Sony’s powerful Xperia X Performance now available in Canada

Sony Canada has released its impressive new flagship, the Xperia X Performance, on two Canadian carriers: Rogers, and Bell.

Available for $199.99 on a 2-year plan, or $699.99 outright, the device is available to purchase today at Bell, and can be reserved at Rogers for a July 14 release date. Rogers’ version comes with a free pair of Sony headphones with every reservation.

Sony’s Xperia X Performance is a more powerful version of the Xperia X, which Android Central reviewed and mostly enjoyed. It features a 5-inch 1080p display, a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 23MP rear Exmor RS camera with an f/2.0 lens, a 13MP front-facing camera, and a 2,700mAh battery, running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Aside from the more powerful processor over the Xperia X, the X Performance also features IP65/IP68 dust and waterproofing, along with Category-9 LTE support with the Snapdragon 820’s X12 baseband solution.

• Sony Xperia X Performance at Rogers
• Sony Xperia X Performance at Bell

In addition to the Xperia X Performance, Bell and Virgin Mobile have also released the cheaper Xperia XA, which substitutes Qualcomm for MediaTek, and cuts some corners in the camera, storage, and battery capacity. It starts at $0 on a 2-year term and $349.99 outright.

• Sony Xperia XA at Bell
• Sony Xperia XA at Virgin Mobile

Xperia X series specs

Want to learn more? Read our reviews and hands-ons for the Xperia X series.

• Sony Xperia X review
• Sony Xperia XA hands-on
• Sony Xperia X Performance hands-on

Instagram’s ‘Explore’ tab gets more personal with recommended video channels

Finding videos you like in Instagram should now be a little easier thanks to the latest update to the app’s Explore section. When browsing Explore, you’ll now see “Picked for You” channels loaded with videos based on your favorite topics.

From Instagram:

Diverse communities flourish on Instagram — from comedians and bakers to skateboarders and hip-hop dancers. Now, you’ll see new channels filled with the best videos from around the world based on topics you find interesting.

Video channels were introduced to the Explore feed in April after also allowing videos up to 60 seconds in length. Both changes must have had a decent impact, as Instagram notes that it has seen the time people spend watching video jump by 150% in the past 6 months.

In any case, it sounds like you should start seeing video channels that will be of greater interest the next time you start browsing your Explore tab. Do note, however, that this feature is only currently available in the U.S., but it should be on its way to the rest of the globe soon.

Boston Dynamics made a robot dog that can do your dishes

While it may not be as heartwarming as Cal Worthington’s dog, Spot, Boston Dynamic hopes its newest quadrupedal robot, SpotMini, will find a place in your home. The SpotMini is a smaller version of BD’s existing BigDog line of robotic pack animals. It’s roughly 55 pounds — compared to the Alpha Dog’s 240 — and stands about two feet tall. Unlike the larger versions, SpotMini doesn’t rely on hydraulics. It’s completely electric — reportedly the quietest Dog that BD has ever built — and can run for up to 90 minutes between charges.

The SpotMini will come equipped with a suite of navigation, guidance and perception sensors which will enable a degree of autonomy, though it will still require its human to dictate its high-level functions. That is, it’ll will be able to handle a variety of household tasks but isn’t quite Rosie the Robot just yet (fingers crossed that the Atlas will fill that role).

The SpotMini’s coolest feature, however, has got to be its manipulator arm (which sometimes doubles as its face). So, remember when BD showed off its Big Dog hucking concrete cinder blocks around like empty soda cans?

SpotMini does the same except way more gently. Rather than hurling bricks, the SpotMini leverages its arm to load glasses into a dishwasher, throw trash into a garbage bin or right itself after falling down.

The SpotMini is still in its prototype phase. We’re likely to see a couple generations of domestic robots like the Buddy or Pepper before the SpotMini makes it to market. But once it does, your next pet might need a power outlet.

Source: Boston Dynamics (YouTube)

Nissan drone can go 115mph, watch it race the 2017 Nissan GT-R

As part of the launch of the new, 2017 model of the Nissan GT-R, the Japanese car manufacturer built one of the world’s fastest accelerating first-person view drones.

The Nissan GT-R Drone is capable of a top speed of 115mph (185kph) and can accelerate from 0-60mph in under 1.3 seconds.

That’s why Nissan pitched its super speedy talents up against the 2017 car. Considering the latter is capable of speeds up to 195mph, you’d think it was no contest, but the drone’s turning circle is 0.3m in comparison to its far heftier counterpart’s 12.2m.

Nissan

Nissan Nismo driver Ricardo Sanchez was behind the wheel of the car, while James Bowles, 2015 British National Drone Racing champion, took control of the GT-R quadcopter. They raced around a dedicated track layout at Silverstone.

Watch the video to find out what happened.

The Nissan GT-R drone was designed by Tornado XBlades Racing, the team that would the World Drone Prix Championship recently. It utilises four propellers driven by 2,000kV XNova motors and a race-specification Sky-Hero quadcopter frame.

Both machines are on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. Pocket-lint will be reporting back from the gathering with even more exciting car news. Who knows, maybe there’s an additional gadget or two there too.

Honeywell Lyric ecosystem: What is it and what does it work with?

With so many smart home platforms, ecosystems and products available, the terminology can get confusing, especially as many require an investment of time, money, and brainpower.

It’s not all complicated though. Honeywell’s Lyric system, for instance, has the capacity to equip your house with a smart thermostat, smart leak detector, smart security and more. As Honeywell Lyric works with platforms including IFTTT and Amazon Echo however, you don’t have to worry about whether it’ll play nice with competing services and products.

Here is everything you need to know about Honeywell’s Lyric system, including how to remotely control Lyric products with the Lyric app and what other systems it works with.

What is Honeywell Lyric?

Honeywell Lyric is a Wi-Fi connected platform. It consists of connected smarthome products designed to simplify home comfort, security, and awareness.

You control these connected smarthome products with a single app (meaning you can control them with your smartphone or tablet), enabling you to keep tabs on your home even when you’re away. Each product works individually, but they can also work simultaneously.

What is the Honeywell Lyric ecosystem?

An ecosystem in the world of technology simply means all the hardware, software, and services that contribute to a platform.

The point of an ecosystem is to offer a seamless end user experience. Using products from one company that work together takes away the headache of using multiple products from multiple companies. Apple, for instance, has an ecosystem that consists of Mac, iPhone, iOS, MacOS, and several other apps and products. The idea is, if you were in Apple’s ecosystem, you perhaps wouldn’t need or want an Android phone or Chromebook or whatever because using what you know is easier.

Honeywell Lyric’s ecosystem includes the Lyric Round Wi-Fi Thermostat, Lyric Water Leak and Freeze Detector and the Lyric Home and Control System, all of which can work individually or in tandem with one another.

The thermostat uses the location of your smartphone to trigger changes in its set temperatures and calculate energy savings, while the Lyric Water Leak and Freeze Detector detects water leaks, freezing temperatures and excess humidity, allowing you to remotely monitor temperature, humidity, battery life, and device status.

The Lyric Ecosystem of course also includes the Honeywell Lyric app and there is also an additional cable sensor for Lyric Wi-Fi Water Leak and Freeze Detector. You can learn more about the Lyric ecosystem of connected products from here.

How does the Honeywell Lyric app work?

Once you buy a Honeywell Lyric product, you’ll need to downlodd the Lyric Thermostat app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store for your smartphone or tablet.

The app has a guided walkthrough that will help you with setup, including how to get connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi network, then pair it with your wireless Lyric products, and take control of your Lyric products, and subsequently your smarthome.

Using the Lyric app, users will be able to adjust temperatures for the Lyric Round thermostat and control it from anywhere, as well as control the functions of the Lyric Water Leak and Freeze Detector, including the setting up of alerts to notify a neighbor or friends if a leak was to occur when you aren’t around. The idea is that even when you are away, someone you trust can take action to ensure your home avoids flooding.

There is more information about how to use the Lyric app on Honeywell’s Contact Us page.

Does Honeywell work with other ecosystems and services?

Yes. The Lyric Round Wi-Fi Thermostat, for instance, works with Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, and other ecosystems. You can also pair the Lyric system with other products and services like IFTTT and Amazon Echo (from June 2016).

That means, even if you’re partially invested in an alternative manufacturer’s ecosystem/Wi-Fi connected platforms, you can still embrace Lyric and get it to work with those products and services.

For a complete list of current integrations, visit the Honeywell partner page.

The Honeywell Lyric Water Leak and Freeze Detector is an early warning system that notifies you on your smartphone when a leak is detected or the temperature drops below a temperature of your choice. By catching it early, you may be able to avoid expensive repairs and loss of treasured items. To find out more visit Honeywell.com

This article was created in association with Honeywell.

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BitTorrent Now is an open, ad-supported music and video platform

Chances are, most people still think of BitTorrent as a tool to pirate the latest Game of Thrones episode — but for several years now, the company has been using its peer-to-peer internet technology as a platform for independent musicians, filmmakers and other artists to distribute their work. The resulting BitTorrent Bundle network has played host to projects from Madonna, comedian David Cross and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke as well as a host of smaller, lesser-known people.

Since debuting in 2013, the ways artists can choose to be compensated for their work has evolved too. Originally, BitTorrent Bundle content was free (after you signed up with your email address), and then Thom Yorke’s album introduced the “paygate,” which let artists offer a preview and put the rest of their work being a paywall. Today, BitTorrent is introducing a new way for artists to get paid: BitTorrent Now is a new, ad-supported service that’ll let users stream any participating artist’s content to iOS, Android and the new Apple TV. The Android app launches today, with the iOS and Apple TV apps to follow soon.

The new ad-supported business model may be a big change for how artists will be compensated, but what matters most for users are these new apps. Previously, you had to visit BitTorrent’s Bundle site to browse and purchase content; the files could be downloaded and played on any device, but the experience wasn’t the seamless mobile-first experience we’ve all come to expect in 2016. That changes with today’s launch. All of the apps will let you stream any content available on the platform; if it’s ad-supported, you’ll see a video ad before the song or video starts. Things you buy outright using the “paygate” will also be available, ad-free.

While some big-name artists have distributed their work through BitTorrent, most of the content is under the radar. As such, BitTorrent has a team working to curate music and film for its users; there are also trending tabs to let you see what’s most popular on the service and a “new releases” section. When you start finding things you want to keep, you can just add them to a favorites list, and the mobile apps will let you make those available offline for when you want to watch without a signal. The Apple TV app seems to be particularly necessary for a platform heavily built on video, and BitTorrent says that it’ll look to bring the service to other set-top boxes in the future.

In keeping with BitTorrent’s ethos of freedom, artists can decide whether or not they want to participate in the ad-supported offering. At this point, those using the BitTorrent Now platform can go with the free, email-signup option, the “paygate” or having their work be supported by ads. The company says that artists will receive 70 percent of the revenue generated from ads on their videos, to go along with the 90 percent they already receive from items being a paygate.

While it shouldn’t make a difference to end users, it’s worth noting that BitTorrent Now will not initially use the distributed peer-to-peer sharing system that the company pioneered. Instead, they’ll be using a more traditional client / server streaming scheme, with plans to move towards its standard distributed downloads technology later. A BitTorrent spokesperson told me that was because they wanted to get BitTorrent Now launched quicker and this simply made things faster and more consistent for the launch.

The last question is who will be interested in trying BitTorrent Now. The company says that more than 30,000 artists have released content with the old BitTorrent Bundle program, with a whopping 200 million fans having used it to watch a film or download some music in the past. That’s an impressive number when considering the fact that BitTorrent has never had a Beyonce or Taylor Swift-level release. The long tail of the internet is very much alive, and BitTorrent doesn’t seem to need a mainstream success story to be successful. If lots of smaller creators use BitTorrent Now and their audiences seek them out, it can all add up in a big way.

Source: BitTorrent (1), (2)

Check out the BBC’s new ‘Robot Wars’ House Robots

After a long hiatus, the much-loved gladiatorial game show Robot Wars is returning to the BBC. The new series, which will consist of six hour-long episodes, is bringing back the old House Robot gang to smash, drop and ultimately humiliate contests. Only this time, they’re bigger and stronger than before. Sir Killalot weighs a whopping 741 kilograms and can lift 300 kilograms — roughly the weight of three competitor robots — with each arm. Dead Metal’s circular saw spins at 4000RPM and can cut through almost anything. Shunt’s axe takes a quarter of a second to fire. Matilda’s tusks can flip up to 1.5 tonnes. Together, they’re a formidable bunch.

Fans of the original series will be saddened to hear that Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester won’t be returning as presenters. Instead, the BBC has appointed Irish duo Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, with veteran commentator Jonathan Pearce narrating each battle. The format for each show should be familiar though — as Wired reports, the roboteers will be facing off in three-minute battles until one is destroyed or left unable to continue. In the event of a tie, a panel of judges will decide the victor.

We can’t wait. Let battle commence.

Source: BBC (Twitter), Wired

Solar Impulse makes first sun-powered Atlantic crossing

The Solar Impulse has become the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic on sun power alone. Piloted by Bertrand Piccard, it arrived in Seville, Spain this morning at 1:38AM ET, and was dramatically greeted by the nation’s Patrulla Águila aerobatic formation team. The 71 hour flight, which started Monday in New York, is the second longest so far. However, it was undoubtedly the most symbolic, coming just over 89 years after Charles Lindbergh’s historic “Spirit of St. Louis” Atlantic crossing.

“It is symbolic because all the means of transportation have always tried to cross the Atlantic, the first steamboats, the first aeroplane, the first balloons, the first airships and, today, it is the first solar-powered aeroplane,” Piccard told the Guardian.

Spectacular #selfie moment over the #AtlanticOcean. Share it if you think the #futureisclean pic.twitter.com/JwOqeFa7Qe

— Bertrand PICCARD (@bertrandpiccard) June 23, 2016

While the Solar Impulse team’s main goal is to cross the world, it has set multiple marks on the way. On top of the record Atlantic crossing, pilot André Borschberg set a record for the longest solo flight ever at 117 hours, besting the previous mark by a prodigious 41 hours. The team has also set night flying records, ironically, thanks to the one-ton lithium battery charged by 17,000 solar panels.

The 236-foot-wide plane can theoretically stay aloft forever, weather and pilot endurance permitting. The lengthy flights aren’t exactly dull, though; Piccard said it’s a roller coaster of tension and work, mixed with awe from the sights like islands, whales and icebergs. “Every minute is a minute of suspense, a minute of challenge, and the fact I can stay [aloft] without fuel or pollution for four days and four nights is something so new.”

The team has now made 90 percent of its trip, and will finish in Abu Dhabi, where it started. It has just a few flights left, and will stay in Saville for a few more days before lifting off toward either Egypt or Greece.

Source: Solar Impulse