Top 7 things to know about Google Home in Canada

Google Home is the first smart assistant speaker in Canada, and it’s a big deal. Here’s what you need to know.

Google Home is now available in Canada, and it’s the first voice assistant-powered speaker to make the trip north (despite years of secret Amazon Echo smuggling). Available for $179, the diminutive speaker is terrifically cute and extremely useful, but there are a few differences between it and the U.S. or international versions that you’ll want to know about.

It sounds pretty great

I’ve a Google Home and an illegal Amazon Echo next to one another, and they both sound OK — not great, especially when compared to something like a Sonos Play:1, but pretty good — but I think the Google Home sounds better. It has truer low-end from a nicely-sized passive cavity and a fairly accurate driver for accurate music and voice reproduction.

Given that the Amazon Echo isn’t officially sold in Canada, Google Home’s respectable sound quality is a bonus, but it helps even more when two units are paired together to form multi-room, or intra-room, music parties.

There’s support for Canadian French (so you’re welcome, France!)

The Google Home isn’t sold in France just yet, so support for Canadian French — a mandate of any product sold in Canada — meant that French, with its quirky Quebecois variances, is now supported by the smart speaker.

More importantly, it means that French Canadians can communicate with the assistant in their native tongue, while bilingual Canadians can go back and forth between the two. Incroyable!

It’s not just an American thing

Google hasn’t just slapped a second language on Home and called it a product; the company has added a number of Canadian-specific news sources that everyone can enjoy. Those include:

• CBC
• Radio Canada
• Global News
• Sportsnet
• TC Media (Metro)
• The Weather Network
• MétéoMédia

These sources can be added to a daily news roundup when selecting English (Canada) or French (Canada) in the language settings of the Google Home app and, thankfully, can be combined with U.S. and UK sources to create a diverse set of news sources, if desired.

There’s no multi-user support just yet

Just as the U.S. has received one of the most important Home updates yet, the ability for multiple users to interact with a single speaker with different results based on voice signature, Canadians have been told that feature won’t be coming for some time. It’s a blow to the out-of-box experience, since multi-user means that six people can get personalized readouts from Google Assistant on daily routines, music playlists, commute times, calendars, and more.

There’s no word on when multi-user support will come to Canada, but it should be relatively soon given the imminent release of the feature in the UK.

It’s not just for asking questions

Google Assistant knows a lot of things — it’s connected to Google, you know — but Home can also connect to smart devices like Philips Hue lights, Nest thermostats (and soon Nest Cams) and Chromecasts. I have a bunch of lights in my office that I leave on all the time now, only to tell Google to turn them off before bed. It’s pretty damn convenient.

The list of supported smart home products is growing every day, and the ability to connect a IFTTT account to Home means that even products that aren’t supported can be made to work with certain phrases.

It’s getting better all the time

Like Google’s Pixel smartphones, or its Chromebook laptops, the company is pretty good at iterating on and improving software experiences, and despite not having a screen, Google Home is no exception.

Since it was released, Google has added a handful of new supported products and services, such as LIFX bulbs and Rachio sprinklers (!!) to the list.

There will also soon be bases — the bottom of Google Home is removable — so you can accessorize your speaker with different colors.

It’s available in a lot of places around the country

Google Home is getting a pretty wide release in Canada, including the Google Store, Bell, Best Buy, Fido, Indigo, London Drugs, Rogers, Staples, The Source, Telus, Visions, and Walmart.

That’s a lot of places to pick up the new unit, but it’s not surprising: this is a product perfectly suited for the tech-obsessed Canadian market, especially since Echo doesn’t exist here and Google wants to get ahead of Amazon (and later this year, Apple) in this very lucrative space.

Pick it up for $179 and enjoy talking to your appliances. It’s really fun!

Google Hardware

• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Everything you need to know about the Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast vs Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

Google Wifi:

Google
Amazon

Google Home:

Google
Best Buy

Chromecast Ultra:

Google
Best Buy

Facebook won’t launch its original TV shows until later this summer

We’re learning more details about Facebook’s original TV plans.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook will launch its own original series later this summer, with some of them being full-fledged cable TV productions. The 30-minute episodes will even have adverts. The company is reportedly focusing on sitcom programming as well as short-form content from partners like BuzzFeed. Facebook is looking to target an age range of 13 to 34.

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It may even do its own take on reality TV programming, kind of the like The Bachelor, as well as melodramas and comedy. However, it’s staying clear of political dramas, news, or anything with nudity and foul language. Refinery29’s Strangers, which debuted at Sundance in January, as well as MTV’s Loosely Exactly Nicole will be among the first debut shows on the platform.

In a statement to the media, Facebook said it plans to support partners and creators on all kinds of shows – from sports to comedy to reality to gaming. It’s focused on episodic shows, too. Keep in mind in May it was revealed that Facebook was in the middle of developing about two dozen shows, with plans to start premiering them in mid-June, but obviously that hasn’t happened.

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Some of the shows will even be longer, primetime-level shows like House of Cards on Netflix. As for the smaller, short-form shows, they’ll be up to 10-minutes long each, and will be added to a revamped video tab daily. There will even be a virtual reality dating show from Conde Nast. Other shows may feature A-list celebrities, too, with one major star already contracted in a deal.

These new shows will presumably also be viewable through Facebook’s video app for the Apple TV and other set-top boxes. In February, The Wall Street Journal said Facebook is developing a “video-centric app” for set-top boxes, including the Apple TV, so it can put video content from the social network on screens in the living room.

Lyft tries to make your rides faster with suggested pickup spots

In order to make pickups more efficient and convenient, Lyft has begun offering pickup suggestions. Any time the app spots a slight change in pickup location that would save a rider time, such as walking to the nearest corner or heading towards a main street, it will suggest an update. The app will also let the rider know exactly how many minutes the adjustment will save them and the rider can choose to move to the new location or stick with the original pickup spot.

This update to the app follows two last year that let Lyft riders change a pickup location after a ride was requested as well as pinpoint exactly where they wanted to be picked up and dropped off. An update in May allowed riders to begin scheduling a pickup up to seven days in advance. But the company is a little slow to offer the pickup suggestion option because it’s something that Uber started working on in 2015.

Lyft’s new service should make pickups more efficient for both rider and driver and it’s being rolled out everywhere Lyft is available, starting today. Just make sure to update your app.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Lyft

Apple TV’s new firmware is available for adventurous watchers

While Apple took time to talk about updates to its macOS, iOS and watchOS products onstage at WWDC this year, it didn’t spend much time on the Apple TV. The only mention of Apple’s favorite “hobby” was the addition of Amazon Prime Video to the Apple TV lineup. But today, in addition to the iOS 11 public beta, Apple has also released the beta for tvOS.

It’s fairly simple to get the beta on your own Apple TV, though we don’t recommend it. We’re still sore from last September when the latest iOS 10 beta bricked our iPhone. Still, if you’re super curious and don’t care if your Apple TV stops working, you can sign into the Apple Beta Software Program with your Apple ID on your Apple TV, enable the Public Beta Updates option, then let the box download and install the latest beta tvOS. If you want to send feedback to Apple, you’ll also need the iOS 11 public beta for your iPhone. But seriously, don’t do it unless you’re willing to brick the thing.

Source: Apple

Microsoft wants OneNote to be the go-to classroom app

Microsoft has been quietly focusing on the education market with its OneNote app for some time now. It’s offered free Office 365 subscriptions for students, an integrated math tutor and a classroom-centric add-on called OneNote Class Notebook. The company has just updated OneNote with even more educational extras, including improvements to Notebook, new learning tools and some fun new stickers that teachers and students can use to spice up their collaborations.

New updates, new features, new STICKERS! Check out all the latest from #OneNote: https://t.co/TGmQboVOj8 #edtech pic.twitter.com/f4yTQGkEEA

— OneNote Education (@OneNoteEDU) June 26, 2017

The update includes improvements for both teachers and students. OneNote Class Notebook will now connect with even more learning module systems (LMS), including Edsby, Schoology, and Skooler, with better integration with the respective assignment and grading tools. The Learning Tools add-in now has improved Syllables for English and has added four new languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish. The team has also rolled out a new Researcher tool, available for Office 365 subscribers as well as Word on Windows and Mac. Students and teachers can also save a copy of their notebooks to their personal OneDrive to make it easier to move schools or classes. Stickers can make OneNote a lot more fun, and OneNote now has two new packs, called Silly Supplies and Cacti Friends.

Ultimately, all of these functional and cosmetic improvements will help both kids and teachers in their digital classrooms. It’s hard not to also see it as a way to create a whole generation of future adults who see OneNote as an indispensable part of their lives, which is a great way to compete with the other options out there like Evernote and Bear.

Source: Microsoft Blog

Twitter on Android automatically enters ‘night mode’ after dark

Twitter added a “night mode” option almost a year ago that ditched a big white background for big dark background so users could nocturnally scroll without keeping themselves awake. But the only thing better than manually switching to the eye-saving light is having your phone do it for you. The latest version of the Android Twitter app, 7.2, automatically turns “night mode” on after dark.

You can still set it to manual toggle, but if you switch it to automatic control, the app will turn “night mode” on at sunset and off at sunrise. Tragically, it seems that the dark theme has been disabled, but such is the cost of progress. The feature is live on Android as of the Twitter app’s version 7.2, released today, but that edition hasn’t reached iOS yet.

Via: 9to5Google

Source: Twitter (Play Store)

‘Silicon Valley’s’ ridiculous Not Hotdog app hits Android

Get excited, Android users, the Not Hotdog app is now available to you. The app, based on a bit from HBO’s Silicon Valley, was launched for iOS in May and from our findings, does a pretty good job at determining what is and isn’t a hotdog. And honestly, it’s not even close to the most useless thing we’ve seen today.

Along with the Android launch, the show also published a detailed description on Medium of exactly how the app was developed. “While the use-case is farcical, the app is an approachable example of both deep learning, and edge computing,” said the post. It then goes on to describe the prototype, how the neural network was designed and how it was trained.

And there wasn’t a huge team involved in creating the app. According to the post, “The app was developed in-house by the show, by a single developer, running on a single laptop & attached GPU, using hand-curated data. In that respect, it may provide a sense of what can be achieved today, with a limited amount of time & resources, by non-technical companies, individual developers, and hobbyists alike.” So, you too can create an app that sorts food into one of two categories — which might actually be appealing to all of you who think just about everything is a sandwich.

So, if you’ve been anxiously awaiting this culinary tool, you can finally relax. The app is available in the Play Store today.

Via: The Verge

Source: HBO

How to Install iOS 11 Public Beta on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Apple today released the first public beta of iOS 11 for eligible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models, allowing users who aren’t signed up for the Apple Developer Program to test the software update ahead of its official release in the fall.

iOS 11 is pre-release software, so installing the beta on a secondary device is highly recommended. Due to bugs and other potential issues, installing the iOS 11 beta on an iPhone that you use everyday is generally not a good idea.

Installing the iOS 11 public beta is a relatively simple task that, in most cases, shouldn’t take longer than 15 or 20 minutes from start to finish. Here’s the step-by-step instructions for an iPhone, which extend to the iPad and iPod touch.

Create a Backup in iTunes

Before installing iOS 11 beta, creating a backup of your device’s contents and settings in iTunes is highly recommended.

• Connect your iOS device to a Mac or PC using a Lightning to USB cable.
• Open iTunes.
• Click on the device’s icon in the top-left menu.
• Under Backups, click This computer.
• Checkmark the Encrypt iPhone backup box if you wish to back up account passwords, and Health and HomeKit data.
• Click on Back Up Now.
• Click on iTunes > Preferences… in the macOS menu bar.
• Click on the Devices tab.
• Click on the new backup while holding down the Control key and click on Archive.

Enroll in the Apple Beta Software Program

To install the iOS 11 public beta, you need to enroll your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in the free Apple Beta Software Program.

• Visit the Apple Beta Software Program website on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
• Tap on the Sign up button, or sign in if you are already a member.
• Enter your Apple ID credentials and tap on the Sign in button.
• Agree to the Apple Beta Software Program terms and conditions if necessary.
• On the Guide for Public Betas screen, with the iOS tab selected, scroll down to the Get Started section and tap on enroll your iOS device.
• On the Enroll Your Devices screen, with the iOS tab selected, scroll down and tap the Download profile button.
• Tap on Allow.
• Tap on Install and follow the prompts to install the iOS Beta Software Profile.
• Reboot your device.

Install the iOS 11 Public Beta

After enrolling in the Apple Beta Software Program, installing the iOS 11 public beta is as easy as installing regular software updates.

• Tap on the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
• Tap on General.
• Tap on Software Update.
• Tap on Download and Install.
• Tap on Install Now.

If you are experiencing issues installing the iOS 11 public beta, try clearing any previous profiles in Settings > General > Profile.

MacRumors shared an iOS 10 public beta installation video last year, and the steps remain valid for the iOS 11 public beta.

As you explore the public beta, you can use the included Feedback app to report bugs to Apple, and make sure to check out our iOS 11 forum to discuss your experiences with others and find answers to your questions.

Apple has a support document with step-by-step instructions for restoring back to iOS 10. Remember to create an archived backup.
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Veosport V1 bluetooth earbuds offer comfy option with great sound (review)

The world of earbuds, and more specifically, Bluetooth earbuds, covers a spectrum of features that manufacturers try to focus in on. Fit, security, sound quality, and price are each highlighted, depending on the model in question. The big problem is normally only one of these features are or can be highlighted. Emphasizing or focusing on one feature usually forces the others to take a back seat in the real world (great sound quality buds tend to be bulky, cheap buds tend to lack great sound quality, etc).

One company currently on Kickstarter is going big in striving to excel in all these features at the same time. That company is Veosport, and their premier earbuds, the Veosport V1’s, are aiming for this very goal. Not only do the V1’s aim to be comfortable earbuds, but want to offer great (and customizable!) sound quality, and all at a very compelling price.

Unboxing

Clean packaging outside.

Clean packaging inside, too.

Multiple ear tips.

Braided (but short) USB.

The overall packaging and unboxing is a very clean affair. The modern white square box opens to reveal a black circular bud case, surrounded by black foam. Below the foam is a short braided micro-USB charging cord (no wall charger is included) and user’s guide.
Opening the case reveals the pair of V1’s (white in my case, though black is also an option) and several packets of ear tips. The tips come in 3 styles and each style has 2-3 sizes, so finding the perfect fit becomes very easy. The case is a welcome bonus here, as a lot of buds come with pretty flimsy sack-like enclosures that offer little-to-no physical protection while in your gym bag, backpack, or elsewhere.

Build Quality & Comfort

Bendy!

The Veosport V1’s come in a very soft silicone-type of material, that appears both sturdy but still very pliable. The ear hooks continue this feeling, both being very flexible but pretty useful once looped around my ear. These buds also come with both a cord shortener (to clean up slack) and clothes clip (to keep the cord from flapping around).

The ear tips come in several styles- my favorite were the foam tips; these felt extremely secure in my ear, but also noticeably pumped up the bass levels during playback (more on this a little later).

Button Layout & Use

The V1’s come with only 3 buttons, the usual + and – buttons, and the commonly-found multi-function button. The + and – buttons are small but sufficiently raised to allow easy finding and control while active.

Complete buds.

Good angle back into the ear.

+ and – buttons.

Mult-function button and USB port.

The multi-function button is probably my favorite feature of these earbuds. First off, it’s big; it’s a large black button molded into the side of one bud… Big style points here. But also, the satisfying way the button responds to your finger press was both noticeable and appreciated (I know I’m going gadget-geek on you here, but I think it’s a highlight when something as seemingly simple as a button click gets as much type-space as this, let alone any at all to begin with). This button is the on/off button, and also the play/pause. I’ll say it one more time, the combination of size and ‘clicky-ness’ of the V1 multi-function button makes these buds immediately climb to the top of the list in terms of ease of use.

In terms of battery life, Veosport claims up to 8 hours of use per charge. In my own unscientific testing (40 minute workouts, 2-3 times per week) I am still on my initial charge 2 weeks in. This is a whole lot better than either of my last two pairs of value-price earbuds!

Sound Quality & Price

Here’s where the Veosport V1 earbuds really want to separate themselves from the pack. But, it’s not in their sound quality out of the gate….

Let me explain- out of the box, the V1’s do seem to experience a similar fate as most other earbuds (particularly Bluetooth models): sound quality that skews either to the high tones or the bass side of the spectrum. Again, the V1’s are no different: in my opinion, while the mids and lows are really very good, the overall sound has a “closed box” effect, where the highs seem to be almost filtered out, leaving a wet-paper quality to the overall tone range. Just not bright and airy enough.

The V1’s don’t skimp on the low-frequency range, though. Particularly when I put on the foam-style ear tips, the amount of bass was very, very good. Not just loud and muddy, mind you, but good punch with very good separation at the low notes. But still, without the airy highs you need from the vocals and the instruments, it can be underwhelming at times.

Veosport aims to rectify this issue with a pairing app (unavailable at the time of writing; the iOS version is due out soon and the Android one about a month later) that allows you to change the EQ settings of the earbuds themselves, so you can tune your tunes until you acquire the sound profile you like! This is simply a fantastic idea, and Veosport should be lauded for bringing it into the market. At least trying to; they just launched their Kickstarter campaign. I really can’t wait for the app to launch to be able to mess around with my physical earbuds’ EQ.

The V1’s also have built-in noise-canceling technology, that seems to work very well. In my personal test cases, they block out ambient noise much better than my current pair of Bluetooth earbuds (that don’t have any active noise-canceling features).

Which brings us to pricing. While most higher-end Bluetooth earbuds are priced north of $100, the Veosport earbuds come in at $79. As a bonus, if you commit early via their Kickstarter, you can reserve a pair of these earbuds for as low as $49. Whether retail or via Kickstarter, I can tell you these should be a very good value in the active Bluetooth earbud market.

Conclusion

I’m really enjoying the Veosport V1 earbuds. First off, even without the pending EQ app, they are by far the most comfortable ‘active’ earbuds I’ve worn. Also given the amount of bass they naturally produce, I’m very much looking forward to tweaking the sound profile to get a more balanced output; with that I’m more than confident the sound quality will literally sing from these.

If you’d like to invest in a pair of V1 earbuds, be sure to check out both the Veosport V1 homepage here and the Kickstarter page here.

Gear Up: mophie’s latest keep your flagship phones charged for days on end

It’s officially summer which means that the days are longer now than any other time in the year. Moreover, they’re warmer, too. In some places the days are much, much warmer (Sorry, Arizona!). If you’re at all like us, these long, warm days equate to more time outside and using our phones. Yes, we’re all over the revisions that have come to Pokemon Go.

If you’ve owned a phone for more than a few weeks, you know that it’s pretty tough to use your device for extended periods without reaching for a charger. Quick charge is nice and all, but we’re hoping to stay away from the wall altogether. A lot of us like to reach for portable chargers so that we can plug into something while out and about. In some instances, there’s another option: a mophie juice pack.

The mophie brand, which has been around for quite some time, continues to get bigger and better with each passing season. The last few weeks saw it releasing products for a number of key Android smartphones: Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and Google Pixel XL. If you own either of these phones, you’ll certainly want to pick up a mophie accessory.

We’ve spent the last month or so playing around with a number of the new products and find them to be equal parts convenient and practical. Each serves its own need but all revolve around giving your phone more power without having to find an outlet.

• Juice pack: Samsung Galaxy S8
• Juice pack: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
• Juice pack: Google Pixel XL
• Charge force case & powerstation mini: Samsung Galaxy S8
• Charge force case & powerstation mini: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Juice pack

The juice pack (about $100 each) is both a protective case and a portable charger. By putting your phone inside you’ll have protection against minor drops, scuffs, and scrapes. Moreover, your phone benefits by having a secondary power supply. Should you get to the end of a work day and find you’re running a little lower on power, simply long-press the button on the back and the case will charge your phone’s battery.

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There are a number of reasons we like having a juice pack on our device that don’t have anything to do with the power. Take the one for the Pixel XL, for example. Putting one of these on your Google device will add in wireless charging, something that doesn’t come with the Pixel XL. That’s damn convenient if you ask us.

We also like that the case passes charging through the case and into the phone. So, rather than top off the juice pack, plugging into a wall puts the power into your phone first, and then into the secondary unit. The four lights on the back signal how much battery is left in the reserve tank.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel XL juice pack offer 2,950mAh of power; the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus juice pack boasts 3,300mAh.

Charge force case & powerstation mini

The charge force case & powerstation mini is a great combo pack for customers who may have other phones in the household. While the first component is a case to protect the phone, the second piece is a portable power supply. Sold separately through mophie, the powerstation mini is an external battery. It’s small and powerful and works with any other mophie cases with charge force capabilities.

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Simply stick it to the back of your phone and the magnets hold it into place. Spend a few minutes at dinner charging your device, or snap them together in your purse on the way home from work and you’ll be all set. The best part is that there are no cables to mess with.

Mophie does include one short microUSB cord in the box so that you can charge the battery up. Should you want to charge your phon, you can pass through the charge force powerstation mini, giving preferential treatment to the phone. Like other charging solutions from mophie, there are four lights to get a sense for how much juice is in the tank.

Conclusion

We’re big fans of mophie in general and always appreciate when it releases products designed specifically for our phones. Sure, a portable power bank is nice, but when you can get a protective case with battery capabilities, it’s a different experience.

We love that we don’t have to carry around a blocky power supply in the juice packs. Yes, it does take a little bit of time to get used to the thickness, but you’ll love it. The juice packs can be a little bit more slippery and smooth; they tend to pick up oils from touches rather easy. But, they do clean up nicely and can even take a little abuse in the process.

The charge force case & powerstation mini is what you’ll want to reach for if you like a little more textured (leather) case and don’t need the extra battery on a daily basis. Charge up the powerstation mini and keep it in a handy place like the car or purse and you’ll have an extra 3000mAh worth of battery on deck. Heck, even if you want to carry it around on a daily basis, it beats using something with a cable.

Finally, one of the biggest reasons to look to mophie for mobile accessories is that its products are backed by a two year warranty. That’s double what most others are willing to do provide.