Best Heavy Duty Cases for Samsung Galaxy S8

Protect your new Galaxy S8 with a sturdy, rugged case, and have some peace of mind while you’re at it.

The Galaxy S8 might not be here just yet, so no, we haven’t had time to test out all the cases, but we know some dynamite brands that are sure to protect your Galaxy S8 from drop, bumps, scratches, and more.

Check out these awesome cases if you’re looking for rugged protection. Consider these the… Guardians of your Galaxy.

• Supcase Unicorn Beetle Pro
• Zizo Static Series
• Caseology Legion
• Poetic Revolution
• Spigen Tough Armor

Supcase Unicorn Beetle Pro

The old standby of rugged cases, the Supcase Unicorn Beetle Pro is the utmost in heavy duty protection for your Galaxy S8. These three-piece cases feature a front cover, back cover, and a holster so that you don’t have to carry a heavier phone around in your pocket. With that in mind, the Unicorn Beetle Pro doesn’t actually add a ton of bulk to your phone, but there still is a difference. You want thin, go with a slim case.

The Unicorn Beetle Pro is made of tough polycarbonate plastic and provides extra protection in the corners — the killshot for just about any phone in the event of a drop. You have your choice of black, blue (doesn’t match the S8 coral blue color), pink, and white.

See at Amazon

Zizo Static Series

Zizo’s cases are military drop tested, so they’re actually guaranteed to protect your phone from drops, according to military standards. The Static Series features a fold-out kickstand and two layers of protection: a hard polycarbonate shell with a silicone layer to disperse impact and cushion your phone. This is especially necessary in the corners, which are incredibly vulnerable in a drop situation.

On top of excellent protection, the Zizo Static Series also looks really cool. You have your choice of seven color combinations, which feature a black layer and then a vibrantly colored layer. If you’re looking for heavy duty protection for your Galaxy S8, along with a flash of style and a convenient kickstand, then check these out. Especially since they’re only about $11.

See at Amazon

Caseology Legion

I love Caseology cases. They always fit well and they’re fantastically protective. I generally use a Wavelength, and I had my phone knocked out of my hand onto a gym floor. After cleaning up my drawers, I picked up my phone and it was absolutely fine. That was a slimmer case, too. Check out the rugged Legion series. It features a layer of flexible a shock-absorbing TPU with an outer layer of polycarbonate. You’re protected from hard bumps and scratches, as well as shocks and drops.

All the buttons are covered, but the coverings provide great tactile feedback, and your ports are completely accessible. You have your choice of black or orchid gray, which is meant to match the S8 color, though we haven’t seen this one in person to verify that.

See at Amazon

Poetic Revolution

The Poetic Revolution is a two-piece case that you sit your Galaxy S8 into, and then you snap on the front. Most Poetic cases have a screen protector, but this one doesn’t because of the Galaxy S8’s curved screen. That being said, the raised bezel around the front protects your screen when you lay it face-down, and the raised cutout around the camera protects the lens.

The inside of the Revolution is made of flexible TPU, which is designed to disperse impact and protect your S8 from scratches. The outside of the back is a layer of polycarbonate, which takes the brunt of any bump or drop. The outer edges of this case are textured to give it a great in-hand feel that isn’t slippery, so you can hold onto your phone. You have your choice of black, a very vibrant blue, and pink.

See at Amazon

Spigen Tough Armor

Spigen makes a phone case for every occasion and its Tough Armor series is perfect for heavy duty protection. It has an inner layer of TPU for shock absorption and to protect against scratches, as well an outer shell made from durable polycarbonate. There’s also a handy kickstand on the back, so you can watch videos hands-free.

This may look a bit like Caseology’s Legion, but the button layout is a bit different, with a space between volume up and volume down, so you can control your music on the go without having to pull your phone out of your pocket. The Tough Armor series comes in gunmetal, black, coral blue (which looks like it matches the coral blue S8, but we can’t say for sure yet), and maple gold.

See at Amazon

Looking for something a little slimmer or a bit different?

Best Cases for Galaxy S8

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Have you already picked up a case in anticipation for your Galaxy S8 pre-order? Let us know in the comments below!

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Hotels pressure the government to crack down on Airbnb

There’s no doubt that the hotel industry hates Airbnb — the home sharing service lures many would-be customers away through lower rates and the perks that come from staying in someone else’s abode. So how does it fight back? By pushing the government to crack down. The New York Times has learned that the American Hotel and Lodging Association has been conducting a “multipronged, national” lobbying and research campaign to have politicians impose or toughen restrictions, selectively collect taxes and draw attention to the negative side-effects of home sharing. Reportedly, the AHLA is partly responsible for at least some of the higher-profile regulatory moves against Airbnb in the past year.

For example, the steep penalties in New York for running illegal hotels? You can partly chalk that up to lobbying the governor’s office and state lawmakers. A letter Democrat Senators sent to the FTC “raising concerns” about Airbnb was reportedly the work of collaboration with the hotel association. And of course, the organization takes partial credit for laws and enforcement actions in cities like San Francisco. The group even takes a two-sided approach to taxes. It’ll insist that Airbnb is evading lodging taxes in some cases, but will sometimes urge governments to avoid collecting taxes to give Airbnb an aura of illegitimacy.

The AHLA will also fund studies highlighting some of the issues (real or perceived) with Airbnb, such as the economic damage to hotels and communities. It even partners with affordable housing and neighborhood groups to channel their outrage.

Naturally, Airbnb is angry. It insists that the “hotel cartel” is conducting the campaign to make sure it can “keep price-gouging customers.” To some extent, that’s right. Hotels have had to lower their rates during peak travel periods thanks to Airbnb, and they really don’t like having to compete against anyone with a guest room. However, some of the AHLA’s actions are also addressing real concerns about services like Airbnb, such as the rise of illegal hotels that drive out residents and raise rental costs in the remaining apartments. It’s not quite as simple as demonizing one side or the other — just know that the home sharing legislation you see might be skewed by corporate cash.

Source: New York Times

Go back to 1984 with Internet Archive’s Macintosh collection

Not content to sit on the sidelines, the Internet Archive recently resurrected something, too. This time, it’s a swath of apps, games and software from the original Macintosh circa 1984. That means stuff like Lode Runner, MacOS System 7.0.1, Microsoft BASIC 2.0 and Space Invaders are on offer in their pixelated, black-and-white glory. Just like the old days. Except, you know, these run in a browser window. The Archive says this collection of stuff from 1984 to 1989 is just the first set of emulations from the machine, so it might not be too long before more apps are available.

For an idea of how faithful these facsimiles are, you can even erase the disk of Wizardy 1, or any other app, if you want to relive one of the biggest “oh crap” moments of your youth. Archive didn’t emulate your dad’s rage-filled response, though, so it’s probably not nearly as fun — or frightening — as doing it as a kid might’ve been.

The files can be a little buggy. Going fullscreen in MacPaint 1.5 crashed the emulator my first time, for example, but that should be expected when you consider that this software is pushing 30 years old (if not older) and running in a web browser. After that, it ran well enough that I was able to scrawl out the image above.

If you’ve already turned your original model into an aquarium, it’s probably easier to run the software this way than telling Mr. Bubbles he needs to find a new home because it’s high time that you finally beat Pyramid of Peril would be.

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: Internet Archive (1), (2)

Steve Wozniak Looks Toward Apple in 2075, Visits Apple Museum Exhibit in Seattle

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has given his thoughts on what Apple might look like some 60 years in the future, stating in an interview that he believes his former employer, as well as Google and Facebook, will be even bigger in 2075. The comment comes from an interview Wozniak gave in preparation for the Silicon Valley Comic Con, which this year is themed as “The Future of Humanity: Where Will We Be in 2075?” (via USA Today).

Wozniak said Apple’s ability to “invest in anything” is one of the reasons the company will still be around in 2075. The former Apple executive also pointed towards Apple’s iPhone — which he equates to granting users “more power than Superman” — to explain why the company won’t be going away any time soon.

Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak

“She has more power in her hand than Superman,” Wozniak, broadly smiling, says, pointing at a colleague’s iPhone. “To make such strides in computing… It shows you how exciting the future can be.”

“Apple will be around a long time, like IBM (which was founded in 1911),” Wozniak said in an interview. “Look at Apple’s cash ($246.1 billion, as of the end of its last fiscal quarter). It can invest in anything. It would be ridiculous to not expect them to be around (in 2075). The same goes for Google and Facebook.”

Even though Wozniak stuck to SVCC’s 2075 theme, he admitted that when Apple Computers began in 1976, its founders — including Steve Jobs — assumed that the company would last forever.

Wozniak recently celebrated those early days of Apple by visiting the just-opened “Apple Computer Exhibit” at Living Computers: Museum + Lab in Seattle, Washington. At an event marking the opening last week, Wozniak met one of the museum’s founders, Paul Allen — who is also a Microsoft co-founder — for the first time. Wozniak said that he’s felt Allen’s influence since the early days of Apple, tweeting out, “that’s what doing things first is about.”

The first two decades of Apple are on display at the exhibit in Seattle, and it includes a working Apple 1 computer that visitors can interact with. Lath Carlson, the museum’s executive director, expects the Apple-specific exhibit to run for the next decade, giving those interested plenty of time to visit the museum.

Tag: Steve Wozniak
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Al Gore and Lisa Jackson to Discuss ‘Climate Optimism’ at Apple Store in San Francisco This Week

Apple has announced that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Apple’s environmental chief Lisa Jackson will be hosting a “climate optimism” discussion at its Union Square retail store in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The duo will also share their insight on Earth Day initiatives, Apple’s ongoing commitment to the environment, and ways that people can have an impact on climate and the environment through positive actions.

The free event begins on April 19 at 7:00 p.m. local time. Apple is accepting a limited number of reservations on its website.

(Thanks, Ryker!)

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Lisa Jackson, Union Square, Al Gore
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Apple Shares Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Apple has posted a Mother’s Day gift guide on its website with many of its usual suggestions, ranging from the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to the Apple Watch Series 2 and BeatsX wireless earphones.

The gift guide also groups accessories into four categories: What’s New, Creativity, Health & Fitness, and Headphones & Speakers.

Mother’s Day is May 14 in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Turkey, and many other countries around the world.

Tag: Apple retail
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Peugeot 3008 review: A tech-tastic crossover that’s sure to Allure

The first time you see a new Peugeot 3008 on the road, we guarantee you’ll look twice. This is not a car you’d call beautiful. But it does nail that modern SUV crossover thing – a complex piece of automotive sculpture which is decked out with interesting and occasionally awkward details.

But whichever way you cut it, the new 3008 is a massive improvement over the awkward, bulbous MPV style of the last one. This is a very graphic design – it works better in light, bright colours to contrast with the chrome and black clad (so don’t go ordering the dull khaki green of our car) – but it’s when you step inside that things get really interesting…

Peugeot 3008 review: Step inside the i-cockpit

As part of the morph from awkward MPV to modern crossover, the 3008’s gained a new interior – which Peugeot calls i-cockpit. If you can get over the fact that car marketing departments seem desperate to jump onto the bandwagon of anything modern and remotely techy, it could actually be the reason to buy a 3008.

Pocket-lint

This is the first production car Peugeot has made with an interior that reflects what it has been showing with its concept car architecture and interface design over the past three years. So you get a dashboard that’s chopped up – with a top layer and then a lower section which protrudes slightly, and then an upward-wrapping console, piano-key style menu buttons and an 8-inch touchscreen. Jump aboard and it certainly nails the “cockpit” part of the name.

So the 3008 feels very different to other cars on first acquaintance, but not in an off-putting way because the crossover ride height and relative positioning of stuff means the driving position doesn’t feel unnatural like it can on a 208 or 308. There’s still that small and squared-off steering wheel and the gauge cluster is shoved right up under the windscreen, but the wheel will no longer obscures the gauges, or won’t for most drivers.

Peugeot 3008 review: Virtual display

The pièce-de-résistance is a 12.3-inch, digital gauge cluster, which does a lot more than just show you boring old speed and revs.

Pocket-lint

Rather like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit – which we’ve covered extensively as it’s been rolled out – Peugeot’s fully digital dashboard display can be reconfigured into different modes, depending on what you want to see and how you want to see it.

There are 5 modes: Minimum, Navigation, Personal, Dials and Assistance. Minimum junks all info except speed; Navigation turns over more than half of the display window to the map and turn-by-turn instructions; Dials give you a fake, digital versions of your typical car dials; Personal and Assistance use a cool new UI design – with the dials turned through 90 degrees so that they turn longitudinally into the screen – and the steering wheel controls allow you to make on the fly adjustments like radio station selection using a neat piece of digital display animation.

Pocket-lint

The display appears to be lower-resolution and less colour-rich than Audi’s Virtual Cockpit. But this has its benefits: it’s less vivid and this makes it less distracting, in particular at night. The biggest news, though, is that while Audi always makes you pay more for its Virtual Cockpit, on this mid-spec Allure THP 165 Auto specification (and those trim levels that sit above it) it comes as standard.

Peugeot 3008 review: Welcome to the modern screen party, Peugeot

Other digital elements in the cabin look familiar to recent Peugeots, but they’ve actually received quite a significant hardware upgrade. The 8-inch centre screen now has capacitive touch technology and is way more responsive than what you’ll find in the 308 hatch. You’re still forced through the screen to do things like adjust the air-con, but because it works, you no longer risk ploughing into the back of someone every time you want to turn the temperature down.

Pocket-lint

And instead of digital menu shortcuts, Peugeot has fitted a set of physical “piano keys” below the screen which provide shortcuts into all the important stuff: Climate, Nav, Radio, Media, Car, and so forth.

These buttons are really nice to use, and cut out a layer of screen menu-touching, which makes the whole unit much easier to get along with. It’s not perfect – the graphics are still on the Sega Game Gear end of things – and a rotary knob would, we think, be safer because your eyes are off the road less in order to use it. That said, this is all a big improvement to what’s gone before from the French brand.

Peugeot 3008 review: Audi-like in more ways than one

That digital cluster isn’t the only thing reminiscent of Audi. The whole Peugeot brand is on a push upmarket and that means that materials, trim and overall quality has received a significant upward shove.

Pocket-lint

When the 3008 launched at last year’s Paris Motor Show, many designers were in awe of this interior and the materials Peugeot is using. That played out for us on the road – with everyone who rode in our review 3008 commenting on just how nice a place it was to sit and, yes, several people comparing it to an Audi.

Our mid-level trim Allure car features grey cloth inlays on the dash, doors and seats – which is a very natural, high-quality and modern wool-cotton trim that again connects back to some of Peugeot’s concept experiments.

One area you see this material quality most closely is on the passenger side of the dash, which steps down and out, unfortunately creating the impression of it encroaching into the passenger’s leg space. It’s a visual trick, really, but a shame that in such a chunky-sized car passengers feel they’ve got less room than they actually have.

Beyond that issue, though, the Peugeot accommodates a pair of child seats in the back better than the expressly family-orientated Renault Scenic, and the boot (at 520-litres) is way more capacious than your typical family hatch. It bests a Nissan Qashqai too.

Pocket-lint

Our review car also came with an electrically-powered tailgate, which is opened with a swing of the leg below the bumper. Useful if you’ve got arms full of baby or shopping and – credit to Peugeot – it did actually work nine times out of 10.

The 3008 is well-equipped too. As standard you get sat nav, all the i-cockpit stuff, a safety pack including blind-spot and lane-keep assist and rear view cameras. The next level of trim, the GT Line, throws in smartphone wireless charging and LED lamps, while the top-spec GT fits an electric/kick open boot, panoramic roof, keyless entry and electric seats. That last one’s only available with the biggest diesel engine though.

Peugeot 3008 review: The drive of your life? Not so much

Growing up, we remember Peugeot’s slogan used to be “the drive of your life”. While it sounds twee, if you’re old enough to have driven a 205 or 405 in anger, those are words that will ring true. Peugeots were always fun cars that felt eager, light and rode very fluidly on crummy UK roads.

Pocket-lint

It’s a bit much to expect a mid-sized crossover to replicate those thrills, but the 3008 is a real mixed bag with respect to how it drives. You’ll have got the impression by this point that we really rate much of what Peugeot’s done here. So it’s fair to say that the only thing that’s stopped this particular 3008 getting a Pocket-Lint Recommended Badge is the way it drives. Humph.

Part of that is to do with this specific model. We’re always advocating people look beyond diesel in the current climate and if you’re doing low mileage. Unfortunately mated to this automatic gearbox the whole car seems dim-witted and slow, not to mention noisy and jerky in the way it changes gear – especially when you’re trying to get a move on. The engine itself might be liveable, but in concert with the gearbox it is just too old-school in its delivery and makes the car seem quite unrefined.

So the 1.6 THP petrol (156bhp) cold be just the answer. For clarity, the 1.6 petrol is only available with the auto box. So our recommendation would be to try the 1.2 petrol – its 130bhp should be enough to move the 3008 along quickly enough and it won’t be hobbled by the silly gearbox, and probably delivers better fuel economy than the 31mpg we got here (we weren’t able to test that model, however, so it’s assumption we’re afraid).

Pocket-lint

Still, beyond that and the 3008 isn’t too bad. That small steering wheel makes it feel quite darty and responsive on the road. It’s artificial, yes, but preferable to the disconnected mush of most of its competitors. And on 18-inch wheels, it rides reasonably well too.

Verdict

Peugeot has been on an upward trajectory for a few years now. We’ve been impressed by many of its recent efforts. And the 3008 is the best yet.

Well designed, interesting, easy to live with and containing a certain amount of in-built flair, it manages that rare feat of translating some of the ideas Peugeot has experimented with in concept cars onto the real road. And they really work. The experience is different to others – and most of the time it’s better too.

The price is not cheap, however, but then these days nothing is. For what you get included, the Peugeot undercuts anything from Volkswagen, BMW, Merc or Audi. For the equivalent money, you get more space, more kit, more tech and a much more interesting piece of design.

Only the engine and gearbox combination found in this specific model truly let things down. With a different powertrain the 3008 could genuinely be a shining star. As it is, however, it’s still a winner.

Google is fixing a Chrome flaw that makes phishing easy

As we’ve seen in the past, a strong password doesn’t automatically make people safe online. Often, a specially-crafted email is all that it takes for someone to hand over their digital life to a malicious third party. Although email services are doing more to filter phishing emails before they reach your inbox, a decades-old unicode technique is making it hard for users to determine whether a destination is legitimate. Fortunately, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer and Safari are immune and Google is just days away from patching the flaw.

Thanks to something called Punycode, phishers are able to register bogus domains that look identical to a real website. Take this proof-of-concept from software engineer Xudong Zheng, where apple.com won’t take you to a store selling Macs, iPhones and iPads. The real website is actually https://www.xn--80ak6aa92e.com.

The xn-- prefix tells browsers like Chrome that the domain uses ASCII compatible encoding. It allows companies and individuals from countries with non-traditional alphabets to register a domain that contains A-Z characters but renders in their local language. For example, the domain “xn--s7y.co” would appear as “短.co” in Chinese browsers.

The issue was first reported to Google and Mozilla on January 20th and Google has issued a fix in Chrome 59. It’s currently live in the Canary (advance beta release) but the search giant will likely make it available to all Chrome users soon.

Firefox users, on the other hand, may have to take things into their own hands. Mozilla is still undecided as to whether it will implement a dedicated patch. For now, users can plug about:config into the address bar and change the network.IDN_show_punycode attribute to true. That enables Firefox to show international domains in their Punycode form, making it easier to detect whether a website is phony.

Source: Wordfence, Xudong Zheng

Picobrew’s next goal: A safe and affordable DIY distillery

Picobrew has a new, cheaper countertop beer brewing system. That you already knew. But the company is now dipping its toes into distilling. The Picostill is an add on for the Pico Model C that turns that weird custom designed keg into a countertop distillery. Specifically it’s a reflux still that uses vacuum distillation, which doesn’t look as cool as a pot or column still, but makes far more efficient use of the space.

Basically you clamp this crazy looking contraption to the top of the C Keg and whatever you put inside is vaporized, condensed and purified. There’s even an infusion basket on top which is handy for creating hop oils, essential oils and even gin. (This is the point in the article where we have to pause and tell you to respect your local laws and ordinances regarding distilling spirits.)

The Pico itself heats water to the desired temperature and feeds it through a copper coil inside the keg. Brewing is all about temperature control, and that’s doubly true for distilling. The coil heats whatever you’ve put in the keg, be it water or some sort of mash for making spirits. The vacuum inside keeps the evaporation point lower than normal, and the lack of an open flame means there’s very little risk of igniting the alcohol vapors and turning your kitchen into nightmarish inferno.

A small vial on top collects the heads, or undesirable alcohol compounds that evaporate first which include traces of acetone and methanol, so that you get only the “hearts” in your collection vessel — in this case a Ball mason jar.

Even if, legally, you can’t distill your own whiskey because of local laws, Picobrew still thinks you’ll have a use for the Picostill. Water chemistry can dramatically change the flavor of a beer, so brewing with distilled water can create a more consistent product. It’s also handy for creating hop oils, which aren’t always available to home brewers, and can be quite expensive. Hop oils let you quickly add a ton of hop character to a beer without worrying about introducing a bunch of particulate.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for the Picostill though, is the price… so long as you jump on it during the Kickstarter campaign. On its own the addon is $170 as a backer reward, but you can also get it packaged with the Pico C for $499. Even if it only makes beer and booze in very small batches, that a surprisingly good value. If you wait for the Picostill to hit retail channels though, it’ll set you back $349.

Origin’s first budget gaming laptop costs less than a grand

Origin’s EON15-S laptop has always straddled the line between gaming performance and portability, and this year’s model does that again, but for a bit less cash. For 2017, the PC maker has added NVIDIA’s newish 4GB 1050 Ti graphics card, a model that gives it a (very) mild speed bump over last year’s 980M-based EON15-S. That’s squeezed into a 1-inch, 5-pound case, and costs $999 for the cheapest configuration.

Unlike last year’s model, there’s no high-res screen option — you can only get it with a 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 IPS panel. That’s in line with other recent high-performance models, though, and probably suits the needs of many gamers who don’t need the extra pixels, especially with a graphics card that’s far from NVIDIA’s flagship. On top of that, the lower-res screen likely helps the laptop achieve its decent six-hour battery life.

Other specs include an Intel Core i7-7700HQ “Kaby Lake” CPU (the same in last year’s model, unfortunately), or i5-7300HQ and i3-7100H models if your budget can’t support that. You can also get up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, 6TB of storage, including M.2 SSD support, an RGB backlit keyboard and an “optional custom automotive finish paint to any color or design of choice,” Origin says.

That price will go way up depending on the options, of course (Origin didn’t specify what you get for $999 other than the NVIDIA graphics). Still, that’s a decent price point for an NVIDIA-equipped laptop, and five pounds makes it just light enough to function as a portable laptop for videographers or gamers on the go.

One of the chief complaints with last year’s model was the fan noise, and with no change in processor, it’s hard to say whether that’s been addressed with the new model. Comparable options include the 5.2-pound MSI GS62M Stealth Pro, with roughly the same specs and price, or Dell’s Inspiron 15 7000 model with a GTX 1050Ti card and the same chip for under $1,000.

There are plenty of other options, and for a big jump in price but equally big performance bump, you can get Razer’s 14-inch, $1,899 Blade with the far superior NVIDIA GTX 1060 card. In other words, it’s a great time to be in the market for a gaming laptop.

Source: Origin