6 things you should know about Minecraft Realms for iOS, Android – CNET

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Jason Cipriani/CNET

Minecraft players on Android or iOS devices undoubtedly know about the former limitations of playing Minecraft Pocket Edition line. Whether you rented a server or figured out how to host your own, the experience wasn’t all that fun: Mobs and animals were missing, and the maps were rather boring.

Last week, Microsoft updated Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS and Android, adding Realms, the official multiplayer hosting service for Minecraft. If you’ve been looking for a better Minecraft online experience, here’s what you need to know about Realms.

You gotta pay to play

New subscribers of the $7.99 plan will get a 30-day trial to test out the new wares, while subscribers of the $3.99 plan will start paying right away. The difference in the two plans outside of cost is the more expensive subscription allows for you and 10 friends (11 players total) to be in a realm at the same time. The less expensive option only allows you and two friends, or three total players, in the realm at any given time.

All billing is done as a subscription service through Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.

Well, one of you has to pay

At first glance, it would appear you’ll need a subscription to connect to the Realms server. That, however, is not the case.

Only one person needs to pay the monthly fee to keep the server active, meaning if you can convince enough friends and family members to join and split the cost, each person won’t have to pay all that much.

Owner’s capabilities

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Keep in mind, however, that the owner of the server has complete control. Meaning, he or she can kick you out, reset the world to a brand-new state, switch between creative and survival modes. And if he or she decides to cancel the subscription, the realm and all of your accomplishments disappear.

Xbox Live account required

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Before you can join or create a realm, you’ll need to log into an Xbox Live account within the Minecraft Pocket Edition app. The good news is you don’t need a paid Gold account in order to connect to a server and start crafting away.

You can sign up for a free Xbox Live Silver account, as can your friends (or in my case, my kids) and access Realms without issue.

Platform compatibility

While adding Realms capabilities to Minecraft Pocket Edition is welcome and opens up a whole new world of possibilities, there are some limitations. Primarily, users of Minecraft Pocket Edition are only able to join and play in Realms from compatible platforms.

iOS, Android and Windows 10 versions of Minecraft all play nicely together, while the PC and Mac versions of Minecraft will not work with a Pocket Edition Realms server.

In other words, if you have an iOS device and your buddies are all on Android, you can still play together. But don’t expect to connect with your friend who plays on a Mac.

You’ll need Wi-Fi

Before you get too excited and expect to work on your farm while traveling down the highway or standing in line at a coffee shop, keep in mind that in order to connect to the Realms service you’ll need to have an active Wi-Fi connection. Bummer, huh?

You can read more bout Minecraft Realms and other small caveats to the service here.

Improve laptop battery life by switching from Chrome to Firefox – CNET

Google Chrome has earned legions of fans over the years, but it has a reputation. Every so often we hear that the browser consumes more than its fair share of RAM and power, and now there’s a new piece of proof.

In a video posted yesterday, Microsoft set up four identical laptops running the same streaming video in four different browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. The goal: to see which laptop would run the longest. Can you guess the winner?

No contest: the PC running Microsoft Edge lasted 70 percent longer than the one running Chrome. Sure, you may want to take those results with a grain of salt, but it’s not the first time Chrome has been called out for its voracious power appetite. Bottom line: if you live inside your browser, as many of us do, it may be time to consider a different one — at least if you want the battery life you paid for.

But Edge? Microsoft’s newest browser is vastly superior to Internet Explorer, but it still lacks one key ingredient: support for third-party extensions. That feature is coming later this summer, and you can even try out some Edge extensions now. But it’s likely to be a long while before all your Chrome favorites are available for Edge — if they become available at all.

And that leaves Firefox. Although Mozilla’s browser lasted only about an hour longer than Chrome in the aforementioned video test, Microsoft’s real-world test results showed Firefox’s power consumption to be just a sliver higher than Edge’s:

In real-world tests, Chrome proved power-hungry, while Edge and Firefox fared a lot better.

Microsoft

So while it may seem a little mean to use Microsoft’s data as the lever that moves you to Firefox, I suspect most Chrome users will be happier there than with Edge. (If you’re not happy about Chrome’s battery-hogging ways but just can’t stomach the switch, Matt Elliott shows you how to curb Chrome’s appetite and make it easier to live with.)

Making the move to Firefox

If you’re ready to bid Chrome goodbye, it’s a fairly simple matter to move to Firefox. This will happen in a few broad strokes:

• Import your Chrome bookmarks, browsing history and cookies.
• Installing the Firefox versions of any extensions you had in Chrome.
• Tweaking Firefox so it looks and acts more like Chrome.

Here’s how to handle the import:

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Step 1: Install and run Firefox. Press Ctrl-Shift-B to open the Bookmark Manager.

Step 2: Click the Import and Backup menu, then choose Import Data from Another Browser.

Step 3: Choose Chrome, click Next, then select all the check boxes. A few last clicks will complete the process.

That takes care of the bookmarks and such. Alas, there’s no automated way to transfer extensions from one browser to another, so you’ll have to check what’s installed in Chrome, then head to the Firefox add-ons library and grab their counterparts. (Obviously there’s no guarantee every Chrome extension will have a Firefox equivalent, but the vast majority should.)

Finally, if you miss the look and feel of Chrome, consider grabbing the FXChrome theme for Firefox. It makes Firefox’s tabs the same shape as Chrome’s while adding a decidedly Chrome-like skin.

Give your boiled eggs a shake for easier peeling – CNET

Taylor Martin/CNET

Making hard boiled eggs is a fairly straightforward process. Usually, the worst part is peeling them after they’re done cooling off, especially when the shell breaks away in a million tiny pieces. This can turn what would be a quick snack into a painstakingly frustrating and tedious chore, just to get to your snack.

However, the YouTube channel “Food In 5 Minutes” has a quick tip that can make peeling an egg a breeze. Here’s how it works.

An easier way to peel boiled eggs

For starters, you need some boiled eggs and a mason jar. From there, it’s pretty simple. After the boiled eggs have fully cooled off, place one inside the mason jar, screw on the lid and give it a good shake for 3 to 5 seconds.

This will thoroughly crack the shell into small pieces. And if the egg was cooked properly, the shell will slip off with relative ease.

Some things to consider

It will take some trial and error for the shells to slip off as easily as in the video. What the video fails to mention are some preliminary steps that can make the entire process even easier.

• Making a very small, round crack in the bottom of each egg without rupturing the inner membrane before boiling will make peeling significantly easier. Use a small, rounded object, like the handle of a knife to gently crack the bottom of the shell. If the membrane is torn, the white of the egg will escape the shell during the boiling process.
• Letting the eggs soak in cold water with a small crack after boiling will saturate membrane with water, helping it separate from the whites without tearing.

I tried this two separate times — once exactly as it was shown in the video and a second time with a circular crack in the bottom of each egg prior to boiling. Both ways worked better than simply trying to peel the old fashioned way, but the pre-cracking and soaking made all the difference. Without these first two steps, it took significantly more work to get the shell to come off in large pieces.

Another thing to note is that, in general, eggs that are a few weeks old are typically better for boiling. However, the eggs I tried this with were just a few days old and it still worked very well.

Enable Google Prompt for faster two-step verification log-ins – CNET

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Taylor Martin/CNET

With more and more security breaches and leaked usernames and passwords for major online services like Twitter, PlayStation Network and LinkedIn, two-step verification (2SV) is a must. Choosing a stronger password certainly helps, and not using the same password twice is even better. But two-step verification adds an additional layer of security that makes breaking into your accounts much more difficult for those with malicious intent.

The biggest drawback to two-step verification is that it’s a nuisance. Instead of quickly typing in your username and password, which is purely muscle memory by now, you have to pull out your phone, unlock it, open the Messages or two-factor authentication app (like Authenticator or Authy) and get a six-digit code, enter it on the computer, then log in. And you have to do this every time you log in from any account you have additional security on, which can grow rather annoying very quickly.

However, Google rolled out a new second verification method yesterday, which speeds up the process tremendously. It’s called Google Prompt, and rather than copying and pasting or typing in codes, all you have to do to verify the sign-in is click a button on a device set up with Google Prompt. Best of all, it’s baked into Google Now on Android and the Google Search app for iOS.

Here’s how to enable Google Prompt for your Google accounts.

Setting up Google Prompt

Before you can use Google Prompt, you will first need to enable two-step verification for your Google account. If you already have two-step verification enabled, you can skip this part.

• Go to myaccount.google.com and sign in to your Google account.
• Click on Signing in to Google, followed by 2-Step Verification.
• Click Get started and enter your password again to begin the setup process.
• Enter the phone number attached to the phone you want to use for authenticating, choose either a text message or phone call for verification, and click Try it. Enter the six-digit code from the text message or phone call and click Next.
• If you want to continue setting up two-step verification, click Turn on.

Taylor Martin/CNET

After two-step verification is enabled, turning on Google Prompt just takes a second. All you need is an iOS or Android device nearby.

• From the 2-Step Verification page, scroll down to the Google Prompt section under Set up alternative second step, click Add phone and click Get started.
• Select your device from the drop-down menu. If you don’t see it:
  • If you’re using an iPhone, you will need to download the Google Search app and sign in before using Google Prompt.
  • If you’re using an Android device, you might first need to update Google Play Services.
• Once you’ve selected a phone, click Next.
• If you’re set up properly, you will receive a notification on the device you’re trying to connect. Unlock it and tap Yes to enable Google Prompt.

Google suggests only using this on devices that are secured with a password or fingerprint scanner. It also recommends not using it on a shared device, such as a tablet or the Remix Mini. Otherwise, anyone who has access to your device can gain access to your accounts.

After Google Prompt is set up, two-step log-ins are dramatically faster. No longer will you need to worry about those pesky six-digit codes expiring before you can type them in. Just unlock your phone or tablet and approve the log-in directly from your device.

One more thing: Google Prompt won’t affect any other two-step verification methods you use. You can still use the Authenticator app or receive a verification code in a text message. When logging in, just click Try another way to sign in to select a different verification method.