Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac Comes With Sierra Support, Standalone Toolbox App
Parallels today announced Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac with support for macOS Sierra and the addition of several new features. The company also announced a new standalone app called Parallel Toolbox, which allows users to perform some simple tasks that aren’t necessarily tied to visualization.
New features in Desktop 12 include having Windows 10 “always on” in the background, the ability to instantly launch Windows apps, the ability to schedule incremental backups and Windows updates, the ability to assign special behaviors to Windows apps, improved integration for Microsoft Edge, Outlook, and Office 365, and Xbox app support. Additionally, Parallels has partnered with Blizzard to provide specific support for the hit game Overwatch.
Version 12 also includes 90 percent faster snapshot creation, 60 percent faster suspension of VMs, 25 percent faster shared folder performance, 25 percent faster compilation of Visual Studio projects, and up to 10 percent in battery life improvements for “certain environments.”
The company is also touting a new standalone app called Parallel Toolbox. The Toolbox places a drop-down menu in the Mac’s menu bar, allowing users to do certain tasks quicker. Tasks include the ability to record the screen, take screenshots, record audio, archive files, convert video and download video, lock the screen and more.
Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac is $79.99, while Desktop 10 or 11 users may upgrade for $49.99. The Business and Pro Editions are also available with a subscription fee of $99.99 per year, although Parallels 10 and 11 users with perpetual licenses can upgrade for $49.99 per year. Parallels Toolbox can be purchased for $10 per year or will be included with your Parallels Desktop 12 license.
Parallels 10 and 11 users can upgrade now at the company’s website. New users can purchase Parallels 12 starting on August 23. Parallels Toolbox also launches August 23.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
Tags: Microsoft, Windows 10, Parallels 12
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Yes, it’s possible to start over in No Man’s Sky – CNET
It’s really difficult to mess up so badly in No Man’s Sky that you would ever need to start over fresh.
Didn’t explore enough on your starting planet? There are 17.99999 quintillion others to explore. Left your ship in a place that seems unreachable? Reach a shelter, craft a Bypass Chip and call it using one of the terminals at a landing pad. Missed the ticket onto the Atlas Pass? Find a space anomaly or Atlas Interface and hop aboard.
If, however, you have gotten on the wrong side of the Vy’keen or screwed up so royally that you’re better off throwing away dozens of hours of play time rather than spending a few more rectifying the problem, never fear, there is a way to restart the game.
Starting over in No Man’s Sky
You may notice that starting over isn’t even an option in the No Man’s Sky game menu. There isn’t a way to start over or a way to play with two separate characters. When you open the game, after a short loading screen, you’re back where you left off last — straight into game play.
In fact, the most you can do in-game is load your two most recent saves.
PS4
If you’re playing on PS4, the process is the same as with deleting save files for any other game.
In the XrossMediaBar interface, go to Settings > Application Saved Data Management > Saved Data in System Storage > Delete. Locate and select No Man’s Sky and follow the prompts to delete the game saves. When you open the game again, it should load as if you’ve just started the game.
On PC and Steam
If you’re playing No Man’s Sky on PC, this process from YouTube channel How To Do Stuff is a little more involved. However, unlike with PS4, you have the option to create a backup of your game save. So if anything goes awry, you can restore the original and resume playing from your furthest point.
Start by closing out of No Man’s Sky. Next, in your Steam library, right-click on No Man’s Sky and select Properties. Under the Updates tab, un-check Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for No Man’s Sky.
Next, press Win + R to open the Run application. In the field beside Open, type %appdata% and click OK. Within the directory that is opened, locate and open HelloGames and open the folder NMS. The folder inside this directory will look something like st_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Delete this file or move it to a safe place (in case you want to restore the save later).
When you start the game again, you will start over, stranded on a random planet in a random planetary system with busted equipment and a broken ship.
Restoring an old save on PC
One advantage of running the PC version of this game is the ability to restore a save file after you’ve deleted it. If you decide you don’t actually want to start over, there are two ways to restore your original save file to the game. With No Man’s Sky closed:
- Re-checking the box beside Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for No Man’s Sky and Steam will ask if you want to use your local save (the new one) or restore the cloud backup (your original save) when you launch the game.
- Replace the newly generated st_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX folder with the one you made a copy of in the C:Users[username]AppDataRoamingHelloGamesNMS directory.
Additionally, you can use this workaround to have multiple characters in the game. Or, if more than one person uses the computer No Man’s Sky is installed on, you can swap out the game save folders before launching the game to load different user save states without having to have two separate Steam accounts.
Hopefully, Hello Games will add these features into the game in the future. Until then, these workarounds are the best you’re going to get.
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11 things we wish we’d known when starting No Man’s Sky
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What you need to know about the Note 7’s Secure Folder – CNET
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The Galaxy Note 7 is for work and for play
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Let’s face it, we all experience a brief moment of anxiety when handing our phone to a friend or family member, even if for a brief moment. Or at least I do. It’s not that I have anything to hide, simply that my phone has personal thoughts and information I don’t necessarily want just anyone to see.
Conversations with friends, messages with my wife, work emails, photos of my rather mundane life. Handing a phone to someone is akin to opening up your diary to them and hoping they only read the one page.
Enter the Note 7’s Secure Folder.
It’s in the Secure Folder you can keep notes, apps, pictures, contacts, email accounts or third-party apps you don’t want easily accessible, even if by accident. In order for anyone to access the Secure Folder on your Note 7, he or she will have to know your password or steal your fingerprint or iris scan to get into it.
Enough rambling, let’s talk about of the Secure Folders key features. Start by opening the Secure Folder and following the setup prompts.
You set a password, now what?
After the initial setup where you’re asked to set a password, you’re taken to the default view of the folder. In it you’ll find the following apps:
- Gallery
- Camera
- Contacts
- Internet
- My Files
- Samsung Notes
These apps are identical in name and functionality to the apps you have outside the secure folder, only they are what amount to fresh installs of each app. Any photos, notes, contacts or web browsing you do with these apps while in the Secure Folder will stay separate from the apps you have outside of the folder.
Secure third-party apps
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
As useful as the system apps are, you will likely want to keep some third-party apps behind an extra layer of security. To do that, open the Secure Folder and then tap on + Add. Scroll through the list of apps, select those you’d like to install in the Secure Folder, then tap Add.
As with the system apps, any apps you add to the secure folder won’t carry over any information, settings, or login information. You’re basically making a copy of the app, which allows you to log in to it with a different account (handy if you have a work and personal Snapchat account, for example).
Apps stored in the Secure Folder will receive notifications as any other app does, however you can control how much information is shown (if any) through the Secure Folder’s settings screen.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Access secure apps from your homescreen
Long press on an app icon in the Secure Folder to rearrange the order, uninstall it from the folder or to place a shortcut to the secured app on your homescreen.
The process of opening your secure folder, then finding an app, opening it, and entering a password is anything but streamlined and likely to discourage people from using Secure Folder. Thankfully, you can place a shortcut to the secure versions on your homescreen.
Drag any app to the Add to Home Screen button at the top of the page. You can quickly identify which apps are part of the Secure Folder — thus requiring a extra authentication to open — thanks to the lock icon placed on the app’s icon.
Completely hide the Secure Folder (almost)
When viewing your Secure Folder, tap on the menu button (three-dot icon) and tap on Settings. Mixed in with the options to control notifications for secured apps, change the lock type and the auto lock settings, is an option to hide the secure folder from your homescreen and app drawer.
Once enabled, you can only open the Secure Folder after going through several settings screens.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
The difference between an iPhone’s Do Not Disturb and silent modes – CNET
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
iOS offers two ways for your iPhone — and you, by extension — to be less intrusive in certain situations. You can enable Silent mode and you can also enable or schedule Do Not Disturb mode to keep your iPhone from ringing, chiming or otherwise emitting unwanted sounds. Although both modes effectively silence your iPhone, there are differences with which you may not be familiar. Let’s jump in.
Silent mode
Your go-to method for silencing your iPhone is almost assuredly the toggle switch that sits above the volume buttons on the left edge. Walk into a movie theater, school classroom or church, and by now you probably instinctively reach for that switch to save you from embarrassment. Or you do so when your significant other reminds you to mute your phone.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
While the ring/silent switch mutes all alerts and notifications (along with sound effects and game audio), your iPhone may still vibrate when you receive a call. And your screen will light up with the arrival of a phone call or text. You can stop your iPhone from buzzing when in silent mode by going to Settings > Sounds and toggling off Vibrate on Silent, but you can’t stop the screen from lighting up, which brings us to our next section.
Do Not Disturb
With Do Not Disturb enabled, your iPhone will remain silent and with its screen off, though there are a few exceptions you should know about that allow some calls to come through.
First, however, let’s go over the two ways to enable Do Not Disturb. The easiest way is to swipe up for the Control Center and tap the crescent moon button. You can also go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and tap the toggle switch for Manual. With Do Not Disturb enabled, you’ll see a small crescent moon at the top of the lock screen.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
In addition to manually enabling Do Not Disturb, you can also schedule Quiet Hours each day. I have it enabled from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., for example.
Also from Do Not Disturb’s settings, you can enable two exceptions that allows calls to come through. For Allow Calls From, you can choose Everyone, No One, Favorites or a group you created in Contacts. You can also allow Repeated Calls to come through, so if someone is desperately trying to call you by calling twice within three minutes, your iPhone will ring.
The last setting lets you silence your iPhone Always or Only while iPhone is locked.
Scenarios for either mode
With the biggest difference between the two modes being the screen lighting up in silent mode when you receive a call or text, flipping the ring/silent switch is the easiest way to silence your iPhone as long as it’s in your pocket, purse or backpack. Just be sure you check to see if the Vibrate on Silent setting is disabled, because a vibrating phone can be just as distracting and therefore embarrassing as a ringing phone in some cases.
If you generally keep your iPhone out and about — in your hand, on your lap, on a table or desk — then Do Not Disturb is the better option so that your screen suddenly lighting up doesn’t distract other moviegoers, your classmates (or, more to the point, your teacher or professor) or parishioners. I would recommend setting Allow Calls From to No One if you will frequently enable Do Not Disturb manually so that you aren’t shamed when a call gets through from a Favorite contact or another exception.
How to politely decline calls with an Apple Watch – CNET
When your Apple Watch rings when a call arrives, you certainly don’t want to look like this guy. Though the Apple Watch is a poor choice for conducting phone calls, it can be useful for declining them — though perhaps not in the way you might expect.
The Apple Watch appears to offer two options for an incoming call: A red button to decline the call and a green button to accept the call. Declining a call sends it straight to voicemail, a swift rejection that could insult or dismay your caller. There is, however, a hidden third option that lets you politely sidestep incoming calls, with hopefully no hurt feelings.
When your Apple Watch rings, simply place your hand over the watch. This mutes the ringing but doesn’t send the call directly to voicemail. Your voicemail will only pick up after the appropriate number of rings, indicating that you missed the call rather than forcefully rejecting it.
Matt Elliott/CNET
(Similarly, you can politely decline a call on an iPhone by pressing the power button or either volume button, muting the ringing without sending the call straight to voicemail.)
Although this tip is useful, my favorite Apple Watch feature remains its ability to ping a misplaced iPhone.
(Via OS X Daily)
Jabra Sport Pulse Special Edition Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Jabra’s original Sport Coach and Sport Pulse in-ear wireless sports headphones were close to being excellent but fell a little short in a couple of areas, most notably their fit and sound quality.
Now Jabra’s announced the next generation of those models, labeling them “special editions,” with ship dates sometime in September.
On the outside, they look essentially the same as the originals, but Jabra’s made a few changes on the inside and now bundles in added ear tip options. The company says both models are more durable and the Pulse, which is equipped with an integrated heart rate monitor — it gets a pulse reading through your ear — has added a new feature: it can calculate your Vo2 Max level and automatically measure your fitness level.
Jabra bills its Sport Pulse Special Edition as the world’s first sports headphones with automatic fitness testing.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Sport Pulse Special Edition lists for $160 while the Coach Special Edition lists for $120 (Best Buy has the original Sport Coach on sale for $100). No word yet on UK or Australian pricing, but the current Sport Pulse lists for £200 and the Sport Coach for £120, though both sell for less significantly less online.
Also new: Jabra is offering an extended three-year warranty against sweat (you do have to register the headphones), which is unusual. Most headphones offer one- or two-year warranties.
I did notice that the protective carrying pouch that’s included with the special-edition models isn’t as protective, but it does the job.
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Jabra Sport Pulse: A wireless headphone with a built-in heart-rate monitor
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Smart sports features
Jabra has sought to differentiate its headphones with its integrated fitness app, Jabra Sport Life.
With the Sport Pulse, you can do timed runs, and the app will track your current heart rate as well as your average heart rate over the the course of a workout. It saves your history, updates your distance and pace (GPS must be activated on your phone) with intermittent voice prompts, and includes some built-in tests and a music player that taps into your music library.
Alternatively you can use a music service such as Spotify while the Jabra app is running (the voice “coach” prompts will lower the volume of your music but not pause it). You can also use the headphones with other fitness apps like Endomondo and RunKeeper. The heart rate monitor works with a lot of fitness apps but not necessarily all of them. As I said, the VO2 Max data generation is new and Jabra bills the Sport Pulse Special Edition as the “The world’s first sports headphone without automatic fitness testing.”
Jabra’s Sport Life app.
The Sport Coach Special Edition doesn’t have the integrated heart rate monitor but it has a TrackFit Motion Sensor that now automatically counts your reps. You can follow a set of simple workouts integrated into the app that you can do in your home that mixes exercises such as high-knee running (in place), push-ups, squats, planks and stomach crunches.
Important note for owners of the original Sport Coach and Sport Pulse Wireless: Jabra says automatic fitness testing (for the Pulse) and automatic rep counting (for the Coach) will be available as free upgrade features via a software upgrade.
More ear tip options
Jabra talks about the headphones having “enhanced sound,” but I’m not sure it’s done anything to enhance the sound except to try to create a better fit by including a set of Comply foam tips along with the usual set of ear gels and ear wings, which do a good job locking the bud in your ear.
With in-ear headphones, getting a tight seal is crucial to getting better sound and the foam tips do help. I still wouldn’t call these fantastic-sounding headphones, but for in-ear Bluetooth headphones they sound quite decent, and if you can achieve a tight seal, bass response improves dramatically. I also thought the headphones worked quite well as a headset for making cell phone calls. That’s not surprising considering Jabra’s background in headsets.
The included tips, ear wings, cord shortener and carrying pouch (folded on the right).
Sarah Tew/CNET
It’s worth mentioning that these earphones are designed to seal out the ambient noise (they’re noise-isolating), so you won’t be able to hear traffic if you’re biking or running outside and are playing your music at modest to high volumes. That may be a safety issue, which is why a lot of runners prefer open headphones like Bose’s SoundSport Wireless (Bose also has a SoundSport Pulse coming out in September that has an integrated heart monitor).
While it’s good that Jabra has included the Comply foam tips, those can get dirty and break down over time. I’d personally would like to see Jabra redesign its gel ear tips, particularly the larger size, which is too flat and rounded (it should be more conical).
Jabra bills its Sport Coach Special Edition as the worlds’ first sports headphones with automatic rep counting.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Anyway, I’m going to take a few weeks to test the review samples I received before I render a final verdict, but my initial impression is that Sport Coach and Sport Pulse have indeed been improved and when you factor in the three-year warranties, they’re compelling wireless sports headphones that give Jaybird and other competitors a run for the money.
Here’s a look at their specs, courtesy of Jabra.
Jabra Sport Pulse Special Edition — $160, €160 (EU):
- New automatic (continuous) VO2 Max fitness testing
- In-ear biometric heart rate monitoring
- Advanced planning and tracking based on heart rate
- Resting and orthostatic heart rate tests
- Smart in-ear audio coaching
- Dust- and water-resistant (IP55)
- Lightweight (16 grams)
- Up to 5 hours of talk/music time
- Up to 10 days of stand-by time
- New Comply foam tips included
- New three-year extended warranty against sweat
- Ships in September 2016
Jabra Sport Coach Special Edition ($120, €160 (EU):
- NEW Automatic repetition counting with TrackFit motion sensor
- Smart in-ear audio coaching
- Dust- and water-resistant (IP55)
- Lightweight (16 grams)
- Up to 5 hours of talk/music time
- Up to 10 days of stand-by time
- New Comply foam tips included
- New three-year extended warranty against sweat
- Ships in September 2016
Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer review – CNET
The Good The Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer has attractive modern styling and intuitive controls that are easy to operate. The appliance also removes moisture from fabric quickly, has a large 9-cubic-foot capacity along with 14 separate dryer modes plus steam abilities.
The Bad Unlike other appliances that use an attached water line, the Kenmore Elite 81072 obtains the water for its steam modes from a small reservoir you must fill by hand. The Elite 81072’s lightweight door feels flimsy and can’t be slammed shut.
The Bottom Line Though you have to fill its steam feeder with water by hand, the Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer’s excellent performance, huge 9-cubic-foot capacity and included drying rack make this laundry appliance very enticing to big families.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
There aren’t many dryers for sale that can swallow 9 cubic feet worth of wet laundry at once, but the $1,400 Kenmore Elite 81072 can do just that. Thanks to its massive drum size and speedy cycle times, the Elite 81072 is a good fit for large families who need to power through hefty laundry loads often and quickly. The Kenmore Elite 81072 has other alluring attributes, too, including straightforward controls, plus numerous specialty drying modes and steam functions.
Saddled with a cantankerous door and manually fed water supply for making steam, however, this dryer isn’t perfect. If your weekly routine demands frequent laundering of monster-size bedding or handling enough dirty clothing to outfit a small army, the Elite 81072 will serve you better than sleeker but smaller units like the $1,500 LG DLEX 5000 and $1,099 Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam.
Kenmore’s Elite 81072 dryer is huge, fast…
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Design and features
Standing a full 40.8 inches tall, 29 inches wide and 33.9 inches deep, the Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer is positively massive. While roughly the same size as the also gargantuan 8-cubic-foot capacity GE GFDS260EFWW, this machine takes up more space than both the LG DLEX 5000 and Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam, which measure 7.4 and 8 cubic feet, respectively.
The benefit to the Kenmore Elite’s extra girth is that its roomy dryer drum that offers 9 cubic feet of capacity. It’s enough to accept two large washer loads simultaneously from its companion appliance, the Kenmore Elite 41072 washing machine. Additionally, the Elite 81072 dryer’s big format helps it to process bulky items like comforters, blankets and bath mats with less stress than with compact dryers.
The Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer offers a big 9-cubic-foot capacity.
Chris Monroe/CNET
I found the Elite 81072’s controls a breeze to operate as well. A central knob swivels and clicks softly in increments to select the dryer cycle you desire. 14 options in all, choices range from treating specific garment types such as Bulky/Comforter, Khaki/Jeans or Workout Wear, just to name a few. The appliance comes with steam modes, too, with labels such as Sanitize, Touch Up or Steam Refresh.
All these controls plus the dryer’s other buttons are backlit by blue LED lights or sport indicators of the same hue. A matching blue LED screen lives on the control panel’s right-hand side and displays the remaining cycle time in minutes. While small, the screen is bright and clearly legible from various angles or from across the room.
The controls are intuitive and fun to use.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Honestly, the Kenmore Elite 81072’s interface felt eerily familiar, and as it turns out, there’s a good reason. Like its matching Kenmore Elite 41072 washer, this dryer is really an LG appliance in disguise — specifically, the LG DLEX 8100. The smaller LG DLEX 5000 I reviewed also has a similar control panel.
The Elite 81072 dryer relies on a tiny water reservoir to supply moisture for its steam modes. While the machine will flash a warning light when the tank is running low, it’s a drag to have to fill it by hand. For an appliance this expensive, I expect the convenience of a dedicated water line. And like the lid on the LG DLEX 5000, this dryer’s door feels disconcertingly lightweight. You can’t slam the door shut either — an action I find deeply satisfying — but must gently push it closed. It’s a minor quibble but an annoyance nonetheless.
Nokia Ozo Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Virtual reality isn’t going away. But it’s nothing without content.
That’s where cameras like the Nokia Ozo come into play.
Looking like something that stepped straight out of a sci-fi movie, this is a 360-degree stereoscopic camera ready for the VR revolution. We had hands-on time with the camera over several weeks, learning the ins-and-outs of creating 360-degree video with a professional setup worth US$45,000. (The camera was originally priced at US$60,000 when it was first announced back in December.)
Note that this isn’t a full rated review, but hands-on impressions of using the camera and what it’s like to navigate the Ozo workflow.
CNET
Let’s check the specs
Each of the camera’s eight lenses has a 195-degree field of view with a fixed aperture of f/2.4. Behind every lens is a 2K x 2K sensor. There is significant overlap from one lens to another which gives the user much more control at the stitching stage. The Ozo shoots at 30 frames per second, which is the “live video” standard rather than 24 frames you usually see with film.
The camera uses a global shutter as opposed to a rolling shutter, generally considered more accurate in representing motion. There are eight microphones dotted around the exterior to capture spatial audio synced to the video capture.
The eight eyes of Nokia’s Ozo VR camera (pictures)
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Apart from the camera unit itself, the Ozo needs additional components to complete the package. The first is a digital cartridge that contains both the battery and 500GB of storage. It holds around 45 minutes of footage and the entire cartridge slots neatly into the protrusion at the back of the camera. The second is a docking station that acts as a charging hub for the cartridge and as a transfer device to get footage to a computer.
All these components fit in a hard-shell rolling case that comes with the camera, which you’ll need because the unit weighs 9.3 pounds (4.2kg). The Ozo also has a removable cover that protects the lenses from the elements.
Ozo easy?
But wait, there’s more. On top of the camera and digital cartridge, you also need an SDI and Thunderbolt cable, a computer, plus a BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder to get things going. These components are not included with the Ozo.
The SDI cable sits in the back of the Ozo, feeding into the BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder. This BlackMagic box allows for real-time monitoring through the Ozo Remote app that can only run on a Mac Pro or a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with discrete GPU. The best part about this configuration is that you can actually live monitor the shot before you hit record.
Once everything is plugged in and ready to go, load up the Ozo Remote app to set the exposure, check framing and start and stop recording. Adjustments can also be made to the shutter speed and color temperature, though the camera’s ISO is set at 400.
Viewing footage from all eight individual cameras.
Screenshot by Jason Pepper/CNET
Using the Ozo Remote software is straightforward. Once you set exposure for lighting conditions, you don’t need to keep the computer tethered. That being said, it would be incredibly useful for Nokia to release a mobile app that could do away with the computer when shooting in the field.
All this equipment and the setup process might seem like a lot of hassle, but other professional-grade 360 cameras on the market like the Freedom 360 spherical camera rig have their own quirks. With six GoPro cameras, that means six microSD cards, six record buttons to press and six resulting video files that need to be stitched together in post-processing. (GoPro’s own 6-camera rig, the GoPro Omni, looked promising in an early demo, but we haven’t yet tried it ourselves.)
Processing and crunching
The Ozo can produce both monoscopic and stereoscopic video, with the user being able to select shooting with either the four cameras around the center ring or all eight simultaneously.
Monoscopic video is created from a 360-degree image where both eyes are seeing the same file. Stereoscopic video is when two separate files are viewed with each eye. This creates the appearance of depth, otherwise known as 3D.
Once you have the video file from the Ozo, it gets imported into the Ozo Creator software. Like Ozo Remote, this requires specific hardware to run. A late-2013 Apple Mac Pro 6-Core CPU, and either Dual AMD D500 or Dual D700 FirePro GPUs running OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
Stitch lines can be manipulated on the fly.
Screenshot by Jason Pepper/CNET
Stitching also happens at this stage. The software creates a default stitch although you can adjust the lines and the overlap as necessary by moving around the seams across the image. When you’re happy with the stitch, you have a number of export options such as creating an MP4 image or a DPX file for a cinema experience.
Once the software crunches the footage into a 360-degree image — this will take several hours or overnight depending on how much you’ve shot — it can be imported into an editing suite like Adobe Premiere. Alternatively, you can complete the cut within Ozo Creator.
For our workflow, we imported the footage from Ozo Creator into Premiere, which allowed us to add titles, and effects and also sync audio taken with an external recorder. The latest update to Premiere lets you view 360-degree footage, although it’s not as fluid as using a third-party plug-in like Kolor Eyes that reflects edits in real time.
Sample footage
We took the Ozo on three very different shoots. The first, which you can see below, involved attaching the camera to the interior of a car for CNET’s sister site Roadshow. The exposure was set for the exterior rather than the interior of the car to avoid blowing out highlights. For this shoot we also mounted the Freedom 360 rig with GoPro cameras to the exterior for an alternate viewpoint.
The second was at the manufacturing plant for Green Toys in San Leandro, California. With overhead fluorescent lighting and little natural light, it was a good test to see how the camera coped with interior shots.
Lastly, you can explore a vista of San Francisco from Crissy Field in the sample below.
Bear in mind that YouTube compresses video so these samples are at a different quality to the file that comes straight out of the camera.
So by now you probably want to know if this camera worth the $45,000 asking price?
As VR continues to evolve, you can use it to do much more than just create 360-degree footage — which is how we primarily used the Ozo. This camera will let the producer, filmmaker or studio grow into it. Even in our time testing the camera, Nokia continued to push out new software and updates to add functionality.
Admittedly, the Ozo is not a camera that’s designed for the hobbyist consumer. It’s for professional video makers and Hollywood studios who want to experiment with an all-in-one VR capture experience.
It’s easy enough to use once you understand the quirks of the workflow, but it’s not as straightforward as plugging it in and going on a shoot.
On the less expensive end of the spectrum sits a multi-cam solution like the aforementioned GoPro Omni. It consists of six GoPro cameras in a rig that automatically syncs recordings. While we haven’t yet fully reviewed the Omni, on paper the editing and post-production process appears to be much simpler than the Ozo, with the software quickly creating a stitch and render within a few minutes for a short 1 minute 4K video.
The Ozo is an incredibly innovative camera system. Given Nokia’s track record of rolling out new functionality and improvements (as well as a significant price drop) it’s definitely going to make waves in the VR production field, but whether it becomes industry standard or not remains to be seen.
The Ozo is available in the US for US$45,000 and Europe for €40,000. It will be released in September in China with equivalent pricing announced soon.
Motorola Moto Z Force vs LG G5 – Modular or Mods?
It just might be the future of smartphones: modularity. Though there are a number of different ways to look at this new technological step, we have here the first two phones to bring the concept to users’ hands. In one case, it is an involved process of removing parts of the phone and rebuilding it into a more capable device.
- LG G5 review
- Moto Z and Z Force review
In the other, it is a matter of simply slapping the new features onto the magnetic back. Which one does mods better? We find out in this comparison between the Moto Z Force and the LG G5.
Design
Before we get started, we want to make it clear how we want to name these features. While modularity is definitely what you can call what the LG G5 does, it is a bit different in the Moto Z. For that reason, we will generally call the act of adding features to a phone ‘modding.’ When speaking specifically, ‘modularity’ will be used primarily when describing the LG G5.
Before we even get into the two different methods of modding, it’s important to remember that we are still dealing with two standalone smartphones, capable of plenty on their own. The LG G5 was a drastic change from previous flagships, putting aside the curved body and display that defined the G4, and instead employing a different design language.
While the power/wake button is still found on the back, it now has a fingerprint embedded into it, and the volume rocker is now in a more conventional spot on the side. The metallic body has a rather rounded shape, but a noticeable sharpness can be felt due to the slightly protruding metal skeleton.
A slight curve can be found at the top of the display, there to provide a little more comfort when actually talking on the phone. And, of course, there is the removable bottom portion that is the crux of the phone’s modularity. Overall it is a rather drastic change that longtime LG fans may have needed to get used to, perhaps alleviated by the new modular features.
The same can be said for the Moto Z Force, the more powerful device in the brand new Moto line. What made the Moto X line well received is here in a few tiny ways, including the wooden cover that slaps onto otherwise shiny and fingerprint prone backing. Taken alone, however, much has changed as this fully metal body almost looks like blank canvas with obvious cues to its capabilities.
The chamfer on the sides makes it clear this is the thicker device with the bigger battery, and all buttons are where they should be. A new fingerprint reader is denoted by the small square under the display, which can be an eyesore and confusing because it is not a button. A large bezel above and below the display adds to the overall size of what is already a 5.5 inch phone, though on the backside of these areas are the magnets and connector pins for Moto Mods. The main issue we had was with the very large camera hump, which protrudes out quite a lot – thankfully, the Moto Covers make it flush.
It’s clear that both phones had to take on pretty drastic changes in design language to make modding a reality – whether or not that is a sacrifice of what made previous phones so recognizable is up to the user.
Display
Power is not lacking in either case, however. Though the displays are slightly different in a few key ways, Quad HD is the resolution across the board. The LG phone is 5.3-inches in size and is an IPS panel, making it less saturated than the 5.5-inch AMOLED display found on the Moto Z.
Color output is a rather subjective matter, but we will say that there have been no problems with either of these phones when enjoying everything from sharp text to gaming. AMOLED is generally a little more pleasing to users’ eyes, so the Moto Z may be the way to go if you want the more punched up colors.
Performance
Underneath the hood, the stories are the same however, with both featuring the Snapdragon 820, the Adreno 530, and 4GB of RAM. There’s no questioning the speed of either device, as these are what flagships are supposed to sport, and it’s more a question of what the software feels like in this case, and a bit of streamlining on LG’s part helps the G5’s case.
Though a pretty stock-like experience in the Moto Z is bolstered by a number of Moto additions like the Moto Actions and Voice, there isn’t too much bogging down the system. On the other hand, the G5 still rocks a very familiar looking LG UI, but has shed a few features so that they’re not all up in one’s face. LG even opted for no app drawer in initial builds of the interface, but that can be rectified with a downloaded UI update.
Hardware
Hardware features keep things pretty simple, minus the mods, of course. The lone 32GB of onboard storage in the Moto Z Force goes up against the 32 or 64GB options for the G5, but no matter which phone you get, there is still microSD card support to bolster it all.
The Moto Z also sheds the microphone jack, opting for an adapter that requires insertion into the USB type C port. In either case, the USB-C ports provide fast charging, though Quick Charge 3.0 for the LG phone seems just a step behind Moto’s own solution. In either case, a short stint connected to the wall can mean all the difference between no power and half battery in about half an hour.
Speaking of the battery, the Moto Z Force has the advantage here, with it packing a larger 3,500 mAh battery, compared to the 2,800 mAh unit of the LG G5. Both will comfortably allow for a full day or day and a half of use with average usage. Of course, if battery life is a huge concern, the battery of the G5 is replaceable, giving you the option of carrying around a spare. And in the case of the Moto Z Force, Motorola’s solution is a 2,200 mAh battery mod that you can easily attach to the device.
Camera
The first thing worth mentioning when talking about the cameras of these two devices is the 8 MP wide angle lens on the back that is coupled with the primary shooter of the LG G5, giving you something extra without needing any mods to be tacked on. Along with this wide angle lens is a 16 MP rear camera, with a f/1.8 aperture and OIS, while the Moto Z Force features a 21 MP rear shooter, also with a f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization.
As we mentioned during the full G5 review, the wide angle lens of the LG G5 is an absolute joy to use. It may not offer the highest quality or the sharpest image, but it’s great to use when you want to do things like take interesting selfies, or footage for vlogging. You get a lot more of the scenery into the shot with the secondary camera of the G5, and is certainly better suited to taking a picture of a landscape.
The more conventional camera setup found with the Moto Z Force are pretty standard. It doesn’t particularly excel in any single aspect, but the camera certainly isn’t bad by any means, and works well as a daily companion. When comparing the two, we did notice that the shots taken with the Moto Z Force feature a warmer tone than those taken with the G5.
Looking at the respective camera applications, there are quite a few features LG has packed into the app of the LG G5, including a variety of modes, and also returning is a robust manual mode that we have praised in the past. The Moto Z Force comes with a good manual mode as well, but in both cases, the viewfinder can get cluttered and messy pretty quickly if you are looking to make adjustments to a lot of aspects.
LG G5 camera samples
One very nice feature of the Moto Z Force camera is that it can be launched really quickly by using a gesture that involves a double twist of your wrist.
Moto Z Force camera samples
Up front, the LG G5 comes with an 8 MP front-facing camera, while the Moto Z Force features a 5 MP unit. However, users may prefer the latter, with the Moto smartphone coming with a front-facing flash. It’s certainly a rarity to see this feature with smartphones, and the Moto Z is one of the few that is available with it.
Software
The standalone experiences end on the software, in which the LG phone got a welcome streamlining. The LG UI still retains the rather bloated and somewhat cartoonish look – with icons stretching when reaching the homescreen threshold – and the initial lack of an app drawer that expected users to put up with all these icons crowding the homescreens.
Thankfully users were given the option to put the app drawer back on, and in the same vein, much of what used to be way too in people’s faces has been toned down. QSlide doesn’t take up so much space in the notification shade, and there are far fewer prompts for features that people simply weren’t using in previous LG devices. The bottom line here is that if you were not a fan of LG’s UI in the past, there might not be enough change here to make you feel differently. That said, we notice and appreciate what was slimmed down, minus the app drawer (which, again, isn’t much of a problem anymore).
It might come as no surprise that the Moto Z software is an easier pill to swallow. Historically, the Moto line has used interfaces that are very close to stock Android, with quite a few extras that are mostly out of the way. That is definitely the case with the Moto Z, which might have a few miscues, but overall provides a familiar but powerful suite of features.
Putting aside the fact that the fingerprint reader looks like a home button, holding it down to lock the screen is a very nice touch. Moto Actions still bring useful gestures like chopping twice to turn on the flashlight and the double twist to open up the camera. Finally, sing a custom phrase to wake the phone straight into a Google Voice Search never gets old. Here at Android Authority we tend to gravitate toward feature sets that have more we would use rather than options we would never touch. In this case, the Moto Z line succeeds where the LG G5 falls just short of the mark.
Modularity vs Mods
Coincidentally, this is the same story when it comes to the mods. In a nutshell, the Moto Z line is simply a more accessible and easier way of doing mods than LG’s brand of modularity. If you want another one liner to describe this battle, you need look no further than how many mods we have for either phone.
Modularity on the LG G5 is a process. Basically, one has to press a small release button on the bottom left side of the phone so that the bottom portion can be pulled and slid out. Bear in mind that the phone should be turned off before doing this, much like clicking “Safely Remove Hardware” before pulling out a USB device in Windows. The battery that is quite literally clipped into the bottom piece then has to be snapped off in what can only be described as a precarious manner, so that it can be snapped into any of the LG Friends (the name they gave the mods).Then the phone needs to be powered on again.
These mods are a CAM Plus camera module that gives the phone more battery, and hardware buttons to use for picture and video taking, and a Hi-Fi audio DAC by Bang & Olfsen, that can enhance headphone listening experiences. The usefulness of either Friend can depend on the user, but in our experiences with the CAM Plus, we found that although the hardware buttons and grip made picture taking pretty comfy, the added bulk and odd shape quickly took away from its practicality.
Ultimately, the biggest issue with LG’s modularity is the process, but there is also the problem of Friend availability. Even though the G5 has been around for months, there are only two currently on sale with no news of any other ones even in development. The usefulness of LG’s modding way requires proofs of concept, and that simply is not the case for a phone that will become old news by the time the LG V20 arrives soon in less than month, or when the next G device comes around the time of the Mobile World Congress next year.
Proof of concept is probably the best way to describe how Moto presented modding. While it is not full modularity by nature, it is still a way to add features not already available on the standalone device. The procedure to add these Moto Mods is simple – almost too simple – and just requires a lining up of the connector pins and magnets. Easily snap the phone and the mod together and it works immediately.
The Moto Mods include the Moto Covers for further customization, Incipio battery pack mods for much more available power, the JBL SoundBoost speaker for better onboard audio, and a Moto projector mod that is surprisingly powerful and fun but ultimately impractical. A closer look at the different mods is available here on Android Authority, but here is the gist – the most useful of them is definitely the Incipio Power Pack, which adds much more available battery life to the normal capacity Moto Z and the large unit in the Moto Z Force.
Moto’s way of modding is the clear winner when it comes to convenience, because simply attaching the mod makes it work immediately, provided each unit is charged – yes, each Mod has its own batteries so they don’t just feed off of the phone’s own battery to work. There are three main types of Mods with the promise of more to come, but at the very least there are different colored and styled Covers and Power Pack Mods so the look of the Moto Z can be changed in multiple ways. Though all of the mods add a significant amount of heft to the phone, only the Power Pack Mod has to be handled on the phone – even then, it isn’t weirdly shaped so as to make it a pain to use.
See also: Moto Mods Review: Blast, Power and Project in a snap8
Though LG was the first one to bring modularity to the mainstream, it just wasn’t accessible enough for the masses. Moto’s version of modding is the clear winner, not just because it is a simple plug and play method, but also because every Mod has proven their usefulness, even if overall practicality is up to the end user.
As far as cost goes, the Moto Mods can range in price, with the Power Pack costing $60 and the Projector costing a whopping $299. In the other camp, the CAM Plus for the LG G5 can be bought for $70. So adding features via mods to these phones can cost a pretty penny, but when judging them by cost and value, the Power Pack Mod is rather nicely priced for its utility – the rest of the Mods and Friends, maybe not so much.
Specs comparison
| Display | 5.5-inch AMOLED display Quad HD resolution, 535 ppi |
5.3-inch IPS LCD display Quad HD resolution, 554 ppi |
| Processor | 2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor Adreno 530 GPU |
2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor Adreno 530 GPU |
| RAM | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Storage | 32/64 GB expandable via microSD up to 256 GB |
32 GB expandable via microSD up to 256 GB |
| Camera | 21 MP rear camera, f/1.8 aperture, dual LED flash 5 MP front-facing camera |
16 MP (f/1.8) + 8 MP (f/2.4) rear cameras, LED flash 8 MP front-facing camera |
| Battery | 3,500 mAh | 2,800 mAh |
| Software | Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Dimensions | 155.9 x 75.8 x 7 mm 163 grams |
149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm 159 grams |
Gallery
Final thoughts
Taken alone, there is a lot to like about either of these devices. The Moto Z line has a new design language that may be different but it retains much of the DNA that made the Moto X line so well liked. It’s nice to have a powerful phone with the option to use the Mods and yet never truly need to.
On the other hand, quite literally, the LG G5 has some trouble convincing us to use its modularity. And not just us, either – I personally have come across a few people recently who were using the G5 without mods. Upon asking, these people said that they didn’t ever get a Friend or use the ones that may have come with their phones. What they did enjoy was the camera package, where the wide angle shooter totally added to their picture and video taking experiences. We tend to feel the same way, as the wide angle camera is the most fun we’ve had shooting with a smartphone in a while.
Is that enough to put the overall package of the LG G5 over the overall package of the Moto Z? Probably not, as nearly every other aspect favors the Moto Z – software, modding, and even customization.
- LG G5 review
- Moto Z and Z Force review
And so, there you have it – the Moto Z and the LG G5. The two main modularity or modding smartphones available right now. As we said in our full LG G5 review, we applaud LG for taking a chance and a crack at modularity, but Moto simply put a little more thought into its execution and accessibility. Taken alone as phones, there’s plenty to enjoy from either company’s brand of Android, and it is ultimately up to you to decide which one better suits your needs. Which one would you pick? Let us know in the comments below!
Washington, DC apartment building offers an ‘Uber room’
While developers in San Francisco are subsidizing Uber rides for residents, one forthcoming apartment building in Washington DC’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood is offering to make the actual experience of waiting even more comfortable. As the Washington Post reports, the 85-unit Vintage on 16th is appealing to car-free city dwellers by doing away with onsite parking and replacing it with bike storage, communal electric bikes and a dedicated space where residents can keep themselves occupied as they way for their shared ride to arrive.
The “Uber room,” as the developers have taken to calling the space, is definitely not just a regular lobby, but distinctly separate place to wait out the no-doubt interminable four to seven minutes of average wait time for an Uber in the nation’s capital. The Post notes when the building opens this fall it will still have a main lobby where residents can take care of their usual lobby-based business like picking up a package or chatting up the doorman. The Uber room, on the other hand, will be a separate 260 square-foot space containing couches and a TV, as well as an outside view and a separate entrance. Perhaps most helpfully, the room will also contain a TransitScreen showing arrival times for buses and Metro trains as well as the current wait time for an Uber.
“There will be magazines and stuff to kill time,” developer Joe Bous explained, apparently unaware that everyone who uses Uber also has a smartphone full of ways to kill time. “The idea is to be physically comfortable and intellectually stimulating while you wait for your Uber.”
Via: Washington Post
Source: Urban Turf
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