Sonos puts speaker controls on your iPhone’s lock screen
Ask iPhone-toting Sonos speaker owners about their biggest gripe and they’ll probably point to the lack of at-a-glance controls. You have to launch the app every time, which is a pain when you just want to pause a song from across the room. Life is about to get much easier, though: Sonos has updated its iOS controller app to introduce lock screen controls. They behave almost exactly like what you’d see for on-device music playback. The only big difference is that it’ll identify both the source of the tunes and where they’re playing. You can’t switch rooms or audio sources, alas, but it’s still far more convenient than unlocking your phone.
There’s more. If you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you finally have 3D Touch support for shortcuts to common tasks from the home screen (such as accessing favorites) and peek-and-pop access to content. You’ll get Split View and Slide Over on the iPad, too, so you don’t have to constantly juggle apps to see what’s playing. There’s simpler Trueplay speaker tuning and higher-quality Napster/Rhapsody streaming as well. About the only thing missing is an Apple Watch app to control tunes from your wrist (seriously, Sonos, get on that). If that’s not an obstacle, though, you can check out the new features today.
Source: App Store
Yahoo’s latest mobile app is a conversational travel planner
Yahoo’s latest mobile app wants to help you browse more than just the internet. Radar, which launched today for iOS, acts as your “virtual travel guide” by using machine learning and artificial intelligence (not to mention the travel confirmations in your email) to offer additional recommendations, reviews and activities around your next destination.
In its first version, Radar scans your Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail or AOL account to find your travel plans. From there, the app is a little less like a search engine and a little more like a chat bot. Once it finds your next trip to a major US city, it will make some basic suggestions, which you can refine based on some conversational, pre-populated answers like “Adventurous” or “Family friendly.” Even without travel plans, you can peruse options in any city in the country. Radar currently draws from sources like TripAdvisor and Yelp to recommend destinations, restaurants and even must-order dishes, but as Yahoo VP of product management Conrad Wai explained to VentureBeat Radar will also surface additional sources from its search engine. Radar will also learn your preferences over time, so it will recommend more of what you like on next year’s big vacation as well.
While Radar doesn’t yet offer in-app booking for flights or hotels, Wai believes the simple interface will still cut out a lot of the headache of travel planning. “If I can combine some of the 50 tabs I have [when researching trip planning] on-the-go, it would be great,” Wai told VentureBeat. “We’re trying to aggregate, distill, and combine information for the user across the web.”
Radar’s iOS version is currently available in the App Store, but no word yet on if or when an Android version will come along.
Faraday Future cleared to test self-driving cars in California
Faraday Future isn’t waiting for Michigan to get its act together before it starts testing self-driving cars in the US. Reuters has confirmed that the fledgling company has received approval to try autonomous vehicles on California roads later this year. It’s still not saying just when there will be a self-driving machine you can buy (the ‘regular’ electric car is still coming first), but the testing brings the startup a step closer to making that happen. One thing’s for sure: between Faraday, GM, Honda and other car makers, there will be a lot of hands-off transportation cruising Golden State streets before long.
Source: Reuters
Venus’ electric wind stripped its atmosphere of water
Venus is even less forgiving than scientists thought. NASA researchers have discovered that the planet has an electrical field so massive (five times larger than Earth’s) that it creates a wind strong enough to strip the atmosphere of water. It’s a one-two punch: the sunlight breaks the water down into hydrogen and oxygen ions, while the electric wind speeds up those ions to the point that they can escape Venus’ gravity. NASA isn’t certain why the field is so large, but they suspect that Venus’ proximity to the Sun (and the resulting bright ultraviolet light) might play a role.
The findings could alter both our understanding of the Solar System and our search for habitable planets. It lends support to the theory that Mars’ electrical field stripped it of water, for one thing. It also suggests that astronomers may have to be pickier when determining that an exoplanet potentially supports life — sufficiently strong electrical fields could rule out a planet that would otherwise be friendly. Don’t be shocked if scientists are suddenly more conservative about alien worlds in the future.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: NASA, Geophysical Research Letters
VLC for Android now plays videos from your local network
VLC for Android just became much, much more useful if you like full control over how and where you play your videos. The newly released VLC 2.0 rolls in a few big features that you may well have missed, most notably network browsing. Yes, you can find that elusive movie on your home media server. The upgrade also brings a pop-up video window that’s helpful for tablet owners eager to multitask.
Other big improvements? The Android TV version has a fresh interface (and has merged with the regular mobile app). You can create video playlists, and it doesn’t need as many permissions to play nicely with your device. All told, VLC has matured enough that it’s worth considering if your existing Android media app just isn’t cutting it.
Via: VideoLAN (Twitter)
Source: Google Play, JB Kempf
iOS 10 Beta Features Unencrypted Kernel Making it Easier to Discover Vulnerabilities
Apple’s iOS 10 preview, seeded to developers last week, does not feature an encrypted kernel and thus gives users access to the inner workings of the operating system and potential security flaws, reports MIT Technology Review. It is not known if this was an unintentional mistake or done deliberately to encourage more bug reports.
Security experts say the famously secretive company may have adopted a bold new strategy intended to encourage more people to report bugs in its software–or perhaps made an embarrassing mistake.
In past versions of iOS, Apple has encrypted the kernel, aka the core of the operating system, which dictates how software uses the iPhone’s hardware and keeps it secure. According to experts who spoke to the MIT Technology Review, leaving iOS unencrypted doesn’t leave the security of iOS 10 compromised, but it makes it easier to find flaws in the operating system. Security flaws in iOS can be used to create jailbreaks or create malware.
The goodies exposed publicly for the first time include a security measure designed to protect the kernel from being modified, says security researcher Mathew Solnik. “Now that it is public, people will be able to study it [and] potentially find ways around it,” he says.
Apple has declined to comment on whether the lack of encryption was intentional or a mistake, but security expert Jonathan Zdziarski believes it was done by choice because it’s not a mistake Apple is likely to have made. “This would have been an incredibly glaring oversight, like forgetting to put doors on an elevator,” he told MIT Technology Review.
He further suggests Apple may have chosen this route to prevent the hoarding of vulnerabilities like the one that was ultimately used by the FBI to break into the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook and to have more people looking at the code to discover latent security flaws.
Related Roundup: iOS 10
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2016 Bentley Continental GT review – Roadshow
The Good Luxury coachwork and a powerful yet economical V-8 engine make the 2016 Bentley Continental GT V8 S a choice car for long drives. The Naim stereo adds to aural luxury to the driving experience.
The Bad The navigation system tracks the car too slowly, making it difficult to follow guidance with frequent turns, and its antiquated audio interface doesn’t offer a built-in USB port.
The Bottom Line Well-heeled buyers who eschew chauffeurs will find the 2016 Bentley Continental GT V8 S an engaging and powerful car, suitable for long trips, but they should consult their phones for navigation.
For British automaker Bentley, the name Continental implies Europe, where drivers can log many more miles than the distance between John ‘o Groats and Penzance, about as far as you can go in the UK without crossing seas. As such, Bentley designed the 2016 Continental GT V8 S for a trip from Plymouth to Prague, or Barcelona to Rome, likely with a stop in Monaco.
To get some sense of its long-range behavior, I took the 2016 Continental GT V8 S on a run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and back again, traversing both the long highway and crowded urban centers.
The test brought to light the efficiency of Bentley’s powerful V-8 engine, a newer option for the still-available W-12 cylinder, the comfort of its cabin and chassis, and the accuracy of its navigation. And cruising through Los Angeles and San Francisco showed bystanders’ reaction to the Continental’s subtle styling and can’t-ignore-it Monaco Yellow paint job.
The Bentley Continental is designed for longer trips and enthusiastic driving on engaging roads.
Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow
Bentley currently offers the Continental in 10 variations, including coupes and convertibles, cruisers and a race-ready edition. The Continental GT V8 S comes in coupe layout, two doors and four seats with a metal roof overhead, and sport tuning. Base price for the Continental GT V8 S comes to $210,000, meaning that if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. A mix of styling and other options brought the US example I drove to $257,254.
Elegant muscle
The ineffable and subtle styling of the Continental looks at once simple yet striking, a lesson for automotive designers everywhere. Unadorned surrounds for headlights and air intakes up front make the car unmistakable, while a few contour lines on the sides give an impression of momentum. The body shows muscle, hinting at the power under the hood.
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Superb interior coachwork includes high-quality leather with body-colored stitching and polished metal switchgear. Double-paned glass in the side windows keeps out unwanted noise. Driving the Continental, it felt like I was sitting in an airport’s VIP lounge, a much calmer and more relaxing environment than general seating at the gate.
Bringing down the cabin refinement, plastic buttons prevailed for climate control, suspension settings and the navigation head unit.
Seemingly at odds with its nicer appointments, the Continental GT V8 S is essentially a muscle car. When I stepped into the throttle, the twin turbo 4-liter V-8 engine sounded off with a ticking growl, putting 521 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels. At over 5,000 pounds, the Continental takes a half second to get itself together, then blasts off the line, pushing you back into its seats.
The eight-speed automatic transmission, by ZF, has a creditable sport mode, able to keep the revs high and downshift aggressively.
Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow
On Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles and Skyline south of San Francisco, I experienced how that all-wheel-drive system, the Continental’s air suspension and its 20-inch Pirellis gave it nimble handling. Dropping the shift lever for the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission into Sport mode kept the engine speed high, making the throttle more responsive, and the electric power steering made for easy, precise turn-in.
The Continental isn’t the kind of car you drift around the corners — its tail stays firmly planted — instead weight and grip conspire to make hard cornering feel almost casual.
Turn-by-turn
Crawling along in LA and SF traffic, I absorbed a bit of the Continental’s panache. While it exudes presence, the subtle styling defused any ire from bystanders that might otherwise be aimed at a peacocking venture capitalist or Hollywood mogul. And the powerful engine proved perfectly manageable, letting me gently throttle off the line or maintain distance from the bumper of the car ahead.
While the Continental’s cabin furniture blunted the sting from traffic congestion, the navigation system added its own frustrations. The plastic buttons below the 8-inch touchscreen look pedestrian, not up to the coachwork’s caliber, and entering an address or looking up a location revealed the slowness of older generation electronics. I found myself double-tapping buttons when I wasn’t rewarded with immediate results. Trying to keep up with the times, Bentley adds an online search feature, shoehorned in with a search button on the map screen, but it wasn’t operational in the example I drove and would still suffer from the general system slowness.
2016 Mini Cooper Clubman review – Roadshow
The Good The 2015 Mini Clubman is the largest Mini yet, but is still quite compact. The larger footprint directly manifests as improved interior space. The more premium Mini offers amenities such as semiautonomous parking, remote-opening rear doors and a well-appointed cabin. Both the new 1.5- and 2.0-liter turbocharged engines offer excellent performance that is well matched for the sport-tuned suspension.
The Bad The infotainment system lacks support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and the destination and music search interfaces are needlessly tedious. This more premium Mini’s price easily crests $40,000. Some buyers may find that a big pill to swallow for such a small car.
The Bottom Line The 2016 Mini Clubman is the biggest and most premium Mini yet, but it’s still a Mini: quite small, playful and quirky. This odd balance of lilliputian luxury puts the Clubman in a class of its own.
Let’s start with a superlative. The 2016 Mini Cooper Clubman is the longest Mini model yet. Stretching to 168.3 inches from nose to tail, it’s just over a foot longer than the previous Clubman model. Heck, it’s more than 6 inches longer than the Countryman CUV.
But it almost had to be this way. The dimensions of the new Cooper four-door that joined the lineup this generation are so close to the first-generation Clubman that the new model had to grow significantly to justify its existence.
Grown-up style
But Mini didn’t just physically scale up the Clubman; the automaker is also taking the vehicle’s style, amenities and image upscale as well. This is a more grown-up Mini. One that is less “quirky and cutesy” and more “premium compact.” One Mini representative used the term “flagship” when describing the Clubman, which makes me think of it as the BMW 7er of the compact class.
The elongated profile preserves and exaggerates the Clubman’s characteristic low and wide proportions. Its track is about 2.5 inches wider than before (overall width is up by 4.6 inches) and the wheelbase is 4.8 inches longer, but the roof sits within a quarter inch of the older car’s. These proportions make the Clubman look hunkered down to the ground and still appear compact when viewed curbside.
The new Clubman is longer from nose to tail than even the Countryman small crossover.
Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow
For comparison’s sake, the new Clubman is about an inch longer than the Mk7 Volkswagen Golf, but its roof sits about an inch lower.
The increased dimensions pay off in the cabin, where the Clubman has 2 more inches of knee space in the second row and more head and shoulder room all around. Of the current Mini lineup, this is the one that should be easiest to load a car seat into. There’s also significantly more cargo volume than before, both with the rear seats occupied and especially when they’re folded flat, when the Clubman’s 47.9 cubic feet of cargo volume bests the Countryman by 5.7 cubic feet.
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In growing up as a Mini, the Clubman loses the asymmetrical design that it debuted with. The first generation featured a small, rear-hinged coach door only on the passenger (right-hand) side. The new model uses a more traditional four-door configuration. Well, technically, a six-door configuration, since the Clubman retains its dual rear doors on the hatchback — only now, those doors can be opened remotely with the touch of the key fob, which is pretty sweet to see in action, or by kicking a foot beneath the rear bumper while the key fob is on your person.
Modular TwinPower engines
The Clubman is available with two turbocharged engine options, and it should come as no surprise that they’re largely identical to the ones in the hardtop two- and four-door models that debuted previously.
Base Cooper models feature a 1.5-liter TwinPower turbocharged three-cylinder engine that makes 134 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. Before you pooh-pooh the idea of a premium three-cylinder engine, I should say that BMW’s two-stage turbocharging does an excellent job of making this feel like a much larger engine and eliminating throttle-response lag. Everyone I’ve spoken to who’s driven the 1.5-liter agrees that it’s a good little motor.
Beneath the clamshell hood is Mini’s new modular 2.0-liter turbocharged engine. The 189 horsepower, 207 pound-foot mill is sourced from BMW.
Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow
With the aid of either a six-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual, power reaches the front wheels. The manual gearbox is the more efficient of the two, with an estimated fuel economy of 25 mpg city, 35 mpg highway and 28 combined, but only just so. The automatic, which I was able to test, only loses 1 estimated mpg on the highway by comparison.
The TwinPower engines are of a modular design, so just slap an extra cylinder onto the end of the three-banger and you’ve got the more potent Cooper S with its 2.0-liter TwinPower turbocharged four-cylinder engine. (OK, it’s probably more complex than just slapping it on.)
The extra displacement nets the Cooper Clubman S extra output, which now sits at 189 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque. The S can be had with either a six-speed manual transmission or a new eight-speed automatic transmission with optional paddle shifters and launch control. With the eight-speed in place, the S is good for an estimated 24 city, 34 highway and 27 combined mpg. The six-speed loses 1 to 2 mpg across the board.
Mini has also announced that it will be making the Clubman S available with the All4 all-wheel drive system, which it borrows from the Countryman and Paceman crossovers, as a $1,800 option.
I first drove the manually shifted example and found it pleasing, yet a bit odd. For starters, the shifter throw feels ridiculously long — especially the 4-5 shift which I had to lock my elbow to reach. The clutch pedal is a much better built piece of the puzzle with a good weight that’s not too light and not too heavy, and really good engagement. The Mini will also auto rev-match when shifting (blipping the throttle on downshift and holding on ups) which allowed me to be a bit lazy getting it into gear. The upshot is that this is the sort of car you could shift all day and not get tired, which I think works well with the Clubman’s laid-back attitude.
The Clubman S is available with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission. Both options are good with unique strengths and weaknesses.
Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow
Later, I was able to add to my experiences with more extensive testing of the eight-speed automatic transmission. As slushboxes go, this one is a peach. Shifts were quick and well-defined when the system detected that I was driving aggressively, particularly when in the Sport mode. Paddle shifters proved to be useful and easily accessible when needed for more spirited driving or to preselect a lower gear in anticipation of a pass. When driving in a more relaxed manner around town, those same quick shifts translated into smooth acceleration.
Both the Cooper and Cooper S feature three drive modes, which are selected with a ring around the shift lever. The first mode is Green, which adjusts the throttle mapping, climate controls and other vehicle systems to save fuel. The instrument cluster displays a readout indicating how many additional miles you’re getting per gallon when in Green mode.
Mid is the odd name for the Mini’s normal, baseline drive-mode setting. Think of it as the default. Finally, there’s Sport, which livens up the performance, sharpens the throttle response, and on the Cooper S model, amps up and deepens the exhaust note. On Clubman models equipped with the optional adaptive suspension, the drive modes adjust the ride characteristics as well.
Hasselblad X1D leaks as world’s first medium format mirrorless camera
Swedish cameramaker Hasselblad is officially announcing the “world’s first medium format mirrorless camera” tomorrow, but photos of that camera have apparently leaked out a day early.
The camera will be called the Hasselblad X1D, and according to PetaPixel, which obtained the leaked photos, it will have a flat design somewhere between retro and futuristic. As you can see from the images, the camera will have a big sensor in the body cavity, while the back of the camera has a LCD screen and loads of buttons. We even get a glimpse of the clean digital interface on the screen.
You’ll also see in the photos a dial on the front and back of the grip and a built-in viewfinder. The leak also included details on the lenses that would be offered at launch: two prime lenses in 45mm and 90mm lengths, with apertures of f/3.5 and f/3.2, respectively. Keep in mind previous rumours did indicate the camera would be mirrorless and come with a built-in viewfinder and 50-megapixel sensor.
Also, until now, it was unclear how much the Hasselblad X1D would cost, but now we know it’ll supposedly cost $8,995. Hasselblad will announce the X1D on 22 June. The event’s livstream will kick off at 2 pm (Swedish time). You can watch the broadcast from here.
How to watch Hasselblad event: X1D and Moto Mod cameras expected
Hasselblad is holding an event in June, and we expect the professional-grade camera company to launch a Moto Mod camera as well as the world’s first medium format mirrorless camera during the show.
Although Hasselblad hasn’t confirmed anything specific as of yet, there have been several leaks and rumours popping up over the last few months, and they all seem to confirm that the Swedish cameramaker has a lot up its sleeve for this summer. If you’re curious about what the company has in store, or if you just want to find Hasselblad’s live-stream link, we have all the details laid out below.
What is Hasselblad?
Hasselblad is based in Gotheburg. It’s best known for making medium-format cameras since World War II, as well as for making almost all the cameras used in NASA’s Apollo space program missions, including when humans first landed on the Moon.
When is Hasselblad’s event?
Hasselblad announced in early June that it will live-stream an event on 22 June. This event is due to take place at 2 pm CET (Swedish time).
How can you watch the event?
You can watch the event in real-time from here (on YouTube). We’ve also embedded the broadcast below.
What might Hasselblad unveil?
Moto Mod camera
Hasselblad
Hasselblad’s event invite appeared to show a close up of a camera device. The flat-looking black sensors and the focus on the metallic buttons initially suggested it’d be a camera mod, while the premium brushed metal finish suggested it could be a premium Hasselblad product.
Lenovo recently launched the Moto Z with a small selection of Modo Mod attachments. The previously-rumoured Hasselblad camera mod never made an appearance during the phone’s launch event. Moto Mods attach to the Moto Z smartphone using magnets and 16 contact points, so the mods can easily be swapped out and still connect instantly for power and data transfer while leaving the ports free.
The leaked Hasselblad mod – originally shared by leakster Evan Blass – didn’t look especially premium in leaks, though it seemed to feature a dedicated shutter button, full-sized flash, and a large lens system capable of optical zoom – just like a handheld digital camera. All that aside, a more recent leak has indicated Hasselblad might also (or instead) unveil a full-fledged camera at its event.
READ: Moto Mods: Everything you need to know
Hasselblad X1D
PetaPixel
Hasselblad might only announce the “world’s first medium format mirrorless camera” during its event, as photos of the camera have leaked out early. The camera will be called the Hasselblad X1D, and according to PetaPixel, which obtained the leaked photos, it will have a flat design somewhere between retro and futuristic. It’s unclear if this is the camera device depicted in Hasselblad’s event invite.
As you can see from the newly-leaked images, however, the X1D will have a big sensor in the body cavity, while the back of the camera has a LCD screen and loads of buttons. We even get a glimpse of the clean digital interface on the screen. You’ll also see in the photos a dial on the front and back of the grip and a built-in viewfinder. The leak also included details on the lenses that would be offered at launch.
We can apparently expect two prime lenses in 45mm and 90mm lengths, with apertures of f/3.5 and f/3.2, respectively. Keep in mind previous rumours did indicate the camera would be mirrorless and come with a built-in viewfinder and 50-megapixel sensor. Also, until now, it was unknown how much the Hasselblad X1D would cost, but now we know it’ll supposedly cost $8,995.
Want to know more?
Visit Pocket-lint’s Hasselblad hub for all the latest news. You can also follow Hasselblad’s Twitter for more teases and announcements.
Join the #Hasselblad livestream event Jun 22, 14:00 (Swedish time) from Gothenburg, Sweden https://t.co/WjllCrXYNB pic.twitter.com/W8ImfqsQwW
— Hasselblad (@Hasselblad) June 21, 2016
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