How to use Google Lens to identify objects on your Pixel smartphone

Got a Google Pixel smartphone? The artificially-intelligent Google Assistant on board now has eyes, and it can recognize objects and landmarks. The feature is called Google Lens, and it was first introduced back in May at Google I/O, the company’s developer conference. It’s similar to Samsung’s Bixby Vision on the Galaxy S8 — Google Lens visually analyzes what’s in front of you via the camera on your phone.

Google Lens is currently an exclusive Pixel feature, so you can only use it on a Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, or Pixel 2 XL. It originally was only available to use on photographed objects in the Google Photos app, but it’s now directly available in Google Assistant. That makes it much more useful, because you don’t have to take a picture of an object, open the Photos app, and click on the Lens logo to get information.

So how do you activate it? Open Google Assistant by pressing and holding down the home button. You should see a camera logo on the right. You’ll see a viewfinder window open. Point the camera on the item you are interested in, and tap on it.

Google Lens combines the power of AI with deep machine learning to provide you with information about many things you interact with in daily life. Instead of simply identifying what an object is, Google Lens can understand the context of the subject. So if you take a picture of a flower, Google Lens will not just identify the flower, but provide you with other helpful information like florists in your area.

Once Google Lens identifies an item, you can continue to interact with Assistant to learn more. If you point it at a book, for example, you’ll be presented with options to read a NY Times review, purchase the book on the Google Play Store, or use one of the recommended subject bubbles that will appear below the image.

If Google Lens accidentally focuses on the incorrect item, you can click the Lens icon and get another try.

Google Lens isn’t perfect. The company admits the technology works best for identifying books, landmarks, movie posters, album art, and more. Still, we’re always impressed when it offers up reviews, social media accounts, and business information when we pointed it at the awning for a small store. Point it at a business card and it will let you save the person as a contact, and it will fill in all the details on the card for you.

While Google Lens is still in its infancy, it shows a lot of promise. It’s deep learning capabilities means we should only expect it to get better in the future. Right now, Google Lens is only available on Pixel and Pixel 2 phones, though Google said it plans to bring the feature to other Android phones in the future.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google Assistant gains eyes with Google Lens, now rolling out to Pixel phones
• Pixel 2 owners get the first glimpse of Google Lens computer vision possibilities
• The Google Pixel 2 camera already earned the highest scores yet — here’s why
• Battle for the Android throne: Can the Google Pixel 2 best Samsung’s Galaxy S8?
• Everything you need to know about the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

All 50 states join AT&T’s First Responder Network

On Friday, AT&T announced that all 50 states and D.C. have agreed to be part of its nationwide broadband network for first responders. In addition, two U.S. territories also agreed to participate in the network, which AT&T is building as part of a $6.5 billion government contract.

The first responder network has its genesis in the days that followed the events of September 11, 2001. The 9/11 Commission recommended the network as a way to combat the communications challenges that first responders had to contend with in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. In March of this year, the federal government awarded the job of creating this network to AT&T.

AT&T has cited several advantages that membership in its FirstNet program will provide to first responders. Arguably, the most important is the fact that they have immediate and priority access to AT&T’s LTE communications network. AT&T said that the FirstNet will be especially helpful to first responders in rural areas, whose coverage AT&T recently expanded, as it will provide a reliable means of communication.

It will also not cost anything for the communities that use this network. AT&T has pledged to invest $40 billion to develop FirstNet. First Responder Network Authority will also be providing success-based payments from a $6.5 billion fund raised from FCC spectrum auctions. This means that taxpayers will not be footing the bill for this program.

Currently, FirstNet consists of the 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It may also grow to include the three Pacific territories of American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands. The states had until last Thursday to join FirstNet or begin work on their own public responder network. Reuters reports that decisions from the three Pacific territories are not due until March 12, 2018.

In addition to the public safety benefits, FirstNet also provides some benefits to AT&T’s customers, as the carrier will be allowed to use its increased spectrum to provide more data to its customers when it is not being used by first responders.

AT&T says it spent most of 2017 readying its existing infrastructure to provide a solid foundation for FirstNet. In 2018, it will work to expand improve its infrastructure and expand LTE coverage.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Verizon gets serious about 5G, plans to launch in homes in 2018
• Razer jumps into the wireless networking market with an updated Portal router
• You can finally do more with the Fitbit Ionic thanks to an OS update
• 5G to reach a billion people by 2023, with VR and AR firing up development
• Project Loon has restored internet access to 100,000 people in Puerto Rico

You may soon be able to skip the grocery checkout line at Kroger

After a 25-store test run over the last couple years, Kroger is expanding the Scan, Bag, Go service to roughly 400 stores during 2018. Somewhat similar to Amazon’s Go convenience store, shoppers at Kroger will be able to fill their shopping basket with scanned items and exit the store after a quick stop at a self-checkout station.

Using a smartphone, users have to scan each item when placed in their cart rather than scanning the items at checkout. The Scan, Bag, Go mobile app keeps track of the running total — ideal for anyone on a budget. When a shopper is ready to leave, they exit at a self checkout station, scan their smartphone, and submit payment. Kroger’s future plan for the app will store credit card information in order to complete the purchase without even visiting a self-checkout station.

At this time, the Scan, Bag, Go service is available in the Greater Cincinnati area as well as a few select locations in Phoenix, Arizona. Kroger hasn’t officially announced the 400 expansion locations, but the company should make an announcement during the new year. Some of Kroger’s regional grocery store chains include City Market, Dillions Food Stores, Fry’s Food, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Ralphs, and Smith’s.

Besides the Scan, Bag, Go service, Kroger has seen success with the ClickList service as well. That lets the customer place an order online and simply pickup their groceries at a specific time. Within the store, that’s shifted some employees from the checkout lines to moving large carts throughout the store filling up baskets for online orders. ClickList also offers personalized suggestions for frequent shoppers as well as recipes for customers that want to try something new.

Kroger isn’t the only grocery chain attempting to attract customers that hate long checkout lines. While Amazon may expand their Go convenience store concept to Whole Foods, Walmart is already testing a similar self-checkout concept using the Scan & Go app. Rather than checking out at a specific station, customers show a Walmart employee their purchase receipt within the Scan & Go app as they exit the store. This digital checkout process is also being tested at select Sam’s Club warehouse stores.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Discover announces that it will do away with signatures by April 2018
• Venmo users can now make purchases at 2 million online retailers
• Self-driving robots will keep Walmart store floors squeaky-clean
• Walmart reportedly explores cashier-free stores to keep pace with Amazon
• Chase will soon offer cashback rewards for cardholders using mobile pay

You may soon be able to skip the grocery checkout line at Kroger

After a 25-store test run over the last couple years, Kroger is expanding the Scan, Bag, Go service to roughly 400 stores during 2018. Somewhat similar to Amazon’s Go convenience store, shoppers at Kroger will be able to fill their shopping basket with scanned items and exit the store after a quick stop at a self-checkout station.

Using a smartphone, users have to scan each item when placed in their cart rather than scanning the items at checkout. The Scan, Bag, Go mobile app keeps track of the running total — ideal for anyone on a budget. When a shopper is ready to leave, they exit at a self checkout station, scan their smartphone, and submit payment. Kroger’s future plan for the app will store credit card information in order to complete the purchase without even visiting a self-checkout station.

At this time, the Scan, Bag, Go service is available in the Greater Cincinnati area as well as a few select locations in Phoenix, Arizona. Kroger hasn’t officially announced the 400 expansion locations, but the company should make an announcement during the new year. Some of Kroger’s regional grocery store chains include City Market, Dillions Food Stores, Fry’s Food, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Ralphs, and Smith’s.

Besides the Scan, Bag, Go service, Kroger has seen success with the ClickList service as well. That lets the customer place an order online and simply pickup their groceries at a specific time. Within the store, that’s shifted some employees from the checkout lines to moving large carts throughout the store filling up baskets for online orders. ClickList also offers personalized suggestions for frequent shoppers as well as recipes for customers that want to try something new.

Kroger isn’t the only grocery chain attempting to attract customers that hate long checkout lines. While Amazon may expand their Go convenience store concept to Whole Foods, Walmart is already testing a similar self-checkout concept using the Scan & Go app. Rather than checking out at a specific station, customers show a Walmart employee their purchase receipt within the Scan & Go app as they exit the store. This digital checkout process is also being tested at select Sam’s Club warehouse stores.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Discover announces that it will do away with signatures by April 2018
• Venmo users can now make purchases at 2 million online retailers
• Self-driving robots will keep Walmart store floors squeaky-clean
• Walmart reportedly explores cashier-free stores to keep pace with Amazon
• Chase will soon offer cashback rewards for cardholders using mobile pay

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Seaweed straws, graphene batteries, better bits

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. That said, keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even the best intentioned — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Magnic Micro Lights — contactless dynamo bike lights

Cyclists generally have two options when it comes to lights: battery power or dynamo power. Battery power is reliable, easy, and cheap, but has the obvious drawback of replacement cost when the batteries run out. Dynamo powered lights use your bike’s spinning wheels to generate power, and therefore don’t require batteries. The downside is they cause friction that can slow you down, and they’re generally more expensive. German inventor Dirk Strothmann has come up with a device that aims to alleviate both problems.

The Magnic Light (portmanteau of “magnet” and “magic”) is a compact, contactless, dynamo-powered bicycle light that leverages a unique physical phenomenon, known as an eddy current, to generate power.

Even if physics wasn’t your strong suit back in high school, it’s relatively easy to grasp how eddy currents work. Think of a canoe paddle moving through the water. As it travels backwards breadthwise, small swirls of water are created along its edges, and remain swirling for some time after the paddle is removed from the water. These are eddy currents, and although this example pertains to fluids, the same phenomenon occurs with electromagnetic fields. When your bike’s spinning rim (the conductor) moves past Magnic Light’s built-in magnets, it creates an eddy current that powers a dynamo, thus producing electricity to illuminate its two LEDs.

Apollo — graphene-based portable battery

Smartphones have come a long way in the past few years, but no matter how advanced they seem to get, they never seem to have enough battery power. Show me the most advanced smartphone you’ve got, and after 8-10 hours, I’ll show you a really expensive paperweight. Thankfully, there are tons of portable batteries that can help alleviate the problem, but even the best ones come with their own set of flaws and shortcomings — the most egregious of which is the fact that portable power packs often take forever to juice up. But what if they didn’t?

That’s where Apollo comes in. Thanks to its graphene-based composite battery tech, it’s smaller than many power packs available on the market, yet is allegedly able to recharge in just 20 minutes. It supports charging at up to 60W, which means that a battery with a capacity of 6,000mAh can be charged in as little as 20 minutes. You can also quickly charge gadgets with 40W, allowing the iPhone X and iPhone 8 to reach a full charge in just 90 minutes, as opposed to the usual three hours. The USB-C connection means that it’s compatible with the power adapters for the Nintendo Switch, MacBook, and Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops. You can alternatively use a special adapter to get it to work with old laptop chargers or MagSafe adapters.

Knife Edge Magnetic Bits — improved Philips driver bits

If you’ve ever used a Phillips screwdriver, you know firsthand just how frustrating they can be to work with. Turning a screw should be a pretty straightforward task, but for some reason, the shape of a Phillips bit makes it a delicate affair. You know what I’m talking about — one false move and the bit will push itself out and mangle the screw head, making it difficult (or downright impossible) to drive/remove the screw.

Ever wonder why this happens? Well as it turns out, it’s because that’s exactly what Phillips screwdriver bits are designed to do. They were invented back in the 1930s for use on automotive assembly lines, and their creator Henry Phillips deliberately designed them to “cam out” or push themselves out of the screw at a certain point so that they wouldn’t damage cars on the assembly line. The screws used back then were made of higher quality steel than the ones you currently buy at Home Depot, so this was an important feature at the time. Thing is, we use Phillips screws for a totally different purpose now, and the fact that the bits tend to “cam out” is more annoying than it is helpful to most users.

To remedy this problem, inventor Dan Pinckard has developed the Knife Edge, a new Phillips bit that not only prevents cam out from happening, but also allows you to turn damaged and otherwise unusable screws. As you’ve probably guessed from the name, the bit’s unique geometry causes it to dig into the screw head and lock in place when lots of torque is applied, so instead of slipping out and demolishing your screw head, it actually gets tighter. Check out the video to see it in action.

UniLid — universal food storage lid

Tupperware storage containers might be the worst thing ever invented. Not because they aren’t useful — quite the opposite, in fact. I just hate them because they’re a monumental pain in the ass to clean and keep organized. They also come in a zillion different shapes and sizes, which means you inevitably end up with a cupboard stuffed with mismatched lids and warped containers. But what if there was a better way to store leftover food? What if there was as minimalist, durable, and infinitely reusable storage system that you could use with your existing dishes?

Enter the UniLid. It’s an ingenious system of stretchy silicon lids designed to replace your ridiculous Tupperware container collection. Because UniLids are  stretchable and elastic, they can fit over just about any bowl, plate, or other serving dish. The lids come in various sizes too, so you’ll always be able to find one that fits snugly over your container. And the best part? They’re completely dishwasher safe, and won’t warp when exposed to high temperatures.

Lolistraw — hyper-compostable straws

Straws might not be the most obivous perpetrators of environmental damage, but despite the fact that they keep a pretty low profile (compared to oil spills and people who drive Hummers), they’re a fairly big contributor to the world’s growing plastic waste problem. Think about it. People in the United States use about 500 million plastic straws per day, and practically all of them are disposed of after use. That’s a hell of a lot of plastic waste. But what if there was an alternative?

That’s precisely where Lolistraw comes in. According to the device’s creators, “Lolistraw is made from Loliware’s patent-pending, seaweed-based material technology and is 100% plastic free, Hypercompostable, marine-degradable, and non-GMO. Seaweed is a renewable resource that does not require land resources and actually absorbs CO2, which is why a seaweed-based product has an environmental advantage. Many bioplastics are made from GMO crops like corn.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny selfie drones, smart toilet seats, and more
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Folding helmets and emojis for your car
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny phones, trippy LED masks, and more
• Forget lithium-ion — this graphene-based power pack recharges insanely fast
• Dell XPS 13 Review

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Seaweed straws, graphene batteries, better bits

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. That said, keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even the best intentioned — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Magnic Micro Lights — contactless dynamo bike lights

Cyclists generally have two options when it comes to lights: battery power or dynamo power. Battery power is reliable, easy, and cheap, but has the obvious drawback of replacement cost when the batteries run out. Dynamo powered lights use your bike’s spinning wheels to generate power, and therefore don’t require batteries. The downside is they cause friction that can slow you down, and they’re generally more expensive. German inventor Dirk Strothmann has come up with a device that aims to alleviate both problems.

The Magnic Light (portmanteau of “magnet” and “magic”) is a compact, contactless, dynamo-powered bicycle light that leverages a unique physical phenomenon, known as an eddy current, to generate power.

Even if physics wasn’t your strong suit back in high school, it’s relatively easy to grasp how eddy currents work. Think of a canoe paddle moving through the water. As it travels backwards breadthwise, small swirls of water are created along its edges, and remain swirling for some time after the paddle is removed from the water. These are eddy currents, and although this example pertains to fluids, the same phenomenon occurs with electromagnetic fields. When your bike’s spinning rim (the conductor) moves past Magnic Light’s built-in magnets, it creates an eddy current that powers a dynamo, thus producing electricity to illuminate its two LEDs.

Apollo — graphene-based portable battery

Smartphones have come a long way in the past few years, but no matter how advanced they seem to get, they never seem to have enough battery power. Show me the most advanced smartphone you’ve got, and after 8-10 hours, I’ll show you a really expensive paperweight. Thankfully, there are tons of portable batteries that can help alleviate the problem, but even the best ones come with their own set of flaws and shortcomings — the most egregious of which is the fact that portable power packs often take forever to juice up. But what if they didn’t?

That’s where Apollo comes in. Thanks to its graphene-based composite battery tech, it’s smaller than many power packs available on the market, yet is allegedly able to recharge in just 20 minutes. It supports charging at up to 60W, which means that a battery with a capacity of 6,000mAh can be charged in as little as 20 minutes. You can also quickly charge gadgets with 40W, allowing the iPhone X and iPhone 8 to reach a full charge in just 90 minutes, as opposed to the usual three hours. The USB-C connection means that it’s compatible with the power adapters for the Nintendo Switch, MacBook, and Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops. You can alternatively use a special adapter to get it to work with old laptop chargers or MagSafe adapters.

Knife Edge Magnetic Bits — improved Philips driver bits

If you’ve ever used a Phillips screwdriver, you know firsthand just how frustrating they can be to work with. Turning a screw should be a pretty straightforward task, but for some reason, the shape of a Phillips bit makes it a delicate affair. You know what I’m talking about — one false move and the bit will push itself out and mangle the screw head, making it difficult (or downright impossible) to drive/remove the screw.

Ever wonder why this happens? Well as it turns out, it’s because that’s exactly what Phillips screwdriver bits are designed to do. They were invented back in the 1930s for use on automotive assembly lines, and their creator Henry Phillips deliberately designed them to “cam out” or push themselves out of the screw at a certain point so that they wouldn’t damage cars on the assembly line. The screws used back then were made of higher quality steel than the ones you currently buy at Home Depot, so this was an important feature at the time. Thing is, we use Phillips screws for a totally different purpose now, and the fact that the bits tend to “cam out” is more annoying than it is helpful to most users.

To remedy this problem, inventor Dan Pinckard has developed the Knife Edge, a new Phillips bit that not only prevents cam out from happening, but also allows you to turn damaged and otherwise unusable screws. As you’ve probably guessed from the name, the bit’s unique geometry causes it to dig into the screw head and lock in place when lots of torque is applied, so instead of slipping out and demolishing your screw head, it actually gets tighter. Check out the video to see it in action.

UniLid — universal food storage lid

Tupperware storage containers might be the worst thing ever invented. Not because they aren’t useful — quite the opposite, in fact. I just hate them because they’re a monumental pain in the ass to clean and keep organized. They also come in a zillion different shapes and sizes, which means you inevitably end up with a cupboard stuffed with mismatched lids and warped containers. But what if there was a better way to store leftover food? What if there was as minimalist, durable, and infinitely reusable storage system that you could use with your existing dishes?

Enter the UniLid. It’s an ingenious system of stretchy silicon lids designed to replace your ridiculous Tupperware container collection. Because UniLids are  stretchable and elastic, they can fit over just about any bowl, plate, or other serving dish. The lids come in various sizes too, so you’ll always be able to find one that fits snugly over your container. And the best part? They’re completely dishwasher safe, and won’t warp when exposed to high temperatures.

Lolistraw — hyper-compostable straws

Straws might not be the most obivous perpetrators of environmental damage, but despite the fact that they keep a pretty low profile (compared to oil spills and people who drive Hummers), they’re a fairly big contributor to the world’s growing plastic waste problem. Think about it. People in the United States use about 500 million plastic straws per day, and practically all of them are disposed of after use. That’s a hell of a lot of plastic waste. But what if there was an alternative?

That’s precisely where Lolistraw comes in. According to the device’s creators, “Lolistraw is made from Loliware’s patent-pending, seaweed-based material technology and is 100% plastic free, Hypercompostable, marine-degradable, and non-GMO. Seaweed is a renewable resource that does not require land resources and actually absorbs CO2, which is why a seaweed-based product has an environmental advantage. Many bioplastics are made from GMO crops like corn.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny selfie drones, smart toilet seats, and more
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Folding helmets and emojis for your car
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny phones, trippy LED masks, and more
• Forget lithium-ion — this graphene-based power pack recharges insanely fast
• Dell XPS 13 Review

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Seaweed straws, graphene batteries, better bits

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. That said, keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even the best intentioned — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Magnic Micro Lights — contactless dynamo bike lights

Cyclists generally have two options when it comes to lights: battery power or dynamo power. Battery power is reliable, easy, and cheap, but has the obvious drawback of replacement cost when the batteries run out. Dynamo powered lights use your bike’s spinning wheels to generate power, and therefore don’t require batteries. The downside is they cause friction that can slow you down, and they’re generally more expensive. German inventor Dirk Strothmann has come up with a device that aims to alleviate both problems.

The Magnic Light (portmanteau of “magnet” and “magic”) is a compact, contactless, dynamo-powered bicycle light that leverages a unique physical phenomenon, known as an eddy current, to generate power.

Even if physics wasn’t your strong suit back in high school, it’s relatively easy to grasp how eddy currents work. Think of a canoe paddle moving through the water. As it travels backwards breadthwise, small swirls of water are created along its edges, and remain swirling for some time after the paddle is removed from the water. These are eddy currents, and although this example pertains to fluids, the same phenomenon occurs with electromagnetic fields. When your bike’s spinning rim (the conductor) moves past Magnic Light’s built-in magnets, it creates an eddy current that powers a dynamo, thus producing electricity to illuminate its two LEDs.

Apollo — graphene-based portable battery

Smartphones have come a long way in the past few years, but no matter how advanced they seem to get, they never seem to have enough battery power. Show me the most advanced smartphone you’ve got, and after 8-10 hours, I’ll show you a really expensive paperweight. Thankfully, there are tons of portable batteries that can help alleviate the problem, but even the best ones come with their own set of flaws and shortcomings — the most egregious of which is the fact that portable power packs often take forever to juice up. But what if they didn’t?

That’s where Apollo comes in. Thanks to its graphene-based composite battery tech, it’s smaller than many power packs available on the market, yet is allegedly able to recharge in just 20 minutes. It supports charging at up to 60W, which means that a battery with a capacity of 6,000mAh can be charged in as little as 20 minutes. You can also quickly charge gadgets with 40W, allowing the iPhone X and iPhone 8 to reach a full charge in just 90 minutes, as opposed to the usual three hours. The USB-C connection means that it’s compatible with the power adapters for the Nintendo Switch, MacBook, and Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops. You can alternatively use a special adapter to get it to work with old laptop chargers or MagSafe adapters.

Knife Edge Magnetic Bits — improved Philips driver bits

If you’ve ever used a Phillips screwdriver, you know firsthand just how frustrating they can be to work with. Turning a screw should be a pretty straightforward task, but for some reason, the shape of a Phillips bit makes it a delicate affair. You know what I’m talking about — one false move and the bit will push itself out and mangle the screw head, making it difficult (or downright impossible) to drive/remove the screw.

Ever wonder why this happens? Well as it turns out, it’s because that’s exactly what Phillips screwdriver bits are designed to do. They were invented back in the 1930s for use on automotive assembly lines, and their creator Henry Phillips deliberately designed them to “cam out” or push themselves out of the screw at a certain point so that they wouldn’t damage cars on the assembly line. The screws used back then were made of higher quality steel than the ones you currently buy at Home Depot, so this was an important feature at the time. Thing is, we use Phillips screws for a totally different purpose now, and the fact that the bits tend to “cam out” is more annoying than it is helpful to most users.

To remedy this problem, inventor Dan Pinckard has developed the Knife Edge, a new Phillips bit that not only prevents cam out from happening, but also allows you to turn damaged and otherwise unusable screws. As you’ve probably guessed from the name, the bit’s unique geometry causes it to dig into the screw head and lock in place when lots of torque is applied, so instead of slipping out and demolishing your screw head, it actually gets tighter. Check out the video to see it in action.

UniLid — universal food storage lid

Tupperware storage containers might be the worst thing ever invented. Not because they aren’t useful — quite the opposite, in fact. I just hate them because they’re a monumental pain in the ass to clean and keep organized. They also come in a zillion different shapes and sizes, which means you inevitably end up with a cupboard stuffed with mismatched lids and warped containers. But what if there was a better way to store leftover food? What if there was as minimalist, durable, and infinitely reusable storage system that you could use with your existing dishes?

Enter the UniLid. It’s an ingenious system of stretchy silicon lids designed to replace your ridiculous Tupperware container collection. Because UniLids are  stretchable and elastic, they can fit over just about any bowl, plate, or other serving dish. The lids come in various sizes too, so you’ll always be able to find one that fits snugly over your container. And the best part? They’re completely dishwasher safe, and won’t warp when exposed to high temperatures.

Lolistraw — hyper-compostable straws

Straws might not be the most obivous perpetrators of environmental damage, but despite the fact that they keep a pretty low profile (compared to oil spills and people who drive Hummers), they’re a fairly big contributor to the world’s growing plastic waste problem. Think about it. People in the United States use about 500 million plastic straws per day, and practically all of them are disposed of after use. That’s a hell of a lot of plastic waste. But what if there was an alternative?

That’s precisely where Lolistraw comes in. According to the device’s creators, “Lolistraw is made from Loliware’s patent-pending, seaweed-based material technology and is 100% plastic free, Hypercompostable, marine-degradable, and non-GMO. Seaweed is a renewable resource that does not require land resources and actually absorbs CO2, which is why a seaweed-based product has an environmental advantage. Many bioplastics are made from GMO crops like corn.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny selfie drones, smart toilet seats, and more
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Folding helmets and emojis for your car
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny phones, trippy LED masks, and more
• Forget lithium-ion — this graphene-based power pack recharges insanely fast
• Dell XPS 13 Review

‘Civilization VI’ for iPad brings the full sweep of history to your fingertips

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

When Firaxis first revealed the bright, stylized visuals of Civilization VI, a vocal minority of fans balked at what they saw as a childish step backwards from the austere realism of Civ V, with some specifically invoking “mobile game graphics” — an insult in the vernacular of “elite” PC gamers. In a sense, they were right — the new aesthetic (which I think is fantastic, regardless) did make porting the venerable PC strategy series to tablet much more feasible. Sid Meier gave iPad gamers an early Christmas present when 2K simultaneously announced and launched Civ VI for iPad the other week.

Mobile gamers have long had access to a more lightweight version of the series with Civilization Revolution, but this is the first time that the unadulterated main series is available on a handheld platform.

This is indeed the full Civ VI, so I will dispense with gameplay impressions entirely and direct you to my review of the game when it released, which applies equally here if you want to know the basics of this excellent strategy game. If anything, the game has only improved since then, with all of the subsequent balance tweaks and content additions, all of which are integrated into the iPad version.

For a game that can have a lot of information on the screen at the same time, Civ VI translates beautifully to the iPad. The text and interface have been scaled up and changed around slightly in places to fit the medium, but otherwise it looks and plays completely the same. I played on an iPad Mini 4, and even with that minimal screen real estate, it never felt cluttered. The graphics are obviously at a much lower resolution than typical PC settings, with noticeable aliasing at the highest zoom, but as mentioned above, the game’s crisp and contrasting visual style downscales very well.

The touch controls are smooth, intuitive and responsive, and pretty much directly translate the point-and-click interface of the original game. Pressing and holding on any element brings up an explanatory tooltip, with the option to adjust the delay before it appears to your taste. Moving around is just a matter of single-finger scrolling and pinching/zooming, which is intuitive to any iPad user at this point, and an easy three-finger tap backs out of menus. Selecting and dragging units to move them was the only time I found the controls to be at all fiddly, but an alternate option to use move and attack buttons by the unit portrait circumvents this if you find it to be a hassle.

Special considerations for the platform include settings like zoom sensitivity and movement inertia, a battery life indicator, and the option to have confirmation prompts when you take irreversible actions like attacking or consuming a resource. The only real compromises that I could find were that the leaders were limited to their static portraits rather than their full (and exceedingly charming) animations, and the wonder completion videos simply rotate around the final monument, rather than showing the time-lapse of its construction. Strategic mode is also absent. Multiplayer is limited to your local network, and there’s no cross-platform play, unfortunately.

The only hitch is the price tag of $60 (or $30 as a launch discount until January 4). As a feature-complete port of a contemporary major PC game, price parity between platforms makes sense. $60 is wildly out of step with the mobile game marketplace, however, and even ports of full PC games (like Firaxis’ own XCOM) generally come at discounts, though typically several years after the initial release. Casual mobile gamers may balk at the price, but all told this is great value. What you lose in minor presentation compromises, you more than make up for with the added portability. Anyone can try for themselves in a free trial, which lets you play 60 turns as China (a good choice, as Qin accelerates the early game and lets you build more ancient wonders) in a very favorable, predetermined map. Check out our beginner’s guide if you want a helping hand.

Part of the Nintendo Switch’s success has been breathing new life into established games by making previously console- or PC-locked titles handheld. Although the turn-based rhythm of Civ famously lulls people into all-night sessions, I can just as easily imagine now dropping in for a few turns on my subway commute. Anyone who still holds residual doubts about the iPad as a “serious” gaming platform has lost all ground to stand on.

Editors’ Recommendations

• iPhone 8 Plus review
• Apple adds more indoor maps for select airports and malls to iOS 11
• Commune with nature in ‘Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’ for mobile
• The 20 best Nintendo Switch games you can buy today
• ‘Reigns: Her Majesty’ lets you rule as Queen and slyly addresses gender roles

From the Editor’s Desk: A reminder to keep CES announcements in context

It’s good to remember that just because something is newsworthy doesn’t mean it’s going to be a real-world product.

Amazingly, CES 2018 is less than a week away. Though the “show” doesn’t officially open until January 9, the press will be heading to Las Vegas this week and the news will start pouring out this coming weekend before CES has technically started. Heck, you’re going to start seeing CES announcements in the first couple days of January, a full week early.

With all of that CES craziness so nearly upon us, it’s worth remembering what this show is actually for and what it really means when it comes to products actually being released.

As someone who follows the technology world closely, it’s easy to get excited about the flood of big and exciting announcements coming out of CES. There will be dozens of previously unknown companies showing off some pretty amazing technology demos and even complete products. Even if you ignore the companies that make absolutely unattainable claims, of which there are many, there will still be plenty of realistic and believable stuff to see and get excited about.

Unfortunately, most of it will never come to market for you and I to buy. And understanding why requires understanding what and who CES is for.

There’s a reason why it’s now called just “CES” and that is no longer an acronym for “Consumer Electronics Show” — this isn’t really a show aimed at consumers, even though many of the products on display are consumer-focused in nature. No the reality of CES is that it’s designed for businesses to talk to other businesses all in one place. For companies to talk about licensing or buying technologies (or the company altogether), or to get some investment, or to strike some deals for distribution or manufacturing or a retail partnership. For many more well-established companies, CES is a chance to see what’s on the horizon from the competition or potentially buy up a smaller company with something new to offer.

Unfortunately, most of the tech shown at CES will never come to market.

The only real counterpoint to this is the really big names at the show. Samsung and LG and Sony and Intel and Nikon and Ford and dozens of other huge companies that have their product roadmap lined up and well into production before CES arrives. They use CES to show off what they already know is launching — they’re not waiting to gauge public interest or see what works. A vast majority of what they show off at the show is coming to market in 2017, plus a few glimpses at some prototypes and ideas they have for the future. But it’s all anchored in reality, with finished market-ready products that are already being mass-produced and would be released whether CES happened or not. For them, it’s just an easy way to show off to everyone at once and get in on the news cycle.

Regardless of who CES is actually for, we will of course be there cover all sides of the show. Because even though a majority of what’s shown at CES will never see the light of day again, those who understand that fact can still get some great insight into where the technology industry is headed. We’re still excited about that, and we’re going to see everything we can.

And with that, as I start to pack my bags for CES, a few random thoughts on the week:

• We published our Best of 2017 awards this week, covering all sorts of hardware, software and stories. The list is comprised of the thoughts of the AC team, even though we don’t all agree 100% of the time — this is why you’ll see “runner up” selections in most categories.
• We put our collective foot down and say a lot of things are “best” in individual categories with lengthier explanations throughout the year, but this is our full-on yearly lineup of award winners when we look back. It was a good year for the Android world.
• I also wrote my four-month-later review of the Essential Phone this week. Despite all of the improvements, this still isn’t a phone I’d choose to use on a daily basis given its bad performance and stability. It’s that simple.
• I understand that many people are happier with the phone than I am, and don’t see as many issues with performance. But for me, having used dozens of different phones this year, I can say that when you put the Essential Phone head-to-head with the competition it just doesn’t stand up. Essential has lots of fundamentals perfect, but the execution is sorely lacking.

Happy New Year to everyone out there! Have a safe and fun evening.

-Andrew

UK may tax internet giants to get more help fighting online extremism

The UK still isn’t convinced that internet giants are doing enough to curb online extremism, and it’s now considering hitting those companies where it really hurts: their bank accounts. In an interview with the Sunday Times, security minister Ben Wallace said the country should use taxes to either incentivize stronger anti-extremist efforts or compensate for “inaction.” While Wallace didn’t go into detail as to what he’d like, the Times suggested it would be a windfall-based tax that targeted companies’ large profits.

Wallace certainly doesn’t think very highly of internet companies — he called them “ruthless profiteers” who put “profit before public safety.” They’ll sell info to loan sharks and “soft-porn companies,” he claimed, but won’t give it to the UK’s elected government.

The companies in question object to the claims. Facebook’s Simon Milner said Wallace was “wrong” that the social network didn’t prioritize safety, pointing out “millions of pounds” of investment in people and tech to find and pull terrorist material. YouTube, meanwhile, said it had made “significant progress” thanks to a mix of machine learning, human reviewers and partnerships.

This is only talk at the moment, so it’s far from certain that the tech industry will be forced to pay up. And we’d add that Wallace’s statements appear to be based more on preconceptions of what the companies are like (he describes them as sitting “on beanbags in T-shirts”) than specific complaints. It’s easy to claim that Facebook or Google isn’t doing enough when you don’t have to provide details or consider technical, privacy and free speech issues. This doesn’t mean that they are doing everything they can, but the government may have to back up any punitive tax measures with concrete evidence of inaction.

Via: Reuters

Source: Sunday Times (sign-in required)