HomePod’s Sound Continues to Receive Top Marks After Listening Demos in New York and London

Apple last week invited select reporters to one-hour-long HomePod listening demos in New York City and London, resulting in several first impressions of the speaker’s sound quality being shared online over the past few days.

We’ve rounded up all of the first impressions we’ve come across so far, and highlighted some excerpts that we thought were interesting below. If you spot an article not listed here, let us know in the comments section.

• Business Insider
• TechCrunch
• CNET
• Engadget
• iMore
• Mashable
• TechRadar
• Digital Trends
• Tom’s Guide
• Expert Reviews
• Wired UK
• iNews UK
• Huffington Post UK
• Vogue UK
• Refinery29
• Gear Patrol
• Stuff.tv
• Alphr
• Lance Ulanoff
• T3

The consensus is that the HomePod sounds very good, although some felt the quality isn’t exactly worth the price. A few reporters were more impressed by upcoming stereo sound capabilities of two HomePods in the same room.

Keep in mind these listening demos were conducted by Apple in controlled environments, so we’ll have to wait for more in-depth reviews once reporters and customers get the speaker into their hands and try it out.

Business Insider’s Avery Hartmans

After spending an hour demoing Apple’s new HomePod smart speaker, I can say one thing with confidence: it sounds incredible.

Overall, HomePod is both louder and better-sounding than I expected. The bass was strong without being too heavy, vocals were crisp and clear, and the overall sound felt somehow bright and energized. I also got a demo of a stereo setup using two HomePods — that functionality is coming later on through a free update — and was blown away. So while I can’t give a definitive verdict until testing it for myself, I will say that HomePod gives a great first impression.

Wired UK’s Jeremy White

We will have much more to say in a full review, but on first impressions while the HomePod looks great, is super simple to set up and is undoubtedly powerful, the sound produced does not immediately match up to its £319 price tag.

What becomes immediately apparent is the formidable bass the HomePod kicks out. What’s more, the sound remains constant as you walk around the room, no doubt thanks to those beam-forming tweeters. The vocals are clear as a bell, too. It’s not all good news, however. There is a distinct lack of mid-range, leaving you feeling that something is missing in the mix.

TechCrunch’s Brian Heater

As advertised, the thing sounds great.

Apple’s engineers were able to get a lot of rich and full sound out of that little footprint. The speaker is particularly adept as isolating vocals and maintaining often muddled aural aspects, like background singers and audience sounds in live recordings.

CNET’s David Carnoy

Ultimately, my initial impression is that the HomePod sounds very good for the type of speaker it is and it certainly stacks up well against the competition — some of it less expensive, some of it more.

But like all speakers, it has its limitations and the HomePod left me wanting for true stereo sound. Which is probably why the only time I got truly jazzed during the demo was when they paired the two HomePods together and delivered some real separation.

iNews UK’s Rhiannon Williams

While it’s difficult to get a proper grasp of how a speaker sounds in a short space of time, a second listen to the HomePod reinforces my earlier favourable impressions.

While at just under seven inches tall it’s undoubtedly on the small side, it’s capable of incredible volume, easily filling a room and reinforcing its house party credentials. This is particularly true when two of them pair to play the same song simultaneously: it’s a bassy tour-de-force.

Apple began accepting HomePod orders through its online store and Apple Store app on Friday in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom, with the first deliveries to customers estimated to arrive Friday, February 9.

Related Roundup: HomePod
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Microsoft Band 3 prototype reveals the wearable that might have been

When Microsoft killed its Band wearables, a leak emerged of what was believed to be the cancelled third-generation model. Well, it’s real — and it says a lot about what Microsoft was thinking before it pulled the plug. Windows Central has obtained a Band 3 prototype and given it a shakedown to see how well it would have worked. True to the rumors, the biggest deals were the additions of waterproofing, swim tracking and (most importantly) an electrocardiogram sensor to track your blood pressure. We now know that the Band 3 could tell if you were stressed out, check your body temperature or otherwise track your health beyond fundamentals like heart rate and calorie burn.

This was also going to address some of the Band 2’s design issues. The Band 3’s clasp was much thinner, so you’d have an easier time slipping it under a shirt cuff. It appeared to be sturdier, too. And charging was considerably faster — you’d have a full charge in an hour instead of the 1.5 hours of its predecessor. There’s RFID tag support, although that wasn’t working.

When you combine this with the recent Xbox Watch leak, there’s a clear pattern: Microsoft was fully committed to wearable hardware until it made an about face sometime in 2016. While there hasn’t been a formal explanation, it seems likely that Microsoft decided that wearable tech just wasn’t worth the effort given modest sales and fierce competition. This may also have been part of a broader strategy where Microsoft cut its work on underperforming products (such as Windows 10 Mobile) in favor of more reliable or promising businesses like Windows on PCs, mixed reality, cloud services and the Xbox.

Source: Windows Central

Stay fit and save cash with our top 10 affordable Fitbit alternatives

If you’re hunting for a good activity tracker (no doubt to help you stay on top of those New Year’s Resolutions), the sheer amount of options out there today can quickly cause choice paralysis. Certain wearable devices like Fitbits and Apple Watches have set the standard in this rapidly growing market, but these high-end fitness trackers almost always cost north of $100 and can even set you back more than $200 for the latest models.

Whether you’re not keen on dropping a Benjamin or two on a fitness smartwatch, you’re not 100 percent sure you need one and want to try out a cheap unit first, or all you want is a super-basic (and super-affordable) activity-tracking smartwatch to keep you on task, we’ve got you covered. These 10 great Fitbit alternatives – including a few from brand-name makers like Garmin and Withings – can help get you moving without breaking the bank.

The Best Deal

Withings Activite Pop

The super-stylish Withings Activite Pop is the watch to get if you want a tracker with classic watch aesthetics. The old-school analog face displays time as well as daily goal progress. Under the hood, the Activite Pop also tracks things like sleep quality, steps taken, and more, and uploads them to your synced device via the Health Mate app. As Withings was recently acquired by Nokia, pre-buyout Withings-branded stock can be had for cheap right now. The Activite Pop – normally $130 – can be yours for a low $50 from Amazon. Read our review

$50 on Amazon

The Rest

Jawbone Up Move activity tracker — $9

For a no-frills activity tracker, it doesn’t get much better (or cheaper) than the Jawbone Up Move. This little unit comes with a wristband and a clip-on so you can wear it any way you like, and it tracks essential health metrics such as steps taken, calories burned, and includes a sleep tracker. It can sync with both iOS and Android devices, too, for uploading data to the Smart Coach app. The Jawbone Up Move can be yours for as little as $9 from Amazon.

$9 on Amazon

Omron Alvita Ultimate pedometer — $20

It doesn’t get much simpler than a classic pedometer – in fact, one could say that these handy devices were the original fitness trackers before smartwatches became a thing. The Omron Alvita is one of the best and most popular pedometers on the market, but it does more than just count steps: It also calculates calories burned, tracks distance, and even adjusts to your stride length based on your height and weight to provide the most accurate readout. The Omron Alvita is currently $10 off, knocking the price down to $20 on Amazon.

$20 on Amazon

Toobur fitness tracker — $22

When it comes to price, size, and features, fitness-tracking bracelets like this one from Toobur hit the sweet spot between simple wristbands and full-fledged smartwatches. Looking at the Toobur, one is instantly reminded of the Fitbit Alta or the Flex 2 with its slim LED display. The Toobur fitness band tracks activity as well as sleep, and it syncs wirelessly to your phone so you can upload your data as well as receive notifications of incoming calls, texts, and social media updates. Best of all? The Toobur activity tracker will only set you back $22 on Amazon.

$22 on Amazon

Wesoo K1 fitness tracker — $30

For something a little larger, check out the Wesoo K1. This fitness tracker boasts similar aesthetics and features to the Fitbit Charge 2, tracking exercise, steps, distance, calories burned, sleep quality, and more. The companion app for iOS and Android makes syncing and uploading your metrics a breeze as well. It features an IPX7 waterproof rating, too, making the K1 ideal for swimming and water sports. The Wesoo K1 rings in at just $30 from Amazon — much cheaper than the Charge 2 — and comes with a second wristband in blue or purple.

$30 on Amazon

Withings Go — $40

Now part of Nokia, the Withings brand features a number of excellent fitness gadgets, from digital scales to activity trackers. Its watches are no exception: The Withings Go keeps things simple and sleek, tracking data for everything from sleep to swimming. It also displays your stats on an always-on e-ink screen that features an eight-month battery life. With a Bluetooth device, you can also upload your info from the Health Mate app for long-term goal tracking and fitness goals. A $10 discount brings the Withings Go down to $40 from Amazon. Read our review

$40 on Amazon

Garmin Vivofit 3 — $55

Garmin is a big name in the world of fitness tech, and while its devices are certainly considered “name brand,” they’re considerably less expensive than the competition. The Vivofit 3 is a band-style activity tracker that features an impressive one-year battery life – no charging required – and syncs automatically with the Garmin Connect companion app to upload all of the health stats that are fit to track (minus heart rate). It can even auto-detect your current activity to collect the appropriate data. It’s affordable, too, at only $55 on Amazon after a 31-percent discount. Read our review

$55 on Amazon

Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor — $56

One alternative to fitness watches is a good heart rate monitor that straps onto your body to track one of the most important things when you’re working out — your heartbeat. The Wahoo Tickr does just that, and whereas most basic chest straps require a separate ANT+ smartwatch or phone to work, the Tickr connects to any Bluetooth-capable iOS or Android phone. It can also sync with other GPS-enabled smartwatches and is compatible with a myriad of fitness apps to help with heart rate monitoring. The Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor comes in at $56 from Amazon.

$56 on Amazon

Scosche Rhythm+ heart rate monitor and fitness tracker — $80

The Scosche Rhythm+ heart rate monitor and activity tracker straps onto your forearm rather than around your chest to deliver accurate (and more comfortable) real-time heart monitoring. It’s compatible with both Bluetooth and ANT+ devices, too, meaning you can sync it with a wide variety of smartphones, GPS watches, and more. Along with heart rate, the Rhythm+ tracks calories burned, distance, and pace, and works with popular fitness apps. The Scosche Rhythm+ heart rate monitor and fitness tracker is available from Amazon for $80. Read our review

$80 on Amazon

Garmin Vivoactive — $95

Our final Fitbit alternative is also one of our all-time favorite activity trackers: The feature-rich Garmin Vivoactive. The Vivoactive combines fitness tracking with a suite of smartwatch features including a high-resolution touch display, customizable watch faces, and downloadable widgets. It boasts built-in GPS and comes preloaded with sports apps designed for everything from swimming and biking to golf. At $95 from Amazon, the Garmin Vivoactive manages to still come in at just under the $100 mark, making it the Fitbit alternative to get if you want a full-featured fitness smartwatch. Read our review

$95 on Amazon

Looking for more great deals on outdoor gadgets and other electronics? Check out our deals page to score some extra savings on our favorite tech.

We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and choose what we cover carefully and independently. If you find a better price for a product listed here, or want to suggest one of your own, email us at dealsteam@digitaltrends.com.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

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If Spider-Man goes skiing, this will be the jacket he brings along

Sports apparel manufacturer Goldwin and biomaterial research company Spiber are teaming up to deliver a new prototype ski jacket. This garment features QMONOS construction, a protein material that takes inspiration from spider silk, and it is the first of its kind. Produced without the need for petrochemicals, this material could revolutionize the production industry.

QMONOS is still in the testing phase and not ready to go to market. Goldwin and Spiber are burning the midnight oil to bring this new fabric technology to the public, and will be displaying it at the Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show in Denver at the Goldwin booth. The event runs from January 25-28, and a representative from Spiber will be available for discussions.

The coming together of Goldwin and Spiber follows the time when the former opened its new research and development facility, the Goldwin Tech Lab, in November in Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. The R&D is in full swing, and we will soon see the results. Among the Tech Lab’s first objectives was to produce the QMONOS prototype on an actual manufacturing line, thus validating the technology.

The lab houses various facilities, including the Archive Gallery, Quality Inspection Office, Stable Environment Room, Scanner Studio, CAD Room, Prototype Room, Exercise Research Room, Artificial Weather Room/Rain Chamber, and the Meeting and Presentation Space. All together, these rooms showcase the company’s history while contributing to quality control and development of current and future products.

Goldwin’s home is in Oyabe City, where the company was originally formed. It is also the location of the Goldwin Technical Center (GTC), which is where most of the company’s R&D took place. The Tech Lab will augment the company’s activities and bring further advancement.

“At Goldwin Tech Lab, Golsdwin will endeavor to develop products that incorporate new and unique values, by taking full advantage of the R&D capabilities GOLDWIN has fostered in the 67 years since the brand’s establishment, as well as the product development expertise, which combines human insights with advanced intelligence aided by state-of-the-art instruments, and GOLDWIN’s unique and comprehensive inspection system, which ensures high quality and reliability,” the company wrote in a release.

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Epic Games is pulling the plug on ‘Paragon’ after the success of ‘Fortnite’

Paragon, the free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that launched on PC and PlayStation 4 in 2016, is shutting down on April 26. Epic Games announced in a blog post that “there isn’t a clear path for us to grow Paragon into a MOBA that retains enough players to be sustainable.”

Although the game had a dedicated following in a genre sadly underrepresented on consoles, its demise is likely due to the massive success of Epic’s free-to-play multiplayer shooter Fortnite, which has garnered more than 45 million players, with two million playing concurrently.

Although the announcement didn’t address it directly, a Reddit posting last week from a representative of the company wrote that “a number of Paragon team members jumped onto Fortnite to help sustain the game as it has grown far larger than anything in Epic’s past.”

The game was available in Early Access in 2016 and a successful open beta followed before the full digital release. Frequent updates added new heroes, rebalanced various abilities, and often overhauled entire core game mechanics. To say the developers were responsive to the player community is an understatement.

The representative cited the difficulty of retaining players after their first few forays into the game. “The core challenge is that, of new players who try Paragon, only a small number continue to play regularly after a month. Though Paragon has evolved, no iteration has yet achieved that magical combination of ingredients that make for a sustainable game.”

Members of the Unreal Tournament team have also been reassigned to Fortnite, according to Kotaku.

Fortnite has held its own against the other big multiplayer shooter of the year with a “Battle Royale” mode, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. Although both games use the Unreal engine, PUBG developer Bluehole has grumbled that the 100-player Battle Royale mode is a close copy of its own game.

Although Paragon is free to play, it does have in-game purchases. And if you’ve spent any money on the game, Epic is offering full refunds for all Paragon players on all platforms. If you’re playing on PC or you’ve already linked your PS4 to an Epic account, you can request a refund here.

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How to delete a user on a Mac

Do you have a user profile on your Mac that needs to be removed to save space or clear up confusion? You can get rid of it, as long as you know what you want to do with the data attached to that user account.

Here’s how to delete a user on a Mac (in MacOS High Sierra), and what choices you should make along the way!

Step 1: Have administrator access

You can’t do anything else here without the right administrator access to work with, so first make sure that you are logged into an administrator account, and know the administrator account name and password. This is why administrator access is important at the workplace! It’s also a good idea to have this info saved somewhere for your home Mac and make sure everything is up to date.

When ready, sign in to your Mac, but avoid using the user profile you want to delete.

Step 2: Users & Groups

Head down to the dock, and look for the menu icon that says System Preferences, or the square with a gear inside it. Select this option, and then search for the icon that says Users & Groups (typically in the lower portion of the System Preferences window), with portrait silhouettes as the symbol. Head here.

In the Users & Groups window, you will first want to head down to the bottom left corner and find the gold lock icon. Select it to make permanent changes to these profiles. This process will ask you for your administrator login and password, so be ready to put them in and select unlock. The padlock should now be open, and you can start making changes.

Step 3: Deal with the data

Once Users & Groups is unlocked, look at the panel on the left side of the window. This will show the current user signed in (which should be the admin), which you cannot delete, and all the other users and guests that have logged into this Mac. Select the user profile that you want to delete here.

You will see data on this particular profile now, but what you are really looking for is the plus and minus signs at the bottom of the user list section, next to the settings gear icon. Select the minus sign to get rid of a profile.

Now you will have several options to deal with the unique data on this user account. First, you can choose to Save the home folder in a disk image, which will create a new space that pops up in a Deleted Users subsection of the Users folder. This is handy if you frequently delete profiles but want to keep their general data (at a workplace, for example).

Second, you can choose to Don’t change the home folder. This will keep all the data under the user name in the Users folder, relatively unchanged. This option may be useful because it allows you to restore the user profile at a future date if necessary.

Third, you can choose to Delete the home folder. As expected, this gets rid of all the data and helps you clear some storage space—handy if this is your primary goal.

Note that if the user is only sharing access to this Mac, then these options probably won’t appear—that data is held elsewhere and doesn’t affect this removal.

Step 4: Finish up

Once the data is taken care of, chose Delete User to finish up the process and remove the profile. Confirm your choice, and users the rest should happen automatically.

Extra tip: Guest access

Guests on a Mac can access features and data, but only via a shared link. Typically these shared profiles are added to give specific people remote access to the Mac and its files as needed for a project. If you have a lot of people who need access to the same Mac, or a rotating group that changes frequently, it’s probably a better idea to create a sharing only guest profile that is much easier to delete than a regular profile.

It’s also worth noting that you can change the name of user profiles rather than delete them. This may be another desirable option if you want to keep data but switch a user around to someone else with minimal fuss.

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The 20 best icon packs for Android let you refresh your phone’s style

Sometimes your Android phone’s style could do with a bit of a refresh. There are a ton of ways to do that, from changing your wallpaper to installing a custom launcher that completely overhauls your experience. But did you know that you could change the look of the app icons on your home screen and app drawer? The humble app icon is a mainstay of our devices, and you’re probably seeing those little symbols more often than anything else on your phone. So why not mix things up and change how they look?

A note before we begin: Icon packs pretty much always require a custom launcher to function. While some phones have launcher functionality built in (like Nova Launcher on the Razer Phone), you’ll likely have to install and run a custom Android launcher to get these icon packs to work.

Pixel Icon Pack 2 (free)

The Google Pixel 2 icons follow Google’s design trends, and this icon pack means that your phone can, too. This pack has more than 6,500 icons (and counting) that can be altered to look like the rounded, clean icons you’ll find on the Pixel’s screens. It’s supported by a wide variety of launchers, and the app’s description has a lengthy list of settings for Nova Launcher to help you get started as quickly as possible.

Download now:

Play Store

OS X Icon Pack ($1)

It might be something of a heresy in Android circles, but if you’ve come from an iOS device or are just curious, then you might be interested in this icon pack that makes your icons look like their corresponding icons on iOS. It’s relatively pedestrian compared to most icon packs, and pretty much just changes the icon shape to match the iOS design, but it’s a fun addition nonetheless, and at a buck, you’re not exactly breaking the bank. However, there are definitely better packs if you want to stand out.

Download now:

Play Store

The Grid (free)

Tron, is that you? The Grid changes your icons into awesome, glowing ’80s-era sci-fi versions of their normal, boring selves. If you want to give your phone a cool, Tron-style look, then this pack is a great place to start. It replaces over 2,500 icons, includes over 30 wallpapers, and boasts an analog clock widget to match. There’s also a Pro version that comes with 200-plus wallpapers and 3,700-plus icons that’ll set you back $2. Try it out, and buy the Pro version if you’re sold.

Download now:

Play Store

Typewriter Button Icon Pack ($1)

Not everything needs to be high-tech. This pack makes your icons resembles old-time typewriter keys. Unfortunately, you can’t change the audio to do a little “clack” every time you press one, but you can’t have everything right? If you’re not sold on the cool futuristic designs, then maybe this one will tickle your fancy. The pack also comes with some matching wallpapers, so you can really go all-in on the theme. It’s compatible with a bunch of launchers, but always check if your chosen launcher is on the list.

Download now:

Play Store

Polycon (free)

Polycon takes Google’s Material design ethos and puts its own special spin on it, removing the penchant for rounded edges, but keeping the emphasis on simple design that stands out from the crowd. Each of Polycon’s designs is a fun spin on a familiar style, and although it won’t be developed any further, it still supports 800-plus app icons, and comes with a selection of wallpapers to boot. It’s not the coolest and craziest pack out there, but with more than a million downloads, Polycon clearly has its fans. And since it’s free, it’s certainly worth a shot.

Download now:

Play Store

Paper Shaped Icons ($2)

Here’s one of the most stylish and intensive packs on the list. It makes each of your icons look like they’ve been torn out of a piece of paper. It’s a seriously cool premise, and we really dig the look. It’s one of the most expensive packs on this list, but you certainly get a lot for your money, with support for more than 5,000 icons, as well as a feature that imitates the theme for unsupported app icons. It even comes with a dynamic calendar and a bunch of HD wallpapers. Definitely worth your investment.

Download now:

Play Store

Umbra ($1)

An “umbra” is basically a shadow, so there are no prizes for guessing the central theme of this pack. Each of the 4,200-plus icons altered by this pack feature a rounded shape with a long shadow cast across the icon by each app’s logo. It’s a neat idea, and it’s really well implemented, with extra alternative styles and a masking feature that mimics the style on unsupported icons.

Download now:

Play Store

Flight – Flat Minimalist Icons (free)

Sometimes less is more, and if you’re a fan of a minimalist style, then you might want your phone to reflect that. Flight is a minimalist icon pack that reduces more than 800 app icons down to the bare minimum they need to be recognizable, with simple white lines and block color. It also comes with a pack of suitably minimalist wallpapers, and supports a wide range of the most popular Android launchers on the market. It’s  great choice for anyone who wants a stark difference to the bold style of Android.

Download now:

Play Store

Minimalist ($1)

No surprises here — Minimalist is another minimalist-style app icon pack. However, this pack has a different take on the minimalist style. Each icon in Minimalist has been heavily simplified from its original icon, and depicted in a smooth pastel style. Each app icon is still obviously different from the next, and you may need to spend some time relearning which app is which, but that’s much the same for any icon pack. Minimalist has more than 3,800 icons included, and 70 wallpapers.

Download now:

Play Store

CandyCons (free)

Another fun spin on Google’s Material Design, CandyCons takes more than 1,000 icons and puts a little extra oomph into them. Chrome’s iconic swirl has been pushed up to 11, Google Photos is more flower-like than ever, and every other icon has been taken out of its rounded shell and allowed to really blossom. Each icon has been pushed to a new extreme, but is never allowed to become unrecognizable. Best of all, each icon now somehow looks a little bit cuter.

Download now:

Play Store

I tried using the Surface Book 2 as my only PC, and it let me down

Microsoft wants the Surface Book 2 to be your only PC. Its website calls the Book 2 a “versatile laptop, powerful tablet, and portable studio in one,” going on to tell users it will “speed through intensive tasks,” and even handle Windows Mixed Reality.

It’s an appealing idea. I’ve long been a three, even four-PC guy; I have a desktop and laptop for work, and often have both at home, too. That’s a lot of computers, and while cloud connectivity has bridged most gaps between them, it seems wasteful. What if one PC could do it all?

I thought the Surface Book 2 15-inch would be that device. It certainly seems powerful enough on paper. With a Core i7 quad-core processor, Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics, and 16GB of RAM, the Book 2 is quicker than my work desktop. Seeing a chance, I eagerly cleared it a place in my battlestation — but it wasn’t meant to be.

The scale of the problem

The Surface Book 2 15-inch has a beautiful, pixel-dense display with a 3:2 aspect ratio that packs about 250 pixels per inch. It’s fantastic. My work desktop, however, pairs well with a humbler 2,560 x 1,440, 27-inch monitor. The Surface Book 2 doesn’t seem to play nicely with it.

Fine text wasn’t as smooth as I expected, and everything on the screen looked and felt slow.

I noticed the problems almost immediately. Connecting the monitor was easy enough, but when I made it the primary display, the (now secondary) Book 2’s screen looked off. Fine text wasn’t as smooth as I expected, and everything on the Book 2’s screen looked and felt slow, as if it were refreshing at a slower rate than it should.

“That’s too bad,” I thought, and then closed the Surface Book 2, thinking the problem solved. Boy, was I wrong. My problems were just starting.

They were minor at first. The icons on the desktop spaced themselves strangely. A few hours later, I noticed the title bar of several windows had shrunken. Not a big deal. Then, my cursor began to disappear as it entered certain application windows, including Word and Outlook. That was more of an annoyance, and I rebooted the Book 2. That fixed the problems, but they soon returned.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

As it turns out, my unusual behavior is the cause. I sometimes disconnect the Book 2 to use it as a laptop, and then re-connect to my monitor when I return. Crazy, right?

Microsoft even has a support page for this, titled “Windows scaling issues for high-DPI devices.” According to the page, “These symptoms also occur when the hardware configuration changes, such as when you dock and undock a device that uses external monitors, or you detach an external monitor from the device.” The fix? Log off, and log back in. This “resets the display information and improves the behavior.”

Let’s summarize. The Surface Book 2 — and all Windows devices, apparently — can’t properly handle docking/undocking from an external display. The result is a snowball of UI rendering issues that eventually force the user to log off. There’s no fix. That’s just how it is.

Ouch.

What are you doing, GPU?

Alright. So the icons don’t always look quite right. It’s annoying, sure, but does it really matter? Is logging off and back on that annoying? Perhaps not, but it’s not the only problem.

I frequently saw the Surface Book 2 slow to a crawl for no obvious reason.

Surface devices are notorious for odd bugs. They’ve earned plenty of criticism in the past. Consumer Reports made waves last year when it revoked recommendations from Surface products, citing a high rate of reported problems. Prior to that, in 2015, Microsoft apologized for problems with the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, saying “For those of you who’ve had a less-than-perfect experience, we’re sorry for any frustration this has caused.”

The frustration continues. I frequently saw the Surface Book 2 slow to a crawl for no obvious reason. Upon investigating, I found it was linked to extremely high GPU use by the Desktop Window Manager. As with UI scaling, this isn’t a problem specific to the Book 2, but that didn’t make my experience any better. I ran out of patience with it quickly, and I’m using a review unit. I don’t know what I’d do if I saw this performance after spending at least $1,500 or, in the case of our review unit, $3,300 — but I’m sure it’d include cursing.

While that’s the most headache-inducing problem, there’s plenty more. Why doesn’t OneDrive work when I try to browser it through an Office application? Why do I hear strong coil whine when I connect the Book 2 to a monitor, and only then? Why did Microsoft ship it with a power brick that’s too small, so the battery discharges under heavy load?

I work with PCs all the time. It’s my job. I’m fine with seeing a glitch here or there, and on their own, each problem I had with the Surface Book 2 wouldn’t be a dealbreaker. Together, they’ve ruined my experience, and I’m going back to my multi-PC lifestyle. The Surface Book 2 is still a great 2-in-1, and is a solid choice if you need a workstation laptop, but we can’t recommend tossing your desktop for it.

Editors’ Recommendations

• After a quiet year, is Microsoft ready to wake up, or settle down?
• Microsoft Surface Book 2 13-inch Review
• Windows 10 Timeline hands-on
• We tested it: The Surface Book 2’s 15-hour battery easily outlasts your workday
• Battle of the high-end laptops: HP Spectre x360 vs. Microsoft Surface Book 2

HQ Trivia scraps $20 minimum requirement to withdraw prizes

Got a few bucks sitting in HQ Trivia limbo these past couple of months? You’ll be happy to hear this, then: the app no longer requires a minimum balance for withdrawal. You can get your prize money no matter how small it is, so you don’t have to endlessly try to win again and again just to be able to collect $20. HQ Trivia, which debuted to great success late last year, is a trivia app that takes on a gameshow format. Gameplay is live, and you can only play at specific times twice a day.

While you do win real money if you get all the answers in a round correctly, the app made it incredibly tough to collect. In addition to the $20 minimum, you’ll also have make a withdrawal within 90 days or lose what you’ve already won. As anybody who’s ever played HQ Trivia will tell you, it’s not easy to win multiple times, and it’s even harder to rack up prizes. Although each round’s prize money is worth thousands of dollars, there are so many players that each winner usually just get a couple of bucks. Now that you can withdraw your money no matter the amount, you can finally treat yourself every time you win… even if it’s just something from McDonald’s dollar menu.

Source: HQ Trivia (Twitter)

Amazon teases Alexa Super Bowl ad starring Jeff Bezos

If you want a good barometer of how far Amazon Alexa has come, you just need to look at the company’s teaser for its Super Bowl LII ad. Where Amazon’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial was eager to sell you on the still-unproven Echo using as much star power as possible, the biggest star (so far) in the teaser is Jeff Bezos — you know, the company’s own CEO. The clip has Bezos giving the tentative go-ahead for a sketchy Alexa replacement after the AI assistant loses her voice.

Both the inclusion of Bezos and the very subject of the ad (a national panic caused by the absence of Alexa) show the kind of confidence Amazon has going into 2018. The 2016 ad reflected Alexa’s young state. The Echo had only been on the market for slightly over a year, and Amazon had to explain the product to a public that had never heard of a smart speaker. Flash forward to 2018 and it’s a different story — Alexa is seemingly everywhere, including new Echo speakers, cars, and thermostats. Amazon doesn’t have to introduce Alexa so much as defend it against incursions by Google and Apple.

Via: Recode

Source: Amazon (YouTube)