Spotify reportedly canceling original shows in video strategy refresh

While Spotify has become synonymous with music streaming online, it’s not so well-known for its video shows. Many people don’t even know they exist. That’s why the company is now rebooting its video efforts and canceling a whole slew of original video series off the platform, according to a Bloomberg report.

This is hot on the heels of the hiring of Courtney Holt, who is now Spotify’s head of video and podcasts. Bloomberg reports that the company is now thinking of creating a new show format that is unique to Spotify, though they would not elaborate on what it would look like. The format is code-named Spotlight, and it combines audio, images and video, according to Bloomberg.

One of the reasons Spotify is making such an effort into exploring video is to increase advertising sales, especially considering most of its customers use the free version of its streaming service. Plus, original video shows won’t incur the same kind of royalty and distribution costs that the music industry does.

Spotify has long had video and podcasts on its platform, including TED Talks and clips from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Last year, it announced plans to introduce 12 music-related series that include titles like Traffic Jams, where two hip-hop artists make a track while in traffic, and Landmark, a super short-form music documentary series. Unfortunately, it looks like these shows are the casualties of Spotify’s latest video strategy refresh.

Source: Bloomberg

Google’s physical authentication keys are effective but limited

Two-step authentication has been the standard for securing access to online accounts for most tech companies. Google rolled it out users in 2011 and has been steadily making improvements to the system to make it easier for us all to use it. Now, the rumored physical keys that are supposed to replace Google’s two-factor verification for highly vulnerable targets are apparently here. The New York Times tested the tech company’s Advanced Protection Program, which requires two physical keys to log in to a Google account. The site found that while the new program is effective, it does not yet support third-party apps that access Google information.

The keys themselves look like thumb drives, according to The New York Times, and cost about $20 each. If you’re using a computer to authenticate, you can plug the USB key into your machine; if you want to use a smartphone, you’ll need to get one that wirelessly connects to prove your identity for login. You’ll need one of each if you want to use both types of devices. Once authenticated, you won’t have to do it again, but you’ll only be able to use Google’s own apps (like Gmail, Backup and Sync, and the Chrome browser) until the company adds support for third-party apps like Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook. The third-parties will also have to update their apps to work with the keys, according to The New York Times.

The site found the security of the new physical key-based system to be solid, even for regular folks. If you lose the keys, however, getting access to your account will take longer than it does without them, up to a few days, said the NYT. Ultimately, if you need the higher-level security represented by physical keys, this seems like it could be a great way to get it. If you rely on third-party apps and systems, you might want to wait, though.

Source: The New York Times

Google Home can cast HBO Now to your TV of choice

The Google Home platform keeps getting more capable with each passing week. Now the smart speaker can cast HBO Now to the TV of your choice. According to the Google blog post, you don’t need to open the app and pick something to watch first, either. Simply say something like “Okay Google, watch The Deuce” and Assistant will start playing the ’70s New York period piece on the TV of your choosing.

If you aren’t an HBO subscriber, though, you could always use Home to catch up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Riverdale. The CW’s streaming app made its debut on the device back in August, but there wasn’t much reason to watch at the time.

Source: Google

Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $40 on BeatsX wireless earbuds

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.

Accell Powramid Air Surge Protector

Street Price: $35; Deal Price: $18

The Accell Powramid Air is a new addition to our surge protector guide. Usually $35, this surge protector is all the way down to $18. This is only the second time we’ve seen it discounted this heavily and it’s as low as it has gotten. The Accell Powramid Air is available at this price in the black and white colors, though to get the white color you must select Amazon as the seller and there’s potentially a wait of a few weeks. Shipping is free with Prime.

The Accell Powramid Air surge protector is a compact option we like in our guide to the best surge protector. Mark Smirnotis wrote, “For lighter duty situations, like under nightstands or side tables, the Accell Powramid Air is the way to go. It has two USB ports and six outlets in a comparatively small package. The USB ports put out a combined 2.4 amps, enough to charge one smartphone or tablet at high speed or two devices at low speed. The circular layout of the Powramid outlets makes them all usable with a variety of plug sizes. Despite the silly name, the Powramid packs real protection and tested almost as well as our larger pick against individual surges—though the protection might not hold up to as many surges as larger models.”

PetKit Eversweet Pet Water Fountain

Street Price: $70; Deal Price: $56

If you’re seeking a high-end water fountain for your pet, the PetKit Eversweet Pet Water Fountain is available a little cheaper today. Usually $70 or more, today you can get it for $56, bringing this model, which includes nice upgrades like auto turn-off, closer to the price of some of our other picks. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for it, so grab it while available.

The PetKit Eversweet pet fountain is our upgrade pick in our guide to the best water fountain for cats and dogs. Rebekah Valentine wrote, “If silence and ease of use are your top priority, and price is no object, it’s worth looking into the PetKit Eversweet. This drinking fountain automatically turns off the pump when the fountain runs dry (which would cause a motor burnout in all other models), has an LED indicator to tell you when it’s time to change the filter, and is the quietest fountain we tested. But it costs nearly twice as much as our top pick and has the lowest capacity of any fountain we tested, so it’s not worth it for everyone.”

Hamilton Beach Set & Forget Slow Cooker

Street Price: $50; Deal Price: $40 + $10 eGift Card

If you’re a regular Target shopper, this is a particularly good deal on our top slow cooker pick. The Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker is already nicely discounted at $40 in-cart, but add to that an additional $10 Target eGift card (will show up in-cart) to be used later and for Target shoppers you’re effectively getting this slow cooker for $30, a great price. You can save an additional 5% if you’re a REDcard holder. All of this results in an excellent deal on an item that has a typical street price near $50.

The Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker is the top pick in our guide to the best slow cooker. Christine Cyr Clisset, Camille Chatterjee, Lesley Stockton, and wrote, “Although the Hamilton Beach Set & Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker isn’t the most luxurious or sleekest-looking machine out there, it does everything it should at a very modest price. It has the largest digital display of the models we tested, making it the easiest to read from across the kitchen, and its interface was the simplest to use. It cooks at true slow-cooking temperatures, unlike others we tried that ran too hot. Its locking lid also makes it more portable. We like that the Set & Forget has an alarm that rings at the start and the end of the cooking cycle–a helpful feature many newer, fancier cookers, like the others we tested, omit. Finally, the Set & Forget was the only slow cooker we found that included a temperature probe.”

BeatsX Wireless Earbuds

Street Price: $150; Deal Price: $110

If you’d had your eye on some BeatsX wireless earbuds, this is a nice opportunity to get them at a discount. While we’ve seen them around $10 lower previously, we haven’t seen those prices since late July, so at present, this is the best price available on BeatsX in Gray, White, Black, or Blue. These earbuds tend to bounce right back up to near the full price of $150 once a sale is over, so grab them while they’re this low if you need wireless earbuds.

The BeatsX wireless headphones are our pick for Apple users in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. Lauren Dragan wrote, “If you need better call quality than sport headphones can provide, but don’t care for the bulky collar design of our other picks, the BeatsX is a great option—especially for iPhone users. The high price makes it a worse value compared with our other picks, but unlike our other picks’ stiff collars, the BeatsX’s flexible neckband can easily coil up into a pocketable package. In addition to being more portable, the BeatsX has a W1 Bluetooth chip (the same chip as in Apple’s AirPods), which makes pairing with Apple devices super-easy and also slightly improves switching between paired devices. The average battery life of eight hours should get you through most days, but these headphones don’t work while charging. However, Apple users will appreciate that they charge via Lightning cable—so you have one fewer cable type to bring while you’re traveling. The sound quality on the BeatsX is great, with the exception of a boosted and somewhat blurry bass frequency region. We usually like the fun of extra bass; it’s just that the BeatsX’s “thump” sounds a little more like a “thud.” It has some other downsides, too: The microphone quality, for starters, is about what you’d get from a corded set of earbuds, so your calls will sound okay, but this mic will pick up more background noise than our pick’s mic will.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to thewirecutter.com.

When You Can Pre-Order the iPhone X in Every Time Zone

When the iPhone X becomes available for pre-order this Friday, it will be available to purchase in 55 first-wave launch countries and territories around the world. Pre-orders kick off at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, aka Cupertino time, but because Apple is doing a simultaneous launch, pre-order times will vary by country.

Below we’ve created a list of all of the first wave launch countries and the time when pre-orders will go live in those countries to make it easy for MacRumors readers to set alarms and reminders to be ready to place an order right when pre-orders kick off.

• Andorra – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Australia West – 3:01 p.m. AWST
• Australia East – 6:01 p.m. AEDT
• Austria – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Bahrain – 10:01 a.m. AST
• Belgium – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Bulgaria – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Canada West – 12:01 a.m. PDT
• Canada East – 3:01 a.m. EDT
• China – 3:01 p.m. CST
• Croatia – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Cyprus – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Czech Republic – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Denmark – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Estonia – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Finland – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• France – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Germany – 9:01 a.m. CES
• Greece – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Greenland – 5:01 a.m. WGST
• Guernsey – 8:01 a.m. BST
• Hong Kong – 3:01 p.m. HKT
• Hungary – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Iceland – 7:01 a.m. GMT
• India – 12:31 p.m. IST
• Ireland – 8:01 a.m. IST
• Isle of Man – 8:01 a.m. BST
• Italy – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Japan – 4:01 p.m. JST
• Jersey – 8:01 a.m. BST
• Kuwait – 10:01 a.m. AST
• Latvia – 10:01 a.m. EEST

• Liechtenstein – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Lithuania – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Luxembourg – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Malta – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Mexico – 2:01 a.m. CDT
• Monaco – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Netherlands – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• New Zealand – 8:01 p.m. NZDT
• Norway – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Portugal – 8:01 a.m. WEST
• Poland – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Puerto Rico – 3:01 a.m. AST
• Qatar – 10:01 a.m. AST
• Romania – 10:01 a.m. EEST
• Russia – 10:01 a.m. MSK
• Saudi Arabia – 10:01 a.m. AST
• Singapore – 3:01 p.m. SGT
• Slovakia – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Slovenia – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Spain – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Sweden – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Switzerland – 9:01 a.m. CEST
• Taiwan – 3:01 p.m. CST
• UAE – 11:01 a.m GST
• United Kingdom – 8:01 a.m. BST
• United States West – 12:01 a.m. PDT
• United States Mountain – 1:01 a.m. MDT
• United States Central – 2:01 a.m. CDT
• United States East – 3:01 a.m. EDT
• US Virgin Islands – 3:01 a.m. AST

We haven’t listed every time zone for every country, such as in Canada, Russia, and the US, so make sure to double check your specific time zone so you’re certain you know the exact time that pre-orders will kick off. A time zone converting website is a useful tool for confirming the accurate pre-order time.

The iPhone X is expected to be severely constrained, and rumors have suggested Apple’s not going to be able to reach supply/demand balance on the device until the first months of 2018. For that reason, customers hoping to get an iPhone X on launch day will need to place an order right when pre-orders go live, as available supply could sell out within minutes.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Caution)
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Instagram Gains New Superzoom Feature and Halloween Filters

Instagram for iOS was today updated to add a new “Superzoom” camera feature that’s designed to let users record videos that have a dramatic zooming effect.

After opening the camera, Superzoom can be accessed next to the Boomerang option under the record button. Tapping Superzoom will cause the camera to automatically zoom in with suspenseful music.

You can make a Superzoom of anything — your selfie, your friend’s goofy face or even your half-eaten sandwich. As always, you can send your video to your friends on Instagram Direct or add it to your story.

In addition to Superzoom, Instagram is also gaining five new Halloween-related face filters and Halloween stickers, both of which will be available through November 1.

Filters can transform you into a vampire, zombie, ghost, and more, while there are a range of stickers that include pumpkins, candy corn, and other spooky things.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Instagram
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Third-Party Retailers and Carriers Offering iPhone X Pre-Orders Tonight

Most MacRumors readers are likely planning to order their iPhone X models directly from Apple because Apple typically offers the smoothest, most streamlined pre-order process, but multiple carriers and retailers will also be offering October 27 pre-orders.

With iPhone X supplies expected to be heavily constrained, it may be worth having a backup plan in case Apple sells out right away. Some customers may also prefer to try their luck with a third-party store with the hope of less order congestion, or may need to use a gift card. We’ve confirmed the retailers and carriers below will be offering pre-orders in the United States.

Carriers

T-Mobile has confirmed it will be accepting iPhone X pre-orders at 12:01 Pacific Time on October 27, and customers can elect to sign up for a reminder email on the T-Mobile site. Customers can also download the T-Mobile app to receive a push notification the second that T-Mobile’s iPhone X pre-orders go live.

T-Mobile is offering a deal for $300 off the iPhone X with an eligible trade-in, but one of T-Mobile’s installment purchase plans is required to get the deal. T-Mobile is allowing customers to buy the iPhone X outright or make a purchase using the JUMP! On Demand program or the Equipment Installment Plan.

For the Equipment Installment Plan, T-Mobile requires $279.99 down for the 64GB iPhone X, followed by 24 monthly payments of $30. For the 256GB model, T-Mobile requires $429.99 down, followed by 24 monthly payments of $30.

Under the JUMP! On Demand program, the 64GB iPhone X costs $41.56 per month while the 256GB iPhone X costs $24 per month and requires a $429.99 down payment. With JUMP! On Demand, customers can upgrade yearly.

T-Mobile customers will need to order from either Apple or T-Mobile as other retailers are not offering T-Mobile devices as a pre-order option.

AT&T is accepting iPhone X pre-orders on October 27 starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Like other carriers, AT&T is offering up to $300 in credits with the trade in of an iPhone 7 Plus, or up to $200 with the trade in of other devices.

Pricing on AT&T’s 24-month Installment Program starts at $41.63 for the 64GB iPhone X and $47.88 per month for the 256GB model, but AT&T offers several plans, including AT&T Next and AT&T Next Every Year, so pricing may vary depending on what you choose.

Verizon’s website isn’t listing a specific time for the iPhone X, but Verizon support says pre-orders will be accepted starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time on October 27.

Verizon is offering up to $300 off the iPhone X with an eligible smartphone trade-in, with the credit applied over a 24 month period. A device payment plan is required to get the deal.

Verizon’s 24-month Device Payment Program requires customers to pay $41.62 per month for the 64GB iPhone X and $47.87 per month for the 256GB iPhone X. Verizon is also allowing customers to pay full price for the iPhone X.

Sprint’s website says iPhone X pre-orders begin on October 27th at 2:00 a.m. CST, aka 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the same as every other carrier.

With Sprint’s 18 month Flex Lease, customers will need to pay $41.67 per month for the 64GB iPhone X. The 256GB iPhone X is also priced at $41.67 per month, but it requires a $150 downpayment. Sprint is also offering outright purchases.

With a Sprint Flex Lease and a trade-in of an eligible device, Sprint is discounting the iPhone X by $350, with the discount applied over the course of 18 months.

Virgin Mobile is not accepting pre-orders for the iPhone X on its website, but customers can go to an Apple Store on Friday, October 27 to pre-order and take advantage of an in-store offer that will let customers get six months of Virgin Mobile service for $1.

Customers will need to ask for the Inner Circle promotional deal at the Apple Store.

The iPhone X will be available for pre-order through Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile starting on October 27. Xfinity Mobile, available only to Comcast customers, allows users to pay $12 per 1GB of data usage or $45 per line for unlimited data that’s throttled after 20GB.

Customers who buy an iPhone X through Xfinity Mobile and also sign up for Xfinity Internet, TV, and mobile service can get a $500 gift card.

Retailers

Best Buy has confirmed that it will begin accepting iPhone X pre-orders on October 27 at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Best Buy will have Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint models available for purchase.

Target will be offering iPhone X pre-orders starting on October 27, and while the website does not list a specific time, it’s likely pre-orders will kick off at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.

Target will have Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint models available for purchase.

Wrap Up

There’s no word on how many iPhone X devices these retailers have available for launch day delivery, but oftentimes carriers and major retailers have at least some limited amount of stock available to fulfill online pre-orders on launch day.

Did we miss a retailer that’s offering iPhone X pre-orders? Let us know and we’ll add it to the list.

Update: US Cellular is also offering October 27 pre-orders for the iPhone X.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Caution)
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Review: Elgato Eve Light Switch and Eve Motion Add Versatility to Your HomeKit Setup

Elgato’s Eve lineup of smart home devices is one of the largest contributors to the HomeKit ecosystem, with a variety of sensors and switches for inside and out, including five more products announced a couple of months ago.

We reviewed a set of the early Eve products two years ago, when we found a solid set of sensors that were hampered by bugs in the early days of HomeKit. HomeKit has come a long way since that time, making it much more stable and useful, so many of our early qualms have been resolved and we were impressed by the new Eve Degree temperature monitor released earlier this year.

Two of the other products in the Eve lineup are the Eve Light Switch, a rather typical smart light switch, and Eve Motion, a battery-operated motion sensor. I’ve been using both of these for a few months, and I’ve found them to be quite useful in automating my home.

Eve Light Switch

There are a number of HomeKit-compatible smart switches on the market, including one from iDevices that I looked at earlier this year. The Eve Light Switch was, however, the first entrant into this category late last year, and it remains a worthy competitor.

Installation and Setup

If you’ve ever swapped out a light switch, it’s a pretty straightforward process, and installing the Eve Light Switch isn’t much different. As always, make sure you turn off power at the circuit breaker for safety before getting inside the junction box.

The Eve Light Switch is a lot bulkier than a traditional switch in order to accommodate all of the electronics, so you’ll need to make sure you have enough room in your junction box, and you’ll also need to have a neutral wire present at the switch location in order to provide continuous power to the switch. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to run some new wiring to the switch (which may not be a do-it-yourself job) or else select another location.

Unlike the iDevices Wall Switch, the Eve Light Switch can only be used in single-pole configurations. So if you’ve got a three-way circuit where a single light is controlled from two different switches, for example, you won’t be able to use the Eve Light Switch.

Once you’ve determined the switch you want to replace is an appropriate location for the Eve Light Switch, it’s just a matter or removing the old switch, transferring the wires over to the Eve Light Switch using the included wire nuts, shoving everything back into the wall, and screwing it all together.

Included snap-on plate (left) vs. standard wall plate purchased separately (right)
From there, you have a decision to make. Elgato includes a two-piece face plate for a clean look, which requires that you screw on a snap plate over the switch and then snap on the face plate. Alternatively, you can skip those two pieces and put your own face plate on. Metal face plates may decrease the Bluetooth range of the switch, but I haven’t experienced any issues with mine.

With everything put back together, it’s time to turn the circuit breaker back on and make sure tapping the switch properly turns your light on and off. From there, head to the Eve app to get finish setting up the switch and getting it registered with your HomeKit network.

When you’re done with setup on your device, you’ll be all set to control the Eve Light Switch using the Eve app, the built-in Home app on iOS, or Siri. And as always, you can set up scenes to control the switch in conjunction with other HomeKit accessories, such as a “Good night” scene that turns off the lights, locks the doors, and adjusts the thermostat when heading to bed.

Usage

One thing my whole family loves about the Eve Light Switch is that the switch is actually just one big capacitive touch sensor. Tapping anywhere on the switch will turn the light on or off, and a green light in the center of the switch when it’s off helps make it easy to find and hit in the dark.

The sensor makes for a big target, and it’s easy to activate it when carrying things, even if you have to use an elbow. That’s in contrast to the iDevices Wall Switch, which is a more traditional paddle design that requires you to physically press the top or bottom half of the switch to turn it on or off.

The Eve Motion communicates via Bluetooth, which conserves energy but somewhat limits its range. It can connect directly to your phone via Bluetooth, but if you have an Apple TV or iPad set up as a hub for your HomeKit setup, it’ll ensure that all notifications and scenes function properly even when your phone isn’t in range. Bluetooth range is much shorter than Wi-Fi, however, so you could run into some difficulty if your hub is located far from the switch.

Eve App

Once you’ve set up your light switch in the Eve app, you’ll find that it’s also a very full-featured HomeKit control app, showing all of your HomeKit devices around the house with options to set scenes, timers, rules (triggers), rooms, and zones (groups of rooms).

I won’t go into too much detail on the app, as we’ve covered it fairly extensively in previous reviews such as the Eve Degree, but it’s definitely a high-quality app for managing not just Eve products but a variety of HomeKit-compatible accessories.

The Eve app keeps a log of events such as when the light switch is turned on and off, which you can view in graph or table form. The various rules and scenes also make it easy to set up products to work together in scenarios such as activating multiple products at once or using an event on one accessory to automatically trigger a change in the state of another one.

Eve Motion

The Eve Motion is a simple product designed to do only one thing: sense motion in a room. Its 120º field of view and 30-foot detection range help it recognize whenever someone enters a room, and the fact that it’s powered by a pair of AA batteries means you can put it almost anywhere. The Eve Motion is also IPX3 water resistant, meaning it can withstand splashes and sprays, and with an operating temperature range of 0º to 130º F, it can be used outdoors as well as inside.

Setup is straightforward, and once you insert the batteries and set the Eve Motion in an appropriate location, the Eve app walks you through step-by-step to allow you to pair with the Eve Motion, set sensitivity for the motion sensing, and set a Siri name for the sensor. If you’d like to integrate with other Eve or HomeKit products, you can set up scenes by specifying triggers and conditions.

As with the Eve Light Switch, the Eve Motion connects to your iOS device over Bluetooth, and if you have an Apple TV or iPad set up as a HomeKit hub, it’ll be able to integrate with all of your other smart home devices at all times.

On its own, the Eve Motion is rather limited, basically restricted to pushing notifications whenever motion is sensed. This can come in handy if you want to mount it on your front porch, inside your front door, or in a seldom-used room if you want to be alerted whenever anyone’s presence is detected. Within the HomeKit ecosystem, you can restrict notifications to only certain times of the day or, using geofencing, to only times when you either are or are not home.

Notification preferences in Home app for Eve Motion
The real power of the Eve Motion, however, is its wireless connectivity that integrates with the rest of the Eve platform and HomeKit, which lets you use the Eve Motion to trigger actions by other smart home components. For example, you could automatically turn on a light when motion is detected. Rules can also use multiple criteria, so you could set up an “I’m home” scene that turns on lights if it detects motion at your front door but only if it’s after sunset. Or you could arrange to have a fan turn on when you enter a room, but only if the temperature is above 72º F.

One of the setups I tried with the Eve Motion was inside a pantry in my kitchen, pairing it with an iDevices Switch to try to automatically turn on a light in the pantry when the door was opened. The setup worked, but it’s not instantaneous, sometimes taking as much as five seconds for the Eve Motion to recognize the motion of the door opening and me moving around in front of it, passing the event to HomeKit for processing the trigger, and sending a signal to the iDevices Switch to turn the light on it.

It wasn’t ideal, considering I am frequently spending less time popping my head into the pantry than it takes for the light to come on, but it was an interesting test to push the limits of how HomeKit products can work together.

Other less time-sensitive setups worked better, such as triggering lights to come on when motion was detected on my front porch. The slight lag in response for the scene to activate once motion is detected isn’t really significant in these contexts.

Wrap-up

The Eve Light Switch carries a list price of $49.95, and a few third-party sellers at Amazon are even knocking a few dollars off of that, which makes for a pretty decent deal in the world of connected light switches where many are closer to $100. It’s a lot more than the buck or two you can spend on a traditional toggle switch at the low end, but there’s obviously a lot more technology packed in and it comes with much more functionality. Your cash outlay will add up quickly if you want to use any of these smart switches throughout your home, so at least for now most users will want to be fairly selective about where they choose to install them.

The Eve Motion is priced at $49.95, and it’s available through a number of retailers including Amazon or directly from Elgato. As a simple motion sensor without any other Eve or HomeKit products, it’s not really worth investing in, but as part of a larger smart home setup, it can be a handy addition to help your other accessories do more.

Note: Elgato provided the Eve Light Switch and Eve Motion to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tags: HomeKit, review, Elgato, Eve
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Tinycards is a powerful, but fun, flash card tutor (review)

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

Flash cards don’t have the most “fun” reputation, am I right? The utterance of the term brings about the specter of a coming test; of hours or repetition in your bedroom….memorizing, guessing, and re-guessing until either you have the facts implanted in your brain, or you fall asleep on your bed. Either way, it’s not a fun prognosis.

But! For eons, the same was said concerning learning a second language; that is, until a now-famous app called “Duolingo” arrived. The app gamified the traditionally arduous task of learning new languages….combining the use of digital flash cards along with an almost platforming-style of quiz gaming, making it a top name in the Play Store.

Now Duolingo has finally brought a similar approach to all kinds of academic topics, with Tinycards. Tinycards is a free, kiddo-friendly app that allows you expand beyond language, choosing the subject you want, and you have (usually) multiple stacks of flash cards to take on.

 Setup

After downloading from the Play Store, you either register or log in (you can log in with your Duolingo credentials, or other social media options). Once in, you arrive at the app’s home screen. Here you have four tabs across the top: Home (we’re going to unusually wait to cover this one to the end), Search, Add (more on that in a minute), and Profile.

Lets’s start with Profile. Here you can edit your profile, and adjust multiple settings (notifications, username, password, audio settings, profile photo, etc). Nothing out of the ordinary here.

App Experience

So with that out of the way, let’s move to the meat of the app: the Search tab. Here is where you simply type in your subject keywords, and a corresponding match list of card stacks appears. You pick one and off you go.

Playing a stack is pretty ingenious. In all cases, you start very simple: you get 2-3 flash cards; clicking on them flips it giving you the answer right off. After these first tutor cards, the app gradually starts inter-mixing quiz-type cards. These start off as multiple choice, but can also evolve into fill-in-the-blank and other more interactive questions.

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As you progress through the cards, you complete a “level”. As with a platforming-type game, you continue to level-up, graduating to harder and harder content for you to master.

Social

The app does have a social aspect to it, too. Primarily, while there’s a base level of cards created by Duolingo, there’s an awful lot more that have been created by other app users. You can choose to play individual card decks from a given user, or you can “follow” that person to get notified of any new content put out by them, as well.

You can be a creator, too! This brings us to the Plus (+) tab of the app interface. Here you can select create, customize, and publish your own Tinycards content for others to enjoy. You can choose to share more privately or put them out for all to enjoy; your call.

Visuals & Sound

If you’ve tried the Duolingo language app, then Tinycards will feel immediately familiar. The colors are bright but simple; no busy screens to be found here. The interface is extremely friendly, with smiling faces and non-threatening visuals all-around.

The same can be said for the audio; there’s little in the way of background sounds. When you get an answer right you are rewarded with a bright chirp. If you get one wrong, the resulting sound isn’t punitive, but more of an “uh-oh! let’s try that again” sound….almost encouraging. My kiddos loved it as it made a tougher set of cards a lot less discouraging as they tried to conquer it.

Overall

As a dad to school-age kiddos, Tinycards is a fantastic app for their devices. It’s a killer downtime filler; for the car, for a waiting room, for any downtime where if they want screen time, you can at least make it productive in addition to fun. It’s an app I do not see leaving anyone’s device for the foreseeable future.

Download Tinycards on the Play Store here.

The Smile Mirror for cancer patients is getting a ton of blowback online

Why it matters to you

The inventor of the Smile Mirror had good intentions, but its criticisms are valid.

File this one under, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

A new invention by a Brooklyn-based product and experience designer with good intentions is drawing online fury, most fiercely by the very people the invention was meant to help. Berk Ilhan is the creator behind the “Smile Mirror,” a new gadget intended to lift the spirits of cancer patients. As advertised, the mirror will reveal a patient’s reflection, but only if they smile.

While attending the School of Visual Arts in New York, Ilhan developed a year-long thesis project called Uplift, which involved conceptualizing a portfolio of products designed to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, emotionally and socially. In addition to the mirror, Ilhan also conceived a newspaper that only delivers the good and happy news.

The electronic mirror is outfitted with a built-in camera and an opaque surface that is triggered by facial recognition software. The patent-pending invention intended to gift patients a smile will soon launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Right now, the unit costs between $2,000 and $3,000, but Ilhan would like to see a final price closer to $500.

Ilhan, originally from Turkey, spent time at cancer hospitals in there speaking with patients, doctors and caregivers. The final device was inspired by Ilhan’s encounter with a cancer survivor. His ultimate goal is to donate Smile Mirrors to hospitals.

“She told me in the first days after her diagnosis, it was difficult for her to look in the mirror and acknowledge she had cancer,” he told CNN Tech. “Our facial expressions affect how we feel. If we flex our facial muscles to smile, our brains think that something good happened and as a result, happiness.”

The reaction to the breaking story has not been hospitable, despite Ilhan’s good intentions. At IFLScience, we find the headline, “This mirror for cancer patients only works when you smile, and everyone thinks it’s a terrible idea.” Bustle calls it,”An incredibly misguided idea.” The New Stateman‘s headline reads: “The mirror that forces cancer patients to smile is borderline dystopian.”

At Slate, cancer survivor and technology writer Jacob Brogan gets to the heart of the matter.

“This is, again, not a device designed with the interests of patients in mind,” he writes. “To the contrary, it asks them to ignore — perhaps even to reject — the small sanctuary of what they feel within. Cancer is already alienating, and this is alienation of another sort. Etymologically, the word patient derives from a Latinate root meaning suffering. Those who love us can attempt to ameliorate our pain, but they should never expect us to live without it. If you would like to see us smile, tell us a joke. Surely you know the ones we like. We will laugh if we are ready to, but our smiles are not yours to claim.”

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