Get a lifetime of tech training for $79

Figuring out which skills to try and learn can be difficult. What is popular when you start learning may not be what is popular when you are done, so why not learn a bunch of different topics at your own pace? Whether you are interested in animation and 3D, networking and security, game designing or other topics, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to switch your focus between them all as you see fit? Well, you can.

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Celebrate your independence in this week’s comments thread!

What are you up to this long weekend?

Yes, Fourth is on a Tuesday this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start celebrating a bit early. This weekend, at least for me, is all about relaxin’ all cool as I take in the (hopefully) sunny weather on Canada’s 150th birthday.

For you, depending on where you are, you could take a dip in the pool, go camping, catch a large fish, or just sit inside and listen to old episodes of the Android Central Podcast. Any of those choices is 👌 in my book! (What are you reading these days, anyway?)

It’s been fairly slow this week, as it usually is around this time of year, but we did get something interesting in the form of the Amazon Echo Show, which I can’t wait to try despite early tepid reviews, as well as the Honor 9, which appears to be a fantastic sequel to a phone I really loved. Too bad it’s not coming to the U.S. anytime soon.

So what are you up to this weekend? I know what Jerry’s up to: not being here. He’ll be back next week.

Everything MLB Fans can do In VR

Want the ballpark experience without the pesky “going outside” part?

As new technologies have evolved, major league sports has been one of the quickest industries to try new things, and fans have been quick to jump on board. Let’s face it, spending a fortune for a ticket then spending more for food and beverages just to sit in the nosebleed seats and have beer spilled on you is far from glamourous.

VR represents a unique opportunity to get a view of the game that has never before been seen, and Major League Baseball has been quick to find ways to use it to give fans an all new experience. Take a look at the all the ways you can “get in the game!”

Read more at VRHeads

An Android user’s look back at 10 years of iPhone

I spent years of my life avoiding Apple products, but it’s a wonder if my life would exist as an Android user if the iPhone hadn’t been a success.

Where were you ten years ago when Apple first launched the iPhone?

I was midway through college and barely able to fathom what technology would look like in the year 2017. There was no such thing as a “smartphone” back then; they were all called cell phones or BlackBerrys, and at that time I was sitting pretty with an LG VX9800, which I already figured was pretty smart for the sheer fact that it could browse the mobile web.

I owe my personal technology journey to the iPhone, even though I’ve avoided it for nearly a decade.

I would spend a majority of my shifts at my suburban town’s drive-thru coffee shop posting moody entries on Livejournal and furiously texting friends. (Fun fact: that coffee shop turned into a Bikini Cafe after I moved to the city. I sure as hell dodged that bullet.) My phone was already a major part of my life back then, and I continually strived to have the coolest one with the most “next-gen” features — like a microSD card slot, a headphone jack, or a 2-megapixel rear camera. I would eagerly save up my money each year to upgrade my device on my birthday, and though that meant I couldn’t always afford to drink down the street with my pals, at least I could text them from a full QWERTY keyboard.

Back then, I was also vehemently anti-Apple. I was a PC gamer, and iPods were everywhere. I wanted badly to define myself as an individual within the sea of sameness. Why would I want the same device as everyone else when I could sport a similar alternative?

Three years after the iPhone launched, however, I was out of college and writing for an Apple magazine. I had adopted the MacBook Pro into my daily computer routine, but I knew I also needed a smartphone to be up to par with the rest of the industry’s trends (and to navigate Google Maps). I couldn’t buy an iPhone at the time because it wasn’t on Verizon, so I went for the next best thing: the HTC Incredible. It was on my birthday that year that I became an Android user.

There are plenty of reports out there that point to Andy Rubin’s rag-tag team of developers being the first to market with a mobile operating system. But if it wasn’t for the iPhone preparing society — and preparing me — for the idea of a “smart phone,” I might have been stuck in the past for a little while longer. In essence, I owe my personal technology journey to the iPhone, even though I’ve been actively avoiding it for nearly a decade.

(Disclosure: There were eight months of the year 2012 that I held an iPhone 4S. I’ve managed to put it in the past.)

What were your first thoughts on the original iPhone?

Where were you when Apple made its initial announcement? Did you even think we’d be where we are today, with smartphones paving the way to replace desktop computers and standalone virtual reality headsets? Leave us a comment, or join our friends at iMore for a look back at the iPhone.

Sony’s latest Xperia is a terrific slow-mo shooter, with caveats

At long last, Sony has made a seriously compelling flagship. Not only is the Xperia XZ Premium the best-looking handset the company has made in years, but it also boasts a high-end camera capable of extreme slow-mo video recording. It’s also one of the first phones to use the Snapdragon 835 chipset, which supports Gigabit LTE speeds where available. Plus, it has a sumptuous 5.5-inch 4K display that is HDR-ready. That’s a whole lot of reasons to check out the phone, but is it worth splurging $800 on? Well, that depends on your needs.

The XZ Premium certainly looks and feels every bit as expensive as it is. It sports the same somewhat boxy silhouette that the Xperia line is known for, but the gently curving sides, Gorilla Glass-covered front and back and super shiny finish make it attractive and comfortable to hold. In fact, it’s so shiny that the phone’s rear can double up as a mirror.

Because the XZ Premium is a relatively large phone and also due to its slippery, glossy finish, though, I often came close to dropping it. The good news is, if you drop it into a puddle, the XZ Premium should survive, thanks to its water-resistance.

Although it has a strikingly pretty frame, the XZ Premium’s real highlight is its camera. It has a 19-megapixel sensor that uses Sony’s new 3-layer technology to snap more rapid-fire pictures than before. It also shoots 4K video that’s nice and steady thanks to digital 5-axis stabilization. I liked how pictures and videos turned out — they were colorful, crisp and vibrant. In fact, I was most impressed when the series of pictures I snapped from a fast-moving cab all turned out sharp and distortion-free.

What truly stands out about the XZ Premium is its ability to shoot slow-mo videos at up to 960 fps. That’s four times the framerate of the iPhone 7 Plus, which shoots 240fps at the same 720p resolution. The resulting clips are mesmerizing and smooth. Most importantly, all my subjects looked impressively clear even at snail’s pace.

Recording slow-mo comes with a few caveats, though. For one, you’ll only capture good-quality footage under optimal lighting conditions, like outside on a bright day. Any time I tried to shoot in the evening or even indoors, the image got noisy.

There also aren’t many reasons to use extreme slo-mo. A lot of the action I tried to record wasn’t fast enough for it to really look interesting. From waving hands to jumping friends, most regular activities barely show up as movement.

When it comes to faster action though, the XZ Premium really shines. I caught a bird mid-flight, butterfly flitting by, drops of water shooting out of a fountain, and the resulting slow-mo footage was stunning. But even then, the way the feature is applied in the camera app makes it challenging to get the results you want. First, you need to enable slow-mo mode, hit record, then press the onscreen trigger button (not to be confused with the dedicated physical camera button on the phone’s right edge).

The device saves about 3 seconds of slow-mo each time you push the button, and you can use it repeatedly as you’re recording, but you can only slow down short segments at a time, so you’ll really need to know what to expect when you’re shooting.

I understand Sony did this by design to prevent slow-mo enthusiasts from quickly eating up storage with these clips. But, unlike the iPhone, you can’t edit the footage after the fact to pick precisely when the slow-mo kicks in. You also don’t get any say over how long you can shoot in 960fps. Offering these options would make the feature much more useful.

Overall, though, the XZ Premium’s camera is a speedy shooter that delivers excellent quality. Its 13-megapixel front camera takes sharp, vibrant selfies even in low light. The pictures looked particularly vivid when viewed on the XZ Premium’s lovely 4K display. Sony used the same technology in its Bravia TVs in this handset’s panel, and it pays off. Everything from Instagram pictures to YouTube videos were rich and sharp.

The XZ Premium is also the first smartphone to support HDR, which appears particularly saturated and colorful on this screen. There’s not much HDR media floating around at the moment, though, so it’s not something you’ll notice a lot during typical use. Still, it’s a nice touch.

Frankly, I don’t have many complaints about the XZ Premium. It held up under intense multi-tasking thanks to the powerful Snapdragon 835 chipset, and the battery generally lasts a full day. Plus, recharging is surprisingly fast — I usually get about 50% of juice within 30 minutes of plugging in.

Like other high-end phones this year, the XZ Premium also runs Android Nougat, and Sony’s overlaid skin here is lighter than on previous Xperias. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test gigabit LTE, since it hasn’t been deployed in the US yet.

Ultimately, there are many reasons to like the XZ Premium, but at $800, it costs as much as flagships from Samsung and Apple. The thing is, even though its standout slow-mo feature will only appeal to a very select group of people, the XZ Premium is a flagship that can finally contend with the Galaxies and iPhones of the world. Sony (and its fans) should be very proud.

Recommended Reading: Netflix has another winner with ‘GLOW’

Feeling the ‘GLOW’
Mairead Small Staid,
The Ringer

Despite recent news of Netflix cancelling a few of its high-profile originals, the streaming service hasn’t missed a beat. One of its most recent, GLOW, debuted last week and critics seem to agree that it’s worth your time. Heck, we even recommended it in our monthly roundup. The Ringer offers a look at the series and the actual women’s wresting promotion from which the show gets its name.

Slice and dice your photos by cropping them on PC or Mac

There’s nothing worse than taking a photo of a precious moment, only to realize there’s a creeper looming in the background. While you could forget you ever captured the image — and risk losing the memory forever — you could also crop the stranger out of the frame. Luckily, there are tons of photo-editing applications available for both desktop and mobile platforms, all of which will allow you to crop a photo with ease. Below, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to crop a photo, whether you prefer Windows, MacOS, or mobile platforms.

While you’re it, take a look at our picks for the best free photo-editing software and the abundance of complex effects you can achieve without Photoshop, along with our detailed guide on how to remove a background image.

How to crop a photo using Paint (Windows)

Microsoft Paint isn’t exactly the most robust piece of image-editing software. Even the new version in the Windows 10 Creators Update — which packs plenty of useful features — leaves much to be desired.

Still, the software has come pre-installed on all Windows machines since the company released Windows 1.0 in ’85. It’s not laden with advanced tools or impressive capabilities, but it does provide a proficient cropping tool for making simple edits.

Step 1: Launch Paint. To open the program, search for the utility in the Windows search bar, or double-click Paint while viewing the software within the Accessories folder.

Step 2: Click the main menu icon in the upper-left corner once opened. Afterward, click the Open in the resulting drop-down menu and select the photo you wish to crop from its designated save location before clicking the Open button in the bottom-right corner.

Step 3: While viewing the image within the Home tab, click the Select button, and drag the tool to encompass the portion of the image you wish to crop.

Step 4: Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click the Crop button directly right of Select.

How to crop a photo using Photos (MacOS)

Photos is a photo-management and editing app exclusive to Apple’s MacOS, one that functions a similar fashion to the now-defunct iPhoto. Like Preview and Photo Booth, the minimalist image software comes pre-installed in the latest iterations of MacOS, meaning anyone with a machine running MacOS Yosemite or later has access to the program. Using the apt-titled Photos, you can easily group photos into albums, tag them, categorize them, and crop them.

Step 1: To launch Photos, click the main Finder icon in your dock and select Applications from within the left-hand column. Afterward, browse the list of programs and double-click Photos.

Step 2: Once opened, navigate to the Photos tab. Then, locate and double-click the photo you wish to crop from the resulting list of images.

Step 3: Click the Edit Photo button in the upper-right corner — the icon should showcase three individual sliders.

Step 4: Select Crop from the list of available tools on the left-hand side. The icon should resemble a square with with several lines protruding from two of the corners.

Step 5: If desired, click Aspect to choose an aspect ratio — 16:9, 5:7, etc. — for the resulting crop. Otherwise, adjust the rectangle to fit the portion of the image you wish to crop.

Step 6: Click the yellow Done button in the upper-right corner once you’re satisfied with your selection. 

How to crop a photo using Photoshop (Windows/MacOS)

Though Photoshop isn’t necessary if you merely need to crop an image, it remains the most well-known piece of photo-editing software. Though the premium software is expensive, you can always opt for the free trial if you’d like to test out it’s remarkable capabilities. For instance, you use the crop tool to change perspective on a photo, straighten a photo, or change the scale. Plus, the act of cropping an image can be done in a mere three steps.

Step 1: Launch Photoshop as you would normally, click Open in the upper-left corner, and select the photo you wish to crop from its designated save location.

Step 2: Next, select the Crop Tool from the left-hand toolbar — it resembles a square with several lines protruding from two of the corners — and adjust your selection so it captures the portion of the image you wish to keep.

Step 3: Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click the check mark at the top of the window — it should be located on the right-hand side of the Crop Tool menu.

How to crop a photo using Pixlr (Web-based/iOS/Android)

Pixlr is a capable mobile and web-based editor, one perfectly suited for cropping images within your browser window or on your smartphone. The freemium software requires you to do little more than to upload an image or plug in a URL for a photo before cropping the image, and like Fotor, the process for doing so is nearly the same across platforms.

Step 1: If using the web-based software, navigate to the main Pixlr website and click the Pixlr Editor option on the left-hand side. Afterward, select Open image from computer button near the top of the window, and choose the photo you wish to crop from its designated save location.

Step 2: Click the crop icon located in the upper-left corner of the toolbar, represented by a square with a diagonal line cutting through the middle. Next, click and drag the selection to the area of the image you wish to keep. You can also use the menu directly right of Constraints in the upper-left corner to set specified proportions for the resulting output size and aspect ratio.

Step 3: Double-click the inside of the rectangle once your’re satisfied with your selection to apply the changes.

Update: Clarified instructions to account for the latest iterations of Paint, Photos, and Photoshop.

10 must-have iPad Pro accessories for your new tablet

Apple is looking beyond content consumption with the iPad Pro, offering a range of features to tempt artistic and productive types. Whether the iPad Pro can adequately replace your aging laptop, however, will depend on which accessories you choose to utilize with your new tablet. Bear in mind that the iPad Pro doesn’t come with any extras out of the box. Here, we’re going to look at some of the best iPad Pro accessories available, in case our roundup of the best iPad Pro keyboard cases is not enough.

Apple Pencil ($100)

It may be a stylus developed exclusively for the iPad Pro, but the Apple Pencil is expensive and you have to buy it separately. The tip is packed with sensors that work with the display, allowing it to detect the position, force, and tilt. This means you can press lightly for a thin stroke and harder for a darker, wider stroke. You can also pop off the end to reveal a Lightning connector for charging. If you like to jot notes by hand, quickly annotate documents, or sketch artwork, you’re probably going to want one.

Buy one now from:

Apple

Fintie Apple Pencil Holder ($7)

This is a thoughtful solution for anyone who lacks a spot in their iPad case to hold their Apple Pencil. It’s a synthetic leather pouch, with a flap that slides securely into place. The pouch is attached to an elastic band, which will easily fit most iPad Pro cases. There’s also a small pocket in the elastic band for your USB adapter, and the holder comes in a wide range of different colors and patterns.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

TechMatte XL Multi-Angle Aluminum Stand ($13)

Here’s a nice, sturdy stand that can be used to prop up your iPad Pro in either landscape or portrait orientation. Press the button and you can rotate the stand through 270 degrees, allowing for a range of different viewing angles. The durable aluminum comes in a silver or rose gold finish, and there are rubber bumpers to ensure your iPad doesn’t get damaged. If you use a rugged case with your iPad, it probably won’t fit in the groove, but TechMatte’s offering still remains a great value overall.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Lightning Digital AV Adapter ($40+)

If you have a presentation or a video on your iPad Pro that you want to share on a large screen, this small adapter might be the quickest and easiest way to do it. Plug it into your iPad’s Lightning port and you have an HDMI port for plugging into a TV or monitor. You also still have a standard Lightning port for charging it up at the same time. This could also come in handy if you’re using your iPad Pro for gaming. It’s expensive and you’ll still need an HDMI cable, a charger, and the proper cable — our roundup of the best Lightning cables has more than a few viable options — but if you don’t have an Apple TV available, it’s an easy alternative to streaming.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Apple Best Buy

Moxiware Apple Pencil Charging Dock ($30)

You can plug your Apple Pencil into the iPad Pro to recharge, but this clever wee dock caught our eye. It looks like a modern inkwell, though you’ll need to put the Pencil in end first, because that’s where the Lightning connector is. You can get a cone shape or a cylinder, both have a Lightning port for charging, but the cylinder also has a traditional pencil holder, so you can store the pencil tip first. It comes in aluminum or hard wood finishes.

Buy one now from:

Moxiware

Sensu Artist Brush and Stylus ($40)

If you really want a stylus for sketching, and you like the idea of painting on your iPad Pro, too, then check out this offering from Sensu. You can use the rubber stylus for sketching, but you can also pull off the cover and insert the stylus the other way round, to reveal an artist’s brush with a comfortable grip. It has a big tip, so you can come at it from any angle, but it isn’t ideal if you want precision or you intend to use it for note taking. It’s definitely one for artists.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Microsoft

Tech Armor Screen Protector ($15+)

The cost of replacing an iPad Pro screen is high, so it’s a good idea to get some protection on there. This screen protector is tempered glass, with rounded edges, and it offers protection from scratches and drops, as well as fingerprint resistance. There’s always some impact on sensitivity with screen protectors, but it should be relatively minor with this one.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Tech Armor

Incipio Fixie Stand ($5+)

It’s convenient to be able to prop your iPad Pro up, so you don’t have to hold it all the time, and this stand is ideal for that. There’s a sturdy, aluminum cradle with rubber pads to safeguard your tablet, and then a plastic arc that can be adjusted to give you four different angles. The good thing about this stand is its stability, and you’ve got full access to controls and ports while your iPad Pro is sitting in it.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Desktop Charging Hub S500 ($31)

For people intending to use the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement, this charging hub could prove very handy indeed. It brings all the power you need for all of your devices directly to the desktop. There are two surge protected outlets, and three USB ports, one rated at 2.4A, and two at 2A each. You can charge or use five devices at once with this hub. It also two grooves, a small one for smartphones, and a larger one for tablets.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Zilu Portable Power Bank ($32)

The iPad Pro has a whopping 10,307mAh battery in it, but you’re bound to run out of juice from time to time, and it pays to have a little extra with you. This Zilu power bank is rated at 16,800mAh, and you will get a complete recharge for your iPad Pro from it. It’s also fairly compact and it charges quickly. If you can snag it at the discounted price, then it’s a bargain, and definitely one of the most useful iPad Pro accessories to have. Check out our roundup of the best portable battery chargers for some great alternatives.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Update: In light of the iPad Pro 10.5, we added some new accessories from Fintie, TechMatte, and Apple.

Square Cash debuts a prepaid card that draws funds from your Square account

Why it matters to you

Square may have started off in the digital realm, but it’s taking things into the physical world with its new prepaid card.

Staying relevant means staying competitive, and for Square, that means rolling out physical Square Cash Cards. Just days after reports surfaced that mobile payments platform Venmo is looking into creating physical debit cards so that users can instantly spend their account balances, Jack Dorsey’s payment system said, “Us, too!”

Really, Square is beating everyone else to the punch, as starting today, June 30, you can get one of these prepaid debit cards either through the Square app or its website. Much as Venmo’s rumored card is expected to work, the Square Cash prepaid card draws funds directly from your Square Cash account rather than your bank. And again, similarly, that means that you won’t have to wait to transfer money from Square Cash to Bank of America, Chase, or whatever other big bank you may use — you can just turn around and spend that money at any brick and mortar store on the spot.

Of course, as with all such announcements, you shouldn’t too excited quite yet, as Square has only just told folks that they’re able to sign up for the card — not that the cards are actually coming to you today (unless, of course, you were one of the lucky few invited to sign up early). All the same, it’s nice to know that we can apparently expect these physical cards sometime in the near future.

If you want to go ahead and sign up now, you may be tickled to find out that you can actually customize these cards a bit, at least by creating your very own laser-etched signature. You don’t have to just stop at your name — some folks have tweeted their own creative takes on personalization, with various languages (including Hindi) being utilized, as well as emoji. And the design of the card itself is about as minimal as it gets — there’s no card number (because it’s not actually a debit or credit card). It just bears the Visa Debit logo and the chip.

So if you’re looking to add another piece of plastic to your pocket, you may want to forego the credit card and instead check out the Square Cash card.

Fiendish or genius? Smart Aumi nightlight brings notifications to your bedroom

Why it matters to you

This IFTTT nightlight could notify you of everything from weather alerts to unread messages with a change of color.

On paper, Aumi Mini is a product that sounds like it comes straight from a sci-fi dystopia: a soothing nightlight for your bedroom that will instantly rouse you from your slumber the moment your unfeeling boss decides to email you at 2 a.m. to alert you of something that really could have waited until 9 o’clock in the morning. So long, restful night’s sleep!

In short, it’s a Kickstarter-funded smart nighlight from the same company that previously created the Aumi Bluetooth nightlight back in 2015. But if that device was smart in its own way, the Aumi Mini ups the ante by firmly setting foot into Internet of Things territory, courtesy of Wi-Fi connectivity and full IFTTT (“If This Then That”) functionality. What that means is that, rather than simply illuminating your room while you catch some z’s, you can rig it up to offer a range of visual alerts for virtually any kind of notification.

So what about that nightmarish scenario with work emails then?

“We don’t plan on promoting the idea of using the notification features while you sleep,” creator Mitch Thompson told Digital Trends. “We’re big fans of sleeping, which is why you can set it to disable notifications between specific hours. The best use case is that it offers you visual alerts during the day and can function as a smart night light at night with timers, fully adjustable brightness, and desired color.”

In essence, it can either be your best friend or worst enemy. A flashing light that reminds you at midnight about how many unread emails you’ve got is a horrifying proposition, but one that changes color to indicate upcoming weather alerts could be kind of cool. With IFTTT being what it is, the only limit is the interactions you can personally come up with.

If the idea appeals to you, you can place a pre-order for the Aumi Mini on Kickstarter for just twenty bucks. Higher priced pledges let you buy a number of different nightlights if you want one in every room of your house. Shipping is set to take place this December. Just in time to rig one up to your motion sensors to alert you when Santa climbs down the chimney!