Apple’s In-Store Pickup Tool for AirPods Now Live, Showing Early February Availability

Apple has activated its in-store pickup tool for AirPods on its website, enabling customers to enter a zip or postal code and check for availability of the all-new wireless earphones at Apple Stores in their local areas.

Personal Pickup for AirPods is currently live in the United States, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, showing availability of February 6-8 in most countries.

The tool is not yet available in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates, countries where Apple also operates retail stores, but it will presumably be expanded soon.

AirPods became available for purchase at Apple Stores yesterday, and some lucky customers were able to secure one of the limited number of pairs available. Apple said stores will continue to receive “regular shipments” of AirPods, so customers may have success finding a pair before the early February dates quoted.

AirPods became available for purchase on Apple’s website last week, but orders placed today are estimated to ship in 6 weeks, or around late January.

Apple Authorized Resellers and carriers also began receiving a limited number of AirPods this week, as seen over the past few days when Best Buy and Verizon have periodically offered AirPods for estimated delivery as early as this week.

Tags: AirPods, Apple retail
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AirPods Teardown Reveals Charging Case May Have Been Cause of Delay

iFixit today published a teardown of Apple’s AirPods, uncovering the internal components of both the AirPods themselves, and the charging case that comes with the headphones. Throughout the teardown, iFixit discovered a “hot mess” of close knit components within each AirPod, along with a few “quality issues” within the charging case that may be the reason for the months-long delay of the wireless headphones.

Starting with the AirPods, iFixit separated the speaker portion of the pod from the rest of the device, comparing the tightly-packed internals to the Apple Watch teardown. Further investigating uncovered a miniature coaxial cable and two IR proximity sensors, which allow the AirPods to detect whenever they’re inside an ear, and play/pause music accordingly.

Blocked by more glue and cables in the speaker portion of the AirPods, iFixit turned to the “stem” only to find “a waterfall of glue” inside the base section of the device. Just behind the metallic bottom area of each AirPod — which provides the contact point for charging in the case — the site uncovered the end of the battery cable underneath the wall of adhesive.

That shiny metal cap provides contact points for charging the AirPod, and surrounds the primary microphone. Hidden behind and within the torrent of glue, we spy the end of the battery cable.

If jamming complex components into a small form factor and sealing it with a copious amount of glue were a game, Apple would be winning.

Cutting open the AirPods completely, iFixit eventually separated the antenna from the battery, theorizing that the “hanging boom is for more than just balance—it’s also to improve reception.” The earpiece of each AirPod is a 93 milliwatt hour battery, “equivalent to a little over 1% of the charge capacity in an iPhone 7.”

Although the site could extract some basic components of the charging case without total destruction — including the status LED — it eventually had to resort to using a rotary saw in order to get behind the “impenetrable” shell. Discovered underneath was the case’s battery, a 1.52 watt hour lithium-polymer cell that’s around 16 times the power capacity of a single AirPod. iFixit equates this to around eight full recharges of the AirPods within the charging case.

iFixit took a few x-ray shots of the charging case’s internals, and found “quality issues” within the chip’s solder joints. A few empty spaces can be seen, referred to as “voiding,” which iFixit said “could be evidence of low quality standards, or a rushed product release.” This suggests that the source of the AirPods’ delay was with the charging case and not with the AirPods.

The repairability score of the AirPods was ultimately rated at a lowest-possible 0/10, thanks to the copious use of glue as a fastener within most of the components of the AirPods, and the case’s resistant outer shell.

Check out the rest of iFixit’s teardown to see more internal exploration of the charging case’s sync button, lightning connector, and a few more x-ray images of both the case and the AirPods.

Tag: AirPods
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Duet Display’s Latest Update Adds a Touch Bar to Your iPad

Duet Display, the app that turns an iPad into a second display for a Mac, was today updated with a handy new feature that gives you iPad Touch Bar access, even when you don’t have a Mac with a Touch Bar.

The Duet Display app is able to tap into the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar software, displaying a virtual Touch Bar on your iPad’s screen. The iPad Touch Bar mirrors the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar on a model with a Touch Bar, and when used with a MacBook Pro that doesn’t have a Touch Bar, it lets you tap into functionality that would otherwise be unavailable.

When used with Photoshop on the Mac, for example, the iPad serving as a second display will include a Touch Bar at the bottom of the screen, with the same exact controls you would see on the MacBook Pro Touch Bar.

Like the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, the virtual iPad Touch Bar will change contextually based on the app because it is tapping into actual MacBook Pro Touch Bar functionality.

It’s a bit more cumbersome to use a Touch Bar on the iPad than it is on the Mac because it requires reaching over to tap on another screen, but it does unlock Touch Bar specific commands that are not accessible to those without a new MacBook Pro.

In some cases, when the Touch Bar option built into an app contains options that are normally hidden behind several screens, the iPad Touch Bar will be immensely useful. Many apps are still being updated with Touch Bar support, but in apps like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, the Touch Bar is a highly valuable tool.

To use this feature, you will need macOS 10.12.2 and the updated versions of Duet Display for both the Mac and iOS, both of which are available today.

Also new in today’s update is iPad keyboard support, so when Duet Display is used with an iPad Pro Smart Keyboard, it will work regardless of whether you’re using it alongside a Mac or a PC.

Duet Display’s Touch Bar support will be available for free to existing users. New users can download Duet Display for $9.99 for a limited time. [Direct Link]

Tag: Duet Display
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Nougat update now hitting LG G5 units in Canada

Bell and Telus customers are receiving the update right now.

LG kicked off the Nougat update for the LG G5 last month in South Korea, and the Android 7.0 update is now rolling out to Canadian units. LG G5 customers on Bell and Telus are receiving the OTA right now, with Rogers’ community page listing December 21 as the date for the rollout.

If you’re rocking an LG G5 in Canada, head into your phone’s settings to see if an update is available for your handset. As is the case with staged rollouts, you may have to wait a little while longer if you don’t see the update just yet.

LG G5

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• Join the LG G5 discussion

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Google Home: How to control WeMo devices through IFTTT

Having Google Home turn on your lights and make your coffee feels like the future.

A little box or tube in your living room that you tell to do things seems like magic. With Google Home, there are literally hundreds of things that you can make do what they’re designed to do by connecting things together with the IFTTT service.

Some of those are from Belkin and marketed under the WeMo brand. The list of WeMo products with IFTTT support includes their appliances like a coffee maker, humidifier, and slow cooker as well as wired-in devices like switches and receptacles. And since Google Assistant is also well supported, you can play matchmaker and hook them up to do some awesome stuff.

Getting started

You’ll need to connect Google Assistant to IFTTT to make any of these applets work. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

How to connect Google Home and IFTTT to do amazing things

Above, you’ll find a complete walkthrough of getting things up and running so your Google Home will be able to control all sorts of automated home products and services using your voice. It’s easy and cool, so give it a shot!

Once you have Google Assistant connected to IFTTT, you’ll want to make sure all your WeMo devices work correctly with the WeMo app from Google Play. You have to have the app set up with a WeMo account and have the devices you want to control connected through it before you can tie the service to IFTTT. There are other apps on Google Play you can use to control your WeMo products, but to connect them to IFTTT you have to use the official one.

Download WeMo for Android from Google Play

Once you have everything up and running individually — an IFTTT account and the accompanying app, Google Assistant connected to IFTTT and the WeMo app controlling your WeMo devices, you’re ready to hook them all together and start telling it what to do. That’s easy!

• Open the Settings in the WeMo app.
• Find the entry that says Connect to IFTTT and tap it.
• Tap the green button that says Connect.

Pick which type of WeMo device you want to connect and log in to the IFTTT web page that opens. You just connected your WeMo device(s) to IFTTT and can make an applet. Repeat this step for all the WeMo device types you want to connect — since they have different options they are on different channels. Don’t worry, it makes sense once you start making applets. Even your mom can do this.

Now let’s take a look at how you make an applet that lets Google Home turn your lights on and off by using a WeMo Light Switch when you tell it to. The process is simple and the IFTTT app (or the website if you want to do it from a computer) walks you through it all. Here’s what you’ll be doing.

Tap the + sign in the IFTTT app to create a new applet. You’ll need to start by creating a trigger. All IFTTT applets need a trigger that tells them when to run, and since we want to use Google Home to trigger our light switch, we need to choose Google Assistant as our trigger. Find it on the applets page (you can use search) and tell it to use a simple phrase to trigger an action. We’ll start by making it turn our switch off since your light is probably already on.

Look at the first image above. If you have a phone with a lower resolution (or are using a tablet), the screen will look a little different but the important bits are the same. You just type in the words you’re going to say when you want the switch to turn off. You can (and should) set a couple different ways of saying things so it feels more natural when you’re doing it, but you don’t have to use more than one. Once you like what you entered, type in what you want Google Home to say when it recognized the command and start doing its thing. Tap the checkmark to save the trigger and you can set what action you want to happen.

You can make and edit all kinds of applets right from your phone with the easy to use IFTTT app, or you can visit the IFTTT website to make them.

Here you’ll choose the WeMo Light Switch channel for our action. Search for it and tap it the same way you did with Assistant for the trigger. From the list choose the Turn Off button. The second picture above is the screen you’ll see when you tap it. There’s only one simple setting here — choose which switch you want to turn off. After you’ve done that, tap the checkmark and choose to finish and save.

Test it! Based on what I entered in my example, I can say: “OK Google. Turn off the office lights” and Google Home tells me, “OK. I’m turning off the office lights,” and off they go! You’ll want to say the phrase you entered and Google Home will tell you what you entered. And you don’t have to be so formal. “Office lights off, yo!” will work and you can make Google respond with something like, “I got you, fam” and everything still works. You are tying the phrase to the action in IFTTT when you enter it in the applet maker.

Making an applet to turn the lights back on is exactly the same, except you choose the Turn On action for what to do when triggered.

Other WeMo devices work the same way. Tell Google Home to do something, and make the WeMo device do it through IFTTT. Some WeMo devices can also act as a trigger, so when you use Google Home to trigger them they will trigger another action once they are finished. I do just this with Google Home, IFTTT, a WeMo light switch and a WeMo coffee maker. “OK, Google turn my light” makes my bedroom light come on. When my bedroom light comes on, my kitchen light comes on. When my kitchen light comes on, my coffee maker starts up and makes me some go-go juice.

Mornings are like magic here in Electric Jerryland. You can do the same things (or even cooler things) in your own house!

Denon’s new headphones will hug your ears and sound good while doing it

Denon has a long history of making headphones, 50 years to be precise. Now, the company has channelled its extensive research into its latest pair of flagship over-ear headphones, the AH-D7200, designed “for the most demanding audiophile”.

Denon says the thought process behind the new model was to create a pair that delivered “uncompromised sound quality” along with “unparalleled comfort” and so went back to the drawing board to come up with new designs and to develop new materials.

Within each real wood ear cup is a 50mm FreeEdge driver diaphragm that’s made from a rigid material, which Denon says helps the D7200 to deliver distortion-free sound and can swat away any interference thanks to its self-damping qualities.

The diaphragm is mounted in a surround that lets it move accurately with whatever song is being played for “the purest possible sound” and is powered by a combination of incredibly strong magnets and extremely light aluminium wire. Denon says the result is a system that focuses on pushing the highest-quality sound straight to your lugholes.

But what use is a great sounding pair of headphones if they’re not comfortable to wear? To make sure you won’t want to take the D7200s off as soon as you’ve put them on, Denon has used sheepskin leather for the headband and synthetic leather coverings on the ear cups. You may wonder why Denon didn’t use real leather instead, but the company says the artificial one used is super-soft and durable and when combined with memory foam creates an ideal barrier to block out external noise.

The Denon AH-D7200 Reference headphones will be available from January for £699.

The Morning After: Tuesday December 20, 2016

It’s Tuesday morning, and welcome to the beginning of our year-in-review series. As 2016 wraps up we’ll be recapping the big winners and losers, starting with both virtual and augmented reality tech. Plus: The first trailer for Blade Runner 2049!

A time of VR headsets and ‘Pokémon Go’.This was the year of VR, until AR stole it

2016 was full of virtual reality. With spring came the retail launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC’s Valve-endorsed Vive. Later in the year, PlayStation launched its VR headset, which was cheaper because it worked with existing PS4s. However, at the same time, Magic Leap and Microsoft’s Hololens wowed with augmented reality headsets that did away with some of clunkiness of VR. (There’s always something better on the horizon, eh?) Then, proving the potential of augmented reality, smartphone-based Pokémon Go turned into the gaming hit of the year.

Deckard’s back
Finally, our first look at that Blade Runner sequel

Thirty years after the events of the first film, Ryan Gosling plays a new blade runner that’s discovered a secret that could cause a whole lot of trouble. Entertainment Weekly reports that his job will involve tracking down Rick Deckard, who’s apparently gone missing between the original and this movie.

The future of energy?
This South Korean fusion reactor held an ideal state longer than any of its rivals.

The Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research reactor team has announced a new endurance record for operating with “high performance” plasma in its fusion reactor. Granted, the feat only lasted for 70 seconds, but that’s still a “huge step forward,” according to the National Fusion Research Institute.

4K gaming power in a laptopReview: Razer Blade Pro (2016)

This year, Razer has delivered a gaming laptop with a beautiful display and the latest graphics chip ready to play games at their highest settings. Sean Buckley says this is one of the first gaming laptops he’s seen with enough power to make use of a 4K display, so you don’t have to choose between native resolution and a smooth framerate. The Blade Pro is Razer’s biggest laptop yet, so check the size of your backpack — and your budget — before buying in.

Way more cargo room
Take a look at Google’s self-driving minivans

Now that Google’s self-driving car project is a spinoff called Waymo, it’s ready to show off the fruits of its partnership with Fiat Chrysler. These Chrysler Pacifica hybrid vans are modified to deal with the extra weight of the autonomous kit, and have already done 200 hours of extreme weather testing.

USB 3.0 counts as a feature now, right?
Samsung’s new 15-inch Notebook 9 is almost as light as a 12-inch MacBook

Two new laptops are rolling out from Samsung, and they’re almost unbelievably light. The Notebook 9 comes in 13- and 15-inch configurations that weigh 1.8 and 2.17 pounds, respectively. Compare that to Apple’s lightweight 12-inch Macbook which weighs in at two pounds even. To get that light, they have relatively small batteries rated for 7 hours of use, but charge fully via USB-C in just 80 minutes.

But wait, there’s more…

• Electric Objects’ digital art display is like Netflix for fine art
• Mark Zuckerberg explains how he built a “Jarvis” AI
• “Two Dots” now has a competitive mode where you can play for real money

The Investigatory Powers Act explained

When Edward Snowden dragged digital surveillance into the spotlight a few years ago, many inconvenient truths were revealed about the UK government’s snooping capabilities. But once the initial media and public uproar petered out, you could argue the leaks worked in the government’s favour. It gave the Home Office a platform to admit various secretive surveillance powers, and update the law to protect them. That came with the Investigatory Powers Bill, a piece of legislation designed to consolidate and give transparency to existing surveillance powers, as well as introducing new ones entirely. And as of November 29th, the bill passed the final hurdle of royal assent, at which point it became law.

The Investigatory Powers Bill was first put forward in November 2015, and has been widely criticised for several reasons. As we explain in the video above — with the help and insight of Dr. Ian Walden, Professor of Information and Communications Law at Queen Mary University of London — the law introduces a new power that can compel internet and mobile providers to store details of your online activity for 12 months, and make it accessible to the government. The Act also effectively legalises state-sponsored hacking, and clarifies the government’s use of mass surveillance tactics known as bulk powers.

Alongside the powers themselves, the Act creates a new framework of oversight intended to prevent abuse, which includes setting up an independent body tasked with reviewing and reporting on the government’s surveillance activities. But there’s an argument to be made that any amount of safeguarding doesn’t justify the enshrining in law of these far-reaching and intrusive powers, which the government has been accused of rushing through the vetting process before the preceding surveillance law expired at the end of this year. Let the video above serve as your guide to the most important facets of the new, Investigatory Powers Act.