Put your S Pen to good use with these Galaxy Note 8 tips and tricks

The Galaxy Note 8, the newest smartphone in Samsung’s Note series, is the stylus-touting phablet to beat. It sports a beautiful 6.3-inch curved screen, a powerful Qualcomm processor, and plenty of memory and storage to boot. It’s also the first of Samsung’s flagships to feature a dual camera.

But there’s a lot about the Galaxy Note 8 that isn’t immediately obvious. Don’t know where to start? Check out our Galaxy Note 8 tips and tricks guide to help get the most out of the phone, including camera tutorials and nifty S Pen tricks. For more information about Bixby, the AI-powered assistant that ships on the Galaxy Note 8, check out our in-depth guide.

How to set up Edge Panel

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

You can use the curved edges of the Galaxy Note 8’s screen, which Samsung refers to as the Edge panel, to free up space for notifications, shortcuts, and more. Here’s how.

Head to the Galaxy Note 8’s Settings menu and tap Display. It’s here you’ll find Edge panels, which puts useful tools and shortcuts on the Note 8’s sides, and Edge lighting, which alerts you to notifications with a glowing strip around the Note 8’s screen.

The Edge lighting sub-menu offers greater customization. Don’t want Edge lighting to appear when the screen’s on? No problem. Want to change the Edge lighting’s width and transparency, or adjust its color? You can do that too.

Dive into the Edge panel menu and you’ll find a wealth of shortcuts, apps, and third-party utilities to fill the screen’s sides. Apps edge puts a list of app shortcuts at your fingertips. People edge gives you one-tap access to important contacts. Clipboard edge shows a list of items you’ve recently copied. That’s just the tip of the iceberg — there’s plenty more to download from Samsung’s Galaxy Apps store, including third-party panels from Yelp and CNN.

How to set up an App Pair

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

One of the Note 8’s most useful new features is App Pair, which lets you launch two apps in split-screen mode. But it requires a bit of setup.

Open the Edge panel by swiping from the left or right edge of the Note 8. Tap the gear icon at the bottom, and find Apps edge. At the top, you’ll see a Create app pair option. Tap it, and you’ll be presented with a list of apps. Pick any two split-screen compatible apps from the list, and check the Apps Edge panel again — you’ll see a new menu item created from the two shortcuts you just paired.

How to use the Dual Camera features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Live Focus Mode

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Normal Mode

The Galaxy Note 8’s rear camera has twin 12-megapixel sensors, which are the world’s first with dual optical image stabilization (OIS). Thanks to this feature, the Note 8’s camera app is incredibly versatile.

Take Live Focus for instance. A tap of the Live Focus button switches the rear camera to the telephoto lens and adds bokeh, the iPhone 7 Portrait Mode-like effect that blurs the background while sharpening the foreground. You can adjust the intensity by moving the slider to the right or left, and get handy messages when the subject’s too far away (“Live Focus is not available due to shooting conditions”) or the lighting’s less than ideal (“Can’t use Live Focus. Not enough light”). You can also edit the strength of the blur after you take a photo.

The Note 8 camera’s other cool trick is Dual Capture, which works in tandem with Live Focus. While the Live Focus effect relies on the telephoto lens, Dual Capture automatically takes a photo with the wide-angle lens, ensuring you don’t miss anything in the frame. It’s two shots at once with the press of a shutter button. That way, you have the wide angle shot to fall back on if the bokeh effect doesn’t come out well.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

To use it, tap the Live Focus button, then tap the Dual Capture button — the one that looks like two sheets of paper stacked on top of each other. Next time you take a Live Focus shot, check the Note 8’s Gallery app to view all versions of it. The Live Focus picture will have two options: Adjust Blur, and Normal Picture. The latter will let you see the wide-angle version of the photo.

There’s more to the Galaxy Note 8’s camera app than Live Focus and Dual Capture. Tap on the gear -shaped Settings button to change the Note 8’s picture and video resolution, toggle on/off high-dynamic range (HDR), record a short video clip before each picture (Motion photo), take a photo with voice controls, and more. Or tap on Stickers for Snapchat Lens-like rabbit ears, hats, text, and other fun augmented reality effects that automatically follow your face.

How to use the S Pen and its features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Galaxy Note 8 wouldn’t be a Note without an S Pen, and Samsung’s newest stylus can do more than ever before.

One of the newest features is Live message, which lets you sketch or write handwritten messages on photos (or plain backgrounds) and send them to anyone in your contact list as a GIF. To use it, grab the S Pen, which will automatically launch the Air command menu, and tap the Live message icon. You can adjust the stroke style, color, and thickness using the controls on the left-hand side, or add a backdrop from your photo gallery by tapping the Background button. Sketch to your heart’s content, and press done. It will convert to a GIF, animating what you sketched, and you can share it to any social media app or messaging app that accepts GIFs.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Screen-off Memo, which lets you scribble down out notes on the Galaxy Note’s always-on screen without unlocking it, is improved on the Galaxy Note 8: Samsung’s bumped up the maximum number of pages to 100. Try it yourself by opening the Galaxy Note 8’s Settings menu, tapping Advanced Features > S Pen, and toggling on Screen-off memo. To trigger it, take out the S Pen when the Note 8’s screen is off. You can now write on the screen. When you run out of space on a page, tap the downward-facing arrow button in the bottom-right corner to pull up a new blank page.

The best part is you can pin these notes to your always-on screen for easy access. To do this, find the pin icon at the top of the screen and tap it. You’ll just need to confirm it once more, and you’ll now see the note you wrote on your always-on screen.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

The Galaxy Note 8’s Translate feature, which debuted on the Note 7, automatically translates words, phrases, or entire paragraphs to the language of your choice. Activate it by pulling out the S Pen and tapping the Translate button from the Air command menu, and use the floating Translate menu to change the target language. Hover the S Pen over text, and a pop up will show the translation.

If you’re having a tough time making out text on the Galaxy Note 8’s ultra-detailed screen, you might want to give the Magnify tool a try. It’s a digital, square-shaped magnifying glass that enlarges parts of the screen. Activate it by opening the Air command menu and tapping the Magnify button. (If you don’t see the Mangify button, tap on the plus (+) icon in the Air command menu and add the Magnify button from the list of shortcuts.) If the magnified area isn’t big enough for you, try messing with the zoom percentage in the Magnify control bar.

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

Take a lot of screenshots? Give Smart Select a go, which lets you snapshot, save, and send any portion of the Galaxy Note 8’s screen. Activate it by pulling out the S Pen and tapping the Smart Select button from the Air Command menu, and then tap and drag around the area of the screen you’d like to “cut.” You’ll get the option to doodle on top of what you’ve copied, share it to another app, set it as a wallpaper, save it to your gallery, or automatically extract any text from it.

How to make apps use the full screen

The Galaxy Note 8’s curved AMOLED Infinity Display is colorful, vibrant, and all-around gorgeous, but it’s also slightly taller than average. The result is an unusual 18.5:9 aspect ratio that poses a challenge for apps, games, and videos, most of which were designed for a standard 16:9 ratio.

Normally, the Note 8 simply pads the top and bottom of the screen with black bars. But if you’d rather force apps to conform to the Note 8’s dimensions, good news: There’s a setting for that.

Head to Galaxy Note 8’s Settings menu, and then tap Display. Scroll down until you find Full Screen Apps, and tap the toggle next to the apps you’d like stretched to full screen.

If scrolling through a long list of apps doesn’t sound appealing, there’s another way. Periodically, when you open an app or video that supports the Note 8’s ratio, you’ll see a button that expands it with a single tap. (Look for “Tap here to fill the screen.”) If that doesn’t happen, open any app, tap the Recent apps button in the navigation bar, and look for the enlarge app icon (a green icon with two arrows) in list of recent apps. Tap it to force the app to open in full screen view.

How to set up face, iris, and fingerprint scanners

The Galaxy Note 8’s biometric sensors offer a quick, convenient alternative to passwords and PIN codes. Here’s how to set them up.

Face Recognition uses the Note 8’s front-facing camera to lock your phone to your facial features.

Head to the Galaxy Note 8’s Settings page and tap Lock Screen and Security, then Face Recognition. You’ll be prompted to set up a PIN, passcode, or password if you haven’t already, and you’ll get the option to  enable “faster” (but less secure) facial recognition if you choose. Finally, you’ll be asked whether you want the Note 8 to hide or show content on-screen when the phone’s locked.

Face Recognition may be convenient, but it isn’t particularly secure. For a safer hands-free solution, try the Note 8’s iris scanner by opening the Settings menu, heading to Lock Screen and Security, and tapping on Iris Scanner. Once you’ve registered your irises, you can use them to login to websites and apps that support Samsung Pass, or to authenticate payments with Samsung Pay. (Note that iris scanning might not work consistently if you wear glasses or contacts, and that it sometimes has trouble in direct sunlight.)

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Don’t trust iris scanning or facial unlocking? There’s a third solution: Fingerprint scanning. Open the Note 8’s Settings menu, look for Lock Screen and Security, and follow the steps to add your fingerprint (or multiple fingerprints, if you like). Once you’ve done that, you’re free to set up fingerprint authentication for Samsung Pass and Samsung Pay, or to use it in conjunction with face recognition or iris scanner.

Here’s how Apple’s new Files app works in iOS 11

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

It’s common to own a variety of devices that store your files, whether work-related or personal. But the process of transferring documents from device to device can be tedious. Apps like Google Drive and Dropbox have made things far simpler, allowing you to access the same files anywhere thanks to the cloud. Apple’s solution — a new app called Files — is baked into the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 11.

What is the Files app?

While the final version of iOS 11 won’t be released until Tuesday at Apple’s highly-anticipated launch event, you can download the public beta if you are eager to take an earlier look. The Files app comes hand-in-hand with iOS 11, and it essentially keeps all your documents together and organized on your iPhone and iPad. You can still search for files through third-party storage providers, along with folders, recent documents, and other iCloud content.

How to navigate Files

For Mac users, the interface will be recognizable as it’s similar to the Finder application on macOS. Tap on Browse and you’ll see a number of tabs available. There’s a Locations tab, which lists third-party cloud platforms, iCloud Drive, and there’s even a way to access recently deleted files. Favorites and Tags tabs add further organization. At the top, there’s a search bar to find specific files.

The Recents tab may be the most useful, as it shows files you are working on regardless of what device it was on. If you were typing up a document at work on your Mac and weren’t able to finish it on time, you can pull it up on your iPad at home through Files and continue where you left off. It will also track any other activity such as folders or tags you’ve created through the app.

Using Files on the iPad and iPhone

If you want to create a new folder, simply tap on one of the locations you want to store it in, and you’ll see a folder icon with a plus sign in the top left-hand corner. You’ll then have to name the folder. When you tap on a particular file and press down, an action menu will pop up above.

Triggering this menu may take patience as it requires a certain amount of pressure. By holding down the icon and then releasing your finger quickly, the menu will appear. It’ll list options to tag, share, rename, or delete the document or folder. The tags allow you to color code and name them.

If you choose to tag or favorite an item, it will show up under the Favorites and Tags categories in the Browse section, so you can access them faster. Another feature in Files is drag and drop. While iOS users have been able to use drag and drop before, it’s been limited to re-organizing the apps on your home screen. The feature is now exactly the same as it is on macOS, where all you need to do is hold down an item and drag it wherever you’d like.

As for editing documents, Files incorporates the same tools you’ll see in the Notes app and screenshots. When you open images or PDFs in the app, you’ll see a marker icon in the top right-hand corner. Once you tap on it, it’ll bring you an array of different options like a pencil or highlighter to markup the documents.

You can also share the PDFs and images through e-mail or messaging, but not entire folders. You can add people to the documents for collaboration as well. After selecting the option, you’ll receive a pop-up asking how you’d like to send the invitation via the normal sharing menu. But underneath you’ll see Share Options, which lets you to choose who can access the document and control specific permissions.

If you need to open files within Numbers, Keynote, or Pages, it will automatically open the document in the relevant app. For example, if you have a presentation in Keynote in your Files app and you open it, it will open the Keynote app itself. If you don’t have them installed on your iPhone or iPad, then it will open a read-only version.

Integrated third-party cloud services

Other third-party cloud services integrated into the Files app are Google Drive and Dropbox, with more to come later. You’ll see them listed underneath the Locations tab if you have the apps installed on your phone. Cloud storage platform Box will also be available at launch,

Box showed Digital Trends a beta version of its own app with Files and how it worked. Files seamlessly and automatically available regardless of which device an employee was working from. The Box app had the same format as Files, with folders and tabs included. The same is true for Google Drive and Dropbox: Opening them will show you your files in those respective apps, while mimicking the look of those apps.

Easy to use, but a long time coming

Overall, the Files App for iOS is simple to use and extremely useful. But with so many cloud services available, it’s strange Apple took this long. Files eliminates extra steps or the hassle of having to remember to upload specific documents to a third-party storage client. But our favorite feature is how easy it is to pick up where you left off regardless of the device you’re using.

Zello is the top app in the App Store due to Hurricane Irma

Why it matters to you

The app allows you to communicate with a large number of people who may otherwise have no other way of communicating.

Zello, a walkie talkie app, is helping volunteer efforts for Hurricane Harvey in a very big way. The app is currently being downloaded by millions as Hurricane Irma gets closer to South Florida. But why is this app so helpful during such stressful times?

Zello is an app that relies on Wi-Fi and cell services and works very much like a walkie talkie. It’s able to support a large number of people in dispersed locations from all over. Smartphone apps that are able to help coordinate responses and rescues will, of course, become crucial during times such as these. And Zello is just the main one being consumed at the moment.

“With the crush of new users and emergency situations, most of the Zello team is working long days either maintaining capacity or helping with customer support,” the company’s CEO, Bill Moore, recently told BuzzFeed News.

Zello originally launched in Russia in 2007 as LoudTalks, and now has 100 million users worldwide. Six million new registered users have joined the app since Monday, and it is the top free app in the iOS App Store. The app is available for a large number of platforms, including Android, BlackBerry and iOS, as well as Windows Phone 8, Windows PCs and Land Mobile Radio.

The communications app, however, will not work without Wi-Fi and/or cellular data service. Founder and CEO/CTO Alexey Gavrilov has already expressed on their blog that Zello “is not intended as a replacement for instructions from government emergency agencies or sanctioned rescue organizations. It is not a hurricane rescue tool and is only as useful as the people who use it, and as reliable as the data network available.”

The app allows anywhere from two to a thousand users to communicate live with one another. People who have the app can start their own channels, like their own groups, join one of the thousands of channels that already exist, or chat one-on-one. Zello is also available in more than 20 different languages and has a web-based console. The company has already admitted that it’s had to up the number of servers for the app ever since Hurricane Harvey.

China aims for an industry-changing ban on fossil fuel cars

It’s not just European countries planning long-term bans on fossil fuel cars. China’s vice minister of industry and IT, Xin Guobin, has revealed that the country’s government is developing a timetable for a ban on sales of fossil fuel vehicles. The official hasn’t given a rough estimate for when a ban would kick in, but France and the UK are both aiming for 2040. It won’t be surprising if China aims for a similar time frame, and it’s already introducing a cap-and-trade program that forces companies to buy credits from rivals if their fuel economy and emissions don’t fall within certain limits.

The move is as much about the economy as the environment. China is clearly grappling with severe air pollution, and taking gas-powered cars off the road could help when combined with a reduced dependence on coal power. However, a ban on those sales would also help the Chinese car market, which is quickly building a reputation for EVs through brands like Geely (which owns Volvo) and BYD. It would encourage foreign companies to collaborate with the Chinese, too, such as Honda’s just-announced plans to release a China-specific EV in 2018. And crucially, banning sales of fossil fuel cars will cut oil imports, reducing China’s dependence on other countries.

Whatever the motivations, the eventual ban is likely to have a tremendous effect on the automotive industry. Although China’s ratio of car ownership is relatively low (about 1 in 5 people), the sheer number of people in the country makes it the largest car market on Earth, with about 290 million vehicles on the road as of 2016. Automakers may have little choice but to switch to EVs if they want to operate in China and compete with the world’s biggest brands. In other words, it likely won’t matter what politicians elsewhere believe about the environment — China’s shift could dictate a switch to EVs around the world.

Source: Bloomberg

iPhone X may pack a 6-core processor

This weekend’s huge iOS 11 leak continues to spill the beans on the iPhone X… and the latest tidbits may be particularly relevant to performance junkies. Twitter user Longhorn has found that the processor in the iPhone X, and likely the step-down iPhone 8 models, will be a six-core chip. It’s not clear how many of these will be higher-powered cores versus energy-saving secondary cores (Longhorn suspects only two are high-speed cores), but it looks as if they might all be usable at the same time. That would be a big step up from the A10 Fusion in the iPhone 7, which only allows the high- or low-speed cores to run at any given moment.

Notably, Apple has never made an iPhone where more than two cores were active at the same time. That hasn’t been necessary for good performance in most circumstances (Apple’s chips have regularly gone toe-to-toe with the latest from Qualcomm), but it has hurt the iPhone’s potential in multi-threaded tasks where more cores could help. Even the A10X in the current iPad Pro sticks to three full-speed cores and three efficient cores.

As it is, the latest code investigations allude to more than just a CPU update. There’s more than one reference to USB-C, to begin with. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the iPhone X will have a native USB-C connector, but it may take advantage of the format in a way the iPhone 7 can’t. Other tidbits? There are further nods to wireless charging, although the absence of animations hints that it might not be available right away. And the previously mentioned Portrait Lighting feature, which changes the perception of how a subject was lit, may be available for both the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus. We’ll only know the full scoop on September 12th, but these are at least tantalizing clues.

cpu0/cpu1/cpu2/cpu3/cpu4/cpu5
4 Mistral cores and two Monsoon cores.

— Longhorn (@never_released) September 10, 2017

usbc-fw-personality
usbc-flash-update

The iPhone X might actually use a USB Type-C port.
Enjoy!

— Longhorn (@never_released) September 10, 2017

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: Longhorn (Twitter 1), (2)

iOS 11 GM Leak Reveals Details on Face ID, Apple Pay, Wireless Charging, and A11 Chip in iPhone X

Over the weekend, the iOS 11 golden master software leaked out, revealing a wealth of details about Apple’s unreleased devices just days ahead of their official unveiling.

New tidbits continue to come to light as developers dig through the software, and today we’re hearing details on the new A11 processor in Apple’s upcoming iPhone lineup, the Apple TV’s resolution and 4K streaming requirements, and how Apple Pay will work with Face ID. There’s also a confirmation that wireless charging is coming.

The iPhone X includes a new Face ID facial recognition system that replaces Touch ID. There have been some questions about how Apple Pay will work with the feature, and a new discovery from developer Jeffrey Grossman provides some clues. It seems the iPhone X will authenticate a payment using facial recognition, with payment confirmed using a double click on the side button (sleep/wake button) of the device.

There’s also a reference to Face ID on both the iPhone and the iPad and iPod touch, suggesting Apple could potentially bring Face ID to future iPads and iPod touch models.

The A11 Fusion chip expected to be built into the iPhone X, the iPhone 8, and the iPhone 8 Plus is a 4+2 core device, according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith and Twitter user Longhorn. It appears two of the cores are higher-power cores and four of the cores are lower-power cores, though this is not entirely clear (earlier it was suggested there were four higher-power cores and two lower-power cores). Either way, the arrangement is similar to the A10 chip, which is a quad-core SoC with two high-performance cores and two energy efficient cores.

A11 Fusion is a 4+2 core device https://t.co/mqtIKcjBmG

— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) September 10, 2017

Correction: it’s 4 little cores and 2 big ones, with all of them being able to run at the same time.

— Longhorn (@never_released) September 10, 2017

As discovered by developer Guilherme Rambo, there are references to wireless charging in the iPhone 11 GM, confirming a new wireless charging feature. The software doesn’t include many details on how wireless charging will work, but rumors have suggested Apple will use inductive wireless charging, which is how the Apple Watch is charged.

Apple’s wireless charging is said to use the Qi standard, and it will be enabled through inductive charging accessories. Apple is planning to allow third-party manufacturers to create Qi-based charging accessories, but Made for iPhone certification may be required. Rumors suggest Apple devices will support 7.5 watts of power when charging inductively, and the wireless charging feature is expected to be included in all Apple iPhones coming this year.

Finally, developer Steve Troughton-Smith yesterday discovered the upcoming 4K Apple TV will render natively at 2160p and will support several color formats, including HDR10 and Dolby Vision. 4K streaming on the device will also require a minimum of a 15Mb/s connection.

Apple TV will render natively at 2160p (1080p@2x) and supports a variety of color formats pic.twitter.com/tURvLe7bKz

— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) September 10, 2017

Earlier leaks have confirmed Apple’s naming plans (we’ll see an OLED iPhone X, an iPhone 8, and an iPhone 8 Plus), revealed the Face ID setup process, given us a look at the split status bar on the iPhone X, hinted at new animated “Animoji” that will be based on user facial expression, confirmed an LTE Apple Watch, and more.

Update: The A11 section of this post was updated with new details — it appears the A11 is a 6-core chip with two high power cores and four low power cores.

Related Roundup: iPhone X
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Apple Park Visitor’s Center Shown Off in New Images

Ahead of Tuesday’s iPhone-centric event that will see members of the media invited to Apple’s new Apple Park campus for the first time, close-up images of a nearly completed visitor’s center have surfaced.

The images were snapped by a resident who lives in Cupertino and shared with TheApplePost. According to the photographer, construction crews were working on the building late at night, perhaps suggesting Apple is aiming to have it completed soon.

The visitor’s center, made from glass, appears to include the same wooden tables that are found in Apple Stores, plus an accessory wall at the back, which makes sense as it will serve as both an Apple Store and an area for visitor’s to stop by when coming to the Apple Park campus.

A rooftop observation deck is built into the visitor’s center, allowing people to get a view of the main building, and it has a cafe and an outdoor seating area, according to building plans.

A rendering of the Apple Park visitor’s center
It’s not clear when Apple plans to officially open the visitor’s center on the campus, but given that it looks nearly complete, it could perhaps open on Tuesday alongside the Steve Jobs Theater where Apple’s iPhone event will be held.

Tag: Apple Park
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These smart outdoor living products make it easier to grill and chill

The Companion Group is introducing CC Sync, a new line of smart outdoor living products. In a press release, the company cites a study conducted in 2016 by Kelton Global that found that eight in ten Americans “either own or have interest in smart home devices.” The report also stated that 38 percent of respondents had more interest in connected home products at the time they took the survey than they did six months earlier. The main reason for this increased attraction? Greater convenience.

Another study from the same year at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute found that people in many focus groups were considering “buying the devices in the near future.”

“We are a company that has always innovated, so CC Sync makes sense for us. The backyard really opens up a lot of opportunities for smart products to shine,” Companion Group CEO Chuck Adams said.

So once you have your smart alarm clocks, fridges, thermostats, washing machines, and lighting systems inside the house, the next logical step is to bring that technology and convenience to the great outdoors, right? The California-based Companion Group has a couple of gadgets to make this a reality.

The CC Sync line includes the Q-Tech Bluetooth Thermometer as well as the Soundbeam Grill Light with Bluetooth Speaker. The Companion Group has plans to introduce more items to create new as well as serve existing outdoor smart grilling fans.

The SoundBeam Grill Light with Bluetooth Speaker does exactly what the name implies. You can listen to your jams while illuminating the grill. The light is adjustable and attaches to your rig with a clamp. You can connect your Apple or Android device to it via Bluetooth, and it will even allow you to accept or decline incoming calls while connected to your phone.

The Q-Tech Bluetooth Thermometer has customizable timers and temperature ranges in addition to 11 presets for beef, pork, and poultry, among other foods. It has an 80-foot range when paired to your smartphone. A 26-inch cable connects the probe to the base, so you should have more than enough slack to reach around your grill. The Q-Tech monitors the internal temperature of your food and sends you an alert when it’s done.

Urb-E scooter review

There is no limit to what we can electrify when it comes to transportation. Beyond the more substantial cars and motorcycles, we have smaller, more personal electrified skateboards, scooters, bicycles, three-wheelers, and even unicycles. If you need to get around quickly without worrying about parking, there is something out there for you. For our Urb-E electric vehicle review, we took a couple of the company’s products out for a spin.

Urb-E’s products may bring scooters to mind, but CEO and co-founder Peter Lee assured us that they are much more than that. “In our efforts to design and manufacture products that help people save time and money, we have identified the scooter as inadequate and outdated,” Peter Lee, co-founder and CEO of Urb-E, said. “As a result, our team took a problem solving approach to urban commuting/living and created a line of patented lightweight electric vehicles that easily fold, fit into an UBER or subway car, transform into a shopping cart, power all of your devices, and open a bottle of your favorite beverage.”

Here at Digital Trends, we have tried out all kinds of vehicles, and were impressed with the Urb-E’s capabilities beyond transport. Of particular note is the Urb-E Sport’s removable power source, aka “Eddy.” Eddy easily pops out from the Sport, giving you a portable power source that can charge five devices simultaneously via its four USB 2.0 and single USB Type C ports.

Urb-E also worked with the FAA to make Eddy compliant with domestic and international flight safety rules.

The Urb-E Sport is made of aircraft grade aluminum, sports 8-inch tires, and weighs 30 lbs. It has a range of 16 miles and a top speed of 14 mph. It can be folded and unfolded in a matter of seconds, and is compact enough to carry onto the subway or stashed in the trunk of your Uber or Lyft.

We were impressed with the Urb-E’s capabilities beyond transport.

The Urb-E Pro steps things up with a 350-watt rear-wheel drive brushless geared motor, 10-inch pneumatic tires, and carbon fiber construction. The Pro is capable of handling some rugged terrain, though we see it getting plenty of use on broken, debris-strewn streets of busy cities. This model weighs a bit more than the Sport at 35 lbs., but it has a higher top speed of 18 mph, with a range of 20 miles. You can also power your USB devices from the Pro, though Eddy does not come along for this ride.

We found the Sport was nimble and easy to maneuver. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride an Urb-E. The Sport GT we rode features a pushrod suspension system, which helped smooth things out on the bumpy midtown Manhattan streets.

The Pro GT felt more substantial and was just as easy to ride as the Sport. The larger wheels alone inspired more confidence as we avoided potholes, knowing that with time, any regular commuter would have to get used to dealing with them.

The Urb-E can be controlled like a bicycle via the handlebars, but you can also shift your weight to make it move in any direction. You could put together a makeshift slalom course and move between the cones just by leaning left and right. Of course in the real world, the cones would be replaced with distracted tourists, excited dogs, and delivery people.

If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride an Urb-E.

We were impressed by Urb-E’s build quality, which takes its cues from high-end performance cars. Indeed, Urb-E’s products were engineered by Sven Etzelsberger, previously a lead engineer at Porsche, Fisker, and Saleen, and designed by Grant Delgatty, industrial design professor at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.

A typical commute in a city like Manhattan is not long at all in distance, but could take forever due to traffic and problems on the bus or subway. Personal vehicles can relieve some of these headaches, and the Urb-E could be a solid choice for those who want to avoid public transport and its inherent delays. Or they can be combined with the city’s services, as you can ride your Urb-E to the train, fold it up, hop on, then unfold it at your stop and ride to your destination.

New Oktoberfest sneakers from Adidas are ‘puke and beer repellent’

Why it matters to you

Oktoberfest sneakers have some special features to help get you ready for the big beer festival.

Oktoberfest is the world’s largest “Volkfest,” a traditional German celebration featuring beer, wine, a carnival, more beer, folk music, pig’s knuckles, and even more beer. Did we mention beer? The annual three-week long festival will be held in Munich from September 16 to October 3, and Adidas wants you to be ready for any sloppy drunks or mishaps you may encounter.

In addition to your lederhosen and dirndl, you also need to be prepared for the occasional accidents that occur when thousands of thirsty Germans consume large quantities of Bavarian beer. To that end, the company has introduced a limited-edition version of Oktoberfest sneakers to help you prepare for the inevitable mishaps.

The Adidas München Oktoberfest is the latest addition to the footwear manufacturer’s popular München line of sneakers, with some extra enhancements to help you make it through the festival relatively unscathed. The kicks were designed specifically for the beer festival to end all beer festivals, with premium leather materials and a special DPBR coating.

DPBR, of course, stands for “Durable Puke and Beer Repellent.”

The sneakers feature embroidery that matches traditional lederhosen, an inner red-and-white checkered lining reminiscent of beerhall tablecloth and “PROST” (German for “cheers”) emblazoned on the side in gold. The speckled laces are a nice finishing touch, and the sneakers even come with a matching 43einhalb one-liter custom beer mug.

Even if you can’t make it to Germany for the traditional beer festival, there are plenty of events across the U.S. celebrating Oktoberfest. Check out this complete calendar of Oktoberfest activities all over the country to find one near you.

Adidas has a history of creating special event-themed sneakers, usually released in limited quantities to appeal to collectors. The Crazy Explosive was launched earlier this year, inspired by the bright colors and neon lights of Las Vegas. Last year, they even premiered the very first 3D-printed running shoe. The Crazy 1, first introduced in 2003 and re-launched in 2013, paid tribute to the Audi TT. Another design was the result of a collaboration with Porsche. The Run DMC Adidas Originals from 2013 were delivered in classic Run DMC style with the laces undone.

So, if you and your friends are planning to down a few beers at an Oktoberfest celebration this month and a couple of you have a few too many, never fear – Adidas has you covered. Or at least your feet, anyway.