Recommended Reading: Behind the scenes of ‘Blade Runner 2049’

The Replicant: Inside the Dark Future of ‘Blade Runner 2049’
Brian Raftery,
Wired

The much-anticipated Blade Runner sequel is due to hit theaters in two weeks, but Wired wants to make sure you’re properly prepared for that viewing. Step behind the scenes of Blade Runner 2049 for a look at the sci-fi, dystopia and darkness.

How to Force Restart or Hard Reset the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Apple has changed the method to force restart or hard reset an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus, as outlined in a recent support document.

While rebooting an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus requires pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until the Apple logo appears, restarting an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus takes three steps.

Keep in mind that Apple now refers to the Sleep/Wake button as the Side button as of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.

How to Force Restart or Hard Reset the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
Press and hold the Side button (aka power) until you see the Apple logo.Powering off regularly still requires holding down the Side button for a few seconds until the “slide to power off” prompt appears. In iOS 11, there’s also a “Shut Down” option in the Settings app at the bottom of the General menu.

Force restarting an iPhone is different than recovery using DFU mode, for which the steps remain the same as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Pioneer Working to Resolve iOS 11 Compatibility Issue With Select Receivers

Pioneer has informed customers it has discovered an incompatibility with iOS 11 and AppRadio Mode on certain in-dash receivers it sells.

If you connect an iPhone or iPod touch that has been updated to iOS 11 and launch AppRadio Mode, you will experience a blank screen or other display malfunction that disables AppRadio Mode, according to the company.

Pioneer said it is working to resolve the issue and will update a notice posted on its website once firmware updates for the receivers are available. For now, the only solution to maintain compatibility is to remain on iOS 10.

AppRadio Mode is Pioneer’s own interface for running over 30 compatible smartphone apps, browsing the web, navigating, and listening to music, podcasts, and internet radio through your car’s speakers.

Pioneer’s list of affected models include many AVH, AVIC, and SPH receivers, some of which double as aftermarket CarPlay systems.

Related Roundup: CarPlay
Tag: Pioneer
Discuss this article in our forums

Five iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus tips and tricks to get the most out of your new phone

Aside from iOS 11, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus don’t differ much from its predecessors. But every new iPhone comes new features — even if it’s only a few. To help you use your new device to the fullest, we’ve rounded up some iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus tips and tricks you need to know.

If you’re still craving more by the end, there are a lot more features and tricks in iOS 11 that you can check out in our iOS 11 tips and tricks guide.

Toggle True Tone on or off

First available on the iPad Pro, True Tone is a display technology Apple has now brought into the iPhone. It automatically adapts the screen based on lighting conditions, displaying colors that are consistent in different environments. To turn True Tone on or off, go to Settings > Display and Brightness and flip the toggle next to True Tone. Alternatively, you can swipe up the Control Center, press and hold on the brightness slider, and you’ll find a quick toggle for True Tone and Night Shift here.

How to add Portrait Lighting to your photos

Julian Chokkattu / Digital Trends

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

If Portrait Mode wasn’t enough, iPhone 8 Plus also has a beta feature called Portrait Lighting. It comes in five various types of lighting effects: Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. Instead of applying filters, Portrait Lighting uses facial landmarking and a depth map captured by the dual cameras to offer different lighting options.

To use the effects, simply open the Camera app and tap the Portrait Mode next to Photo. You’ll now see Natural Light with some circular logos above the shutter icon. Hold down and move your finger left through the carousel to scroll between all the options. Choose one, and tap the shutter icon — when you’re positioned within the right distance — to capture a photo. One quick note from Apple: For the Stage Light and Stage Light Mono effects, you’ll want to fill up the subjects face in the circle as much as possible with little background as possible.

Portrait Mode no longer takes two photos now — if you want the photo without the blur effect, you can now simply go to Photos, choose the Portrait Mode photo, tap Edit, and click on the yellow Portrait logo at the top. It will become transparent, meaning the Portrait effect has been turned off. You can also choose a different lighting effect at the bottom of the screen if you didn’t like the original.

How to shoot video in higher resolution

Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have received an upgrade when it comes to video quality. Both devices are now capable of shooting up to 4K at 60 frames per second and 1080p at 240 fps for slow motion video. To capture your videos in high-resolution, go to Settings > Camera > Record Video and you’ll see a list of options to choose from. There’s a separate section to customize the slow motion video settings under Camera titled Record Slo-mo.

Want to scan a QR code? You don’t need a third-party app to do that. In the same camera settings, you’ll see a toggle for Scan QR codes. Make sure it’s toggled on to utilize it, and then all you need to do is open the camera app and point it at a QR code.

How to access Auto-Brightness

On iOS 10 and prior, you were able to access auto brightness through Settings > Display & Brightness. On iOS 11, Auto Brightness now lives under the Accessibility section instead. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display Accommodations and toggle on Auto-Brightness. You can still control normal brightness settings through the Control Center.

How to enable Emergency SOS

Emergency SOS is automatically activated on your iPhone, but there’s an additional feature you can enable called “Auto Call.” It will call emergency services when you press the power button rapidly five times. It won’t start dialing right away, but the option to call will appear. Touch ID will also be disabled temporarily, until you enter your passcode.

To enable feature, go to Settings > Emergency SOS and toggle on Auto Call. You can also toggle on Countdown Sound to play a warning sound while the setting is counting down to call emergency services.

To learn about more about what you can do with Apple’s latest mobile operating system, make sure to check out our roundup of iOS 11 tips and tricks.

Help your hot new processor chill out with the best CPU coolers

Here’s something you just can’t live without: a processor cooler. If there’s no way of eliminating heat, your chip will cook to the point that it becomes nothing more than a fried drink toaster.

Since you’re here, we imagine you already know about the different sizes of processors, and their related motherboard “seats,” or sockets. But just in case you’re new to building desktops, the typical seventh-generation Intel “Kaby Lake” processor sits in the 1151 socket, as does the previous “Skylake” generation, and Intel’s upcoming eighth-generation “Coffee Lake” chips. The company’s meatier X-Series chips, spanning up to 18 cores, require a larger motherboard seat called the 2066 socket.

Meanwhile, AMD’s latest Ryzen desktop processors, such as the Ryzen 7 1800X, rely on a completely different socket called AM4, along with motherboards based on the X370, B350, A320, and A300 chipsets. And like Intel’s X-Series processors, AMD’s monster Ryzen Threadripper processors are larger, requiring a bigger throne on the motherboard. This is AMD’s new TR4 socket.

What we targeted when shopping for processor coolers were their airflow and noise level numbers. You want great, focused airflow getting the heat off the processor, but that doesn’t mean you need the biggest fan made by man. The picks here are solid, reliable, affordable coolers that get the job done.

1151 Socket (Skylake / Kaby Lake / Coffee Lake)

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (air)Cost: $35

You can actually purchase variants of the Hyper 212, such as a model with two fans, one with an LED, and so on. This version consists of four heatpipes that have direct contact with the processor, which pull the chip’s heat up into a towering heatsink comprised of aluminum fins. There the heat is collected and blown away with a single 120mm fan.

According to Cooler Master, the spinning fins mounted within the fan are optimized for low and high speeds ranging between 600 and 2,000 rotations per minute (RPM), which can be managed by your system. The Hyper 212 also comes with brackets, so you can add an extra fan to the cooler, if you want (it’s not included).

The Hyper 212 works on AMD’s Ryzen processors with an adapter, as well.

Overall dimensions:
120 x 80 x 159 millimeters
Fan dimensions:
120 x 120 x 25 millimeters
Heat sink dimensions:
116 x 51 x 159 millimeters
Fan speed:
600 to 2,000 rotations per minute
Fan airflow:
24.9 to 82.9 cubic feet per minute
Fan air pressure:
0.3 to 2.7 mmH20
Fan noise level:
9 to 36 dB(A)
Bearing type:
Long Life Sleeve Bearing
Connector:
4-pin PWM
Weight:
1.26 pounds

Moleskine’s smart planner requires too much effort to use

As a tech reporter, I sometimes find my reliance on physical planners and paper notebooks embarrassing. But there’s something about the act of writing my appointments down that makes them feel more official. As my friends will tell you, though, all too often I double- or even triple-book myself because I’ve forgotten to transfer my plans to my phone’s calendar, which is what reminds me of upcoming meetings. So when I heard about Moleskine’s latest product, I was intrigued. The company’s new smart planner builds on its existing connected writing set by letting you jot down appointments and have those meetings show up in your online calendar. But, as I found out after a few days of testing, the effort required to get the system up and running ultimately isn’t worth it.

Before you can even set up the pen, the app asks that you agree to Moleskine’s privacy policy and terms and conditions. You have to check several boxes on each page before you can proceed to the next one, and there’s no way to skip any of this. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue; we agree to terms and conditions all the time. What bothered me was that on the last page, you must check the box that says you agree to Moleskine sending you promotional or informational material if you want to move forward. This is usually optional; making it mandatory is an oppressive move on Moleskine’s part.

A company spokesperson told Engadget that its privacy policy states that you may be asked in the future to provide an email address and password to access the app. “This is completely optional, so you’re not required to enter an email or password to use the app or product,” the company said. If you do provide an email, Moleskine said, it would send promotional emails from respective channels, and it won’t if you don’t supply your contact info. For the purpose of this hands-on, I checked the box, crossed my fingers and moved on.

I was intrigued by the premise of the connected planner at first. Using the smart pen, you write down your appointments on the physical planner and the system will send them to the digital calendar of your choice (iCal, Google or Outlook). The planner also has plain lined pages on the right, where you can jot down ideas or to-do lists, which then sync to the app.

Linking the pen to the Moleskine app was relatively easy: I held down a button until a light on the device turned blue, then placed the pen next to my iPhone. The app found my pen after a few seconds. Once I started writing in the planner, the app detected the new book, it jumped to the page where my pen was, and my scribbles appeared on my phone in real time. Just as with the existing smart writing set, you can use the pen to tap on the envelope icon on the top right of each page to send a PDF copy to yourself or your friends.

To get the planner to sync with your digital calendar, though, you have to make sure to follow these steps. Go into the Moleskine app’s settings, then select “Authentication Center.” Pick the calendar you prefer and give the app permission to sync. Each time you want to write anything in the planner or notebook, you have to make sure the pen is switched on, or nothing will sync. So if your pen is out of power, too bad; nothing you write will be saved to the app. Moleskine says the pen will last through up to 13 hours of “average use” and about seven hours of nonstop writing (hope they don’t mean that literally).

After I finally got the planner to link to my iCal, I activated the pen and wrote down a few dummy meetings. There are three ways to create an appointment: start your entry with the time of your meeting, and the app will save a one-hour block to your calendar; specify a start and end time, and the app will set aside a slot for that duration; or, if you don’t use any times at all, the app will save your entry as an all-day event. That all sounds nifty in theory, but because the system is so bad at recognizing my handwriting, it kept reading my 2s and 1s as Zs and Ls. This made it save 2pm and 1pm appointments as all-day events. It also failed to recognize my cursive or block writing, and labelled several of my meetings with gibberish. I had to be extremely careful when writing my entries before it would work.

When it did recognize what I wrote, though, the Moleskine app accurately set up appointments in my calendar. But for now, the software still feels too unreliable to justify buying the planner (a $30 add-on) specifically for the digital benefits. I also find the purchasing option unnecessarily complicated. To use the smart planner, you need the smart pen, which is available only with the $199 writing set for now. That means you’ll have to get the regular notebook no matter what, which I find unnecessary, since you have lined notebook pages in the planner anyway. But Moleskine says customers of its paper products tend to buy both notebooks and planners, and the company believes they’ll want to get both of the connected versions as well.

I happen to not be a Moleskine customer, so I don’t know if that’s true. There also aren’t very many alternatives available — Livescribe’s and Evernote’s options are either partnerships with Moleskine to begin with or, in the case of the latter, discontinued. The reusable Rocketbook appears to be a cheaper option with features similar to those of the smart notebook, but it doesn’t have the premium quality of a Moleskine and doesn’t offer scheduling tools. All told, Moleskine’s smart planner is a compelling concept that I’d embrace — if only it were more reliable and didn’t require so much effort.

The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend — and be careful with your new iPhone 8.

The flip side.Imagination Technologies agrees to £550 million sale

Apple launched its first iPhone containing a custom-designed GPU this week, and at the same time, its former graphics chip partner agrees to a sale. Imagination Technologies saw its value dive after losing Apple as a customer for its PowerVR graphics hardware, so now a Chinese fund is buying the company for $743 million.

Really.Nintendo rolls out two-step authentication for online accounts

Nintendo has been slow to catch up with online features and services, but now Nintendo Account owners can use two-factor authentication. Paired with a third party app like Google’s Authenticator, it adds an additional layer of security, and you should probably turn it on ASAP.

FYI.The iPhone 8’s glass back costs way more to repair than the front

Be careful with that new iPhone 8. A number of Apple employees have told AppleInsider that the back glass isn’t covered under AppleCare+ screen repair warranty and is instead qualified as “other damage,” which costs $99 to fix.

No LTE problems yet.Apple Watch Series 3 first look

Chris Velazco survives a day using just the Apple Watch Series 3’s built-in LTE connection.

iThings assemble.Apple refresh recap

Need a reminder on Apple’s other big updates? We’ve got everything you need to know about iOS 11, the iPhones 8, and a quick look at the Apple TV 4K.

Hits, misses and leaks.The Engadget Podcast Ep 43

This week Dana Wollman and Chris Velazco are discussing all of the new hardware from Apple, plus Google’s Pixel plans (and what we’ve learned from leaks).

But wait, there’s more…

• ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ premiere on Sunday night
• How Kevin Durant’s attempt to clap back at trolls backfired
• Pirate Bay ‘borrows’ visitor CPUs to mine virtual coins
• Bad Password: Why Equifax’s error wasn’t hiring someone with a music degree
• Uber’s new CEO says the company is paying for its bad rep
• Hackers slipped malware into popular PC software CCleaner

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.

Apple’s former GPU maker Imagination agrees to £550 million sale

Losing Apple as a customer can be rough for a supplier, as Imagination Technologies found out. In April, the UK chipmaker announced that the folks in Cupertino planned to develop their own mobile GPUs and would no longer rely on its PowerVR tech for iPhones and iPads. The A11 Bionic chip inside Apple’s new iPhone 8 series and upcoming iPhone X is the company’s first-ever self-designed GPU. While still in dispute with Apple over the breakup plans, Imagination lost over 70 percent of its value and put itself up for sale. Now, it has found a buyer in Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a China-backed fund.

Recently, Donald Trump used his presidential power to block the fund from completing a $1.3 billion buyout of a US chipmaker, Lattice Semiconductor, over security concerns. Canyon Bridge is snapping up Imagination (minus its MIPS arm, which is being sold to other investors for $65 million) for £550 million ($743 million) in a move that it says will not cut staff or move the company’s headquarters.

Source: Imagination Technologies

Intel’s Project Alloy VR headset is dead

Intel won’t be releasing its Project Alloy VR headset platform anytime this year — in fact, it won’t be releasing the technology at all. The tech giant has officially killed the initiative, which aimed to provide partner companies an open reference design for their own standalone VR devices. Intel was supposed to launch the platform this year, but according to RoadtoVR, it has decided to abandon the project this summer due to lack of partner interest.

The company didn’t elaborate on why there’s a lack of interest, but it could be because manufacturers, including Asus, Acer and Dell, chose to focus their resources on building Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets. Kim Pallister, Intel’s Virtual Reality Center of Excellence director, has also revealed another possible reason in his interview with PC World. He said the company realized that a standalone headset “isn’t necessarily the optimum form factor” and can’t compete with the performance of PC-powered devices.

Instead of going forward with Project Alloy, Intel will focus on developing a WiGig link to enable wireless PC-powered VR headsets, as well as on making other VR-related technologies. It told RoadtoVR in a statement:

“Intel has made the decision to wind down its Project Alloy reference design, however we will continue to invest in the development of technologies to power next-generation AR/VR experiences. This includes: Movidius for visual processing, Intel RealSense™ depth sensing and six degrees of freedom (6DoF) solutions, and other enabling technologies including Intel WiGig, Thunderbolt, and Intel Optane™. All of these Intel technology solutions are supported by a robust portfolio of software capabilities, and we’re building out a VR support ecosystem, from software design kits to reference designs, to spur innovation that’s enabling rich and immersive content. Project Alloy served as a great proof of concept for Intel and the industry – showing what’s possible in a high-performance, immersive and untethered VR experience. What we’ve learned through Project Alloy will inform future efforts.”

The company has also been shifted its focus to VR content recently. Just this March, it snapped up Replay Technologies, which is known for creating 360-degree video replays for the NBA.

Source: RoadtoVR, PCWorld

YouTube’s ‘Creators for Change’ premiere at Tribeca’s TV Festival

You can find almost anything on YouTube these days, but with the “Creators for Change” program, the site had a specific goal in mind: Show how its platform could be used for social good. Tonight at the first ever Tribeca TV Festival, YouTube premiered the first three videos from the initiative, touching on topics like racism, growing up Muslim in America and xenophobia in the United Kingdom. And while they weren’t significantly different than other socially aware YouTube videos, they’re a sign that Google is getting just a tad more woke.

The event kicked off with a music video for Australian hip hop artist L-Fresh the Lion’s song Raci$t/ Our World, which is sort of a modern spin on We Are the World. It’s undoubtedly confrontational at first, but the video’s big takeaway is that humanity could learn to live together in diverse cities like Sydney.

“Hip-hop has never been afraid about touching on heavy concepts,” L-Fresh said during a Q&A panel following the screening. “In general it sparks a conversation, it plants a seed in someone to hopefully make them think a bit different.”

Tasneem “Tazzy” Phe’s visual essay, I Wanted Nothing to do with This Country, describes her experience growing up as a Muslim kid in America. Upon entering high school, she was faced with the constant reminder of just how different she was than everyone else. And that feeling didn’t change when she visited Pakistan with her family, either. Through her video, she tries to convey the difficulty of feeling like a stranger in both of her worlds. While her channel typically focuses on comedy videos, she says she was able to branch out with this more dramatic project thanks to the Creators for Change program.

The evening wrapped up with director Sam Saffold’s short film, A Welcoming Place. It focuses on a young man who visits his father’s old home, only to find a strange couple living there. And of course, something is just a bit odd about them. The short feels similar to a classic Twilight Zone episode — it’s both an exploration of grief, as well as xenophobia.

Saffold, who comes from a mixed-race background, says he’s always wanted to explore how difficult it is to navigate questions of identity and culture in England. When moderator Todrick Hall wondered what it was like being a director when a platform like YouTube lets anyone easily broadcast their work, Saffold described himself as both intimidated and invigorated by the competition.

YouTube committed $1 million for the Creators for Change initiative, which was meant to help cover equipment and production costs for the 27 ambassadors, each of whom received a $25,000 grant. These first three films are just the start — the company also unveiled six other videos today. If they’re successful, I wouldn’t be surprised if Google expands the program even further next year. After all, we could all use more artists trying to change the world for the better.