How to control Samsung SmartThings with Google Assistant

It’s easy to automate your life with a small investment in Samsung’s connected smart accessories and a free app from Google.

I figured that the easiest way to turn my home into an automated abode was to find out which platform would best pair with the existing power of Google Assistant. Samsung’s SmartThings like the right fit considering the breadth of accessories it has to offer.

I discovered that I could use IFTTT commands in my house, too, to program a more personalized experience for myself. Read on, and I’ll teach you how to set up Google Assistant to work with Samsung’s SmartThings.

How to connect Google Assistant to Samsung SmartThings with the Home app

Before we start, you’ll need to download the Google Home app to configure Assistant.

Launch the Home app.
Open the menu.
Tap Home control.
Tap the plus sign to add a device.

Scroll down and select Samsung SmartThings / Connect as the option.

Log in to your Samsung account.
Authorize Assistant to access your SmartThings devices.
Assign it to a room and tap done.

Google will let you know once you’re all set and ready to continue on your journey towards supreme home automation. Tap Got it to move forward. When you return to the Home control menu, you can tap on the device to set up a nickname — this helps ensures that Assistant knows what you’re referring to if you tend to use a different name for things.

It also helps if you’ve got an amalgamation of automatic switches, lights, and outlets placed throughout. Note that Assistant only works with light bulbs, plugs, on/off switches, and dimmers. Some programmable thermostats are also controllable with Assistant.

Now that you’ve got everything set up, you can command Google Assistant to control your stuff. If you have SmartThings light switches hooked up to every lamp around the house, for instance, you can say “Ok Google, turn off the lights” and all the lights will shut off. Or, if you need to know if a switch is on upstairs, you can ask Google for the status, and it will respond appropriately. Peep these phrases to get started.

How to control Samsung SmartThings with Assistant through IFTTT

Not all Samsung SmartThings are programmable through the Home app, so that’s when you’ll want to call on the aid of IFTTT. I also like the service because it allows me to program phrases as I’d say them, not as Assistant is programmed to hear them.

Be sure to set up an IFTTT account with your Samsung and Google accounts before diving into the programming process.

Next, we’ll show you how to program a command to your liking.

Tap My Applets.
Tap the plus sign.
Tap this.
Search for Google Assistant.
Select Say a simply phrase.

Enter your preferred trigger.

Tap the checkmark.
Tap that.
Select SmartThings
Select an action.

When you’ve nearly finished, you’ll see a Applet preview. Choose whether you want to receive a notification when the applet runs, and tap Finished. Then, try out your command to see if it sticks.

IFTTT offers a nearly effortless and endless supply of programmable actions between Google Assistant and your Samsung SmartThings, though you might find that most of the formulas you set up are for saying a command differently than the default. You can also use IFTTT to check up on things like multi purpose motions sensors if you like, though it’s mostly limited to a notification to let you know that it ran. For instance, I have a sensor at the back door of my office, and I receive a notification on my smartphone any time it’s opened.

Samsung Connect Home review: a router and SmartThings hub in one

The HTC U11 is the most solid phone of 2017 so far

Dismiss the HTC U11 at your peril this year. Here’s why.

Samsung had yet another juggernaut quarter, selling millions of Galaxy S8s and outselling every other Android manufacturer many times over. For all intents and purposes, the high-end market is a duopoly between the Galaxy and the iPhone, and no effusive story (like this) is going to change consumer behavior.

That fact is perhaps best exemplified by LG’s disappointing second quarter, which found the Korean company admitting that its excellent G6 flagship sold below expectations. Smartphones are a commodity, and now that we’ve entered a stage of maturity in the market — it’s hard to buy a bad phone from any company — the same forces play out year after year.

For the last few years, HTC hasn’t been inside that gale, and it would be a stretch to call it a force. Despite what I consider to be top-tier flagships in five of the last six years (2015’s One M9 was a bad phone whichever way you slice it), HTC can’t catch a break. The HTC 10 was a triumphant return to form in 2016, and the HTC U11 is 2017’s most solid phone so far. What does that mean? It starts with this:

If the U11 doesn’t sell well in 2017, it will have nothing to do with the outright quality of the phone itself. It’s a really great phone that does so much right with so few missteps along the way.

Before I used the phone, reading Andrew’s take on the phone surprised me. I wasn’t taken aback by the fact that HTC delivered another stellar piece of hardware, or that its software was unobtrusive and relatively lightweight. It wasn’t a shock to learn that the company didn’t need to ride the tiny bezel train to differentiation. What did surprise me was just how seamlessly everything connected — that the criticisms leveled against the U11 largely fall away once you begin to use it.

Having a reliable front fingerprint sensor, after coming from the Galaxy S8, is wonderful. Also wonderful is having a metal phone that doesn’t constantly feel like it is going to jello its way out of my hand.

And then there’s the camera: this is easily the best camera I’ve used on a phone to date. It’s fast and accurate; it produces great photos in almost every lighting condition. HTC still has one of the best manual modes of any phone maker, and with the U11 it hasn’t messed with a good thing. But now it is working with a stellar sensor, a robust stabilization system, and the Snapdragon 835’s exemplary image signal processor. Though I was initially skeptical that HTC called the U11’s camera an ‘UltraPixel’, I think the term is justified (as opposed to last year).

This camera is amazing.

Finally, this is a sincerely beautiful phone; to see it in photos doesn’t really do it justice. Forget the criticism leveled at the U11’s front, since its nondescript status is merely a conduit to the superlative QHD display and easy-to-reach fingerprint sensor. There are fine details, like the colored aluminum around the sides that matches (most of the time) the reflective glass back, glinting in the light like a hyperactive funhouse mirror. I appreciate the subtle curvature of the front and rear glass that curves to meet the colored bezels, and the perfect symmetry that it forms.

When the U Ultra and U Play debuted at CES, I was very concerned about the state of HTC’s phone business.

But as good as the U11 is, it’s caught in a profoundly disconcerting reality of The American Carrier Cartel. I’m not the first to raise this point, but it’s worth re-asserting in the light of the Moto Z2 Force’s surprising carrier adoption: HTC is no longer a tier one manufacturer in the U.S., and its brand has almost no clout at the retail level.

Just look at what happened to the HTC 10 after it debuted at T-Mobile — it was quietly cut from the carrier’s inventory two months later. It also failed to burn barns at Verizon, which is likely why Sprint was the only U.S. carrier to invest in the U11 this year. I’m not going to be as bold as to say the U11 is a far better phone than, say, the LG G6, but LG has managed to leverage its brand outside of the phone space to ensure its place within it.

So even though you can only buy the HTC U11 from one American carrier, and arguably the least attractive one for most people, the U11 is doing considerably better than last year’s HTC 10. We won’t know specifics until the company announces its Q2 earnings in mid-August, but things are looking good for the U11, which has received the best reception of any HTC flagship since the One M7 back in 2013. We’re not looking at Galaxy S8, or even LG G6, numbers but HTC has grown used to counting in thousands, if low millions, in recent years. Any growth is going to look like a monumentally positive sign come August.

Back to the phone for a moment. When the U Ultra and U Play debuted at CES, we were ready to dismiss the upcoming flagship outright. The U Ultra is not a good product. Sure, it shares some visual similarities, but that’s where the family resemblance ends; the U11 is a far more compelling and well-rounded product, and it speaks to the fact that a lot more goes into the creation of a pocket computer than metal, glass, and bits. It all has to work together — properly — and HTC continues to be a leader in that regard.

If you skipped ahead and just want a tl;dr, here it is: dismiss the HTC U11 at your peril this year. There are plenty of reasons to recommend the Galaxy S8, LG G6, OnePlus 5 and myriad other Android devices launched in 2017, but for my money, the most solid, most reliable, most stable, and most enjoyable to use is the HTC U11.

HTC U11

• HTC U11 review
• HTC U11 specs
• Manufacturing the U11: Behind the scenes
• Join our U11 forums
• HTC U11 vs Galaxy S8
• HTC U11 vs LG G6

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IKEA’s selling home storage batteries for its solar panels

A rooftop of solar panels generating clean energy is great and all, but having somewhere to squirrel away that free juice is even better. After stepping into the shade for a good few months, IKEA began selling solar panels again last year with new teammate Solarcentury (a company that specialises in solar stuff). Today, the meatball-mad retailer is adding another piece of the off-grid puzzle to its shelves: A home storage battery.

IKEA’s new offering is just like Tesla’s Powerwall and other, lesser-known competitors, which is to say it’s a big battery you’ll want to hide in the corner of your garage. The idea is you store solar energy for later use, instead of selling the excess back to the grid. Less energy wasted equals less reliance on the grid equals money saved. You know the drill.

The catch is, saving money on your electricity bills in the long run requires a significant investment upfront. A full package of panels plus home battery starts at £6,925, but can obviously get much more expensive depending on how much roof you want to fill. And if you’re simply interested in adding a battery to an existing solar setup, you’ll be on the hook for at least £5000. But as they say, you have to spend money to make money.

Source: Ikea

The Morning After: Wednesday, August 2nd 2017

Hey, good morning!

That SNES Classic that everyone wants is going up for pre-order this month, as Nintendo tries to ensure people who want one can actually buy one. Meanwhile, Sony is happily making more money, in part thanks to PlayStation, and more glimpses of what we might see in the next iPhone.

Keep your payment info close by.The SNES Classic will be available for pre-order this month

In case you were worried about more false starts, Nintendo has confirmed that SNES Classic pre-orders will open later this month. We still don’t know exactly when that will be (it goes on sale September 29th), but considering the NES Classic’s short production run and the considerable demand, we’d suggest keeping an eye out for updates.

Profits!Sony’s turnaround strategy is working

When Sony nominated Kaz Hirai to lead the corporation, he laid out an ambitious strategy that he titled One Sony. Hirai identified three key markets where he wanted Sony to be a leader: Digital imaging, gaming and mobile. Five years later, and Hirai’s managed to hit two out of three targets, with Sony’s most recent financial reports vindicating his plan. The company saw its sales and operating revenue increase by 15.2 percent year-on-year, mostly thanks to semi-conductors and financial services. Sony’s lucrative digital-image sensor business provides the chips for pretty much every smartphone worth a damn — and given that many use dual lenses on the back and one up front, that’s a healthy bounty for Sony.

Details from a firmware leak include a faint death knell for the Home button.Your face might do more than just unlock the new iPhone

Apple’s latest secret leak was from its own documentation, and we’re hearing even more tantalising details that may (almost certainly) come with that new iPhone. Some pointers inside the firmware for Apple’s incoming HomePod suggest facial-expression detection and that a new iPhone could have a screen resolution far beyond that on existing models.

The EMALS goes ‘Top Gun.’Watch the US Navy’s electromagnetic catapult launch a fighter jet

This is the best way to launch a jet.

Goal-line technology and video assistant referee are just the beginning.FIFA’s tech ‘experiments’ drag soccer into the modern age

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. It may not be as big as American football, baseball or basketball in the US — at least not yet — but there’s a much larger interest in it here now than five or 10 years ago. One of the problems with soccer is that, unlike pro sports organizations such as the NFL, NBA or MLB, it has never been quick to adopt new technology. For decades, FIFA, the sport’s governing body, opposed cutting-edge ideas that could keep referees from making the wrong calls. “We shall rely on human beings,” former FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in 2002. Fifteen years later, Blatter’s no longer at the helm. Still, along the way, he seemingly changed his views on technology and greenlit two projects that FIFA hopes will usher soccer into a new era: GLT and VAR, short for goal-line technology and video-assistant referee. Welcome to the modern age.

Catch of the day.Sustainable seafood grows in a lab instead of the ocean

Biotech startup Finless Foods is pinning all of its hopes on consumers choosing lab-made meat over the potentially overfished or antibiotic-laden morsels they might be purchasing now. Host Kerry Davis takes Engadget’s The Future IRL inside its operation to find out where our next meal might come from.

But wait, there’s more…

• Australian ‘budget bot’ wins Amazon robot challenge
• Nextbit ends customer support for its Robin ‘cloud phone’
• How a Bitcoin feud has split the currency in two
• Avid’s free Media Composer First lets you cut video like a pro
• Nintendo has a fix for the Switch’s battery bug
• Trade in your Surface for a new one every 18 months

RED starts selling its ‘budget’ $15,000 camera with Apple

RED, known for high-end cinema cameras used by James Cameron, Peter Jackson and others, has just formed a very unusual retail partnership. It’s now offering the 4.5K, 120 fps RED Raven camera exclusively at Apple.com for a mere $15,000. That makes it far and away Apple’s priciest third-party accessory, and the priciest product, period, on Apple.com, as far as I can tell — and it’s not exactly a thrift shop in the first place.

The Raven debuted at $6,000, but that only gets you the 4.5K “brain.” That contains a Red Dragon sensor sized between micro four thirds and APS-C (4,608 x 2,160 or 9.9-megapixels). As with other RED models, it can capture pristine RAW video via the compressed Redcode format.

With the Apple kit, however, there’s also a 4.7-inch touch LCD monitor, two 120GB SSD “Mini-Mags” and a reader, a pair of batteries and a charger, the stellar Sigma 13-35 mm F1.8 “Art” lens, Nanuk heavy-duty case, an outrigger handle, and a V-Lock data expander. You’ll also get a copy of Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, the foolcontrol iOS app for Raven and the RED Apple Workflow Software.

If you want to try one before plopping down $15K, the Raven is on demo at select Apple Stores, but to buy it, you’ll need to go to Apple.com. Provided you have the credit card limit, expect a very surprised call from your card provider.

RED stopped selling the Raven some months ago in its own Red.com shop, and is now referring buyers to Apple — something Apple may have required before agreeing to stock it. While the price seems outrageous, it does include everything the average shooter needs.

This is not RED’s first foray into the consumer world. The company recently unveiled “Hydrogen,” a $1,200 smartphone with a so-called holographic display and a “modular system that adds image quality well beyond any other camera short of our professional cameras,” CEO Jim Jannard wrote recently. It’s still not clear how the “4D display” works, but Brad Pitt and David Fincher look impressed enough.

Hyperloop One’s passenger pod takes its first ride

Just weeks after Hyperloop One demonstrated a working, albeit slow, version of its levitating sled, the company has made another leap forward. This time around, the startup has successfully tested its XP-1 passenger pod, reaching speeds of up to 192 mph and levitating off the track as it accelerated.

XP-1 traveled for just over 300 meters before the brakes kicked in and it rolled to a gradual stop, hitting a top speed of 192 mph. That speed puts Hyperloop One’s system a little bit ahead of Category 1 high-speed rail, which has a maximum running speed of 155mph, although it’s not yet faster than Japan’s bullet train.

Then again, Hyperloop One’s plan is to push its pods at speeds closer to 750 mph, but that’s clearly going to be tough to test in a tube that’s just 500 meters long. But the milestones, slow and steady, are being met, and it’s clearly a demonstration of the company’s strength that it is developing its prototypes for real.

As for the XP-1 itself, the company has revealed that the craft measures 8.7 meters long, 2.7 meters tall and 2.4 meters wide. That’s narrower than, for instance, an NYC subway car, by about half a meter — not uncomfortably snug, but not roomy either.

The company has made something of a deal about the sound that the Hyperloop Pod makes as it travels through the tube. It’ll be a familiar sound to anyone who’s used a reasonably new airport transit system or subway, like London’s Jubilee Line.

Doubtless, there will be more tests and more announcements as the weeks roll by, but with each small step, Hyperloop One gets closer to proving the system can work. From there, it’s just a case of convincing investors, regulators and everyone else that it’s worth investing in.

First-Person Shooter ‘BioShock Remastered’ Coming to Mac This Year

Feral interactive has announced that BioShock Remastered, a new high-definition version of the popular first-person shooter, is coming to macOS later this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the game’s original release.

Originally developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K for PC and consoles, BioShock is set in the decaying underwater city of Rapture, a darkly imaginative gameworld inspired by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.

Set in an alternative 1960, BioShock Remastered plunges players into Rapture, an individualistic utopia gone badly wrong. To survive the onslaughts of the city’s deranged inhabitants, players must rewrite their own genetic codes, and find creative ways to combine their terrifying new powers with devastating weapons. With a thought-provoking storyline, BioShock is at once beautiful, thrilling and frightening, and explores profound ideas about science, politics and human nature.

“We’re thrilled to bring an enhanced version of BioShock to macOS 10 years after its original release,” said David Stephen, managing director of Feral Interactive.

“The improved graphics make the most of the spectacular art direction, combining art deco design, science fiction themes, and a horror sensibility. There’s never been a better time to visit Rapture.”

Rather than an update to the original title, BioShock Remastered will be available as a full game from the Feral Store, Steam and the Mac App Store. System requirements and pricing will be confirmed by Feral closer to release.

Tag: Feral
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Is Facebook developing an AI-powered tablet for video calls?

Why it matters to you

Facebook has done a great job persuading people to use its social network. It may soon be hoping to sell you a tablet, too.

So long as its clever AI chatbots don’t re-emerge to launch a hostile takeover of the company, Facebook may be on the road to launching a new piece of hardware as early as next spring.

The social networking giant is developing a video chat tablet for the home, people claiming to have inside knowledge told Bloomberg this week.

Featuring a “laptop-sized touchscreen” and “smart camera technology,” the sources said the device will make people around the world “feel like they’re in the same room” during a conversation.

To offer an experience well beyond what you get with, say, FaceTime on an iPad, the device will use artificial intelligence (AI) to power speakers, microphones, and a wide-angle lens, Bloomberg said in its report. The AI element may enable the camera to scan and lock onto different people in the room, and even pan and zoom to other matters of interest according to the topic of conversation.

The sources said the device is likely to feature a display between 13 and 15 inches and may run Android. Built primarily for home use, the tablet would ideally operate while resting on a thin, vertical stand. As for cost, “a few hundred dollars” is as specific as the sources get.

Facebook has reportedly already built a prototype of the device that’s being tried out by select employees at home.

Building 8

If the tip-off turns out to be true, it could become the first product to emerge from Facebook’s Building 8 unit, which, according to its mission statement, “brings together world-class experts to develop and ship groundbreaking products at the intersection of hardware, software, and content.”

Launched in 2016, Building 8 also exists to examine “augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, connectivity and other important areas,” and, somewhat tantalizingly, to launch “seemingly impossible products that define new categories that advance Facebook’s mission of connecting the world.”

The folks at Building 8 are also thought to be developing a smart speaker, but it’s not known if this will end up being incorporated into the tablet or if the two reported devices will remain as separate products.

These recent reports suggest that Facebook’s Building 8 is making real progress with its debut projects as the company seeks to explore the hardware space like never before. At the very least it’ll be determined to produce something far more praiseworthy than its first hardware effort, a short-lived smartphone that suffered “shockingly bad” sales following its launch in 2013.

Next ‘MST3K’ DVD box set could be its last

The cult of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is currently in full swing. There’s the gleefully cheesy Netflix revival, which came off the back of a successful Kickstarter from the show’s creator Joel Hodgson. And, Twitch recently aired a six-day long MST3K binge-fest for b-movie devotees. While streaming services have stepped in to continue its legacy, those seeking physical copies of the show are in for a hard time. Distributor Shout! Factory’s plans to release more DVDs of the series just hit a speed bump. In a post on the show’s Facebook page, it claims that MST3K Volume 39 will “likely” be the last collection of unreleased episodes of the show.

The latest box-set contains four discs in total, which include The Amazing Transparent Man, Girls Town, and Diabolik (no doubt all as abysmal as you’d expect). As a concession, the fourth disc — known as “Satellite Dishes” — will contain the host segments from 12 never-before-released episodes. According to Shout! Factory, these remaining instalments may never get a legitimate release due to licensing issues. Here’s the full list of episodes (which sound as campy as ever):

Ep #201 Rocketship X-M

Ep #212 Godzilla Vs. Megalon

Ep #213 Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster

Ep #309 The Amazing Colossal Man

Ep #311 It Conquered the World

Ep #416 Fire Maidens from Outer Space

Ep #418 The Eye Creatures

Ep #807 Terror from the Year 5000

Ep #809 I Was A Teenage Werewolf

Ep #905 The Deadly Bees

Ep #906 The Space Children

Ep #913 Quest of the Delta Knights

Source: MST3K (Facebook)

CBS All Access has more new TV shows to join ‘Star Trek’

After a few delays, the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery is on track to launch September 24th, and the streaming network has a few more shows planned to keep the momentum going. There’s no word on any launch dates, but it did announce three new series at the Television Critics Association press tour, along with news that Audra McDonald will join The Good Fight for its second season in 2018.

The new shows include Strange Angel, which counts Ridley Scott among its producers and is based on a book by George Pendle. Lead character Jack Parsons practices rocketry by day and by night he…uh… *squints,* “is a performer of sex magick rituals and a disciple to occultist Aleister Crowley.” That’s joined by $1, a mystery/thriller that focuses on the role of a single dollar bill connecting people involved in a “shocking multiple murder.” Finally, there’s the comedy No Activity, which is based on an Australian series that celebrates mundane against the backdrop of a high stakes sting operation/drug bust. It’s produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Funny Or Die.

Overall it comes off as a much lower budget attempt at the Netflix model of having something for everyone, but the streaming network has to start somewhere with scripted content. Otherwise, it has a companion post-show for Star Trek: Discovery, CBSN and some live NFL games all hoping to attract subscriber dollars.

Source: CBS, (2), (3)