Marshmallow.
You look beautiful
Oppo F1 Plus Front camera
As it’s the main marketing focus for this phone, I’m going to break from the norm and talk about the front facing camera first. It’s a whopping 16MP sensor, larger even than the one on the back of the phone. While this just means larger, higher resolution selfies, it’s still unusual and impressive.
For the ultimate selfies, you could still argue something like the OIS HTC included in the 10 is more beneficial. Especially holding a phone at arm’s length. The F1 Plus does give you screen flash, though, for those darker moments.
Beauty mode just makes you an awful lot smoother
The F1 Plus also includes, the now seemingly standard, beauty and panorama modes, to smooth out your features and add some rosy cheeks or include all your friends in your snapshot. Nothing too fancy, but as with other phones with the so-called beauty mode, your mileage will vary. Some of us just look like much smoother beasts.
The panorama mode is very easy to use, it just takes three images and stitches them together. Take a picture of yourself first, then turn one way, then the other, and get a big happy group selfie to remember your super fun times.
What of the actual pictures? (Since that’s what matters the most.) They’re very good, but in my experience there’s nothing that really wows me. I’m no selfie aficionado, but I don’t see anything that really stands out as being groundbreaking. They’re just, well, nice pictures. Maybe that’s a side product of the marketing hype.
It takes nice-looking shots, but at the edges they can become a little blurry. Sure, the focus is supposed to be your face, but perhaps I expected a little more. And the British filter is misleading. I expected tea and crumpets, or something.
One thing that does frustrate me is that the front camera shoots mirror images, i.e. text is all backwards. And there doesn’t appear to be an editing tool built in to flip it back around. That might not be a problem for you, but I like things the right way around. At least it is when you shoot video.
Take pictures of other things
Oppo F1 Plus Rear camera
When you’re done taking pictures of yourself you can turn things around and use the 13MP rear camera. You get a few added options over the front camera, like HDR and an actual flash, but much is the same.
There are a few additional things you can do with the rear camera. Like the front-facer you can shoot GIF animations and use filters as well as take double exposure shots. But for the back you get an “Expert mode” which lets you fiddle with some manual settings, including the ability to save RAW files.
There’s also one labelled “Ultra HD,” which isn’t what you might think it is, especially since it doesn’t relate to video. For all intents and purposes you get the same looking pictures as just snapping in auto, but the picture itself is larger. Useful perhaps if you’re going to be cropping in a little.
The camera app is pretty easy to use, everything is well laid out and nothing tries to be too complicated. The F1 Plus is quite fast to focus and shoot, and takes fairly nice looking photos. Nothing outstanding, but solid enough.
This sample gallery was taken with everything on default settings.
It leaves something to be desired in lower light situations, but when it’s not so dark there’s not a lot bad to say. And it does have a tendency to over saturate, most noticeable in my testing when shooting greens.
It can go all day
Oppo F1 Plus Battery life
The battery in the F1 Plus isn’t the largest of a phone this size, but the important thing is that it can make it through a day. That seems to be the case, with even the usually taxing roaming not dropping usage below the end of a working day.
The F1 Plus support’s Oppo’s VOOC fast charging which means that if you are finding yourself short and you can find an outlet, a quick plug in will top you up quite quickly. Sadly since my review unit hasn’t come with a UK or even European VOOC adapter, I’ve not been able to put it to regular test. But using it while in China, it seems to be the real deal.
Oppo showed us its next generation of fast charging at MWC, claiming to be able to go from 0-full in just 15 minutes. While it’s not jumping in with a standard like QuickCharge from Qualcomm, it is serious about fast charging.
Where there is a little confusion is in how Oppo handles reporting what’s using your battery. It’ll give you apps and percentages and what not, but it doesn’t seem to just give you a graph and the screen on time like pretty much every other Android phone does.
This will only be an irritation if you’re the kind of phone buyer who looks into this stuff and cares about screen on time, but still. It’s a little odd that something so simple would be made so much more complicated than it needs to be.
Oppo’s best yet
Oppo F1 Plus: The bottom line
The F1 Plus is Oppo’s best phone yet. While the ‘R’ series is typically the higher-end offerings, the more mid-range ‘F’ is currently the one to beat. It’s a combination of things, not least that the software is now, well, usable.
That’s more important than anything on the hardware sheet. Previous versions of Color OS were not pleasant to use. They were slow and janky and tarnished any kind of positives. But that’s all gone away now, and for the better. Even if it does still run on Lollipop.
You may criticize that it looks too much like an iPhone, which it does, but that would be doing it a disservice. It’s a good phone.
It’s also a good phone at a great price. It’ll cost around £300 in Europe when it goes on sale in May, and you get a lot for that. A pair of good, if not exceptional cameras, fast charging, solid internal hardware and a whopping 64GB of onboard storage with a microSD card slot. Phone’s that cost almost twice as much still only have half that amount of storage.
Oppo’s tale of recent success has been mostly down to the Asian market. But you can buy this phone without a carrier for £300, and you’ll probably be very happy with it.
Should you buy it? Sure
While we’re not definitively saying that this is the phone to buy, especially as the mid-tier, unlocked market is stronger than ever, there’s no real reason to say you shouldn’t buy it. So long as you’re happy with a phone that currently runs Lollipop.
If you like what you see then go for it and be very happy with your choice. Huawei’s non-Honor branded phones are plenty more expensive, Xiaomi still doesn’t exist in Europe and we’ve still to see where OnePlus goes this year, likewise with Motorola.
The Oppo F1 Plus is a fine choice in this price range.
The Oppo F1 Plus is due to go on sale in Europe some time in May. It can already be purchased in retail stores in India, as well as at Snapdeal.
See at Snapdeal
Six of the world’s weirdest bikes
By Cat DiStasio
Bicycles are ubiquitous on most city streets, but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. Over the years we’ve seen some absolutely bizarre bike designs that tiptoe around the borders of insanity. Some, like this wild dinosaur-inspired trike, were built to raise awareness about the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Others have more to do with the rider experience, whether it’s the pursuit of a more thorough workout or the desire to fly with the birds. Bikes come in all shapes, sometimes with pointy bits, and sometimes without any pedals, but no matter how weird they look or work, there’s something distinctly universal about these things we call bikes.
The Fujifilm X-Pro2 is a fantastic camera, but it’s not for me
I’ve been looking forward to the X-Pro2, Fujifilm’s flagship mirrorless camera, ever since switching over to the X Series 18 months ago. To understand why, you need to know a little about me. I’ve only really been taking cameras seriously for seven years. My first came in 2009, a slightly battered old Nikon D40. Three years, three Nikons (I upgraded twice) and three additional lenses (35mm, 40mm and 50mm fixed) later, I was tired of lugging around a giant camera, and even more tired of the small selection of good lenses available in my price range. I then tried out a mirrorless Sony camera, but Sony’s lens selection at the time was pitiful if you weren’t willing to spend big money.
It wasn’t until an old colleague of mine showed me the Fujifilm X100T, a compact camera with a 35mm-equivalent fixed lens and an innovative viewfinder that’s both electronic and optical, that I knew what I wanted. Within weeks I’d thrown my Sony in a drawer and bought an entry-level X-M1 and a pair of lenses to give Fujifilm a shot.
After an extremely successful trial run at CES 2015, I was convinced. All that was left to do was upgrade from the entry-level body to a model that did everything I wanted it to. I decided on an X-Pro1 — despite a colleague advising me against it — because it had the same viewfinder tech as the X100T I’d fallen in love with. The problem was, rumors suggested that a sequel, the X-Pro2, was just around the corner. So I waited.
And waited.
Fujifilm wouldn’t announce the camera until January this year, and I didn’t get a chance to touch one until last month. After all this time, was it worth the wait? On paper, the answer looked like a resounding yes: The X-Pro2 has an all-new third-generation X-Trans sensor, which ups the resolution considerably over the rest of the X Series, and a fresh image-processing unit (the “X-Processor Pro”). That means a 24.3-megapixel resolution and a native ISO limit of 12,800, a big upgrade from the previous cameras’ 16.3-megapixel and ISO 6,400 limits. There’s also an improved autofocusing system with phase detection — not entirely new for the X Series, but new for the X-Pro.
But before we really get into what the X-Pro2 is, let’s quickly cover what it’s not. The X-Pro2 is not a compact mirrorless camera. At 445g (0.98 pounds), it’s only 10g (a third of an ounce) lighter than the D3100 I tossed aside four years ago. The X-Pro2 is also not a DSLR replacement. The company’s X-T10 and X-T1 fill that niche, and the X-Pro2 is closer in shape to the Nikon SP and Leica M3 rangefinders popular in the ’50s and ’60s. Finally, the X-Pro 2 is not cheap. It’s $1,700, which puts it in the same price range as Nikon’s and Canon’s ultra-high-end APS-C DSLRs like the 7D and D500, or, closer to home, Sony’s superb full-frame mirrorless A7 II. None of these cameras are directly comparable to the X-Pro2, though, and that’s because of Fujifilm’s unique viewfinder.
Like the X-Pro1, and the X100T that sold me on Fujifilm in the first place, the X-Pro2 has a hybrid viewfinder that takes the best aspects of optical rangefinders and electronic viewfinders and mashes them into a single unit positioned in the top-left corner of the camera. In optical mode, it gives you a wide field of view and projects more information on top of it. Rather than showing you what your lens is seeing and its focus, you’ll instead have a white box indicating the area your lens will cover. For a more practical example: If you have a zoom lens, this box changes sizes depending on what focal length you’ve chosen. Above and below this view you’ll find the usual information you’d expect from a viewfinder. This is customizable, but I have it set to show shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure and battery.
Looking through the viewfinder, you see guidelines showing you framing, and an EVF preview of your finished shot in the corner.
The limitations of an optical viewfinder — namely, not being able to see what you’re focusing on — are mitigated by a tiny electronic viewfinder that sits in the corner of the optical window. This can either show you the whole frame (like you’d see on a regular EVF) or a tight crop of what you’re focusing on. The setup is a modern-day take on the rangefinding concept — using two separate image guides to take a single photo — and I relied on it fairly often when using my favorite Fujinon lens (a 35mm f/1.4). With a telephoto, though, you’re going to feel limited, because the boxed-in area will be tiny. Because of this, when shooting with a zoom lens I ended up flicking the lever on the front of the X-Pro2 and turning the optical viewfinder into a full-blown EVF.
The regular EVF is nothing to write home about. At 0.48 inches and 2.36 million dots, it’s bested by cheaper cameras from other companies and even Fujifilm itself. It’s definitely solid, and it provides some vital flexibility to make up for the optical view’s shortcomings. As explained, it’s great for shooting with telephoto lenses. That’s not something I do often, but even so, I found the EVF useful for navigating menus and viewing photos when shooting at night (i.e., when I didn’t want the LCD on the back lighting my face like a Christmas tree). Likewise, the main LCD — a 3-inch panel with 1.62 millions dots — is good enough, but it’s fixed in place. When the X-T, X-M and X-A series all offer tilting LCDs, you have to question why the X-Pro2 doesn’t have one.
Shot at f/4.0, ISO 12,800, with a 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 lens. A high-res shot can be found here.
One of these three themes — fantastic, flexible and good enough — can be applied to every facet of the X-Pro2. The new image sensor and processor are fantastic, with great JPG handling, color reproduction (aided by Fujifilm’s “film simulation,” which lets you choose from various processing options), and usable images even at ISO levels as high as 12,800. Fujifilm provided me with an 18-55mm zoom lens (f/2.8–4.0 with optical image stabilization), which has been around for a few years. It’s remarkably sharp around 27–40mm — far more so than your typical kit lens — but as you’d expect suffers at the extremes of its range with softness and distortion. I ended up leaving it at home for the majority of my testing, mostly because I’m used to shooting at fixed focal lengths.
When I paired the X-Pro2 with lenses I’m familiar with, I was very pleased with the results, if not with the ease with which they were acquired. There are a pair of dials atop the camera, one a basic exposure (to ±3) control, the other a dual ISO/shutter speed control. The latter is very unintuitive — I literally couldn’t explain how it’s supposed to work despite having used it extensively. On the front and back of the camera are wheels whose functions change depending on what mode you’re in — shutter, aperture ISO, etc. — which I only really used for fine-grain control of shutter speed, as my lenses all have aperture dials. Elsewhere you’ll find dedicated mechanical buttons for auto-exposure lock, autofocus lock and a three-point switch for jumping between autofocus modes. There’s also a tiny joystick by the LCD on the back of the camera that lets you set a focal point with ease. It’s great, and every Fujifilm camera from now on needs to have it.
The X-Pro2 handles well, and with the kit lens, or smaller lenses like the 27mm or 35mm fixed, it’s very easy to maneuver and hold steady. Put a larger lens on it, though, and it suffers; the grip is a little too shallow for supporting the weight of a 55–200mm zoom, for example.
The offending/offensive dial.
Despite a vast range of physical controls at my disposal, I found the X-Pro2 lacking. The problem really is that ISO/shutter dial. The X-T10 (Fujifilm’s DSLR-like camera) breaks out shutter speeds and ISO into two separate dials, as do countless other cameras. Why the company’s flagship does not is a mystery. Luckily, the X-Pro2 has three customizable auto ISO settings, so I set them up in reasonably tight increments (200–800, 800–3,200, 3,200–12,800, respectively) and jumped between them on the fly using the Fn button. That suits my current shooting style (I typically use manual mode with limited auto ISO as a safety net), but it’s still nowhere near as quick or intuitive as it should be. What I was hoping for from the X-Pro2 was granular mechanical control over every facet of the camera. What I got instead was an irritating compromise.
Speaking of, one major pain point for Fujifilm cameras has been video. I specifically have a cheap Canon DSLR just to shoot the one or two things I need to per year, because Fujifilm’s video is so poor. While no one is buying an X-Pro2 for its video capability, I’m happy to report that it can actually shoot passable video now, at 1080p and 60fps. One for the “good enough” column, for sure.
Autofocus, another spotty area for the X Series, is vastly improved over previous Fujifilm cameras. The original X-Pro had precisely zero phase-detection pixels. That’s something that’s been rectified by more recent models, but the X-Pro2 has by far the most phase-detection pixels of any X Series camera, covering roughly 40 percent of the frame. That leads to a big real-world improvement in terms of both speed and accuracy, although it should be pointed out that the actual pace of focusing will depend on the lens you have in front of that sensor.
After a couple of weeks of shooting, I’ve taken some beautiful shots. In case my origin story didn’t clue you in, I am very much an amateur. My framing can be poor, my depth of field too narrow, my shutter speed too slow. No camera will fix that. What I can say is that the photos I’ve taken with the X-Pro2 have been better than the photos I’ve taken with other Fujifilm cameras. And I’ve had a lot of fun shooting them. I probably shouldn’t be advising you to visit a competing website, but I’d recommend checking out Sam Byford’s sample gallery over at The Verge. He’s a far better photographer than I am (and, not coincidentally, the aforementioned colleague who introduced me to the X Series in the first place).
Shot at f/4.5, ISO 2000, with a 35mm f/1.4 lens. A high-res shot can be found here.
As great a time as I’ve had with it, I’ve come to the realization that the X-Pro2 is not what I want from a camera. And that sucks, especially after a year of waiting for it. Of course, I can’t ignore the leaps forward it offers. Increased resolution without a dip in pixel-by-pixel quality, a native and usable ISO 12,800, improved autofocus, better JPEG rendering, a new film simulation mode (Acros, a black-and-white film, was used to capture the shot above), the new hybrid viewfinder — these are all worthy and welcome improvements. But they’re stuck inside a body that doesn’t work that well as an everyday interchangeable-lens camera. That viewfinder, as flexible as it is, is much better suited to the company’s fixed-lens offerings. The company’s fantastic lens selection handles better attached to the DLSR-like X-T1 and X-T10.
But this sensor and processor will come to other Fujifilm cameras. And they’ll be much, much better for it. As much fun as it’s been to shoot with, and even though it’s one of the best-performing cameras I’ve ever used, I’m not too sad to be saying goodbye to the X-Pro2. I am sad, though, to be stuck waiting again, this time for a refresh to another Fujifilm camera — for, I guess, the “X-T2.”
ASUS to hold ‘Zenvolution’ event in Taiwan on May 30
ASUS will announce what’s next for its Zen line of products on May 30. The “Zenvolution” event is taking place in Taiwan, just ahead of the Computex trade show, which itself runs May 31-June 4.
The company has already put up a teaser site counting down to the press event, which will be held at the Humble House Taipei. The event will also be streamed live around the world.
It’s likely that ASUS will use this event to announce the ZenFone 3, and possibly a ZenFone 3 Deluxe. Recent leaks appear to show that the next ZenFone will sport 2.5D curved glass on the front and back, USB Type-C connectivity, a fingerprint sensor, front LED flash, and laser autofocus at the back. As for the Deluxe, it’s said to feature an all-metal design with a physical home button on the front.
Recommended Reading: Captain America vs. Iron Man
Why the Civil War between
Captain America and
Iron Man Is Inevitable
Tim O’Neil,
AV Club
The latest installment in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War, hits theaters in the US this weekend. Before you head out, read up on what the comics have to say about the inevitable conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. Sure, there will be some spoilers, but if you ask me, it’s worth it to know how the narrative plays out in the books. In addition to the AV Club piece, NPR examined the similarities between the new Marvel film and the hit musical Hamilton for another interesting perspective.
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The Cottage Industry Trying to Convince You Your Cell Phone Can Give You Cancer Patch’d is a $50 smartchip that promises to reduce your exposure to smartphone radiation. However, we’re still not sure if our phones are really causing cancer in the first place. Better safe than sorry? |
Pizza Chains Want a Larger Slice of the Delivery Pie As food delivery apps and services grow, pizza chains continue to suffer. Eater takes a look at how major brands are looking to tech to help spark a rebound. |
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RIP to the SoundCloud DJ SoundCloud’s new subscription service offers listeners an alternative to Spotify, Apple Music and others. For creators, the copyright terms that the paid service demands is causing all kinds of headaches, including dead accounts. |
A DNA Sequencer in Every Pocket What if scientists, or anyone for that matter, had the ability to analyze genes in a remote location like a jungle or on the open sea? One company is looking to do just that with a pocket-sized DNA sequencer. |
AdBlock and AdBlock Plus are available for Microsoft Edge
Back in March, Microsoft started testing a version of its new Edge browser on Windows 10 with support for extensions. Now, one of the most-requested features is covered with the introduction of AdBlock and AdBlock Plus extensions for Edge. The feature list appears to be mostly intact from its Chrome and Firefox iterations, with the ability to block varying levels of ads or whitelist certain sites (like… Engadget.com for example).
AdBlock for Edge https://t.co/9VC1sGE3bk Adblock Plus for Edge https://t.co/MRSvQZoxlW
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) May 6, 2016
Not everyone uses extensions for their browsing experience, but for those of us who rely on them every day, it’s impossible to consider switching to a browser without a healthy library of optional add-ons. You’ll need to be in the preview program to test out the extension-enabled browser, and if you are, just check the video below to find out how to install them.
Via: Walking Cat (Twitter)
Source: AdBlock (Windows Store), AdBlock Plus (Windows Store)
ICYMI: RoboDoc beats humans, touchpad skin and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot performed surgery on its own (with a human standing by) and turns out, makes such fine, consistent stitches that it actually beats those done by real counterparts. Carnegie Mellon created a wristwatch display and ring system that makes the skin of your forearm a touch pad to interact with the screen. And McDonald’s made something called the McTrax placemat in the Netherland’s and music folk everywhere want one, asap.
We also rounded up the week’s big headlines in TL;DR and hope your weekend conversations touch on whether the UAE should build an artificial mountain to get more rain. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
MIT is raising $5 billion to make the world a better place
MIT’s new fundraising initiative called “Campaign for a Better World” seeks to tackle some of humanity’s (and our planet’s) biggest challenges. Since that’s no easy feat, its goal is just as lofty: $5 billion. The institute lists its various projects under the campaign’s six priority areas. First is basic research, which includes studies on the aging brain, exoplanets and protein interaction. Second priority covers environmental research, such as the quest for sustainable consumption and viable climate change solutions.
The third priority is comprised of projects tackling the human health including one that plans to manipulate genes using CRISPR-Cas9, one about biological circuits and another that plans to develop a paper test for cancer. MIT will also use part of the money to help get student entrepreneurs started, to reinvent how it teaches the new generation, to increase resources for financial aid and to develop research facilities in an effort to entice new students.
MIT President L. Rafael Reif said:
“Humanity faces urgent challenges—challenges whose solutions depend on marrying advanced technical and scientific capabilities with a deep understanding of the world’s political, cultural, and economic complexities.
We launch the Campaign for a Better World to rise to those challenges and accelerate positive change. In this effort, we seek the support of enthusiastic partners who share our sense of mission and infinite possibility—including our remarkable alumni, who do the great work of MIT in the world every day. Together, through this Campaign, we will give the brilliant minds and hands of the MIT community the fuel and the focus to make inspiring progress for the world.”
MIT has already raised $2.6 billion toward the goal. It still needs some generous donors with deep pockets to raise $2.4 billion more, but you can donate any amount you can if you wish to help out.
Source: MIT
AIVAnet 