Apple in Talks to Acquire Jay Z’s Streaming Music Service Tidal
Apple is in talks to acquire rapper Jay Z’s streaming music service Tidal, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.” The talks are said to be exploratory and “may not result in a deal,” but Apple is considering the purchase to bolster its Apple Music service.
A Tidal spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that Tidal executives had not held talks with Apple, and the terms of the deal are unknown.
Tidal, which launched in 2014 and was acquired by Jay Z in January of 2015 before a March 2015 re-launch, is a subscription-based music service that advertises high-quality lossless audio and high-definition music videos. Tidal offers two tiers of service, a standard premium option for $9.99 per month and HiFi for $19.99 per month. Tidal has 4.2 million paying subscribers, and as of March, 45 percent of those subscribers paid extra for the hi-fidelity tier.
Positioned as one of Apple Music’s major competitors, Tidal has clashed with Apple in the past. In February, Apple was in talks to exclusively debut Kanye West’s album “The Life of Pablo,” but West pulled out of talks and opted to debut his album on Tidal.
Tidal’s strong connection to artists like Kanye West, Beyonce, and Madonna is one of the reasons Apple is mulling an acquisition. Apple has made a major push into both exclusive and original content with Apple Music, luring artists like Taylor Swift, the Weeknd, Eminem, and more into offering up Apple Music exclusives.
Today is the one-year anniversary of Apple Music, which first debuted in 110 countries on June 30, 2015. As of June 2016, Apple Music has more than 15 million paying subscribers.
Tag: Tidal
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LG LSXS26386D Door-in-Door Side-by-Side Refrigerator review – CNET
The Good LG’s Door-in-Door Side-by-Side refrigerator has an appealing minimalist design and a classy black stainless steel finish. It’s one of the most affordable models with that finish, and one of the most affordable models with a Door-in-Door compartment, too.
The Bad The design of that Door-in-Door compartment blocks off the in-door shelves on the inside of the fridge, making for irritating storage snafus. Performance also wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen with LG’s non Door-in-Door models, or with similar models from competitors.
The Bottom Line This is a good-looking fridge, but we’ve seen side-by-side, door-in-a-door models that we like better.
LG sells a wide range of refrigerators with a feature called “Door-in-Door” that allows you to open the front panel to access the in-door shelves without technically opening the fridge. Most of these Door-in-Door refrigerators are French door models, but the $2,000 LSXS26386D is a side-by-side.
Two grand is about as affordable as LG’s Door-in-Door models get, which might make this slick-looking, black stainless steel side-by-side model a legitimate temptation. LG isn’t your only option, though. Kenmore sells a nearly identical version of LG’s Door-in-Door side-by-side fridge for several hundred less, and Samsung’s in the mix, too, with a “Food Showcase” fridge that’s one of our top-scoring side-by-side refrigerators to date. It costs a few hundred more, but I still think that Samsung model — available this year in its own shade of black stainless steel — is the better buy for fans of door-in-a-door gimmickry.
This LG side-by-side fridge has a door in…
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Press that button on the handle to open the Door-in-Door compartment.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Design and features
I can sum this section up with just two bullet points:
- Black stainless steel
- Door-in-door compartment
That’s really all this fridge has going for it as far as design and features are concerned. The shelves aren’t spill-proof. The crisper bins don’t have humidity sliders. It’s a very basic interior wrapped in a dark stainless-steel finish that’s admittedly nice to look at (if not a little bit monolithic), with a marquee Door-in-Door compartment of questionable utility.
I question its utility because ultimately, you’re still opening a door and grabbing your bottle of ketchup. It’s faux convenience, and I’ve struggled to understand the appeal ever since its inception, especially since our tests have repeatedly shown that using the Door-in-Door compartment has no real impact on how the fridge performs.
Even worse: LG blocks off those in-door shelves on the inside. You can access some of them by opening — you guessed it — another door, or by reaching in through a little window. Not the top shelf, though. It’s completely blocked off, meaning that the only way to get butter in and out is by going through the Door-in-Door panel. It’s a fridge with a learning curve.
Side-by-side fridges with a door in the door
| 16.9 cubic feet | 15.6 cubic feet | 16.9 cubic feet |
| 9.2 cubic feet | 9.1 cubic feet | 9.2 cubic feet |
| 26.1 cubic feet | 24.7 cubic feet | 26.1 cubic feet |
| Black Stainless Steel | Black Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel |
| Yes | Yes | No |
| 652 kWh | 640 kWh | 715 kWh |
| $78 | $77 | $86 |
| $2.99 | $3.12 | $3.30 |
| 7.5 | 9 | 6 |
| 1-year parts and labor, 7-year sealed system, 10-year linear compressor | 1-year parts and labor, 5-year sealed system, 10-year digital inverter compressor | 1-year parts and labor, 5-year sealed system, 10-year linear compressor |
| $2,000 | $2,300 | $1,400 |
We were able to fit all of our test groceries inside, along with five out of six large-sized stress test items (the extra large pizza box was an obvious no-go).
Chris Monroe/CNET
In fairness, it’s the same design that you’ll get with the Kenmore “Grab-N-Go” Side-by-Side — which isn’t surprising since that fridge is just a re-branded version of this LG build, albeit an older, less efficient model. But consider Samsung. Its “Food Showcase” Side-by-Side doesn’t block the in-door shelves at all, so you can easily get to them whether you’re going in through the front panel or opening the door like normal. With no plastic cage trapping the in-door shelves, that fridge was still a patently better performer than this LG model. It’s a much better design, and I wish LG had followed suit.
Still, LG has a leg up when it comes to storage space. With 26.1 cubic feet to its name, 16.9 of which are in the fridge compartment, it offers more room for groceries than Samsung. The extra space paid off in our storage tests — I was able to fit all of our groceries into the LSXS26386D, along with five out of six of our large-sized stress test items (the only one that didn’t make the cut was our extra large pizza box, which will likely never fit into a side-by-side fridge.)
Compare that to the Samsung Food Showcase side-by-side, which was only able to fit three of the six stress test items at once, and you’ll see that LG has the upper hand. That’s a win if your household has a lot of hungry mouths to feed — I just wish that it was as easy to get the groceries out of the fridge as it was getting them in.
Coopers BrewArt Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Coopers
If you’ve visited a home brewing store, chances are you’ve seen a Coopers’ kit with all of the gear you need to get started. Now, with Coopers’ BrewArt, you’ll be able to brew automatically and serve the results on tap. BrewArt consists of two main parts — the BeerDroid that brews and ferments your beer in a temperature controlled chamber, and the BrewFlo, which dispenses your newly crafted beer from a carbonated and cooled tap.
A brewery as well as a manufacturer of homebrew equipment, Coopers is based in Australia. That’s where the BrewArt will first launch in mid July with a price that’ll seem extreme to hobbyists. The BeerDroid will cost AU$800 and the BrewFlo will set you back AU$700. Those prices convert to around $600 and $515, respectively, in the US and £440 and £400 in the UK. Coopers hopes to bring BrewArt to the US by the end of this year. No word yet on if it’ll come to the UK.
Beer bot competition
Other beer gadgets
- Vessi
- SodaStream Beer Bar
- Fizzics
Though the price seems lofty, it actually stacks up favorably next to the competition. BrewArt isn’t the first automatic beer brewer we’ve seen. The PicoBrew Zymatic ($2,000, £1,350, AU$2,580), the PicoBrew Pico ($1,000, £650, AU$1,385), and Brewie ($2,000, £1,350, AU$2,580) similarly automate the process of crafting beer.
BrewArt even gains a leg up on all of those competitors by controlling the temperature during fermentation with presets for whether you’re brewing an ale or a lager (the latter needs colder temps). Both PicoBrew products and Brewie take care of the first main steps of cooking your beer for you, but you’re on your own while you wait for the yeast to do its thing. And if your fermenting container gets too hot while the yeast works, you can easily introduce off flavors. However, each of those machines uses a process that closely resembles authentic brewing, and that’s where BrewArt concerns me.
The BeerDroid you’re looking for?
The BeerDroid
Coopers
In theory, the BeerDroid brews 10 liters at the push of a button. It’s Wi-Fi-enabled and has an iOS app (with an Android app promised soon) so you can track the progress of your brew remotely. You’ll be able to watch your beer cook through the brewing window and fine tune the temperature and other small details with the LCD screen and the app.
The BeerDroid even promises to automatically detect when your beer is done fermenting, and let you know with the app. That would be extremely convenient if it works right, and the BeerDroid will even enter storage mode if you’re not ready to keg right away when fermenting is done.
All of that sounds fine, but you need to use Coopers’ specifically designed ingredient packs to brew with the BeerDroid. These packs, called BrewPrints, consist of “Elements, Enhancers, Hops, and Yeast.” BrewArt’s site promises these contain only all natural ingredients, but the vacuum packed pouches in the pictures and the strange lingo used to describe the packs give me pause. On the site, “Elements” are described as malt characters and bitterness levels, which sounds like processed versions of the standard malt and hops.
When I reached out to the company, a representative clarified by email that Elements are “a range of wort blends.”
“The system isn’t designed for mashing or boiling,” he said. “These steps are taken care of here in our brewery and form the Elements and Enhancers.”
So the BeerDroid bears as much similarity to the Beer Bar from SodaStream that makes beer from concentrate as it does to PicoBrew and Brewie. To BrewArt’s credit, though, SodaStream’s Beer Bar just adds sparkling water to concentrate to create carbonation, whereas the BeerDroid seems to authentically ferment your beer. The same representative also promised you’ll be able to tinker with recipes if you’d like. BrewPrints come in a variety of styles and you’ll be able to mix and match ingredients or even “start a completely customized brew of [your] own from scratch.”
I’m not sure how that would work if the BeerDroid can’t mash or boil, but if you can do those first steps on your own, then put your own wort into the BeerDroid for customized fermentation, that might be enough to win me over.
Dispensing goodness
Once your beer finishes fermenting, you pour it into a 5-liter BrewArt keg that snaps into the BrewFlo. Complete with a customizable handle, the chrome finished BrewFlo will carbonate your beer for you while cooling it to your liking for the perfect pour. You can supposedly swap kegs as much as you’d like without introducing any oxygen into the kegs and BrewFlo’s display will keep you posted on how much beer is left in the installed keg. When you run out, you can dispose of the keg’s liner to quickly clean it for its next use.
Outlook
Both the BeerDroid and BrewFlo look the part of premium countertop appliances. If BeerDroid comes close enough to an authentic process to turn out good beer, then BeerArt stands to be a fun system for crafting and serving your favorite beverage.
Fitbit Surge review – CNET
The Good The Fitbit Surge has an always-on display, all-day fitness and heart-rate tracking, and GPS to track a variety of activities. Fitbit’s software is still one of our favorites and has the largest social base.
The Bad The design feels old and clunky. It can’t be worn while swimming or when in the shower. The heart rate data isn’t accurate and notifications are limited to text messages and calls.
The Bottom Line The only GPS-capable Fitbit will appeal to casual runners, but more serious athletes should look elsewhere.
The Fitbit Surge was one of the first watches to include all-day fitness tracking, GPS, smartphone notifications and an optical heart-rate sensor. But a lot has changed since it was first announced in 2014. The competition has since caught up to Fitbit and in some instances has even surpassed it.
We now have multifunction products like the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear Fit 2 and various Android Wear watches. Meanwhile, fitness companies like Garmin, Polar and TomTom have also started to include built-in heart-rate sensors and smartphone notifications in their GPS watches.
While the $250 (£200, AU$400) Surge isn’t as distinct as it was two years ago, it’s still a good buy for active consumers due to the superior Fitbit software, which is one of the easiest to use, has the largest social base and syncs with a variety of other services. The Surge, however, isn’t ideal for more serious athletes. If you don’t need GPS, you’re also better off getting one of Fitbit’s other trackers. Here’s why:
Hands-on with the Fitbit Surge (pictures)
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It’s bigger and bulkier than other watches
Calling the Surge big would be an understatement. The watch is enormous. The grayscale touchscreen is also dull to look at and can be difficult to see outdoors. While I do like that the screen is always on, I wish Fitbit would give us more appealing watch faces. There are only four to choose from and none of them offer anything besides the time and date. If you want to see your steps or any other metric, you have to swipe to the next screen.
The big design does allow for a larger battery, though. The Surge will last up to seven days, or up to 10 hours with an active GPS signal. I typically saw around four days, but your time will vary depending on how frequently you use the GPS.
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You can’t wear it in the shower
Looking for a fitness tracker to swim with? This isn’t it. Fitbit doesn’t recommend swimming or showering with the Surge, which is odd considering the watch has been tested to withstand up to 5 ATM (50 meters) of water pressure.
Heart rate data isn’t accurate
The optical heart-rate sensor on the back of the watch isn’t very good. It was the most accurate when measuring resting heart rate, but there were still random spikes (which you can view below). It had a lot of problems measuring heart rate during easy runs and hard workouts. When compared to a Polar H7 chest strap, the Surge tended to fluctuate by around 20 to 30 beats per minute, which is worse than other sensors, such as those used in the Garmin Forerunner 235 and Vivoactive HR.
Tesla under investigation after first Autopilot-related death
The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) is investigating a collision that occurred when a Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode crashed into a tractor trailer resulting in the death of the driver. This is the first fatality linked to the automaker’s vehicles while in the semi-autonomous driving mode.
According to Tesla, the Model S was traveling down a divided highway when a tractor trailer crossed perpendicular to the path of the car. Neither the driver nor Autopilot applied the brakes. The automaker believes that the combination of a white trailer and brightly lit sky may have made the trailer difficult to see.
Because of the height of the trailer, the windshield of the car struck the truck’s container as the vehicle passed under it. Tesla believes that its “advanced crash safety system” would have prevented any serious injury if the front of the Model S had the hit truck itself.
Tesla’s Autopilot mode is still in beta and the automaker reminds drivers that they need to keep their hands on the wheel and continue to pay attention to the road and be prepared to take control of the vehicle.
The collision occurred on May 7 in Williston, Florida. Tesla informed the NHTSA about the incident which has in turn opened a preliminary investigation.
In a statement Tesla said, “the customer who died in this crash had a loving family and we are beyond saddened by their loss. He was a friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.”
Via: Bloomberg
Source: Tesla
4 ways to Force Quit an app on your Mac – CNET
If you encounter an unresponsive app on your Mac, you have four methods at your disposal to close it using Force Quit.
Dock
For an app whose icon you have parked in the Dock, you can right-click on the icon and hit the Option key. With the Option key pressed, the Quit menu item turns into Force Quit.
Apple menu
You can access Force Quit from the Apple menu. Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner and choose Force Quit. This opens the Force Quit Applications window, which provides a convenient list of all of your open applications, denoting any that are not responding. Highlight the troublesome app and click the Force Quit button to close it.
Matt Elliott/CNET
Keyboard shortcut
You can call up the Force Quit window with a keyboard shortcut. And that keyboard shortcut is Command-Option-Escape.
Activity Monitor
If you are using the Activity Monitor to see how much system resources a sluggish or unresponsive app is consuming, you can Force Quit the app from right within the Activity Monitor. To do so, highlight the app you want to close, click the X button in the upper-left corner of the Activity Monitor window and then click the Force Quit button.
I will close with a warning: when you choose to quit an app normally, you will likely get a warning asking you to confirm your intentions. With Force Quit, you receive no such such warning and may lose any unsaved changes. Then again, if an app is not responding, you may have no other recourse than to use a bit of force to close it.
The best $5 I ever spent on an iPhone app – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
When you think of smartphones and automation, your mind might immediately gravitate towards IFTTT or even Tasker for Android.
Automation apps let you create “recipes” that enable devices and services to intermingle and act based on “triggers.” For example, you can make your smart lights pulse a certain color if you’re mentioned on Twitter or have Youtube videos you’ve selected to Watch Later emailed to you.
The recipe variations are endless. And if you’re an iPhone owner, there’s an app that brings almost the same level of tinkering power you might find on Android to your iOS devices. It’s called Workflow, and it’s the best $4.99 (£3.99 or AU$7.99) you will spend on an app for your iPhone or iPad.
Currently, Workflow is on sale for $2.99 (£2.29 or AU$4.49) to celebrate winning most innovative app in the App Store Best of 2015.
What is Workflow?
Workflow is sort of like having IFTTT baked right into iOS, but with far more flexibility and granular control.
Screenshot by Taylor Martin/CNET
Instead of two-part recipes (trigger and action), you build workflows, which can be as simple as a two-step automation or far more complex with upwards of 20 steps. Building workflows takes practice and patience, and there’s a much steeper learning curve than what you’re used to with IFTTT. In fact, Workflow for iOS is more like Zapier — IFTTT is just more relatable.
Some examples of what you can do with a single (or double) tap using Workflow:
- Shorten or expand URLs
- Send an article or web page to Kindle as a PDF
- Open Twitter links in Tweetbot
- Convert videos, bursts or live photos to GIFs
- Order an Uber to get you to the next appointment in your calendar
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Taylor Martin/CNET
Once you’ve got an arsenal of workflows at the ready, you can open the Workflow app to run them, or you can access them in the Workflow Today Widget. Some workflows exist as app share extensions, meaning when you hit the share button from within an app, tap Run Workflow and select a workflow such as Expand URL or Get Images from Page. And if you want quick access to specific workflows, you can add a shortcut to them on your homescreen or run them from a connected Apple Watch.
If you want to see a larger gallery of examples, check out Workflow Directory, a (unofficially) user-submitted database of workflows you can browse without having to purchase the app first.
Using Workflow
To get started, you should first explore the Gallery. This is where all the best user-submitted workflows exist within the app.
To view a workflow, just tap on it. This will bring up a pop-up menu where you can scroll through all the actions and inner workings of that workflow. If you like it, you can add it to your collection by tapping Get Workflow. After it’s added, it’s ready to run — no setup required. However, if you want to tweak anything, you can tap on it from the My Workflows tab and change any of the values or settings. You can even delete or replace actions with your own.
To create your own workflow, tap the plus sign in the upper-right corner of the My Workflows tab. Select which type of workflow you want to build (Normal, Today Widget, Apple Watch or Action Extension) and swipe from left-to-right to reveal a laundry list of suggested actions. Find the action you want, long press, drag it to the right and drop it. Do this for every following action until you have a working workflow and tap Done.
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Taylor Martin/CNET
There are literally hundreds of options for actions, so the sheer number of possibilities is not only staggering, it’s also terrifying. I often find it difficult to even know where to start with a workflow, but iMore’s Federico Viticci has a very helpful tip for creating your own workflows. Start by finding and dropping in the first action. Next, locate and drop in the final action. Then you “only have to figure out how to go from Point A to Point B,” says Viticci.
Workflow and IFTTT
Even more, Workflow added IFTTT support earlier this month, so you can now integrate IFTTT right into your workflows. To use it, locate the Trigger IFTTT Recipe action, drag it into the workflow and give it a Trigger Name. Then, when creating the IFTTT recipe to go along with it, select Workflow as the Trigger Channel and the set Trigger Name for the Trigger Action.
You can use this new integration to migrate your iOS contacts to Google, create a Spotify playlist from an Apple Music playlist or logging your caffeine intake in Evernote.
Workflows to get you started
To help you get started, here are a couple of my favorites from the Gallery inside the Workflow app. To add any of them to your list of workflows, open the app, navigate to the Gallery tab, search for the name of the workflow, tap it to open and select Get Workflow.
- Use Expand URL to check out where a questionable shortened link is going to take you before having to click it.
- Pizza Assistant searches “pizza” within 1.5 kilometers (just under a mile) of your current location in Maps. It then asks you to select one of the results and immediately places a call to that pizzeria. Afterwards, it can create a reminder that accounts for cook and travel time, so you arrive to pick up your pizza as it’s coming out of the oven.
- The Google Clipboard recipe allows you to copy any text and launch a Google search with it.
- File Downloader allows you to download files you normally can’t download onto an iPhone and save them to any connected cloud storage account, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or even iCloud Drive.
- AirDrop Screenshot allows you to AirDrop the last few screenshots you took to your nearby Apple devices with a single tap. If you want, you can tweak the number of screenshots to include more or less each time you run the workflow.
Turn your Nvidia Shield into a full-fledged media server with Plex – CNET
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Plex
Plex and Nvidia recently announced the Android TV-powered Shield was gaining the ability to run Plex’s Media Server software. Earlier this week, the update went live for all Shield owners.
Regardless of your networking know-how, you can run a server of your very own with very little effort.
Why do you want to run a Plex Server?
Using Plex as a Media Server means you can access your personal collection of photos, videos, movies, music and TV shows without relying on a third-party cloud service such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
You can access and stream or view your library from anywhere with an Internet connection, meaning you can save space on your smartphone or tablet and still view photos or stream music.
The Plex Media Server software is free, as are its mobile apps, albeit with limited functionality. You can unlock each app’s full feature set for around $5, or you can purchase a Plex Pass to unlock all apps across all platforms, along with additional features and services. A Plex Pass currently costs $5 a month, $40 a year, or $150 for a lifetime subscription.
An additional benefit of the Plex Pass is the ability to back up photos on your phone to your personal server.
You can view the breakdown of benefits for Plex Pass subscribers here.
A reliable, always-on server
With that out of the way, let’s talk Plex Media Server on the Nvidia Shield.
Perhaps the single biggest advantage to turning your Shield into a media server is that it’s a device built to handle media in the first place. Normally, a Plex Media Server runs on a computer and if someone were to turn that computer off, then your server is no longer up and running.
Using the Shield as your server means it’s always plugged in and always connected. Even if you’re not actively using it, the server functionality remains connected and accessible.
You can still use Shield as you normally would, playing games or bingeing on the latest Netflix hit without impacting the capabilities of your Plex Media Server.
More Information
Read the full CNET Review
Nvidia Shield
The Bottom Line:
The Nvidia Shield’s 4K video and solid gaming chops will appeal to geeks, and software updates have made it more stable, but app shortfalls and a relatively high price limit its appeal.
Read full review
CNET Editors’ Rating
3.5 stars
Very good
Priced at
$199.99
to $221.21
Reviewed: May 28, 2015
Initial setup
Before you can access Plex’s newfound capabilities, update your Nvidia Shield (Settings > About > System Update) to version 3.2, and the Plex app in the Play Store app.
The next time you launch Plex, you’ll be asked if you want to enable it as a media server. Check the box, then select Next. Follow the prompts, granting Plex storage access along the way.
Once the server is running, there’s a bit of housekeeping you’ll need to do. Open a browser and enter app.plex.tv/web.
Select your new server, then follow the prompts. You can rename the server, tell the server where to look for various components of your media library, as well as enable remote access to your Plex library when you’re away from home.
Keep an eye on available space
In some ways, this decision is made for you based on the storage size of your Nvidia Shield. Owners of the 16 GB model have little choice but to rely on external storage to convert the Shield into a media server. Those who own the 500 GB model can store photos and movies directly on the Shield.
Regardless of storage size, it’s important to pay attention to how much space is available on your Shield. In order for Plex to work properly when transcoding media (that is, converting a file during playback to ensure compatibility with the device you’re streaming it on), Plex recommends users keep four to five gigabytes of space available on the Shield for best performance.
How to keep your phone looking good inside a case
I know it’s not always a popular position, but I love me a good case.
A quality phone case adds grip, style, and color; it protects my handset even as it shows off the craftsmanship of the device. And a good case doesn’t necessarily mean shelling out for an Otterbox or a Trident. A good case is a case that offers the right mix of protection, comfort, grip, and style for the user’s situation. Regardless which case you own, be it a Spigen Neo Hybrid case, a Cruzerlite Bugdroid TPU case, or something in between, I’ve got news for you:
Most of you are using your case wrong.
You buy a shiny, new phone that’s worth a good bit of money. You want to protect said shiny new phone, so you buy it a case. That case is supposed to help defend it against drops, dings, and dirt, right? Well, not quite.
Unless you’ve got a LifeProof or other case made to keep out EVERYTHING (water, dust, sand, poltergeists, etc), your phone probably still has just enough wiggle room to allow gunk to slip in between the case and your phone. Since the debris can’t easily escape, that sand or dust is just gonna rub, scratch and otherwise shift about in its confined quarters until you take the case off and liberate it.
Problem is, most people don’t regularly take their case off. That bit of sand from your beach vacation last year might still be there, scratching wee little tick marks on the back of your fancy phone as it waits for freedom. So, after two years, the case finally comes off, but lo and behold, your once pristine phone is now scratched, scuffed, and maybe even stained by the case that was supposed to be protecting it.
See this? This is what happens when you don’t take your case off often enough. This is also why a lot of people think cases are worthless: because they put a case on their phone and the phone was still scratched to hell while they had it. That isn’t (completely) your case’s fault — it’s yours, too.
We all want to properly care for our precious, precious phones, so that they last longer, look better, and will hopefully fetch more when we inevitably sell them and buy a new one. Here are a few tips for keeping your case from wrecking your phone.
- Take your phone out of the case regularly. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time outdoors, keep your phone in a purse/bag with a lot of other stuff, or you just want to be careful, take your case off once a week to clean it. If you’re using a case that’s hard to take on and off (which should hopefully get less dirt in it), then do it once a month. If you’re lazy/forgetful, do it every time you get your oil changed.
- Use a microfiber cloth to clean it. If your phone’s dirty, you might have an urge to use an alcoholic or Lysol wipe on your phone. STOP. They can eat away at the oleophobic coating on your screen. Don’t even use a paper towel if you can help it, you should use a microfiber cloth to gently wipe off smudges and specks. Use the hem of your shirt in a pinch, and if you have tough gunk or sticky stuff on it, put just a little water on the cloth (not on the phone, on the cloth), and gently work out the spots.
- Use Q-Tips to clean ports and seams. While sometimes you might also need to bust out a toothpick to dig out harder to reach grime, always start with a Q-Tip and remember that if you dig too hard, you could scratch or pop something. Like your microphone. Which would be bad.
- Wash your case. While we wouldn’t recommend washing your phone, you can wash most cases with a light dish soap solution. Considering how many places we set down our phones (dirty counters, public bathrooms, etc), you should consider washing your case once in a while and then letting it air-dry for a few hours before putting it back on your phone. While you can get most water off the surface of the case, letting it air-dry will allow more time for any water that might’ve seeped into the softer, squishier parts of your case to see themselves out, and it’ll give you plenty of time to…
- Let your phone breathe. After cleaning your phone and your case, just give your phone a little time away from its confines. Let it breathe. If you’re cleaning it at night, just let it sit out overnight before re-assembling its case in the morning. (Whether or not it spends its nude night on a cushy pillow/throne is entirely up to you.)
It can also help to switch cases every now and again to prevent the colors or patterns of a particular case from slowly rubbing into the phone, especially white phones. However if you’ve just got your one signature case, you shouldn’t run into too many problems so long as you take good care of both the case and the phone.
Just as there are several things you can do right while taking care of your phone, there are some that you can do wrong. Improperly cleaning your phone could destroy the oleophobic coating, blow out your microphones, or break the phone.
- Don’t use compressed air or vacuums to clean out the mic holes. Even if you’re in the middle of salvaging a phone that took a dive into the pool, be careful using the vacuum to suck out moisture as it can damage the microphones and other components.
- Don’t use harsh cleaners or higher-proof alcohol solutions on the screen. While stubborn, tacky gunk may build up on the trim and around the screen, please don’t use cleaning solutions like Windex or rubbing alcohol trying to remove it. Use small amounts of water on cotton swabs, tissues, or microfiber cloths and good old-fashioned elbow grease to work it off the screen. If you need to use isoprophyl alcohol, water it down first and use sparingly. You can also use very tiny portions of stronger cleaners on the back of the phone depending on the material.
- Don’t spray your phone with water or any cleaning agent. Always spray any cleaning liquids (usually water) on your cloth rather than on the device itself. You do not want it getting into the speaker grills, microphones, or any other ports, and you wouldn’t want excess seeping into your phone.
If you germaphobes really want to kill the bacteria on your phone, don’t reach for the Clorox or Lysol. Invest in a UV smartphone sterilizer, where you can leave your phone to charge overnight as UV lights kill bacteria on the device. It’s not something most of us need, but if you do, that’s an option.
So, how do you keep your phone clean? Just rub it on your sleeve, or do you have a fastidious cleaning process to keep your phone in like-new condition? Share your cleaning habits in the comments below, and tell us how well your case keeps your phone safe and clean!
Google working to bring VR to Chrome on Android
A new report says that Google is putting in virtual reality features in the Android version of its Chrome browser, which could enable VR experiences to be seen by a much larger audience.
Road to VR reports:
The latest builds of Google Chrome Beta and Google Chrome Dev on Android bring two important new features for making this a reality. Chrome Beta now contains a WebVR setting which enables enhanced VR device compatibility with VR websites built against WebVR standards. Chrome Dev (one extra step back in development from Beta) now contains a ‘VR Shell’ setting which Google’s Chromium Evangelist François Beaufort says “enable[s] a browser shell for VR” which “allows users to browse the web while using Cardboard or Daydream-ready viewers.” Both options are available in the browser’s Flags page, accessed by entering chrome://flags in the URL bar.
The article adds that Google is also working to add support for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headset to Chrome on the desktop.
AIVAnet 