Raise’s new mobile wallet streamlines gift card buying and selling

Why it matters to you

Have unwanted gift cards burning a hole in your wallet? Raise helps you get rid of them — and make money on the side.

Ever get a gift card for a store where you never shop? We’ve all been there. Luckily, Raise, a self-styled marketplace for unwanted gift certificates, makes it easy to find an eager buyer — the company said that its partners include more than 3,000 brands. And on Wednesday, May 24, it’s revamping the whole experience with a mobile wallet.

Raise’s new app, which launches today for iOS and Android devices, is streamlined for easy buying and selling. Now, credit from cards purchased through the app’s sellers can be applied to a prepaid wallet — and used to make purchases online and at brick-and-mortar locations.

The new Raise app automatically sends a push notification for “suggestions nearby” — when you’re near a restaurant or retailer, you’ll get an alert if you have any applicable cards on your account. And a redesigned checkout supports more payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Raise has redesigned the app’s interface, too. A new gift card experience provides “easier and faster access” to gift cards you’ve purchased on Raise are easier to redeem than before, and supports more POS systems. Better balance tracking and card management tools are in tow, as well as the ability to reserve gift cards — now you can place a “hold” on a gift card in your cart for up to five minutes so that it isn’t nabbed out from under you.

Setting up a Raise account requires that you confirm a mobile number, and add payment card information. From there, you can browse available cards by categories like Top Stores, Nearby, and Trending. Each section can be sorted by type, value, percent off, and price. After you buy a card, it’s delivered to a digital wallet within the Raise app.

“Raise is altering the way consumers pay for everyday purchases and [is] transforming payments in a way never before seen,” CEO George Bousis said in a press release. “Raise has helped millions of consumers save and the addition of our new mobile app allows for a seamless experience for both retailers and consumers, making it the easiest and most valuable mobile wallet.”

Since Raise’s launch in 2013, the company said it has saved its more than two million users a collective $125 million. It’s a profitable enterprise, as well — Raise, which takes about a 15-percent commission on gift card sales, has raised $87.2 million in funding from venture capital like Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, and New Enterprise Association.

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Sphero’s Lightning McQueen RC toy doesn’t just drive, it’s alive

Why it matters to you

If you’re looking for the ultimate in Disney Cars memorabilia, look no further than Sphero’s Ultimate Lightning McQueen.

Cars, the animated Pixar movie that cast Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Larry the Cable Guy as anthropomorphic automobiles, screeched into theaters in 2006 wooing kids, parents, and critics alike. The money followed. After raking in a very healthy $462 million at the box office, Cars made $10 billion in merchandise sales alone — setting a new record in the process.

So it should hardly be a surprise that when the third film in the series, Cars 3, debuts in June, it’ll be accompanied by a new remote-controlled car resembling Lightning McQueen — the movie’s intrepid protagonist. But unlike the thousands of Cars-themed toys that’ve come before it, it’s designed by Sphero, the company behind last year’s adorable Star Wars-inspired BB-8. And just like BB-8, it’s a technological marvel.

Boulder, Colorado-based Sphero (previously Orbotix) has a long history in robotics. It introduced the eponymous Sphero, an omnidirectional Bluetooth ball controlled via smartphone app, back in 2011. In 2014, it rolled out Ollie, a tube-shaped, wheel-equipped toy that could reach speeds up to 14 miles per hour. Then came the Sprk and Sprk+, two translucent, colorful versions of the Sphero that support OVAL, a visual programming language.

But Ultimate Lightning McQueen, the newest ‘bot in the company’s growing roster, is a turning point for the company. It looks remarkably like its on-screen inspiration, albeit a bit smaller. Sphero’s engineers collaborated closely with Cars creative director Jay Ward and supervising animator Bobby Podesta on details like styling and stickers. A few long-running series gags include McQueen’s Lightyear-branded tires and a Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment decal.

Most of Lightning McQueen’s interactions happen in the companion remote app for iOS and Android devices

That’s all to say Lightning McQueen looks great powered down and just sitting on a table. But switched on, it’s far more impressive. A custom-designed trapezoidal screen under the windshield animates two big, expressive eyes that seem to follow you around the room, while a dedicated motor moves McQueen’s mouth. Meanwhile, a powerful, built-in sound system pumps out over 300 different phrases recorded by Owen Wilson, the voice of Lightning McQueen.

Sphero tapped Gus Aramayo, a mechanical engineer with over 10 years of experience in the powersports industry, to design Lightning McQueen’s suspension and steering. This system consists of six motors — three for emotive side-to-side movements, two for the front tires, and one for steering — and three processors, including one dedicated to the toy’s eye animations. Five capacitive touch panels allow Lightning McQueen to respond to physical taps on the roof, hood, side doors, and rear window. There’s even an ambient sensor that adjusts the toy’s head and tail lights based on environmental light levels.

Sphero provided Digital Trends with a unit to test drive, and we were struck by how life-like McQueen seems. The mouth motor’s movements sync almost perfectly with the dialogue, as do the “lift” motors above each of its wheels. During one of our favorite animations — “The Wave” — McQueen spits a witty retort while lifting the left-hand side of its body and tilting it smoothly to the right.

Most of Lightning McQueen’s interactions happen in the companion remote app for iOS and Android devices, which is chock full of interactive games and activities. One, called Pitstop Panic, tasks you with matching conveyor belt-bound repair parts to broken cars — Lightning McQueen lets you know which parts are coming next, and offers words of encouragement. Another mode, Racing, pits you against AI competitors on a digital track.

The app’s other modules tie in with the Cars movies. Acting Studio, for example, lets you “direct” Lightning McQueen by combining animations and bits of dialogue in a sequence, which can be played back or saved. And “Movie Mode” brings Lightning McQueen to life when you plop the toy in front of Cars or Cars 2 — he’ll react to scenes and easter eggs.

The app is fun enough by itself, but McQueen’s real draw is his driving skills. Just like the toy’s Hollywood inspiration, McQueen is worth his racetrack salt. The Sphero team engineered him to drift and do donuts on any surface, including carpet, tile, and hardwood. He braces against hairpin turns, and taps a powerful drive train to reach speeds of up to six miles per hour.

Based on our testing, it seems that McQueen works even better than advertised. We were impressed by the speed with which the toy traversed our tricky office floor, and pleased by how easy it was to control. If you’re familiar with Sphero’s BB-8, you’ll feel right at home with the remote control app’s virtual joystick — a “reverse” button backs McQueen out of tight corners, and a dedicated “donut” button makes shredding up asphalt (or carpet) as simple as tapping a touchscreen.

But of course, all that technology doesn’t come without a few drawbacks. Ultimate Lightning McQueen costs $300, double the price of Sphero’s BB-8. Its built-in battery only supplies about 40 minutes of drive time after two hours of charging. And unlike BB-8, which works with Sphero’s Force Band, the car’s remote control features require a smartphone.

All that had us wondering whether the parents of Cars’s most devoted demographic — young kids — would be willing to swallow the cost. But the Sphero team sees Lightning McQueen as an investment that’ll improve over time. Already, the team is hard at work developing new animations, activities, and games — all of which will be available for free in future software updates.

Ultimately, the Ultimate Lightning McQueen is a judgement call — not every would-be buyer will feel the same about it. But if you’re on the hunt for one of the most authentic and technologically sophisticated Cars toys ever made, there’s more than enough here to justify the steep asking price.

Sphero’s Ultimate Lightning McQueen is available today from the Sphero website. It’s compatible with the iPhone 5s or newer, iPod 6th Generation or newer, the iPad 3 or newer, and iPad Mini 2 or newer, and with Android devices with Bluetooth 4.0 and up running Android 5.0 or newer.

Sphero’s Lightning McQueen RC toy doesn’t just drive, it’s alive

Why it matters to you

If you’re looking for the ultimate in Disney Cars memorabilia, look no further than Sphero’s Ultimate Lightning McQueen.

Cars, the animated Pixar movie that cast Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Larry the Cable Guy as anthropomorphic automobiles, screeched into theaters in 2006 wooing kids, parents, and critics alike. The money followed. After raking in a very healthy $462 million at the box office, Cars made $10 billion in merchandise sales alone — setting a new record in the process.

So it should hardly be a surprise that when the third film in the series, Cars 3, debuts in June, it’ll be accompanied by a new remote-controlled car resembling Lightning McQueen — the movie’s intrepid protagonist. But unlike the thousands of Cars-themed toys that’ve come before it, it’s designed by Sphero, the company behind last year’s adorable Star Wars-inspired BB-8. And just like BB-8, it’s a technological marvel.

Boulder, Colorado-based Sphero (previously Orbotix) has a long history in robotics. It introduced the eponymous Sphero, an omnidirectional Bluetooth ball controlled via smartphone app, back in 2011. In 2014, it rolled out Ollie, a tube-shaped, wheel-equipped toy that could reach speeds up to 14 miles per hour. Then came the Sprk and Sprk+, two translucent, colorful versions of the Sphero that support OVAL, a visual programming language.

But Ultimate Lightning McQueen, the newest ‘bot in the company’s growing roster, is a turning point for the company. It looks remarkably like its on-screen inspiration, albeit a bit smaller. Sphero’s engineers collaborated closely with Cars creative director Jay Ward and supervising animator Bobby Podesta on details like styling and stickers. A few long-running series gags include McQueen’s Lightyear-branded tires and a Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment decal.

Most of Lightning McQueen’s interactions happen in the companion remote app for iOS and Android devices

That’s all to say Lightning McQueen looks great powered down and just sitting on a table. But switched on, it’s far more impressive. A custom-designed trapezoidal screen under the windshield animates two big, expressive eyes that seem to follow you around the room, while a dedicated motor moves McQueen’s mouth. Meanwhile, a powerful, built-in sound system pumps out over 300 different phrases recorded by Owen Wilson, the voice of Lightning McQueen.

Sphero tapped Gus Aramayo, a mechanical engineer with over 10 years of experience in the powersports industry, to design Lightning McQueen’s suspension and steering. This system consists of six motors — three for emotive side-to-side movements, two for the front tires, and one for steering — and three processors, including one dedicated to the toy’s eye animations. Five capacitive touch panels allow Lightning McQueen to respond to physical taps on the roof, hood, side doors, and rear window. There’s even an ambient sensor that adjusts the toy’s head and tail lights based on environmental light levels.

Sphero provided Digital Trends with a unit to test drive, and we were struck by how life-like McQueen seems. The mouth motor’s movements sync almost perfectly with the dialogue, as do the “lift” motors above each of its wheels. During one of our favorite animations — “The Wave” — McQueen spits a witty retort while lifting the left-hand side of its body and tilting it smoothly to the right.

Most of Lightning McQueen’s interactions happen in the companion remote app for iOS and Android devices, which is chock full of interactive games and activities. One, called Pitstop Panic, tasks you with matching conveyor belt-bound repair parts to broken cars — Lightning McQueen lets you know which parts are coming next, and offers words of encouragement. Another mode, Racing, pits you against AI competitors on a digital track.

The app’s other modules tie in with the Cars movies. Acting Studio, for example, lets you “direct” Lightning McQueen by combining animations and bits of dialogue in a sequence, which can be played back or saved. And “Movie Mode” brings Lightning McQueen to life when you plop the toy in front of Cars or Cars 2 — he’ll react to scenes and easter eggs.

The app is fun enough by itself, but McQueen’s real draw is his driving skills. Just like the toy’s Hollywood inspiration, McQueen is worth his racetrack salt. The Sphero team engineered him to drift and do donuts on any surface, including carpet, tile, and hardwood. He braces against hairpin turns, and taps a powerful drive train to reach speeds of up to six miles per hour.

Based on our testing, it seems that McQueen works even better than advertised. We were impressed by the speed with which the toy traversed our tricky office floor, and pleased by how easy it was to control. If you’re familiar with Sphero’s BB-8, you’ll feel right at home with the remote control app’s virtual joystick — a “reverse” button backs McQueen out of tight corners, and a dedicated “donut” button makes shredding up asphalt (or carpet) as simple as tapping a touchscreen.

But of course, all that technology doesn’t come without a few drawbacks. Ultimate Lightning McQueen costs $300, double the price of Sphero’s BB-8. Its built-in battery only supplies about 40 minutes of drive time after two hours of charging. And unlike BB-8, which works with Sphero’s Force Band, the car’s remote control features require a smartphone.

All that had us wondering whether the parents of Cars’s most devoted demographic — young kids — would be willing to swallow the cost. But the Sphero team sees Lightning McQueen as an investment that’ll improve over time. Already, the team is hard at work developing new animations, activities, and games — all of which will be available for free in future software updates.

Ultimately, the Ultimate Lightning McQueen is a judgement call — not every would-be buyer will feel the same about it. But if you’re on the hunt for one of the most authentic and technologically sophisticated Cars toys ever made, there’s more than enough here to justify the steep asking price.

Sphero’s Ultimate Lightning McQueen is available today from the Sphero website. It’s compatible with the iPhone 5s or newer, iPod 6th Generation or newer, the iPad 3 or newer, and iPad Mini 2 or newer, and with Android devices with Bluetooth 4.0 and up running Android 5.0 or newer.

Best app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

Everyone likes apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers put paid apps on sale for free for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up while you have the chance. Here are the latest and greatest apps on sale in the iOS App Store.

These apps normally cost money and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

Photo Editor

Photo Editor hides great depth and richness of features behind a simple, intuitive UI, so you don’t need to be a designer or a geek to be able to use it.

Available on:

iOS

The Hangman’s Noose

The Hangman’s Noose is a quest set in the world of Puzzlewood. See if you can go farther than your friends without dying!

Available on:

iOS

Phoenix Photo Editor

Phoenix is a powerful and fast photo editor with a lot of editing tools, and importing and sharing options. With Phoenix you will have all the freedom to customize your photos with pretty filters, effects, borders, and fonts.

Available on:

iOS

Willio

Create an event, and add the participants from your contacts. Then add a payment each time someone pays for the group. If the payment should not be split equally among the participants, you can specify specific shares or amounts.

Available on:

iOS

Illuminating Compound Interest

This app is an educational financial app that not only calculates your interest rates but also features plain English explanations of each compound interest calculation.

Available on:

iOS

Don’t Buy

Let’s record the products or services which you dislike. Save barcodes so you never make the same mistake twice.

Available on:

iOS

Switch from Verizon for free with T-Mobile’s ‘Get Out of the Red’ campaign

Why it matters to you

If you’ve ever wanted to switch from Verizon, here’s your chance — T-Mobile’s Get Out of the Red campaign makes it cheap and easy.

Self-coined “un-carrier” T-Mobile is making it easier for customers to switch the competition — specifically Verizon. Its newest campaign, Get Out of the Red, lets eligible subscribers migrate from Verizon, keep their phone, and avoid having to pay a hefty fee (ETF) for terminating their contract.

“Switching is a pain! It’s expensive to pay off their phone and a huge hassle to trade it in and transfer their life — contacts, apps, photos and more — to a new device,” said T-Mobile. “And it’s all unnecessary. The truth is, the latest iPhones and Pixel phones work great on T-Mobile now.”

Starting May 31, Verizon customers with an iPhone 6s or newer (or one of Google’s Pixel-branded phones) can switch to T-Mobile by visiting any of the carrier’s brick-and-mortar stores. T-Mobile said it’s aimed at the 14 million Verizon customers who say they would switch carriers if they could keep their phone and didn’t have to pay a fee.

But the carrier’s not leaving Sprint and AT&T customers out in the cold — for a limited time, its waiving early-termination fees and device payments. And to celebrate the campaign’s launch, T-Mobile’s offering customers with two or more lines two additional lines for the price of one.

Get Out of the Red launches on the heels of T-Mobile’s un-carrier moves. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the carrier replaced its capped data plans with the T-Mobile One plan, which starts at $70 and includes unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data. As part of the One plan’s rollout, T-Mobile introduced the “One-plan guarantee,” which locked in prices for new customers, and KickBack, a new plan benefit that refunds subscribers for data they don’t use.

And in December, T-Mobile announced Digits, a new service that provides a single phone number that works across smartphones, tablets, computers, and even wearables. Subscribers can answer and place calls from any device, and access call history, messages, and voicemail from the online Digits dashboard.

“The Internet wasn’t meant to be metered in bits and bytes,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in January. “[It] was mean to be unlimited, and at T-Mobile, we believe that everyone should have unlimited mobile internet.”

T-Mobile’s next frontier is 5G. In May, the carrier said it will deploy next-generation high-speed networks across the U.S. “[It’ll] position T-Mobile to deliver a 5G network that offers both breadth and depth nationwide,” T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray said in a blog post. “We’re going to run at it and run hard.”

Apple joins the race to 5G, applies to test experimental technology

Why it matters to you

Apple testing 5G tech won’t have any short-term impact on your daily life, but it will make your iPhone of the future crazy fast.

Just about every major mobile carrier in the United States is hard at work on 5G wireless technology now, in advance of its launch hopefully in a few years’ time. Meanwhile, device makers have to be sure their products will be ready for the network when that day comes. Apple is seeking permission to begin testing 5G technologies for that very purpose, according to a report from Business Insider.

Although 5G specifications have not been entirely hammered out yet, we know the FCC approved the 28GHz and 39GHz bands for commercial 5G use last year. These are the same ones mentioned by Apple in its testing application.

The 28GHz band, specifically, is meant for ground-to-space transmission, and Apple has reportedly hired engineers with experience developing satellites ahead of testing.

The company looks to base its operations from two locations — one on Yosemite Drive in Milpitas, California, and another on Mariani Avenue near its Cupertino, California, headquarters.

Apple says it will run experiments for no more than a year, which would place the end of the testing phase right before the iPhone 9’s expected launch in late 2018. That’s still a bit earlier than when 5G should arrive — Sprint, for example, is planning to launch its network by late 2019, and other carriers are targeting a similar time frame.

Part of the delay is due to the fact that the 5G spec sheet probably won’t be decided until spring of next year, when industry partners convene. Meanwhile, carriers have begun the marketing cycle. Last month, AT&T announced the launch of its 5G Evolution service in Austin Texas, with a handful of cities to follow.

5G Evolution utilizes some technologies that should play a role in the overall 5G picture, like carrier aggregation and 4×4 Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO). However, other aspects, like small cells — miniature towers that can be placed on buildings and draw less power — and higher-frequency millimeter waves, are major aspects of 5G that customers probably won’t benefit from until the standard debuts in earnest.

Early birds can get a discount Chuwi SurBook during crowdfunding campaign

Why it matters to you

Anyone interested in the new 2-in-1 from Chuwi can save themselves some cash by getting in on the ground floor of this crowdfunding campaign.

Last month, we were given our first glimpse of Chuwi’s SurBook, a low-cost alternative to Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4. Now, Chuwi has opened pre-orders on the system — and the company is utilizing an unusual launch strategy to gauge public interest in the hardware.

Chuwi is running an IndieGogo campaign that will process pre-orders for the first wave of SurBook systems, according to a report from Liliputing. The company is well-established in China, but much less so in the United States, so this strategy allows it to offer its product directly to consumers without relying on relationships with retailers.

The deal works out pretty well for anyone who is interested in purchasing the device, too. Like many crowdfunding campaigns, there are early bird discounts to be had, with backers receiving deep discounts on the hardware if they’re among the first to confirm their pre-order.

The cheapest model available offers 64GB of storage, and will cost the first 200 backers $299 — later, the price will go up to $369. There’s also the option to get the same system bundled with a keyboard and a stylus, which costs $349 at the early bird rate, and $473 thereafter.

Chuwi is also offering a 128GB model that comes with the keyboard and stylus accessories, which costs $399 while the early bird allocation is still available, after which point the price will rise to $498.

The SurBook boasts a 12.3-inch screen with a 2,736 x 1,824 resolution, 6GB of RAM, and USB Type-C and USB 3.0 Type-A ports for easy connectivity. However, with a weight of 967 grams and a thickness of less than 10 millimeters, its greatest strength is its portability, given that it’s a very affordable system.

The crowdfunding campaign will run for a month, but Chuwi has already met its low funding goal of $30,000, so all orders made from here on out are guaranteed to be fulfilled.

Tell Alexa how much money you saved buying the Echo Dot for $40 today!

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with a rare price drop on the Echo Dot for one day only!!

Amazon’s Echo Dot is a must-have for anyone looking to make their home smarter, and right now you can get one for $40 from a variety of retailers (including Amazon) for today only! This is a $10 savings and brings it back down to the lowest price we’ve seen on a new condition unit. The Echo Dot is a hands-free voice-controlled device that can play music, provide information, read back the news and control select smart home devices in your home or office. Thanks to its far-field microphones, it can actually hear you from across the room and in noisy environments.

The Echo Dot is on sale today at:

• Amazon
• Best Buy (save an additional $20 when buying 3)
• Staples

You can also score its big brother, the Amazon Echo, as a refurbished unit for just $134.99 right now. Amazon has been adding new features to the Echo lineup regularly, so it will continue to improve and get smarter over time. Whether you want to order some pizza through a voice command or listen to your favorite song on Spotify, you can do it all without having to touch a thing. Still not sure if it is for you? Our friends at Android Central have some great info as to whether or not you should buy one.

See at Amazon

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

OnePlus 5: CEO hints at fingerprint on the front

Not the back. Or the side. Or under the screen.

OnePlus has made an artform of the “slow trickle” of info around new, unannounced smartphones. The most recent nugget of info comes from the company’s CEO, Pete Lau, who recently appeared to confirm that the OnePlus 5 will feature a front-facing fingerprint scanner, like its predecessors. First reported by GizChina, the remark came in Lau’s answer to a fan question on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Fingerprint on the front means the OnePlus 5 will probably be a traditional 16:9 slab.

Sure, everyone has their own preference when it comes to fingerprint scanner placement. But if Lau’s comments are accurate — and there’s no reason to doubt them — we can draw a few conclusions. First off, it’s likely that the OnePlus 5 will use a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to the taller form factors championed by Samsung and LG. (An 18:9 display plus front-facing fingerprint would likely lead to an unreasonably tall phone.) Second, we can probably expect a similar choice between capacitive and on-screen keys in the OnePlus 5 — and thus, the front of the OnePlus 5 might look a lot like a OnePlus 3 or 3T.

The news of a fingerprint scanner on the front also fits with some recent, unverified renders of the phone, which have cropped up online over the past few weeks.

Other recent OnePlus 5 rumblings? A camera partnership with DxOMark and the teasing of four new color variants.

We’ll undoubtedly hear more about various aspects of the OnePlus 5 in the run up to the launch later this summer, so stay tuned!

Samsung’s new Gear 360 available tomorrow for way cheaper than the original

You can pick up a new Gear 360 starting May 25!

The biggest hurdle for most people when it comes to getting into 360-degree photography is price. Cheap 360 cameras don’t take good photos, and good 360-degree cameras aren’t cheap. Samsung is going to put an end to this with its new Gear 360 camera, which will be launching in stores and online just about everywhere for $229.

That price undercuts the original Gear 360 pricing by over $100, and makes the next best camera in the lineup considerably more expensive. It’s also going to be available in way more places, with Best Buy, Amazon, and all of the major U.S. carriers planning to carry the camera.

On top of great pricing and thoroughly expanded availability, Samsung is firing up a special promotion with the new Gear 360 for those who haven’t yet picked up the Galaxy S8. If you pick up the phone between May 25 and June 19, you’ll be able to score a Gear 360 for $49 through a Samsung Store promotion.

This is a huge win for Samsung, and a great opportunity for anyone looking to get into 360-degree photography. The Gear 360 was one of the best cameras you could get before pricing was announced, but now it’s going to take a truly impressive new camera from a competitor to come anywhere near this offer.