T-Mobile to Cap ‘Mobile Without Borders’ Feature at 5GB of LTE Data Per Month Starting November 12

T-Mobile this week quietly announced plans to tweak the way its “Mobile Without Borders” feature works, adding a 5GB data cap.

Introduced in 2015 as an Un-carrier initiative, Mobile Without Borders is a T-Mobile feature that’s designed to extend LTE coverage and calling to Mexico and Canada at no additional charge. It was designed to use a customer’s normal voice, message, and LTE data allotments while roaming in Mexico or Canada.

With an unlimited data plan, customers using Mobile Without Borders had access to “unlimited” 4G LTE data up to the standard cap of 50GB while in Canada or Mexico.

Starting on November 12, T-Mobile is limiting LTE data usage for Mobile Without Borders to a maximum of 5GB. After 5GB of data has been used in Mexico or Canada, or a high-speed data allotment has been reached, data speeds will be downgraded to Simple Global speeds (128kb/s for most T-Mobile plans, or 256kb/s for T-Mobile ONE Plus).

T-Mobile says that less than 1 percent of people who travel to Canada or Mexico use over 5GB in a month, and that the change is being implemented to “prevent usage beyond the intent of the product.”

Customers who need more than 5GB of LTE data in Mexico or Canada can sign up for the T-Mobile ONE Plus International plan, which is an additional $25 per month on top of the cost of a T-Mobile ONE plan.

Tag: T-Mobile
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Apple Extends Internal iOS 11.1 Apple Pay Cash Testing to Retail Employees

Starting in early October, Apple corporate employees in the United States began testing Apple Pay Cash internally in the iOS 11.1 beta, suggesting the person-to-person Apple Pay feature could be introduced in iOS 11.1 despite its current absence from the iOS 11.1 developer beta.

Apple has now expanded its internal Apple Pay Cash feature to its retail employees, making it available to a much wider range of people for testing purposes.

Retail employees gained access to the feature today and have been asked to install both the iOS 11.1 beta and an additional internal-only beta profile to unlock the Apple Pay Cash feature. According to the retail employee who spoke to MacRumors, Apple is also requiring iCloud accounts to be whitelisted to use Apple Pay Cash.

The Apple Pay Cash setup process can be seen in the screenshot below — it asks customers to verify their identity with name, address, and social security number.

Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and is designed to allow for quick person-to-person money transfers, much like Square Cash or Venmo. It’s available as a dedicated iMessage app in the built-in Messages app, with cash transferred through iMessage transactions. Though most Apple Pay Cash coverage has focused on the iPhone, money can also be sent using an Apple Watch.

When sending cash, it can be sent from a linked debit or credit card, while received cash is stored in an Apple Pay Cash card in Wallet that can be used for purchases or sent to a bank account. Sending cash through a credit card incurs a 3% fee, while sending cash from a debit card is free.

The Apple Pay Cash card available in Wallet is being made available through a partnership with Green Dot, a company that offers prepaid Discover cards.

For Apple Pay Cash to work, both parties need to have the feature enabled and activated. Money can only be sent in a one-on-one message, with Apple Pay Cash not available in group messages.

On the Apple Watch, the interface requires you to scroll past the Scribble icon in the Messages app to access the Apple Pay button. Tapping on it allows users to enter a dollar amount using the Digital Crown or on-screen buttons. Payment is then confirmed via a double click on the Digital Crown, but scrolling down allows for users to choose a different payment source than the default.

Apple first announced person-to-person Apple Pay as an iOS 11 feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, but it was not implemented in any of the iOS 11 betas and towards the end of the beta testing period, Apple confirmed it would be coming in a future iOS 11 update.

Apple Pay Cash is not present in the current iOS 11.1 beta available to developers and public beta testers, but given the expanded internal beta test, it appears Apple is nearly finished with the feature and is gearing up to release it as part of the iOS 11.1 update.

Related Roundups: Apple Pay, iOS 11
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Samsung Galaxy S8 Active Review

We’re celebrating ten years of AndroidGuys with a ton of giveaways!

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is the best rugged phone you’ll find on the market. Sure, there aren’t that many of them available; however, the Active line time and again rises to the top. The 2017 iteration is not only among the best in rugged and durable phones, but it’s also one of the most compelling packages offered right now.

In the early days of rugged phones we had to contend with less than desirable performance. We traded away sleek and sexy in favor of rough and tumble. If you were a general contractor or plumber in the market for a new phone to take on job sites, you had to choose from ugly and uninspired stuff. Even worse, the phones were a generation or two behind the rest of the pack.

Somewhere over the last few generations, though, Samsung figured out a way to deliver timely hardware in a body that was more sleek. Its Galaxy S Active series of devices, which has been exclusive to AT&T, is a great way to keep up with the Joneses, and have something designed to take moderate abuse.

The Galaxy S7 Active (2016) was a tremendous step forward for the line, and even bested the S7 standard bearer with a bigger battery. As for this year’s model, the S8 Active is another stellar device that delivers best-in-class specifications at its core. Indeed, it’s all Galaxy S8 under the hood.

What we really enjoy about the S8 Active is that it’s all of the good stuff in the Galaxy S8. The Super AMOLED display, excellent camera, Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage are what you expect in top phone in 2017. Also present are USB-C, water and dust resistance, and headphone jack.

When it comes to performance, it’s damn near impossible to get more than what comes in the aforementioned specifications. Yes, you can stack them up on benchmarks and create a pecking order. Moreover, you can also get more memory in other models.

Does that stuff matter to you? We suspect that most people can’t discern the differences in hardware on daily tasks. There’s very little you can throw at a phone like this that will tax it.

We saw no stutters, lags, or performance issues in the Galaxy S8 Active. Everything, from just checking email and messages, to games and always-synchronizing services like Slack and Todoist, went swimmingly.

Be careful in reading too much into these words. Don’t look at the S8 Active as an improvement or enhanced version of the flagship phone. It is, to a degree, a souped-up model in areas. But, what it loses, is everything that makes the Galaxy S8 so sexy. The beautiful body, sleek lines, and all of those premium materials are absent here.

The S8 Active’s screen is flat whereas the Galaxy S8 is curved; its resolution is 2,560 x 1,440 while the flagship offers up 2,960 x 1,440 pixels. The devil is in the details, and that matters to some.

Also, the display is protected by a special film or plastic that is prone to pick up scratches. This is one of the trades you’ll still make when dealing with a rugged phone. The glass is shatter-resistant, and will stand up to drops… but.

The top layer absorbs the scuffs and scratches of life and will show up over time. To us, though, we’ll take that any day. Nothing beats the peace of mind in knowing with almost 100 percent certainty that a dropped phone is going to look okay when we flip it over. Samsung says the S8 Active can withstand a 5-foot drop.

The Galaxy S8 Active is also heavier than its flagship counterpart. In fact, it’s even heavier than the Galaxy Note 8. There’s serious heft to it.

Part of the weight comes in a 4,000mAh battery. Yes, a full 1,000mAh more than the Galaxy S8 and 500mAh more than the Galaxy S8+. This means you’ll end up with plenty of juice left over at the end of the day.

Realistically you could expect to get two days of average use out of the S8 Active. Mileage varies, to be sure, but we’ve come to appreciate this much life and we think you would, too.

In the area of cameras, the S8 Active’s setup is identical to the one in both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8. Specifically, it’s a single 12-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. As we, and others, found with this to consistently deliver bright, sharp photos with a great level of detail.

Flickr Gallery of Camera Samples

The software is a real winner, too, thanks to a variety of shooting modes such as Selective Focus (DSRL-like bokeh) and Pro (manual settings for shutter speed, focus, and ISO).

Around front, the S8 Active’s selfie-camera is equally solid. The Wide Selfie is a neat trick which lets one snap panoramic-like shots. Samsung’s augmented reality (AR) stickers are similar to what you get in Snapchat and Instagram and make for a fun experience.

One of the other downsides to the Galaxy S Active line, thus far, is that it is exclusive to AT&T. This means you’ll end up with the carrier’s preloaded apps and services. To that end you can look forward to nearly one dozen titles.

You can uninstall or disable most of them, but you’ll have to find a way to hide the others. That is, of course, if you don’t want to see them. If you’re an AT&T fan through and through, you might find value in them. As of the time of this review we understand that T-Mobile may soon offer its own take on the Galaxy S8 Active.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is pricey. With a sticker of $850 it falls on the high end of what smarphone makers command. It’s $100 more than the flagship model and the same cost of the Galaxy S8+ when purchased through AT&T. Go unlocked, though, and the S8 Active could be much more costly by comparison.

We definitely won’t list this phone among the most beautiful or sophisticated designs. It’s downright ugly, boring, and blocky when compared to others. On the other hand, it is better looking than its predecessors. We’re surely not the only ones to appreciate that Samsung left the camouflage off this year’s model.

Don’t purchase the S8 Active strictly on the merit of a larger battery. Do consider it, however, if your needs call for a phone that withstands abuse. Have young children in the house? If they expect to get to play with your device, you’ll want the peace of mind that comes with a shatter-resistant display.

If you’ve grown accustomed to having a rugged phone over the last few years, the S8 Active is a wonderful step up from your older model. A lot of people hold on to their handsets for 18-24 months; this phone is much improved over what was available at that time.

Shell preps for the future with acquisition of EV charging network

Royal Dutch Shell (or just Shell, if you’re into the whole brevity thing) has already committed a billion dollars toward alternative fuels, and now it’s showing us where some of that money is going. The gas station corporation has agreed to buy NewMotion, a Netherlands-based company that owns some 30,000 electric-vehicle charging points across Western Europe according to Reuters.

Shell says that these will complement the company’s existing roll-out of charging stations. “One is fast charging on the go on the forecourt and the other is a slightly lower rate of charge at the workplace or at home,” vice president of new fuels Matthew Tipper said. “At this stage there are no plans to integrate the two.”

Meaning, don’t expect the NewMotion locations to be where you can top off a charge on your way home. While these won’t be Shell’s first foray into building an EV-ready infrastructure, it hows that the company is planning for a future where petroleum-based fuels won’t be as prevalent. For you and me, that should translate to range anxiety (potentially) becoming a thing of the past.

Source: Reuters

Asus VivoBook Pro N580 review

Research Center:
Asus VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD

Although the Windows PC market is full of new kinds of machines like tablets, convertible 2-in-1s, and ultrathin machines, there are still plenty of full-size, traditional notebooks to choose from. They come in at all price points, from $500 budget laptops, to high-end performance machines costing over $2,000. In our Asus VivoBook Pro N580 review, we took a look at a reasonably priced machine that offers high-end components.

Our review unit was equipped with a seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ quad-core CPU, 16GB of DDR-2400MHz RAM, a 512GB SATA solid-state drive (SSD), and the popular Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, which promises decent 1080p gaming. Asus has priced that configuration at $1,300, which is a solid price for a 15.6-inch machine with a touch display.

Has Asus managed to provide a high-performance machine, at a reasonable price, without any compromises?

Retro, for better or worse

The VivoBook Pro N580 is something of a throwback. It’s a full-size notebook with a large 15.6-inch display, and its large bezels dictate a larger chassis than you’ll find on many contemporary machines over $1,000. In fact, it feels downright chunky compared to other modern notebooks with more minimal bezels. Compared to the Dell XPS 15, for example, the VivoBook Pro N580 is almost an inch wider, half an inch deeper, and thicker, at 0.81 inches versus 0.66 inches.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

While it’s larger in overall dimensions, it’s not terribly heavy at 4.8 pounds. That’s due primarily to its materials, which are a combination of an aluminum lid, keyboard deck, and plastic bottom. Its rather small 47 watt-hour battery likely shaves off some weight as well, but the XPS 15 comes in at 4.5 pounds, when configured with a 97 watt-hour battery – over twice the size.

The VivoBook Pro N580 is something of a throwback, with its huge bezels and chunky chassis.

Those materials combine with a solid build to make a machine that feels robust, and doesn’t suffer from any significant creaking or flexing. The one exception is the keyboard deck, which gives with a bit of slight pressure during heavy typing sessions. The hinge holds the display firmly in place, but it’s a bit too tight and requires two hands to open.

The VivoBook Pro N580 looks modern thanks to its attractive “Icicle Gold” color scheme and brushed hairline finish. Diamond cut edges around the touchpad add a little flair, and the tapering keyboard gives the illusion of a thinner chassis. One of the benefits of the materials is that the machine isn’t a fingerprint magnet.

The larger chassis have one big advantage. Thermal management. Asus engineered in two fans that vent hot air out the back, and they manage to keep the chassis cool during heavy use. Noise is a factor, however, when the fans are working their hardest.

The right amount of connectivity for such a large chassis

Another advantage of the VivoBook Pro N580’s bulk is that there’s plenty of room for connectivity options, and Asus took good advantage of it. On the left hand side there’s a proprietary power connector, a gigabit Ethernet port, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a full-size HDMI port, and a USB 3.1 Type-C port. On the right side, there’s a Kensington lock slot, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a 3.5mm headset port, and an SD card reader.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Wireless connectivity is provided by 802.11ac Wi-Fi with 2×2 MU-MIMO support and Bluetooth 4.2. Regardless of what you need to connect, the VivoBook Pro N580 has you covered.

Input options are solid, but don’t stand out

The VivoBook Pro N580’s keyboard is now recessed into the keyboard deck, a change from the previous model, and it provides plenty of spacing between individual keys. In fact, it may provide too much space. While there’s plenty of room in the expansive deck, the 10-key numeric keypad is squished on the right-hand side. All the important keys, such as Shift and Enter, are the right sizes, and the Ctrl and Alt keys are in the right places, but the arrow keys are small, and mixed in with the lower row of the keypad.

The Asus VivoBook Pro N580 was a strong 1080p performer in our benchmark games.

The keyboard’s feel is…okay. Key travel is surprisingly shallow, with keystrokes bottoming out before you’d expect, but the action is nevertheless crisp with nice feedback.

Touch typists will get up to speed quickly enough, but it’s still not the most comfortable typing experience we’ve experienced — particularly given all the space that Asus had to work with. While the keyboard is backlit with three brightness levels, it never gets bright enough to overcome ambient lighting, and so is only useful in truly dark environments.

We also think the touchpad is on the small side, given the size of the keyboard deck. Even so, the surface is pleasantly smooth, with just a hint of helpful friction. It’s Microsoft Precision Touchpad, so all the usual Windows 10 gestures work as expected. The buttons have just the right amount of clickiness, and are nicely differentiated.

Finally, the 15.6-inch display supports 10-point multitouch. It’s responsive, and provides another convenient mechanism for scrolling and hitting on-screen buttons.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint scanner that’s unfortunately located in the upper right portion of the touchpad. That takes away usable space, but it didn’t get in the way of precisely controlling the mouse. Fingerprint login is fast and reliable.

A colorful display that’s just not bright enough

The VivoBook Pro N580 is fitted with a 15.6-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080, or 141 pixels per inch) display that’s likely sharp enough for most people, but could be better. A close look will reveal jagged edges along fine details, such as small fonts. We don’t have a major problem with it, however, and think many of our readers won’t see the problem.

Testing with our colorimeter found both strengths and weaknesses in the VivoBook Pro N580’s display. First up are the positives. Color gamut was wider than many competitive systems, at 76 percent of AdobeRGB and 98 percent of sRGB. Only the Dell XPS 15’s excellent display was better. Color accuracy was also good at 1.65 – lower is better in this test, and anything below one indicates near-perfect color.  Finally, gamma was just slightly dark at a reading of 2.3 (2.2 is ideal), so the perceived brightness of content is close to what was intended.

On the other hand, contrast was a bit low, hitting a ratio of 620:1 at full brightness, and the display was dim at 240 nits. That’s helped by the anti-glare coating, but it still means the display is going to be harder to see than it should be in bright environments.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Even with that issue, we were happy with the display in day-to-day use. 1080p video was a pleasure to watch, and the strong color support meant that viewing images was better than usual for this class of machine. However, we could see that contrast was a bit lower than we like. Dark scenes in movies often looked too grey, and bright scenes didn’t look vibrant due to the panel’s low maximum brightness. Overall, though, display is a real plus.

Loud and excellent audio enhances move and TV binging

Asus touts its usual Harman Kardon partnership, with some special attention paid to the dual speakers on the front underside of the chassis. We found that in this instance, Asus’s efforts paid off. Audio was loud thanks to the “Smart Amp,” and we could crank the speakers to 100 percent volume without distortion. Bass was more pronounced than usual, and that carried over from movie trailers to music. There’s even some stereo separation, if you listen closely.

The usual strong performance from the Core i7-7700HQ

The VivoBook Pro N580 is built around a seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ, a quad-core CPU that’s become ubiquitous in machines meant for more than just basic tasks. This processor choice promises strong multitasking performance for tasks like video editing, and certain gaming titles that can make use of the extra cores.

Not surprisingly, our processor benchmarks bear out the machine’s pedigree. The VivoBook Pro N580 performed right in line with other machines equipped with the same processor, including the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo Yoga 720 15 2-in-1. In Geekbench 4, the Asus scored 4,228 in the single-core test, and 12,703 in the multi-core test, scores that fall just where they should when compared with our comparison group.

The good thermal management we mentioned earlier came into play in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420GB video to H.265 format. This test pushes the CPU, and machines that get too hot tend to throttle back performance. The VivoBook Pro N580 finished the task in 485 seconds, which is a solid score for this class of processor, and proves this laptop can handle serious work.

Storage performance disappoints

While Asus picked solid components in its CPU, DDR4-2400MHz RAM, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU, the company scaled back a bit in its choice of storage device. The VivoBook Pro N580 uses a SATA SSD, which is slower than the PCIe SSDs you’ll find in many competitive systems.

Our storage benchmark test turned out exactly as we expected. The Asus scored 452 megabytes per second (MB/s) in the CrystalDiskMark read test, and 456 MB/s in the write test. That’s significantly slower than the speedy PCIe SSDs in the Dell XPS 15 (1,594 MB/s read, 1,105 MB/s write) and Lenovo Yoga 720 15 (1,878 MB/s read,1,206 MB/s write).

If you’re going to be using the VivoBook Pro N580 for gaming and typical productivity tasks, then these slower storage speeds won’t matter. However, if you’re using the machine with extremely large files, and for high-end creative work like video editing, then you might regret the use of SATA SSDs. While the machine boots quickly and generally didn’t feel slow to us, a machine with such high-end components would have benefitted from faster storage.

Yes, it can game

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 is becoming a very popular GPU for powerful laptops aimed at users who want to play the occasional modern titles at 1080p, but don’t mind turning down the details.

We weren’t surprised, then, to see solid performance in the 3DMark suite of gaming benchmarks. In the Fire Strike benchmark, for example, the VivoBook Pro N580 scored 5,461, which is just what you would expect from a GTX 1050. It’s competitive with both the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo Yoga 720, but falls short of the GTX 1050 Ti in the Origin EON-15 S gaming notebook.

We also ran the VivoBook Pro N580 through a few popular titles at two detail levels to see how well the machine held up in actual gaming. The machine did well, scoring strongly compared to its GTX 1050 competition, in some cases even matching the Origin EON-15 S.

Not only is the VivoBook Pro N580 a large notebook, it suffers from terrible battery life.

In Civilization VI at 1080p and medium detail, the Asus managed 51 frames per second (FPS). That actually beat out the Origin, and the rest of the comparison field. That dropped to 35 FPS at ultra detail, and the Origin pulled ahead.

In Battlefield 1 at 1080p and medium detail, the VivoBook Pro N580 hit 63 FPS, which beat out the Yoga 720 15 but couldn’t best the Origin gaming machine. At ultra detail, the Asus dropped to 48 FPS, which a bit better than the Origin managed, and a much better score than the Yoga 720 15.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided posed more of a challenge for the VivoBook Pro N580. At 1080p and high detail, the machine could only score 32 FPS, although the Origin barely did better and the XPS 15 and Yoga 720 15 failed to cross the 30 FPS barrier. None of the comparison machines were able to perform acceptably at the ultra detail setting.

Finally, the Asus once again beat out the Yoga 720 15 at 1080p and medium detail in For Honor, scoring 59 FPS. That’s short of the Origin EON15-S. Both the Asus and the Lenovo dropped to 39 FPS at the extreme detail setting, while the Origin managed to maintain smoother framerates.

Asus VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD Compared To

HP ZBook 14u G4

Acer Swift 3 SF314-52-557Y

Microsoft Surface Laptop

Dell XPS 13 (Kaby Lake)

Asus ZenBook UX305

Asus Zenbook NX500JK-XH72T

Toshiba Kirabook (2014)

Asus Zenbook UX301LA

HP Envy x2

Dell XPS 12

Sony Vaio S Premium 13.3-inch

Asus U36Jc

Lenovo IdeaPad U110

Sharp M4000

Toshiba Dynabook SX

Overall, the Asus VivoBook Pro N580 was a strong performer in our benchmark titles, making it a great choice for anyone who wants to game at 1080p and medium detail settings.

Tiny battery sinks portability

The Asus VivoBook Pro N580 doesn’t even try to be thin, light, or tiny. It’s not a small machine in any dimension. Yet despite that, it’s equipped with a surprisingly small 47 watt-hour battery. None of that bodes well for portability.

If our suite of benchmarks gave any surprises regarding battery life, it’s that things were worse than we expected. Asus skimped out on the battery capacity, and it shows.

Basemark is our most aggressive battery test. A series of web pages with intensive CPU and CPU operations is run over and over until the battery dies. In the case of the VivoBook Pro N580, that occurred after a scant one hour and 58 minutes. That’s much less than any similar machine. Only gaming laptops with more powerful GPUs, like the GTX 1060, perform worse.

On our test that repeats a series of popular web sites until the battery runs out, the Asus lasted for just over three and a half hours. Again, that’s a score that’s bested by just about every other machine except for gaming notebooks. Consider the Dell XPS 15, for example, which is similarly equipped to the VivoBook Pro N580, but lasted for a full three hours longer. The Yoga 720 15 lasted twice as long.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Even our simple video looping test, which plays an “Avengers” Trailer from the local SSD, was too much for the VivoBook Pro N580. It lasted for only five and a half hours. Many competitive systems approach 10 hours of life, and the XPS 15 lasted for a full two hours longer.

The bottom line is simple. The Asus VivoBook Pro N580 isn’t a portable machine. It’s large, and it suffers poor battery life. You’ll want to carry the charger around with you, and it’s a rather large and heavy brick. This laptop is only suited for occasional travel.

Software

Asus loaded up the VivoBook Pro N580 with its usual software utilities, such as the IcePower AudioWizard app, the Tru2Life video optimization utility, and the Splendid Technology app, which allows the display to be adjusted for personal preference. There’s also some bloatware to wade through, including the McAfee virus suite that’s so often included.

Warranty information

The VivoBook Pro N580 is covered by the usual one-year parts and service warranty, along with Asus’s unusual one year of accidental damage protection. That’s adds some real value, and we always like to see a warranty go beyond the basics.

Our Take

The Asus VivoBook Pro N580 offers powerful components including a fast CPU, a solid GPU, and quick RAM, but it does skimp on the SSD. The machine can power through just about any productivity task that you’ll want to throw at it. However, it’s larger than it needs to be, and its battery life is dismal.

That makes the VivoBook Pro N580 a real throwback in today’s world of thin, portable laptops.

Is there a better alternative?

As mentioned earlier in this review, there are a slew of 15-inch notebooks on the market ranging in price from $500 to over $2,000. There are fewer, however, that offer the potent combination of Core i7-7700HQ CPU and GTX 1050 GPU.

One alternative is the Dell XPS 15, an incredibly well-built machine that uses thin bezels to fix a full 15.6-inch display into a smaller and lighter chassis. We reviewed it with the Core i7-7700HQ CPU and GTX 1050 GPU, and found that configuration’s performance is a match for the Asus VivoBook Pro N580.

When configured with a non-touch Full HD display, 16GB of DDR4-2400MHz RAM, and a faster 512GB PCId SSD, the XPS 15 is priced at $1,725, or $425 more than the Asus. However, it also comes with a much larger battery that greatly extends is time away from A/C power, and in our book, you’re better off saving up the extra money rather than compromising quite so much. Dell also frequently runs sells that can cut into that price gap, or you can drop down to a slightly less powerful configuration to save some scratch.

Another option is the Lenovo Yoga 720 15, a far more portable PC that offers the flexibility of the convertible 2-in-1 format. It’s equipped with equally powerful CPU and GPU, and performs similarly to the VivoBook Pro N580. With a 15.6-inch Full HD display, 16GB of DDR4-2400MHz RAM, and a faster 512GB PCIe SSD, it’s currently on sale for $1,300.

How long will it last?

The Asus VivoBook Pro N580 offers a current CPU, and GPU, and wide range of connectivity options. It’s built well enough that it should last more than a couple of years of solid productivity use.

Should you buy it?

No. While the Asus VivoBook Pro N580 brings great performance, it’s way too chunky to compete in today’s far more svelte market, and its battery life is too poor to recommend. Grab a Lenovo Yoga 720 15 instead, as it costs the same when you can grab it at a discount, and is much more versatile.

Bitcoin’s latest boom sends it scorching past $5,000, and likely beyond

Why it matters to you

Bitcoin is on another one of its tears and though we don’t know when it will stop, it’s breaking new cryptocurrency value records as it goes.

Don’t blink. You might open your eyes to find Bitcoin is worth more than $6,000, if its current trajectory is anything to go by. As the cryptocurrency continues to repeat its regular boom and bust cycle, while trending upward overall, it has surpassed $5,000 and shows little sign of stopping.

Depending on who you ask, Bitcoin’s status as the most prominent cryptocurrency in the world was never in doubt. It has faced some challenges in 2017, most notably the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and a recent shuttering of Bitcoin trading in China. But that appears to have done little to stymie Bitcoin’s growth.

At the start of 2017, a single Bitcoin would have cost you just over $1,000 — quite high, actually, considering it had been less than half that a year before. But that peak proved to be just the start of the currency’s latest boom, with explosive interest sending it to new heights within months and now it sits at a new all-time high of $5,707 at the time of writing.

Perhaps more notably, that’s sending its overall market value into the very-high 11-figures. If it keeps going, we could see the first cryptocurrency market value break the $100 billion barrier.

If there have been so many problems with the currency this year though, why the latest bubble? Ars believes it could be Bitcoin’s use as a foundation for the initial coin offerings (ICO) of new cryptocurrencies. While buying a new currency with real-world money isn’t easy, Bitcoin’s intrinsic ease of transfer means it’s a great interim medium for transactions with new coins. Buying Bitcoin in order to buy newer coins drives up its value.

With a myriad of different cryptocurrencies now in use around the world — including one designed exclusively for dentistry — there’s plenty of investment in Bitcoin to be had as a secondary aspect of their ICOs. Anyone who has looked at Bitcoin’s history though, will expect a bursting of this current bubble. Traditionally Bitcoin value rises amid new interest, reaching new heights only to crash down again shortly after as confidence waivers, before gradually making its way back up again.

Although it’s never a guarantee and we would certainly caution any readers before investing heavily into something as volatile as Bitcoin, its rises and falls in value have become more predictable as time goes on.

Genius Kitchen provides inspiration and education for your cooking needs

Why it matters to you

Looking for inspiration, recipes, and original content for your cooking? Genius Kitchen can help.

There is no reason for you to ever be lonely in your kitchen again thanks to new programming on Genius Kitchen, the food-focused “multiplatform digital-media brand” that is comprised of original shows, recipe and cooking demonstrations, and everything else you might need to whet your appetite. Part of the Scripps Lifestyle Studios, Genius Kitchen has just unveiled more than 150 hours of content that can be viewed on Geniuskitchen.com, mobile apps, or connected devices.

As suggested by the multifaceted approach, Genius Kitchen is hoping to endear itself to millennial viewers by providing content just about everywhere they might be. And with content that is easily accessible to both the beginner cook and the gourmand, this might just be the way to get folks to stay in and cook instead of heading to a restaurant or ordering takeout.

“With Genius Kitchen, we set out to develop content that was inherently social and work with talent that could truly connect with young audiences,” Rich Lacy, senior vice president of Digital Brand Creative at Scripps Networks,  said in a statement. “This unique, seamless experience explores not only great food, but also the people and fun surrounding it.”

So what can you expect to see on Genius Kitchen? You might check out Australian chef Dan Churchill as he hosts a dinner party for his friends, or watch British culinary expert Nigella Lawson demonstrate easy to follow recipes. In addition to original shows, you can also check out legacy programs like those featuring Anthony Bourdain. Plus, viewers will have access to more than 500,000 recipes from Food.com, any one of which can be delivered straight to a mobile device.

So while you’re watching a Galaxy Cake being made on Pop Culture Baking Class or salivating over shrimp pad thai from Genius Kitchen Recipes, you can get all the instructions you need to stop spectating and start doing. Recipes also tend to feature pop culture references, like emoji macarons, unicorn cake truffles, and spider web deviled eggs (just in time for Halloween).

You can check out the entire suite of offerings at Genius Kitchen’s website, and get some help injecting some fun back into your cooking routine.

Google helped create this energy-harvesting walkway that turns steps into light

Why it matters to you

This light show may look cool, but it also highlights one of the many ways future smart cities could harvest energy.

Google is taking its reputation for coming up with tech-savvy bright ideas to the next level via a new collaboration with U.K.-based energy and data-harvesting pioneer Pavegen. As part of Berlin’s 2017 Festival of Lights, a 10-day event which takes place in October, the two companies created an interactive energy-harvesting walkway (the largest of its kind) and light show. The 26-square-meter installation involves a smart floor and 176 colored light panels. As visitors walk on the floor, their footsteps trigger a synchronized lighting display. The more energy that’s generated, the more responsive the wall becomes.

“The generator technology is electromagnetic, like a bicycle dynamo, and converts the kinetic energy from your footstep into off-grid electricity,” Archie Wilkinson, project lead and head of Pavegen Live, told Digital Trends. “As you step on the Pavegen floor, the top surface flexes by 5-10mm, creating a rotation in the electromagnetic generators below. Each step produces around 3 joules of energy, which is about 5 watts for the duration of each step. The walkway has already generated over 100,000 joules of energy since launch on Wednesday, October 10.”

In addition, the walkway contains Low Power Bluetooth beacons which can communicate with a special app to record the experience. Individual unique moments are captured by a photo pod at the end of the array, and then shared with users as a GIF.

It’s a fun, attention-grabbing project, but it also serves as a glimpse at how future smart cities may be able to harness sustainable energy from new sources — even something as innocuous as people walking on the sidewalk. That’s exactly what’s happening at Du Pont Circle in Washington D.C., where three Pavegen walkways are currently converting the footsteps of the roughly 10,000 people who walk in the area daily into storable electricity, which is then used to light the space at night.

“We’re also producing data on the energy output, helping the city to understand footfall in this busy commuter zone,” Wilkinson continued. “Technology alone won’t make cities smarter, it’s about changing behaviors. We have recently created a digital platform that rewards interactions with Pavegen surfaces via Bluetooth beacons, making your commute transactional. We can literally reward people for their footsteps with gifts, discounts, and opportunities, for example, provided by brands or causes that align to a smarter, more sustainable future.”

Receiving prizes for walking, instead of driving, to work? Yep, we’re on board with that!

Weekly Rewind: Spying AI assistants, Oculus Go, a fresh Star Wars trailer

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top tech stories, from the Oculus Connect 4 keynote to a spying Google Home Mini  — it’s all here.

$199 Oculus Go delivers stand-alone VR with no phone or PC needed

During the recent  Oculus Connect 4 keynote, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company is currently working on a stand-alone VR headset called Oculus Go. Similar to the upcoming stand-alone “Daydream” headset initiative from Google and Qualcomm, you won’t need a smartphone to experience virtual reality. You also won’t need to tether the headset to a parent PC like Facebook’s premium VR headset, the Oculus Rift.

According to Zuckerberg, Oculus Go will ship in early 2018 for $199. He didn’t reveal anything else outside the brief tease, but Facebook head of VR Hugo Barro came out on stage to provide a few more details about the upcoming stand-alone VR product. Barro said it targets that sweet spot between high-end and mobile, so you can get a tether-free, device-free full-motion VR experience without breaking the bank.

Read: $199 Oculus Go delivers stand-alone VR with no phone or PC needed

Porsche’s subscription plan lets you check out a new car every day

Not long ago, getting behind the wheel of a new car was an arduous process. You had to go to a dealer, sift through the countless models and packages, negotiate pricing, and slog your way through a mountain of paperwork. In the past few years, though, automakers have modernized the process by placing their vehicles in easy-to-use and flexible subscription services. Porsche is the latest carmaker to jump on the bandwagon with the Porsche Passport program. In short, it’s sports cars on demand.

Porsche Passport allows drivers to enjoy up to 22 different Porsche products on a month-to-month basis. Accessed through a mobile app, the program offers frequent vehicle exchanges and unlimited mileage for a fixed fee; one that covers vehicle tax, registration, insurance, maintenance, and even detailing.

Read: Porsche’s subscription plan lets you check out a new car every day

Here are the names and achievements behind this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science

Rainer Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science have been announced and, despite science writer Ed Yong’s thoughtful dismissal of this “absurd anachronistic way of recognizing scientific achievement,” they’re still highly regarded as a pinnacle of achievement.

Awarded annually by the Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine have been given to some of science’s most accomplished individuals. Winning the award puts honorees in the company of giants like Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Niels Bohr.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the tremendous achievements of this year’s winners.

Read: Here are the names and achievements behind this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science

Sony Xperia XZ1 review

The Xperia XZ1 is similar to Sony’s earlier 2017 flagship, the Xperia XZ Premium. It has the same excellent camera that can shoot super slow motion videos at an impressive 960 frames per second. The XZ1 has almost everything you’d want in a smartphone, and in our review, we see if it’s worth your money among the intense competition.

Read: Sony Xperia XZ1 review

Broaden your traveling horizons with websites like Airbnb

For better or worse, Airbnb has redefined the travel industry. Millions of people use the site’s listings to land great deals on rooms throughout the world, but it’s not all roses for the online service. Along with complaints regarding the service’s lack of safety protocols and criticism centered around its use tax havens, the company has also been scrutinized for doing too little to deal with the countless complaints it has received about racism, from guests and hosts alike.

Airbnb is trying to win back users with some new features, but for some travelers, supporting the company has become somewhat of an be an ethical conundrum. Thankfully, there are plenty of websites similar to Airbnb, each of which provides something slightly different from the infamous hospitality service. Whether you’re looking to book a family-friendly staycation or a patch of land in rural Montana, check out the Airbnb alternatives below.

Read: Broaden your traveling horizons with websites like Airbnb

California calls on the world’s only 747 SuperTanker to take on wildfires

You know it’s serious when you see the world’s only 747 SuperTanker fly overhead.

Dubbed “the world’s biggest fire extinguisher,” this awesome aerial firefighting machine has been called in to help with ongoing efforts to deal with wildfires devastating parts of Northern California.

The modified Boeing 747 is capable of dropping nearly 20,000 gallons of fire retardant in one go, and earlier this week, it made six flights in the space of a single day from Sacramento to affected areas in Napa and Sonoma counties around 40 miles north of San Francisco. Each flight lasted between 31 and 47 minutes.

Read: California calls on the world’s only 747 SuperTanker to take on wildfires

Who will be the last Jedi? Everything we know about ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

We don’t think Luke would ever go over to the dark side; after all, he was strong enough to single-handedly rebuff Vader’s attempt to sway him at the end of Empire Strikes Back, and he didn’t even consider joining Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.

A new theater display from IMAX seems to hint at the unthinkable, however. The walk-through display features two alternate versions of the film’s poster — one with the “light side” protagonists, and one with the “dark side” antagonists.

Read: Who will be the last Jedi? Everything we know about ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

A Google Home Mini inadvertently recorded everything a reporter said in his home

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

We place an awful lot of trust in our smart home hubs and speakers, allowing them to live in our living rooms, our bedrooms, and even our bathrooms. But we may want to think twice about this blind acceptance. A rather bizarre incident took place involving one of the new Google Home Mini devices debuted at the tech giant’s October 4 event, and Android Police writer Artem Russakovskii. Per Russakovskii’s report, a rogue Mini “spied on everything [he] said,” and transmitted much of this information to Google, as well. Talk about an invasion of privacy.

Read: A Google Home Mini inadvertently recorded everything a reporter said in his home

The cryptocurrency from this wind-powered mining rig helps fund climate research

Given the fact that, for now, Earth’s the only home we’ve got, climate change is a subject well worth researching. But how do you fund this research? If you’re anything like artist-engineer Julian Oliver, the answer is simple: use wind energy to mine for cryptocurrency to pay for it, of course. It’s a nifty idea — not least because it means that the more pronounced the meteorological effects of climate change turn out to be, the more money gets pumped into researching the topic.

Read: The cryptocurrency from this wind-powered mining rig helps fund climate research

Weekly Rewind: Spying AI assistants, Oculus Go, a fresh Star Wars trailer

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top tech stories, from the Oculus Connect 4 keynote to a spying Google Home Mini  — it’s all here.

$199 Oculus Go delivers stand-alone VR with no phone or PC needed

During the recent  Oculus Connect 4 keynote, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company is currently working on a stand-alone VR headset called Oculus Go. Similar to the upcoming stand-alone “Daydream” headset initiative from Google and Qualcomm, you won’t need a smartphone to experience virtual reality. You also won’t need to tether the headset to a parent PC like Facebook’s premium VR headset, the Oculus Rift.

According to Zuckerberg, Oculus Go will ship in early 2018 for $199. He didn’t reveal anything else outside the brief tease, but Facebook head of VR Hugo Barro came out on stage to provide a few more details about the upcoming stand-alone VR product. Barro said it targets that sweet spot between high-end and mobile, so you can get a tether-free, device-free full-motion VR experience without breaking the bank.

Read: $199 Oculus Go delivers stand-alone VR with no phone or PC needed

Porsche’s subscription plan lets you check out a new car every day

Not long ago, getting behind the wheel of a new car was an arduous process. You had to go to a dealer, sift through the countless models and packages, negotiate pricing, and slog your way through a mountain of paperwork. In the past few years, though, automakers have modernized the process by placing their vehicles in easy-to-use and flexible subscription services. Porsche is the latest carmaker to jump on the bandwagon with the Porsche Passport program. In short, it’s sports cars on demand.

Porsche Passport allows drivers to enjoy up to 22 different Porsche products on a month-to-month basis. Accessed through a mobile app, the program offers frequent vehicle exchanges and unlimited mileage for a fixed fee; one that covers vehicle tax, registration, insurance, maintenance, and even detailing.

Read: Porsche’s subscription plan lets you check out a new car every day

Here are the names and achievements behind this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science

Rainer Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science have been announced and, despite science writer Ed Yong’s thoughtful dismissal of this “absurd anachronistic way of recognizing scientific achievement,” they’re still highly regarded as a pinnacle of achievement.

Awarded annually by the Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine have been given to some of science’s most accomplished individuals. Winning the award puts honorees in the company of giants like Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Niels Bohr.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the tremendous achievements of this year’s winners.

Read: Here are the names and achievements behind this year’s Nobel Prizes in Science

Sony Xperia XZ1 review

The Xperia XZ1 is similar to Sony’s earlier 2017 flagship, the Xperia XZ Premium. It has the same excellent camera that can shoot super slow motion videos at an impressive 960 frames per second. The XZ1 has almost everything you’d want in a smartphone, and in our review, we see if it’s worth your money among the intense competition.

Read: Sony Xperia XZ1 review

Broaden your traveling horizons with websites like Airbnb

For better or worse, Airbnb has redefined the travel industry. Millions of people use the site’s listings to land great deals on rooms throughout the world, but it’s not all roses for the online service. Along with complaints regarding the service’s lack of safety protocols and criticism centered around its use tax havens, the company has also been scrutinized for doing too little to deal with the countless complaints it has received about racism, from guests and hosts alike.

Airbnb is trying to win back users with some new features, but for some travelers, supporting the company has become somewhat of an be an ethical conundrum. Thankfully, there are plenty of websites similar to Airbnb, each of which provides something slightly different from the infamous hospitality service. Whether you’re looking to book a family-friendly staycation or a patch of land in rural Montana, check out the Airbnb alternatives below.

Read: Broaden your traveling horizons with websites like Airbnb

California calls on the world’s only 747 SuperTanker to take on wildfires

You know it’s serious when you see the world’s only 747 SuperTanker fly overhead.

Dubbed “the world’s biggest fire extinguisher,” this awesome aerial firefighting machine has been called in to help with ongoing efforts to deal with wildfires devastating parts of Northern California.

The modified Boeing 747 is capable of dropping nearly 20,000 gallons of fire retardant in one go, and earlier this week, it made six flights in the space of a single day from Sacramento to affected areas in Napa and Sonoma counties around 40 miles north of San Francisco. Each flight lasted between 31 and 47 minutes.

Read: California calls on the world’s only 747 SuperTanker to take on wildfires

Who will be the last Jedi? Everything we know about ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

We don’t think Luke would ever go over to the dark side; after all, he was strong enough to single-handedly rebuff Vader’s attempt to sway him at the end of Empire Strikes Back, and he didn’t even consider joining Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.

A new theater display from IMAX seems to hint at the unthinkable, however. The walk-through display features two alternate versions of the film’s poster — one with the “light side” protagonists, and one with the “dark side” antagonists.

Read: Who will be the last Jedi? Everything we know about ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

A Google Home Mini inadvertently recorded everything a reporter said in his home

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

We place an awful lot of trust in our smart home hubs and speakers, allowing them to live in our living rooms, our bedrooms, and even our bathrooms. But we may want to think twice about this blind acceptance. A rather bizarre incident took place involving one of the new Google Home Mini devices debuted at the tech giant’s October 4 event, and Android Police writer Artem Russakovskii. Per Russakovskii’s report, a rogue Mini “spied on everything [he] said,” and transmitted much of this information to Google, as well. Talk about an invasion of privacy.

Read: A Google Home Mini inadvertently recorded everything a reporter said in his home

The cryptocurrency from this wind-powered mining rig helps fund climate research

Given the fact that, for now, Earth’s the only home we’ve got, climate change is a subject well worth researching. But how do you fund this research? If you’re anything like artist-engineer Julian Oliver, the answer is simple: use wind energy to mine for cryptocurrency to pay for it, of course. It’s a nifty idea — not least because it means that the more pronounced the meteorological effects of climate change turn out to be, the more money gets pumped into researching the topic.

Read: The cryptocurrency from this wind-powered mining rig helps fund climate research