Netgear’s Outdoor Satellite expands your Orbi wireless network to the pool

Just ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, Netgear introduced the Orbi Outdoor Satellite (RBS50Y). As the name states, the device expands your Orbi-based wireless network beyond the confines of your home or office, so you have local, solid internet connectivity while cutting the grass, lounging by the pool, or firing up the company’s grill in the parking lot. Netgear says this new device broadcasts up to 2,500 square feet of additional coverage.

In the overall networking scheme, Netgear’s Orbi system sits between your standard router setup and mesh-based networking kits. The typical Orbi kit contains two devices: One that serves as a router and a nearly identical unit that serves as a satellite. Both units provide 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections, but they also include a third 5GHz connection that is dedicated to Orbi-to-Orbi communication.

That said, the data passed between Orbi units doesn’t interfere with the data passed between the Orbi units and connected devices. This “tri-band” setup makes for better home or office coverage because the satellite isn’t just repeating a degraded signal captured from the router. You can move satellites, too, to better fill annoying dead spots where typical routers can’t reach.

Netgear’s Orbi system is also designed to accommodate additional satellite units. That is where Netgear’s new Outdoor Satellite comes in, which is supported by the company’s home and “pro” systems for business. Just install the satellite anywhere outside, load up the Orbi App on a mobile device, and have the Orbi Router find and connect to the new satellite.

According to Netgear, the Outdoor Satellite is weather-resistant, so you will always have a connection while dancing in the rain, or digging the house out of 10 feet of snow. It includes “flexible” placement options such as mounting it to a wall with the included kit, or placing it on a stand. Even more, the Orbi system keeps devices connected while you move in and out of the home or office, removing the need to reconnect.

In its entirety, the Orbi network broadcasts one network name despite serving up 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections. It also provides a separate guest network so friends, visiting family members, and business partners can troll the internet without tarnishing your main connection. You can create a guest network using Netgear’s mobile app, or by digging into the router’s web-based interface.

On a technical note, the new satellite transmits four outgoing and four incoming Wireless AC streams to other Orbi units. Meanwhile, each unit provides two outgoing and two incoming 5GHz streams, and two outgoing and two incoming 2.4GHz streams to connected devices. That equals to connection speeds of up to 867Mbps on the 5GHz band, and up to 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. The device also consists of a quad-core processor, 512MB of memory, and 256MB of local storage.

Unfortunately, the new Outdoor Satellite doesn’t come cheap, costing $329. That’s more than the three kits sold to consumers, but $170 less than the kit Netgear offers to businesses.

See it

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Be prepared and proactive with this $30 1080p Yi Dash Camera

Thinking ahead.

Amazon has the Yi 2.7-inch 1080p Dash Camera on sale for $29.99 when you apply coupon code ABBFY96S at checkout. That saves you about $10 off the normal price of this camera, which received 4.4 out of 5 stars from 31 customer reviews. If you don’t already have one, make sure to pick up a microSD card so you have extra storage space.

Features include:

• Loop recording
• Easy installation
• 130 Wide Angle Lens
• 2.7-inch 16:9 HD LCD Widescreen
• 1080p resolution at 30fps
• Night vision
• Wi-Fi enabled
• Built-in microphone / speaker
• Connects via iOS / Android app

A dash camera is to your car what a security camera is to your home. You’ll always have proof of fault for accidents, even at night. You might even catch some cool meteor footage.

See at Amazon

Best Smart Scales to Get you on the Right Track to Weight Loss as of January 2018

Keep track of your weight loss with some smart scale help!

Whether you’re just beginning your weight loss journey or you’re deep into a workout regimen and just want to start tracking your weight, BMI, and more, a smart scale is an awesome way to keep your fitness goals in check. These scales connect to a corresponding app on your phone or tablet and show you comprehensive results that you wouldn’t get from a regular ol’ bathroom scale.

The scales you find below ain’t heavy — they’re our favorites!

• Eufy BodySense
• Fitbit Aria
• Withings Body
• Weight Gurus Smart Scale
• Garmin Index Smart Scale
• WiTscale S220
• Polar Balance
• Under Armour UA Scale
• Yunmai Smart Scale

Eufy BodySense

The Eufy BodySense smart scale is a fast and accurate scale the combines great functionality with an easy-to-swallow price (about $46), making it one of the best smart scales available. The companion app is easy to use and intuitive, and it’s Google Fit-compatible if you prefer to store your health data that way.

You can pair it with up to 20 accounts (because we all have families from the 1800s), and it actually looks pretty snazzy as far as scales go. For more, check out Marc Lagace’s full review below!

Eufy BodySense smart scale: Simply the best

See at Amazon

Fitbit Aria 2

The Fitbit Aria 2 features a polished glass surface with a digital display that syncs your weight, BMI, and body fat percentages straight to your Fitbit account. This smart scale recognizes up to 8 users and keeps everyone’s results separated and private. You can pair the Aria with any Fitbit tracker, including the Fitbit Charge 2 or the Fitbit Blaze, and keep track of your results using the Fitbit Android app or on the Fitbit website. The Aria 2 can register weights up to 350 pounds and distinguishes between users by individual weights and body fat percentages. $130 at Fitbit.

Fitbit Aria 2 review

See at Fitbit

Withings Body

The Withings Body smart scale is a comprehensive scale that gives you a total-body readout, complete with high-accuracy weight, BMI, body fat, muscle mass, bone mass, and even water measurements, using what Withings calls “Position Control” technology.

The Withings Body is great for the whole family (as Phil explains in the above Modern Dad video), because you can add everyone in the app and, based on weight, the scale can tell who’s on it, sending the correct information to the app for the correct user — and you don’t have to do a thing.

This scale also looks great, with a shiny, modern blue finish that almost looks black. $122 on Amazon.

See at Amazon

Weight Gurus Smart Scale

Sporting a larger LCD display with a bright blue backlight is this smart scale from Weight Gurus. Along with measuring your weight and BMI, this scale covers key factors like lean mass, body fat, bone mass, and even water weight. Using 4 high-precision sensors, it provides accurate measurements every time you step on its tempered glass surface. The scale syncs to your Android device via Bluetooth to the Weight Gurus app, Fitbit, Google Fit, and more. Powered by 4 AAA batteries, the Weight Gurus Smart Scale features a 400 pound capacity. This is a great, less expensive option, at $50.

See at Amazon

Garmin Index Smart Scale

This sleek smart scale from Garmin is quick to set up via Wi-Fi and tracks a slew of in-depth metrics including body weight ,BMI, water percentage and skeletal muscle mass. Able to recognize 16 different users through the Garmin Connect app, simply step on the Garmin Index and it will and automatically upload data straight to your specific account. And with extra-large white-on-black numbers, it’s always easy to read the display, even in the dark. The Garmin Index Smart Scale is available in white or black options for just $130, and works well with Garmin’s Vivofit activity trackers and Vivoactive smartwatch in your quest to crush your fitness goals.

See at Amazon

WiTscale S220

More affordable than the average smart scale is the WiTscale S200 which uses 4 highly sensitive sensors to measure your body weight and BMI. With a maximum capacity of 330 pounds, this smart scale features a tempered glass surface with a 3.5-inch LCD display that’s easy to read. The WiTscale is powered by 2 AA batteries that are included and it tracks all your data in a single graph that you can share through social media. Although the Bluetooth Scale app for Android leaves much to be desired, it still provides accurate weight readings, making it hard to argue with for $20.

See at Amazon

Polar Balance

The new Polar Balance smart scale offers an easy way to monitor your weight using the Polar Flow Android app. Its weight capacity of nearly 400 pounds, matched with advanced activity control, provides a personalized daily activity goal to help you reach your goal weight. The “weight speedometer” will tell you how hard you need to work out each day and how many calories you need to burn to meet the goals you’ve set. The Balance also works great with Polar’s wearables like the A300, Loop, and A360 if you’re after complete tracking of all your activities. $99 on Amazon and it comes in white.

See at Amazon

Yunmai Smart Scale

If you’re on a budget, but still want smart scale functionality that’s reliable and easy to set up, check out this scale from Yunmai. It’ll provide you with 10 body measurements, like weight, BMI, body fat, hydration, and more.

You can track up to 16 users and setup takes only 5 seconds, so for about $40, you’re in for a hell of a deal. The app is a bit difficult to use, since it’s seemingly directly translated from Chinese, but for $40, you put up with the little things.

See at Amazon

You weigh in

What’s your favorite smart scale? Sound off in the comments below!

Updated January 2018: Added the Eufy BodySense and added pricing to each item, a link to Marc Lagace’s review on the Fitbit Aria 2, and removed the UA scale due to poor reviews, as well as the Archos scale, due to lack of availability.

How to use GameStash on your Chromebook

Here’s how to use GameStash on your Chromebook!

GameStash is the best way to play games on an Android device: pay $4.99 per month, and you can access over 300 games without any ads or in-app purchases nagging you and ruining your gaming experience. While playing on a phone is plenty of fun, we can take it one step further and play on a Chromebook.

More and more Chromebooks are able to run Android applications from the Play Store, unlocking thousands of games that can be played on most Chromebooks. With GameStash, that gets even better due to the large catalogue of games available.

GameStash itself is not available through the Play Store, and needs to be sideloaded onto your device. This is how to use GameStash on your Chromebook!

Enable Developer mode on your Chromebook.
Open Settings after your Chromebook is set up.
Click Google Play Store near the bottom of the menu.

Click Manage Android preferences. This will open your Android settings, and it looks just like the Settings app on Nexus and Pixel devices.

Click Security under the Personal section.

Enable Unknown sources under Device administration to install applications from outside the Play Store. This setting is not available if your Chromebook is not in developer mode.

If you haven’t already done so, visit GameStash and create a new account.

Visit your account to download the GameStash .apk installation file.

Double-click the gamestash.apk file in your Downloads folder.

Click install.

Once that’s done, just sign into your GameStash account and start gaming to your heart’s content!

Spotify discovered to have filed for IPO shortly after $1.6 billion lawsuit

Big things are happening with Spotify.

Among all the music streaming services that are on the market right now, there’s no denying that Spotify is one of the biggest. Fortune estimated that the company was worth anywhere from $16 to $20 billion in September, and it looks like that number could grow substantially larger seeing as how Spotify has apparently filed for an IPO.

Axios has spoken with sources that confirm Spotify filed for the IPO in December, and this suggests that the company will be aiming to go public at some point in Q1 of 2018. Unfortunately, since the filing was done confidentially, there aren’t any specifics that we can dive into.

Spotify is choosing to forgo the traditional float.

What’s interesting about this is that Spotify is choosing to go public right away rather than start out with a float in which shares are created and sold in large quantities to the likes of banks and investment funds before the general public can start buying and selling. This is a more traditional way of going public for companies like Spotify, so it’ll be interesting to see how this immediate IPO pays off.

Going public could be the next big step that Spotify needs to take, but it remains to be seen if the company can stay on track for its launch of Q1 for it. Wixen Music Publishing recently slammed the streaming service with a lawsuit of $1.6 billion for using certain songs “without a license and without compensation.”

Spotify has yet to address the suit, and while it may not have any impact on the IPO at all, it’ll be interesting to see how Spotify chooses to handle this over the next few weeks.

Spotify is testing a sleeker and less cluttered UI for its Android app

You’ll start hearing ads from Alexa in 2018

It won’t be too much longer before ads are just part of owning an Echo.

Amazon Alexa has grown and matured substantially since its launch on the original Echo in late 2014. It’s gotten better at contextual conversations, picked up additional skills, and has expanded to more hardware than ever before. Now, it looks like 2018 will be the year that ads become part of the Alexa experience.

According to CNBC, multiple sources confirm that Amazon has been in talks with Procter & Gamble and Clorox about letting the companies pay Amazon a fee to promote their products over others when customers use Alexa. For example, if you tell Alexa that you want to buy some toothpaste, one possible response could be “Okay, I can look for a brand, like Colgate. What would you like?”

Top Alexa results could be like paid Google searches.

The idea is similar to what you often see on Google. When searching for something, the top two or three results are typically ads that a company has paid to be the top few results when users search for a certain keyword. It’s easy to look past these paid results on a phone or computer, but when interacting with something that’s mainly voice-based, chances are you’ll go with whatever’s suggested first to make the interaction as short as possible.

Along with promoting certain brands when buying products via Alexa, it’s also reported that Amazon wants to integrate adds to Alexa’s Skills. For example, CNBC says that asking Alexa for help to clean up a mess around the house could result in a certain brand being suggested if it paid money to have that top spot.

One spokesperson states that Amazon doesn’t plan on adding advertisements to Alexa, but like it or not, it’s hard to believe that this is actually the case. Alexa is booming for Amazon right now, and the company is absolutely going to monetize it in any way possible.

If/when advertisements come to Alexa, will you be inclined to get another smart speaker over one from Amazon?

Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Echo Spot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

ASUS will use routers you already own for a mesh WiFi setup

Getting WiFi to every corner of your home is made much easier these days with a mesh network, which uses a specialized router and individual nodes that can configure themselves. Companies like Netgear, Samsung and ASUS all have kits of varying price that can help you make one in your own home, but you generally have to purchase a whole new set of devices to make it work. Now, ASUS is offering AiMesh, a system that uses your current ASUS routers to create a mesh network without pricey extra hardware.

Since you’re using routers that you already own to create a mesh network, you can decide which one is the primary and which will act as nodes. You simply find the router with the best capabilities, drop it in a central location, then use the built-in software to configure the network. AiMesh is available as a free firmware update, which adds support for the protocol to your router. Currently, the ASUS RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U, RT-AC88U and the RT-AC3100 routers can handle the update, with a couple more in beta testing. The company plans to roll out updates for even more of its routers later this year, including it’s new mesh-centric Lyra system.

Source: ASUS

‘Blade Runner 2049’ VFX reel breaks down that unexpected reveal

Despite the insane stakes, this year’s Blade Runner 2049 lived up to (and in some ways surpassed) the paradigm-shifting original film. The sequel created its gritty futuristic look with the help of plenty of visual effects, but building settings isn’t all the film pulled off with digital wizardry. A shocking moment comes with the kinda-return of (*spoilers*) Sean Young’s replicant Rachel, who looks like she hasn’t aged a day. The company behind that VFX trick just released a trailer giving a peek at exactly how they did it.

The Moving Picture Company recreated Rachel through a combination of procedures, including bringing back Sean Young and scanning her in, combining that with archival footage from the original film to create a digital double, then animating it on top of a motion-captured stand-in actress. As Gizmodo pointed out, it’s not a new series of techniques, but the company made a more convincing (and less creepy) young Rachel than earlier efforts to digitally recreate and de-age actors and actresses, as Rogue One tried to do with Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Motion PIcture Company

Apple adds a Siri-powered news briefing to the latest iOS beta

Apple’s delayed HomePod is coming to challenge smart speakers from Amazon and Google. The device will use Siri as its intelligent assistant front end, and is supposed to sound pretty good to boot. Now, according to a report at 9to5Mac and confirmed on our own iPhones, Siri includes a new ability to play you a podcast when asked what the news is.

The feature appears in the latest iOS beta, 11.2.5, which is available for developers now. When you ask, “Hey Siri, give me the news,” you’ll get a daily news podcast from The Washington Post. You can also ask Siri to use Fox News, NPR or CNN. If you activate Siri with the Home button, you’ll only get a list of top headlines from Apple News (if installed) or, as noted by 9to5Mac, a list of headlines from Safari. This is how Siri operates if you don’t have the new beta, too.

While Apple’s upcoming HomePod has physical controls, voice control will be the main way to interact with one, making this an obvious feature for the smart speaker. Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home have daily news briefings, too, though they offer a few more options like reading the headlines and story summaries and choosing from more news sources and podcasts. Since this is an iOS beta, it’s likely we’ll see more abilities added in the near future, ahead of the HomePod launch.

Via: 9to5Mac

Amazon patent describes mirror for trying on virtual clothes

Amazon’s next move in the fashion world could be a mirror that shows how outfits will look on you without you having to actually put them on. GeekWire reports that the company has been granted a patent describing just that sort of technology. Using mirrors, screens, displays, projectors and cameras, the system is able to combine a person’s likeness with virtual images and present a blended-reality reflection that shows them in a variety of virtual background settings and wearing virtual outfits.

Though Amazon has been met with some resistance by the established fashion world, the company has charged forward, delivering quite a few fashion-focused products in recent years. On the retail side, Amazon has launched its own fashion label and its own Stitch Fix-like at-home clothing trial service. On the technology side, Amazon has developed an app that can tell you which of your outfits is more stylish and algorithms that can spot trends and design stylish clothing based on them. And of course there’s the Echo Look, the voice-controlled camera that can take photos or videos of your outfits and give you advice on what to wear. The technology described in this new patent seems like a logical follow-up to the Echo Look and the strategy makes even more sense considering Amazon’s acquisition of 3D body model startup Body Labs last October.

A patent doesn’t guarantee a product and there’s no word on if Amazon plans to develop the technology into one. But for a company that wants to break more fashion ground and one whose retail arm will almost definitely benefit from letting people try on virtual outfits, a blended-reality mirror such as this one seems like a smart move.

Via: The Verge

Source: US Patent and Trademark Office