7 years later, does ‘Halo Wars’ need a mouse and keyboard after all?

Many gamers overlooked Halo Wars when it first launched onto store shelves in 2009.

In the wake of the impeccable Halo 3, a Halo without gunplay felt like blasphemy. And if you wanted more, the next mainline entry in the series, Halo 3: ODST, was only a few months away and would undoubtedly satisfy that craving.

With Halo Wars, Creative Assembly took the familiar rivalry of Spartans versus Covenant and completely turned it completely on its head. Microsoft had enough faith in the Halo brand to think that it could sell a real-time strategy game for Xbox 360, a genre that had notoriously flopped on consoles while simultaneously thriving on PC.

More: 10 game mechanics we hope someone rips off in 2017

Seven years later, Halo Wars has finally come to Windows 10 PCs. Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is a pre-order bonus for the upcoming sequel, the “Ultimate Edition” of Halo Wars 2, which will be widely available in February. All in all, it’s a solid port, albeit not without a handful of imperfections. Luckily, most of them don’t have to do with the controls.

Rolling, rolling, rolling across the screen

Unlike players of nearly a decade ago, your first time booting up Halo Wars: Definitive Edition can be from the Start menu in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. At first glance, everything from the original version is intact. Glossing over menu interfaces alone, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition on Windows 10 could easily be mistaken for the Xbox editions.

If your first time playing Halo Wars is on PC, you may be curious as to how gamepad controls would even work. Waving your cursor across the screen, or alternatively mashing the ‘WASD’ keys feels far too natural for this to have once been a console exclusive.

Selecting a group of units of the same class is as easy as clicking two of them while holding down the Ctrl key on the second. At the same time, even simple tasks like setting up reactors and supply pads are snappier with a mouse. It may only save you a second or two, but particularly in the time-based flood missions towards the end of Halo Wars, keyboard and mouse can make a world of difference for the outcome of your mission.

If your first time playing Halo Wars is on PC, you may be curious as to how gamepad controls would even work.

Midway through the campaign, you may be tempted to take Halo Wars: Definitive Edition for a spin on Xbox One. Moving from a 4K-equipped, high-end PC build to the 1080p Xbox One version is an unsurprising step back – especially given the striking visual optimizations of the PC port. The jagged edges of your units will, unfortunately, hinder your line of sight. To make things worse, the promised fluidity of the 60 fps gold standard is inhibited by constant frame drops absent from Halo Wars‘ PC counterpart.

On the bright side, the pre-rendered cut scenes flow better on Xbox One, but only because they adhere to a similarly low resolution of the original. This can be a bit disconcerting if you’re a PC user with a 4K monitor immediately before you, as Halo Wars: Definitive Edition makes the switch from cutscene to gameplay then back to custscene throughout its campaign.

Marines, oohrah for technical difficulties

Despite its shortcomings, the Xbox One version’s controls still feel like an improvement over keyboard and mouse. Since you can pair the same controller to a top-end PC for an experience objectively superior to the Xbox rendition, PC gamers reluctant to break away from mouse and keyboard may want to reconsider. It’s evident that more effort was put into perfecting gamepad controls seven years ago than into keyboard and mouse today.

Using the Xbox One’s left control stick to move back and forth between areas is a buttery smooth process, even with only the default settings enabled. Meanwhile, on PC, you may find yourself constantly toggling back and fourth between various sensitivity preferences on your mouse. After settling for a an option that works best for you while navigating the map, you may find that your mouse is a bit too receptive during close combat or artillery management.

Keep in mind that this problem is exclusive to Halo Wars: Definitive Edition  – your mouse isn’t to blame. Granted, if you’d prefer, you could use the ‘WASD’ keys to pan around your environment, and the space bar can be used to teleport between groups of units. However, there’s no denying that the omnidirectional control stick is a more versatile option.

You may even encounter a point in Halo Wars where the mouse input ceases to be recognized by the software altogether. As a result, you’ll be forced into exiting mid-mission to reboot your PC. This is an issue that, rest assured, is not present in the Xbox One version. 

You may even encounter a point in Halo Wars where the mouse input ceases to be recognized by the software altogether.

Audio issues, too, persist on PC alone. On occasion, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition may need to be relaunched as a result of sound inconsistencies. This won’t happen frequently, if at all, but it’s certainly a minor inconvenience for anyone who appreciates the clearly Martin O’Donnell-inspired orchestrations of Stephen Rippy. The music in Halo Wars sets a hair-raising tone for the story, making any outages an irritating blow to your enjoyment of the game.

Even so, it’s still worth picking up Halo Wars: Definitive Edition on PC if you don’t have an Xbox – especially if you’ve never played it before. It may be your run-of-the-mill remaster, not without its fair share of bugs, but sometimes that’s just fine. Its upgraded graphics and newfound home on PC give players who overlooked the title back in 2009 a chance to experience an underrated gem for the first time. Seven years later, Halo Wars still holds up.

Locked and loaded, get tactical, Marines!

Ultimately, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is an exemplary addition to Microsoft’s cross-buy catalog. Not only does it finally bring keyboard and mouse controls long sought-after by Halo (and RTS) fans on PC, but it even packs Ultra HD 4K support in addition to an unlocked frame rate. Considering there hasn’t been a real entry in the series on Windows since Halo 2, it’s undoubtedly a step forward. But, to be fair, practically anything would be.

Then again, Halo Wars was also designed for a control scheme other than mouse and keyboard. If you’re expecting any PC-specific amenities such as menu overhauls or input optimizations, you’ll be disappointed to find that Halo Wars: Definitive Edition leaves everything as-is. Aside from the resolution upgrade, Microsoft appears to be saving the visual overhauls for Halo Wars 2.

Fortunately, given its age and minimalist style, the barrier of entry for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is quite low. To run the game at 1080p 60 fps, all you need is a computer with at least a Core i5 processor, an Nvidia GTX 560, and only 1GB of RAM. Of course, if you don’t have a PC already, buying it on Xbox One is the more affordable option. It’s up to you to decide whether $80 is worth it for a basic face-lift to a nearly decade-old game.

Look at your TV to turn it on? Amazon could be making it happen

Why it matters to you

Voice control is powerful, but coupling it with gestures or your gaze will make it even easier to control objects around your house.

Looking to light up a room? That’s what Amazon might want you to do in the future, according to its patent  for “gaze-assisted object recognition” technology. The company originally filed the patent application back in May of 2012, but a final version was recently published.

Inventors Kenneth M. Karakotsios and Issac S. Noble developed gaze-assisted object recognition — a technology that may change the way we interact with the world around us. Using a pair of glasses, you could control connected devices by looking at them and speaking a command. It could also let you get information about objects and people you look at.

More: Harvard creates a renewable battery that can last for 10 years

You could look at a book, for instance, and information like the author, a description, related books, pricing, and purchasing options could show up on your device’s screen. Essentially, this makes it so you can stare at a product you like and immediately get information about it and have the option to buy it.

Gaze-assisted object recognition may also make it so you can stare at a connected device, like your lights, thermostat, or television, and say “on” to power them up. You could make a gesture with your hand to change the volume, or make other gestures or movements to change the channel.

In a business setting, Amazon’s patented technology could help with networking. The glasses may be configured to recognize faces and connect to an audio input and output. Therefore, when you enter a room, you can get information about everyone, like their names and roles in the organization. No more forgetting whether it’s Bob or Bill who works in accounting.

The glasses part makes it reminiscent of Google Glass, which the company hasn’t entirely abandoned. Amazon’s device-control aspect is an interesting addition, especially if it helps you turn on a light without having to remember whether you named it “Lamp One” or “Lamp Two.”

Four major studies will investigate automated insulin delivery systems

Why it matters to you

We’re still a way from being able to fully manage type 1 diabetes autonomously, but four major new studies into artificial pancreas technologies could help.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it is funding four new clinical trials designed to test out artificial pancreas systems — to the tune of a whopping $41 million in government grants.

The hope is to move closed-loop artificial pancreas systems closer to receiving the necessary regulatory approval.

The large-scale studies, which will involve hundreds of people, will take place later this year and into 2018. Participants will be able to self-monitor for the study, and can live at home as usual while taking part.

“The research is related to type 1 diabetes, which is the condition in which the pancreas stops producing insulin,” Dr. Roman Hovorka of University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories, who is heading up one of the trials, told Digital Trends. “There’s a collaborative element to the trials, although we’re working on different commercial systems. The goal is to move this technology forward so that people who need it can use it as soon as possible.”

More: Automated insulin delivery system for diabetes management gets FDA approval

The technology involves devices like Medtronic’s FDA-approved MiniMed 670G, a system that’s able to adjust insulin levels automatically. At present, users have to enter details about the carbohydrates they’ve consumed at mealtimes, calibrate the sensors, and more. The idea is to create a more autonomous system that’s able to detect blood sugar levels and adjust insulin doses, without the user having to do anything.

In Hovorka’s study, 130 people aged 6-18 will be monitored for a year using Medtronic’s 640G pump, a smart sensor, and an Android phone running a predictive algorithm called the Cambridge Model Predictive Control Algorithm. Trials will take place in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and the U.K.

A separate three-month study will compare the Medtronic device to another system called the MD-Logic Automated Insulin Delivery (MD-Logic). It will monitor 100 young people at sites around the U.S. and in Germany, Israel, and Slovenia.

Another study aims to put inControl, an artificial pancreas device system developed by the UVA Center for Diabetes Technology, through its paces. This trial will use follow 240 teenagers with type 1 diabetes for a period of six months in the U.S. and Europe. A related study will test out an alternative algorithm among 180 participants at Harvard University.

Finally, a fourth study — set to kick off in the middle of next year — will try out a bihormonal bionic pancreas to deliver insulin and counteract hormone glucagon using algorithms. This study will involve 480 people of all ages in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington.

We’re still a way from being able to fully manage type 1 diabetes autonomously, something that would free up patients from having to constantly play an active part in managing the condition. However, studies like this will only take us closer to the dream a successful, fully automated artificial pancreas.

On-call care: Get a virtual nurse on your smartphone with the Sensely app

Why it matters to you

Keeping tabs on chronic health conditions can be a tough undertaking, but the virtual nurse from Sensely can help.

Why go to the doctor if the doctor can come to you? Not necessarily by way of a house visit, but by way of your phone. That is the question San Francisco-based startup Sensely is asking and while it is not bringing the doctor to your mobile device, it is bringing the next best thing — a nurse. With Sensely, you can enjoy not only a virtual nurse, but also telemedicine, patient education videos, monitoring of vitals, and more.

Adam Odessky, who co-founded the app and now serves as its CEO, told TechCrunch that the platform is “a cross between Whatsapp and Siri that captures all the important signals about a person’s health.” Like Siri, Sensely lets you simply talk to it — there is no typing required. This seems particularly useful for older patients, who perhaps don’t have the patience to fiddle with small smartphone or tablet screens to input vital information. Users can let their nurses how they are doing every day (or every few days) by way of five-minute check-ups, and this data is aggregated into a record that can be shared with an authorized healthcare provider.

More: Innovative brain-reading cap allows ‘locked-in’ patients to communicate with doctors

Sensely can supplement these qualitative reports with data from medical devices, whether they are fitness wearables or hardware provided by a doctor. In order to provide customized healthcare solutions, Sensely responds differently to different diseases. For example, if you have diabetes, Sensely will help you “maintain optimal glucose levels and reduce their risk for diabetes-related complications” by monitoring your daily glucose levels, weight, ocular health, and podiatric health. However, if it’s congestive heart failure you’re concerned about, Sensely will keep closer tabs on blood pressure and diet.

The app is continually looking to provide unique solutions for patients across age groups and TechCrunch reports the app is “always layering in more protocols and content, usually from partner hospitals and clinics, to expand to cover different health issues and populations.”

While Sensely can help monitor your health on a daily basis, its goal isn’t to replace human healthcare professionals. “There aren’t people doing this job already. You couldn’t possibly have humans do this amount of phone calls and data analysis,” Odessky said. “This is a technology to help medical professionals do their jobs more effectively, and not one that threatens their livelihood.”

On-call care: Get a virtual nurse on your smartphone with the Sensely app

Why it matters to you

Keeping tabs on chronic health conditions can be a tough undertaking, but the virtual nurse from Sensely can help.

Why go to the doctor if the doctor can come to you? Not necessarily by way of a house visit, but by way of your phone. That is the question San Francisco-based startup Sensely is asking and while it is not bringing the doctor to your mobile device, it is bringing the next best thing — a nurse. With Sensely, you can enjoy not only a virtual nurse, but also telemedicine, patient education videos, monitoring of vitals, and more.

Adam Odessky, who co-founded the app and now serves as its CEO, told TechCrunch that the platform is “a cross between Whatsapp and Siri that captures all the important signals about a person’s health.” Like Siri, Sensely lets you simply talk to it — there is no typing required. This seems particularly useful for older patients, who perhaps don’t have the patience to fiddle with small smartphone or tablet screens to input vital information. Users can let their nurses how they are doing every day (or every few days) by way of five-minute check-ups, and this data is aggregated into a record that can be shared with an authorized healthcare provider.

More: Innovative brain-reading cap allows ‘locked-in’ patients to communicate with doctors

Sensely can supplement these qualitative reports with data from medical devices, whether they are fitness wearables or hardware provided by a doctor. In order to provide customized healthcare solutions, Sensely responds differently to different diseases. For example, if you have diabetes, Sensely will help you “maintain optimal glucose levels and reduce their risk for diabetes-related complications” by monitoring your daily glucose levels, weight, ocular health, and podiatric health. However, if it’s congestive heart failure you’re concerned about, Sensely will keep closer tabs on blood pressure and diet.

The app is continually looking to provide unique solutions for patients across age groups and TechCrunch reports the app is “always layering in more protocols and content, usually from partner hospitals and clinics, to expand to cover different health issues and populations.”

While Sensely can help monitor your health on a daily basis, its goal isn’t to replace human healthcare professionals. “There aren’t people doing this job already. You couldn’t possibly have humans do this amount of phone calls and data analysis,” Odessky said. “This is a technology to help medical professionals do their jobs more effectively, and not one that threatens their livelihood.”

Microsoft releases Outlook.com Premium in the U.S. for $20 a year until March 31

Why it matters to you

Hey, Outlook.com customers! Want to lose the ads and gain sharing? If you act fast and live in the U.S,, you can sign up for Microsoft’s Outlook.com Premium for only $20 per year.

Microsoft’s Hotmail email service became Outlook.com in 2012, and since then the company has reworked it into arguably one of the best email services on the market. As a part of Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity platform, Outlook.com offers a full range of email, contact, calendar, and other capabilities to compete with services like Google’s Gmail.

Outlook.com has been going through a complete revision to its online experience, and Microsoft has been previewing a premium subscription that adds even more functionality. Now, Outlook.com Premium is officially available, although only to users in the United States, as Thurrott reports.

More: Microsoft teams up with GoDaddy for Outlook.com Premium

The Premium service offers the following features on top of Outlook.com’s basic offerings:

• Ad-free inbox: You can now access your email, photos, and documents via the Outlook.com site without being bothered with banner advertising.
• More personalized email: You can create completely customized email addresses for up to five users using your own domain name, such as “bob@bobandfamily.com.” If you already own a domain name, then you can use it with Premium as well. All of your custom email addresses can sync to your existing Outlook.com mailbox. This particular functionality is free for the first year, and you’ll need to own that domain name separately or pick a new one that can be purchased through GoDaddy.
• Enhanced sharing: You can now share your Outlook.com calendar, contacts, and documents, with users sharing email addresses on your domain being automatically configured for sharing.

In addition, Outlook.com Premium users gain access to the same new inbox experience that’s being rolled out to all users through 2017. By now, you’re likely familiar with the new experience and should have a good idea of whether or not it meets your communications needs.

Premium subscriptions are currently available at the same $20 annual price that was in effect during the preview period, but that special pricing ends on March 31. After that, the price rises to $50 per year. If you’re a U.S. customer, you can sign up today.

Facebook rolls out autoplay sound, new TV app in video-focused update

Why it matters to you

Facebook is a prime destination for video, and its latest updates seek to improve the viewing experience for users.

Although Facebook isn’t necessarily thought of as a video platform, it does provide a massive portal to video content. Facebook is aware of this, which is why the social network is rolling out new video playback features on its mobile app, and introducing another app for TVs.

Facebook listed the video-focused updates in a post on its Newsroom blog. For starters, videos in the News Feed will now autoplay with sound turned on by default, and audio will fade in and out as you scroll past them. The company says the change has received positive feedback in testing, though if you disagree, it can be switched off in the settings. Either way, devices switched to silent will not automatically play sound in the News Feed.

More: Facebook’s latest test brings large, unavoidable ads to Messenger

A more welcome addition might be the larger preview for vertically formatted videos. Facebook notes it has been testing this layout for some accounts as well, and soon it will roll out to all iOS and Android users. The new viewing experience also sports a smoother animation to scale to full-screen more seamlessly, as well as a redesigned progress bar with thumbnails to make navigating videos much more convenient.

Finally, Facebook is adding watch-and-scroll functionality similar to what Google implemented quite a while ago in its YouTube app. Users can now minimize video to a picture-and-picture view while continuing to browse their News Feed. On Android, videos even continue to play outside of the app — similar to how the social network’s Chat Heads messaging feature operates.

In addition to the update for mobile, Facebook also announced it is making the move to bigger screens with a video app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV. The new app allows for easy viewing of videos shared by pages and friends, and also recommends content based on interest. It expands upon a feature the social network rolled out last fall, which introduced the ability to stream videos straight to a TV from any device. Facebook says it is working to bring the app to additional platforms in the future.

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Football helmet offers a glimpse of what the future of the NFL could look like

Why it matters to you

The sport’s future resides in protecting players’ brains and this helmet hopes to help that cause.

We live in an age in which everything from thermostats to fridges to, yes, toilets are becoming “smart.” Football helmets, however, haven’t yet joined the fray.

Sure, they transitioned from the pieces of padded rubber they were a century ago but, with the exception of the radio so a select few players can hear play calls, there’s a lot more they could do.

That is where Gridiron Labs, a Los Angeles-based design studio, founded by veteran creative director Dane Storrusten, comes in. Having previously worked with sports franchises and brands in various capacities, he recently headed up a new project designed to come up with a case study showing how helmet manufacturers can step up their game in the next 10 to 15 years.

More: This smart anti-concussion football helmet was created by a 19-year-old student

“The football helmet is one of those iconic, high-opportunity areas that acts as much more than just protective headwear, but one of the most prolific brand vehicles in any sport,” Storrusten told Digital Trends. “There are a lot of projects out there addressing only concussion safety — which is absolutely vital to the survival of the game and a topic our case study assumes is priority — but not much innovation around other aspects like usability, branding, or how the helmet becoming the next wearable, connected, device to enhance player and fan experiences.”

For their case study, Storrusten and collaborators looked at everything from new materials like graphene and nanocellulose to the growing ubiquity of small, ultra-tough embedded HD cameras, capable of taking a licking and keeping on ticking. You can read more details of the case study here, but it offers up intriguing possibilities like head-up displays able to provide information on other players or health stats, smart ventilation systems, impact sensors, and front and rear onboard cameras able to capture the game from every direction.

So will these innovations be coming to NFL screens, college football, or even Kickstarter anytime soon? Unfortunately not. There is a reason it’s a study based on football in 2030 — and it’s not because Gridiron Labs is shipping out finished units in the next six months.

“We have a prototype underway just to test out some of the fan experience aspects [such as the] digital display shell and HUD visor, [but] the rest is really just a fun, but realistic, forecast of what we may be able to expect from helmet manufacturers over the next decade,” Storrusten noted.

One thing is for sure, though: If everything Storrusten predicts comes true, football may be set to get even more exciting and immersive. And, hey, if any team owners read this and feel inspired, you know who to contact!

WD PR4100 NAS review

Research Center:
WD PR4100 NAS

In this age of digital media, it’s incredibly important for creative professionals — especially photographers and videographers — to build backup solutions into their workflows. One bad hard drive or power surge can wipe out an entire project, and this is simply not an issue that anyone wants to deal with – especially if it’s a project for a client or campaign.

Online cloud systems can be a great option for those with small or infrequent backup needs, but for anyone doing a lot of work, or needing to transfer large individual files, these offerings can be too slow and unreliable, and they may not address the potential security issues.

More: Iomega’s new four-drive NAS handles up to 8 TB

What’s the option for creatives who transfer 4K video or RAW photo files? It’s network attached storage, or NAS, an external hard drive/server category that pushes far beyond storage, with features useful for a variety of purposes. Take Western Digital’s PR4100, which is designed specifically for the sort of uses that creatives need: it’s a tool designed to make backing up and managing versions of your data easy, with redundant network connections and power plugs. It’s ideal for those who need an advanced, trustworthy backup solution.

Storage device with a brain

The PR4100 revolves around a quad-core Pentium N3710 processor with 4GB of DDR3L RAM, which is upgradable to 16GB of RAM if you decide that 4GB is insufficient for your needs. This is a huge advantage over other NAS units that do not feature upgradable RAM modules, as it allows for strong performance. RAM is available from any retailer that stocks computer parts; just be sure to buy standard laptop SODIMM units of DDR3L and you’ll be good to go.

The unit comes with three USB 3.0 ports for connecting other drives to the PR4100. For example, you can connect and back up the contents of a portable hard drive, memory card reader, or digital camera simply by pressing a button to initiate the process. It also has dual Ethernet ports and dual power ports (in case one fails). Dual power ports are handier than you’d think: imagine connecting the unit to some sort of a battery backup or UPS to keep it running in the event of a power outage. The PR4100 constantly monitors the power into the unit, and it automatically switches over to the secondary outlet if power to the primary outlet fails or is interrupted (assuming you have something plugged in there, of course). The PR4100 only comes with one power adapter, however, so if you want to use the second port you’ll need to buy another adapter from WD.

Anthony Thurston/Digital Trends

Anthony Thurston/Digital Trends

Anthony Thurston/Digital Trends

Anthony Thurston/Digital Trends

We tested the four-bay version, which can accommodate up to four hard drives and up to 32TB of total storage. There is also a dual-bay unit, the PR2100, which supports two drives but is otherwise virtually the same.

The PR4100 can be purchased as a bare unit ($500) that you can populate with your own drives, or you can purchase a unit with four WD Red drives pre-installed (they’re designed specifically for NAS use), up to 32TB. The biggest capacity comes with the biggest pricetag, of course: With 32 terabytes of storage, the NAS sells for $1,650. Installing drives is incredibly easy, of course — it’s literally plug and play — and you get an extra year warranty on the hard drives beyond what you’d get from the store. So unless you already have brand-new drives sitting around, or you have a preference for a certain brand, it makes more sense to buy the pre-populated unit.

The unit has a blue LCD screen above the drive bay doors, which displays information about the status of the drives and the enclosure itself. We found this helpful when we wanted to check on the unit without having to access the web portal.

Performance and use

Setting up the PR4100 is about as easy as it comes. If you purchased a pre-populated unit you simply take the PR4100 out of the box, plug it into the wall with the supplied power adapter, and connect it to your router with the supplied Ethernet cable. Once this is done, it is just a matter of accessing the drive via the WD web browser-based portal and setting up a WD Cloud account.

The PR4100 is quite loud on startup; you can hear the drives spinning up and the fan at the rear of the unit. This mostly dies down once the unit has cycled through its startup procedure. The drives are very audible when being accessed, so this is not something you’ll want on your desk or in a location where noise could be a concern.

WD Sync software is included for automatic file backups.

Unfortunately, the PR4100 (and most NAS units, in general) doesn’t offer Wi-Fi as a connectivity option, so you’ll either need to set it up close to a router or pull a long Ethernet cable. While this isn’t good news for those who want to go wireless, Gigabit Ethernet provides a fast, reliable connection, which is crucial if you are transferring massive amounts of data. Your devices, however, can access the PR4100 on the network provided the router is wireless, of course.

A highlight of this device is its cloud capabilities. Once you have the PR4100 connected to the Internet, you can access the data you have on it from anywhere and nearly any device. If you are out at a client meeting, for example, and they want to see the latest sketch of your project, you can pull it up quickly – on a computer or the MyCloud mobile app – on a phone, tablet, or laptop.

But connection speed depends on the quality of the network – both the one in your home, office, or wherever, and your Internet access. This means that transfer speeds can vary quite a bit depending on a variety of situations.

More: Seagate’s Barracuda Pro 10TB is the biggest consumer hard drive yet

In our case, we transferred a 1.5GB video file to and from the PR4100, using Wi-Fi. Using an AC wireless connection, the PR4100 achieved a maximum data transfer speed of around 43MBps, but the actual average speed fluctuated, so it was slower on average. In all, it took us roughly 1 minute and 20 seconds to transfer this file.

We attempted the same test using a hardwired Ethernet connection and hit transfer speeds that fluctuated around 115MBps. The hardwired connection was much faster, as you’d expect, so those looking to get the best transfer speeds out of the PR4100 will want one. We also tested with a powerline wired connection, and we don’t recommend it: transfer speeds capped out at 5-6MB/s.

This connection speed also varies greatly when connecting to the unit from an outside network, like a hotel or coffee shop. For what it’s worth, we connected to the PR4100 through our cell phone hotspot and were able to get around 25MBps.

The PR4100 isn’t all work and no play. In a home entertainment environment, it can act as a media server, for example. For testing, we set it up as a Plex server, streaming movies to multiple Roku boxes, desktops, and laptops throughout the home. We found that the unit had enough juice to handle four streams simultaneously without any issue. Any more than four and the unit would take longer to load a stream and even stutter on with weak connections. But for most homes this should be plenty. The PR4100 also supports DLNA and iTunes media streaming to compatible devices.

The Photographer’s Friend?

What the PR4100 isn’t good for is primary storage that you need to access frequently. It’s really meant to function as a backup solution. We wouldn’t recommend storing something like an Adobe Lightroom catalog on it, or files that you plan to work on, for example; that’s better served with a desktop-class external hard drive connected directly to a computer. It makes more sense to have your archived images or files stored on the PR4100 –data that you may need access to from anywhere, but only occasionally.

More: Sonos owners can now stream their music library throughout their homes via Plex

That said, we did test running an Adobe Lightroom catalog off the PR4100. As expected, there were some slowdowns, particularly when loading up images. But it was still useful, despite the delays. If you needed to access a Lightroom catalog remotely, this would work — but it wouldn’t match having a Lightroom catalog on your computer or connected external HDD/SSD.

The PR4100 supports cloud storage systems like Dropbox and Adobe’s Creative Cloud, allowing you to backup data to and from those services on your PR4100. This is a great way to achieve a little redundancy with your files (having them saved not only on your personal cloud, but also offsite). This capability, while not perfect, is beneficial for photographers and videographers who need to be able to access images or video while traveling but don’t want to lug around a bevy of external drives. For photographers, this would be access to RAW files or a Lightroom catalog; for videographers maybe it’s access to your clips and being able to stream them via the Plex app. The possibilities here are great for traveling creatives.

For backup, WD includes two software options, Sync and Smartware Pro. The Sync software is more like a file history backup: you tell the software what files or folders you want synced with the PR4100 and then the software does all the lifting. If you accidentally delete a file, the software will automatically pull the most recent version back from the PR4100 into your synced folder. It can keep a specific file or folder in sync as well, which may be too simplistic for some, but if you work within its limits you can have fast access to your data on your computer. One example of this: keep the folder that your Lightroom Catalog is in synced with the PR4100. That way you have fast access to it on local storage, but can also access it remotely. For Mac users, you can bypass the included software and utilize Time Machine in MacOS.

The Smartware Pro software is more advanced than Sync and gives users more control over what is being backed up to the PR4100. You can set your files to be synced automatically (so that the PR4100 always has the most up to date version of a given file) or you can set up the PR4100 to back up your files at set intervals (hourly daily, weekly, etc). Smartware Pro is definitely more of your traditional data backup solution, compared to the simpler file/folder based sync software.

With Plex support, it’s is as good of a home entertainment server as it is an office server.

The app isn’t difficult to use, but accessing data can be tricky if you don’t recall where you saved it on the device — an issue you can have with any cloud data service, of course. If multiple people (family or coworkers) need to access the PR4100, you can set them up with their own accounts, which then also separates out special folders for them to use. Navigation of the app is simple and snappy, especially on the same network as the PR4100. If you are accessing it externally, you may have a few slowdowns or hiccups, but overall the experience is painless. WD really did well in this regard.

You can’t manage the PR4100 completely from the mobile app, but you can add users, see the storage utilization, and view recent activity. If you do want to update your Plex server or install one of the various other available apps (WordPress, Dropbox, Joomla, PHPBB, PHPMyAdmin, etc.), you’ll need to access the PR4100 control panel from a web browser. It would have been nice to have complete management access from within the app, but what you can do is sufficient for most people.

WD PR4100 NAS Compared To

Plextor M8Pe

WD Blue 1TB SSD

Intel SSD 750 Series

Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim…

LaCie Porsche Design hard drive

Samsung T3 Portable SSD MU-PT2T0B

Transcend SSD370

Crucial BX200 960GB

Toshiba Q300 480GB HDTS748XZSTA

Samsung Portable SSD T1

ioSafe Solo G3

ioSafe Rugged Portable

HP MediaSmart EX487

Corsair Flash Survivor (8GB)

Crucial Gizmo! 256MB

Another thing to consider is the security available with this NAS. When you initially set up the unit and choose which RAID configuration to use, you choose whether to encrypt your drives. Add to that the ability for individual user accounts to access only specific parts of the PR4100, and this is more than secure enough for most uses. WD also has an Antivirus app that you can install onto the PR4100 that scans and monitors the data on the drives to prevent infections.

Our Take

The PR4100 is an incredibly solid NAS: It’s powerful and upgradable for professional use, while at the same time simple enough for non-techies. And the latter part is a key piece to this product: It just works, and be it for home or office, or a little bit of both, the PR4100 offers an experience anyone can enjoy.

Is there a better alternative?

The DT Accessory Pack

WD 3TB My Passport Wireless Pro Portable external hard drive

$180

Ugreen Ethernet Extension Cable Network Cat6 extension patch cable

$5.59

Energizer USB 3.0 SD card reader

$20

The PR4100 is WD’s top of the line NAS right now, and it faces stiff competition from the likes of Drobo, Synology, QNAP, and Netgear. Whether there are better alternatives depends on your desired use; if you’re looking for a Plex media server, then the WD is your best option right now with built-in transcoding. But if you are simply looking for a personal cloud of data storage, other options will work just as well and will likely be cheaper. The PR4100 has simple setup and ease of use on its side. If you are a creative pro, you want a product that requires no fuss and works out of the box.

How long will it last?

The PR4100 is built solidly and the WD Red drives that it uses are known for their reliability and longevity. This unit should last for years, although hard drives can fail. Here’s where RAID’s redundancy comes in handy: Even if a drive goes down, replacing it is easy and the unit will continue to function with minimal performance hits. Expect a very long life.

Should you buy it?

We think that the PR4100 is a great option for creative professionals and home users who want or need the advantages of a personal cloud and home NAS but don’t necessarily have the techy background. If you fall into that category, then yes, the PR4100 is a product that we recommend.

WD has built a product that lives in the crossroads of performance and usability, being powerful enough to handle the workloads required of a pro with the simplicity required to set it up and use without help or hassle.

T-Mobile has a brilliant plan to stay ahead of Verizon’s LTE network

T-Mobile has a plan to keep its LTE speed crown, and it involves Wi-Fi (sort of).

During its fourth quarter earnings call this week, T-Mobile’s CTO Neville Ray brought up something that the company has been working on since 2015: LTA-U, which stands for Unlicensed.

Though T-Mobile is ostensibly tied with Verizon for best network in the U.S., beating it in speed in many markets while trailing in overall coverage, it said that it has no intentions to stop investing in its LTE network, which currently covers some 314 million Americans. In addition to continuing to roll out low-band 700Mhz spectrum in major markets like Chicago, San Francisco and New York City, T-Mobile intends to use unlicensed 5GHz spectrum to augment downlink speeds in more congested markets.

The initial call to action came all the way back in January 2015, but nothing has happened in the interim as the rollout of supported chipsets from Qualcomm, and devices from third-party manufacturers, have been held up by complaints to the FCC from various lobbying groups looking to prevent interference with existing Wi-Fi signals, which increasingly use that same 5GHz spectrum. But Ray said that the deployment of so-called Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) will happen in 2017 into 2018, and T-Mobile’s customers, which are already disproportionally running LTE devices, stand to benefit greatly, and that the Wi-Fi interference problem is both overstated and likely to be overcome with cautious planning.

Presented without context, because T-Mobile.

Ray also brought up T-Mobile’s proliferation of small cells in densely-populated markets as a way to alleviate congestion. The company has deployed over 1,000 small cells across the country, and plans to at least double that number in 2017, mainly to prepare for 5G — which is coming — but also to facilitate the transmission of those unlicensed 5GHz airwaves, which travel shorter distances than typical cellular signals.

T-Mobile’s network advantage comes from pushing users to more spectrally efficient technologies before its competitors. Specifically, over 65% of the company’s postpaid customers are completely off the 3G network, relying on LTE for both voice and data. He said that 70% of the company’s entire spectrum allotment across Band 2, Band 12 and Band 66 uses LTE, and that will increase to 80% as it refarms existing 3G airspace. Of course, Verizon is not just sitting out of the unlicensed LTE space altogether, but like its rivals at AT&T and Sprint, it is at least a year behind deploying the technology to the public.

Over 65% of T-Mobile’s postpaid customers are completely off the 3G network.

T-Mobile also said that, in light of its decision to allow T-Mobile One customers to stream HD video across its network, it would keep SD streaming as the default, and only anticipates a single-digit percentage of customers to actually enable the higher-bandwidth option.

For all of its bluster around T-Mobile One, zero-rating, net neutrality and undermining the competition, T-Mobile’s network strategy appears to be as robust as any of its competitors. It was the only carrier in the Big Four to have year-over-year growth in wireless service revenue and postpaid net customer additions, and it believes that by emphasizing unlimited while rewarding customers that don’t overrun the network — a recent “Uncarrier” announcement — it can continue to gain customers, add to the bottom line, and spur competition.

T-Mobile responds to Verizon’s unlimited plan by rolling back its dumbest changes