Best apps for starting a meditation habit

Because life is crazy and we should all take a little time to settle down.

Meditation is not just something that flower children do. You can do it, too, and you don’t have to go to a yoga studio or spend a weekend at an ashram to get started. All you have to do is download an app to your smartphone.

Meditation offers plenty of benefits. A consistent meditation practice can help reduce stress, improve concentration, and encourage a healthy lifestyle by virtue of requiring routine. It’s also the practice of self-awareness, which can admittedly be a tad overwhelming for those who may have quite a bit they’re contending with internally. As a person with an inconsistent meditation practice, I can say that when I have stuck to the program, I’ve never felt better.

If you’re hoping to get started with a meditation practice of you own, here are several apps worth trying out.

Insight Timer

Insight Timer is one of the more worthy meditation apps that appeals to both newcomers and season meditators. If you’re new, you can select from one of 3,500 different guided meditations led by well-known meditation teachers, and if you’re already a pro, you can set a timer and choose from the library of ambient background sounds. There are also helpful interface elements, like the ability to bookmark your favorite guided meditations for later use, and there’s a social networking aspect so that you can see who else is meditating alongside you.

Insight Timer does have a few drawbacks. It’s free, but you’ll have to fork over some cash for different bell sounds. You’ll also have to maintain a separate login to keep your data synced. At the very least, that data can be easily backed up and carried over to other devices.

Download Insight Timer (Free, IAP)

Stop, Breathe, and Think

Stop, Breathe, and Think has been gaining quite a bit of traction since its debut in the Play Store. Whereas most apps require you to sort of know what kind of meditation you’re into, this app asks you about how you’re feeling before offering up the appropriate program for the day. Stop, Breathe, and Think also employs a sticker system for accolades, in case you need that extra push to make it to your mat each day, as well as the ability to share your progress with friends.

Be forewarned that Stop, Breathe, and Think requires quite a bit of commitment, including logging in daily to maintain your streak and actually paying to unlock longer meditation sessions.

Download Stop, Breathe, and Think (Free, IAP)

Headspace

Whether you’re already seasoned at meditations, or merely a bashful beginner, Headspace is one of the most popular meditation apps precisely because it’s so effective. One major catch, however, is that you’ll have to pay monthly for full access to the app, which includes over a hundred hours of content, a buddy system for you and your pals, and special meditation packages. Think of Headspace as a class on meditation; if you’re hoping to really commit to the practice, this is a great place to start if you don’t mind figuratively having your hand held for a bit in the beginning.

Download Headspace (Free, IAP)

Best Earbuds With Microphone Under $20

Cheap can be good and these earbuds prove it.

A headset — earphones or earbuds (or even a single earbud) with a microphone and controls — is a different beast than a set of earbuds or headphones without a mic. For starters, not every set works with every brand of phone once you add the third wire. You need to make sure what you’re buying is made specifically for one brand (Blackberry and Apple come to mind) and will work with Android when you need to answer calls and adjust the volume. And when products are cheap, there are literally thousands of choices to wade through.

We searched around the internet to see who was using what and why they liked or disliked them, then ordered a handful of headsets that seemed to be better than average. Here are your five best, including the overall winner.

Aukey Arcs: The Best

The Aukey Arcs wired headphones with microphone are the best set of earbuds with a mic you can buy under $20.

They’re comfortable, and the over-the-ear design keeps them in place for extended periods or while you’re on the go. Aukey uses a silicon-coated cable with fairly large strain reliefs at the connections so you won’t get things tangled up and they won’t need to be replaced very often due to loose connections. The sound, while not “powerful” by any means, is bright and clear. It’s perfect for talking on the phone or watching a movie or a show, and good enough for listening to music — which is exactly what you want when you buy earbuds with a mic.

What puts them over the top and makes them the best is the fit. Over-the-ear buds can be a chore to wear, but we put up with it if that’s what it takes to keep them in place. Aukey’s silicon cable and soft tips mitigate this very well and you won’t mind it nearly as much as you would with other brands.

Aukey is well known for making products that deliver the same features as the expensive brands do, and their Arcs headset is no different.

See at Amazon

The best for calls

NoiseHush NX85

The NoiseHush NX85 is the best headset we tested when it comes to talking on the phone. The microphone picks up your voice while you’re talking naturally and the result is surprisingly clear voice calls on both ends. The NoiseHush NX85 also checks most every box when looking for a great set of earbuds with a mic. They have a flat tangle-free cable, easy to use controls to answer calls or activate any voice assistant and deliver surprisingly good sound when listening to music or watching a video.

The one place they are lacking is when it comes to the fit. The NoiseHush set suffers from the common malady that many earbuds do — they pop out too often. These just aren’t going to stay in place for active users.

See at Amazon

The best value

OnePlus Bullets

OnePlus makes its headphones just like its phones: solid, if unspectacular design mixed with good quality components and a great price. The Icons have compact solid metal enclosures, come with a variety of tips and have a solid cable with an in-line mic and remote. The sound is very average, but will easily be an upgrade from the headphones that came with your phone.

You would expect to pay much more for a product this well made, and the OnePlus Bullets live up to the OnePlus standard of offering more for less.

See at OnePlus

The most comfortable

Panasonic ErgoFit

You wouldn’t expect a pair of cheap earbuds to fit as well as the Panasonic ErgoFit earbuds do. The sound is average but more than good enough for your everyday commute, the design and construction are acceptable for a product you expect to replace at least every year and the call quality also comes in at average. But when it comes to how they fit and how they feel when you’re using them, these take things up a notch. We’re not sure what the ear tips are made of, but they mold to your ear canal much like a set of disposable ear plugs do, then they return to their original shape once you take them out.

These would be perfect for listening to an eBook while you’re relaxing or any other time when the fit in your ear matters more than anything else.

See at Amazon

The best sound

Airsspu High-Resolution Earphones

I’ve never heard of Airsspu, but word of mouth advertising works and I made sure to give their High-Resolution Earphones a look. I’m glad I did.

Call quality is acceptable at best. The mic placement picks up a lot of rubbing against clothing sounds and the other party says it sounds “tinny.” The over-the-ear design keeps them in place but you won’t forget you’re wearing them by any measure because they pull a little as you move your head like most over-the-ear buds do.

What sets these apart is the sound quality. I’m amazed that Airsspu is able to produce clear and full music with such tiny speakers. At 16 Ohms they won’t trigger a high-gain headphone amp, but they seem so easy to drive it doesn’t matter. While they can’t match an expensive (and big) set of over-the-ear headphones, they do give your music more life that you would ever expect from a set of earbuds. These are an audiophile must-buy to keep in your bag or briefcase to be ready when you need them.

See at Amazon

We couldn’t test every headset. You might have a pair of earbuds with a mic that you think are better than our picks. We’d love to know about them so we can give them a look, too! Let us know what you’re using and what you think of them in the comments, and let us know what you think of any of these brands if you’ve tried them.

ICYMI: The U.S. Army is making actual hover bikes

Today on In Case You Missed It: The Galactic Empire will have some competition for Speeder Bikes soon enough, from the US Army. Researchers there have been working on hoverbikes for a few years now, based on an Australian inventor’s design.

Make sure to watch the video of the temperatures stacking up each year, bringing us to the hottest recorded weather for 2016, or a video of the sunspot twice as big as Earth. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Deliveroo Plus is a £9 subscription for takeout addicts

Deliveroo has made an impact in the UK because it allows hungry so-and-sos to order from their favorite big name restaurants, such as PizzaExpress, Wagamama, Giraffe and Gourmet Burger Kitchen. But you pay for the privilege — Deliveroo typically charges £2.50 on top of your regular order. If that sounds too expensive, or you’re simply addicted to the service, there’s now Deliveroo Plus. For £8.99 per month, or £89 per year, you don’t have to worry about individual delivery charges. You’ll still need to pay for your grub, of course, but everything else will be taken care of.

Think of it like Amazon Prime, but for food deliveries.

Deliveroo Plus is launching today in six UK cities — Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brighton and York. The company has described it as a “trial,” so there’s no guarantee that this will be rolled out internationally. Still, it’s an interesting pricing structure, and one that could make the service more appealing against UberEats, JustEat and the bevy of other food ordering apps in Britain. If it takes off, maybe the company will offer a similar model in other parts of the world.

Samsung brings Android Nougat to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

The Galaxy Note 7 might be no more, but Samsung is still supporting its other flagships in earnest. Today, the company is rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, coupling Google’s latest software improvements with a dash of TouchWiz design. The biggest changes can be found in the notification tray — swipe down and you’ll notice that the Quick Panel interface looks cleaner than before, with titles removed from each icon. The “second depth,” opened with a subsequent downward swipe, has been reworked too with grouped icons. Notifications have also been bundled for easier sorting, and now support direct replies.

Samsung’s devices have long offered split-screen apps, but with Nougat that feature now becomes standard (provided your apps support it, that is). With the new over-the-air update, Samsung has reworked the on-screen mechanism used to adjust the size of each window. There’s also a “pop-up window” mode that can run up to five app at once. Along with the regular split-screen mode, that’s a new maximum of seven apps. Quite why you would want to run that many simultaneously is beyond me (how much would you see on a smartphone screen?) but hey, the option’s there now.

Rounding out the new additions is Samsung Pass, a fingerprint-activated key for website logins, and a new Performance Mode that lets you activate various battery saving options. These include a best-of-all-worlds Optimized Mode, which promises to improve your phone’s stamina and speed, and Entertainment Mode, which boosts sound and image quality for your favorite movies and TV shows. While not the most exciting update, it does ensure that Samsung’s best phones are competitive from a software standpoint. That’s important as the company holds out until February, when it will almost surely unveil the next iteration of the Galaxy S line.

Source: Samsung Newsroom

Low-cost DNA sequencer uses Nokia 1020’s camera as a microscope

If the Nokia 1020 has a memorable feature, it’s surely the phone’s 41-megapixel camera — the same one a team of researchers are now using for their phone-based DNA sequencer and molecular analyzer. The scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, Sweden’s Stockholm University and Uppsala University have developed a $500 3D-printed phone attachment that turns a device’s camera into a microscope. Health workers in developing nations and remote locations can use the attachment to find genetic mutations that cause diseases without having to send samples to a lab. It’s definitely a lot more affordable than comparable microscopes medical professionals use, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Testing starts by placing a tissue sample, such as tissue from a tumor, in a small container. The optical attachment and the phone’s camera capture multi-color fluorescence and bright-field images of the sample. They then feed data and images to an algorithm that analyzes DNA sequences and find mutations in the tissue. According to the researchers, their creation is powerful enough to detect small amount of cancer cells and other mutations in a large group of normal cells. Mats Nilsson, one of the team leaders, explained:

“It’s very important to have these molecular testing approaches at a doctor’s office or where care is being given. Oftentimes, advanced lab-based testing is performed at major hospitals, which is limiting, as not everyone has access to a hospital that can perform these tests.”

By the way, health workers won’t have to worry about running out of Nokia 1020 phones to buy from eBay. The researchers said that while the 1020’s camera has an impressive magnification factor (2.6x), the attachment can be adapted to work with newer phones.

Via: BBC, Gizmodo

Source: Nature, University of California, Los Angeles

How to follow the Obamas after they leave the White House

As President Obama prepares to leave the White House, his team must gather up not only his physical belongings, but the tweets, blog posts and other online content produced over the last eight years. Such a bevy of accounts and internet discourse is not simple to shift, so the White House has outlined exactly what will move where tomorrow. To keep up with the outgoing President, you’ll need to follow @BarackObama on Twitter, facebook.com/BarackObama and instagram.com/BarackObama. First Lady Michelle Obama will take a similar position online, posting with the @MichelleObama handle on Twitter and Snapchat, facebook.com/MichelleObama and Instagram.com/MichelleObama.

The current version of the White House website will be preserved at ObamaWhiteHouse.gov by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The agency will also manage a new set of social media accounts designed to store the tweets, articles and photos released by Obama and his team over the last eight years. President Obama’s musings under @POTUS will be preserved at @POTUS44, while his Facebook posts will be stored at facebook.com/POTUS44. Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will have their official tweets archived at @FLOTUS44 and @VP44 — you get where I’m going with this, right?

The official White House handles will be passed over to the next administration. These include @WhiteHouse, @POTUS, @VP and @FLOTUS on Twitter, Facebook.com/WhiteHouse and Instagram.com/WhiteHouse. No surprise there, really. (Although President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to keep tweeting from his personal account.) For a full breakdown of the changing accounts, it’s worth perusing this White House blog post. While a massive undertaking, it’s undoubtedly important to preserve the digital legacy of the President, the First Lady and the rest of the Obama White House team. Understanding how this group embraced social media between 2009 and 2017 will be vital in the future for historians, politicians and reflective citizens alike.

Source: WhiteHouse.Gov

Swiss cops use anti-drone guns at the World Economic Forum

Swiss authorities have added another security measure for this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos: anti-drone guns. Bloomberg has spotted local police preparing HP 47 Counter UAV Jammers to make sure no unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) gets too close to the venue, whether it’s sent by a spy organization or just a nosy onlooker. That’s the same jammer the German police used in Berlin when President Obama visited the country. The publication says authorities decided to bring in an anti-drone technology, because people with malicious intent could use UAVs to monitor security positions or even to launch attacks.

WEF spokesman Georg Schmitt explained:

“While drones have great potential, they have — just as every new technology or aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution — also a potential downside. The forum takes the safety and security of its participants seriously. It is therefore normal that we take any potential issue into account and prepare for it.”

The HP 47 can block drones up to 1,000 feet away from sending data, including video feeds, back to their operators. It can also disable operators’ remote access to their UAVs, as well as trap the machines within an invisible fence. Once the drones are trapped, authorities could either capture them with a net or shoot them down with the help of snipers.

A consulting firm told Bloomberg that it’s much too early to estimate the size of the anti-drone market, but jamming devices are clearly becoming more popular as drones become more common. Both the military and private companies are developing their own guns and jammers. The Dutch National Police, however, resorted to training eagles to take down drones during emergencies.

Source: Bloomberg

Microsoft drops support for ‘Minecraft’ on Windows Phone

Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, will stop supporting the Windows Phone 8.1 version of its own immensely popular world building game, Ars Technica reports. While the game’s development continues apace, Redmond is essentially admitting that even with a massive player base, the venn diagram between Windows Phone users and Minecraft fans has too little overlap to be worth the effort.

On mobile, the Android and iOS versions of Minecraft: Pocket Edition will still be supported, of course, and that same version is also what gets ported to platforms like the Gear VR and Apple TV. Unlike those other systems, which recently hit an official 1.0 version last month, the Windows Phone version never quite made it out of beta.

Microsoft did, however, recently release a new version of Minecraft for Windows 10 as a Universal Windows Platform app that will eventually run on everything from desktops to Surface tablets to the HoloLens. Although the Windows 10 version is based on the same Pocket Edition code, Microsoft has unfortunately decided to go against its own developer guidelines for the Universal Windows Platform and currently only supports a desktop interface. That means you’ll still need a mouse and keyboard to smash those blocks for now.

Via: Ars Technica

Apple and Amazon agree to end exclusive audiobook deal

For over a decade, Apple and Audible (an Amazon company) have enjoyed an exclusivity agreement that restricted the sale of digital audiobooks to one third-party platform: iTunes. The practice has helped both companies hold almost unassailable positions in the audiobook market, which led to a complaint by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) back in November 2015.

After more than a year of discussions with German competition watchdog, the Bundeskartellamt, and with help from the European Commission, Apple and Amazon have agreed to terminate their existing deal, allowing Audible audiobooks to be sold via other digital music platforms.

According to a European Commission press release, Apple and Amazon agreed to end the exclusivity deal on January 5th. The pact was actually signed before Amazon acquired Audible (back in 2008), but the German Publishers and Booksellers Association believed Amazon’s actions were damaging publishers’ ability to sell their work via “alternative channels.”

At the time, around 90 percent of all audiobook downloads in Germany were made via Audible or Amazon websites, or via the iTunes Store, indicating why publishers and booksellers had decided to complain.

Commenting on the settlement, the European Commission said it “welcomes an agreement to end all exclusivity obligations concerning audiobook supply and distribution between Amazon’s subsidiary Audible and Apple.” The competition regulator believes it will also “improve competition in downloadable audiobook distribution in Europe” as Apple can source audiobooks from different suppliers, while publishers can directly secure their own distribution agreements with Apple.

It’s not the first time that Apple and Amazon have been embroiled in an antitrust investigation. In 2012, the US Justice Department sued Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster over alleged e-book price-rigging.

The agreement was designed to stop booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble from selling bestsellers at a loss. Apple and its co-conspirators were forced to settle out of court. However, it took until mid-2016 for iBooks price fixing credit to make its way to those who opted in to a class action lawsuit against the Cupertino company.

Source: Europa, Bundeskartellamt