How to accessorize your Black Onyx Galaxy S7

Black is always in style.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 looks absolutely gorgeous in black. Like really good. So good, you may want to make sure that all your accessories for it match.

So we’ve collected our favorite accessories that’ll not only look smashing alongside your black Galaxy S7 but also add a ton of added functionality for your phone. Let’s dive right in!

• Samsung Gear VR
• Samsung Wireless Charging Pack
• Samsung S-View Flip Case
• Spigen Style Ring (black)
• Samsung Fast Charge Wireless Charging Stand

Samsung Gear VR

While the best VR experience is still to be had with the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, Samsung is arguably leading the mobile VR sector with the Samsung Gear VR. This updated headset is designed to work with the Samsung Galaxy S7 along with USB-C devices such as the now-defunct Note 7. The 2016 edition is all-black, which fits perfectly with accessories that match your black S7.

Virtual Reality is an entirely subjective experience, and it’s possible that VR is just not your bag. But if you’ve got the itch to dive right in and see what VR has to offer, the Samsung Gear VR is a great entry point. Available for well under $100, it’s the best value for VR you’ll find. And make sure to check in with our pals over at VRHeads.com, who have a growing list of the best games for the Samsung Gear VR. You’re definitely going to want to invest in a few games to show this thing off to friends and family.

See at Amazon

Samsung Wireless Charging Pack

There are a number of great external battery packs that’ll work great with your Samsung Galaxy S7, but carrying around a separate accessory and cable to keep your phone charged is cumbersome.

The Samsung Wireless Charging Pack is a case that not only offers basic protection from your phone from drops but will also help keep your battery topped up throughout the day with an extra 3,100mAh of extra power available via wireless charging, which also leaves your ports at the bottom of the phone completely open. Buying a battery case can be tricky because they often add a ton of extra bulk to your phone. That’s not an issue here, as Samsung has designed perhaps the slimmest battery pack you’ll find. It’s also available in black, of course.

See at Amazon

Samsung S-View Flip Case

When it comes to cases for your phone, you got options — like a ton of great case options depending on your needs. But in keeping with our theme of accessorizing your black Galaxy S7, we got to give the nod to this proprietary case from Samsung that offers a bunch of added functionality that will keep your phone protected yet accessible at all times.

Using the Samsung ID chip, your phone knows when the case is closed and will display specific information that can be viewed through the frosted front of the case and will allow you to interact with the phone through it. This lets you cool things like answer calls without having to flip the front cover open. Your phone snaps in quick and easy into the hard plastic back plate, which also features extra protection in the corners — a particularly vulnerable area for your phone to fall. You can get yours in black to match your phone.

See at Amazon

Spigen Style Ring (black)

This one is always a somewhat contentious accessory pick because not everyone is down with adding a mounted hook on the back of your expensive phone. We get that. But, the Spigen Style Ring is seriously one of those accessories that will not only grow on you with time, you’ll absolutely come to rely on the added functionality it provides.

It works as a kickstand for hands-free viewing, includes a very handy mount to install in your car for hands-free calls and directions as you drive, and also comes in real handy when inserting and removing your phone from your Samsung Gear VR. It comes available in multiple different colors and is fairly painless to remove without leaving any marks or residue on the back of your phone. It will impede with some NFC functionality and wireless charging, so if those are important features for you, then you’re best off slapping it on the back of a case instead. It’s just a super versatile accessory that seems unconventional at first but becomes essential in short time.

See at Amazon

Samsung Wireless Charging Pad

This wireless charging pad from Samsung is a great accessory for your black Galaxy S7 for a number of reasons; it’ll charge your phone faster than any other QI wireless charging pad, you don’t need to worry about plugging or unplugging your phone at your desk and, perhaps most important of all, it lets you show off your beautiful phone to all your office mates.

This is an upgrade over Samsung’s older wireless charging pad, which laid flat on your desk. Having your phone tilted up at a 45-degree angle lets you easily keep tabs on notifications and incoming calls while offering a bigger charging surface and a grippier rubber surface to keep your phone in place. AC’s Andrew Martonik summed it up quite well in his official review:

“Combine the easier positioning with the subtle improvements in the charging status LED, while also keeping the same fast wireless charging tech inside, and this is quite easily the best wireless charger that Samsung has ever made.”

See at Amazon

Pick up an unlocked Moto Z at Best Buy for just $449 today only!

Our friends at Thrifter are back with another great deal, this time saving you $250 on a Moto Z at Best Buy!

Best Buy’s Deal of the Day scores you an unlocked Moto Z for just $449, which is a savings of $250 from the regular price. This brings it down to the same price you’d normally pay for a Moto Z Play, but allows you to grab the model with higher specs instead. The Moto Z is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor that is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Inside, you’ll find a 2600mAh battery that recharges via USB-C.

One of the big appeals of the Moto Z line is the Moto Mods, which allow you to add a battery pack, speakers, a projector and more to the back with ease. This deal is only good for today, February 24, so don’t wait too long to make your purchase or you’ll be stuck paying the full price!

See at Best Buy

For more great deals on tech, gadgets, home goods and more, be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

30 famous Photoshopped and doctored images from across the ages

Photoshop is the modern go-to tool for editing and altering images, but changing photographs to put a different spin on them is far from a new trend.

There are plenty of instances where photo manipulation techniques have been misused – to even change history at times. Some of them occurring long before Photoshop existed.

We’ve tracked down some of the best from over the years, including recent examples that did indeed use Adobe’s software, to show just how popular and crazy this trend has been.  

Abraham Lincoln’s head on someone else’s body

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

One of the earliest examples of an altered image is this classic portrait of President Lincoln which has been doctored with his head appearing on John Calhoun’s body.  

General Ulysses S. Grant on a Horse

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

This photo from circa 1864 shows US General Ulysses S Grant in front of his troops during the American Civil War.

However, a full investigation into this image by researchers at the Library of Congress showed that this photo was actually an amalgamation of several different snaps. They included the body of Major General Alexander M Cook, a different photo of General Grant and a background image of prisoners captured during a battle.    

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

Stalin’s enemies and lost friends

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

During his reign as leader of the Soviet Union from the 1920’s until his death in 1953, Stalin was famous for many things, including the notorious doctoring of images to remove people who had fallen out of his favour.

So rife was this trend that there’s even a Wikipedia page dedicated to it. In this photo, Commissar Nikolai Yezhov is removed by censors after he fell out with Stalin, was arrested in 1939 and later executed.

Another classic example shows a photograph changing multiple times as the people in it fell out of good graces with the Stalin regime.  

Wikipedia

Hitler loses Goebbels

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

Stalin wasn’t the only famous dictator prone to removing friends from his photos. There are several instances of Adolf Hitler having people censored from official snaps too.

Here Joseph Goebbels is shed from this otherwise friendly scene of Hitler and friends.

The many faces of Hitler

Rare Historical Photos

Near the end of World War Two, the Allies were concerned that Hitler might try to escape Germany and assume a disguise of some sort.

The Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA, created these altered portraits to show what Hitler could look like if this happened. With his death at the end of the war they were never needed but were later published when a German magazine discovered them in the 1990s.

Another similarly amusing (and disturbing) set was published at the end of the war by a Canadian newspaper.    

Rare Historical Photos

 Flag over the Reichstag

Wikipedia

Another famous photo has one of the smallest alterations we’ve seen. Here, Soviet soldiers are pictured raising their flag over the Reichstag at the end of World War Two. If you look closely you’ll see the original photograph shows the soldier below wearing what looks like a watch on each wrist.

The photo was later edited for fear that it might imply that the soldiers had been looting. There was however conjecture that one of the wrists was merely a tactical compass. 

Wikipedia

Churchill’s trademark cigar

Kings College London

Many of the iconic photos of Winston Churchill feature the trademark cigar, but this one was digitally altered to remove the cigar when it was featured at The Britain At War Experience museum in London. Though why, nobody knows, not even the museum manager.  

Link to the past

Sergey Larenkov

An amalgamation of two images, one from 1945, the other from 2012 shows the location of the Yalta Conference with the Allied Powers coming together to discuss the shaping of post-war peace and the new Europe.

This is one of a series of photos by Sergey Larenkov which blends the past with the present and includes many photos of World War Two merged into their modern scenes.      

Then & Now 

Xav Marseille photography

Adopting them same technique and blending photographs from modern times with a bygone era, Xav Marseille sets a modern scene blended with the past but without the backdrop of war. In a series of photos dubbed “Then & Now” we’re thrown back through time via locations we might find familiar in our everyday lives.  

Fidel Castro’s forgotten friends

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

Another classic case of old friends and comrades falling out of favour, this photo of Fidel Castro taken in 1968 shows him approving the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia.

The original image included Carlos Franqui who had abandoned the regime and gone into exile in Italy.  

The Queen Mother and Canadian Prime Minister

Fourandsix Technologies, Inc

This apparently doctored photo shows Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King with the Queen Mother and King George VI.

King George VI was removed from the final photo presumably to make the Prime Minister seem more powerful and magnetic.

The Beatles Abbey Road

Legends Revealed

The original album cover to the famous “Abbey Road” album from The Beatles shows Paul McCartney holding a cigarette. At a later date, an American poster company removed the cigarette from the picture. They did so without permission and no seems to know why.

John Lennon jamming with Che Guevara

3nz

Another famous photo puts John Lennon and Che Guevara together strumming out some tunes. An unlikely duo indeed.

No surprise then that this is yet another in a long line of fakes and the real photo is of Wayne Gabriel and Lennon. Here Che’s face has been superimposed over the top with almost convincing results.    

A British soldier calming civilians

Chilloutpoint

This modern doctored image (top) was a culmination of two other photos combined to enhance the composition and emotion of the shot.

Here a British soldier is pictured in Basra urging Iraqi civilians to stay down and take cover. The staff photographer, Brian Walski altered the image to improve the end result.

US National Debt

List25

This doctored photo was taken during an American Republican convention in 2012 but was altered to show the US National Debt counter above the slogan. In reality this counter was on the other side of the convention arena and could not be seen from this angle.

Asian Tsunami 2004

Snopes

This image purports to show the incoming disaster that was the 2004 Tsunami in Asia but was revealed to have been taken on the coast of Chile with the enormous waves simply Photoshopped in.

“The accidental tourist” from the 9/11 terrorist attacks

Péter Guzli

In quite possibly one of the worst attempts at a manipulated photo we’ve seen (and in poor taste too) this one depicts a tourist atop the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 just before the hijacked planes struck the towers.

It was later revealed that Péter Guzli had taken the image and doctored it for friends.

Iran’s failed missile launch

The Telegraph

As a demonstration of their military might, Iran released this photo in 2008 showing multiple missiles being launched from mobile platforms in the desert.

In reality, only three of the four missiles successfully fired and the photo was doctored to cover up the failure.  

The Telegraph

The Situation room

Know your meme

The Situation Room was a photograph originally taken in the White House showing various members of the National Security Council including Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and others watching the events unfolding around the special forces mission to capture Osama Bin Laden.

The photo was later Photoshopped heavily across the internet after being posted to the White House’s official Flickr account and included such joy as Sad Keanu being inserted.

The dead body of Osama Bin Laden

Just Scandals

After the mission to capture Osama Bin Laden and his subsequent death, several fake photographs of his body appeared online.

Most notable was this one that was shown to be composition from several different doctored photos with the majority of the picture being made up of a frame from the film Blackhawk Down.

Korean military might

Korean Central News Agency

In an attempted show of military might, this photo was released in 2013 by the Official Korean Central News Agency, apparently showing military manoeuvres being carried out by North Korea.

Closer inspection shows some of the hovercraft to be clones with inaccurate wakes, possibly to make the force appear more intimidating.

North Korea’s fake missile launch

KCNA / EPA

Photos released in 2015 show Kim Jong-un watching a test-firing of a ballistic missile from an underwater submarine – posing a serious threat to America and the rest of the world.

At the time its authenticity was questioned as the photos appeared to be heavily modified and included discrepancies with the reflections of the missile exhaust flame on the water below.

George Bush and the upside-down book

Snopes

This classic photo from 2002 shows President Bush holding a book upside-down when visiting the George Sanchez Charter School in Houston Texas. The photo purports to show Bush as the buffoon that many people thought him to be. 

In fact, on closer inspection the book shows signs of being digitally doctored and the original image shows the book the correct way up in his hands.  

David Cameron’s poppy

The Telegraph

British Prime Minister David Cameron came under criticism in 2015 after a photo of him wearing a Remembrance Day poppy was posted on Downing Street’s Facebook page. The poppy was clearly Photoshopped and the official page was forced to take the photo down after a sea of ridicule that included many follow-up edits poking fun at the Prime Minister.  

@paulwaugh @mrjamesob @dylanhm Thank god they didn’t go for the first draft of that Photoshop! pic.twitter.com/FexJreOBST

— Ian Payne (@01101001) November 2, 2015

The Scuba diving couple

ebaumsworld

An unsuspecting couple on holiday in Australia had their photo snapped underwater blissfully unaware that there’s a great white shark lurking behind them. Of course, this one was quickly outed as a fake, but at least it’s reasonably well done.

Helicopter shark

Wikipedia

Another classic case of two photos being merged together, this photo dubbed “helicopter shark” purportedly shows a great white shark leaping out of ocean to grab a free lunch in the form of military personnel climbing down a Black Hawk ladder.

Gaining popularity in 2001, helicopter shark was quickly found landing in email inboxes across the world.

Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd

@realdonaldtrump

After US President Donald Trump’s inauguration there was much debate as to whether the crowd sizes were comparable with that of Barack Obama’s in 2009.

Comparison photos show side-by-side differences but President Trump put these stories to bed as “fake news” when he shared this panoramic photograph of the event – the only problem being the photo was captioned as being taken on 21 January – the day after the inauguration took place.

The Stock Photobomber

The Stock Photobomber

In 2015 Matt Vescovo (aka The Stock Photobomber) began humorously injecting himself into a variety of stock photos breathing hilarity into otherwise dry and depressing photos from stock image suppliers.

Average Rob and celebrity photographs

The Average Rob

We all know how heavily Photoshopped images of celebrities are generally, but The Average Rob has put a fresh spin it by putting himself into the picture in different and hilarious ways.

Instagram prankster Rob describes himself as a “mediocre dude” from Belgium but his photography shenanigans are anything but dull.

The angry koala

Img.ur

One of the less famous, but probably most scary Photoshopped images in our list is this snap of a wet Koala who is apparently not too happy at being photographed or rained on or both.

Thankfully, the image is fake and was shown to be a Photoshop of a dog’s jaw superimposed over the Kola’s. The original snaps of the wet Koala are far less terrifying.

ICYMI: UPS delivery drones and fashion’s robo-photo booth

Today on In Case You Missed It: We explore UPS’ plans to deploy hordes of delivery drones and the robots are coming to replace fashion photographers — body shaming not included. And just in case you’ve been too busy to keep an eye on your RSS feed, it’s time for TL;DR, where we do the week’s reading for you.

As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Google helps put aging SHA-1 encryption out to pasture

The decades-old SHA-1 encryption used to protect websites is already dying, but a discovery from Google and security researcher CWI Amsterdam could be the killing blow. For the first time, they’ve found a way to generate a “collision” and create the same critical hash function multiple times. The discovery will make it 100,000 times easier for attackers to slip malicious files into websites or servers than by a brute force attack. That new should help end its use, increasing security around the internet.

Breaking SHA-1 has been a goal of security users for quite a while, so it’s quite a feather in Google’s cap to be first. (It’s possible, though, that the NSA, Russians or others have had one that they’ve kept under wraps.) The team said that the collision “is one of the largest computations ever completed,” so Google’s cloud infrastructure was an indispensable part of that.

There’s no great danger for users. Google Chrome, Microsoft’s Edge, Firefox and all other major browsers flag HTTPS sites that use SHA-1 as insecure with a big red warning — so very few use it for verifying digital content. The team won’t release the attack (Dad-jokingly called “SHAttered”) for 90 days, in order to give affected sites time to deal with it.

Also, even though Google has made it 100,000 times faster to crack an SHA-1 certificate, it would still require some serious computing horsepower to do so. Google says it requires 12 million GPUs a full year to brute force a certificate, while the SHA-1 “Shattered” attack takes just 110 GPUs. For now, however, you’d still need a supercomputer or server farm (or a bot farm) to crack one in a reasonable amount of time.

As a proof of concept, Google is hosting two PDFs with the different content but the same hash, and has supplied the public with a free detection app. It had a lot of motivation to be first with a collision. It led the movement to deprecate SHA-1 because it’s advertising business relies heavily on secure sites and ad platforms — making the discovery a giant “I told you so” of sorts.

Source: Google

The Engadget Podcast Ep 29: Re-Offender

Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Nathan Ingraham join host Terrence O’Brien to talk about the biggest tech stories of the week. Of course, that means Uber and the growing controversy around its corporate culture — including allegations of rampant sexism. They’ll also address Samsung’s plans to sell refurbished Note 7s, Bill Gate’s endorsement of a robot tax and PewDiePie’s most recent controversy. Then it’s time to unwind a bit, and the group has some reading and listening suggestions. Plus, Dana wants your recipes.

Relevant links:

• Samsung will reportedly sell ‘refurbished’ Galaxy Note 7s
• Bill Gates wants a robot tax to compensate for job losses
• YouTube and PewDiePie aren’t breaking up anytime soon
• Uber has a sexism problem, and so does Silicon Valley
• Uber CEO reveals details on sexual harassment investigation
• Uber reportedly ignored repeated sexual harassment by manager
• Inside Uber’s Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture
• Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber

Engadget recommends:

• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
• Occult Architecture Vol. 1

You can check out every episode on The Engadget Podcast page in audio, video and text form for the hearing impaired.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on Facebook

Subscribe on Google Play Music

Subscribe on iTunes

Subscribe on Stitcher

Subscribe on Pocket Casts

‘Runner 2’ and other indie hits get rare physical releases

Indie games don’t often cross over into the physical world, so it’s pretty notable when two separate companies make boxed games at once. Choice Provisions is partnering with Limited Run Games on a physical version of the Runner2 sidescroller on PS4 and PS Vita with 3,500 copies of each for sale online starting March 17th. Limited Run will also sell 1,000 copies of a (separate) limited Runner2 edition at its PAX East booth on March 10-12.

Later on, Choice Provisions and Limited Run will sell boxed versions of The Bit.Trip, Tharsis and Drive! Drive! Drive! Each of the limited run copies has nice-looking original artwork, adding to the collector (and fun) appeal. Pre-orders aren’t allowed, and the company hasn’t listed any prices yet, but Runner2 costs $15 on Steam as a download, so we’d guess a physical, limited edition would be more.

Badland and Thomas Happ Games will also be releasing Metroidvania-inspired Axiom Verge as a “Multiverse Edition” physical release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Wii U. The game received numerous awards when it launched in 2015, and Happ said that “as a solo developer, it’s always been a dream of mine to see a game that I made end up on the store shelves.”

The special edition will include “a copy of the game, a deluxe booklet with developer commentary and art, a double-sided poster, and an exclusive making-of documentary on DVD,” the companies say. The DVD should be pretty interesting, as Happ developed the game all by himself over five years, including the programming, art, story and music.

The Multiverse edition will cost $30 (£25 in the UK) and arrive some time in the next quarter. There will also be a standard edition in a physical version with just the game for $19.99 and £14.99 in the UK.

Source: Totally Choice

You can now gamble while playing ‘Frogger’

Konami has launched a version of Frogger that’s suitable for gambling, which is now available to play in a casino. Frogger: Get Hoppin’ is a skill-based title that enables players to wager money in exchange for testing their reflexes in the game. It’s the first of its kind that’s been authorized by Nevada’s gambling commission in the hope of creating a new generation of gamblers.

Fruit machines aren’t the most exciting things, after all, since you’re basically pumping coins into a random number generator with pre-programmed odds. That’s not enough to draw millennial crowds, which is why the MGM Grand opened Level Up, a gamer-friendly lounge at its Vegas-based casino.

Late last year, Nevada’s gaming control board opened up its regulations to allow businesses to test new gambling methods. This procedure, titled the New Innovation Beta, has enabled companies like Konami to test out machines that blend skill and luck. The Frogger machine was showcased across the weekend of February 18th and is now available to play with a $2 minimum wager and the chance to win “true skill-based cash awards.”

Should Frogger: Get Hoppin’ become a success, expect plenty more gamer-friendly skill games to make their way into circulation. Although no matter how skillful a player you may be, it’s probably best to remember that the house will always win in the end.

Via: Las Vegas Now

Source: Konami, (2)

Play both ‘Banner Saga’ games for free via Twitch Prime

Now here’s an offer from Twitch and Banner Saga creator Stoic you can’t refuse. Twitch Prime members (that is, anyone on Amazon Prime) can download the original Banner Saga for free right now, and on March 2nd, also get Banner Saga 2 gratis. But wait, there’s more: For everyone who downloads and plays either game through the Twitch launcher, Amazon will donate a dollar to the Banner Saga 3 game currently in funding on Kickstarter.

Amazon and Twitch will kick in up to $200,000, and the game has already been bankrolled to the tune of $315,000, $115k over it’s original goal. And if you’re (rightfully) worried about any Kickstarter game, know that Banner Saga 2 actually came to PS4 ahead of schedule, so the development and porting teams know what they’re doing.

Amazon Prime has a lot of members, a lot of whom are probably on Twitch Prime. For those who aren’t, Twitch is clearly trying to pump up its numbers, and the free download offer is certainly a smart way of doing it (hey, it convinced me). Anyone taking advantage of the offer will get a free piece of unspecified Banner Saga 3 content, to boot. If you’re still on the fence, you can even sign up for a trial membership and get the free content anyway.

Apple Extended its MacBook Pro Anti-Reflective Coating Repair Program

If you purchased a 12-inch MacBook or MacBook Pro with Retina display and have experienced issues with the anti-reflective coating wearing off or delaminating, Apple will repair the notebook free of charge.

Apple will replace Retina displays on eligible models purchased as far back as June 2012 until October 16, 2017, or within three years of the original date of purchase, whichever is longer. The program was extended to provide affected customers with a longer window of time to get their notebook serviced.

The program has not been publicly announced, but Apple confirmed to MacRumors that repairs continue to be handled internally through AppleCare. Apple does not plan to announce the program publicly at this time, unlike its iPhone 6s battery replacement program and over a dozen others listed on its website.

We recommend affected customers schedule a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store or contact Apple support by phone, online chat, or email. Click on “get help” on this page, and then select Mac > Mac notebooks > Hardware Issues > Display Issue and support options should be presented to you.

Apple’s support website will ask for your Mac’s serial number, which can be found by clicking on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen and clicking on About This Mac in the dropdown menu.

Affected customers can also visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider to determine if their notebook is eligible for coverage. If you have already incurred out-of-warranty costs related to this issue, you may be eligible for a refund, which can be initiated by contacting Apple support directly.

MacRumors revealed the repair program’s existence in October 2015 following over two years of online complaints from thousands of customers within our discussion forums, on the Apple Support Communities, and elsewhere.

A website called Staingate contains a gallery of MacBook Pro models with seemingly damaged anti-reflective coating, revealing that the blemishes can extend across the entire screen in extreme cases. Meanwhile, a Facebook group related to the issue has nearly 9,000 members and continues to see regular activity.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: repair program, anti-reflective coating
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
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