Six gadgets for a green camping trip
By Cat DiStasio
This week marks the start of summer, and campers across the nation are getting ready to explore the great outdoors. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to go off-grid while keeping a light footprint. That means finding tents that don’t mar the land and cooking methods that don’t generate needless waste. It’s also easier than ever to keep electronic gadgets charged throughout your trip. And, of course, nobody wants to fumble with flashlight batteries in the dark, so rechargeable and solar-powered lanterns are a big win at any camp site. Whatever goals you set for your next trip, there’s a gadget out there to help you achieve it.
Apple won’t assist the Republican convention due to Trump
Apple has made a number of firm political stands ever since Tim Cook took the helm, and it’s not about to back down any time soon. Politico sources (backed by in-the-know journalist John Paczkowski) say that Apple won’t provide funding or other support for the Republican Party’s July presidential convention due to Donald Trump’s policies. Reportedly, his attitudes toward immigrants, minorities and women are beyond the pale — although Apple has been willing to court Republicans in the past (Cook met with House GOP bigwigs in 2015), Trump is just too extreme for the company’s tastes. Apple has declined to comment to Politico so far.
Facebook, Google and Microsoft have so far said that they’ll support the convention, although that hasn’t precluded their leaders from vocally opposing Trump’s views. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, is vehemently opposed to Trump’s approach to immigration. HP is one of the few tech giants to have refused support before now.
As you might have guessed: yes, Apple has a vested interest in making Trump’s life difficult. His anti-immigration policy might hurt the company’s recruiting efforts. And remember, this is the presidential hopeful who swore he’d make Apple build products in the US (albeit without explaining how). Why back someone who’d go out of his way to hurt your bottom line?
With that said, Apple is ideologically opposed to Trump beyond pure economics. Trump rejects climate change science at the same time as Apple is making a big pro-environment push, and has opposed gay marriage when Apple both has a gay CEO and embraces the LGBT community. Whatever your views, it’s apparent that the two sides have very little in common — it would be more shocking if Apple did offer some help.
Source: Politico, John Paczkowski (Twitter)
Facebook Live death highlights the risks of livestreaming
Facebook Live is great for capturing events as they happen. However, like any other live internet broadcast, it’s becoming clear that there’s also a dark side. Police have confirmed to the New York Times that Chicago man Antonio Perkins was shot to death on June 15th while he was using Facebook Live to share an otherwise normal evening. The incident isn’t strictly unique (there have sadly been other incidents of livestreamed violence before), but it underscores the lack of filters for livestreaming. Unlike similar scenes on live TV, there’s no one to cut away when horror occurs on-camera.
Notably, Facebook isn’t taking the Perkins video down. While it will remove clips that sensationalize violence, it’s leaving this and other footage that it believes will boost awareness of violence and its consequences. There’s a “graphic video” warning before you start watching, but there’s otherwise nothing stopping you.
As it stands, it’s doubtful that Facebook is about to have second thoughts about livestreaming. Any live video service has the potential to show something terrible — and when Facebook has over 1.6 billion active users every month, that potential is stronger than usual. If the company wants to offer livestreaming at all, it’ll have to accept that some videos are likely to be tragic.
Source: New York Times
Pentagon wants more people to hack its websites and networks
The Department of Defense’s Hack the Pentagon program was apparently so successful, the agency has decided to extend and develop new initiatives for it. Similar to Facebook’s, Twitter’s and Google’s bug bounty projects, Hack the Pentagon paid white hackers for the vulnerabilities they discovered on the department’s websites. It ran from April 18th until May 12th, 2016 and doled out over $70,000 in rewards. However, the initial run only covered five public-facing online properties — defense.gov, dodlive.mil, dvidshub.net, myafn.net and dimoc.mil. The department believes that the concept will also “be successful when applied to many or all of DoD’s other security challenges.”
Starting this month, the agency will develop a new disclosure process and policy. It will anyone to report the flaws they find not only on DoD’s websites, but also its systems, networks and applications without fear of repercussion. The department will expand the program to cover the services it offers and will offer incentives to contractors who open their systems for testing, as well.
The department’s network was hacked more than once last year, with one instance leading to the temporary shutdown of its email system. All those instances might have compelled the agency to beef up its digital security in several way. Besides expanding its bug bounty program, the Pentagon has also hired Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team, to be part of its Defense Digital Service.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Department of Defense
Apple Withholds Republican Convention Donations Over Trump Politics
Apple has informed Republican leaders it will not be supporting the party’s 2016 presidential convention in Cleveland next month, according to sources who spoke to Politico today.
The decision is reportedly due to comments made by presumptive nominee Donald Trump which the company takes issue with, in particular his controversial positions on the subjects of minorities, women, and immigrants.
Apple has traditionally donated technology and cash to both Republican and Democratic conventions, although no funding was provided to the 2012 Democratic event after the party decided against taking corporate donations.
It’s still unclear whether Apple plans to donate to the upcoming Democratic convention in Philadelphia this summer.
Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have all said they will provide some support to this year’s GOP event, despite general reservations within the tech industry about where the party is headed under Trump’s candidacy.
Back in March, Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the American Enterprise Institute’s annual World Forum, where conversation among tech leaders and Republican representatives kept returning to the topic of the GOP candidate’s emergence on the political scene. Sources familiar with the event said that the meeting centered more around how and why Trump had attracted support, rather than how to stop him.
Trump has previously singled out Apple for its encryption stance and its refusal to help the FBI unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, and at one point suggested people should boycott the company’s products unless it complied with the federal agency’s demands.
It was later revealed that Trump had tweeted the comment using an iPhone.
No indication was given by the two sources Politico spoke to that Trump’s criticism of Apple was behind its decision to withhold support for the Republican event.
Apple will not be alone in its refusal to help with GOP convention efforts. Earlier this month, HP announced it would not provide funding, after coming under pressure from activists at ColorofChange.org.
“We want them to divest from hate; we want them to pull all their money and support,” said Mary Alice, field director for Free Press Action Fund, which is part of the anti-Trump campaign. Tech companies backing the convention need to be “thinking hard about where they put their brand, and whether they want to align their brand with racism, hatred and misogyny,” she told Politico.
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Tag: Donald Trump
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[Review] Get up and go with Aukey Bluetooth earphones
Now that some smartphone manufacturers are killing off the 3.5mm headphone jack, now is a good time to start considering Bluetooth headphones and earphones. Over the past two weeks I’ve been reviewing a pair of Aukey Bluetooth earphones. Although Aukey mostly produces charging accessories, they’ve also made headway into the audio market.
First Impressions
The earphones are comfortable in the ear, and since they are sport earphones, they have a rubber attachment that keeps them secure in your ears. The earphones are plain black, so they will probably match with most of your other gear, as well as clothing.
Features
- Deliver balanced, clean, ultra-low latency sound in a lightweight, comfortable fit for active or stationary wireless audio consumption.
- Better fit = better noise isolation and sound quality. Find your perfect fit with 3 pairs of included ear-tips (S/M/L) and secure-fit ear-supports.
- Connect quickly and effortlessly manage audio playback and calls with volume controls, multifunction button, and built-in CVC 6.0 noise canceling microphone.
- Compatible with Bluetooth-equipped computers & mobile devices, up to 6 hours playback or up to 106 hours standby.
- Package Contents: AUKEY EP-B24 Bluetooth Headphones, Micro-USB Cable, Ear-tips (S, M, L), Stable-fit Ear-supports, Carrying Pouch, User Manual.
These earphones come with three different ear buds in small, medium and large so you can swap them out until you find the most comfortable pair. Although some earphones come with swappable rubber hooks, this pair doesn’t have them.
A nice feature is that the back of each earphone is magnetic, so when you’re not using them you can wear them around your neck as a necklace.
Sound
The sound from these earphones can be quiet at times, and I often found myself increasing the volume whenever I could. As for the quality, I found that they didn’t represent bass and sub bass very well, but mid- and high-range tones were decent. These earphones are aimed at the lower end of the market, and that is reflected both in the quality and price.
Battery
The battery on these is surprisingly good. I haven’t heard of many Bluetooth earphones whose battery lasts for more than four hours or so, but with heavy use these easily lasted around six hours. On standby they last several days before they needed to be charged again. Charging happens through a standard microUSB port, and only takes a couple of hours.
Conclusion
As I mentioned, these earphones are more affordable than most, at only $25. Unless you’re picky about sound quality, these should be good enough for any occasion, but especially if you need a pair when you go running or hiking.
You can pick these up for $24.99 on Amazon. (Affiliate link)
Amazon’s Echo Dot is a great way to bring Alexa to more rooms
I haven’t been shy about my love for the Amazon Echo. I wake up with it, and aside from my phone, computers and TV, it’s one of the gadgets I rely most on most throughout the day. So when Amazon announced the $90 Echo Dot, which brings all of its larger sibling’s features to any speaker, I was onboard before you could say “Alexa, what’s the weather?” I couldn’t wait to bring Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant, which is the heart of soul of the Echo, into my bedroom (ahem) and office. It took a long while for the Echo Dot to finally reach me (Amazon, once again, refused to make it available early for reviewers), but after a week of living with it on my nightstand, I’m finding it just as useful as the original.
Let’s make this clear up front: You still can’t buy an Echo Dot on its own. The only way to order one is to ask Alexa on an Echo or Fire TV to order it for you and wait several weeks. Amazon is clearly positioning it as a secondary device, which makes sense for most people, but also seems like a bafflingly restrictive choice in this day and age. Perhaps the company just wanted to limit its first available units to Echo users, especially since it’s had trouble producing enough devices in the past.
The actual process of buying the Echo Dot was smooth and easy — almost worryingly so. It’s strange to just say a few words and then have a $90 gadget headed towards your home. You’ve been able to buy things via the Echo with voice commands for a while now, but that’s something I’ve never done before the Dot. At most, I would ask Alexa to add a few items to my shopping cart or wish list. It reminds me of when, in 2009, I bought my 50-inch plasma TV via Amazon’s iPhone app — a moment of ludicrously convenient big-ticket consumerism that I remember to this day. Now, you don’t even need to look at a screen before you fork over money to Amazon.
Setting up the Echo Dot is only slightly more involved than with its larger sibling, mainly because you have to plug in an auxiliary cable, in addition to a power cord. You’ll have to use Amazon’s Alexa iOS or Android app to get the Echo Dot connected to WiFi, which typically only takes a few minutes. The Alexa app is also where you can manage the Echo Dot’s settings, as well as its “skills,” or connections to third-party services. You can also go through voice training with the app to help your Echo Dot understand you better.
The Dot feels like a large hockey puck: It’s basically the top part of the original Echo sitting on its own. There are two buttons on top for disabling the microphone and enabling Bluetooth pairing. To control the volume, you just need to turn the top portion of the device, which also lights up with LEDs to show you the sound levels. While it has a small built-in speaker, the entire appeal of the Echo Dot is its ability to connect to a beefier system. Once it’s plugged in, it’ll turn anything, even a decades-old amplifier setup, into a smart speaker. It’s also a useful accessory if you’ve already invested in modern speaker systems like Sonos. The Echo Dot has the same beam-forming seven microphone array that sits atop the original Echo, so it’s just as accurate when it comes to hearing your commands, even in moderately noisy rooms.
Currently, I have a large Echo set up in my living room and the Echo Dot about 30 feet away in my bedroom. When standing between them, they’re equally as fast at determining my voice commands and bringing back responses. (It’s truly weird occasionally hearing a symphony of Alexa responses in my apartment.) Since they’re plugged into power continuously, the Echo devices are better about listening for potential voice commands than phone virtual assistants like Siri and Google Now. Alexa doesn’t have to worry about conserving battery life, after all.
With the Echo Dot connected to an older Logitech speaker on my nightstand, it worked like a charm. Audio quality was solid, and being able to shout Alexa commands from under the comfort of my duvet felt downright luxurious. The only potential issue? Your speakers, naturally, need to be turned on for the Echo Dot to work. In the interest of energy conservation, that’s not something I’m willing to do 24/7. So I’ve taken to disconnecting the Echo Dot from my bedroom speaker most of the day, and instead relying on its embedded speaker for simple commands. When I want to listen to music or online radio, I just plug the speaker in. It would be nice if future versions of the Echo Dot gave you an easy way to automatically switch between its speaker options (or better yet, do it automatically).
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The Echo Dot sounded great when connected to my elaborate home theater setup, which consists of a Denon S910W receiver and Pioneer Elite tower front and center speakers (I don’t use my rear speakers for music). Just like with the original, you can ask the Echo Dot to play your playlists from Amazon Music, as well as other services including Pandora and Spotify (after connecting to them with the Alexa app). While actual music performance will depend on the service you’re listening to, I didn’t hear many hints of compression with Pandora streams, which is among the lower-quality options. True audiophiles will still prefer using something like the new Chromecast Audio on big speaker setups, though, since that gives you the option of using an optical cable to let your amplifier handle audio processing. Your only option with the Echo Dot is a standard 3.5mm cable.
If you live in a smaller apartment, there’s a good chance you don’t actually need two separate Alexa devices. If I shout loudly enough from my bedroom, the Echo in my kitchen usually hears me. Still, it’s nice being able to have a closer device for voice commands, especially if you’re trying to set an alarm late at night. If you’re looking for a secondary Echo device and don’t have any extra speakers, Amazon’s $130 Tap speaker might be a better option for you. And if you just want to jump into Amazon’s ecosystem, the original Echo is still a great product at $180.
The Echo Dot is the very definition of a niche device. It’s meant to be connected to expensive gear that many people don’t have, and the future of voice-powered digital assistants is still uncertain. But for Alexa addicts who have decent sound systems, it’s the perfect virtual companion.
New York votes to legalize daily fantasy sports games
If you’ve wished that the daily fantasy offerings from DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo would come back to New York following their shutdown in March, you might just get your wish. State legislators have voted in favor of a bill that would greenlight and regulate daily fantasy games. If Governor Cuomo signs the measure into law, it would both tax companies with an entry fee (15 percent of gross revenue per year plus up to $50,000 more) and set some important baselines for conduct.
The bill would ban any contests based on school sports or horse racing, and would identify both “highly experienced” players (such as employees) as well as the accurate odds of winning. Other elements of the would-be law would prevent free games from advertising paid games in mid-play, guarantee a proper introduction to newcomers, protect your funds and prevent access by anyone under 18.
It’s not guaranteed that Cuomo will approve the deal, but there’s a lot of pressure to make it happen. Daily fantasy heavyweights have been lobbying hard to get a legalization bill passed before the June 30th end of New York’s current legislative session. If they do, the Attorney General’s office will drop most lawsuits against DraftKings and FanDuel. Also, Senator John Bonacic (the bill’s key sponsor) believes that the state could rake in as much as $5.5 million per year. There’s no doubt that the companies affected by the bill are happy — DraftKings says it’s “extremely pleased” with that it calls a “sensible framework” for governing its business.
The legislation could go a long way toward tackling claims that both DraftKings and FanDuel used false advertising to mislead players, although the Attorney General isn’t giving up its actions in the meantime. However, not everyone is happy. On top of those who believe that daily fantasy games are inherently stacked against most players and invite compulsive behavior, New York’s casino industry is worried that the contests undermine existing gambling. One thing’s for sure: barring a veto, it won’t take long to see who’s right.
Statement on Daily Fantasy Sports legislation: pic.twitter.com/SNGNUjtDXL
— Eric Schneiderman (@AGSchneiderman) June 18, 2016
Source: DraftKings (PR Newswire), NYAssembly.gov
iPhone 7 may keep the headphone jack and support dual SIMs
One of the most intriguing rumors about the upcoming iPhone 7 is that it’ll ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning users will have to get audio output via Lightning or Bluetooth. But according to a leakster, this may no longer be the case. Rock Fix, a smartphone repair shop based in China’s Ganzhou, has recently been posting photos of alleged iPhone 7 components. One of these is apparently the 4.7-inch model’s Lightning cable assembly which, contrary to what we’ve been hearing before, still has a headphone jack attached to it. And more recently, the shop shared photos of what it claims to be the next iPhone’s dual-SIM trays, which will be a first for Apple if true.
Other parts shown off by Rock Fix include some screen panels in the usual two sizes, some SanDisk memory chips of up to a whopping 256GB, plus a dual-lens camera for the larger model (hello, Huawei!). The shop owner also told us that there will be some changes to the antenna design, though he clarified that this won’t get rid of those antenna bands on the back of the phone; maybe it’s more to do with the rumored switch to Intel’s modem for the GSM models.
Despite such recent leaks, there’s still some uncertainty regarding the iPhone 7’s features. For one, just three days ago, an industry insider claimed he heard from a Foxconn source saying Apple had canned the dual-lens camera because the technology wasn’t ready, but the following day another insider shot this rumor down, as he had heard from multiple suppliers saying the tooling was already made and that it’d be too late to change it (a self-proclaimed Foxconn employee commented below this Weibo post to say mass production started last month). He added that Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are also exploring dual-lens cameras for their upcoming smartphones, so it’ll be interesting to see what the mobile industry will offer in the coming months.
Source: Rock Fix (1), (2)
‘Battlefield 1’ learned a lot from ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’
When Electronic Arts and DICE released Star Wars: Battlefront last fall, fans complained that it was far too simple; a shell of a game. The reaction was justified, but as shallow as the game was, it wasn’t without merit. A lot of what Battlefront got right (a massive sense of scale, easier to control aircraft and monstrous mechanical instruments of war) has made its way into Battlefield 1.
The latter series has always prided itself on being a thinking-person’s shooter. But recent releases have become bloated, with a diminished focus on what made the franchise great in the first place. In particular, these recent installments have tended to emphasize spectacle over strategic gunfights, with each player serving a distinct role in combat. Some of Battlefront’s simplicity made its way into DICE’s version of World War I, but based on what I played at E3, that isn’t a detriment — it’s an asset.
Battlefront and Battlefield 1 were developed in parallel, so it’s no surprise that there was some cross-pollination. The overlap was sometimes unexpected, though. The Battlefield series has always had aircraft of some sort, but simply getting in the pilot’s seat didn’t ensure success; being a proficient (and genuinely helpful) helicopter or fighter jet pilot takes a lot of practice. Battlefront took an arcadey approach to controlling the sci-fi universe’s iconic spacecraft and made each ship easy to pick up and have fun with.
“There’s been a lot of crossover between how [we] think about air combat between Star Wars and Battlefield 1,” DICE general manager Patrick Bach said. “That doesn’t mean it’s the same. It’s actually far from it.”
Bach is right. Battlefield’s biplanes aren’t just X-Wings with machine guns bolted on. They’re fragile, heavy-feeling, and susceptible to small arms fire from the ground. And, most noticeably, they’re an awful lot slower to maneuver. “There’s much more of a physical presence to the biplanes,” Bach said. They’re a little easier to fly than before, sure, but I still crashed more times than I care to admit.
One of the most unique aspects of Battlefront were the lumbering AT-AT walkers from The Empire Strikes Back’s assault on Hoth. Bach said that even though they’re quite different, Battlefield 1’s tanks are the equivalent of Walkers. “They have a lot of stopping power and you probably behave the same way when you see a tank as you would when you see an AT-AT — you fight or you run; there’s no other option,” he said.
That doesn’t mean you’re helpless should you find yourself facing one down. Bach noted that foot-soldiers have more options to take them out this time around. “I compare it to meeting a dragon [in other games], and feeling like you can actually take it down, but it will be a struggle,” he said. “It’s almost like meeting a miniboss on the battlefield.”
Then there are the zeppelin warships. The difference between these and the Walkers is that they’re actually player-controlled and you can direct where they float above the chaos below — a departure from the autonomous AT-ATs. When a zeppelin arrives, it can dominate the area it’s floating above with massive firepower from player-occupied turrets. This is especially helpful when you’re playing Conquest and are defending control points from above. If you’re feeling gutsy, you could even exit the upper turrets and use a rifle to take potshots, on foot, from the top of the blimps. Based on my experience, however, I don’t recommend that. At all.
That’s because in a turret I had a bit of protection and a lot of firepower. That wasn’t the case when I was aiming down the sights of my gun.
Like the other aircraft — and unlike the Walkers — these blimps are particularly fragile. One teammate making couple of passes with their biplane guns, combined with anti-aircraft fire from the ground make short work of them. When the opposing team knocks one out of the sky, it erupts in a ball of fire and the wreckage will destroy whatever (unfortunately) is below it at the time. Seeing it happen as satisfying as tripping the Empire’s most fearsome ground unit and watching it fall on its “face.”
I haven’t loved a Battlefield game since 2010’s Bad Company 2. But during a single round of Conquest set on a map in northern France, I caught a glimpse of the game that had me smitten five years ago. I’ve been chasing that figurative dragon with each successive sequel since and come away disappointed. From the admittedly small portion I played, Battlefront’s influences haven’t hurt Battlefield 1; they’ve helped bring the series back to its roots.
The revamped class system distills each to its core duties, and the medic (my personal favorite) finally feels like a full-on support role again. It isn’t a combat medic with an assault rifle, similar to what Battlefield 4 did to the class in 2013; it’s just a medic. I tried rushing in and taking out enemies with a single-shot rifle and was mowed down time and time again, not helping my team at all. Once I remembered that the way to play was reviving downed teammates and dropping health kits during firefights, I was much more effective and having a lot more fun. It’s something I haven’t felt about the series in years.
I can’t help but feel that Battlefront helped DICE strip back some of the bloat that has creeped into Battlefield over the past few games. But for all the influences, Battlefield still feels like Battlefield. If you were worried about it being last year’s hollow LucasArts game with a World War I skin slapped on, don’t be.
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