Go bananas with Photoshop Easter eggs (and a hidden tool that’s actually useful)

Photoshop CC 2018 launched a few weeks ago — but what Adobe didn’t tell users what that the update comes with a hidden Photoshop feature along with a few Photoshop Easter eggs to jazz up your workspace. (Or, you know, prank a fellow photographer and have them wondering why their toolbar now has a banana in it).

The first hidden feature is part of the new Symmetry Painting tool. Adobe said the tool wasn’t quite up to par before the release, so the tool is one of a handful of technology previews. With the hidden feature, you can use that tool to create radial designs or mandala designs with a few strokes of a paintbrush.

To find the tool, users first need to have technology previews enabled by heading into the Photoshop file menu, then preferences and technology previews, putting a checkmark next to “enable paint symmetry.” Now, if the paintbrush tool is selected, clicking the butterfly icon in the tool bar will mirror the strokes across different axes.

The radial and mandala features aren’t in that menu, however. To access the hidden feature, designers need to add any symmetry path then rename that path to “Radial Symmetry X” or “Mandala Symmetry X,” only replacing that “X” with the number of times you’d like the design to repeat. The radial option will repeat one design around a central point, while the Mandala will first create a mirror image of that design before repeating around a central point.

While the hidden feature is one that could actually help designers with a project, Adobe is also sharing a handful of Easter eggs that are a little less useful but a little more fun. The first allows photo editors and graphic designers to get a monkey icon in their Layer Comps panel. To get that primate hanging out in your workspace, with a document open, open the Layer Comps window (Window > Layer Comps) then add a new Layer Comp. Double click on that new layer to rename, then write in “Layer Monkey 0” and hit enter to watch the magic happen. The panel will be renamed to Layer Monkey! and the icon will be replaced with a monkey. (Rename the Layer Comp anything else to go back to normal).

But what’s a monkey without a banana? Users can add a banana to their toolbox by heading into the toolbar customization options (either through Edit > Toolbar or the “…” inside the toolbar) When users hold down shift while clicking on done, that little ellipsis in the toolbar becomes a banana. (To get rid of the banana, follow the same steps but command or control click on done).

Adobe hid one more Easter egg in the form of what fuels many photo editors: Coffee. Users can turn the color themes inside the appearance menu into coffee or toast. After opening up the preferences window and choosing interface, users can hold down shift and option or alt while clicking on a color theme option to turn those choices into different shades of toast. Or, if coffee is more your style, follow the same steps but hold down shift and control or command while clicking on a color theme. Then, instead of choosing different shades of gray, you can choose black coffee or a blonde roast to change the colors of the workspace. (To go back to the defaults, just shift and option click again).

Now that we’ve entertained ourselves with hidden Photoshop features, on to more important questions — like should Easter eggs be called Turkey eggs in November?

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• Corel PaintShop Pro 2018 Review
• Cortana takes fashion tips from Apple in potential interface overhaul

Like a mechanical shadow, Toyota’s new robot mimics your movements in real time

As a company, Toyota may be best known for its cars, but it sure builds some nice robots, too. Its latest, third-generation humanoid robot, unveiled November 21, is capable of exactly mimicking its operator’s movements. According to Toyota, it could one day serve as a robot assistant in homes, hospitals, and disaster zones, on construction sites — even in outer space.

Called T-HR3, the 5-foot-1-inch robot is controlled via a proprietary Master Maneuvering System that allows it to be operated by a human user kitted out with special sensors that map their hand, arm, and foot movements. A head-mounted display allows them to see through the robot’s eyes. The robot is then able to replicate movements with impressive accuracy via its 29 articulated body parts. A cleverly designed chair, packing a 16 torque servo module, lets the user move the robot either forward or sideways while sitting still.

The T-HR3 is not just able to replicate motions, but can also approximate the force of a user’s actions — for instance, it can perform tasks such as gently lifting an inflatable balloon-like ball without damaging it. It can also display some impressive balance control, maintaining it’s balance even if it runs into another object.

“The Partner Robot team members are committed to using the technology in T-HR3 to develop friendly and helpful robots that coexist with humans and assist them in their daily lives,” said Akifumi Tamaoki, general manager of Toyota’s Partner Robot Division, in a statement. “Looking ahead, the core technologies developed for this platform will help inform and advance future development of robots to provide ever-better mobility for all.”

T-HR3 will be among the bots shown off at the upcoming International Robot Exhibition 2017 at Tokyo Big Sight from November 29 through December 2. And after that? Well, Toyota hasn’t announced specific plans to roll out T-HR3 in the real world, but we’re pretty attached to the idea of a telepresence space robot that could be operated from the Earth. But we’d probably settle for a Kickstarter campaign that lets us use one to pick up our stray socks, to be honest.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• Between the Streams: ‘Electric Dreams,’ ‘Pacific Rim Uprising,’ robots galore!

How to transfer your Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp progress to your current region game

Don’t lose all of the game progress when you switch back to your current region Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp game!

If you side-loaded the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp .APK to an Android device or changed regions on your iTunes account in order to play the game early, you can preserve the past month’s game progress if you’ve signed in to your Nintendo Account.

It’s much easier than you think to continue playing on your current device or region. Here’s how.

Check out our Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp tips and tricks!

How to keep your game progress if you side-loaded the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp .apk on Android

If you side-loaded the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp .apk onto an Android device so you could play the game early, all you have to do is make sure the game is updated to versions 1.0. You don’t have to uninstall or reinstall the game at all.

When the .apk was first released, it was version 0.9.0. It updated to version 9.5 last week, which added support for more languages. The official app that launched on Google Play is version 1.0.

The key is that you have to be signed in to your Nintendo Account in order to make sure the game progress is saved. If you previously signed in to your Nintendo Account by switching to Australia as your region, simply change your region to your current location after you’ve updated the game to version 1.0. If you didn’t download the .apk until version 9.5, you probably didn’t have to switch to Australia as your region.

Remember: Don’t update the game unless you’ve connected your Nintendo Account. It’s the only way to save your game’s progress.

How to keep your game progress if you switched to Australia as your region on iPhone

If you switched your App Store region to Australia in order to play the game on your iPhone, you’re going to have to switch back to your current region’s App Store in order to maintain future updates (If the game is set to a different region than your current App Store region, you won’t be able to update unless you switch).

First step is to make sure you’ve connected your Nintendo Account to ACPC. You will likely have had to originally select Australia as your current region in order to connect your Nintendo Account. That’s fine. You can switch regions after you download the game from your current region’s App Store. For now, just make sure your game progress is saved to your Nintendo Account.

Next, switch your App Store account back to your current region if you haven’t done so already.

Then, download ACPC from your current region’s App Store. This may just be an update if your phone recognizes that its already installed.

When you open the game that you just downloaded or updated from your current region’s App Store, link your Nintendo Account to restore your game’s progress.

Finally, switch your Nintendo Account’s region to your current location so that everything is back to normal.

Remember: Don’t update the game unless you’ve connected your Nintendo Account. It’s the only way to save your game’s progress.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about saving your game’s progress and switching back to your current region? Put them in the comments and I’ll help you out.

[custom:iphone]

Samsung Galaxy S9 supposedly shows up in case render

Get your speculation glasses out.

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is widely considered to be one of the best phones of 2017, and rightly so. The S8 has a phenomenal display, gorgeous build, excellent cameras, the list goes on. As you’d expect, this has made a lot of people rather anxious for the Galaxy S9 that we could see announced as early as January.

BGR recently discovered a render from case-maker Ghostek, and it supposedly shows off one of our first looks at the S9.

What’s supposed to be the S9 is housed in a case, so we don’t have a clear view on the phone as a whole. However, there are a few interesting tidbits that we can still pick out from it.

The S9’s fingerprint sensor shouldn’t be nearly as horrible as the S8’s.

Perhaps the most notable change is the repositioning of the fingerprint sensor. One of the biggest complaints with the S8 was the awkward placement of the fingerprint sensor next to the rear camera, but according to this render, Samsung has chosen to move it below the camera this time around. Speaking of the camera, it also appears that the S9 will be the first entry in Samsung’s S-series to adopt a dual-camera system.

The bezels surrounding the display are unsurprisingly slim once again (at least from what we can see)l, the physical Bixby button is still here, and it looks like Samsung will keep the 3.5mm headphone jack for at least another year.

This is only the first of many more leaks that we’ll see as we get closer and closer to the S9’s launch, but be sure to let us know what your initial impressions are down in the comments below!

Samsung may launch the Galaxy S9 as early as January

Swappa now lets you buy and sell smart home devices

Want to sell your Google Home in preparation for the Home Max? Swappa has you covered.

If you’ve ever bought or sold a used phone, chances are you did it through Swappa. Swappa is one of the better sites around for safely and easily swapping out your old hardware for something new, and the site recently added support for doing this with smart home devices.

Listed on Swappa as “Home Tech”, you can now buy and sell Google Home and Echo devices, Sonos speakers, smart vacums from iRobot and Neato, as well as Nest’s library of security cameras and thermostats. At the time of publishing this article, you can only purchase the original Google Home, 2nd generation Echo Dot, Nest Thermostat E, Sonos Play 1, and Nest Cam Outdoor. However, as time goes on and more people start listing their gadgets, the availability of these things will increase.

You can currently pick up a Google Home in good condition for as little as $85, the Echo Dot is selling for just $35, and the Nest Cam Outodor that usually sells for $199 is going for $125.

As long as you don’t mind buying something that’s (gently) used, this might be the way to go if you’ve got someone with smart home gadgets on their Christmas wishlist.

See at Swappa

FCC unveils plans to roll back net neutrality rules

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has unveiled its plans to roll back “net neutrality” regulations.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today released a draft order (via Wired) that would roll back rules put in place during the Obama administration, which were intended to ensure equal access to all content on the internet — commonly referred to as net neutrality.

Image credit: FCC

Called the “Draft Order To Restore Internet Freedom And Eliminate Heavy-Handed Internet Regulations,” the move comes ahead of a planned December 14 vote on the issue. With majority Republican control of the FCC’s five commission seats, the vote is expected to pass.

From the draft order:

Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet. Instead, the FCC would simply require Internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate.

The order would also move some ISP policing power to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

If passed, the move would allow internet service providers (ISP) choose which content to prioritize on their network, opening up concerns that ISPs could choose to block or throttle speed to certain websites, or provide faster access to websites and services that agree to pay a fee. The concern among net neutrality advocates is that this would create an unfair landscape, with smaller services and websites being drowned out in favor of larger competitors that could afford to pay providers a fee.

The ACLU has already come out against Pai’s proposal. “Internet rights are civil rights,” said Jay Stanley, American Civil Liberties Union senior policy analyst. “Gutting net neutrality will have a devastating effect on free speech online. Without it, gateway corporations like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will have too much power to mess with the free flow of information.”

The FCC plans to vote on the rollback of net neutrality rules on December 14.

Samsung’s Android tablets are down to as low as $100 at Amazon

There’s a whole lot of tablets on sale right now!

Is this deal for me?

Amazon currently has a whole bunch of Samsung Android tablets on sale, with prices starting as low as just $99.99. There are variations of the Galaxy Tab A, and Tab S3, both in different colors and storage capacities. These are matches of Samsung’s Black Friday promotions, which have also just begun.

• 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab A – $99.99 (Normally $149.99)
• 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab A 16GB – $129.99 (Normally $199.99)
• 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab A 32GB – $199.99 (Normally $269.99)
• 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab A – $179.99 (Normally $279.99)
• 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab A w/ S-Pen – $229.99 (Normally $329.99)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 – $477.99 (Normally $599.99)

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – This is a solid discount on a variety of Samsung tablets. With prices starting at just $99.99 and going up to nearly $500, there is something for everyone here.
• Things to know before you buy! – You’ll want to pick up a case fo rthe tablet to keep it protected.

Now you can ask to join a friend’s Instagram live video

Just a couple of weeks ago, Instagram made it easy to invite a friend to view your live broadcasts on the photo sharing network. Unfortunately, the invitation was only one way. Instagram has fixed that, however, with a new option: you can now request to join your friend’s live video.

While you’re watching your buddy’s live video, you can tap the new Request button that will show up in the comments area. You’ll get a confirmation that your friend has accepted the request, and you’ll get a quick moment to fix your hair and smile before getting connected. Then your screen will split in half and you’ll be able to hang out live.

When you’re doing your own live video, you’ll be able to see requests from your own friends list, too. Simply tap the View button to add your buddy or cancel the request. There’s a new little double smiley face icon, too, that will show you how many requests you have. Tap it to see the specific requests or to invite any viewers to join your live video. When you’re done broadcasting, simply share the video to your Stories, or hit Discard to delete it completely.

Source: Instagram

Surface Book 2 can’t stay charged during gaming sessions

The Surface Book 2 is aimed at graphic pros, but with a stout NVIDIA 1060 GPU, it’s a tempting gaming machine, too. As we observed during our review, gaming drains the battery pretty fast, though. Worse, The Verge noticed that the power supply can’t actually charge the battery fast enough to prevent it from draining in some cases. A Microsoft spokesman has confirmed to The Verge that “in some intense, prolonged gaming scenarios with Power Mode Slider set to ‘best performance’ the battery may discharge while connected to the power supply.”

The Surface Book 2 has two separate batteries, one located in the screen and one in the keyboard base. The base is also where the optional NVIDIA 1060 GPU is located, as you normally don’t need mega-graphics power in tablet mode.

To let you choose between performance and battery life, the Surface Book has a range of power settings. If you’re doing video editing or other GPU intensive tasks, you can crank it up to “best performance” to activate the NVIDIA GPU and get more speed. Battery drain is normally not an issue with graphics apps because the chip only kicks in when needed.

Surface Book 2 users probably don’t expect their battery to drain down while it’s plugged in, even while gaming.

You’ll also need the “best performance” setting for GPU-intensive games, as they’ll slow down or drop frames otherwise. The problem is that select titles like Destiny 2 use the NVIDIA chip nearly continuously, pulling up to 70 watts of power on top of the 35 watt CPU. Unfortunately, the Surface Book comes with a 102-watt charger, and only about 95 watts of that reaches the device, the Verge points out.

Microsoft says that the power management system will prevent the battery from draining completely, even during intense gaming, but it would certainly mess up your Destiny 2 session. It also notes that the machine is intended for designers, developers and engineers, with the subtext that it’s not exactly marketed as a gaming rig.

However, Surface Book 2 users probably don’t expect their battery to drain down while it’s plugged in, even while gaming. I could also envision problems for video pros doing hours-long, continuous MP4 exports using Premiere CC’s NVIDIA-powered Mercury Playback Engine, for instance. Considering that, using such a small power supply seems like a big tradeoff to save some weight. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for more information.

Source: The Verge

Ford’s latest police hybrid is built for efficiency, not speed

Ford has already got the “speed” part down for hybrid police cars with its Police Responder Hybrid pursuit car, but now it’s focusing on the economy side. It just launched its first-ever plug-in hybrid aimed at police and government officials for “non-pursuit” duties, called the Special Service Plug-In Hybrid Sedan. “This is the first Ford police vehicle that can potentially get through an entire shift without using any gasoline whatsoever,” said Ford brand manager Stephen Tyler.

Based on the Fusion Energi SE plug-in hybrid, the model is equipped with a 7.6 kWh battery that can be charged in 2.5 hours on a 240 volt charger, or overnight on a 120 volt home system. On a full charge, you can travel up to 21 miles and hit 85 mph, after which the gas engine kicks in, boosting range to up to 500 miles. The vehicle is aimed, however, at employees “whose jobs don’t require a pursuit-rated vehicle,” Ford says.

The Special Service has some cop-oriented features you certainly won’t find in the regular Fusion, like rear anti-stab plates, a reinforced top tray for equipment, metal console mounting plate, police engine idle feature and a trunk-mounted auxiliary power distribution box.

Ford has a fairly limited EV and plug-in hybrid selection compared to rivals like Nissan and GM. Recently, however, it unveiled plans to launch up to 13 electrified vehicles by 2020 and invest $4.5 billion in total. Most automakers have now committed to heavily electrified vehicle roadmaps, even previous holdouts like Toyota and Mazda. Ford will start taking orders for the Special Service Plug-in Hybrid next month and ship them out in the summer of 2018.

Source: Ford