Google’s ‘Voyager’ bear cam showcase is the best reality TV

Google will expose a lot more folks to Alaska’s famous Katmai National Park “bear cams” thanks to an arrangent with the nature organization Explore.org. Google Earth has created a Story on its new Voyager platform that describes the region and lets you watch all five views. Those include the underwater “snorkel” and waterfall cams that show the talented bears plucking salmon out of Brooks River or catching them in mid-jump.

The bear cams went viral a few years ago because of the real life stories playing out, including one around a cub that died of an illness and a large male that killed a rival to get his food cache. The latter story first horrified many users, but eventually “they were using words like ‘power’ and ‘strength’ and ‘survival’ and ‘tenacity,’ ” Roy Wood, the man behind the cameras for Katmai National Park, told The Awl in 2014.

The cams are still available on Explore.org, but the Voyager story will help expose them to a lot more viewers and provide some valuable context. That includes map flyovers showing the precise camera locations and blurbs describing the spots and explaining which bear activities go on there.

At the moment, bears are coming out of a long hibernation, so you can easily spot them hunting salmon. I tuned in to the Brooks Falls camera and sure enough, there was what appears to be a pregnant female that caught and devoured two salmon in a row, and another in a calm pool under a rock ledge, waiting to pounce.

“Google and Explore.org share the values of showcasing nature’s treasures in its ‘purest’ form possible,” said Explore.org founder Charles Annenberg on Medium. ” ‘Replacing fear with trust’ has also been a cornerstone value of Explore.org because it is the only way humanity will stop making the mistakes of its past.”

If you tune in long enough, you might catch something even more interesting, like bear sex, fights, or animal kills. Explore.org also offers views of wild belugas, polar bears, bald eagles, elephants hippos and more.

Source: Google

France plans to ban fossil-fuel-powered cars by 2040

France’s ecology minister has laid out an ambitious plan that would see the nation effectively ban the sale of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles by 2040. Nicolas Hulot, as quoted by the Financial Times, claims that France is announcing the “end of the sale of gasoline and diesel cars” by the deadline. As Le Figaro adds, it’s not clear how the country will enforce the transition, but Hulot says that the “conditions are there.”

France doesn’t have a bottomless sovereign wealth fund like Norway, for example, that it can use to finance a transition to cleaner energy. But, what France does have in its favor is a sizable stake in both PSA, the owner of Peugeot and Citroen, and Renault. As a consequence, it can exert plenty of pressure on some of the world’s largest auto manufacturers to help accelerate the process.

In addition, Hulot is planning some sort of financial incentive as a lever to push buyers toward hybrid or electric vehicles. That could take the form of an extra pollution tax on older vehicles, or a tax break (or other subsidy) to encourage the purchase of newer, cleaner cars. Although the details are still hazy,

France will also establish itself at the forefront of the fight against climate change by instituting a carbon tax, which would be upward of 100 euros per tonne of carbon. In addition, the country will stop issuing new licenses for oil exploration and make a bigger push for renewable energy. Right now, all of this is just a plan, but given that France’s current government was given a huge mandate by voters, it’s hard to see where any opposition would come from.

It’s not the first piece of good news this week for folks who don’t want the Earth to boil away in the next few years. Volvo has pledged to stop producing vehicles with entirely gasoline or diesel-powered motors by 2019. Instead, each new car, from that point, will be hybrid or entirely electric and, in addition, Volkswagen believes that it can sell three million EVs by 2025.

Source: Le Figaro, Financial Times

PSA: AirPods In Stock on AT&T’s Website With Free 3-5 Day Shipping

AirPods continue to have a 6-week shipping estimate when purchased through Apple’s online store, but AT&T’s website currently has the wireless earphones in stock with free delivery in 3-5 business days.

AT&T sells AirPods for $159, the same price as Apple charges, but the carrier only ships to addresses within the United States, excluding P.O. boxes.

AirPods occasionally appear in stock through Apple resellers like AT&T, but typically not for very long due to a combination of limited supplies and strong demand. For that reason, prospective buyers should order as quickly as possible.

AirPods, driven by Apple’s custom W1 chip for one-tap setup, instantly connect to a nearby iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac when taken out of their charging case. The cord-free earphones use optical sensors and a motion accelerometer to detect when they are in your ears and automatically turn on.

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Double tapping an AirPod invokes Siri by default, which can be used to adjust the volume, change the song, make a call, or get directions.

AirPods deliver up to five hours of listening time on one charge, and a 15-minute fast charge provides up to three hours of listening time. The charging case holds multiple additional charges for more than 24 hours of listening time.

Tags: AT&T, AirPods
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Apple Planning to Launch Three New OLED iPhones in 2018

Earlier this year, a supply chain report said that Apple plans to make all of its iPhones with an OLED screen by 2019. Apple was believed to be preparing to adopt OLED panels for 60 million units of the “iPhone 8” in 2017, and then the company would double the adoption of OLED panels in 2018 before wholly transitioning to OLED-only iPhones in 2019.

In a report by Nikkei today, that timeline has been bumped up slightly based on two industry sources, who said that Apple is planning to use OLED displays “in all new iPhone models launched from the second half of 2018.”

iPhone 8 rendering via Benjamin Geskin
Not only that, but one source said that Apple is “tentatively” looking to debut three iPhone models next year, and all would use an OLED display. That would be in contrast to the trio of iPhones coming in 2017, two of which are expected to still use LCD screens and one of which will be the first iPhone to transition to OLED, the so-called iPhone 8.

Apple is planning to use advanced organic light-emitting diode displays in all new iPhone models launched from the second half of 2018, according to two industry sources.

One said that Apple is tentatively looking at releasing three new models next year. Apple did not respond to an email seeking comments.

Rumors about the “iPhone 9” started in May of this year, when a report predicted Apple would debut the 2018 iPhone in two OLED screen sizes: 5.28-inch and 6.46-inch. The supply chain is also believed to be starting to eye production of the iPhone 9, with LG Innotek planning to begin production of flexible printed circuit boards in 2018 in hopes of becoming a main FPCB manufacturer of Apple’s 2018 iPhone.

In today’s report, Apple is said to have already begun designing the new iPhones coming in 2018, “but its plans are subject to change,” as usual depending on various market factors and component quality discovered through the production process.

The sources also cited concern over Apple’s shifting to OLED-only models as soon as 2018, considering that only one company — Samsung — is a reliable source of manufacturing for the technology. Apple is already said to be looking into diversifying its OLED display orders, however, including potentially investing in a major LG Display OLED plant with production estimated to begin in early 2019.

Samsung will be the sole supplier of OLED displays for the premium iPhone 8 in 2017, but Nikkei’s sources didn’t know how much that might change in 2018. With suppliers like LG Display still not predicted to gear up on OLED production until 2019, Samsung is likely to remain at least a major OLED source for Apple in 2018.

Samsung Display declined to comment. It is unclear whether Samsung will remain the exclusive OLED supplier in 2018 even though other rivals are still struggling to churn out OLED panels for smartphones. Apple usually prefers more than one supplier for a single component. The two companies are also locked in fierce competition in the global smartphone market.

Suppliers JDI and Sharp will continue to supply LCD screens for iPhones like this year’s “iPhone 7s” and “iPhone 7s Plus,” which are expected to be sold well into 2019, “although demand could fall with the arrival of OLED iPhones.” One Sharp executive speaking to Nikkei contrasted the site’s first two sources, saying it’s “not likely” that Apple will switch to OLED screens for every new iPhone launching next year.

A 5.8-inch OLED display has long been a rumor for the 2017 iPhone 8, and it’s also expected to be a screen with an edge-to-edge design thanks to drastically reduced bezels. Recently, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple will omit Touch ID from the iPhone 8, and then a report by Bloomberg said Apple is working on an “improved” facial recognition system to replace Touch ID in the tenth-anniversary iPhone.

Tag: iPhone 9
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Nokia’s making camera phones with lens experts Zeiss again, and we can’t wait

Why it matters to you

A great camera is one of the top reasons to buy a certain phone, and Nokia and Zeiss made amazing camera phones for years.

Nokia and optics expert Zeiss have announced an exclusive partnership deal that will see the once-legendary collaboration make a return to the world of smartphone photography. Specifically, it’s Nokia-owner HMD Global that has signed Zeiss up, and the pair will be working on new photographic systems for future Nokia smartphones. Additionally, the Zeiss brand name will feature on those devices worthy of its attention.

Don’t pass this off as a mere branding exercise, either. The long-term agreement will see HMD Global and Zeiss work together on all aspects of Nokia smartphone cameras. Zeiss will collaborate on camera optics, of course, but it will also assist with the software experience, services offered, and even the screen quality of the phone itself. It’s exclusive, too, so we won’t see Zeiss’s work on any other phones.

HMD Global’s CEO Arto Nummela is understandably excited about the potential. He says he’s aware we want more than just a great smartphone camera today, and expect “a complete imaging experience that doesn’t just set the standard but redefines it.” He promises the Zeiss partnership will help Nokia deliver this.

If you’re a relative newcomer to smartphones, and by this point are wondering what all the fuss is about, let us explain. There was a time when Nokia ruled smartphone cameras, and it did so with Zeiss (at the time under the Carl Zeiss brand name) optics. While the 2012 Nokia 808 PureView, or 2013 Lumia 1020 are probably the last Nokia camera phones with a Zeiss lens to wow smartphone photographers, the partnership extends back to 2005, and produced many other notable camera phones in Nokia’s highly regarded N Series, including the award-winning N95. At the time, there was nothing quite like the N95’s 5-megapixel, f/2.8 aperture camera; it was arguably the first “modern” camera phone, and extremely influential in the industry.

It’s not just this history that makes us excited to see the first devices from HMD Global and Zeiss. Huawei and Leica have shown how successful a camera-related partnership can be today, with the superb dual-lens camera on the Huawei P9, Huawei P10, and the Huawei Mate 9. We’re hopeful a Zeiss-equipped Nokia phone can meet the expectations many will have of it; there’s no news on when the first models will arrive, however.

Origin Neuron review

Research Center:
Origin Neuron

It’s always exciting when an Origin desktop lands in the Digital Trends test lab. With excellent enclosures, top-end hardware, and perfect assembly, the Origin Millennium held the top spot as our favorite gaming desktop until the Digital Storm Aventum dethroned it. Now, as our Origin Neuron review will show, the Origin team wants the crown back.

Fitted with an overclocked Core i7-7700K, 32GB of 3,000MHz memory, two GTX 1080 Tis, and a 512GB Samsung 960 Pro, it’s hard to imagine a better equipped gaming rig. It costs a healthy $4,200, which may sound like a lot, but as we’ll see, is quite reasonable.

There’s a lot more to building a hardcore gaming desktop than just slamming the most expensive parts in it, and few companies know that better than Origin. Is it time to name a new king?

A real looker

Origin uses a lot of custom enclosures for its systems, but the Neuron offers two off-the-shelf case options — the Phantek Evolv, and the Fractal Design Mini C. Both cases are quite popular, and our review unit arrived in the tempered glass version of the Phantek Evolv, a beautiful case with a unique look. It’s tough, elegant, and the build quality is top notch. There are no panel gaps to speak of, and there are little touches like cushioned magnets to hold the tempered glass in place without any screws.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

We prefer seeing custom enclosures when we review a desktop this expensive, but the case Origin picked here is gorgeous. It also benefits from Origin’s attention to detail, which is evident in how the case lighting works. Origin has used parts that are all compatible with the Asus Strix motherboard’s built-in color management. From the G.Skill memory, to the fans, to the extra lighting, everything looks bright and cohesive. Competitors that focus less on the details, such as the AVADirect Avant, skip this important step.

Still, there are two small problems with the Phantek Evolv used for the Origin Neuron. The first is that, like any tempered glass case, it’s not exactly easy to move. It isn’t heavy, but there isn’t a good place to grab, or any handles, so it’s best if this system stays in one place. At least it’s compact for a gaming desktop, so it’s easy to hug and carry. Airflow can also be an issue, as the front of the case has a large, solid panel that only intakes from the side. Origin sidesteps the issue with a massive 360mm CPU radiator in the front that pulls a lot of air.

We do wonder if Origin will ever go with a custom case for it smaller systems, as it has in its mid-tower and full tower gaming systems. Yet the quality demonstrated in the Neuron proves even an off-the-shelf case can offer opportunity for artistry. The company went the extra mile here, and the result is a spectacular rig.

Plugs for days

Like other custom-built systems, port configuration will vary based on which motherboard and GPU you select while configuring the computer. Our review unit was fitted with the top-end options for both, so there was no shortage of wired and wireless connections.

A lot of custom system builders struggle with lighting, but Origin nails it.

The motherboard was an Asus ROG Strix Z270G, a Micro ATX board that didn’t sacrifice where it counts, with a full set of four DIMM slots running at up to 4,000MHz, two M.2 slots, and two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. The back of the system featured four USB 3.1 gen 1, plus a USB 3.1 gen 2 with Type-A and Type-C, two USB 2.0, Ethernet, 6.1 and optical audio, HDMI, DisplayPort, plus 802.11ac 2X2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1. The Phanteks case has an extra pair of USB 3.1 ports in the front, with audio in and out.

The pair of GTX 1080 Ti cards offers a wealth of high-end graphical outputs, with an important caveat. With the cards running in true Nvidia SLI, only the outputs on one card will work properly. That includes three DisplayPort and one HDMI. If you need more, you can disable SLI to drop the combined performance, but open the second card’s video outputs.

Easy access

Everything in the system is easily accessible, thanks to the off-the-shelf Phanteks case, which is designed with enthusiast builds in mind. A metal basement protects the PSU and extra cables, but it was easy to remove to grab some extra power. The swinging tempered glass side panels helped make access easy even without any tools.

Origin Neuron Compared To

Alienware Area 51 (2017)

MSI Trident 9S6-B90611-02S

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake)

Cybertron CLX Ra

Acer Predator G1

Falcon Northwest Mach V (2016)

Digital Storm Aventum 3

Digital Storm Velox

Falcon Northwest Talon (2015)

Origin Millennium (2014)

Acer Predator G3 (AG3-605-UR20)

Falcon Northwest Mach V

iBuyPower Erebus

Gateway FX6800-01e

HP Blackbird 002

Off-the-shelf cases may not be as unique as custom enclosures, but this one provides a lot for future upgrades. Custom built systems like the iBuyPower Revolt 2 look fancy, but can make accessing some parts a pain. The AVADirect Avant and Digital Storm Velox both have similar accessibility, but at the cost of a much larger chassis footprint.

Overclock it

We’ve seen Intel’s Core i7-7700K in a lot of high-end systems, often with a tall overclock over the chip’s 4.2GHz base clock and 4.5GHz Turbo Boost. Origin pushed our review unit’s chip to an astonishing 5.1GHz overclock, the overclock we’ve ever witnessed in a production desktop, thanks to a massive 360mm radiator at the front of the case. It was paired up with 32GB of G.Skill RAM. Let’s see how it fares in our benchmarks.

As expected, that extra 100MHz, and the gobs of fast RAM, helped propel the Neuron into the top spot in our system roundup. Only the Ryzen 7 1800X in the Velocity Micro M60 squeaks out a faster time in our Handbrake 4K conversion test, but it has twice the cores. Even the Digital Storm Velox, which sat at 5.0GHz, was a noticeable amount behind the Origin Neuron.

We should note that Origin charges $75 for overclocking. That’s on the high end for such service, and Falcon Northwest doesn’t charge for it at all.

Storage solutions

High-end systems deserve high-end storage, and the Neuron is no exception. The boot drive in our review unit was a screaming fast PCIe-powered Samsung 960 Pro 512GB, and there are two 2TB flash-accelerated FireCuda data drives standing right behind it, waiting for extra files.

Holy cow. We’re no stranger to the 960 Pro, but we’re impressed by these scores. Only the Velocity Micro, also equipped with Samsung’s best, manages to squeeze ahead of the Neuron. Why one performs better is up for debate, although faster PCIe and M.2 drives often benefit from plenty of airflow, which could be the culprit. Either way, both drives are insanely fast, and users can look forward to near-instant boot and load times.

More power than ever

With the serious work out of the way, it’s time to check out the gaming. Our review unit was equipped with a pair of GTX 1080 Ti GPUs which is the most allowed , the most graphical power you can pack into a consumer machine. That equals a whopping 22GB of video memory across both cards, and a whole lot of horsepower. Both cards were Founders Edition units with blower fans, which Origin also took the time to overclock.

Once again, the Neuron surprises us by passing 30,000 in 3DMark’s Fire Strike benchmark. It was the first system we’ve had through the lab to do so. Now that we’ve seen what it can do in synthetic tests, let’s check out some real gaming.

Setting aside Civilization VI, the Origin Neuron claimed the top spot, with a few exceptions, in every other game in our test suite. It never dropped below a 60 frame per second average at 1440p, even in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with the settings on ultra. Only systems in the upper performance echelon have claimed that honor.

Let’s return to Civilization VI for a moment. We’ve found that not only is the game more CPU intensive than most titles, but it only takes advantage of one GPU. Even without the help of the second card, the Neuron held its own well, but traded blows with the other systems that had at least one GTX 1080 Ti.

Just the essentials

The seriously fast and sexy Origin Neuron managed to impress us at every turn

Origin systems have typically arrived sporting very little apart from the operating system and its included utilities. The Neuron had a bit more installed on it this time around, but it’s all good stuff. A small handful of unobtrusive Asus ROG applications handled the system lighting, thermal management, and smart caching, while EVGA Precision XOC managed overclocking on the GPUs. These are all necessary programs likely to show up on any high-end gaming rig.

Warranty

Origin offers a variety of warranty services with its custom-built systems, and all of them include lifetime technical support and free labor. The most basic offering also provides one year of replacement parts, and Origin will cover shipping for the first 45 days. Upgrades bring that shipping coverage up to one year, and extended the replacement and free shipping up to three years.

Digital Storm offers a similar warranty, with three years of free labor, but only one year of free parts. Shipping is covered for the first 60 days, which is two weeks more than Origin. AVADirect offers a stronger three-year warranty with the Avant, which is definitely above average for the category. Falcon Northwest also offers a three-year warranty for most of its systems at a similar price point.

Our Take

The seriously fast and sexy Origin Neuron managed to impress us at every turn, even without Origin’s attractive custom enclosures. Its Core i7-7700K, two GTX 1080 Tis, and 32GB of colorful RAM are exactly the sort of parts you’d find in a rig built by an experienced home user. Plus, the CPU and GPU are overclocked as only a team of engineers with access to a pile of chips and a solid test bench can.

Is there a better alternative?

There’s no shortage of competing products, but it’s hard to find one that’s strictly better. The Digital Storm Velox doesn’t quite squeeze the same performance out of identical parts, and it costs $800 more, while taking up almost twice the space. The AVADirect Avant is also quite large, and had performance at the same price point as the Neuron, but it has its own issues. At just under $4,200, the Origin Neuron is the supreme choice for performance seekers in tune with current trends.

How long will it last?

With a lofty overclock and a huge excess of graphical power, we have no doubt the Origin Neuron can weather increasing gaming and processing demands while keeping its cool. So will any system at the price point, however. That’s what you get for spending more on a gaming rig.

Should you buy it?

Absolutely. The Origin Neuron takes all the power of more expensive machines, and chops the price down, while cutting the footprint. It’s attractive, powerful, customizable, and a surprisingly good deal, even if it doesn’t sound like it. Origin has put a lot of time and care into crafting the perfect gaming desktop, and the Neuron is damn close.

The origami-inspired Fodi phone stand’s so strong, it even supports your laptop

Why it matters to you

We want to watch video comfortably on our phones when out and about, but don’t want to carry a bulky stand. The Fodi provides a cool solution.

Sometimes even the simplest ideas and products turn out to be surprisingly versatile. The Fodi is more than just a basic stand for your smartphone. It’s super thin and weighs almost nothing, but is strong enough to hold a laptop in place, and mixes origami-inspired techniques with a smart design to make it standout in a pretty crowded space.

The Fodi is just 1mm thick, and weighs 40 grams. When unfolded, it’s not much longer than a paperback book, so it’s easy to slip into a bag or between the screen and keyboard of a closed laptop. While we’ve seen folding stands before, this isn’t a flimsy piece of cardboard that will disintegrate at the first sign of water, or gradually lose its shape and become useless. The polypropylene fiber paper Fodi is made from resists water and stains, and can be wiped clean. The various colorful designs make it look great, and few other stands can claim to have been designed by a real-life, award-winning origami expert.

We’ve been trying out an early version of Fodi for a few days, and its incredibly easy to transform it from its convenient flat state to a handy stand. Pre-defined sections fold naturally into place, so you don’t have to be an origami master to get it right, and magnets hold it there. There are two main positions, giving two different degrees of screen elevation. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone 7 Plus, so will happily cope with most modern smartphones.

However, the structure itself is incredibly strong, and can hold up to 20kg, which means not only will it also keep your tablet held upright, it will support your laptop too. If you have a preference for typing on an angled keyboard, the Fodi is a great portable stand to help achieve this on the move. Be aware that the way it angles a laptop may mean the rubber feet aren’t in contact with the desk top, depending on the model of computer you’re using. It worked with our Apple MacBook Air and Huawei MateBook X though.

If you think a Fodi would fold itself easily into your life, you can get one through Kickstarter at the moment, where it costs just $14 and comes with a clever magnetic cable holder to keep charging cables neat and tidy. Delivery is expected to take place in October this year.

The origami-inspired Fodi phone stand’s so strong, it even supports your laptop

Why it matters to you

We want to watch video comfortably on our phones when out and about, but don’t want to carry a bulky stand. The Fodi provides a cool solution.

Sometimes even the simplest ideas and products turn out to be surprisingly versatile. The Fodi is more than just a basic stand for your smartphone. It’s super thin and weighs almost nothing, but is strong enough to hold a laptop in place, and mixes origami-inspired techniques with a smart design to make it standout in a pretty crowded space.

The Fodi is just 1mm thick, and weighs 40 grams. When unfolded, it’s not much longer than a paperback book, so it’s easy to slip into a bag or between the screen and keyboard of a closed laptop. While we’ve seen folding stands before, this isn’t a flimsy piece of cardboard that will disintegrate at the first sign of water, or gradually lose its shape and become useless. The polypropylene fiber paper Fodi is made from resists water and stains, and can be wiped clean. The various colorful designs make it look great, and few other stands can claim to have been designed by a real-life, award-winning origami expert.

We’ve been trying out an early version of Fodi for a few days, and its incredibly easy to transform it from its convenient flat state to a handy stand. Pre-defined sections fold naturally into place, so you don’t have to be an origami master to get it right, and magnets hold it there. There are two main positions, giving two different degrees of screen elevation. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone 7 Plus, so will happily cope with most modern smartphones.

However, the structure itself is incredibly strong, and can hold up to 20kg, which means not only will it also keep your tablet held upright, it will support your laptop too. If you have a preference for typing on an angled keyboard, the Fodi is a great portable stand to help achieve this on the move. Be aware that the way it angles a laptop may mean the rubber feet aren’t in contact with the desk top, depending on the model of computer you’re using. It worked with our Apple MacBook Air and Huawei MateBook X though.

If you think a Fodi would fold itself easily into your life, you can get one through Kickstarter at the moment, where it costs just $14 and comes with a clever magnetic cable holder to keep charging cables neat and tidy. Delivery is expected to take place in October this year.

Edit backgrounds, alter voices and send Snapchat Paperclip links in latest update

Why it matters to you

Snapchat users can now add links, edit photo backgrounds, or even add voice effects, thanks to a new update.

Snapchat is ending the link boycott: Snap Inc began rolling out an update that allows users to attach links, cut the background out of photos and add augmented voice effects. Snapchat Paperclip links let users swipe to see an attached link while the remaining updates expand on the platform’s photo editing and sharing tools. The link capability and added photo and voice features rolles out globally June 5, according to TechCrunch.

Snapchat Paperclip links allows users to attach a link to a photo before sending. Users can access the feature by tapping on the paperclip icon and pasting a link. On the other end, viewers can swipe to see the link without leaving the Snapchat app thanks to a built-in browser. While links weren’t entirely banned on Snapchat before, the platform previously only allowed links on sponsored and Discover posts.

Snap Inc. is working to make sure the new feature doesn’t present users with something they didn’t want to see. The new feature uses Google Safe Browsing tools as well as additional safety nets developed by Snap itself. Snaps with links will also show a small preview before users swipe to follow the link.

Along with Snapchat Paperclip links, the platform is launching more photo tools with what Snap is calling Backdrops. The new feature is a reversal of the traditional Snapchat tools that allow users to augment their face with a mask and instead adds graphics to the background. Backdrops at first look like a giant (or repeating) sticker that covers the entire image. But then users can cut out the subject of the photo by tracing on the touchscreen, which will leave the Backdrop only on the background of the image.

The feature isn’t as instant as masks since the program can’t automatically detect the background as it can a face, but it brings more features that fans of the augmented reality photo features are likely going to appreciate.

The final feature launched on Wednesday lets users add not just their face but their voice to Snaps. Images that are paired with a recording (accessible with a tap on the microphone icon) can now alter user’s voices to sound like a robot, a cat, or several other “voice filters.”

The update expands what Snapchat is most loved for — fun augmented reality camera effects and the much-copied Stories feature.

Moto E4 Plus with 5000mAh battery is landing in India on July 12

The Moto E4 Plus promises two-day battery life and an unencumbered software experience.

India is a key market for Motorola, and the brand isn’t wasting any time in launching its latest products in the country. After debuting the Moto C series last month, the manufacturer is set to introduce the Moto E4 Plus in the country on July 12.

A massive 5000mAh battery requires an electrifying partnership!#MotoE4Plus on @FlipkartUnveiling on 12/07 at 12 pmhttps://t.co/b7hNAgnk0P pic.twitter.com/YTnmGStgJl

— Moto India (@Moto_IND) July 5, 2017

The standard variant of the Moto E4 comes with a 2800mAh battery, but the E4 Plus offers a massive 5000mAh battery that should easily last two days on a full charge. Other specs include a 5.5-inch Full HD display, MediaTek MT6737 chipset with four Cortex A53 cores, 3GB of RAM, 16GB storage, 13MP rear camera, and a 5MP front shooter.

The phone will be available through Flipkart, and we’ll have to wait until July 12 to learn how much it costs. There are several great devices in this segment, but Motorola’s focus on an uncluttered software experience combined with two-day battery life make the Moto E4 Plus an enticing option. What do you think will be the pricing of Motorola’s upcoming phone in India?

See at Flipkart