Watch The Grand Tour for free over Christmas, here’s how
Amazon has made the first episode of The Grand Tour available to watch for free over the Christmas period.
All Amazon customers in the UK, not just those with Prime membership, can now watch “The Holy Trinity”, the one hour 11 minute debut of the new show starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It is free to view until midnight on Boxing Day (26 December).
It joins all of the first episodes of Amazon Originals drama, comedy and kids series, which are also free to view on Amazon Instant Video. These include The Man in the High Castle, Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle.
What’s more, as you can get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, you could watch many of the other episodes if you like the first – in many cases binge on the entire seasons.
In the case of The Grand Tour that’s another five episodes that are currently available and a few more that will be released weekly before the end of your free trial period.
- When is The Grand Tour on TV and how can I watch it?
- The Grand Tour more popular than Game of Thrones, to pirates at least
- How to watch Amazon Video on your Android phone or tablet
- How to watch Amazon Prime Video on TV: Your complete guide
How to watch The Grand Tour for free
The first episode is entirely free until the end of Boxing Day, so you can watch it using an Amazon Video application on any of the following devices:
TVs
Select TVs from…
- HiSense
- LG
- Panasonic
- Samsung
- Sony
Media streamers
- Amazon Fire TV
- Amazon Fire TV Stick
- Roku boxes
Games consoles
- Nintendo Wii
- Nintendo Wii U
- PS3
- PS4
- Xbox 360
- Xbox One
Tablets
- Amazon Kindle Fire
- Apple iPad
- Apple iPad mini
- Android tablets
Mobile devices
- Android phones (here’s how)
- Apple iPhone
- Apple iPod touch
You can also watch it on select soundbars, home cinema systems, Blu-ray players and set-top-boxes from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sony. Check to see if your model is included here.
You can also watch The Grand Tour free episode inside a browser on PC or Mac. Head to Amazon.co.uk here.
Norad Tracks Santa vs Google Santa Tracker: Which tracks Father Christmas best?
Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and that means the big man is almost here to deliver presents. There are two really good options for the young and old to keep abreast of the movements of Father Christmas online.
One is from NORAD and Microsoft combined, while the other is a rival Santa Tracker from Google. Both have their merits, but which should you bookmark to ensure you know exactly when the jolly old fella is going to empty his bulging sack down your chimney? We compare the NORAD Tracks Santa and Google Santa Tracker to see what they have to offer.
What is the NORAD Tracks Santa?
Norad
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has been tracking Santa for over 60 years. This year, NORAD has once again released a website and an app to let you track the big bearded man as he delivers presents around the world.
When you go to the website, you’re taken to Santa’s Village, where you can learn about NORAD and it’s ongoing to mission to track Santa, play new games everyday in December and listen to Christmas songs.
What is the Google Santa Tracker?
Google’s been tracking Santa since 2004 and has updated its annual Santa Tracker, because it wants kids checking back every day in the run up to Christmas. Like NORAD, the refreshed tool doubles as a hub of activities.
Google also has an area called Santa’s Village, and since 1 December, people have been able to visit the village to play games, learn about holiday traditions around the world and watch Santa prepare for take off on Christmas Eve. We quite like Santa Selfie, where you can shave Santa’s beard and change its colour to get him ready for the big night.
NORAD Tracks Santa app
You can access NORAD through its website and apps for Windows, Android, and iOS. It’s free to download and use.
Google Santa Tracker app
You can access Google’s Santa Tracker through its website, Android app, and extensions for Chrome, Chromecast, and Wear. It’s free to download and use.
NORAD Tracks Santa on Christmas Eve
From the moment you go to the NORAD website, you’ll see a countdown to Christmas Eve superimposed over artwork of the Earth being orbited by satellites and mounted with the North Pole at the top.
Google Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve
Both the Google Santa Tracker website and its Android app show a countdown to Christmas Eve straightaway. Interestingly, Google’s countdown seems to be 3 hours behind NORAD’s countdown. So, children who are especially anxious for Christmas to get here now will probably prefer NORAD’s offering (ho ho).
NORAD Tracks Santa tracking
Norad
It’s important to remember that NORAD and Google usually position Father Christmas at different places, and that’s because they use different methods to track Santa. It’s also because Santa tends to moves so fast that he’s hard to pinpoint! Once you spot him in one location, he jumps to the next in an instant.
From the web browser, NORAD automatically take you to a 3D view of where Santa’s was currently flying, and at the bottom of that screen, you’ll see an estimate of number of gifts delivered.
You can also see where Santa was last seen and where he’s heading to next. You can click and drag with your mouse to rotate the view, as well as use keyboard buttons in the top right corner to zoom in and out. Furthermore, you could use 2D/3D button in the top left to get a 2D-view of the world.
Camera icons showed places where he has been spotted on NORAD’s Santa Cam, and when clicked you’d see video of Santa flying around different landmarks and major cities of the world. To see all the clips that have been recorded, in the NORAD map, you click an icon on the tracker map to see a playlist.
Many of these features are also available through the NORAD mobile apps. If that wasn’t enough, at Bing, you could search for “Where’s Santa,” which brought up his location and a link to NORAD
Google Santa Tracker tracking
Similar to NORAD’s tracker map, Google’s map shows Santa’s current location, along with details about his next stop, an estimate of gifts delivered, and his distance from you. Google’s map shows places Santa’s visits by default, so you can click on that location to learn more about it and see animated videos.
You can also see occasional status updates from Santa (sort of like a News Feed, which you could scroll up and down through). We like Google’s little video clips, but they aren’t clips of Santa in flight or customised to a location. The Android app also loads Santa’s position and the ability to Chromecast Santa’s location.
The app works with Android Wear watches, so you could download a Santa Tracker watch face, allowing you to step away from your phone or computer for the night and really enjoy time with family. But if you don’t mind being tethered to a desk, Google also offered a Chrome browser extension.
The extension puts an icon in the top right of your browser to reveal Santa’s location at a glance, like the Wear app. Oh, and similar to NORAD and Bing’s partnership, a super easy way to find Santa’s location was provided through Google.com. You just had to Search for “Santa” on Google to get his location.
NORAD Tracks Santa features
We think NORAD’s website interface is organised a little clearer than Google’s, but it also looks more dated and not as bright and vibrant or modern. We enjoy that there are cute animations on the homepage, but everything looks a bit cluttered at the same time. The highlight to the site is probably the music player at the bottom.
We also like the Let’s Go button placed over the Earth at the top, which brings you to Santa’s Village (showcases daily arcade games, movies about Santa, Christmas Music, and more). So, basically, there are two main ways to find stuff on NORAD: the Let’s Go Button, and the sidebar menu.
Google Santa Tracker features
Google has updated its tracker since last year to make it much easier to navigate. Before it wasn’t clear which content was new, but now there’s a clear timeline for each day in December, leading you along a path to Christmas Eve. You can also click the menu button in the top left of the page to see what content is new today.
Google’s content offering is really, very good. The games are fun. The ability to learn how to code is cool. And the very Material Design-esque animations are plastered everywhere and downright adorable. Google did well with all that.
Conclusion
You’d have to be a bit of a Scrooge to have a go at either slice of seasonal fun, so we’re not going to say which we prefer.
What might swing it is what device you use – after all, if you have any phone other than Android, NORAD has the only dedicated app available. If you use a tablet or PC, both work well in a browser.
Oh, and another thing that might make you choose one over the other is design. We’re partial to Google’s design, but NORAD managaes to keep up in that it offers a much easier interface to navigate.
The Morning After: Friday December 23, 2016
Before you take off for the holiday, we’re looking back at this year’s best games and gadgets, and fearing the worst when it comes to next year’s weather.
Play this. Also: Don’t play this.
The best (and worst) games of 2016
Because of this year’s never-ending cycle of unease, video games have been more important to a lot of us at Engadget this year. Of course, they’re always a form of escapism, but in the last 12 months they’ve had to function as a kind of digital cocoon. Here’s our pick of 2016’s top forms of gaming escape — as well as those best avoided.
Because everyone has an old ThinkPad laying around
Now Raspberry Pi’s Pixel OS can run on regular PCs
A Linux-based operating system that can run on a cheap Raspberry Pi computer could also breathe life into some old laptops. At least, it can now that the Pixel OS is ready to run on both Windows and OS X computers. It’s still in the experimental stages, but interested users can grab a bootable image and try it out right away.
Less is more when it comes to microtransactions
‘RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic’ rides again on Android and iOS
Atari’s new game for mobile is actually a mashup of two old ones, as RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic pulls from RCT 1 and 2. Overall it’s a simpler take on ride design and park management than later games in the series, and unlike previous mobile releases, it’s very light on the in-app purchases. The game costs $6, there are two expansion packs, and the ability to import/export saved parks costs extra, but that’s it.
Including every VR headset
The best gadgets of 2016
The year is almost over, so now it’s time to run down some of the most impressive electronics we’ve seen. VR hardware topped the list, but that’s not all. Dell and HP delivered impressive laptops (even when Apple didn’t) and the best phones were the ones that didn’t explode.
No Pixel watch, for nowAndroid Wear 2.0 will launch on third-party smartwatches
Android Wear product manager Jeff Chang confirmed in an interview with The Verge that version 2.0 of the platform will arrive first on a pair of flagship smartwatches. The surprising news, however, is that despite Google’s push to build more hardware of its own, its name won’t be on either of them.
It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this… graph paper.
Peek at the drawings used to design the original ‘Zelda’
To celebrate The Legend of Zelda’s 30th anniversary, Nintendo has released a handful of drawings that were used to design the first game in the franchise. They’re essentially graph paper, with shaded boxes to represent walls and bottomless pits. Greatness often starts small and simple.
Storm’s coming.
What can we expect in 2017? More volatile weather
Due to our slow progress in addressing climate change, there’s going to be a lot less ice in the Arctic next year. Scientists are observing peak high temperatures in the Arctic circle that’s likely to lead to record low levels of ice coverage in 2017. Long story short, we’re currently melting the wall that’s helped stop the seas boiling for all of these years. The knock-on effect is that when summer rolls around next, there’ll be less of the frozen stuff to reflect the solar energy back, further warming the planet beyond its capacity to cope
But wait, there’s more…
- The world’s first “solar road” opened Wednesday in France
- Faraday Future could be out of business by February
- Obama administration dismantles registry used to track Muslims and Arabs
Cassini captures Titan’s mysterious clouds on cam
It’s business as usual for the Cassini spacecraft until it’s time to say goodbye in September 2017, and some of the latest images it captured tell us more about Saturn’s moons. The spacecraft’s cameras, for one, produced two very different views of Titan’s high northern latitudes. As you can see in the image after the break, one (the black-and-white photo) clearly shows the surface features of Saturn’s largest moon. The other shows a moon whose surface is obscured by bright clouds. These were taken within the same period during the spacecraft’s Titan flybys on June 7th and July 25th.
[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Univ. Arizona/Univ. Idaho]
So if the images were taken within the same period, how come one has clouds while the other has none? According to the Cassini team, the answer lies with Titan’s hazy atmosphere and the spacecraft’s two different cameras: the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) and the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). The clouds are supposed to be there, because computer models show they should be present when the northern summer approaches. However, they’re not visible in the black-and-white image captured by ISS, because they appear thinner than the haze at the shorter, near-infrared wavelength the instrument uses. On the other hand, they look thicker at the longer infrared wavelengths used by VIMS, which took the other photo.
In addition to confirming that clouds hover over the northern part of Titan when summer approaches, Cassini also recently took one of the highest-resolution images of another Saturn moon called Pandora. The spacecraft snapped the photo during its closest ever Pandora flyby on December 18th, 2016.
Source: NASA (1), (2)
Uber Explains Why its App Appears to Track Users Days or Even Weeks After a Ride
Uber responded on Friday to concerns surrounding its app’s background tracking behavior by explaining that the issue is being caused by an update to iOS itself, not the company’s ride-hailing app (via TechCrunch).
Concerns were first raised about Uber’s use of location services when the company announced it would track customers’ whereabouts for a few minutes after their trip ends and the app is no longer open, in order to improve its service. Privacy advocates’ main complaint was that the app offered no opt-out. However, since that time many users have reported that the app goes much further and appears to track them for days or even weeks after they last used the ride-hailing service, even when the app is closed.
@gruber old ver last used 7 days ago. Is it possible that Uber enabled as Maps extension explains icon? pic.twitter.com/GfWG6ytY5s
— Caleb Powell (@caleb_powell) December 22, 2016
Uber now says the unintentional behavior is being triggered by the iOS Maps extension that Apple added to its mobile operating system in September, not due to a bug in the Uber app or because of its recent location services update.
In iOS 10, Apple opened up Maps to third-party apps, allowing developers to create extensions that can be integrated into the search result of Maps. When an app is installed that features an extension for Apple Maps, it is automatically integrated, but the extension is disabled by default to prevent search results from getting too crowded.
According to an Uber spokesperson: “For people who choose to integrate ride sharing apps with iOS Maps, location data must be shared in order for you to request a ride inside the Maps app. Map extensions are disabled by default and you can choose to turn them on in your iOS settings,” they said.
The confusion appears to lie in the way iOS 10 shows which apps use location services (Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services). The arrow icons are making users think third-party apps have silently been tracking them, when in fact it’s due to the way Apple’s Maps extension works in the background to provide location-based search results on request.
To make things clearer for users, TechCrunch suggests Apple adopts another color-coded arrow icon in the Location Services screen in order to distinguish between when an app directly accesses location data, and when its Maps extension does so.
Related Roundup: iOS 10
Tags: Apple Maps, Uber
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Best Streaming Service in India
With Prime Video now available in the country, there are plenty of great options for streaming video on the go.
Best overall
Hotstar
See at Play Store
Hotstar is easily the best streaming service in India. At ₹150 per month, it is affordable, and offers a wide variety of content — both in regional languages and English.
With a catalog that has close to a thousand TV shows and nearly three thousand movies, you won’t run out of things to watch on Hotstar. And as the service is owned by STAR — the largest broadcaster in India — you get access to live cricket matches.
Hotstar is available on Android and iOS, and the web.
Bottom line: If you’re looking for a streaming service that offers the best TV shows, movies, and sports content, look no further than Hotstar.
One more thing: Although Hotstar isn’t available on Android TV, the service supports Google Cast, allowing you to stream content to any Chromecast or Cast-enabled device.
Why Hotstar is the best
Hotstar offers a healthy mix of local as well as international content, and most of it is stuff you’d want to see. The service has tied up with HBO and National Geographic, and you’ll also be able to access over 69 TV shows from STAR World. The service’s catalog includes the likes of Game of Thrones, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother*, Westworld, Silicon Valley, Homeland, and more.
At ₹150, the cost of the monthly subscription isn’t too costly either. That gives you access to nearly two thousand movies in regional languages, and 600 TV shows. Its international catalog includes 253 TV shows and 275 movies, and while that isn’t a lot, it includes some of the most-watched shows in the country.
Furthermore, with HBO’s TV channel subject to Indian broadcast regulations (no swearing or nudity), your best chance of seeing its original programming the way they were meant to be is through Hotstar.
And then there’s the sports-related programming. As Hotstar is owned by STAR, you get access to live cricket matches. That alone pushes the service above the rest of the offerings available in the market.
Hotstar lets you view content on the web, on your phone, tablet, and while there’s no Android TV client, you can throw content via Google Cast.
Also good
Amazon Prime Video
See at Play Store
Sign up for Prime
Prime Video has finally made its debut globally, and the service is off to a great start in India. Amazon has tied up with several production houses in the country to offer a smorgasbord of regional content, including the latest Bollywood movies and TV shows.
Prime Video even offers regional subtitles for international content (your Seinfeld viewing sessions will never be the same again). The service also offers downloads, allowing you to take TV shows and movies offline for viewing without an active internet connection.
That said, there are a few issues. Prime Video is the only service on this list that is censored. Shows like Amazon’s own Transparent are unwatchable, and even its flagship program, The Grand Tour, is neutered as one of the episodes features Jeremy Clarkson driving a car made out of animal carcases.
So, should you stay away from Prime Video? If you’re okay with its self-censorship stance, then you should take a look at the content on offer. What is sure to cement the service’s position in India is its pricing. Prime Video is free to all Amazon Prime subscribers in India — which in itself costs just ₹499 ($7.50) for the first year. Prime will go up to ₹999 ($15) from next year, but that still comes out to under ₹100 for all the benefits you get.
The pricing alone makes Prime Video a prime contender in this space.
Bottom line: Self-censorship takes a lot of fun away from Prime Video’s original TV shows, but the service is worth looking into if you’re already subscribed to Prime.
One more thing: Prime Video isn’t available on Android TV, nor does it support the Cast protocol. However, most smart TVs sold in the last few years have the app pre-installed.
Great, but flawed
Netflix
See at Play Store
While it’s great that Netflix is in India, the service doesn’t provide a whole lot of value. With monthly plans starting from ₹500 (going all the way up to ₹800), it is the costliest streaming service in India. And for that amount, you don’t get much in the way of content.
Netflix’s Indian catalog is paltry when compared to what customers in the U.S., Canada, or the UK receive. Although the service costs the same as it does in other countries, the catalog in India is one-tenth the size of that in the U.S., and with Netflix now in the country for almost a year, it doesn’t look like we’ll see that issue being rectified anytime soon.
To put things in context, Netflix in the U.S. has over 5,500 titles available across genres. Netflix India has less than 750. That list includes most of Netflix’s original programming, but TV shows that are a huge hit in India — the likes of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and others — are not available for streaming in the country.
Bottom line: Netflix has a lot of great content, but most of it isn’t available in India. That said, you do get a majority of the service’s original TV shows and movies. If you don’t mind the asking price, it’s worth taking a look.
One more thing: Netflix recently rolled out offline viewing, allowing you to download TV shows and movies on your phone or tablet.
Conclusion
With 4G slowly gaining momentum, expect to see fierce competition in the streaming space in the coming years. For now, Hotstar has the lead in this segment, but with Amazon throwing money at its Indian business, that can change soon.
Best overall
Hotstar
See at Play Store
Hotstar is easily the best streaming service in India. At ₹150 per month, it is affordable, and offers a wide variety of content — both in regional languages and English.
With a catalog that has close to a thousand TV shows and nearly three thousand movies, you won’t run out of things to watch on Hotstar. And as the service is owned by STAR — the largest broadcaster in India — you get access to live cricket matches.
Hotstar is available on Android and iOS, and the web.
Bottom line: If you’re looking for a streaming service that offers the best TV shows, movies, and sports content, look no further than Hotstar.
One more thing: Although Hotstar isn’t available on Android TV, the service supports Google Cast, allowing you to stream content to any Chromecast or Cast-enabled device.
Tesla prices are going up because Brexit
Tesla has sent out a memo to prospective customers in the UK, letting them know of a 5 percent price increase on custom car orders from 1 January 2017. The price increase has been blamed on “currency fluctuations” as a result of Brexit and the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
- Tesla: Everything you need to know about the Model 3, Model S, Model X and more
The Tesla Model S and Model X will be affected, but the price increase will only affect custom car orders, with showroom ready cars and used vehicles staying at the same retail price.
Pricing for the company’s upcoming Model 3, a more affordable electric vehicle, has yet to be announced in the UK. It will have a starting price of $35,000 in the US, around £28,000 in the UK. However it’s unlikely we’ll be given finalised pricing until nearer launch, which has also yet to be announced, although it will be in 2017.
The increase on the cost of a car isn’t the only thing to be introduced on 1 January, as Tesla will also begin charging to use its Supercharging network, something it previously said would be free for life. Every Tesla car will get 400kWh of free Supercharging use per year, which is worth around 1000 miles. After that, you will have to pay to use the system, although Tesla hasn’t announced prices, but has said it will be less than the cost of filling up a fuel-powered car.
DARPA is giving war vets first access to LUKE bionic arms
DARPA’s sophisticated LUKE bionic arm is ready for production, eight years after its development began and a couple of years after it was approved by the FDA. Before the bionic limb makes the transition into a commercial product, though, the military division is giving war veterans access to its initial production run. DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office director Justin Sanchez has recently delivered two LUKE arms to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for use by a couple of vets in need of a prosthetic limb.
LUKE, which used to be known as the DEKA Arm System, is the brainchild of Segway creator Dean Kamen. Its name stands for Life Under Kinetic Evolution, but as you can guess, it was also inspired by Luke Skywalker whose hand was replaced with a robotic appendage in The Empire Strikes Back. The arm can understand multiple commands at any one time, giving it the ability to move as naturally as possible. In earlier tests, people were able to use it to brush their hair and to open locks.
DARPA plans to develop LUKE even further to be more life-like. Sanchez says they “envision these limbs providing even greater dexterity and highly refined sensory experiences by connecting them directly to users’ peripheral and central nervous systems.”
Source: DARPA
Sweetgreen will stop accepting cash payments in 2017
Money makes the world go around, but it’s not always necessary to have greenbacks in your pocket any more. Healthy fast food joint Sweetgreen has revealed that it’s going to stop accepting cash payments at the majority of its stores in 2017. The company told Business Insider that health fiends looking for some greenery will need to have a credit card or smartphone in their hands.
CEO Jonathan Neman explained that the change was pretty much a no-brainer, since only 10 percent of all sales were actually made with cash. When the company tested the switch, it found that service times got faster because staff didn’t have to count and store money. Not to mention that the stores will be at less risk of robbery since there’s no tasty safe full of notes kept on the premises.
The first stores to demonetize will be in New York, California, Illinois and Pennsylvania, starting on January 17th, 2017. In March, outlets in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. will follow suit, although no solid date has been announced as of now. One holdout from the change is Boston, which will continue to accept cold, hard currency thanks to a quirk of the local state laws.
Expect to see plenty more stories like this in 2017 as companies gently push users towards ditching purses full of coinage. India, in the hope of reducing counterfeit money, terrorism and fraud, announced an /overnight/ withdrawal and replacement of high-value paper notes. The speed of the move, coupled with a lack of preparation, caused an economic crisis, the effects of which are still being felt.
Other governments may not decide to copy the subcontinent’s “Rip the Band-Aid Off” approach, but rest assured, it’s coming.
Source: BI
Elon Musk: Tesla’s upgraded Autopilot could roll out next week
Elon Musk told a Model S owner in late November that the Enhanced Autopilot update should roll out sometime in mid-December. Now, the Tesla chief has confirmed the company’s timeline on Twitter. He announced that the automaker “might be ready to to roll out most of Autopilot functionality” for its latest self-driving hardware (HW2) by the end of next week.
See, the Autopilot that came with HW2 doesn’t have access to a bunch of features that the older version of the technology already has. Those features include upgraded autosteer, smart summon, auto lane change, autopark, lane departure warning, collision warning and avoidance, emergency braking and cruise control, among others. The company said it needed to “further calibrate the system using millions of miles of real-world driving to ensure significant improvements to safety and convenience” before activating them on the new hardware.
Based on Musks’ tweets, it sounds like their real-world testing is going well. Take note that even if Tesla starts rolling out the upgrade next week, you’ll have to wait for months to get all the features. The automaker is planning to do incremental monthly releases throughout 2017.
Looks like we might be ready to rollout most of Autopilot functionality for HW2 towards the end of next week
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 23, 2016
Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)
AIVAnet 