Pi Charger Uses Qi Standard to Extend Wireless Charging Reach Beyond Current Mats

With the launch of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, Apple added inductive wireless charging support to its mobile devices for the first time. While the feature brought Apple’s phones up to speed with existing Qi-compatible charging standards, the announcement fell short of some expectations that this year Apple would introduce technology allowing iPhones to be powered wirelessly at a distance, rather than having to use a charging mat.

However, Pi is a California-based startup that aims to break from that limitation with the Pi Charger – a cone-shaped tabletop device that combines Qi-based resonant induction with a special beam-forming algorithm that allows it to charge multiple devices within about a foot in any direction.

The Pi might not reach the distances claimed by Energous’ WattUp technology, which uses radio frequencies to charge devices from up to 15 feet away, but it does offer more flexibility than existing pads that devices must be directly placed upon.

In a demo at TechCrunch’s Disrupt event, the company showed that up to four Qi-compatible devices can be placed within a foot of a Pi and they will start charging. Devices can be located anywhere within a 12-inch sphere of influence around the charging hub and in different orientations. The closer the device to the Pi, the faster it charges, with a gradual drop-off in charging speed the further away the phone is.

“Magnetic fields are the best way to send meaningful energy to phones, tablets, and other portable electronics,” said Lixin Shi, Pi’s CTO and co-founder. “The hard part was figuring out how to make magnetic charging more flexible, multi-device, and extend its useful range. It took us over a year to complete the mathematical proof that makes it all possible.”

The team behind Pi said they’ve yet to settle on an exact price for the charger, but they expect it to ship for under $200 sometime in 2018. As for Apple, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest it has partnered with Energous to work on bringing a truly wire-free, over-the-air charging technology to its consumer devices, but we’ll likely have to wait for at least another year to see the possible fruits of those labors.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, iPhone X
Tags: wireless charging, Qi, Pi
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Buy Now)
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Keybase Launches Teams, a Free End-to-End Encrypted Alternative to Slack

Encryption messaging company Keybase launched a Slack-like open source team communications tool on Monday for macOS and iOS platforms.

Called Keybase Teams, the fully encrypted platform supports groups as large as 500 people, with free access to a team’s message history.

Keybase is a new and free security app for mobile phones and computers. For the geeks among us: it’s open source and powered by public-key cryptography. Keybase is for anyone. Imagine a Slack for the whole world, except end-to-end encrypted across all your devices. Or a Team Dropbox where the server can’t leak your files or be hacked.

Like Slack, once users have created a team in Keybase they can begin generating chats and channels. It’s also possible to share encrypted files with team members. 

Unlike Slack accounts however, users don’t have to switch at the top level of the app. Teams can be casual and small, allowing them to blend into the user’s inbox, while teams with multiple chat channels are grouped under “Big teams”.

Keybase Teams is a free download for Mac from the Keybase website, while the Keybase chat app is available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Encryption
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US Navy will use Xbox controllers to steer submarine periscopes

The Pentagon might have to buy Xbox controllers en masse in the future if the military ends up using them to control its laser weapons and other equipment. In fact, the US Navy will begin stocking its modernized Virginia-class submarines with them, starting with the USS Colorado that’s expected to be commissioned in November. Sailors aboard the high-tech submarine will use the Xbox controller to maneuver its periscope. See, unlike periscopes in movies, wherein a single person has to peer through an eyepiece, the high-tech version of the instrument uses high-resolution cameras and displays images on big screens.

Sounds cool, right? Problem was, the joystick and the control panel Lockheed Martin developed to steer it cost around $38,000. Plus, the joystick was heavy and clunk, and it takes hours to train a sailor to use it. When the military contractor tested the Xbox controller as a replacement, sailors were able to figure out controls on their own within a few minutes. Considering each controller will only set the Navy back $30, scrapping the pricey specialized joystick and panel was a no-brainer.

Source: AP, The Virginian-Pilot

Pokémon GO Creator’s Next Game Will Integrate Audio Cues into the AR Experience

Pokémon GO creators Niantic are looking at ways to incorporate audio into future AR game experiences, according to the company’s chief technology officer.

Speaking on a panel discussing augmented reality at TechCrunch’s Disrupt event, Niantic CTO Phil Keslin said that audio cues would mean players wouldn’t have to awkwardly hold their phone up while interacting with games like GO.

“I can tell you from experience that people don’t do this,” he said, mimicking how people playing an AR game would hold their phones. “It’s very unnatural. It makes them look like a total doofus if they’re doing it for an extended period of time,” he added.

“In Pokémon GO, the only time they really use it is to share their encounter with the Pokémon. To take that one picture, which is natural…. Everybody takes a picture, and then they’re done. It’s not walking around the world with the phone in front of their face,” he said.

Considering alternative solutions, Keslin suggested audio could be integrated into AR experience. “Audio is different,” he said. “You can hide that.” Most people today walk around with their audio earbuds stuck in their ears all the time, he noted. “Nobody knows that they’re being augmented then.”

Keslin later explained that audio was something Niantic had toyed with when they were building Ingress, a location-based, augmented reality game considered a precursor to Pokémon GO.

Audio integration was considered in a variety of ways, according to the CTO, for example, suggesting to players which location they should visit, or having their phone call them with further clues when they reached a waypoint. Another possibility was combining audio with a phone’s sensors, like an accelerometer, to know what a person was doing. “AR is not just visual,” he added.

Asked if audio clues would ever come to Pokémon GO, Keslin told TechCrunch: “Maybe. Or maybe we’d use it in other games,” he said, smiling. “We’re not a one-game wonder.”

Related Roundup: Apple VR Project
Tags: Pokémon GO, ARKit
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Apple slowly lets its ‘TV’ streaming app expand beyond the US

Apple’s ‘TV’ app has begun showing up outside the US, signaling the start of the rollout it promised during its latest iPhone event. According to MacRumors and 9to5Mac, the app has already appeared for some users in Australia and Canada ahead of tvOS 11’s official release later today, September 19th. Apple launched the TV app in 2016 to serve as a browsable hub for all the shows from your other apps, such as Hulu and HBO Now. It was designed to give you a way to easily find movies and series to watch without having to switch streaming services.

.@MacRumors @9to5mac the Apple TV app has appeared for Australian Apple TV 4th gen. users overnight. It’s stuck loading at the moment.

— Anthony Eales (@ants000) September 19, 2017

Based on some social media posts, the app still isn’t working properly and is stuck loading for a lot of people. Apple might have merely released it to prepare for its streaming device’s OS update, so it will likely start working once tvOS 11 arrives. While the ongoing rollout seems to be for Canada and Australia only, Apple also promised to bring the app to the UK, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden before the year ends.

Source: 9to5Mac

Niantic’s next AR game after ‘Pokémon Go’ may use audio cues

Niantic is keen to prove that it’s no one-trick pony. The company that brought augmented reality mobile gaming to the masses with Pokémon Go is dropping some interesting tidbits about its followup. The title will integrate audio prompts into its AR gameplay experience, the company’s CTO Phil Keslin told TechCrunch. Instead of asking people to hold their phone up while interacting with the game, Keslin says the developer is seeking a more natural alternative. And, it seems audio cues could be the key to the Pokémon Go successor.

Speaking on a panel at the TechCrunch Disrupt event, the Niantic exec discussed the current problems with AR. “I can tell you from experience that people don’t do this,” he said, imitating how users are expected to hold their phones while playing an AR game. “It makes them look like a total doofus if they’re doing it for an extended period of time,” he continued.

Sound could fix that by tapping into your smartphone and audio earbuds, noted Keslin. Audio signals — including a phone call or something akin to a proximity sensor (that accesses your handset’s accelerometer) — could give you clues, he added. These are all ideas that Niantic played around with back when it was creating its first AR game, Ingress. Not all of its experiments made into the completed title, but it seems the developer is holding on to them for the future.

Of course, AR wasn’t Pokémon Go‘s sole selling point. It helped that it was based on a massively popular existing property that had found success on Nintendo’s handhelds and home consoles. But, details about its successor remain slim. Although, Keslin did confirm that the game is under active development, and may even launch next year. Meaning, we could find out a lot more in the weeks and months ahead.

Source: TechCrunch

‘Neko Atsume’ is coming to PlayStation VR in 2018

Neko Atsume was the smartphone hit where you collected and fed cats. That was… mostly it. It also took over the lives of several of my friends, and was huge enough to warrant a movie spin-off in Japan. Apt, then, that Tokyo Game Show is where PlayStation Japan President Atsushi Morita announced a virtual reality version of the cat… feeding.. sim (?), with no more information beyond a 2018 release date on PSVR. But, if I get to role-play as cats, then consider me intrigued.

‘Zone of the Enders’ PS4 remaster adds PSVR support

It’s been a while since we’ve seen or heard anything about Zone of the Enders. The mech classic was created by Hideo Kojima, best known for the Metal Gear series, for the PS2 in 2001. A GBA spin-off was released six months later, followed by Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner in 2003. A third console entry was considered, but eventually cancelled. Kojima might be gone (he’s off doing his own thing now), but Konami has a plan to revive the franchise. A PS4 remaster titled Zone of the Enders: Anubis Mars will be out next spring with improved graphics and PSVR support. Nice.

Source: PlayStation JP (Twitter)

‘infltr’ Photo Editing App Now Lets You Edit Photos Taken in Apple’s Portrait Mode

Photo editing app infltr received an update on Monday that allows users to apply customizable filters to images and Live Photos containing depth information, or pictures taken in Apple’s dual-camera Portrait Mode.

In version 2.10 of infltr (short for “infinite filters”), users who capture a photo on an iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X using Portrait Mode are now able to toggle between the foreground and background to make separate edits to the two layers. infltr’s developers describe it like so:

On top of the colour information red, blue, green and alpha which makes a classic photo, if the photo is captured with depth enabled, an extra layer of information can be seen as a 3D map of the captured scene.


This depth layer is leveraged by infltr to let you edit the background and foreground of your photos differently. This is extremely powerful and integrates seamlessly within infltr’s editor, allowing you to get more creative and highlight the region of your image that matters the most to you.

infltr offers more than 7 million possible filters thanks to a color gradient mapping algorithm, and lets users choose a filter before they take a picture or record video. Moving a finger in any direction over the screen causes the photo filter to change its hue, while double-tapping shuffles the filter for a random pot-luck effect.

infltr can be used to edit photos, videos, animated GIFs, and DSLR shots in HD without a loss in resolution, using over 10 included adjustment and transform tools. Users can also apply infltr filters to the live camera feed while in iMessage.

As well as the ability to edit Portrait Mode photos, the latest update brings support for iOS 11, including the ability to edit photos stored in the new Files app, support for Drag and Drop, an improved iMessage app, new album management options, and the ability to revert filtered photos to their original version from the Camera Roll.

infltr costs $1.99 and can be downloaded for iPad and iPhone (with Apple Watch support) from the App Store [Direct Link], although Apple is still offering users of its official Apple Store app special redeem codes to download infltr for free until October 1 [Direct Link]. The infltr offer can be found in the Discover section on the main store screen.

Related Roundups: iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X
Tag: infltr
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Buy Now), iPhone (Buy Now)
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How To Recover Deleted Files From Your Hard Drive?

One of the most common problems many people have is that they accidentally delete some files or folders from their hard drive. You may have lost that amazing song, an essay, a project that you have been working on for many months, anything. The only thing that matters is that it was important for you. Either if you deleted them by mistake or if you thought that you wouldn’t need them anymore and now you do, what can you do?

The first thing you need to do is to calm down. There are multiple things that you can do to make sure that you recover deleted files and folders.

So, just start by checking your Recycle Bin or your Trash on your computer or Mac. Open the folder and see if you didn’t delete all the files “forever”. This may be the only thing you need to do.

In case you were proactive because you don’t like to have your hard drive space occupied by files and folders that you don’t want to use anymore, don’t worry. You still have a chance to recover them by using a free data recovery software

With a quick search on Google, you’ll find many different free data recovery software programs available. However, while with some you’ll need to pay a fee to access to your deleted files, others won’t be able to recover deleted files or, at least, the ones that you wanted. And this is why we are writing this post.

We have discovered that one of the best free data recovery software on the market is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. It’s not only completely free – don’t even think about hidden fees because there aren’t any -, as it is the best one that we have tried so far. It is able to recover deleted files that you thought you had lost forever. Plus, it’s incredibly simple to use and very versatile.

All you need to do is to install it on your computer and open it. As soon as it opens, you just need to select the hard drive where you had the files. In case you had them on an SD card, for example, just click on the respective drive. And click “Scan”. The EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free will immediately do a quick scan to see if it is able to find the files you are looking for. As the name says, it will be pretty quick. While most of the times, the software is able to recover deleted files, other times you need to take some time to do a “Deep Scan”. However, you can be sure it is completely worth it.

One of the best things about this recovery software is the fact that it can find any kind of file that you are looking for from a document to audio, video, photos, any kind of archive including ISO, RAR; .html, .exe, among so many others. And the best part is that it does it for free.

So, if you need to recover deleted files, make sure to download the best free data recovery software – EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free.