Logitech Create for iPad Pro (9.7 inch) review – CNET
The Good The Logitech Create has backlit keys, a Pencil-holding loop, connects via the iPad Pro’s Smart Connector so it doesn’t need recharging, and costs less than Apple’s Smart Keyboard.
The Bad The case feels a little bulky. There’s only one keyboard angle. The case works well when typing, but feels awkward as an everyday case for reading or movie-watching.
The Bottom Line The Logitech Create might be the best way to get productive on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro, but only consider this case if you’re ready to use your iPad in laptop mode most of the time.
The iPad has always been a few steps away from being something like a laptop replacement for me. That gap seems to hover like a carrot on a short stick.
It’s not a fault of the hardware, the iPad Pro, especially the 9.7-inch version, is fantastically built. Its accessories are pretty nice, too. Logitech’s new Create keyboard case aims to make a streamlined backlit keyboard-plus-case that works with the side Smart Connector and works well enough to be an everyday tool.
I like Apple’s own Smart Keyboard for its small size, but it’s super-expensive, a bit floppy, and only covers the front of the iPad. The Create costs less ($130, £109, AU$200), has a better keyboard (but with little gaps where dust could sneak under the keys, unlike the one-piece Apple keyboard), and even has a little Pencil-holding loop in the back. Typing on it feels pretty great…but I like typing on Apple’s, too.
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Typing on the keyboard feels great, and it’s backlit.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Logitech’s keyboard has an extra row of shortcuts keys, something Apple’s lacks. The backlight automatically turns on when I start typing, but doesn’t stay on for more than a handful of seconds. The key layout feels a little more cramped than an 11-inch laptop, but it’s better than the similarly-sized one on the Chromebook Flip. It’s easy to type fast on it.
HP x4500 review – CNET
The Good The HP x4500’s sloping surface and large thumb rest hold your hand in a natural position for all-day comfort. The small wireless receiver offers the ease of plug-and-play, and the laser sensor has razor-sharp precision across most surfaces.
The Bad It’s not quite as good as some cheaper competitors. The mouse is contoured for right-handed users only.
The Bottom Line The HP x4500 is a reliable and comfortable mouse, but it’s just not quite as good as some rival models you can buy for less.
Let’s face it: buying a new mouse for your computer is something even less than an impulse purchase. You want to spend as little time as possible doing research for this purchase, so I’ll give it to you straight. The only three reasons to buy the HP X4500 are if (1) you just need a basic three-button wireless mouse; (2) you’re right-handed; and (3) you have an aversion to the many better Logitech and Microsoft mice available.
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For shoppers on a budget with simplicity at the top of their list, the HP x4500 is a reliable mouse that cradles your hand with all-day comfort.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The allure of the x4500 isn’t its contoured platform or the razor-sharp laser sensor. It’s actually the bargain price tag. You can get it online right now for less than $25 in the US, £21 in the UK and AU$40 in Australia.
The x4500 keeps it simple with standard left and right clickers on top and a notched scroll wheel in the middle that also works as a third button. If you’re looking for a faster way to access application shortcuts, the Logitech M510 is a tinkerer’s dream with seven buttons and a budget price tag.
Microsoft’s IFTTT competitor arrives on Android
Microsoft Flow, the company’s answer to IFTTT, has landed on Android. The service debuted on the desktop back in April and was quickly ported to iOS devices. Flow works much the same way as IFTTT but focuses more heavily on integrating Microsoft’s own products like Office 365 with other enterprise tools like Mailchimp and Salesforce. So if you want to get a text alert when you receive an important email or automatically post every tweet containing a specific hashtag to a specific Slack channel, you totally can.
The Android app, like its iOS cousin, is built more for monitoring and managing the integrations you’ve already made, rather than making new ones. Users will be able to enable or disable these integrations, which Microsoft calls “templates”, as well as review their results.
Via: Techcrunch
Source: Microsoft
Ditch Spotlight for this genius universal search bar on Mac – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
Apple’s Spotlight for Mac is a wonderful tool, but even with Siri and a third-party add-ons coming this fall, Spotlight doesn’t compare to one of my all-time favorite applications, Alfred.
Alfred looks and acts much like Spotlight. But with the add-on Powerpack, it gets a lot smarter. The $22.04 (£17.00 or AU$28.61) app adds “workflows,” which make your Mac do a chain of tasks with one command.
The best workflows for Alfred
If you’re ready to ditch Spotlight, install these add-ons to change the way you use your Mac. Seriously.
To install one of these workflows, follow the link to download it, double-click to open and the workflow will install itself.
- Google Suggest does exactly what you would expect it to. It puts suggested searches inside Alfred. Press your launch command for Alfred (by default, it’s Options + Spacebar) and type “g” followed by a space. Then type your search query. With each keystroke, the list of suggested searches narrows. Use arrow keys or the hotkey (listed to the right of the result) to select one and load the search results in your default browser.
- Amazon Suggest is the same thing for Amazon searches. Launch Alfred and type “amazon,” followed by your search query. Highlighting and selecting one of those results will launch the Amazon search in your default browser.
- Curious how critics feel about a new movie? Use the RottenMovies workflow to find out. Type “rt” followed by the name of the movie. The workflow will search Rotten Tomatoes and you can see the score without ever visiting the website.
- Sitting at a desk all day, it’s easy to let 10, 20 or even 30 minutes slip by unnoticed. Sometimes you need to set quick reminders for yourself to respond to someone in 20 minutes or check the coffee pot in 5. EggTimer 2 is the perfect workflow for this. Launch Alfred and type “timer 5 Check coffee pot” to set a 5-minute timer with a reminder to check the coffee pot. You can also set alarms for specific times using the same syntax: “alarm 4:00pm Take a break” or “alarm 12:00pm Lunch.”
Taylor Martin/CNET
- When writing, I’m constantly switching between my writing app and Google search for currency and unit conversions. With the Units workflow, I can make those same conversions without ever leaving my writing app. In Alfred, type “units” and type or select what you want to convert from the list of options (length, temperature, currency, etc.). Next type a number and select the starting unit from the options and finally select what you’re converting to. When you hit enter at the end, the conversion is copied to your clipboard for pasting. It will take a few tries to get the process down, but once you do, this is one of the most handy converters around.
- The Recent Items workflow is great for helping you recall things you have been working on in the last few hours. Install the workflow and launch Alfred, then type “rec.” The workflow will suggest types of recent items, such as applications, downloads, folders or up to two custom items. Select one of the types of files from the selection (or begin typing to narrow the suggestions) and all the recent items of that type will appear. Selecting one will open it.
- After you get used to a keyboard launcher like Alfred, it’s difficult to break the habit of launching Alfred when you want to do anything, even things that you don’t normally control with Alfred, such as adding new tasks to your task manager. Fortunately, you can add that functionality with workflows for Trello, Wunderlist and Todoist.
- Sometimes toggling Wi-Fi will fix any connectivity issues you’re experiencing. It’s not a difficult task on OS X, especially with the menu bar icon. However, the Wi-Fi Control makes it a much faster process. You can turn Wi-Fi on or off with the workflow, but you can also restart Wi-Fi (toggle off and back on) with just a few keystrokes.
- The Kill workflow is easily the one I use the most. If you have a rogue app that gets hung or you need to force quit, launch Alfred, type “kill” followed by the first few letters of the app and press Enter. It will immediately kill any apps or processes.
- I also do a lot of link shortening for personal analytics. The Shorten URL workflow is fantastic. It includes support for goo.gl, bit.ly, is.gd, j.mp and more. With the workflow installed, launch Alfred and type “short” followed by a space, paste the URL you want to shorten and select the link-shortening service. The shortened link will be copied to your clipboard and automatically pasted wherever your cursor is placed.
Taylor Martin/CNET
- It’s easy to use the same password over and over. But if you use a password manager, quickly generating a new password is the more secure route. With the Password Generator workflow, type “pw” followed by a number for how many digits you’d like the password to have. Press enter and the randomized password will be copied to your clipboard.
- Sleep is a sleep timer workflow for your Mac. Just type “sleep” followed by the number of minutes you want your computer to stay awake. After the timer finished, the Mac will go to sleep.
- Who doesn’t love GIFs? Alphy puts Giphy search right inside Alfred. Just type “gif” followed by your search term. Highlight one of the suggestions and press Shift to preview it. Pressing Enter will copy the URL of the GIF to your keyboard, Command + Enter will copy the Giphy URL and Alt + Enter will open the GIF on the Giphy website.
- There are several ways to quickly insert emoji with a Mac. Emoj is yet another way, and this one comes with search, which means you can find a specific emoji, even when you don’t know its exact name. The downside is that this requires Node to be installed on your Mac.
- If you’d prefer unicode emoticons over emoji, Dongers is the workflow you’re looking for. Type “dongers” and your search term for a list of relevant emoticons, like the table flip. (ノಠдಠ)ノ︵┻━┻
- One of the first things I do if my internet connection is having problems is run a speed test. The SpeedTest workflow allows you to do this without loading the speedtest.org site in your browser. Type “speedtest” press enter and wait. When the test completes, you will receive a growl notification with your uplink and downlink speeds, as well as your ping.
Spotify has a new video game music section. Here are our favorite playlists – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
Today, Spotify launched a new Gaming category where you can easily find gaming music, playlists and soundtracks.
Last year, I spent hours searching for all the individual classics from the Fallout franchise to make my own playlist on Rdio (RIP). Today, doing that is a lot easier on Spotify.
To get to the new category, visit spotify.com/gaming or open the Genres & Moods section under the Browse tab within the Spotify app.
There, you’ll find all the community-created gaming playlists, such as ones by PlayStation Music, EA Sports and even Guitar Hero. These playlists include soundtracks for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, FIFA 16, Rocket League, curated playlists by Engadget and Polygon and several others.
Spotify has curated its own selection of gaming playlists, as well. There are mixes like Indie Gaming, Retro Gaming, Top Gaming Tracks, Epic Gaming and more.
The highlight of this new Gaming category, however, are the original soundtracks, at the bottom of the section within the app (or the middle tab on the Spotify Gaming site). You can find the soundtracks just by a normal search in the Spotify app, but on the Spotify Gaming landing page, they can be sorted alphabetically. Some of the most popular soundtracks currently being featured are No Man’s Sky, Uncharted 4 and Fallout 4.
Here are a few of my favorite playlists and soundtracks so far:
- No Man’s Sky
- Sword & Sworcery Lp: The Ballad Of The Space Babies
- Fallout 4
- Tasty Gaming
- Indie Gaming
- Soundscapes for Gaming
- Dark Souls III
Android 7.0: What is Direct Boot, and how will it improve your experience?
Direct Boot mode allows apps to communicate and interact with us before we have unlocked our phone after a reboot. This is more important than you might think.
We all hate it when our phone reboots. Sometimes we mean for it to happen and sometimes we don’t, but a reboot means we aren’t logged in, preventing many background tasks from working. It’s even worse if you use your phone as an alarm clock or reminder.
Android 7.0 Nougat can help through its Direct Boot feature.
What is Direct Boot?
We’ve all probably been there. We have a lock screen so nobody else can see what we have stored on our phones (everyone has that one friend) and something happened and our phone rebooted. If you didn’t realize it, you may be sitting there happy (or sad) that you aren’t getting buzzed every 10 minutes — until you notice and log in, only to see everything you missed. Hopefully, it wasn’t something too important.
Not every app needs to use Direct Boot, and developers need to think before they enable it.
Google has things covered in Android Nougat, potentially making that scenario a thing of the past. We assume Android 7.0 will be stable, and any reboots few and far between, but just in case, the new Direct Boot feature will let an app (or part of an app) run as soon as your phone is finished booting and before you sign in.
Keeping you secure, and informed
The way things work as of Android Marshmallow is pretty good from a security perspective. When your phone gets turned on or recovers from a reboot, the operating system loads and then everything halts while it waits for user input. That means you need to enter your password or PIN or you need to swipe your pattern. Even if you don’t lock your phone you need to swipe the lock screen away. (But please, lock your phone.) If you have an encrypted phone, the data you have stored stays encrypted and unavailable by any means until you get logged in. That’s a good way to help you keep unwanted eyes off of your stuff.
With Android 7.0, there’s a new step in the boot process. Once your phone is fully powered up and Android is running, there’s a method for developers to allow communication before you log in. Everything else stays locked up, and you can’t interact with any other app. Google has even inserted a new storage area called Device Storage for apps that need to run immediately because they will have no access to the normal credential-protected file system.
A new storage area is in place for apps that need Direct Boot because everything else is still protected.
Here’s an example of how this would work with a simple messenger client. The developers of the messenger can allow the app to collect messages and fire off a notification before you unlock your phone for the first time, but you wouldn’t be able to access your photos to send a reply because they are protected by your login password.
To get to them you would need to log on. For encrypted devices, Direct Boot mode allows for data in the new Device Storage area to run while the rest of the data on the phone stays encrypted. It’s a nice compromise between security and convenience. Google is getting pretty damn good at those, and it’s working — more people are locking their phones and protecting their privacy and data. To Google, that’s a good thing. And we agree.
Not for every app
Not every app will (or should) start running immediately. The Googlers we talked to at Google I/O this year all agreed that most apps shouldn’t run right away using direct boot. The new mode is reserved for things that you need right away and you don’t want to miss after a reboot. Examples are your alarm clock, your texting app, or an app that helps in the accessibility department — these are the types that need to run right away. Developers can add the functionality to any app when it’s installed on a phone running Android 7.0 (API 24) or higher.
Google tells us they won’t stand for apps that try to abuse Direct Boot.
The folks we talked to also were aware that this could be abused. Nobody wants some spammy ad network dropping links in their notification bar or the lock screen every time the phone starts. And some apps shouldn’t be storing things until you log in and decrypt them. For apps that are in Google Play, they will take claims about apps abusing the Direct Boot feature very seriously, and won’t hesitate to remove them from the Play Store.
Direct Boot is another of those features you can’t see but needed a lot of creative thinking and engineering to implement. These small features and improvements should add some much-needed polish to Android, and make our phones work better for us.
If you’re a developer and interested in Direct Boot, be sure to check out the documentation at the Android Developer site as well as watching the video below.
Android Nougat
Android Nougat is the 12th nicknamed version of Android and will be released to the public in the fall of 2016. Here’s everything you need to know so far!
- What’s new in Android Nougat
- Will my phone get Android Nougat?
- All Android Nougat news
- Should you use the Android N Dev Preview?
- Join the Discussion
Bose QC35 review: So nice, I bought it twice
Ridiculous comfort, insane noise cancellation and huge sound: the Bose QC35 Bluetooth headset is a hyperbole hater’s nightmare, but a traveling music lover’s dream.
The QC35 was pushed on me by an aggressive salesman at San Francisco International while I was waiting for a flight back to Boston; I initially found the price too rich for my blood, but that all changed the moment I flipped that noise-cancelling switch. Six hours of blissful flying between two screaming babies later, I was sold for life – and I even bought the QC35 a second time when I lost my first set in a hotel room.
As iMore’s Serenity Caldwell can attest, it’s just that good. Check out all the high points — and a few of the lows — in MrMobile’s first Bluetooth headset video, the Bose QC35 review!
Make with the socializing!
- YouTube
- Le web
- Snapchat
‘Fuchsia’ operating system project is interesting, lacking details that make it matter
The Fuchsia project looks to be a promising new operating system but it’s not going to replace Android anytime soon.
There’s a bit of chatter on the nerdier side of the internet today about a mysterious repository of code hosted at Google’s Git called Fuchsia. Fuchsia is a new operating system being developed by folks like Travis Geiselbrecht (BeOS, iOS, and webOS) and Brian Swetland (Android, BeOS, and HiptopOS) as well as current Google software engineers like Petr Hosek. The limited information provided at thew code repository doesn’t tell us much.
Pink + Purple == Fuchsia (a new Operating System)
So we went digging.
Some Google-Fu and IRC lurking (#fuchsia on Freenode for folks who are still into IRC) give us a little more information. It looks like Fuchsia is an operating system that uses the LK kernel, with a component called Magenta that extends its capabilities. LK was designed for embedded devices with limited hardware. Magenta “targets modern phones and modern personal computers with fast processors, non-trivial amounts of RAM with arbitrary peripherals doing open-ended computation.” Other interesting bits include a new graphics rendering project called escher, which appears to use OpenGL or Vulkan APIs to support advanced graphics like diffusion, real-time volumetric soft shadows, and other lighting effects, and the Flutter framework for the user interface.
If you’re a code nerd on any level, take a few minutes and look through what’s been uploaded to the Git. It’s buildable on Linux or OS X, and there’s even an emulated version if you want to play with it. There is just enough there to get interesting.
Based on what we have now, any ‘conclusions’ are pure speculation
But anything else is just speculation at this point. I’ve already seen headlines about how Fuchsia is going to replace Android and Chrome with a new unified unicorn. Based on what we have now, that’s not even close to correct. Google isn’t going to abandon the current Android and Chrome ecosystem, and it will take a lot more that what we have now for any of that content to run in Fuchsia. I never say never, but the idea of a unified operating system to rule them all from Google doesn’t seem to be the goal here.
The developers say that things will eventually be public, documented, and announced, but not right now. In the meantime, we all get to guess what Fuchsia is going to be and what it’s going to do.
My guess is that it will have something to do with robotics, automation, and AR/VR. Ideally, you would want a real-time operating system here so you can have a reasonable expectation of latency and how consistent it will be and the graphics engine needs to have its own low-latency pipe. There are some examples and project files included in the escher code for iOS as well. We know that Google loves VR and they are always working on the next thing, and we might be seeing it as it develops.
Or this might just be a bunch of guys doing the things they love because they can.
What I can say is that Fuchsia isn’t poised to replace anything you have now. As it develops, we’ll be able to get a better feel for their end goal with Fuchsia.
No Man’s Sky devs are working on issues, brought in team to spot bugs
The developer behind No Man’s Sky wants you to know it is actively addressing the game’s issues.
Hello Games posted a blog post to No Man’s Sky website on 12 August to announce it is working on fixes for the most “critical issues”, and that those problems should be corrected in a patch releasing sometime in the “near future”. Although the company failed to specify which issues will be addressed first, Hello Games did reveal that it brought in a quality assurance group that’s bigger than its entire developer team.
This QA group will hopefully be able to spot bugs ahead of the curve. In addition to the upcoming patch and QA group, Hello Games suggested a few workarounds for some existing gameplay problems. For instance, if you believe you are stuck, or can’t reach your ship, “you can jetpack forever whilst pushing against any surface”. You can also revert to two previous saves if you’ve made a mistake.
And if you have left your ship somewhere inaccessible, you can summon it from landing pads or beacons found at most buildings or points of interest (which are marked by question marks). Despite all these issues, Pocket-lint still highly recommends checking out the game. In our limited, initial amount of time with No Man’s Sky so far, we have found ourselves well and truly hooked.
Even just a couple of hours with No Man’s Sky, it becomes obvious that it is a major triumph. It’s indisputably original, and really makes you feel like a space-pioneer. It’s a game you can lose yourself in, and certainly achieves its aim of generating a state of consxtant wonderment.
Upcoming ‘No Man’s Sky’ patch will fix most issues
No Man’s Sky was released for PlayStation 4 last week, but not without its fair share of problems. Developer Hello Games is aware of the game’s many bugs and glitches, and is working on a patch that will solve “the most critical issues” in the “near future.”
It’s not clear what problems the studio is fixing, specifically. But the team does know the pre-order ship, the Domanish S84, leaves some players stranded since it comes pre-installed with a hyperdrive. It negates the need to find a blueprint early on in the game that teaches you how to build a hyperdrive, which is a requirement for all new ships. You then wind up being stuck on a planet if you switch to a different ship. This is arguably the game’s largest issue, and the studio is promising a quick solution.
For now, Hello Games has a few workarounds for minor problems. If you’re stuck somewhere and can’t move freely, you can use your jetpack to help you maneuver if you push against any surface. You can also summon your lost ship from beacons or landing pads found in most buildings.
“The number of people players, and length of average play session, has been far more than our small team could have anticipated,” said studio head Sean Murray in a post on the game’s website. “That said, we’re working quickly to adapt.”
Hello Games has brought in an outside quality assurance group that’s actually bigger than the dev team to help spot bugs, and it’ll complement the existing Sony QA team. Hopefully, the studio is able to continue improving No Man’s Sky which is, for the most part, an engaging and gorgeous experience.
Source: NoMan’sSky.com
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