YouTube stomped TV in the second presidential debate
Did you choose to watch coverage of the second US presidential debate on your computer or phone instead of your TV? You’re not alone… in fact, you might be in the majority. YouTube reports that round two of Clinton versus Trump racked up 124 million worldwide views across live streams and on-demand videos, compared to ‘just’ 63 million TV viewers. That’s a roughly 40 percent jump over what YouTube saw in the last debate, although it’s notable that there were fewer concurrent viewers — the town hall debate saw a peak of 1.5 million versus 2 million the last time.
YouTube hasn’t explained what prompted the surge, although it’s easy to point to a few factors. For a start, the incendiary nature of the debate helped — people around the planet wanted to catch more of those outrageous statements, especially knowing what happened in the first debate. The 9PM Eastern timing also likely drove some viewers to YouTube recaps instead of watching live TV. The rise of cord-cutting may have played a part as well, although that would be difficult to quantify.
It’s important to add that this is only YouTube’s data, for that matter. Twitter says that the second debate saw over 17 million tweets, the most it had ever seen for a debate — and you know that some of those users watched the showdown on Twitter itself or other internet services, such as Facebook and news websites. TV is still a force to be reckoned with in debate coverage, but it’s not nearly as vital as it used to be.
Via: Wired
Source: YouTube Official Blog
Netatmo’s HomeKit-Enabled ‘Healthy Home Coach’ Tracks Air Quality and More
Accessory manufacturer Netatmo has launched its home monitoring system, called the “Healthy Home Coach,” which connects to a smartphone app to inform users of their home’s air quality, humidity, temperature, and noise level (via Engadget). As a plus, users of the company’s smart indoor climate monitor will be able to integrate the system with Apple’s HomeKit and use Siri to interact with the Netatmo device.
Netatmo designed the Healthy Home Coach with the same aesthetic of its security and weather devices, but with the specific goal of elevating the well-being and user awareness of a home’s healthy environment. The company says that the device allows users to discover the precise noise level for sound sleeping, and guides them in adjusting a humidifier to hit the target humidity levels for someone with asthma.
The Healthy Home Coach can also tip users and tell them when to adjust the ventilation of a room to balance out air quality — for better concentration, according to Netatmo — and warn them when their home’s temperature isn’t at the right level. The device’s connected iOS app pushes out these notifications and tells users when the air quality, temperature, humidity, or noise level is acting out of their pre-set parameters, so they can subsequently address the warning before it becomes a problem.
HomeKit integration isn’t divulged with many specifics, but Netatmo says that users can “ask Siri how healthy your home is,” and receive an audible diagnosis from the Healthy Home Coach’s various information readouts.
Anyone interested can purchase Netatmo’s Healthy Home Coach from the company’s website for $99.99. Although the range of the system isn’t given, Netatmo says that it is “easily expandable,” so additional monitors can be added into other rooms of a home where only one device can’t reach.
Tags: HomeKit, Netatmo
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Tile Mate Bluetooth tracker helps you find your lost keys and is now smaller than ever before
Tile is a company that knows that we lose or mislay things, that’s why it created a range of Bluetooth trackers that you can attach to your everyday items to help you find the again.
Tile recently released the Slim, which is a small card that can slip into your purse or wallet and now it’s release the Mate. The Tile Mate is a redesigned version of the Original.
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Tile says the Mate is 25 percent smaller than the Original and is designed to be used with keys, purses or even luggage thanks to a small hole in the top corner that can be attached to keyrings.
You can assign one of four ringtones to the Mate Bluetooth tracker, which you ring using the smartphone app. But if you lose your phone, but have the tracker to hand, you can use it to ring your phone, even if it’s on silent, and be reunited once again. You can see the last place the Tile Mate was on a map through the smartphone app, but if it’s not there when you go to get it, you can get help from the Tile Community to find it again.
Mike Farley, Co-Founder and CEO of Tile said: “With Tile Mate and Tile Slim, we continue to push the design of our products to bring consumers peace of mind in multiple shapes and sizes. In combination with our app and smart location network, Tile Mate and Tile Slim work together to help people find their keys, wallet, phone, just about anything”.
You can pick up a Tile Mate now for £23 for £65 for a pack of four. You can also get a Tile Mate and Tile Slim combo pack of four tiles for £85.
HTC Vive and HP Envy PC are a match made in virtual reality heaven
The HTC Vive is an incredible virtual reality headset, offering an “experience that’s out of this world”, as we put it in our review. But to get Vive in your home you need both space and a capable gaming PC. HTC does provide a list of minimum specs for you to go out shopping with, but if you want to be able to just buy a PC, knowing it will support VR gaming, then HP has you covered.
The two companies have teamed up to offer a bundle that includes a Vive headset and controllers, and an HP Envy 750-470na. The Envy PC has the following specs:
- GPU: Radeon RX 480 with 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPort outputs
- CPU: Intel Core i5-6400
- Memory: 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 128 SSD and 1TB HDD
- USB port: 4x USB 2.0 and 4x USB 3.0
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- Mouse and keyboard: USB wired keyboard and optical mouse
- Optical drive: Ultra Slim-Tray SuperMulti DVD burner
- Wi-Fi: Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 M.2 combo
The bundle will also come supplied with a USB stick with all the hardware set up instructions and required software so you don’t need to worry about downloading large files. The only thing you’ll need to add yourself is a monitor.
And if that wasn’t enough, the bundle will come packaged with two VR experiences to get you started including theBlue: Encounter by Wevr and The Lab by Valve. You’ll also get free access to three further VR titles: Zombie Training Simulator; The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed and Tilt Brush.
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Dan O’Brien, HTC’s VP of VR said: “The Vive Ready HP computer bundle provide a simple and affordable way for people to get their hands on Vive, without compromising on a truly immersive VR experience”.
Bought separately, the Vive and Envy PC would cost £1699 but you can get it from the HTC Vive website for £1499.
Tile unveils a smaller take on its original bluetooth tracker
In the three years since it first introduced its Bluetooth trackers, Tile has accepted that less can be more and worked to reduce the profile of its location-aware squares. Less than two months ago, we saw the launch of the Tile Slim — a thin tracker designed for use in wallets, purses and laptops — but that wasn’t all that Tile has been working on. Today, it’s taken the wraps off the Mate, a smaller take on the Original that comes with the all-important loop.
Tile says that the Mate is 25 percent smaller than the Original, ensuring it won’t add much bulk to your keys, bags or expensive items that you simply can’t afford to lose. Like the Slim, it offers four preset ringtones — Bionic Birdie, Classic Call, Pep in your Step and Blues for Slim — that come into their own if you own a handful of Tiles and need to differentiate between them. The Mate can also be used to help find your phone, even if you leave it on silent.
On its own, the Mate costs $25/£23 or $70/£65 for a four-pack (the same price as the Original) and is available from October 12th. The company recognizes that one might not be enough, so it’s created a new Combo Pack that combines the Slim and the Mate and saves you money in the process. The Combo Pack will set you back $90/£85 and will be available from Amazon, Apple, Best Buy and Target in the US. In the UK, Amazon is on board, as are John Lewis, Argos, Curry’s PC World, Carphone Warehouse and Maplin.
Source: Tile
Netgear security camera is wireless, ultra-wide and weatherproof
Look, we know — it’s hard to get excited about home security cameras. However, Netgear is determined to stand out with a camera that ticks virtually every checkbox on the list. Its new Arlo Pro is not only wireless (with the option of plugging in), but touts an ultra-wide 130-degree viewing angle and weatherproofing. Yes, you can stick this on a tree with the knowledge that it could easily spot an intruder in the pouring rain. That includes at night, too, thanks to night vision and an infrared motion sensor.
There’s more. The Pro now has two-way audio, so you can tell the courier where to leave that package, and a smart siren can automatically blast at over 100 decibels if there’s any motion or sound. You can check on your camera from an Apple TV, too. And to top it off, a motion recognition update coming later this year will use machine learning to recognize objects and determine which movement is actually worth your attention. It should ignore pets and swaying branches, for example, but flag humans.
The base Arlo Pro system is available right now for $250, with extra cameras costing $190 each. If you plan around-the-clock wireless monitoring, however, you’ll want to consider both a battery charging station ($60) and extra batteries ($50 each). Netgear’s system could be relatively expensive as a result, but look at it this way: it covers enough bases that you might not have to consider another camera for long, long while.
Source: Netgear
Netatmo’s home monitor tracks air quality, humidity and more
While it’s far from a new idea, home air quality monitoring has seen something of a resurgence of late. Dyson in particular has been pushing pollution awareness alongside its range of purifiers, and now Netatmo is jumping on the trend. The device pictured above may look just like Netatmo’s Welcome connected camera, but instead of a lens, the little tower hosts a quartet of environmental sensors instead. The Healthy Home Coach, as it’s called, monitors air quality in real-time, as well humidity, temperature and noise.
Beyond recording information about your home’s microclimate, though, there’s nothing the device can actually do with that data. The companion mobile app will tell you when your abode needs a proper airing if pollution surpasses a certain level, and can advise you on optimal humidity as well as the right temperature to keep toddlers comfortable. But for the most part, it provides the data and you provide the action.
If you’re happy with that arrangement, the Healthy Home Coach launches worldwide today for $99, £99 or €99, depending on your region. It can be purchased directly from Netatmo’s online store, or you can track it down at other retailers such as Amazon, Lowes, Best Buy and Home Depot.
Source: Netatmo
Dating app Hinge ditches flings for relationships
Between Tinder, Bumble, OKCupid and the plethora of dating apps available, finding someone to hook up with has never been easier. But the endless supply of options has also made it much harder to connect with someone on a deeper, longer-lasting level. To tackle that problem, Hinge is rebuilding itself to focus on connecting people looking for relationships. It’s also incorporating a new $7 monthly membership fee, in part to make sure that subscribers are actually invested in looking for relationships.
The app has been revamped to more heavily feature on people you’ve matched or interacted with, instead of constantly presenting more options in a deck of cards. Its home page shows your matches and people who have liked your profile, to remind you of the people you’ve been getting to know. When you’re looking for new matches, you’re presented with profile pages populated with up to nine pictures, mutual friends, basic facts, as well as the candidate’s answers to up to six preset questions. You’ll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the current profile to see the next person.
While the new fee is quite an anomaly in modern dating apps, which depend on having a large database of potential matches for popularity, Hinge believes it’ll help the new agenda by deterring unsavory users. “Everyone should have a little bit of skin in the game,” Hinge’s CEO Justin McLeod told Engadget. In addition to creating a sense of community and making sure everyone feels invested, McLeod said the new payment model will “weed out people who sign up for fun or vanity swipes.” If you’d like to check out the new features before dropping the cash, you can try out the app for a free trial period. Happy matching!
Source: Hinge | Medium
Yahoo Mail Users Trying to Leave Service Faced With ‘Temporarily Disabled’ Email Forwarding
In the midst of stories surrounding the hacking of at least 500 million Yahoo user accounts and the secretive scanning of private emails at the behest of the government, Yahoo Mail users are now finding it difficult to leave the service after the company “temporarily disabled” email forwarding earlier in the month. According to several users speaking to The Associated Press, the ability to more easily leave Yahoo Mail with the email forwarding feature — which ensures old email is sent to a new account — has been removed completely.
Jason Danner, owner of an information technology business in Auckland, New Zealand, said it is all “extremely suspicious timing” for Yahoo to get rid of the feature amid news that undoubtedly has many of its users interested in setting up accounts on other services. Without providing a comment, Yahoo referred to a line on the company’s help site to explain its action of “temporarily” removing the feature “while we work to improve it.” Anyone who has already set up email forwarding prior to the change won’t be affected.
This feature is under development. While we work to improve it, we’ve temporarily disabled the ability to turn on Mail Forwarding for new forwarding addresses. If you’ve already enabled Mail Forwarding in the past, your email will continue to forward to the address you previously configured.
Several people speaking with The Associated Press said that recent news surrounding Yahoo was causing them to consider leaving Yahoo Mail. One user said a “certain amount” of government surveillance is expected to be going on at most times through smart devices, “but providing the U.S. government unrestricted access — that really, really violates our privacy.” The same user opted to leave an out-of-office message on their account in lieu of the traditional email-forwarding ability.
The feature has been “a basic concept for 15 years for just about every email provider out there,” said Brian McIntosh, who owns a small technology business and first alerted the Associated Press to the issue. “All of a sudden it’s under development,” McIntosh said in a telephone interview. “And only at Yahoo.”
Following the original Reuters story about Yahoo’s email scanning, the company called the article “misleading” and said that the scanning program “does not exist on our systems.” A second report from The New York Times cited a source that claimed Yahoo enacted the program because of an ordnance from the United States government, which was seeking information on an unspecified state-sponsored terrorist group who used Yahoo Mail for communication.
Other companies, like Google and Microsoft, have come forward saying they got no such request from the government. An Apple spokesperson said, “We have never received a request of this type. If we were to receive one, we would oppose it in court.” Throughout all of this, Yahoo is finalizing its sale to Verizon, with the latter company now reportedly asking for a $1 billion discount.
Tags: Yahoo, Yahoo Mail
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Apple Patent Integrates Ambient Light Sensor Directly Into iPhone’s Display
The United States Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple another patent that could help the company create a bezel-free, edge-to-edge display for future generation iPhones. The new patent describes “electronic devices with display-integrated light sensors” and specifically refers to methods by which the company could stack the iPhone’s ambient light sensor underneath the display, instead of next to it on the iPhone’s bezel (via AppleInsider).
In the patent, there are a few configurations through which Apple could execute the technology. One showcases the light sensors — which help the iPhone detect the ambient light in a room or outside — integrated directly above the touch-sensitive layer of the display (figure 6), while another has the sensor placed next to the touch-sensitive layer without intersecting it (figure 9). The patent notes that the methods of executing this technology aren’t limited to just light sensors, but could be used for “a proximity sensor, or any other sensor.”
In a typical device, a light sensor is laterally displaced from an active display region of the display along a front face of the device. Additional space is therefore provided in common devices at the top, bottom, or side of the active display area to accommodate the light sensor.
This can result in an undesirable increase in the size and weight of the device, if care is not taken, displays may be bulky or may be surrounded by overly large borders. It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved electronic devices with light sensors and displays.
In the above images, there are two sections of the device’s display that Apple notes in the patent as “AA” and “IA.” AA is considered the display area that functionally gives information to the user and which responds to touch-based input, while IA — covering the proposed screen-integrated sensor technology — is referred to as an “inactive border region.”
The patent describes the inactive region of IA as covered with an “opaque masking material such as a layer of black ink (e.g., a polymer filled with carbon black) or a layer of opaque metal,” and surrounding the active region of AA. The ultimate goal of IA is apparently to hide components in the interior of a device from user view by camouflaging the region to look similarly like the active display it borders.
In effect, this could mean a future iPhone would successfully lose the bezels of the current generations and gain an edge-to-edge display, but not all portions of that display would be interactive.
Last week, Apple was granted another patent hinting at future iPhone technology that could integrate a fingerprint sensor directly into the display of a device, instead of requiring a separate component and taking up space below the screen of iPhones and iPads. With these two patents, Apple is slowly discover ways to remove the bezel from the bottom of an iPhone (Home Button/Touch ID) and the top (light sensor), although it remains to be seen how the company would handle the front-facing FaceTime camera and speaker in this scenario.
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Tag: patent
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