HP jazzes up its Pavilion and Pavilion x360 laptop families with artsy designs

Why it matters to you

Customers looking for an affordable, snazzy new laptop now have six options packing seventh-generation Intel processors, and more.

During the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Hewlett-Packard revealed its refreshed family of Pavilion and Pavilion x360 notebooks. There are six devices (SKUs) in all: three “vanilla” Pavilion units starting at $599, and three x360 convertible units starting at $349. The refresh focuses on thinner, lighter form factors, better battery life, and better visual appeal.

HP says the refreshed vanilla Pavilion units borrow design elements from the Spectre and Envy products. HP incorporated a metal faceplate surrounding the keyboard and injected the Pavilion family with different “hues, finishes, and textures” for a highly sophisticated look on a mainstream laptop. They also borrow the “Lift” hinge from the Envy family to promote better airflow to the bottom vents.

On the hardware front, the updated Pavilions are configured with seventh-generation Intel Celeron and Core i3/i5/i7 processors, and E2/A10 APUs from AMD. The laptops also include one USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port (5Gbps), two USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports (5Gbps), HDMI output, and an SD card reader at the very least. The color options consist of opulent blue, silk gold, orchid pink, mineral silver, and empress red.

One of the big points HP sells with the refresh is the reduction in size compared to last year’s models. For example, the Pavilion 14 2016 model had a side bezel of 17.2mm and a top bezel of 13.4mm. For the 2017 model, the side bezel measures 13.99mm and the top bezel measures an impressively thin 6.5mm. Even more, from a side “closed” view, the Pavilion 15 2016 model measured 22.5mm thick whereas the 2017 model is 19.9mm thick.

As for the refreshed Pavilion x360 line, they arrive in mineral silver and silk gold colors sporting a flat metal surface in the keyboard area, or an artsy “strata” pattern design. Like the vanilla Pavilion units, the new x360 models are thinner and lighter than the 2016 lineup. A good example is the x360 15-inch model, as the 2016 version measured 23.9mm thick and weighed 5.07 pounds. The new model measures 20.3mm thick and weighs 4.63 pounds.

On the hardware level, the x360 offers seventh-generation Intel Pentium and Core i3/15/i7 processors, storage capacities of up to 512GB on an SSD, and even discrete graphics options provided by Nvidia and AMD. But don’t expect to see GTX 1050 options, as the x360 isn’t designed to handle that kind of heat.

Below is a generalized overview of the Pavilion refresh arriving in the May/June release window provided by HP. Note that the prices don’t reflect the starting prices HP announced on Thursday:

Pavilion 14
Pavilion 15.6
Pavilion 15.6
Pavilion 17
Price:
$700
$725
$600
$630
Processor:
Core i5
Core i5
AMD A12
AMD A12
Memory:
12GB
8GB
8GB
8GB
Storage:
1TB HDD
1TB HDD
1TB HDD
1TB HDD
Resolution:
HD
FHD Touch
HD Touch
HD

x360 11.6
x360 14
x360 14
x360 15.6
Price:
$400
$400
$720
$700
mProcessor:
Pentium N4200
Core i3
Core i5
Core i5
Memory:
4GB
6GB
8GB
8GB
Storage:
500GB HDD
500GB HDD
128GB SSD
500GB HDD
Resolution:
HD Touch
HD Touch
FHD IPS Touch
HD Touch
Pen included:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Now here are the starting prices:

Pavilion 14
Pavilion 15
Pavilion 17
x360 11
x360 14
x360 15
$700
$600
$630
$350
$450
$580

Firefox to add new controls to help users fine-tune their browser’s performance

Why it matters to you

Firefox is implementing new performance options that will allow users to tailor the software to their system, even if it’s less powerful.

Firefox will soon give users more controls to ensure that they’re getting the best possible performance out of the web browser. Engineers at Mozilla are hard at work perfecting the new features, and the company has shared some early details about what’s in the works.

Users will be able to tailor the software to their system by choosing whether or not the browser’s interface uses animated transitions, and opting in or out of using page prefetching to preload links on the current page. They’ll also be able to limit how many content processes Firefox runs at any given time, according to a report from Liliputing.

Less-hands-on users will be able to use the Optimize Firefox button to deliver improvements automatically. This option will disable all currently installed extensions, allowing the user to pick and choose which ones to reactivate, while keeping an eye on their effect on performance.

These new performance features should allow a wider range of Firefox users to enjoy the optimal browsing experience on their hardware. While many people use the browser on systems that have more than enough horsepower to handle anything the web throws at them, there’s another sector of the user base that is still working with older, less powerful PCs.

For Firefox to compete with the likes of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, Mozilla needs to be able to offer fast, stable web browsing across a broad swathe of computers. Allowing users to modify their performance settings negates the need for a one-size-fits-all approach.

There’s currently little indication of when these new performance controls might join the stable branch of Firefox, as development apparently only started last week. However, we’re sure to see these features put through their paces in prerelease builds before they’re ready for the public version of the browser.

This iOS app lets photographers earn cash from selling small photo books

Why it matters to you

Photographers could find another source of revenue by selling small photo books created through the Booxie app.

Photographers can now earn royalties from their work by selling photo books straight from their iPhones. Booxie, an iOS app for creating custom photo books, today announced the launch of a royalties program for selling photobooks to followers.

From chefs to photographers, Booxie says the new royalty program allows visual artists to share their work in a 4.25 by 4.25-inch photo book while earning a percentage of each print sale. As an app designed to create custom graphics with both photos and text, users have a variety of options for crafting different types of books for sale.

“We’re excited to open up new ways for photographers, stylists, designers, chefs, and visual artists to create, print, and share all from one place,” said Ray Slay, co-founder and CEO of Booxie, LLC, and a former professional photographer. “Booxie will become an invaluable tool and platform for visual creators to present their creations in the app and through the multitude of sharing capabilities available, as well as have the opportunity to garner extra income from their followers and fans by offering their work in a perfectly bound printed book.”

The Booxie app is unique in that it allows users to design creations for both sharing on social media, email, or via link and printing, Booxie says. The royalties program is open to any user by accessing the “opt-in” option from the settings menu following the on-screen instructions. Inside the settings, users can select which albums are available for anyone to order and which albums remain private. A Paypal account is required, as well as tax information for any royalties over $10.

The photobooks are then offered for sale through the Booxie app, though a web view link allows anyone with internet access to purchase the photo books. The web access allows orders from Android platforms and desktop computers, since Booxie is currently an iOS-only app.

While the smaller books are available to every user, the company is also launching an invite-only program that also allows users to create and sell 8 by 8-inch Booxie albums. Participants in the Select Royalties Program will also be promoted in the Booxie app.

Booxies start at $2.49 for a four-page book and head up to $8 for a 24-page booklet, while the app is free to download from the App Store.

Score this plug-and-shoot selfie stick for just $8 with Anker’s Easter promo

Smartphones are great for snapping pictures and shooting video on the fly, and newer models just keep getting better. But there are times when you need an extra hand to get that perfect shot. The Anker selfie stick — now on sale from Amazon for just $8 with the checkout code BEST7160 — is a versatile and inexpensive solution for capturing all your adventures on the go.

The Anker selfie stick works with any modern smartphone between 2.2 and 3.3 inches wide that has a 3.5mm audio jack. The plug-and-shoot functionality means there is no need to use any companion apps or a Bluetooth connection to use the selfie stick: Simply place your phone in the adjustable cradle, plug the cable into your iOS or Android phone’s headphone jack, and press the button on the handle to start snapping photos. (It’s important to note that this device is not intended to work with Windows phones.)

The stick weighs in at less than five ounces and is a mere seven inches long when collapsed and folded up, so you can easily slip it into your bag or even a large pocket when traveling. A handy clip keeps the 3.5mm cable safely tucked away as well. When fully extended, the Anker selfie stick stretches out to 32 inches, giving you plenty of length for getting those high-angle and wide group shots.

Normally $12, the Anker selfie stick is currently listed at $10 on Amazon, but you can take another $2 off by entering the code BEST7160 at checkout. This brings the price of this handy plug-and-shoot device down to just $8 through Easter, for a 33 percent combined discount. Anker also includes an 18-month warranty on the unit. If you’re looking to record and share your adventures now that the weather is warming up, this selfie stick is solidly built and super affordable.

$8 from Amazon with code ‘BEST7160’

Even Kickstarter success stories are sick of nonsense campaigns

It seems like everyone has had a bad Kickstarter experience these days.

The core idea behind Kickstarter, where a great idea can become reality with support from people outside of your average sphere of influence, is amazing. We’ve seen tremendous success stories come from the crowdfunding site and its clones, but more often than not what you hear about are the failures. Things that sounded amazing but were terrible when it shipped, things that promised to ship within six months but over a year later have yet to manifest, and sordid tales of people blowing backer money on parties or just plain disappearing with the cash plague the reputation of services like Kickstarter.

It’s easy to say there’s no such thing as a guarantee with Kickstarter. After all, you’re not supposed to be buying a product, you’re supposed to be investing in an idea with a “reward” for when that idea becomes reality. That sounds nice, right until companies like Pebble use Kickstarter as a shopping cart for its next great idea only to be bought by Fitbit before shipping it. If companies are going to be allowed to use crowdfunding sites as thinly veiled shopping cart systems, it’d be nice if there was some way to reassure would-be consumers when a new idea has a strong chance of successfully delivering that product. In theory, that’s what a new service called FitForLaunch is all about.

More than anything, FitForLaunch seems entirely willing to ditch the “micro investor” pretense with its crowdfunding approach.

FitForLaunch is the brain child of Michael Armani, whose company M3D has had multiple successful crowdfunding campaigns for its 3D printers. Like most people paying attention to Kickstarter, Armani has seen competing products grab a lot of attention and either repeatedly fail to deliver or be bought up by larger companies and never ship at all. More than anything, the failure of others in the relatively fragile consumer 3D Printer space makes it difficult for those burned by other projects to trust much of anything. After launching a campaign to offer people who were screwed over by failed 3D Printer projects a steep discount on his own hardware, Armani has decided to try educating consumers before they click Back This Project again.

The goal of FitForLaunch seems fairly straightforward, but far from simple. It’s a crowdfunding service that offers a delivery guarantee, with promises to either finish a product itself when possible or totally refund backer money should a campaign fail to deliver. It’s a wild departure from how crowdfunding sites typically operate, but the site is able to offer this guarantee by thoroughly vetting the companies submitting campaigns and charging them all a warranty percentage before the campaign is launched. In theory, the end result is a collection of ideas that are much more likely to end in successful delivery of a functional product for the people doing the “backing” on the site.

“#neverforget #RIPPebble”

More than anything, FitForLaunch seems entirely willing to ditch the “micro investor” pretense with its crowdfunding approach. You’re basically pre-pre-ordering something because the sales pitch won you over and there’s a reasonable guarantee that you’ll actually get something close to what you think you’re paying for. This isn’t a tech-specific effort, either. The site is focused on games and art as well, with experts in each to help determine which campaigns are prepared to deliver the thing it claims to be ready to make.

It’s a practical approach that is likely to win over people who are still extra salty about whatever campaign last left them feeling screwed over, but there’s still a bit of a chicken and egg problem here. People go to Kickstarter because it’s almost a household name at this point, and the sheer volume of ideas draws in more people from all over the world for different reasons.

Will FitForLaunch ever have a viral Potato Salad moment, complete with the thousands of people that participated in other campaigns immediately after? Probably not, but if it did you’d be able to buy knowing your order won’t show up on the back of a hot shipping truck wrapped in nothing but a paper bag.

Is the Galaxy S8 too tall for its own good?

How tall is too tall, and does the Galaxy S8 breach that invisible divide?

“This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.

“This porridge is too cold,” she said. So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.

“Ahhh, this porridge is just right,” she said happily and she ate it all up.

Sometimes it feels like there’s no perfect phone out there for you. After each announcement, you weigh the pros and cons and figure out whether that new hot device is the right height or width, the perfect weight, the proper size, and the ideal feel.

That’s what many of you are doing right now with the Galaxy S8 after demoing them in various carrier or retail stores before general availability on April 21. Some people are worried that the Galaxy S8, and especially the larger Galaxy S8+ — which is proving surprisingly popular, according to the company — are too tall for most people, and may be poorly proportioned. Many are saying that LG made the right choice with its 18:9, or 2:1, screen, which is exactly twice as tall as it is wide. Here’s what one forum member had to say:

donm527
04-12-2017 08:13 PM

“

Third trip to BB to get more handle time while I wait for full reviews on them come away with more to think about and still undecided which way to go and due to the ratio.

Last visit I was leaning toward the smaller S but today the S+ but both feel a compromise…

Initially I thought I don’t want to go too big so the height in the S for me is perfect but the phone is as wide as my iPhone 6…

Reply

But this seems to be the direction manufacturers are going, with companies like OnePlus and Huawei likely following suit later this year. Tall, thin phones have a number of usability advantages in that they allow for narrower bodies that can more easily be gripped in one hand without sacrificing overall screen real estate.

fatboy97
04-12-2017 06:58 AM

“

It’s going to be the trend everybody is going to do. By this time next year anyone that does not have something close to that aspect ratio will be out of date.

Reply

Would it have been better, though, if Samsung had chosen the same aspect ratio as LG? Or do you think there are advantages in going even taller? And, perhaps most importantly, where does the madness end? How tall can we actually go?

Climb up the beanstalk with us in the forums!

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

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Replace your basic thermostat with Nest’s Smart Learning Thermostat for $219

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time making the Nest thermostat even more affordable!

If you’re tired of the crazy weather patterns and walking into a house that is the wrong temperature, you need to get a smart thermostat now. The ability to control the temperature in your home from anywhere using your smartphone is amazing, and right now you can save on Nest’s Smart Learning Thermostat. Several retailers have dropped its price down to just $219, which is a savings of around $30.

You can pick one up at this price from:

• Walmart
• Target
• Newegg
• Best Buy
• Kohls
• Nest

While $219 may seem like a big investment to replace something in your house that still works, you’ll also want to think about the long-term savings potential here. With Nest’s learning feature you may be able to reduce the costs associated with heating and cooling your house by up to 30%, which means it could eventually pay for itself over time.

See at Walmart

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Kim Dotcom asks the Supreme Court to hear him out

Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing website Megaupload, is taking his case to the United States Supreme Court. He’s petitioned the highest court in the land to overturn a ruling allowing US authorities to keep $75 million in assets seized during a 2012 raid on Dotcom’s house in Auckland, New Zealand.

In the Supreme Court petition, Dotcom’s lawyers argue US authorities unlawfully labeled him a “fugitive,” allowing them to seize his assets and those of other Megaupload employees, even though they had never traveled to the States. Dotcom has lost this case twice already, once on appeal in the Fourth Circuit court.

“If left undisturbed, the Fourth Circuit’s decision enables the Government to obtain civil forfeiture of every penny of a foreign citizen’s foreign assets based on unproven allegations of the most novel, dubious United States crimes,” the petition reads.

The Supreme Court now has to decide whether to hear the case.

I never lived there
I never traveled there
I had no company there

But all I worked for now belongs to the U.S.https://t.co/l3B0Cuj0tr

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 29, 2015

This is all while Dotcom is fighting extradition in New Zealand (in live-streamed hearings, of course). A lower and appellate court have both ruled against Dotcom, agreeing that he should be shipped to the US to face charges of racketeering, conspiracy and money laundering. The extradition suit next heads to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand.

Source: tvnz, Law360

Bose SoundLink Revolve speakers pump sound out in 360 degrees

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve heard about new SoundLink speakers from Bose, but now the company has announced two new wireless Bluetooth speakers; the Revolve and Revolve+. Bose boasts they’re their “best Bluetooth speakers ever” and have been designed to give out full 360-degree sound.

• Bose Soundlink adds Colour Bluetooth speaker and on-ear headphones

To achieve the 360-degree sound, the SoundLink speakers have undergone a major design change. Instead of being square and rectangle-shaped, the new Revolve and Revolve+ are cylindrical, and made from a single piece of aluminium.

Because of the new shape, Bose says you’re able to place the speakers anywhere in the room and you’ll always get the same sound, there’s no ‘front’ or ‘back’. Inside the new cylindrical bodies are dual-opposing passive radiators connected to an ultra-efficient transducer, and this is positioned face down. The Revolve speakers also get a new patented acoustic deflector and a “pressure trap”, which promises to eliminate any distortion. 

Bose claims the sound the Revolve speakers are able to produce is “spacious, clear and remarkably loud”.

Bose

They’re portable too, and can be taken outside where they’ll be able to shield themselves against the odd spill, rain shower or water splash thanks to an IPX4-rating. What’s more, they’re rugged enough to withstand knocks, drops and bumps. You can elevate the sound too by mounting the Revolve speakers on a tripod using the quarter-twenty thread on the bottom.

The standard Revolve speaker measures 152 x 82mm and weighs 0.66kg and has a battery that can keep the music playing for up to 12 hours. It’s bigger brother, the Revolve+ measures 184 x 105mm, weighs 0.9kg, and can last longer with a 16 hour battery life. Both can instantly connect to compatible NFC devices, and can understand commands using Siri and Google Assistant thanks to built-in microphones.

The companion Bose Connect app can be used to connect two SoundLink speakers together, starting with the SoundLink Colour II to create a stereo pair, or the party mode lets you play the same song on both speakers for a multi-room style effect.

• Bose SoundLink III speaker for £260 offers Bluetooth connectivity and colourful scratch-proof cases

The Bose Revolve and Revolve+ Bluetooth speakers are available to pre-order now in Triple Black and Lux Grey for £199.95 and £279.95 respectively. 

Japan’s volleyball team test their spikes against robot blockers

In a bid to give its national volleyball team an edge, Japan has enlisted the help of high-tech training robots. According to New Scientist, these bizarre-looking bots are used to mimic the opposing team’s defense and are made up of three pairs of hands attached to a mobile torso. Mounted to a track, these new digital defense droids slide up and down to pre-set positions, allowing players to test out their spike shots against many different team formations.

Known as the “block machine” these rapid robots can travel at speeds of up to 3.7 meters per second, easily outpacing human players. So far these training machines have been used successfully in several of training sessions for Japan’s national woman’s volleyball team. Yet, with these robots only currently capable of moving in predetermined directions, coaches are looking into equipping them with motion sensors for more lifelike and unpredictable training sessions.

This phenomenon has started to gain traction across the globe, with the NFL already experimenting with training dummies that are remotely controlled from the sidelines. With the blocking machines freakishly long limbs, these robots could also be perfectly suited to helping teams with similar basketball exercises or even used for martial arts training. Still, even if these bots fail to win Japan any medals, they’ll at least have a place in Nintendo’s bizarre new floppy-limbed fighting game, ARMS.

Source: New Scientist