Google ends Tango support to fully focus on ARCore

Google began delving into the world of AR with its 2014 venture Project Tango, or just Tango as of last year, and its AR work has grown quite a bit since then. Earlier this year, it unveiled ARCore, an augmented reality platform that differs from Tango in that it doesn’t require any specialized hardware. Today Google announced an update to its ARCore Developer Preview and with it, the end of Tango support. “As we focus on bringing augmented reality to the entire Android ecosystem with ARCore, we’re turning down support of Tango,” Google said in a blog post.

We’re turning down support for Tango on March 1, 2018. Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years. We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore. https://t.co/aYiSUkgyie

— Tango (@projecttango) December 15, 2017

With the accessibility of ARCore, moving away from Tango makes sense. But Google notes that its first venture into AR helped make ARCore possible. Google showed off what ARCore can do earlier this year and some projects taking advantage of the platform have used it to incorporate street view and give a more real-world experience of a distant place, to show how an under construction building will look like when it’s finished and to bring AR stickers to the Pixel 2.

“Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years,” said Google. “We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore.” Tango support will end on March 1, 2018.

Source: Google

Radius is a smart device that acts like a force field for mosquitoes

You don’t need us to tell you that mosquitos are no good. At best, they are a nuisance and, at worst, a vector for deadly diseases. When it comes to stopping mosquitos in their tracks, there are a number of high-tech solutions we’ve covered, but a new one on Kickstarter promises a no-fuss way to stay bite-free without having to slap on chemical-based mosquito repellent. Called Radius, it’s a small device that, once switched on, promises to clear the air of all mosquitoes within a 110-square-foot radius.

“Radius is the world’s first rechargeable, EPA-approved, zone mosquito repellent,” product designer Kyle Adelman told Digital Trends. “Instead of treating your skin with messy chemical sprays or lotions, Radius treats the area around you. Essentially, Radius uses heat to activate and disperse a clean and scent-free repellent. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery powers an internal heating element, which silently warms and activates the repellent. Once activated, the repellent disperses to create an invisible zone of protection that keeps mosquitoes from entering into your outdoor space. It works continuously, releasing fresh repellent to maintain the zone of protection around you.”

Adelman says that Radius uses a “nature inspired” pyrethroid repellent formulation modeled on the naturally occurring mosquito repellent found in the chrysanthemum flower.

“While Radius is a revolutionary new product, it is not our first zone repellent,” Adelman explained. “Our company, Thermacell, is the leader in the design and development of Zone Mosquito Protection. We’ve sold butane powered versions of Thermacell for over a decade, and have earned a loyal following among outdoor enthusiasts. In fact, Thermacell currently enjoys the highest consumer ratings in the mosquito repellent space. Our technology and products have been used by the military and has been proven effective in some of the toughest mosquito-infested areas.”

When it comes to developing Radius, Adelman says the team is “pretty far down the development path.” It has demonstrated a proof of concept and carried out field trials. “We’re currently working on pilot tooling modification and line setup, with a plan to start full-scale production by end of month,” he said.

If you’d like to order your own Radius device, you can place a pre-order on Kickstarter, where prices start at $40. Be aware that you will have to buy refills of the pyrethroid repellent, however, so it might be worth investing in one of the higher price points, which come with multiple refills.

Editors’ Recommendations

• U.S. approves plans to release weaponized mosquitoes — for your own good
• This app will track disease-carrying mosquitoes by listening to their buzz
• The North Face’s new Ventrix jacket is built to vent heat and moisture
• Robotics startup could fight Zika by dumping mosquitoes from a drone
• The 21 best camping hacks to keep you prepared all winter

Honor View 10 vs. OnePlus 5T: Which midranger reigns supreme?

The Honor 7X wasn’t the only great phone to come out of Honor’s factories recently — the Honor View 10 is aiming to blow the midrange market apart, with a Kirin 970 processor, a hefty dual-sensor camera, and a massive bezel-less screen. But here be dragons; the OnePlus 5T is still fresh on the scene, and it’s eager to prove its dominance. How do these two amazing midrangers stack up against each other? We took a look to find out.

Specs

Honor View 10

OnePlus 5T
Size
157 x 75 x 7mm (6.18 x 2.95 x 0.28 inches)
156.1 x 75 x 7.3mm (6.15 x 2.95 x 0.29 inches)
Weight
172 grams (6.07 ounces)
162 grams (5.71 ounces)
Screen
5.99-inch IPS LCD display
6.01-inch AMOLED display
Resolution
2160 x 1080 pixels (403 pixels-per-inch)
2160 x 1080 pixels (401 pixels-per-inch)
OS
EMUI 8.0 (over Android 8.0 Oreo)
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Storage
128GB
64GB, 128GB
MicroSD card slot
Yes, up to 256GB
No
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 970
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM
6GB
6GB, 8GB
Connectivity
GSM / HSPA / LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Camera
Dual sensor 16MP & 20MP rear, 13MP front
Dual sensor 16MP &20MP rear, 16MP front
Video
2160p @ 30 fps
2160p @ 30 fps, 1080p @ 30/60 fps, 720p @ 30/120 fps
Bluetooth
Yes, Bluetooth 4.2
Yes, Bluetooth 5.0
Audio
Headphone jack
Headphone jack
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Other sensors
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Water resistant
No
No
Battery
3,750mAh
3,300mAh
Charging port
USB-C
USB-C
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Colors
Navy Blue, Midnight Black
Midnight Black
Availability
HiHonor
OnePlus
Price
TBC
$500
DT review
Hands-on review
4.5 out of 5 stars

The new Kirin 970 processor runs the Honor View 10 — the same processor we saw in the Huawei Mate 10 Pro. It’s an impressive piece of kit, capable of beating the Snapdragon 835 in the Galaxy S8, though it falls short of beating the same chip in the OnePlus 5T benchmarks. It’s a good reminder that benchmarks aren’t always indicative of real-world performance, but it’s still enough to tell us the Honor View 10 and the OnePlus 5T are neck-and-neck in processing power.

The Honor View 10 does have a few more tricks up its sleeve with the addition of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) in the Kirin 970 which allows for on-device artificial intelligence, rather than the cloud-based processing that requires data to be sent away from the device to be processed. It’s a neat little addition that works hard behind the scenes to increase efficiency and allow for greater performance.

We see the two devices are fairly similar in terms of storage, with 128GB of storage being the top line of each device. The OnePlus 5T does also offer a 64GB model, which is something we don’t see on the global version of the View 10 (though the Chinese version will include a 64GB option), but the Honor device does include the option of a MicroSD card — something the OnePlus 5T lacks.

The OnePlus 5T does take some points back again with a larger amount of available RAM — but as we’ve always said, the impact of RAM on smartphone performance is arguable, and the 6GB on the Honor View 10 is unlikely to disappoint.

The Honor View 10 also doesn’t include the latest Bluetooth 5.0, instead settling for Bluetooth 4.2. The 5T has taken full advantage of the increased strength and range that 5.0 offers, but it’s not as big a sin as it could be, since both devices include a headphone jack. The View 10 also includes an infrared port, so you can use this device as a TV remote if the need strikes you. It’s a feature that’s been missing from recent phones, so it’s nice that Honor has included it here.

This is a tough category to call. The processors are neck and neck, the storage is similarly equal, and the amounts of RAM are close enough as to be essentially the same. For our money though, we wager the addition of the NPU on the Kirin 970, the option to add a MicroSD card, and the cool little infrared port trumps the additional RAM and improved Bluetooth on the OnePlus 5T.

Winner: Honor View 10

Design and display

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

2017 has been the year many manufacturers threw away their bezels, and embraced a glorious bezel-free future. Both of these devices have gone for a bezel-less, edge-to-edge design, with displays that are roughly 6 inches in size. The OnePlus 5T has a slight edge with a 6.01-inch screen compared to the 5.99-inch screen on the Honor View 10, but the difference is negligible. Both are also rocking 18:9 aspect ratios with resolutions of 2160 x 1080 pixels. They’re gorgeous, crisp, and beg your eyes to take just one more look. The OnePlus 5T, however, gains an edge with the deep blacks and vibrant colors only an AMOLED screen can provide. That’s no slur on the View 10; it’s gorgeous, but an IPS LCD is always going to struggle to match an OLED panel.

We’re seeing similar overall designs here too, thanks to the exceedingly large screens on both. Both have slim bezels around the sides, and a small forehead and chin at the top and bottom of the screen. There’s a small difference in the fingerprint scanner placement — the OnePlus 5T has its on the rear of the device, while the Honor View 10 squeezes its underneath the screen. It’s a small difference, but it could be enough to sway you if you prefer one over the other.

Both devices have metal casings, so there’s no wireless charging here. The metal on the OnePlus 5T is rather slippery, so we recommend a case to add some grip. We haven’t had enough time to really evaluate the metal on the Honor View 10 yet, but it feels good in the hand. Neither device has any water resistance, which is a shame, but we can forgive them, given the flagship specs and low prices.

It’s another tough one to decide, but the day is won by the AMOLED display on the OnePlus 5T.

Winner: OnePlus 5T

Camera

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The reduction of bezels isn’t the only trend these phones are chasing. Both the View 10 and the OnePlus 5T are bang up to date with the inclusion of twin-sensor cameras. Curiously, the two camera systems are rather similar; the OnePlus 5T pairs a 16-megapixel and a 20-megapixel lens, with a standard f/1.7 lens replacing the telephoto lens from the OnePlus 5. The replacement of the telephoto obviously means a loss of optical zoom, but OnePlus says the new lens should improve low-light shots. The Honor View 10 also packs a 16-megapixel and a 20-megapixel lens together, with one lens producing entirely monochrome shots, helping to enhance low-light performance.

But which is better? It’s a tough call to make. The OnePlus 5T’s camera is good, but it’s not spectacular by any means. We haven’t had a chance to play with the Honor View 10’s camera properly yet, but based on the excellent Honor 7X’s camera, and sister-company Huawei placing extremely highly on DxOMark with the Mate 10 Pro, we’re willing to bet the View 10 has a brilliant camera. Still, we’re hesitant to award the prize based purely on speculation.

Both cameras record up to 2160p at 30 frames per second (fps), but if you’re a fan of further camera trickery, then you’ll probably enjoy the OnePlus 5T’s ability to shoot slow-motion videos at 120 fps at 720p. The OnePlus 5T also bags a stronger front-facing camera, with a 16-megapixel selfie shooter compared to the 13-megapixel camera on the Honor View 10. Still, it’s a small difference, and it doesn’t make up for what we’re willing to bet will be a strong main camera on the View 10.

For now we’re judging this a tie, pending results on the View 10’s camera. We’ll change this if the results are strongly one way or the other.

Winner: Tie

Battery life and charging

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Both phones need a pretty hefty battery to help fuel those huge 6-inch screens, and thankfully, they’re not a bad size. The OnePlus 5T has a 3,330mAh battery that saw us through roughly a day and a half; OnePlus has said 60 percent battery power should be enough for the day, and that seems fairly accurate. The Honor View 10 weighs in with a bigger battery, packing a 3,750mAh monster inside its slim profile. If that doesn’t last the day you should really wonder why.

But even if your usage is heavier than usual for whatever reason (check out our guide on saving battery), then the fast-charging methods packed into each of these devices should see you right. OnePlus’s proprietary Dash Charge is consistently impressive, capable of charging from empty to 60 percent in 30 minutes, and from there to full in less than 90 minutes. However, the Huawei SuperCharge in the View 10 is just as impressive, capable of taking the battery to 58 percent from empty in 30 minutes — and that’s on a significantly larger battery.

It’s hard to judge this one without some time to see how the Honor View 10 deals with everyday life, but since they’re matched on fast-charging, the Honor View 10 sneaks the win for the extra capacity.

Winner: Honor View 10

Software

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Android is an extremely varied ecosystem, and there aren’t many phones that better exhibit that than these two. The OnePlus 5T runs a near-stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat experience, cunningly disguised as OxygenOS. It’s extremely similar to stock Android, with a few additions like an ambient display, double-tap to wake, and support for various gestures — if you fancy giving the iPhone X experience a try. Still, it’s a shame the latest Android 8.0 Oreo isn’t installed. But OnePlus has promised Oreo will be coming in the first quarter of 2018.

The Honor View 10 runs Huawei’s Emotion UI (EMUI) software — EMUI 8.0, to be exact. It’s the latest version of EMUI, a heavily re-skinned version of Android 8.0 Oreo. Lovers of stock Android won’t like it, but everyone else should cope just fine. There are some issues with EMUI 8.0, as we noted in our Huawei Mate 10 Pro review, but all-in-all, it’s a strong OS, with plenty of extra fun additions like gestures, and the latest additions to Android, like the notification dots on apps that show when you’ve received messages.

We enjoy stock Android as much as the next person — but you can’t argue with a more updated version of Android, even if it is hidden behind EMUI. The Honor View 10 wins here.

Winner: Honor View 10

Price and availability

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The OnePlus 5T is currently available from the OnePlus website, with prices starting from $500 for 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. Upgrading to 128GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM will set you back a further $60, raising the costs to $560. The phone comes unlocked, so you can put it on whichever network you prefer; word to the wise though, the phone has limited support on Verizon and Sprint, so this is one to skip if you’re locked into either of those networks.

The Honor View 10 is set to be released January 8 in the United Kingdom, and while we haven’t seen U.S. pricing for it yet, the U.K. model is supposedly around 450 British pounds, so there’s a small chance the U.S. price could be lower than the OnePlus 5T. The same warning applies here as to the OnePlus 5T though; there’s no support for Verizon or Sprint with the View 10, so skip this phone if you’re stuck with either of those two.

Without definite pricing for the View 10, this is too close to judge. That said, it would probably be too close to call anyway. This is another tie.

Winner: Tie

Overall winner: Honor View 10

It’s been a close, tough fight, with quite a few categories ending in a tie. It’s a compliment to both devices that they’re able to put up such a good fight against each other, and both are fantastic midrange devices with flagship-level specs that you should be proud to own. But for us, the Honor View 10 is coming out as the slightly stronger device. It might not have the AMOLED display or the staggering amounts of RAM the OnePlus 5T has going for it, but it is running the latest version of Android, has the slight edge on the specs sheet, and we’re willing to bet it’ll have the stronger camera in tests. But that’s not to say the 5T is a bad choice; either phone would be the perfect complement to the new year, and will be a worthy companion until your next upgrade.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Honor View 10 hands-on review
• OnePlus 5T vs. Pixel 2: Battle of the Android superstars
• OnePlus 5T review
• Honor 7X vs. Moto E4 Plus: Big-screen budget battle
• Honor 7X vs. Moto G5 Plus: Which cheap phone gets the most bang for your buck?

How to sell Bitcoin

Decided it’s time to get out of the Bitcoin craze, or just want to be prepared for when you do? In this guide, we’ll teach you how to sell Bitcoin to make sure that you’re able to walk away when you want to and get what you’re owed in return. Be aware though, that if you decide to sell at the same time as everyone else, you can run into a few problems. Fortunately, we’re here to talk you through them all, so you can make an informed choice about when and where to sell your cryptocurrency.

For those of you who don’t even have your first piece of the Bitcoin pie yet, make sure you read our guide on everything Bitcoin and how to make your first purchase.

There are two main methods for selling Bitcoin, each a little different from the another. Which is right for you will depend on how much you’re looking to sell, how much control you want over the eventual price you get for your cryptocurrency, and how much time you have on your hands.

Exchanges trades

Arguably the simplest and most ‘automated’ way to turn your Bitcoin into hard cash is through an exchange platform. They act as a middle-man for the famously decentralized cryptocurrency, by selling your Bitcoin for you. Some of the best examples include Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Kraken, and if they don’t offer what you want in an exchange, there are many others to choose from.

Whichever one you choose, the process for selling your Bitcoins on their platforms is much the same. You create an account and wallet with the exchange and link your bank account with it, or in some cases a local currency wallet. Next, you send your Bitcoins there just as you would if conducting a transaction with someone else. You take your deposit address from the exchange wallet and you send the Bitcoins you want to sell to it.

Once your coins have been deposited there, you can place a “sell order.” That will typically involve your Bitcoins being sold at the going market rate. Some exchanges will let you set a limit on your sale, so that if Bitcoin’s price were to drop below a certain point, the sale would not proceed.

After the sale has been completed, the funds in your relevant currency will be transferred directly to your linked bank account, or to your exchange currency account, at which point you can withdraw it as and when you like. Note though that you will usually be charged a small fee for using the exchange’s services.

The potential problems

As simple as the process of selling on an exchange is, it’s not always straightforward. Some sites will require you to provide photo-ID for verification before buying or selling on them, which must be manually verified. To avoid any delays, make sure you set up your sales account well in advance of when you plan to make the trade.

Even if you do though, there’s no guarantee that your chosen site will be accessible at the time of sale. A huge influx of buyers and sellers during frantic trading periods, DDOS attacks, and general maintenance problem, can lead to site outages at the worst of times. That can leave your cryptocurrency or real money stuck with the site until it becomes accessible again.

It’s also important to remember that Bitcoin’s value can fluctuate by large amounts over short periods of time, which can lead to you selling for far less than you intended, or incur large transaction costs. Delays in a transaction being confirmed because of low fees can mean that payments take a long time to come through too. Avoiding selling at the same time as everyone else is your best bet to avoid most of these problems.

Although unlikely with most established exchanges, there is also a risk of sites doing a runner with your cryptocurrency or being hacked themselves, losing everyone’s money and coins in the process. You can avoid that sort of problem as best you can by not leaving any money or cryptocurrency in an exchange wallet for longer than necessary and only using ones that are well established and have insurance against theft.

Direct Trades

If you’d rather have more of a hand in the actual sale process, direct trades (or peer-to-peer trades) are a somewhat safer alternative. You will need to register, which in some cases will mean confirming your identity, so as with all selling methods, we’d recommend getting your account set up well in advance of when you actually want to sell. Once you’re set up though, you can sell your Bitcoins in a much more ‘direct’ manner.

The actual method for the transaction will depend very much on which site you use, but setting up the sale is comparable on most sites. You set up a sell order for a specific value and when someone comes along looking to buy at the agreed upon price, the site will alert you that you can move ahead with the transaction. Once you give it the thumbs up, the buyer pays you, and you then send them the cryptocurrency in return.

The actual method of conducting the payment will very much depend on which platform you make the trade through. Sites like BitQuick keep things exclusively online, utilizing bank account transfers. However, sites like LocalBitcoin or Paxful have far more numerous options, including Moneygram, gift cards, cash in the mail, and even cash in person.

Although some of those methods are far more time consuming, many are much more anonymous and can allow you to keep your transaction away from prying eyes if that’s an advantage to you.

Potential problems

Since there is no middle-man exchange with direct trades you don’t need to worry about the platform itself running off with your money or being hacked and having it stolen. However, you can run into the same problems of the platform itself going down due to high-traffic or DDOS attacks. That doesn’t necessarily mean any of your funds are stuck there, be they cryptocurrency or real-world alternatives, but you won’t be able to make any transactions while the site is down.

Verification requirements mean that you need to be forward thinking about the sale, but since transactions are conducted manually you run much less of a risk of being hit by problems with price fluctuations. As the seller, fees are much less likely to be a problem for you than they are the buyer.

If you’re selling Bitcoins in person for a cash trade via LocalBitcoin or one of the alternatives, it’s very important to make the trade in a public setting where you can remain safe. Although problems are rare, just as making any transaction in person with someone you’ve met online, you cannot be sure of their intentions until the trade has been completed.

Direct trades are also much more time consuming than automated exchanges. You have to make the trade manually and you have to be ready to do so in a timely manner. If you plan to meet someone in person for a cash trade, you need to factor in the time involved and any associated travel costs too.

Editors’ Recommendations

• You can now buy your neighbor’s couch from Craigslist using Bitcoin
• You’ll need to sell your Bitcoin if you want to buy games with it on Steam
• Fake version of top Bitcoin wallet appears on iOS App Store
• Bitcoin’s latest boom sends it scorching past $9,000
• Bitcoin is still soaring. What’s the limit?

How to sell Bitcoin

Decided it’s time to get out of the Bitcoin craze, or just want to be prepared for when you do? In this guide, we’ll teach you how to sell Bitcoin to make sure that you’re able to walk away when you want to and get what you’re owed in return. Be aware though, that if you decide to sell at the same time as everyone else, you can run into a few problems. Fortunately, we’re here to talk you through them all, so you can make an informed choice about when and where to sell your cryptocurrency.

For those of you who don’t even have your first piece of the Bitcoin pie yet, make sure you read our guide on everything Bitcoin and how to make your first purchase.

There are two main methods for selling Bitcoin, each a little different from the another. Which is right for you will depend on how much you’re looking to sell, how much control you want over the eventual price you get for your cryptocurrency, and how much time you have on your hands.

Exchanges trades

Arguably the simplest and most ‘automated’ way to turn your Bitcoin into hard cash is through an exchange platform. They act as a middle-man for the famously decentralized cryptocurrency, by selling your Bitcoin for you. Some of the best examples include Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Kraken, and if they don’t offer what you want in an exchange, there are many others to choose from.

Whichever one you choose, the process for selling your Bitcoins on their platforms is much the same. You create an account and wallet with the exchange and link your bank account with it, or in some cases a local currency wallet. Next, you send your Bitcoins there just as you would if conducting a transaction with someone else. You take your deposit address from the exchange wallet and you send the Bitcoins you want to sell to it.

Once your coins have been deposited there, you can place a “sell order.” That will typically involve your Bitcoins being sold at the going market rate. Some exchanges will let you set a limit on your sale, so that if Bitcoin’s price were to drop below a certain point, the sale would not proceed.

After the sale has been completed, the funds in your relevant currency will be transferred directly to your linked bank account, or to your exchange currency account, at which point you can withdraw it as and when you like. Note though that you will usually be charged a small fee for using the exchange’s services.

The potential problems

As simple as the process of selling on an exchange is, it’s not always straightforward. Some sites will require you to provide photo-ID for verification before buying or selling on them, which must be manually verified. To avoid any delays, make sure you set up your sales account well in advance of when you plan to make the trade.

Even if you do though, there’s no guarantee that your chosen site will be accessible at the time of sale. A huge influx of buyers and sellers during frantic trading periods, DDOS attacks, and general maintenance problem, can lead to site outages at the worst of times. That can leave your cryptocurrency or real money stuck with the site until it becomes accessible again.

It’s also important to remember that Bitcoin’s value can fluctuate by large amounts over short periods of time, which can lead to you selling for far less than you intended, or incur large transaction costs. Delays in a transaction being confirmed because of low fees can mean that payments take a long time to come through too. Avoiding selling at the same time as everyone else is your best bet to avoid most of these problems.

Although unlikely with most established exchanges, there is also a risk of sites doing a runner with your cryptocurrency or being hacked themselves, losing everyone’s money and coins in the process. You can avoid that sort of problem as best you can by not leaving any money or cryptocurrency in an exchange wallet for longer than necessary and only using ones that are well established and have insurance against theft.

Direct Trades

If you’d rather have more of a hand in the actual sale process, direct trades (or peer-to-peer trades) are a somewhat safer alternative. You will need to register, which in some cases will mean confirming your identity, so as with all selling methods, we’d recommend getting your account set up well in advance of when you actually want to sell. Once you’re set up though, you can sell your Bitcoins in a much more ‘direct’ manner.

The actual method for the transaction will depend very much on which site you use, but setting up the sale is comparable on most sites. You set up a sell order for a specific value and when someone comes along looking to buy at the agreed upon price, the site will alert you that you can move ahead with the transaction. Once you give it the thumbs up, the buyer pays you, and you then send them the cryptocurrency in return.

The actual method of conducting the payment will very much depend on which platform you make the trade through. Sites like BitQuick keep things exclusively online, utilizing bank account transfers. However, sites like LocalBitcoin or Paxful have far more numerous options, including Moneygram, gift cards, cash in the mail, and even cash in person.

Although some of those methods are far more time consuming, many are much more anonymous and can allow you to keep your transaction away from prying eyes if that’s an advantage to you.

Potential problems

Since there is no middle-man exchange with direct trades you don’t need to worry about the platform itself running off with your money or being hacked and having it stolen. However, you can run into the same problems of the platform itself going down due to high-traffic or DDOS attacks. That doesn’t necessarily mean any of your funds are stuck there, be they cryptocurrency or real-world alternatives, but you won’t be able to make any transactions while the site is down.

Verification requirements mean that you need to be forward thinking about the sale, but since transactions are conducted manually you run much less of a risk of being hit by problems with price fluctuations. As the seller, fees are much less likely to be a problem for you than they are the buyer.

If you’re selling Bitcoins in person for a cash trade via LocalBitcoin or one of the alternatives, it’s very important to make the trade in a public setting where you can remain safe. Although problems are rare, just as making any transaction in person with someone you’ve met online, you cannot be sure of their intentions until the trade has been completed.

Direct trades are also much more time consuming than automated exchanges. You have to make the trade manually and you have to be ready to do so in a timely manner. If you plan to meet someone in person for a cash trade, you need to factor in the time involved and any associated travel costs too.

Editors’ Recommendations

• You can now buy your neighbor’s couch from Craigslist using Bitcoin
• You’ll need to sell your Bitcoin if you want to buy games with it on Steam
• Fake version of top Bitcoin wallet appears on iOS App Store
• Bitcoin’s latest boom sends it scorching past $9,000
• Bitcoin is still soaring. What’s the limit?

Spice up your 360 videos and photos with VeeR Editor for iOS and Android

You’ll find 360-degree cameras everywhere today, but the apps that come with them aren’t always great at actually editing the footage they shoot. That’s where VeeR Editor from Velocious Technologies hopes to make a difference, by offering a third-party solution to streamline 360 editing on both iOS and Android devices. The free app could be the perfect compliment for mobile-focused 360 cams like the Samsung Gear 360 or the Rylo.

One of the big advantages VeeR Editor brings to the table is support for multiclip editing with transitions specifically designed for 360 content. This is often a major limiting factor of first-party apps. You can also set the initial perspective, so your viewers always start out looking in the right direction. Beyond those basics, you can add animated text and stickers in the 360-degree space and even apply Instagram-style filters in real time. The app also serves up a selection of music tracks and offers independent volume control over the music and the original audio in the video clip.

In December, VeeR Editor was updated with support for 360 photo editing, as well. In addition to the same tools for editing video, 360 photos benefit from decent manual exposure and color controls, with contrast and white balance adjustments and even a split toning tool. 360 photo hasn’t caught on quite as much as its video counterpart, but if that’s the sort of thing you’re into, VeeR Editor might be worth a look.

One current limitation of the app is that, for the most part, it can only handle 2K resolution, while many consumer 360 cams shoot in 4K today. For now, 4K is supported on some Samsung models, but Velocious says it is working on rolling out 4K support for other cameras. 360 video shows considerable benefits from higher resolution as all of those pixels need to be spread over a spherical area, so hopefully this update arrives soon.

Other than that, VeeR Editor seems to be generally well liked in both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. If you’ve been jonesing to put a smily face sticker on your dog, check it out.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Got an iPhone X? Apple’s Clips app now has a feature exclusively for you
• RAW Power app means seamless iCloud integration for editing RAW on the go
• Garmin Virb 360 gains new creative editing controls and 5.7K mode
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• Album+ with offline A.I. is Google Photos for the cloud naysayers

Go ahead, have another! The best ridesharing apps help get you home safely

New Year’s Eve in New York City has been a mammoth affair ever since Adolph Ochs, then owner of the New York Times, rang in the 1908 New Year with a fireworks display and descending crystal ball. Now, millions of people flock to New Year’s celebrations across the country to laugh, drink, dance, and be merry with friends and family. These parties are spectacles to behold, but the influx of people presents a very real logistical problem: massive shortages of public transportation.

Luckily, the rise of on-demand ride-sharing services has made hailing a private sedan, SUV, or taxi a cinch — even in the hours leading up to and immediately following the New Year. But not all ride-hailing apps are created equal. Some have the advantage of volume, while others offer the best price or superior technology. That’s why we’ve put together our list of the best ride-sharing apps to get you safely home from your New Year’s Eve celebrations.

On-demand rides

Uber

San Francisco-based Uber is by far the most popular ride-hailing service around. As of 2017 Uber has over 1.5 million drivers in dozens of nations. The app works worldwide, too, so you can count on Uber to get you home even if you’re partying in a foreign country.

Uber’s pricing is fairly competitive on most days of the year, but things are a bit different on New Year’s Eve. The service’s variable surge pricing kicks in when demand hits a certain threshold, and those caught unawares are in for a nasty New Year’s surprise. If you’re unwilling to wait out peak hours between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. and don’t mind sharing a ride with strangers, Uber provides a discounted carpooling option called uberPOOL to make the expense a little more palatable. If you’ve got a larger group, the app lets you split the fare among passengers regardless of whether you spring for Uber’s large sedan (uberXL), SUV (UberSUV), luxury car (Lux), and/or multiple mid-level cars.

Should you or one of the members of your party need it, Uber is one of the few on-demand services offering a disabled access option called UberASSIST. Select it in a supported city, and you’ll get a trained driver with a vehicle large enough to accommodate folding a scooter or folding wheelchair.

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Lyft

Lyft, the second-largest ride-hailing app by volume, offers transport in over 200 U.S. cities including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It recently set up shop in Toronto, marking its first expansion into the Canadian market. Perhaps best known for the bright pink mustaches that once adorned the grills of its drivers’ cars, Lyft offers a range of vehicles to choose from, including average-sized Lyft autos and larger Lyft Plus cars.

Much like Uber, Lyft institutes demand-based pricing during the busiest hours. Unlike Uber, Lyft caps premiums at 400 percent. If that still sounds too rich for your blood, Lyft offers a carpooling service called Lyft Line, which lets you split fares between passengers if you opt for a larger private car. You’ll ultimately be able to hail a self-driving car from Lyft.

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Gett

Gett, the Israel-based ride-hailing app formerly known as GetTaxi, has a user base that pales in comparison to Uber and Lyft — it covers more than 100 cities globally, but only has a U.S. presence in New York City right now though its partner Juno. The two have plans to expand into other cities and states in the not-too-distant future. Gett is appreciably more reasonable when it comes to pricing, though: the service never charges a premium during busy hours.

Gett gets away with it by paying drivers a competitive hourly wage rather than a percentage of every fare, like Uber and Lyft. The company passes those savings on to riders. In Manhattan, Gett caps fares between Houston Street and 72nd street at $10 plus tax and tip.

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iTunes Google Play

Juno

Juno is a relative newcomer to the ride-sharing industry. The app was founded by Talmon Marco, a serial entrepreneur who made his fortune selling messaging app Viber for almost a billion dollars, and functions as a driving service that prioritizes fair compensation for drivers. The company takes a 10-percent commission out of fares — Uber, in comparison, takes around 30 percent of fares — and will eventually provide long-term drivers with restricted stock units (RSUs) so that they’ll own a piece of the company.

It doesn’t ask riders to make any sacrifices, either. Juno rides come in two flavors, Bliss and Lux, and an SUV option for larger groups. The app also estimates each tier’s fare, provides an ETA, and, when you’re ready to go, hails nearby cars. It’s a little barebones at the moment — it’s still in beta — so it doesn’t have a carpooling component or other features you might find in more established apps. This is a good thing for prospective riders, however, given rides are 30-percent off during this soft-launch period.

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iTunes Google Play

Curb

Curb was briefly shuttered after an acquisition by Verifone Systems, the San Jose, California-based company that operates in-cab entertainment and payment systems. It’s another ride-sharing underdog, but one that’s expanding aggressively — the service taps a network of 50,000 taxis and hired cars across 65 U.S. cities.

Fundamentally, Curb works much in the same way as Uber and Lyft: Hail a driver, and you’ll be whisked away to your final destination. Uniquely, though, the service lets you schedule pickups ahead of time in some cities for a $2 fee. Know you’ll need a ride after a long night of ringing in the New Year? Set a time and location, so that a Curb driver will await your arrival. And it never charges surge pricing.

But Curb’s far from perfect. ComputerWorld’s Jake Widman reports that Curb’s driver availability is often spotty, an assertion which a cursory glance at Curb’s App Store reviews would seem to confirm. That’s apparently thanks to the service’s heavy reliance on cab drivers, who are likely to find closer passengers on the way to your pickup location. Curb now disincentives drivers from skipping jobs by kicking them out of the reservation system temporarily, but it remains to be seen just how highly drivers value Curb’s ride-hailing network over others.

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iTunes Google Play

Sitbaq

Founded as a more socially responsible alternative to Uber, Sitbaq presents itself as a reliable ride-sharing app everyone can use. It’s currently only available in the San Francisco area but the company plans on expanding to Sacramento and San Diego in the not-too-distant future.

Sitbaq works a lot like Uber. After downloading the application, you open it, request a ride from one of the four vehicle categories, and wait for a driver to accept it. The process takes no more than 30 seconds, the company promises, so you’re certain to get on your way as quickly as possible. Sitbaq guarantees upfront pricing without hidden fees or price surges, which is a boon if you’re used to Uber’s often whimsical pricing structure. And if you like your driver, you can leave a review and add him or her as a favorite for a future ride.

Download it now from:

iTunes Google Play

Google, Microsoft briefly had internet traffic rerouted through Russia

On Wednesday, December 13, it was observed that internet traffic being transmitted to and from Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft was routed through a previously unknown Russian internet service provider for a brief time. This activity is thought to have been intentional.

The initial hijacking lasted for three minutes, and targeted 80 separate address blocks, according to a blog post published by BGPMon. A second attack started two and half hours later and lasted for another three minutes. However, Qrator Labs suggests that the event actually lasted for two hours uninterrupted, with the number of blocks affected fluctuating throughout.

These communications were using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which routes huge amounts of data around the web. The security implemented on the BGP has come under fire before; earlier in 2017,  network traffic pertaining to a host of different financial services was briefly redirected via a telecom company operated by the Russian government, according to Ars Technica.

It’s not uncommon for data to be rerouted via the BGP as a result of user error. For a number of reasons, experts think that this situation was carried out intentionally.

First, there’s the fact that major entities like Microsoft and Google were targeted. Then there is the fact that hijacked IP addresses split up into announced blocks with some specificity, which indicates the guesswork of an attacker rather than an honest mistake.

The hijacking was carried out by an autonomous system known as AS39523, which has long since been inactive, save for an incident in August, which also targeted Google. We don’t know what, if anything, was done with the information that was rerouted. Projects like Logjam have previously set out to develop a means of breaking common encryption methods for such traffic, with little success — but the culprits could have a new technique that allows for some kind of workaround.

This is yet another scenario that goes to show how poor online security is a problem at every level. It’s crucial that users make smart decisions for themselves but the weak points available to attackers run deeper than many of us might realize.

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Huawei and Xiaomi reportedly in talks with U.S. carriers to sell phones

While Apple has the lead in the U.S. when it comes to the smartphone market, there might be a new competitor headed its way. According to Bloomberg, sources close to the matter claim Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. are reportedly in discussions with U.S. carriers to bring each company’s flagship smartphone to American consumers by next year.

Huawei already sells budget devices in the U.S., but not by carriers — you can instead purchase them on Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers. Both Huawei and Xiaomi are specifically said to be negotiating with carriers such as AT&T and Verizon. But it’s still a possibility there won’t be any agreements finalized at all.

This isn’t the first time news has surfaced of Huawei’s attempt to break into the U.S. with the Mate 9. In 2016, the Chinese company was reportedly met with security concerns due to its networking equipment. The issue primarily stemmed from a 2012 congressional report suggesting U.S. carriers should stay away from Huawei gear because “China might use it to spy on Americans.”

There have also been technical obstacles when it comes to cellular standards. Since Sprint and Verizon use CDMA networks, Huawei would have to adapt its processors to be compatible with the networks in the U.S.

In March, The Information reported that Huawei was hoping to work with AT&T in an effort to bring the company’s proprietary Kirin mobile phone chip to the network and possibly its phones. But neither Huawei nor AT&T ever commented on the apparent deal.

Security and technological issues aside, being able to sell its devices via U.S. carriers would solve the lack of presence Huawei has in the country. By selling a flagship line to U.S. carriers, the company would work to possibly grow the presence within U.S. retailer stores, TV commercials, and carrier websites. Sources told Bloomberg that Huawei does plan to sell the Mate 10 device via ecommerce channels as well.

Regardless of the competition, Huawei is still the third largest smartphone manufacturer — behind Apple and Samsung. The opportunity to sell its high-end flagship devices in the U.S. might be exactly what the company needs to get ahead.

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Xiaomi, Samsung may offer Snapdragon-based ‘Always Connected’ Windows 10 PCs

While we already officially know that Asus and HP will produce “Always Connected” Windows 10 PCs in the first quarter of 2018. And Lenovo was on hand during Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon convention to talk about its upcoming Snapdragon 835-based Windows 10 PC. Now, reports indicate that Samsung and Xiaomi plan to jump on the Always Connected bandwagon as well.

China-based Xiaomi typically focuses on smartphones, but entered the laptop space in August 2016 with the Mi Notebook Air served up in 12.5-inch and 13.3-inch flavors. All variants included sixth-generation Intel Core processors, but saw a hardware refresh using seventh-generation chips in March 2017, along with additional 15.6-inch designs. This year also saw the introduction of Xiaomi’s Mi Notebook Air 4G.

Now, Xiaomi is reportedly showing an interest in notebooks powered by the Snapdragon 835, a complete 180-degree turn from its use of Intel-based processors. The Intel (x86) and Qualcomm (ARM) chips are designed with different processor architectures/layouts, with the ARM-based chips typically serving the battery-focused tablet and smartphone markets while performance-driven x86-based chips target desktops and laptops.

But Microsoft and Qualcomm want to change that with their Always Connected initiative. The big focus is thin and light form factors, all day battery life, and cellular connectivity. These Windows 10 PCs will always have a connection so long as customers maintain cellular data plans and land-based broadband subscriptions. But how these Snapdragon-based PCs compare to similar Intel Core-based units on a performance level remains to be seen.

The collaboration with Qualcomm will be Microsoft’s second major attempt to provide Windows on ARM-based devices. Windows RT made its debut in October 2012, but failed to gain traction because end users couldn’t run their traditional desktop software on the devices. Plus, many apps provided on the Windows Store for Windows 8 weren’t compatible with Windows RT.

That was five years ago, and since then Microsoft has fine-tuned its Universal Windows Platform. All apps developed on this platform work on any Windows 10 device despite the underlying processor architecture. This platform also ties identical apps developed for Android and iOS to those served up on Windows 10 devices. Backing this platform is a cloud service for carrying data across multiple devices.

According to Intel, the always-connected PC isn’t anything new despite the boasts of Qualcomm and Microsoft. “[Intel] has been powering always-connected PCs since their inception,” the company said. “Today, there are more than 30 business- and consumer-oriented, Intel-based always-connected PCs available, offering the leading performance, a variety of connectivity options and price points, long battery life and thin and light form factor design.”

Intel-based always-connected solutions include Xiaomi’s Mi Notebook Air, Lenovo’s ThinkPad L470 and Miix 520, HP’s ProBook 400 Series, and Samsung’s Galaxy Book 12. So far, both Xiaomi and Samsung have not officially announced Snapdragon 835-based Windows 10 PCs, so all reports must be filed under “rumor” for now.

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