Vivaldi is the best web browser you’ve never tried

There’s no shortage of web browsers tempting those who want a new browsing experience. Google’s Chrome browser leads the pack, followed by Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and many, many more.

Chances are you’ve heard of these, and maybe tried them all. Now, though, there’s a new browser on the scene, trying to push through the crowd to get into the cool group. It’s called Vivaldi, and its roots stem from Opera, the plucky underdog of the web browsing world which, if you ask many long-time users, went off the rails. The Vivaldi web browser was born to calm those disgruntled Opera natives. It accomplishes much more than that.

What exactly is a Vivaldi?

The Opera browser was once based on Presto, a proprietary browser and layout engine developed by Opera Software. In February of 2013, however, the company decided to jump on the Chromium bandwagon and completely re-write its browser from scratch to use an engine called “Blink,” introduced to the Chromium project in April of 2013.

Released as Opera 15 in May of 2013, the overhaul angered many users given a number of distinct features were dropped. By then, Opera Software co-founder and former CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner had already left the company, and moved on to form Vivaldi Technologies at the end of 2013. He set out to pick up where Opera 14 ended, providing features power users want in an entirely new browser.

Drawing inspiration from Italian Baroque composer and virtuoso violinist Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Tetzchner and his team created Vivaldi on the open-source Chromium browser engine, which powers Google Chrome, Chrome OS, Opera, and similar browsers outside the Mozilla and Microsoft fold.

That means it uses the Blink layout engine to “compose” web pages in the browser window, just like the latest release of Opera. Unlike Opera, though, Vivaldi was built to support a broad range of features that today’s streamlined, purpose-built browsers have ditched.

Power users need apply

Google Chrome is often preferred by people who consider themselves power users, yet most of what makes it powerful isn’t part of the browser. There’s no default option to make the interface your own, save for installing themes that can be downloaded through the Chrome Store. There’s no way to natively take in-browser notes. It has no native mouse gesture-based commands. There’s no native Reader View – and so on. Power users instead gain features through extensions, which do the job, but can slow and clutter the browser as they’re piled on, as well as pose a security risk.

Vivaldi offers these features without using extensions by default. It aims to make the most out of your internet use by providing tools to make the experience easier, more manageable, and intelligent. That comes with a price — a slight reduction in size of the main browser window. You might consider that an acceptable trade, though, if you’re interested in using the web to do more than order a pair of socks from Amazon.

Vivaldi aims to make the most out of your internet use by providing tools to make the experience easier, more manageable, and intelligent.

Vivaldi’s default layout includes a slim Panel residing to the left providing four specific tools — Bookmarks, Downloads, Notes, and History – that you can hide if not used. Along the bottom is the thin Status Bar for taking screenshots, tiling/stacking pages, managing images, and adjusting the zoom. In the top-left corner, a slick Vivaldi logo hides all the menus, such as File, View, and Tools. These options, which tend to be obscured into menus in other browsers, take up space here.

That said, Vivaldi is visually clean despite its visible Panel and Status Bar. That’s where the Vivaldi name really takes off, as you become the composer of the interface. Many elements can be re-arranged in the “Settings” window, such as positioning all tabs in a vertical tower, and moving the address bar to the bottom.

Your composition doesn’t stop there. With Vivaldi, you can “compose” your own themes. This includes changing the colors of the background, foreground, highlights, and accents. You can also toggle on the “adaptive” theme, which will change the browser’s colors to match the current website. In a sense, Vivaldi can become your own visual masterpiece.

The Settings panel reveals its real depth

Outside the visual composition, Vivaldi’s “Settings” window digs deep into the power user’s toolbox. You’ll find a tool for customizing keyboard shortcuts spanning handy Window, View, Tab, and Page commands. You’ll also find a tool to compose mouse gestures that you define based on set commands. For instance, you can assign a specific motion to open a new tab, reload a page, or rewind the history. By default, gestures will only execute if you are pressing the right mouse button during the process. Using the ALT key as an alternative is ideal when using a laptop’s trackpad.

Vivaldi’s heavy “power user” aspect isn’t just locked to the “Settings” window. Hit the F2 key, and you can type anything into the Quick Command text field to perform a search using the browser’s default search engine. This window also provides a long list of commands that can be executed in the text field, such as accessing the browser’s built-in Task Manager, importing bookmarks from another installed browser, and more.

Another notable power user feature resides in the History section of the browser’s Start Page. Not only will you see all the places you’ve visited via links, but three graphs showing your browsing habits. They display your page views, page transition percentages, and a list of the top domains visited in an easily-read fashion.

It’s ideal for students, office workers, and designers

One of Vivaldi’s most unique extras is the Notes feature, found on the Panel. Vivaldi lets you type notes within a small window embedded in the expanded Panel while you browse the internet. These notes can include attached files stored locally on your PC, full screenshots, links, and a specific capture of a selected area.

Another nifty, time-saving tool is Vivaldi’s Web Panel feature. Web Panels aren’t exactly bookmarks, but are instead meant for websites that serve as tools, such as Wikipedia, online dictionaries, RSS feeds, and whatnot. Web Panels open within the Panel, and do not include address bars.

Finally, we must point out Vivaldi’s nifty tab stacking and tiling features. We crammed seven tabs into our stack, and accessed each one by hovering the cursor over the stack’s main tab, which rendered a thumbnail view of all stacked windows. This is good for grouping multiple pages together under a single tab, rather than having eight or more tabs strung along the top.

Meanwhile, the tiling feature essentially stuffs up to four websites into a single window. The Page Tiling button resides on the Status Bar, which provides options to Tile Vertically, Tile Horizontally, or Tile to Grid. In this case, you can just view up to four pages simultaneously rather than switch between tabs, or dig out a tab in a stack.

You should give Vivaldi a try

We could go on about the Vivaldi browser, but we’ve outlined the basics. Vivendi is a web surfer’s complete toolbox, packed with gadgets you probably didn’t even know you needed. It’s a browser that you can move into, and make your own.

Give Vivaldi a shot. It’s completely free, so the only expense is the time you spend giving it a test drive.

Musio is a poetry-writing robot that understands and interacts with users

Why it matters to you

We’ve come far from the days when robots were perceived as unfeeling automatons. Heck, one bot can understand humans — and even write you a sonnet.

Who needs a friend when you have a robot? Certainly not the team behind Musio, a communication robot that claims to be “capable of interacting socially with people of all ages.”

The robot comes from AKA LLC, an artificial intelligence company that seeks to understand human textual language, oral language, gestures, and facial expressions. By gaining such understanding, the company believes it can create machines that can communicate and interact with people as naturally as possible. Using natural language processing technology and AKA’s “rich interactive content ecosystem,” the Musio robot seeks to provide anyone anywhere with a companion made up of plastic and computer parts instead of flesh and blood.

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“AKA’s next step is with Europe’s traditional hardware companies seeking innovation,” said Raymond Jung, CEO of AKA LLC. “By presenting Musio the robot, AKA is introducing its core technology, MUSE, to our future partners. We believe that our AI engine will present immeasurable opportunity to those calling out for ‘AI Plus’ for the upcoming industrial revolution.”

Musio has already seen some success internationally. The robot launched in Japan this spring and is heralded as the “best-selling social robot in Japan,” though it’s unclear exactly how much competition it really has in this space. All the same, AKA notes, the robot’s context-aware deep-learning algorithm makes it quite the desirable companion, especially for those learning English. In fact, the company notes, Japan’s middle and high schools, as well as some education companies, are seeking out Musio to help with English teaching curricula. After all, if this robot can write poetry, which it can, it can probably teach people English.

But what’s the difference between Musio and a smart speaker? According to AKA, it all comes down to context awareness. This robot promises to remember previous conversations with users, which allows for a more natural conversation flow. And because the bot is constantly learning new phrases and ideas and taking on new information, it can grow alongside its human counterpart.

So if you’re looking for a new friend, you may want to check out the electronics aisle.

Red Sox reportedly used an Apple Watch to steal signs from rival Yankees

Why it matters to you

If you love to hate Boston-area teams for their cheating ways, here is the latest alleged offense by a professional franchise caught in the act.

Cheating in baseball has been around since the sport’s inception, but teams continue to find new and advanced ways to gain an advantage. The latest incident involves the Boston Red Sox using an Apple Watch to steal an opposing catcher’s signs to his pitcher during an August series against the New York Yankees in Boston, according to The New York Times.

The Times reports that after a formal complaint filed by the Yankees, Major League Baseball investigators determined that a Red Sox athletic trainer received messages on his Apple Watch from the team’s video replay personnel regarding the Yankees’ pitch selection. After looking at his Apple Watch, assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim then relayed the Yankees’ signal to Red Sox players. The Red Sox admitted to the transgression during the probe, saying this method of sign stealing had been in place for several weeks.

A league official confirmed the details of the investigation to USA Today. Also on Tuesday, the Red Sox filed their own complaint against the Yankees, claiming the New York club used cameras affiliated with its YES TV network to steal signs. The Yankees reportedly learned of the Red Sox’s system while watching their own videotapes of the series.

Stealing signs to determine what type of pitch will be thrown is a legal practice in MLB (though, if caught doing so, players may face retribution by way of a fastball thrown at them), as long as there is no outside technology being used to do so. Teams must rely on their own eyes to suss out other teams’ habits, but an Apple Watch provided the Red Sox a more subtle and effective way to pass along information between a team’s staff and its players.

Before the 2016 season, as part of a multiyear agreement with Apple, MLB allowed the use of iPads in dugouts, albeit ones without an internet connection as a measure to prevent these kinds of sign-stealing incidents. At the time, MLB championed the device as a way of putting more statistical insight into the coaching staff’s hands.

“Our collaboration with Apple on the use of iPad Pro in dugouts and bullpens is part of our ongoing effort to introduce extraordinary technology into our game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement at the time. “We are pleased that Apple’s groundbreaking products, which have already improved the access that fans have to our sport, will now inform the decisions that make our games interesting and exciting throughout the year.”

The Red Sox’s penalty for the violation may include a substantial fine and a loss of draft picks, according to the Times.

You won’t be able to repair the Essential Phone

The Essential Phone proves nearly impossible to repair, earning a 1/10 score from iFixit.

Part of the reason the Essential Phone stands out from the crowd is its unique materials. There isn’t any other device on the market using a titanium frame or ceramic back, due to how difficult these materials are to source. Besides just being sturdy and adding to shipping delays, the unique materials also mean the phone will never be user-servicable.

iFixit did its customary teardown of the Essential Phone and the results are, to put it delicately, not great. Before the iFixit team could even get into the device, the device had to be frozen with super cold aerosol, then reheated to stress the adhesive holding the ceramic back onto the phone. Once this was done, it was discovered that is the wrong way to get into the phone, and the team began working on removing the display, which cracked in the process.

iFixit’s standard phone repair kit — ironicly named the Essential Electronics Tool Kit — wasn’t up to the job, and even more specialized tools had to be used. The battery was secured in place with a stretchy adhesive, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to remove and replace, after the harrowing journey it takes to get to it. Elsewhere, the USB-C port is soldered to the motherboard, so there’s no replacing it. That’s especially concerning due to the extra wear and tear the port will endure since the phone lacks a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. Inside, the phone sports mostly Qualcomm components, with Samsung supplying the storage module and RAM.

There’s really no other way to say this, but no user is going to be able to repair the Essential Phone. With Essential partnering with Best Buy, Sprint, and other retailers, there is already a support network for customers that run into problems with the device. Definitely give those a try before blasting your phone with super cold aerosol.

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Watch our Galaxy Note 8 video review!

The Galaxy Note 8 is a big phone, and that means it deserves big attention. Like when you read our complete review, and then want to see even more of the phone. That’s where you turn to our complete video review, which you can see right here!

There’s something about seeing a phone actually being used, with some perspective of what it’s like in real life, that adds to the experience of learning about it. That’s exactly what our Note 8 video review is all about. Watch, enjoy and be sure to subscribe to Android Central on YouTube so you never miss another video.

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Red Sox reportedly used Apple Watch to steal Yankees’ signals

The Cardinals aren’t the only Major League Baseball team accused of using technological cheats. According to the New York Times, the league has determined that the Boston Red Sox cheated in numerous games against the New York Yankees (who filed a complaint) and other teams by using the Apple Watch to relay the hand signals that catchers and pitchers use to communicate intended pitches. Investigators learned that Red Sox trainers received signals from video replay staff and used the smartwatch to quietly relay that info to the team.

It’s legal to watch hand signals and send that info to the team. However, teams aren’t allowed to use equipment to speed up this process — the watch was an illegal shortcut.

The Red Sox have reportedly owned up to the practice in private, but they’ve apparently returned fire by filing their own complaint accusing the Yankees of using a camera from their own TV network, YES, solely for the purpose of stealing pitch signs. Either way, it’s likely that MLB will do something. While the parties involved are declining to comment, it’s hard to imagine the league simply letting the status quo persist. Right now, it would be all too easy for other teams to follow in the Red Sox’s footsteps — we wouldn’t be surprised if the MLB banned smartwatches in the dugout to be on the safe side.

Source: New York Times

Everyone in the US can watch shows on Facebook

Facebook announced last month that it would be swapping out its video button for Watch, its new platform for shows. The social giant has been slowly rolling the service out to users in the US for the last week, and they’ve already got content from scrappy amateur creators to shows from established publications like National Geographic.

As we noted when it was introduced, the platform looks like it’s appealing to YouTube creators as an alternative space to host their shows. Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) is featured on the platform’s home page with a new series called Returning the Favor, while internet sensation Humans of New York has its own program. With its recently-acquired pair of Latino-aimed YouTube shows and weekly livestreamed MLB games, it’s clear that Facebook believes that TV is key to its future.

Source: Facebook Watch

‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ loses director Colin Trevorrow

Surprise! Star Wars: Episode IX will no longer be directed by Jurassic World helmer Colin Trevorrow, Lucasfilm announced tonight. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on who’ll be replacing him, but Star Wars fans will certainly make their preferences known online. Episode IX is currently slated for a May 24th, 2019 release date — and no, we don’t know if this news means it’ll be delayed. The abrupt announcement follows the last-minute firing of Han Solo directors Christopher Miller and Phillip Lord, who ended up being replaced by Ron Howard.

“Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ,” Lucasfilm said in a statement. “We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.”

Trevorrow was an odd choice to direct Star Wars from the start. While Jurassic World was incredibly successful worldwide, it also made it clear that he had plenty of room to mature as a director. His only other feature prior to that was the 2012 indie Safety Not Guaranteed. He also directed The Book of Henry, which has gone down as one of the worst reviewed films this year. Now Trevorrow’s out, Lucasfilm has a chance to give the coveted director slot to a far more interesting choice. And honestly, it’d be nice to see someone who isn’t a white dude taking on the role.

On a purely business level, the news is yet another black eye for Disney and Lucasfilm, who have been criticized for how they’re managing the newer Star Wars films. The first standalone feature in the franchise, Rogue One, went through significant reshoots. And most intriguingly, they were spearheaded by Tony Gilroy, someone much more experienced than the original director, Gareth Edwards. It seems like a similar situation played out with Han Solo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear similar rumblings around Episode IX.

Source: Star Wars

Perlan glider sets altitude record for unpowered flight

Gliders may be inherently limited by their nature (they’re dependent on rising air currents), but that isn’t stopping them from achieving feats normally reserved for their powered counterparts. The Perlan Project and Airbus have set a new record for engineless flight with Perlan 2, which flew to a lofty 52,172 feet — well above the 50,727 feet the previous record holder (appropriately, Perlan 1) reached in 2006. The trick was to fly in the right place at the right time.

The team took advantage of the area in El Calafate, located in Argentina’s portion of the Andes Mountains. Soar over that area when a polar vortex takes place and you’ll encounter stratospheric mountain waves, or air currents that rise so high they reach the stratosphere. These only happen in a couple of places on Earth and only a few times a year, so this isn’t something you can expect on a regular basis.

As you might guess, the Perlan Project isn’t going to call it a day. It’s hoping to modify the glider to fly even higher, and its ultimate goal is to fly a winged aircraft at 90,000 feet whether or not there’s an engine involved. And this isn’t just for bragging rights, either. Since gliders don’t have engines, they’re ideal testbeds for studies on climate change, radiation exposure and other fields where you want relatively pristine conditions.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: Airbus

Retro sci-fi RPG ‘Songbringer’ arrives for PS4, Xbox One, Mac and PC

The pixel art-infused RPG Songbringer is a love letter to old-school role playing games, and we’ve been looking forward to its release on PlayStation 4 for a while now. The sci-fi title is out now and available on Xbox One and Windows 10, too. The game is $20 on all platforms, including PC and Mac on Steam and GoG.com, starting today.

Songbringer is from Nathan Weiss’ one-man studio Wizard Fu, and while it features lots of hacking and slashing, it’s surprisingly light on actual gore. According to the Xbox One announcement, the in-game maps you traverse are generated by players with a six-letter world “seed” which will create the overworld and dungeon layouts while hiding some neat little secret discoveries, too.

There are 10 numbered dungeons to fight your way through, each a bit harder than the last. You’ll need to collect weapons and time your sword bashes to best defeat each boss at the end of the levels. Plus, you can eat one of the hallucinogenic cacti to boost your combat readiness and refill some of your health. Oh, and it’ll make everything look groovy. A second player can even control the protagonist’s robot companion. What’s not to like? The Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of Songbringer are cross-platform compatible, so you can play on either platform and pick up your saved games on the other.

Source: Microsoft