PayPal support makes North American debut in Apple’s iTunes, App stores

Why it matters to you

More payment options in the iTunes store means more convenience, and an easier way to buy the content you want.

There’s a new way to pay for apps, music, books, subscriptions, and the like through Apple’s iTunes and App stores. Starting Wednesday in Canada and Mexico, PayPal is available as a payment option on all iOS devices, the online payment company has announced. The feature will soon roll out in another 10 markets, including the United States, at a later date to be determined.

Previously, American customers could use PayPal for transactions through the iTunes desktop app. Other territories were left out, and the service wasn’t supported anywhere in the world on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. All of that will change in the coming weeks.

First off, iTunes on MacOS and Windows will support PayPal outside the U.S. The list will grow to include Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia, Israel, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain. Additionally, those same 12 countries will be able to use PayPal on mobile, too. Besides media and app purchases, the payment method can also be used for iCloud subscriptions as well.

PayPal

If PayPal support is live in your region, you can add your account by entering the settings menu on your iOS device, scrolling down to “iTunes and App Stores,” tapping on your Apple ID, and then finally the section marked “Payment Information.” The service should eventually be available as an option underneath your existing credit or debit card, and from there you simply sign in.

This is certainly a long time coming for PayPal and Apple, and follows the web payment giant’s integration with Android Pay back in May. You can add PayPal as a “card” to an Android Pay account, allowing you to pull from your account balance for transactions at brick-and-mortar retailers. Currently, no similar feature exists on Apple Pay, though you can use Siri to send funds to friends through the PayPal app.

Meanwhile, Apple intends to go toe-to-toe with PayPal in the direct money transfer space with an upcoming iMessage app due to release as part of iOS 11 in the fall. The company will also launch an “Apple Pay Cash” digital card that will let you use the funds accrued through transfers for tap-and-pay NFC transactions.

Indiegogo’s $25 Mu Tag is the world’s smallest loss-prevention device

Why it matters to you

Keeping tabs on your possessions shouldn’t require a huge, conspicuous tag. Luckily, the Mu Tag is here to help.

Look, we get it. Keeping tabs on your possessions can be tough. We’re always misplacing our wallets, forgetting our phones, or bemoaning airlines that lose our bags. And while you could try to prevent the loss of these valuables by tying giant ribbons to them, attaching sirens, or otherwise making your things look awfully conspicuous, technology has an easier solution. It’s called the Mu Tag, and it’s heralded as the world’s smallest loss-prevention device.

While there are plenty of tracking solutions already available, the Mu Tag wants to help you avoid the need to even track your things by ensuring that you don’t lose them in the first place — all without drawing unnecessary attention. The small, discreet electronic tag can be easily attached to a wide range of devices, whether it’s your purse, your computer, or your bike.

Once it’s been affixed to an object, the Mu Tag communicates with either your smartphone or your smartwatch, and lets you know when you’ve wandered too far away from your belongings. Thanks to the companion Informu app, you can manage multiple Mu Tags at once. And because no Bluetooth pairing is necessary for the tag and app to work, onboarding ought to be relatively easy.

Although the primary function of the Mu Tag is to behave as a “virtual leash” between you and your items, the tag can also learn about your habits and needs with continued use. For example, by integrating with your calendar, the Informu app can tell you when you have an upcoming flight, and remind you to bring your suitcase to the airport.

The app is also capable of remembering “safe locations” based on your configuration. That means that if you walk away from your tagged laptop while you’re at home, you won’t get a notification. On the other hand, if you do the same at a coffeeshop, the Mu Tag will let you know to be a bit more careful.

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised more than $100,000, the Mu Tag has now made its way over to Indiegogo, where it’s available for pre-order for $25, with an expected shipment date in December 2017.

Indiegogo’s $25 Mu Tag is the world’s smallest loss-prevention device

Why it matters to you

Keeping tabs on your possessions shouldn’t require a huge, conspicuous tag. Luckily, the Mu Tag is here to help.

Look, we get it. Keeping tabs on your possessions can be tough. We’re always misplacing our wallets, forgetting our phones, or bemoaning airlines that lose our bags. And while you could try to prevent the loss of these valuables by tying giant ribbons to them, attaching sirens, or otherwise making your things look awfully conspicuous, technology has an easier solution. It’s called the Mu Tag, and it’s heralded as the world’s smallest loss-prevention device.

While there are plenty of tracking solutions already available, the Mu Tag wants to help you avoid the need to even track your things by ensuring that you don’t lose them in the first place — all without drawing unnecessary attention. The small, discreet electronic tag can be easily attached to a wide range of devices, whether it’s your purse, your computer, or your bike.

Once it’s been affixed to an object, the Mu Tag communicates with either your smartphone or your smartwatch, and lets you know when you’ve wandered too far away from your belongings. Thanks to the companion Informu app, you can manage multiple Mu Tags at once. And because no Bluetooth pairing is necessary for the tag and app to work, onboarding ought to be relatively easy.

Although the primary function of the Mu Tag is to behave as a “virtual leash” between you and your items, the tag can also learn about your habits and needs with continued use. For example, by integrating with your calendar, the Informu app can tell you when you have an upcoming flight, and remind you to bring your suitcase to the airport.

The app is also capable of remembering “safe locations” based on your configuration. That means that if you walk away from your tagged laptop while you’re at home, you won’t get a notification. On the other hand, if you do the same at a coffeeshop, the Mu Tag will let you know to be a bit more careful.

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised more than $100,000, the Mu Tag has now made its way over to Indiegogo, where it’s available for pre-order for $25, with an expected shipment date in December 2017.

Drink your coffee out of a mug made of coffee with the HuskeeCup

Why it matters to you

The average coffee drinker is responsible for nearly 7 pounds of wasted coffee husks a year, but now, we can reuse that waste and make a cup.

Who says sustainable can’t be sexy? Certainly not HuskeeTech, the makers of the HuskeeCup, a durable, reusable ceramic cup made from a coffee husk. After all, what better way to drink your morning cup of coffee than from a cup made of coffee, right? Promising to “handle the rigors of a café while remaining elegant and attractive,” the HuskeeCup is quite the statement piece when it comes to your kitchenware, but is also a testament to environmental friendliness.

While ceramic may traditionally be the material of choice when it comes to your coffee and tea mugs, this unique cup is made of coffee husk material and organic resin, making it one of the most sustainable cups around. Better still, the HuskeeCups are dishwasher friendly and can be stacked, so storing them (even in the smallest of kitchens) is a breeze. Plus, HuskeeTech promises that its mugs won’t chip or crack.

And although you can buy a HuskeeCup in a variety of sizes (6, 8, and 12 ounces), each uses the same universal saucer, so you’ll always have a set for parties.

“Each year, during the harvest season, our team is faced with tons of raw waste in the form of coffee husk from the processing of coffee,” the HuskeeTech team noted on its Kickstarter campaign. In fact, it’s estimated that the average coffee drinker accounts for more than 6.6 pounds of coffee husk waste each year, and more than 1.35 million tons of husk waste is generated around the world from coffee production on an annual basis. “By using coffee husk in the creation of HuskeeCup, we are recycling hundreds of tons of waste material from the production of coffee,” the team concluded.

Ultimately, the team hopes to achieve zero waste at their coffee farm, while providing a sustainable solution for both cafés and homes alike. And the HuskeeCup certainly looks to be a step in the right direction.

With nearly two weeks left in its Kickstarter campaign, the HuskeeCup has already raised nearly $50,000. You can pre-order a set for yourself for $34, which includes four six-ounce cups. For $37, you can get a set of the eight-ounce cups, and for $42, you can get the 12-ounce size.

Apple CarPlay review

Research Center:
Apple CarPlay

We’ve reexamined CarPlay to reflect the changes that came with the release of iOS 10. Improvements include increased app support and an optimized user interface.

The term “car stereo” doesn’t adequately describe what’s in the dash of most new cars. Over the past few years, what was once a simple music-making machine has morphed into a full-blown infotainment console with enough power to fly the USS Enterprise. Today, even modest factory-installed units come with touchscreens and Bluetooth, but if you upgrade your deck (factory or otherwise), it can double as a 360-degree camera monitor, a speakerphone, a navigational tool, or even a movie screen.

For as fancy as today’s car stereos are, however, there’s one nut they’ve yet to crack: how to keep drivers’ eyes off of their phones and on the road. That’s where Apple’s CarPlay comes in. CarPlay is essentially iOS for your dashboard. By placing the most popular iPhone functions on a big screen right in the center of a car’s dashboard and adding enhanced voice control and interaction through Siri, Apple aims to make using your iPhone while driving an easier and, more importantly, safer affair.

That’s the idea, anyway. When Pioneer announced that its NEX-series in-dash receivers could finally be updated with CarPlay, I raced home, updated my deck, and hit the blacktop for a six-hour road trip to put the system through the wringer. I learned that CarPlay has the power to change what motorists expect from in-car entertainment systems, and possibly even save a few lives.

How to get CarPlay

The list of CarPlay-compatible models ranges from basic vehicles to high-end supercars.

The list of CarPlay-compatible models continues to grow every year. They range from relatively basic cars like the Chevrolet Spark to high-end supercars like the Lamborghini Aventador S. Volvo, Honda, Porsche, and Ford are among the dozens of brands that offer CarPlay compatibility. Note that some companies make buyers pay extra for the tech, while others bundle it in an expensive option package.

CarPlay is already a couple of years old, so finding a used car compatible with it is becoming easier. For those who don’t want to get a new set of wheels, Alpine, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer, and Sony all offer aftermarket in-dash receivers that support CarPlay.

The car is only part of the equation, however. The software won’t work if you’re using a device older than the iPhone 5.

It’s your phone on your dash … with extra help from Siri

As Apple fans have come to expect, CarPlay works just like the iPhone does. CarPlay was riddled with glitches and bugs upon its initial debut, which brought our Apple-in-the-car party to a screeching halt. With the subsequent upgrades – notably the release of iOS 10 – CarPlay now provides the smooth, intuitive experience Apple promised.

On the whole, CarPlay is an incredibly cool tool, and absolutely worth enduring some quirks in order to experience using it. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect:

Phone

Press the familiar green phone icon, and Siri will immediately come to your aid, asking, “Who would you like to call?,” or some variant thereof. You can then dictate any name from your contact list, and Siri will place the call.

CarPlay reduces distractions behind the wheel, and being able to summon Siri makes driving more convenient.

If you don’t feel like dealing with Siri, that’s OK, too. You may skip right past Siri and look up the person you want to call using all of the familiar tabs available on your iPhone; Favorites, Recents, and Contacts are readily available. From there you may scroll around using touch controls or any built-in cursor control your vehicle offers. Access to the keypad and visual voice mail is also one touch away.

The original CarPlay package functioned just like iPhone, meaning you had to press the Home button to back out of whatever app you were using. The latest version, however, has added three app icons on the status bar – for Navigation, Communication, and Entertainment – meaning the driver can switch between apps without going all the way back to the main screen. It’s a simple shortcut, but it makes navigating between CarPlay’s different functions significantly easier.

Messages

CarPlay’s Messages app is one of our favorite features. If you receive a message while connected to CarPlay, an alert will appear at the top of the screen, no matter what you’re doing.

It is your choice whether or not to pull up the message, but if you do, Siri will ask you if you want to have the message read to you. If you choose to respond, you’ll be given the option to review your response just to make sure Siri got it right, and change it if necessary.

Apple CarPlay Compared To

Ford Sync 3

Android Auto

Volvo Sensus Connect

NissanConnect

Mazda Connect

Volkswagen RNS

Hyundai Blue Link

Toyota Entune

FCA Uconnect

During our testing, we conducted extensive text-based conversations without once touching our phone … it was liberating.

Messages also integrates with the Maps app in that any address texted to you will be available in a list of destinations Maps keeps stored for reference. Speaking of Maps …

Maps

With CarPlay, Maps is more like the navigation hardware and software you really want in your car, only better in some ways, and not quite as advanced in others.

Maps can access your contact list and Messages for addresses — that’s not something you can get from your TomTom or Garmin. Plus, Siri allows you to search for addresses without ever having to pick up your phone. Need to find a pizza joint or coffee shop? Just ask Siri. She’ll display the options nearby for you choose. Likewise, if you’re after a specific location, instructing Siri to find it for you usually turns out well.

On the other hand, Maps doesn’t display street addresses in real time like Pioneer’s built-in navigational system does, nor does it provide as immersive a point-of-view experience while driving. For instance, its 3D rendering of buildings isn’t nearly as accurate. Of course, Apple is constantly tweaking the software and this is likely to change as Maps evolves over time.

Music and podcasts

Music and Podcasts function exactly as you would expect them to, but with IOS 10 came an updated version of Apple Music. It’s a bold and fresh look, but it’s also much easier to navigate your library now. You can find a track by the artist, song, playlist, or category, and the Now Playing screen shows the user what’s coming next as well as the album the currently song is from. You can also simply ask Siri to play your favorite song by a particular artist, and your digital copilot will gladly oblige. And while Spotify was broken and bugged out when CarPlay launched, it’s fully functional now for all your streaming needs.

Supported apps

At launch, many of the third-party applications Apple promised were missing from CarPlay or non-functional. Frustrating, right? We’re glad to report that’s no longer the case. Motorists can access NPR One, Amazon, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and Spotify, among others. Got kids? Keep them occupied on long road trips with Radio Disney.

What you won’t find are apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram – the point of CarPlay is to reduce distracted driving, after all. Giving drivers the ability to face-swap behind the wheel would be counterintuitive.

Our Take

Apple has rectified many of the the issues that plagued CarPlay in its first few months on the market. It’s become a ton of fun to use, and it’s a lot of fun to show off, too. As promised, it reduces distractions behind the wheel, and being able to summon Siri makes driving more convenient.

Are there better alternatives?

Apple CarPlay is your only option if you want to put iOS in your dashboard. If you’re more of an Android person, Google’s Android Auto software performs roughly the same tasks as CarPlay. Automakers are putting an increasingly big focus on in-car tech though, so native infotainment systems are much more advanced than they were just a few years ago.

How long will it last?

CarPlay is here to stay because Apple is serious about expanding its presence in the automotive industry. Engineers in Cupertino are constantly tweaking the software, meaning it’s sure to get better, sleeker, and more user-friendly while offering a growing array of features.

Should you get it?

CarPlay isn’t just for diehard Apple fans. Give it a shot if you’re confused by (or frustrated with) your car’s built-in infotainment system. We bet you’ll get hooked right away.

These DJI Spark filters give pilots more control over color and exposure

Why it matters to you

DJI Spark pilots can gain more control over the camera with the camera filters from PolarPro.

DJI’s folding Spark drone now has its own set of filters. On Tuesday, accessory company PolarPro launched a set of DJI Spark filters, along with a soft case for the quadcopter.

The PolarPro DJI Spark filters are designed to give pilots more control over the aerial images and video, available in a pack of three or six different filter options. Both options include a polarizing filter — these filters control reflected light to either enhance or eliminate reflections. Along with correcting glare, polarizing filters also boost the blue in the skies and the green in foliage for outdoor shots. The kit also includes a neutral density filter, which reduces the amount of light coming into the camera for more control over the video settings in bright sunlight, with two different strengths in the three pack and three in the six pack. The larger collection also offers combination filters in two strengths, merging both the neutral density and polarizing filter into one.

Because the filters are designed for use on the small drone, the filters are designed with aircraft aluminum frames to keep the added weight low. PolarPro says that lightweight design means the gimbal can continue to operate smoothly, despite the added accessory. The front of the filter is designed with HD glass.

“The amazing confluence of technologies in the new DJI Spark make it a compact, go-anywhere solution ideal for filmmaking on the fly, and its gesture controls allow videographers to capture some amazing perspectives,” PolarPro CEO Jeff Overall said in a statement. “Like most consumer-level drones, our new Spark Filter Sets can help optimize those results by slowing the shutter speed with our neutral density filters and boosting the color rendering with our combo polarizing filters.”

The three filter set will retail for $50 while the six pack retails for about $100.

One of the Spark’s most popular features is the folding wings and compact body that allows the drone to fit in a backpack and PolarPro is helping users take the portable drone more places with a custom moulded case. The PolarPro DJI Spark Soft Case uses an interior designed to fit the drone’s exact form, while still leaving the propellers attached. The case also leaves enough room to store two extra batteries.

The soft case is designed to turn any bag into a Spark-safe tote. A carabineer loop also allows the case to be strapped to the exterior of a bag as well. The case retails for $25 and includes a lifetime warranty.

Move over chemotherapy? Personalized anti-cancer vaccines make strides

Why it matters to you

A pair of studies strongly suggest that personalized skin cancer vaccines could represent a new way to more effectively treat the disease.

Curing cancer could one day be as straightforward as getting an injection — if two new studies on anti-cancer vaccines are anything to go by.

Both studies were published in Nature this month and detail pioneering Phase I trials of possible personalized cancer vaccines that are designed to aid the body’s immune systems against skin cancer. Impressively, both found that the therapeutic vaccines — either on their own or in combination with other immunotherapies — were able to prevent the recurrence of melanomas.

One study was conducted by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, while the other was the work of investigators at BioNTech, a biotech company in Germany. As with any vaccine, the idea behind the “neoantigen” cancer vaccines isn question is to teach a patient’s body to battle against the developing pathology — in this case, tumor cells. Because each tumor is different, vaccines need to be personalized based on the neoantigens in each patient’s tumor.

“Our immune system is in principle able to fight cancer by recognizing mutations in tumor cells,” Dr. Ugur Sahin, who led the research in Germany, told Digital Trends. “Cancer mutations are ideal pieces of information to specifically instruct the immune system. Mutations are generated by random genetic alterations during the development of cancer, exquisitely restricted to the cancer cells, and are not found on normal tissues. As a vaccine, we use synthetic messenger RNA that carries the information about the set of individual mutations. We studied the approach in 13 patients with late-stage melanoma. Their cancer mutations were identified by comparing the genome sequence of the tumor with normal samples obtained from the same patient. We used computerized algorithms to deal with the huge amount of data, to extract useful information and to design a unique RNA vaccine for each patient.”

A similar approach was followed by the researchers in Boston — except that they incorporated the neoantigens into the vaccine themselves, rather than having the patient’s own cells generate it. Regardless of the approach, both studies were able to eliminate the cancer in almost all cases.

As Sahin notes of his own study: “Most of the patients remained melanoma relapse free in the subsequent observation period up to 27 months. This was impressive, as all these patients had a history of experiencing melanoma relapses multiple times.”

The solution isn’t as straightforward as a flu shot, however. For one thing, it requires that a patient has already had cancer, rather than being able to be used as a preventative measure. It also is less effective in early-stage cancer, and due to the personalized nature of the vaccines, takes a while to develop for each patient, which is not ideal when time may not be on a person’s side.

However, it’s definitely a significant advance — and very exciting for what neoantigen vaccines could mean for future research and drug development. Along with cancer-detecting algorithms, graphene, and artificial organs, it’s another reason we love cutting-edge tech!

These are the accessories your PlayStation VR needs right now!

There’s more to owning a PlayStation VR than being Batman.

As gaming VR systems go, PlayStation VR has been a hit so far. The initial launch left many hunting for games that were out of stock for days and controllers that were out of stock for longer, but now that things have settled down and you’ve started pushing through the lineup of launch titles, it’s time to take a look at what you need to enjoy this headset long term. Outside of a fresh controller and the new PlayStation Camera, this is what you need to fully enjoy your PlayStation VR!

Read more at VR Heads!

Google Play Movies can now display HDR content over Chromecast Ultra

Chromecast Ultra just got a color boost.

Did you wonder why you spent more on that Chromecast Ultra almost a year ago? It wasn’t just for the 4K resolution support but the promise of greater things to come.

Well, today, that greater thing is HDR support. According to Google, 4K content that is also encoded with HDR (high dynamic range) will automatically begin playing on TVs that support both standards — as long as you’re in the U.S. or Canada. Google says of the update:

With HDR, users can now buy and watch movies, like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with better contrast, greater brightness levels and sharper images than HD. We’re launching HDR for Chromecast Ultra users (when connected to an HDR capable display), with many of our major studio partners including Sony and Warner Bros.

While all the pieces have to line up for HDR content to play — you need the right TV, the right Chromecast, the right movie and to live in the right country — this is just the beginning of more vivid, lifelike content over Chromecast.

Chromecast vs. Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

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

Google is using deep learning and data analysis to curate the Play Store

Machine learning plays a big part in how apps are monitored in the Play Store.

Google has released some details from the Security and Privacy team about how Google Play is being curated, and machine learning plays a big part.

Google has two basic goals for applications in the Play Store: safety and exposure. The Security and Privacy team wants to weed out apps with malware, but they’re also concerned about applications that ask for broad permissions that might not be needed. In turn, when good apps that follow good practices are found, the team wants them to be featured in the Play Store.

Machines build peer groups to study what apps can do and if they should be doing it.

One of the ways they do this is by using what is called “peer groups”. Applications with similar capabilities are grouped together. Apps like Spotify and Pandora (for example) are different from each other, but they have the same basic functions and are designed to stream music to your Android using details from your account with each service. The same goes for Twitter and Facebook or apps like coloring books. When they do the same basic things, they get lumped together. This makes it easier to study what the apps are doing, how they are doing it, and if they should be doing it at all.

They are then analyzed to see what they request from your device when it comes to personal data. Ideally, every app in a peer group will request the same types of information and have a good reason to do so. But sometimes, one will be an outlier. Google gives the example of a coloring book app that requests fine location details through GPS. Other coloring book apps don’t do this, so one that does would be subject to further review by the Security and Privacy team.

There are too many apps in Google Play to do this by hand.

There are too many apps in Google Play for humans to do this effectively, so Google has employed some machine learning techniques to automate much of the process. Deep learning algorithms study the language in the app, data about what the app does and how it does is analyzed by computer, and the peer groups themselves are built by these machines based on things like app metadata and text descriptions as well as metrics like user installs.

Google does plenty to keep malware from getting on your phone through Google Play, but this is also to educate developers about the complex (very) permission model Android uses. this is a pretty cool way to use computers that help users and developers, and it’s great that Google is willing to share some information about how it’s being done.