The best smartphones and tablets to give as gifts

Let’s be real: Smartphones are pricey and as far as gifts go, they’re hard to keep a surprise. But there’s also a good chance someone in your life is due for an upgrade, and as the holiday season approaches, you’re likely to spot some good deals. For Engadget’s 2017 holiday gift guide, we recommend four phones: the iPhone 8/8 Plus, the Google Pixel 2 and 2XL, the older-but-still-good Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, and the Moto G5 Plus, for the budget conscious. We also threw in some tablets for good measure: the basic iPad for Apple fans and the Galaxy Tab S3 for Android users. Certain folks requiring more power might be better served by the 10.5-inch iPad Pro or Microsoft’s Surface Pro, but unless your giftee also needs a laptop replacement, you can easily get by with something less expensive.

Source: Engadget Holiday Gift Guide 2017

Virtual nation Asgardia has launched itself into space

Last year, Russian scientist Igor Ashurbeyli announced the formation of Asgardia — a new virtual nation that will ultimately exist entirely in space. Since its debut, Asgardia has attracted over 300,000 registrants, created a constitution and, as of this Sunday, launched itself — all 0.5 TB of it — into space.

A small satellite called Asgardia-1 was loaded on board the Cygnus spacecraft and launched by the Orbital ATK Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Sunday morning. The satellite contains Asgardia’s constitution, its national symbols and personally selected data from each of the nation’s citizens. “Asgardia-1 may look like many other satellites orbiting Earth, but it is the only one in the whole world which represents a new territory,” Ashurbeyli said in a statement. “Asgardia-1 took all of the nation’s essence to space: its Constitution, its national symbols, and all of the Asgardian citizens – virtually.” Cygnus’ primary mission is to resupply the International Space Station and after that, it will de-dock and climb to a higher altitude where it will deploy Asgardia-1 into orbit.

The whole concept of Asgardia may seem ridiculous to most people, but Ashurbeyli is quite serious about it. He is supposedly now headed to Washington DC in order to discuss becoming a full, UN-endorsed nation with policy experts, and parliamentary elections are now underway for Asgardian citizens. During an online Q&A a few months ago, Lena De Winne, the CEO and Vice President of the business side of Asgardia, said that national IDs and even passports are in the works. Those will be distributed through embassies that Asgardia plans to establish on every continent, so even citizens of a space nation aren’t free of bureaucratic paperwork and waiting in line it seems.

Facebook merges Stories and Messenger Day

The fact that has Facebook four distinct Snapchat-like offerings for its main social network, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp can be pretty confusing. Someone in the company must have realized that, because it’s making things just a bit less puzzling by merging Facebook Stories and Messenger Day. The fused experience is now simply called “Stories,” and any photo, video or slideshow you upload appear both on Facebook itself and the Messenger app.

While there’s no need to manually cross-post anything anymore, you can choose who sees your post. You can make your post public, visible to both Facebook and Messenger friends or visible to Facebook friends only. If none of those sounds ideal, you can either make a custom list or hide Stories from specific people on both platforms.

By combining the features, Facebook is likely hoping to entice more people to use the ephemeral offering. Having separate versions for Facebook and Messenger made no sense anyway and might be one of the reasons why they’re nowhere near as successful as their counterpart on Instagram. Just a month ago, the company started testing a useful tool that allows you to cross-post Stories from Instagram to Facebook. Its addition could make things even simpler, but as with any experimental Facebook feature, it might or might not see a wider release.

To make sure the new version of Stories reaches as many potential users as possible, it will be available to Groups, Events and Pages. Facebook is also bring it to FB Lite in case its users do have enough bandwidth to view their friends’ posts.

Google Home speakers now double as house intercoms

Amazon isn’t the only one turning smart speakers into intercoms. Google is pushing an Assistant upgrade that lets you broadcast your voice to every Home speaker in your house using either another speaker or your phone. If you need to gather the household, you just have to say “OK Google, broadcast” and whatever you want to deliver. It’ll even ring a dinner bell if you say “it’s dinner time.” And you don’t have to be at home, either — you can tell the family you’re on your way without having to make a phone call or send a text message.

The intercom feature works on all devices signed into the same Google account. You can use it today if you’re in a predominantly English-speaking country (Australia, Canada, the UK or the US), but more languages are coming soon. Is Google a little late to the party when Amazon has had an equivalent for months? Probably, but we won’t knock the addition. It’s one of the most obvious uses for a smart speaker, and it’ll be a relief to anyone who’s tired of marching around the house or shouting themselves hoarse.

Source: Google

Amazon confirms a ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series is in the works

There have been rumors that Amazon is working on a Lord of the Rings TV series in its quest to find the next Game of Thrones, and now there’s confirmation. Amazon announced today that it has acquired the global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings. Amazon Studios will produce a multiseason television series in cooperation with New Line Cinema, the Tolkien estate and HarperCollins.

It’s important to note that this series “will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring,” rather than re-tell the stories depicted onscreen in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. The deal, which commits to multiple seasons for the show, also includes a possible spin-off series. Given the popularity of Lord of the Rings as a franchise (we’ll just pretend that the endless The Hobbit movies don’t exist), the rumors of Amazon prepping a free ad-supported video service couldn’t come at a better time.

Source: Amazon

KGI: Apple to Launch 6.5-Inch ‘iPhone X Plus’ and Lower-Priced 6.1-Inch Full-Screen LCD Model Next Year

Apple will launch a trio of new iPhone models in 2018, including 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models with OLED displays and a 6.1-inch model with an LCD display, according to respected KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo believes all three models will be equipped with a full-screen notched design and TrueDepth camera system like the iPhone X.

Kuo expects the 5.8-inch model to have 458 pixels per inch, suggesting the second-generation iPhone X’s display will likely continue to have a resolution of 1,125×2,436. He said the 6.5-inch model will have roughly 480 to 500 PPI, while the 6.1-inch model is estimated to have between 320 and 330 PPI.

In his latest research note, obtained by MacRumors, Kuo said the 6.1-inch model will have a lower-resolution LCD display and target the low-end and mid-range markets with an estimated $649 to $749 starting price in the United States.

Two new OLED models target high-end market; new TFT-LCD model aims at low-end & midrange markets: We believe the major hardware difference in the two new OLED models is size, in a bid to satisfy various needs of the high-end market. The new TFT-LCD model will differ significantly from the OLED models in hardware and design specs (for instance, the PPI will be lower). The primary selling points of the TFT-LCD model may be the innovative user experience of an integrated full-screen design and 3D sensing with a lower price tag (we expect it will likely be US$649-749).

His research note didn’t outline any pricing estimates for the next 5.8-inch iPhone X, which currently starts at $999, or the all-new 6.5-inch model.

If accurate, next year’s new iPhone lineup would consist of the second-gen iPhone X with the same size screen, a larger 6.5-inch version that we’re tentatively calling the iPhone X Plus, and a mid-range 6.1-inch LCD model that adopts an iPhone X form factor and features but with a cheaper price point.

Kuo is upbeat on the shipments momentum of all three new iPhone models, and expects them to launch without any delays in 2018, given Apple’s supply chain will be well experienced with iPhone X production by next year.

While he doesn’t have an absolutely perfect track record, Kuo often relays accurate information from his sources within Apple’s supply chain. Ahead of the iPhone X, he accurately detailed its 5.8-inch display, glass and stainless steel design, lack of Touch ID, 3D sensing, and several other features.

We’ve also already heard a few rumors about a 6.46-inch iPhone launching next year, so iPhone X Plus rumor season is well underway.

Tags: KGI Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 11.2 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 11.2 update to developers, one week after releasing the second iOS 11.2 beta and two weeks after releasing the iOS 11.1 update.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.2 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

iOS 11.2 introduces Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s new peer-to-peer payments service. Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and is designed to allow for quick person-to-person money transfers. It’s available as a dedicated iMessage app in Messages, with cash transferred through the app.

Cash 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.

The iOS 11.2 update also addresses an animation bug in the Calculator app that caused some numbers and symbols to be ignored when entered in rapid succession. The update removes the animations from the calculator app so calculations can be done quickly with no need to pause between entering numbers to obtain the correct result.

It also addresses an autocorrect bug plaguing many people. The bug autocorrects the letter “i” to “A[?].” Apple has recommended a temporary workaround in the form of a Text Replacement, but the problem will be fixed for good once iOS 11.2 is released.

In addition to these bug fixes, iOS 11.2 introduces a new Now Playing option for controlling content on the Apple TV in Control Center, redesigned camera emoji, a new loading animation for Live Photos effects, and new Live wallpapers for the iPhone X, plus it adds a feature that lets developers offer new customers discounted introductory pricing for auto-renewable subscriptions on the App Store.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 4.2 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing the second watchOS 4.2 beta and two weeks after releasing the watchOS 4.1 update.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS 4.2 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

watchOS 4.2 brings support for Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s new peer-to-peer payment service that is designed to let users send money to one another. Apple Pay Cash can be used to send and receive money through the Messages app on the Apple Watch.

Aside from Apple Pay Cash, watchOS 4.2 appears to focus primarily on under-the-hood bug fixes and security updates.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of tvOS 11.2 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second tvOS 11.2 update and two weeks after the launch of the tvOS 11.1.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.2 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that’s installed using Xcode.

According to Apple’s release notes, the tvOS 11.2 update enables a new AVDisplayManager feature for developers, designed to allow the device to automatically switch video display modes to match the native frame rate and dynamic range of video content.

The update includes support for switching the Apple TV 4K display output to SDR for apps that are GPU-bound when running in HDR and it re-introduces the Unwatched category in Home Sharing for Movies, TV Shows, and Home Videos.

Apple says tvOS 11.2 also adds new features, bug fixes, and security improvements to the tvOS operating system.

Related Roundup: Apple TVBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds Third macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta and two weeks after releasing the macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 update.

The new macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.

It’s not yet clear what improvements the second major update to macOS High Sierra will bring, but it’s likely to include bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren’t addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.1.

No significant new features were discovered in the first two betas of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, but we’ll update this post should notable changes be found in the third beta.

The previous update, 10.13.1, introduced fixes for some serious security flaws and brought new emoji to the macOS operating system.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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