How to add a supervised user profile in Chrome 👀

Supervised profiles for Chrome let you decide what your kids will see on the internet.

Editor’s note: Google has ended support for Supervised User accounts as of January 12, 2018, in favor of the new Family Link program.

Got little ones who want to use a Chromebook or surf the web on your MacBook or Surface but aren’t ready for everything on the internet? A supervised profile might be just what you’re looking for.

A supervised account isn’t connected to Google in any way, and the owner of the Chromebook (whoever first signed into it) controls what that account can do. You can block websites, see the full internet history, preinstall extensions and bookmarks, and more. It gives you pretty tight control over what the managed profile can do. Supervised profiles in the Chrome browser on Windows or Mac or Linux only control the browser window and can be created by any other user.

It’s pretty simple to do and everything is right in the settings, so you won’t have to enter any commands or read any confusing help files.

For Chromebooks

• Make sure you’re signed in as the owner of the Chromebook and open the settings.
• Look in the People section to Manage other users and you can make sure supervised users is enabled.
• Log out and on the start page, click More instead of signing in, and you’ll see Add supervised user.
• Click that link and you’ll be asked which account will be the manager. Enter the password for that account.
• Next, choose the name, password, and profile photo for the new account.

For the Chrome browser

• Open the settings and go to the People section.
• Click the Add person button.
• Check the box that says you want to control and view the websites this user visits when you enter the name and password.

Now you can go to the new Supervised users section of your Google account and set up any restrictions you would like to enable.

One last step

If you’re using the Chrome browser on Windows, Mac, or Linux, there’s one last thing you should do to make sure the supervised account isn’t able to switch to your account. Kids are smart. When you shut down, be sure to enable Childlock.

• In the upper right corner you’ll see your name. Click on it.
• Click the Exit and childlock label.

Now you will need to enter your password the next time you want to log into Chrome.

We think everyone should be able to raise their children the way they think is best. That means different things to everyone, so we need tools like these. Like Chrome OS itself, Google has streamlined the process and management of user accounts in Chrome.

The wireless charging wars are over (for now)

The most boring “battle” in the history of technology has drawn to a close. For now.

Wireless charging, specifically the part where you can put your phone on a puck and charge your phone over magnetic induction instead of plugging in a cable, has been a thing for years now. Palm was the first big name to do it, and when Android phones picked up steam the tech started a slow burn to where we are today. It’s not the most common way to charge your phone by a long shot, but it has gotten less complicated and significantly less expensive over the last couple of years.

One of the things that helped this process over the last couple of years has been the consolidation of competing technologies into the Wireless Power Consortium. Today, the last major competitor to the WPC announced it was joining and sharing its technology to advance the Qi standard of wireless charging. That’s right, smartphone fans, Powermat has finally decided to join forces with Qi.

For years now, wireless charging has meant two options — Qi or Powermat. For the longest time these options were incompatible with one another, meaning your phone either supported one or the other. Some restaurants and coffee shops would support Qi, other Powermat. Starbucks went so far as to offer special adapters you could plug into your phone to take advantage of this feature, and as long as you could wrap your head around plugging something in to your power port so your phone could charge “wirelessly” it worked okayish.

Looking to pick up a wireless charger for yourself? These are the best!

Samsung changed things a bit with the Galaxy S7, a phone with wireless charging that supported both Qi and Powermat without needing to do anything. It meant switching to a glass back on the phone, something Apple followed suit with on the iPhone 8, but the real success here was not needing to worry about whether the charging puck you were using would actually work with your phone. With Powermat joining the WPC, there will be a day in the not-too-distant future where every phone with wireless charging will be able to enjoy simply dropping the phone onto a puck and seeing it simply start charging.

This move is going to be good news for everyone. Powermat technology will become a part of the Qi standard, and the lack of a competing standard means there’s even more incentive for phone manufacturers to join in the push to make wireless charging the default.

The wireless charging wars have ended, at least for now. We know at least one company has recently received FCC approval for over-the-air power that does not require a special puck to set your phone or watch on. There are also patents from Apple for wireless power transfer that can choose which devices get more power. It’s likely we’ll see more about that this year, possibly with supported devices shortly after. Who knows, maybe the wireless charging wars are finally starting to get interesting?

Watch your neighbors’ security camera feed with Streety

A modern take on the neighborhood watch.

Over the past couple years, there’s been a surge in smart home security systems. The likes of Nest and Ring have been leading this charge, and now Vivint is releasing something unique (and possibly unsettling) with Streety.

Streety is a free mobile app that you’ll be able to download to your phone this spring, and it’ll allow you to view live feeds and video clips of smart security cameras throughout your entire neighborhood. Anyone in the United States and Canada will be able to use the app to view video feeds that are being shared to Streety, and whether or not you own a smart camera made by Vivint or another company, you’ll have to choose if you want your video clips shared to your Streety network before people can view them.

With Streety, Vivint is hoping that people will use the app for monitoring activity in neighborhoods, sharing video clips to solve any incidents that happen, and even watching a neighbor’s home while they’re away on vacation.

To help ensure that Streety is being used legitimately, Streety neighborhood boundaries are limited to a radius of 300 yards and a verification process from a third party will confirm that user identities match addresses they’re paired with.

Speaking about Streety, Vivint Vice President and General Manager of Cameras said:

As cameras are one of the fastest-growing product segments in the smart home industry, neighbors often ask each other if cameras captured something around their home or on the street. Streety makes it easy for neighbors to request and share video so they can take better action, faster.

If you own a smart camera, does Streety sound like something you’d be interested in using?

Ring adds Beams to its ‘Ring of Security’ as Ring Alarm set to ship this spring

Let this $36 Eufy smart scale help you track your weight in 2018

Stay in the know!

Tracking your weight has gone from a manual process to an automated one thanks to smart scales. In the past, these scales had been on the pricey side, but they have recently become way more affordable. Right now you can pick up the Eufy BodySense Smart Scale for just $35.99 at Amazon, which is $10 less than it normally sells for. The discount only applies to the blue version.

It integrates with Google Fit and Apple Health and supports multiple device pairings so that up to 20 people can use the scale with ease. This scale can track your weight, body fat, BMI and more. You can also view all your information right from within the free EufyLife iPhone or Android app.

See at Amazon

Gemini PDA is a crazy dual-booting hybrid with a mechanical keyboard

It’s a phone. It’s a mini laptop Honestly it’s bizarre and I can’t stop staring at it.

There are two kinds of phone nerds in the world today — those old enough to remember lusting after PDAs so you could have a computer with you at all times, and people who weren’t alive before Wi-Fi existed everywhere. For the PDA folks out there, this is a throwback you’re going to want to see for yourself. It’s a pocketable clamshell PDA that dual-boots Android, but you can also close the lid and use this thing like a phone.

It’s called the Gemini PDA, and while that name may sound familiar to some there’s a whole lot more than nostalgia at play here.

Help! I’ve stumbled into a mirror universe where PDAs never died … and I don’t want to come back. Review? [Planet Computers “Gemini”] #ces2018 #instatech #technology #gemini #planetcomputers #android

A post shared by Michael Fisher (@themrmobile) on Jan 7, 2018 at 6:23pm PST

What you’re looking at here is a 6-inch 18:9 screen at 2160×1440 resolution with some padding on the sides to make room for that “full” keyboard. Most people are going to be a little cramped on a keyboard that size, but it’s a proper mechanical keyboard which is impressive. This 320g clamshell dual-boots Android and Linux, with a special Deca Core processor with 4GB of RAM and 64gb of onboard storage. With the 4220mAh battery powering this experience and two USB-C ports, it seems on paper like you could really have some fun.

The big thing missing from this experience, if you’re a modern phone nerd, is a camera.

The big thing missing from this experience, if you’re a modern phone nerd, is a camera. If you want something other than the 5MP camera on the inside of the PDA, you have to pay for an accessory you connect to your Gemini. Given the current state of excellence we have with smartphone cameras, there’s a good chance that accessory will not be worth your time or money.

Gemini comes in two flavors, Wi-Fi only and 4G LTE. If you choose the 4G model, you can use this machine as your phone full time. Not only does it run all Android apps, there’s a special voice mode where you can close the clamshell and hold the PDA up to your face like a phone to talk. You don’t have access to the screen in this mode, and this is clearly a little larger than your average phone, but if your goal is that all-in-one experience Gemini seems prepared to offer you an alternative to what you have now.

Gemini is currently available on IndieGoGo for $399, where the company’s original campaign has already pulled in more than 250% of the original goal.

Panasonic and Alexa Onboard bring offline voice control to your car

At CES today, Panasonic announced a partnership with Amazon that will bring Alexa to your car. Dubbed Alexa Onboard, it works with Panasonic’s Skip Gen IVI technology and is meant to make life with your virtual assistant more seamless as you move from your home to your vehicle.

Alexa Onboard’s functions were demonstrated on stage and the most interesting aspect is that it will still have use when offline. As expected, queries like what the weather’s like, how far away a destination is and where the nearest gas station is, for example, are answered by Alexa when you ask. You’ll also be able to take advantage of Alexa’s other skills such as controlling your smart home devices, receiving news briefings and ordering from meal delivery services. But when the assistant is offline, say when internet isn’t readily available, you can still get some help from Alexa. Users will be able to ask Alexa to change the temperature in their car, ask what’s coming up on their calendar and control the windows, among other commands.

Panasonic is one of the first companies to get Alexa Onboard and a seamless voice control system appears to be right around the corner.

.@amazon Alexa Onboard, the brand new integrated vehicle system, will have @Panasonic as one of the first collaborators. #CES2018 #PanasonicCES pic.twitter.com/l6LD3QgVsq

— CES (@CES) January 8, 2018

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Panasonic’s GH5s is the ultimate mirrorless camera for 4K video

The GH5 has been a video-centric camera since its debut, but Panasonic is pushing that into new territory with the launch of the GH5s mirrorless. Aimed specifically at videographers, it has a 10.2-megapixel “dual ISO” sensor with half the resolution of the 20.2-megapixel GH5. That gives it much better low-light sensitivity (up to ISO 51,200 native and 204,800 extended), and there’s a full sensor readout at up to Cinema 4K resolution (2,160 x 4,096) video, at 60 frames per second.

Just about every change in the GH5s is aimed at making it a better video camera. Panasonic borrowed the dual-native ISO (DNI) from its Varicam professional video cameras, for instance. “The way DNI works is that there are two circuits in the system, low-range and high-range,” Panasonic product manager Anthony Hanna explained at a briefing. “The GH5s is carrying a 400 native ISO, and 2,500 native ISO. So it has two native ISOs, and can ramp up the low-light sensitivity from there.”

What that means is that when you hit 2,500 ISO, a slower circuit that can gather more light is switched off, and a faster one kicks in. That has the overall effect of reducing noise, letting you crank up the ISOs without while retaining detail in darker parts of an image. During the demo, even at 12,800 ISO, the image held saturation and contrast in a way that handily bested Sony’s low-light champ, the A7S II.

Aiding in that regard is the 10-bit, 4:2:2 video captured at data rates as high as 400 Mbps (50 MB/s). The result is HDR video with a billion colors that will hold up against footage shot by professional video production cameras. It can also output HDR via the HDMI 2.1 port so that you can better judge your footage on set.

The GH5s has other pro video features like a line level mic input toggle, making it easier to use with professional microphones, and a free V-Log L high-dynamic range setting that yields footage suitable for fine color correction. It also has a faster readout than ever, reducing distortion from rolling shutter, along with a body design that lets you shoot for an unlimited time without overheating.

We’re targeting the videographer and not the photographer. So that’s we we decided to eliminate in-body stabilization.

Unlike the GH5, the GH5s has a low-pass filter, as the lack of one would be noticeable in such a low-megapixel camera. It has also no in-body stabilization (IBS) system, meaning you’ll only get optical stabilization via supported lenses. “We’re targeting the videographer and not the photographer,” said Hanna. “So that’s we we decided to eliminate IBS.” Because of that, the GH5s also weighs 65 grams less than the GH5.

Panasonic didn’t completely forget about photographers. The GH5s now supports 14-bit RAW, rather than just 12-bit images, which will be handy in a camera with a lot of light sensitivity. Focus speeds are .07 seconds, and you can shoot up to 12 fps bursts, or 8 fps with continuous autofocus. There’s also 225 focus points, face-eye recognition, and 4K photo mode at up to 60 fps.

Other features include dual UHS-II SD memory card slots, USB 3.1 Type-C, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2, and an optional battery grip and external XLR microphone adapter. For all that, you’ll pay the sum of $2,499 for the body only, about $500 more than the GH5, but around the same price as Sony’s aging A7S II.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Apple updates macOS and iOS to address Spectre vulnerability

Just a few days after Apple disclosed how it would be dealing with the Meltdown bug that affects modern computers, it’s pushed out fixes for the Spectre exploit as well. iOS 11.2.2 includes “Security improvements to Safari and WebKit to mitigate the effects of Spectre,” the company writes on its support page, while the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update does the same for your Mac laptop or desktop. Installing this update on your Mac will also update Safari to version 11.0.2.

The Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities are a wake up call for the tech industry, affecting most of the processors made over the past twenty years. While companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have been quick to issue fixes, it will still take a while to get everyone with a personal device up to speed. Hopefully the next generation of chips that power our own devices and those we use for the cloud will find a way to bust this exploit for good.

Via: Rene Ritchie

Source: Apple iOS, Apple macOS

Senate bill to undo the net neutrality repeal will get a vote

How could any of us forget that dreary day in December when the FCC voted to repeal Title II net neutrality regulations? However, all hope is not lost. In mid-December, Edward Markey (D-MA) and 27 other senators proposed a resolution to restore net neutrality. Today, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) tweeted that she is the 30th cosponsor of the bill. This also happens to be the number of cosponsors required to ensure a full vote by the Senate.

30 is the magic number of cosponsors needed to get a #NetNeutrality vote in the full Senate.

Proud to be that 30th cosponsor of @SenMarkey bill to restore free and open internet.

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) January 8, 2018

This is certainly good news for the future of net neutrality and ensuring a free and open internet, but this doesn’t mean that net neutrality will be restored and all will automatically be well. Thirty cosponsors is a long way from the majority needed to pass a repeal. All this does is ensure that Markey and the other cosponsors can force a vote. Mustering up the votes to pass the bill is a different story altogether.

A big step toward restoring a free and open Internet: with the support of @clairecmc, we now have the 30 votes we need to force a vote on my CRA to reverse the repeal of #NetNeutrality! pic.twitter.com/gXtWQmeIJS

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) January 8, 2018

Source: Twitter

Panasonic adds to its 4K OLED lineup with FZ800 and FZ950 TVs

Panasonic is kicking off 2018 with two new 4K, OLED and HDR-compatible TV ranges. The FZ800 and FZ950 series, which will ship in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, follow the flagship EZ1002 from last year. They come with Panasonic’s original HCX processor, which enables a feature called Dynamic LUT (Dynamic Look-up Table). LUTs are essentially preferences that shift the image to match the colors and brightness intended by the content creator. Normally, these are set at the start of the movie or TV show, but with Dynamic LUT the image can be updated every millisecond.

Panasonic’s TVs support the HDR10+ standard backed by Samsung and Amazon. That means you should be able to watch Amazon originals such as The Grand Tour and The Tick in their highest quality. The trade-off is that neither the FZ800 nor the FZ950 will support rival HDR format Dolby Vision. It’s a peculiar choice given that Panasonic’s newly announced DP-UB820 Blu-ray player is both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ compatible. HDR10+ has its supporters – Warner Bros. has confirmed it will support the standard on its 4K video releases — but it would be nice if both were available out of the box. Hopefully this standards war will be over soon…

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.