Make sure you watch our LG Watch Style video review!

When it comes to Android Wear 2.0, the LG Watch Sport isn’t the only game in town. Its leaner cousin, the Watch Style, is one of the sleekest, slimmest Android watches to date. And it serves as an alternative to the hefty Watch Sport for buyers wanting the basic Android Wear 2.0 experience without the LTE and NFC baggage of the Sport. (And the extra bulk that’s required due to extra antennae and bigger batteries.)

As the name suggests, the Watch Style is supposed to be about looking good first and foremost. (A failing of many, many current smartwatches, whatever operating system they’re running.) However as our own Florence Ion discovered in her review, the watch’s aesthetics aren’t quite enough to make up for the reduced feature set — in particular, the lack of Android Pay stands out as a weakness. Still, it’s important to underscore how big a deal it is for there to finally be an Android Wear option that doesn’t look like a dinner plate sitting on your wrist. And the new rotating crown button, though problematic when the watch is worn loose, is a great way to navigate through lists in Wear 2.0. For wearable fans with smaller wrists, this thing is likely to become the default choice. And it’s also a good deal cheaper than its sporty cohort, selling for $249.

There’s much more on the LG Watch Style from Flo in our video review above — and be sure to check out her written review for a full lowdown of the most wearable Android wearable yet.

• Android Central on YouTube
• LG Watch Style full review
• LG Watch Sport review
• Android Wear 2.0 review
• Where to buy the LG Watch Style

How to install LibreElec [OS for Kodi] on Chromebox

Get Kodi on your Chromebox in a flash using LibreElec!

A Chromebox is a pretty cool and inexpensive way to get yourself (or your kids!) online with Chrome OS. They’re easy to use and keep you safer than most computers while you work or play around. But they’re also just a regular compact-form PC when it comes to the hardware.

That means it’s easy to slap another operating system on one if you take a little time to find the right directions. That’s what we’re going to talk about right here and get you started with installing LibreElec on your Chromebox.

What is LibreElec?

According to the official site, LibreELEC is “Just enough OS” for Kodi; it’s a Linux distribution built to run Kodi on current and popular media center hardware — like a Chromebox.

It’s a very slim Linux OS that’s built for running Kodi without any extra overhead so everything runs as well as possible on low-powered hardware. That means you can use less hardware to do everything or you can get better performance out of the type of hardware that’s inside a Chromebox.

In other words, everything will be really fast when you’re moving through the menus and looking for something to listen to or watch.

More: All about Kodi

Setting up the hardware

There is a LibreElec installation file for every Chromebox that’s been made so far. Since we can’t cover them all, we’re going to focus on the ASUS Chromebox M004U. It’s probably the most popular Chromebox and one of the cheapest. If you are using a different Chromebox, the instructions are very similar but not exactly that same. Don’t use these directions on anything besides an ASUS Chromebox M004U (either the 2GB or 4GB version)!

See the Chromebox M004U on Amazon

You’ll need to prepare your Chromebox and get it into developer mode and (optionally) disable the write-correct on the hardware to swap out the OS. It’s not difficult but usually involves opening the case. To get into developer mode (this erases all the existing data!):

• Insert a paperclip into the small home icon next to the SD card slot to press the recovery button.
• Turn on the Chromebox and then remove the paperclip.
• At the recovery screen press Ctrl + D to enter Developer Mode.
• Press the recovery button again to confirm.

Give it a few minutes and you’ll see the developer mode boot screen. When everything is finished booting, shut it all off.

Image: Kodi Wiki

Disabling the firmware write-protect involves opening the case and removing a screw on the mainboard. We’re going to replace Chrome with LibreElec so this is a necessary step. Don’t worry! It’s not hard and the official Kodi Wiki has complete instructions for every Chromebox along with photos. Take a minute to gather up a screwdriver and have a look.

Installing the software

You’ll need two USB thumb drives to backup Chrome OS and get your installation media during this step. Any thumb drive that’s 8GB or larger will work here, and you need to know that you will lose any data on it once we get started. We’re using the Chromebox EZ-Script to do this the easy way.

• Make sure you are connected to the internet and boot to Chrome OS, but don’t log in.
• Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to open a command line.
• Log in as chronos with no password.
• Download the Chromebox EZ-Script using this command:

curl -L -O http://mrchromebox.tech/setup-kodi.sh

• Run the script with this command:

sudo bash setup-kodi.sh

The installer

• Press 5 to start a Standalone Setup. This updates and overwrites the coreboot firmware so we can replace Chrome. Don’t use this file if you do not have an ASUS Chromebox M004U!
• Insert one of your thumb drives when prompted to back up the factory software.
• When prompted again, remove that thumb drive. Label it Chrome OS and store it somewhere. Then insert the second thumb drive to build the LibreElec installer.
• Reboot with the thumb drive inserted.

When you get to the boot menu, press the Escape key and choose the thumb drive as the boot device. Pressing Escape a second time will skip the boot menu and force your Chromebox to try and boot from the hard drive.

• Select Run Installer.
• Choose Quick Install.

Follow the easy wizard to install LibreElec to the Chromebox storage. Here are the recommended settings for the ASUS M004U using the default skin (called Confluence):

• System > OpenELEC > System: Automatic Updates: Auto
• System > OpenELEC > Services: Enable Bluetooth: Selected if you’re using Bluetooth. Unselected if not.
• System > Settings > System: Settings Level: Expert (Don’t worry, expert in this case only means you can see all the settings)
• System > Settings > System > Video Output: Vertical blank sync: Enabled during video playback
• System > Settings > System > Power Saving: Shutdown function: Suspend (This sets IR “switch” to suspend/resume instead of on/off)
• System > Settings > Videos > Acceleration: Use VC-1 VAAPI: Selected
• System > Settings > Videos > Acceleration: Use SW Filter for VAAPI: Selected

When you’re done, reboot one last time. You’ll start up running LibreElec and Kodi will be front and center, waiting for you to grab some add-ons and fine tune your new media center!

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
• Acer Chromebook 14 review
• Join our Chromebook forums

Scientists make battery that runs on air and carbon dioxide

Researchers at Penn State University have potentially come up with yet another way we could create energy from all that nasty carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. They’ve developed an inexpensive flow cell battery that uses mostly water solutions containing either dissolved CO2 or dissolved normal air — the technical name for the dissolving process is called sparging, just FYI. Because the liquids contain different concentrations of CO2, they have different pH levels, and it’s this imbalance that generates electricity.

In a flow cell battery, two liquids are separated by a membrane that doesn’t allow them to mix, but does permit the flow of ions. As ions are exchanged between the denser CO2 solution and normal air solution, the voltage changes at the manganese oxide electrodes in either tank. This stimulates the flow of electrons between the two connected electrodes and voilà: electricity. When the ion concentrations have normalized, you can effectively recharge the battery by refilling each tank with the opposite solution, reversing the flow of electrons. The Penn State scientists were able to do this over 50 times before seeing a drop in performance.

Using CO2 in a flow cell battery isn’t an entirely new idea, but this version has an average power density of 0.82 W/m2 — nearly 200 times higher than anything developed previously, according to the researchers. Other CO2-based fuel cell systems are capable of much more, but they are also much more complicated, using other energy dense fuels and requiring high temperatures to operate.

Penn State’s battery, on the other hand, works at room temperature and uses inexpensive materials and processes. Even so, the team admit it may not be economically viable to make use of their research on a large scale just yet. The dream, though, would be to integrate these batteries into fossil fuel power stations, repurposing their CO2 emissions to make even more energy. While more work needs to be done to improve performance and viability, anything that can make light of a bad (and worsening) situation can only be a good thing.

Via: Phys.org

Source: Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Xiaomi is reportedly building its own phone processor

With all the lawsuits being brought against major mobile chip maker Qualcomm, there seems to be no better time for smartphone makers to explore other CPU options. According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese company Xiaomi may be developing its own custom processor for an upcoming phone. We’ve reached out to Xiaomi for confirmation, and have yet to hear back.

If Xiaomi does indeed start making its own processor, there could be several benefits for the company and its customers. It will likely be cheaper to make smartphones with the company’s own chips, instead of buying them from Qualcomm or other third-party suppliers. That would allow Xiaomi to sell their devices at even more competitive prices than before.

Custom chips could also let Xiaomi come up with creative features to help its phones stand out. Huawei uses its own Kirin processor in the Mate 9, and that hardware integration enabled the company to make the phone artificially intelligent. Indeed, thanks to the Kirin CPU, the Mate 9 is able to learn your habits over time to optimize performance.

Xiaomi will have to ensure its components can measure up to the competition, though. In addition to Huawei, Samsung also makes its own Exynos chip, and it took both brands some time to get their processors to perform comparably to Qualcomm’s higher-end Snapdragon options. Given Xiaomi’s relative lack of experience in the field, it’s hard to tell if its chip will be capable of standing up against its rivals.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Dodge repurposes its parking tech to safeguard police

Fiat Chrysler has cleverly re-purposed some not-state-of-the-art tech on its police cars to protect officers. The radar and cameras at the rear of its Charger Pursuit vehicles can now detect movement behind the car when its parked, alerting officers with a chime, locking the doors, rolling up the windows and flashing the taillights. It also activates the vehicle’s rear camera, letting cops know what’s going on at their “six.”

The tech could prevent a rash of incidents like one that happened recently in San Antonio, where 20-year veteran detective was fatally shot while sitting in his car during a traffic stop. “This technology is designed to prevent an officer from being ambushed from the rear while parked,” said FCA Fleet CEO Jeff Kommor. “While it does not replace vigilance, [it] acts as a second set of eyes and provides police officers with added peace of mind when they are in a parked Charger Pursuit.”

Though FCA doesn’t say so, it appears to be using the existing rear camera and radar on the Pursuit. The InterMotive module, called the “Officer Protection Package,” is simply plugged into the vehicle’s OBD-II port and secured under the dash. The company says they came up with the feature by request from a number of agencies.

Radar sensors and cameras work on many vehicles after they’re started (and some in the ignition accessory position), so police would have already been able to use the camera and radar, including an audible warning. However, the automatic locking, windows and flashing lights ups the safety factor considerably. Fiat Chrysler is offering the new features on its 2017 Charger Pursuit for no cost.

Source: Fiat Chrysler

Snapchat is getting a reality TV show from A+E

The running theme for Snapchat this year? It wants to be seen as more than an ephemeral messaging service. One way it can accomplish that is by bringing on more original content, like with its exclusive Planet Earth II deal. Now Snapchat is planning to get an original reality TV series by partnering with A+E Networks, Techrunch reports. The show is called Second Chance, and it’ll involve “emotional exes” getting together to figure out why their relationships fell apart. If that sounds entertaining to you, congrats! You’re part of the demographic Snap is desperate to reach ahead of its IPO this year.

Second Chance will run for eight weeks in the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia, and it’s being produced by A+E’s digital-focused production studio 45th & Dean. A+E hints that this will be the first of many shows it’s developing for Snapchat.

This isn’t Snap’s first foray into reality TV. The company also partnered with Disney for a Bachelor recap show, and it’s also working with NBC for a shrunken down version of The Voice. It makes more sense for Snap to focus on unscripted shows, since they’re easier to produce and more in line with the app’s free-wheeling sensibility. Naturally, both Snap and A+E stand to gain from the deal. It’ll give Snapchat even more content to keep its users entertained, and A+E could benefit from an entirely new audience.

Source: TechCrunch

The best receiver

By Chris Heinonen

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

We spent 10 hours researching and more than 70 hours performing hands-on testing to determine that the Denon AVR-S720W is the best receiver for most people. It offers by far the easiest setup process we’ve ever seen in a receiver, and it’s the simplest to use of the models we tested, with none of the usability flaws of its competitors. It provides very good sound quality and every new feature you might need, including AirPlay, Bluetooth, Pandora, and Spotify Connect support plus the ability to connect directly to Internet radio stations and local DLNA servers.

Who should get this

If you have an older receiver without HDMI support, now is a good time to upgrade. All the new models we tested support HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, which means they’ll work with Ultra HD 4K displays and sources. If you already have an HDMI receiver but want to buy a 4K TV and want to be able to switch between 4K sources now (or soon), upgrading makes sense.

Wireless audio streaming has become much easier on newer receivers, as well. Our top pick offers AirPlay, Bluetooth, Pandora, and Spotify Connect support, along with the ability to directly connect to Internet radio stations and local DLNA servers. If you’re still hooking your tablet or smartphone directly to your receiver instead of streaming, upgrading will make listening to that audio much easier.

New models also usually support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, but as those audio technologies require more speakers, this isn’t a major reason to upgrade (for most people, anyway).

If you already own an HDMI receiver and don’t plan to use 4K sources or don’t need to stream wirelessly, you can hold off for now. In most cases new receiver models won’t sound any better than what you have; they’ll just offer more features and futureproofing.

How we picked and tested

Photo: Chris Heinonen

In 2014, we surveyed Wirecutter readers to see what they wanted in a receiver. (Though we conducted that survey two years ago, in that period of time there have been no new surround-sound formats or HDMI versions that would significantly change what to buy.) We wanted to know how many speakers our readers used, how they listened to music and watched video, and what they expected from a receiver. Close to 1,000 people responded to the survey and helped us define the criteria we would look for in our choices.

Knowing what our readers wanted based on our survey, as well as keeping an eye on what features would be needed in the near future (as best as anyone can, that is), we narrowed our research and testing focus to receivers with:

• Five or more channels of audio
• Five or more HDMI inputs (along with a few analog-video inputs)
• Ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio
• Access to online content, with emphasis on Pandora and Spotify support
• A way to stream music wirelessly, either Bluetooth or AirPlay
• A built-in phono stage (a bonus)
• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support (a bonus)

This year, after all our research we brought in and tested six receivers that matched our criteria: the Anthem MRX 520, the Denon AVR-S720W, the Onkyo TX-NR555, the Pioneer VSX-1131, the Sony STR-DN1070, and the Yamaha RX-V481. See our full guide for more on how we established our criteria for how we picked and tested.

We tested the receivers in a 25 by 12 by 7½-foot home theater and in a 13 by 11 by 8-foot home theater using KEF R300 speakers for fronts and surrounds, a KEF R600C center channel, and an SVS PB-1000 subwoofer. We performed Atmos testing using KEF R50 Atmos modules. The KEF speakers are 8-ohm nominal loads and 88-decibel efficient (claimed), so a receiver should be able to drive them without too much effort.

Our pick

Photo: Chris Heinonen

The Denon AVR-S710W is the best receiver for most people because it is the easiest to set up and has every feature most people will need. In our tests it sounded very good and didn’t distort even at high volume levels. It supports important wireless streaming standards, has enough inputs for most people, and supports future standards in case you decide to upgrade.

The hard truth is that most receivers will sound almost identical at this price range because they use similar-quality amplifiers and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), so the major differentiator in sound quality will be your speakers. Because of this fact, features and price become more important when you’re selecting a receiver.

A receiver is the most complex AV device most people will ever buy. Everything in your system has to run through it, so once you’ve gotten everything hooked up, it looks like a giant wire Cthulhu. Even for experienced AV enthusiasts, setting up a receiver, with its dozens of buttons and options, can be daunting.

However, our pick (along with the other Denon models) sets itself apart from the moment you turn it on, with its easy setup guide. It makes the process as painless as possible, running you through the setup step by step, helping you do everything necessary to get the receiver running—and we mean everything. For example, it guides you through hooking up your speakers, from stripping the wire to determining which ones are connected and then confirming that they’re on the correct terminals.

Runner-up

Photo: Chris Heinonen

If the Denon AVR-S720W is unavailable, the Pioneer VSX-1131 is a good choice. It has most of the same features as our top pick, plus an additional HDMI input for seven in total. Like the AVR-S720W, the VSX-1131 has AirPlay, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Dolby Atmos, and integrated Wi-Fi support. It will convert an analog video signal to HDMI, too, so you need to run only a single cable to your TV. It even offers the component-video and phono inputs that the Denon model lacks, though it will accept only 480i over component, so you can’t have your older Wii console or other device set to 480p mode. It also features Chromecast Audio support, which we really like to see.

Unlike the Denon AVR-S720W, which supports HDCP 2.2 on all six of its HDMI inputs as well as its output, only three of the Pioneer VSX-1131’s seven HDMI inputs support HDCP 2.2, so it can’t work with as many Ultra HD devices. The room-correction system is Pioneer’s own MCACC, which in our tests didn’t perform as well for us as the licensed Audyssey system on the top-pick Denon model.

Upgrade pick

Photo: Chris Heinonen

If you’re concerned only about sound and don’t need streaming features integrated into your receiver, the Anthem MRX 520 offers the best audio quality. The main reason you might want a model from the Anthem MRX series is because of the company’s more advanced and powerful room correction (better than the one in our Denon pick, which is good for its class). In our tests, we ran all of the receivers through their integrated setup routines, and the Anthem was the only one to accurately detect and configure all of our speakers with a proper crossover. Anthem now offers an iOS version of its ARC app, as well, so you no longer need a PC to run the audio setup.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from The Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

Mark Zuckerberg demos finger-tracking Oculus gloves

In a bit to keep folks excited about its Oculus virtual reality products, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off a bunch of new tech at the Oculus Research facility in Redmond, Washington. The most interesting prototype was a new set of gloves (above) that can “bring your hands into virtual and augmented reality,” he wrote on a Facebook post. They could address one of the biggest user complaints about the Rift VR headset: the inability to easily interact with objects in virtual reality.

“We’re working on new ways to bring your hands in virtual and augmented reality,” said Zuckerberg. “Wearing these gloves, you can draw, type on a virtual keyboard, and even shoot webs like Spider Man. That’s what I’m doing here.”

As TechCrunch points out, the gloves appear to be equipped with trackers on the fingers that are scanned by OptiTrack Prime 17W motion capture cameras. For a commercial product with a similar system, Oculus would have to develop its own cameras, since the 17W currently runs about $3,500 per unit.

The tech resembles the Pebbles Interfaces system that Oculus purchased in 2015. There are other ways to do finger tracking, though — Microsoft’s Kinect can track your hands with just a single camera, for instance, and the Dexmo gloves do it via mechanical means. Developing reliable, easy-to-use gloves will be a big step in VR, opening up gaming, entertainment and other applications.

The Oculus team is also looking at “advanced optics, eye tracking, mixed reality and new ways to map the human body,” Zuckerberg said. The lab’s aim is to shrink the size of the tech and “let you interact with the virtual world,” he adds, giving you the true feeling that you’re in another world.

Source: Facebook

Google makes its screen reader easier to use on Chromebooks

To improve the Chromebook experience for users with visual impairments, Google announced a new version of its ChromeVox tool this week. First, the screen reading feature is now the default option on all Chromebooks running Chrome OS 56 and newer. All you have to do to turn it on is hit Ctrl + Alt + Z.

As part of this update, Google says it made the ChromeVox keyboard controls easier to use. These commands are what help you navigate websites and other apps without a mouse. Those controls not only work on web pages, but they can also be used to access other parts of the UI — like the Chromebook menu and status tray. Google has also made it easier to find and learn all of those handy commands thanks to new ChromeVox menus. Here, you can get a list of open tabs, ChromeVox options, speech options and a rundown of the key parts of a page — things like links, headings or tables. That ChromeVox menu is accessible by pressing Search + Period or clicking an icon in the upper left corner.

The new version of ChromeVox also allows users to use a braille display’s keyboard to navigate around Chrome. Google says Chromebooks play nice with most USB braille displays, so this gives people with visual impairments another option. It also means they won’t have to switch back and forth to the Chromebook keyboard to get around. There’s also a new feature that allows teachers to follow along with text captions at the top of the Chromebook screen as students read on a braille display.

Lastly, ChromeVox now has auditory features called “earcons.” The tools give the user context when they arrive at something like a link or button and provide cues when a page is still loading and more. Earcons use stereo positioning to help the user understand where the information is on a page. This means that if you come to a button that’s on the right side of the page, the earcon will play through the right speaker or headphones.

Source: Google

Fukushima reactor’s radiation levels killed a cleaning robot

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) wasn’t kidding when it said the radiation levels inside Fukushima’s nuclear reactor are the highest they’ve been since its meltdown in 2011. It had to pull out the robot it sent in to find the exact location of melted uranium fuel and to do preliminary cleanup inside the reactor, because it died shortly after it started its mission. Apparently, two of the machine’s cameras suddenly became wonky, darkened and developed a lot of noise after merely two hours of scraping debris away. Those are all signs of extremely high radiation levels.

Tepco believes the robot endured approximately 650 Sieverts of radiation per hour if it only lasted a couple of hours. If it were a human in there, he would have died instantly. The team decided to pull the robot back when its cameras went dark before losing it completely.

Since the machine wasn’t able to complete its mission of doing recon and cleanup for Tepco’s second robot, the follow-up machine will have a lot more to do. That is, if the team even decides to deploy it — officials said they have to study the outcome further before deciding. The good news is that even though the radiation levels inside the reactor are extremely deadly, the team didn’t find any leaks that could pose a risk to anyone outside.

Source: AP