Viasat touts fastest satellite internet in the US with new service

Today, communications company Viasat debuted the fastest satellite internet available in the US — up to 100 megabits per second. It’s thanks to the Via-Sat 2 satellite system, which serves North America, Central America, the Caribbean and a small part of northern South America. Viasat is now also offering tiered unlimited data plans, from 12 to 30 megabits per second. The plans top out at $100 per month.

One of the goals of satellite internet is to provide a high-speed internet connection to homes located in areas that don’t have the ground infrastructure to support it. “The innovations we’re making across our satellite system allow us to do extraordinary things, from moving the satellite industry up-market by delivering premium services, speeds and plans that give consumers new choices in their internet service provider, to helping bridge the digital divide in the U.S. today,” said Mark Dankberg, Viasat’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. In addition to home internet, Viasat is also planning on using its Via-Sat 2 satellite to provide faster and more reliable domestic in-flight internet.

Satellite internet is becoming a bigger market, as the cost of access to space is lowered thanks to companies like SpaceX. Indeed, SpaceX itself is dipping its toes into the arena with the recent launch of two prototype satellites in its planned constellation.

Via-Sat 2 may have just launched in June of 2017, but the company is already working on the three-satellite Via-Sat 3 constellation. The new system is designed to blanket the world in high-speed internet access, with data speeds of up to 1 terabyte per second. It’s scheduled to launch in 2020 for America’s satellite, with the two covering the rest of the world to follow.

Via: CBNC

Source: Viasat

Ford will test self-driving car service on Miami streets

Ford is venturing well beyond its home turf of Michigan to test its fledgling self-driving delivery service. The automaker has revealed a pilot program that will see its autonomous vehicles roaming the streets of downtown Miami and Miami Beach. The initial test will separate the delivery and self-driving products, and will gauge what works for both customers and companies. How do you pick up your delivery from a self-driving car, for example, and how far are people willing to walk to get their grub? Domino’s is active right now, while Postmates should be available in March.

Ride hailing from partners like Lyft should come later.

Ford chose Miami both because of Mayor Carlos Giménez’s openness to the idea and the city’s notorious traffic congestion (about 10 percent of time is spent in gridlock). In theory, this addresses “pain points” by sparing people from driving. What the company learns in Miami will help shape tests in other cities as well as the from-scratch autonomous car it plans to field in 2021.

This isn’t exactly the most stringent test. Besides the initial split between delivery and self-driving tech, Miami is a perpetually warm and sunny city with lots of wide open streets. It’d be another matter to test the cars in colder climates, or in dense cities like New York where parking is scarce. Nonetheless, this is an important step. It should help Ford nail the fundamentals of autonomous delivery before it tackles the bigger challenges needed for a full-scale deployment.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Ford (Medium)

Amazon acquires Ring’s smart doorbell business

If it wasn’t already evident that Amazon wants a stronger foothold in the smart home space, it is now. Amazon has acquired Ring, the device maker best known for its smart doorbells. The terms of the deal aren’t clear, but it’s expected that Amazon will keep the core Ring business intact while finding ways to integrate its work into the Amazon ecosystem. Ring already supports Alexa voice control, so we’d expect more than just obvious tie-ins.

The two companies aren’t specific about their plans. In a statement, Amazon told Engadget it was “excited” to work with Ring and aid in its “mission to keep homes safe and secure.” Ring said it could “achieve even more” by allying itself with Amazon as it focuses on its “vision for safer neighborhoods.”

This is the latest (and arguably biggest) in a string of moves to strengthen Amazon’s connected home strategy. It purchased Blink in December, giving it both smart doorbells and wireless security cameras. It also launched a Key service for Prime members that uses smart locks and cameras to let couriers into your home. And to no one’s surprise, the Cloud Cam is quickly becoming a cornerstone of Amazon’s smart home business.

The Ring purchase should help Amazon’s overall hardware business, but it’s also a not-so-subtle attempt to counter Google’s Nest team. Nest has been gradually branching out, most recently introducing its Hello video doorbell. If Amazon doesn’t have an effective answer to the Nest group, it doesn’t just risk losing out on device sales — it risks Google Assistant gaining ground on Alexa. Whatever Amazon pays now may be easily justified if it helps the company dominate the voice assistant world.

Via: GeekWire

Visit the British Library’s ‘Harry Potter’ exhibit from your sofa

Assuming your Hogwarts letter got lost in the mail (it happens from time to time) and you still want a peek at The Boy Who Lived’s coursework, Google has you covered. The search juggernaut has digitized the British Library’s “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” exhibit and tossed it on the Google Arts & Culture mobile-and-web app.

You can take a 360-degree tour of the Divination room, peep author JK Rowling’s original sketch for Hogwarts’ layout, peruse Rowling’s inspirations for Herbology class and a whole lot more. The original exhibition in London sold out extremely quickly, which inspired Google to put it online for all to see. Mountain View writes that “hundreds of the exhibition’s treasures” and some 15 exhibitions are now available to check out any time you want, via your smartphone.

“We’ve used medieval manuscripts, precious printed books and Chinese oracle bones to explore magical traditions, from the making of potions, to the harvesting of poisonous plants, and from the study of the night sky to the uses of unicorns,” a blog post reads. The exhibit closes tomorrow, so this might be your only chance of exploring this window into the wizarding world.

The app is available in half a dozen languages right now including English, French, German and Spanish with more to come. No word yet on when Parseltongue will be added, though.

Source: Google

Netflix plans to offer around 700 original titles in 2018

This year, Netflix aims to have around 700 original TV shows and movies on its streaming service, Variety reports. CFO David Wells told an audience at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference today that the company will spend some $8 billion on content this year saying, “Let’s continue to add content. It’s working. It’s driving growth.” Among those 700 productions will be around 80 originals made outside of the US, such as the German show Dark.

Netflix has scored some major deals of late, snagging partnerships with big names like Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes and the Duplass brothers. It also recently snagged the rights to a Matt Reeves-produced sci-fi film and continues to grow its comedy and animated offerings. Last month, the company announced that it’s still seeing substantial growth — adding 8.3 million customers last quarter — and has around 110 million paying subscribers worldwide.

In addition to adding more original content, the company will also put more emphasis on marketing. It plans to spend around $2 billion this year, an increase of more than 50 percent compared to last year’s spending. “We used to think every incremental dollar was best spent on content,” Wells said. “We think marketing is a multiplier on the content spend.”

Via: Variety

You can finally stream Xbox One games to your Mac

Before now, if you fancied playing console games on your Mac, you’d need to use PlayStation 4’s Remote Play to do so. Windows 10 users have been able to stream Xbox One titles to their PCs since 2015, but macOS users have been out of luck. A new $10 app called OneCast, however, has apparently figured out how to get your Xbox One games streaming to your Mac.

The app isn’t an official release from Xbox, however, unlike Sony’s solution. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this post when we hear back. OneCast promises support for 1080p video, low lag, easy set up and the ability to stream Xbox One titles over the internet (with some manual configuration). OneCast says that you can use an Xbox One wireless controller connected via USB or Bluetooth, use any number of different consoles or gamertags and run in either full screen or windowed mode. You’ll get a free 14-day trial for your $10 purchase, which is regularly $20.

Via: The Verge

Source: OneCast

T-Mobile promises 30 ‘5G-ready’ cities this year, but no actual 5G

T-Mobile isn’t going to sit by the wayside while AT&T and Sprint brag about their 5G rollout plans. The magenta network has outlined its early deployment strategy for 5G, and you can expect actual service well before the company’s self-imposed 2020 goal for a nationwide network. It’s building the gigabit-class networks in 30 cities in 2018, including on the 600MHz band and the high-frequency millimeter wave spectrum. Actual service will launch in Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York City in early 2019, but T-Mobile is promising a ‘real’ launch with smartphones — not hotspot routers or fixed home broadband.

AT&T and Verizon are expected to be first out of the gates with service by the end of 2018, but T-Mobile is clearly betting that this won’t matter to most people until months later, when you can use it away from a computer or tablet and coverage is more consistent. And there’s a degree of truth to that. When AT&T announced its first 5G cities, it tacitly acknowledged that you’d have to wait until 2019 for the coverage and devices you would prefer. Sprint is aiming for 2019 as well. In other words, much of the talk about 2018 (T-Mobile’s included) is more about shouting “first!” than fulfilling promises.

The real challenge is providing good 5G service. T-Mobile may have an edge through its relatively untapped 600MHz network, which promises longer range and better overall coverage even compared to the 700MHz space used for LTE today. Those airwaves will only be usable in some places, however. It’s up to providers to deploy enough cell sites and capacity to ensure that 5G has the coverage and breakneck performance you expect.

Source: T-Mobile

Amazon Acquiring Video Doorbell Maker Ring, but HomeKit Support is Still Coming

Amazon is acquiring Ring, the company that makes a range of WiFi-enabled home security products that include video doorbells, reports GeekWire. The two companies are expected to officially announce the acquisition news later this afternoon, but provided a statement to GeekWire.

“Ring is committed to our mission to reduce crime in neighborhoods by providing effective yet affordable home security tools to our neighbors that make a positive impact on our homes, our communities, and the world,” a Ring spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ll be able to achieve even more by partnering with an inventive, customer-centric company like Amazon. We look forward to being a part of the Amazon team as we work toward our vision for safer neighborhoods.”

Many customers who own Ring products have been eagerly awaiting integration with Apple’s HomeKit platform, and though Amazon is purchasing the company, Ring has this afternoon promised on Twitter that support is still coming. According to Ring, HomeKit support is being tested for Ring Pro and the Floodlight Cam, with the company promising to offer details on a release date following once testing is completed.

HomeKit support is a feature that Ring has been promising for some time. In October, for example, Ring said bringing HomeKit support to its Ring Pro and Floodlight Cam was an “ongoing project” but had “been delayed.” Ring support for Amazon’s Alexa products has been available for months now.

HomeKit is definitely still happening! We’re testing HomeKit for the Ring Pro and the Floodlight Cam, and as soon as testing is completed, we’ll update everyone with a release date.

— Ring (@ring) February 27, 2018

Ring has been offering video doorbells for several years now, and recently expanded its product lineup with additional cameras and a new range of connected lights added to the Ring lineup through an acquisition of Mr. Beam.

Amazon has recently become interested in smart home-related companies, and back in December, purchased Blink, another company that offers home security cameras and video doorbells. Amazon has also released its own home security camera, the Cloud Cam.

Amazon’s interest in smart home products stems from its Amazon Echo line of products, which offer Alexa integration and allow users to control their third-party smart home devices. Alexa works with many of the smart home products on the market today.

Tags: HomeKit, Ring
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Quick Takes: iPhone X Clones, 5G Network Race is On, Apple Patents Dual Display Device, and More

In addition to our in-depth coverage of the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, Quick Takes is a new column that provides a bite-sized recap of other Apple-related headlines on weekdays.

Asus ZenFone 5
The focus this week continues to be on Mobile World Congress, where a number of Apple’s competitors unveil new products.

Tuesday, February 27

– Asus debuts iPhone X lookalike ZenFone 5: Taiwan’s Asus today unveiled the ZenFone 5, its latest Android smartphone that resembles the iPhone X. Asus isn’t shying away from the similarities, as on stage, it said the ZenFone 5’s notch is 26 percent smaller than the one on Apple’s flagship smartphone. ZenFone 5 also has a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, versus 86 percent for the iPhone X.

Skip to around the 2:12:45 mark to watch the ZenFone 5 vs. iPhone X comparison
Commentary: It was only a matter of time before Android smartphones imitated the iPhone X, although not all vendors are following suit. Samsung’s new Galaxy S9, for example, still has uniform bezels, and the South Korean company has poked fun at the iPhone X’s notch on stage and in an ad last year.

– Apple has added more refurbished Apple Watch Series 3 to its online store: There are currently six Wi-Fi + GPS variations to choose from, but still none with LTE. 38mm models cost $279, and 42mm models cost $309. Each watch is cleaned, inspected, repackaged in a new box with a magnetic charging cable, and protected by a one-year warranty. AppleCare+ is available. Supplies are limited.

Commentary: Apple’s certified refurbished products are virtually indistinguishable from brand new products, so if you are in the market for an Apple Watch Series 3, this is a good opportunity to save 13 to 15 percent off regular prices.

– Sprint and T-Mobile have revealed their 5G rollout plans: The carriers plan to build out 5G networks by the first half of 2019, when the first 5G-capable smartphones are expected to launch. Sprint’s 5G-ready cities will include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., while T-Mobile will first reach customers in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas.

Commentary: The race to 5G is on, but it won’t really matter until smartphones are released with support for the ultra-fast technology. A recent report claimed future iPhone models may be equipped with 5G modems from Intel, but it doesn’t appear that will happen until the second half of 2019 at the earliest.

– Apple granted patent for a dual display device: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent for a dual display device. As noted by Patently Apple, the description says the bottom area could be an OLED display, which could allow for a MacBook with a large digital keyboard and trackpad.

Commentary: Apple patents lots of different inventions, many of which never see the light of day as consumer-facing products. However, it’s fun to envision a MacBook with an extended Touch Bar, or a foldable 2-in-1 device that could be used as both as a MacBook or iPad depending on its orientation.

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Tag: Quick Takes
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LG V30 at six months: The flagship stumbles with its display but shines elsewhere

With Mobile World Congress 2018 in the rear view mirror, it’s time to start looking ahead to new flagships. It’s the season of bigger and better. Now’s the time of year when that phone you’ve been eyeballing is set to get a price drop. It’s when the early adopters watch big name companies trot out their best drool with anticipation.

For every person who simply must buy the newest phone there are probably ten who don’t care all that much. Indeed, a lot of smartphone users are more content with buying the best deal, not the shiniest object. Often this means getting a phone that’s about to celebrate a six-month or one-year anniversary.

Take, for instance, LG and its V30. Launched in the fall of 2017, it was, and is, one of the strongest phones on the market. On paper, at least. We previously spent some time with a preview unit of the LG V30 back in August and were immediately pleased with it.

Here we are, some months removed and having spent considerably more time with the retail version. Read on for our review of the LG V30. While it certainly qualifies as a flagship device, it has a number of problems.

Display

Let’s start with the obvious. Much fuss has been made about the V30’s display, and how disappointingly it performs in comparison to other flagships. And that criticism is very much warranted.

It struggles in low light and low brightness, has problems rendering gradients and solid colors alike, and blacks that, while deep and rich, also bleed heavily in transition – a far cry from what LG has delivered in the previous V-series models. My review unit was a bit better off than many of the retail models, but the display’s problems are undeniable.

On paper, the V30’s display is a beast; a 6″, 18:9 OLED panel with QHD+ resolution and HDR10 support on a screen that covers 80% of the face of the phone. It sounds like a phone-nerd’s dream, right? Unfortunately, all dreams must end – and in reality, the V30’s display is a bit of a mess.

Build

The V30 is without doubt a beautiful phone. That big OLED display dominates its face and drapes elegantly over each side, creating a gorgeous silhouette that’s all curves.

In that aforementioned phone-nerd dreamland we wouldn’t need to cover up that beauty with a case. We’d have an indestructible, impact-proof phone that would never tumble from clumsy fingers; one we could admire for hours without having a panic attack about the all-glass body the guys over at LG decided to use.

Alas, we’re forced to take that lovingly crafted aluminum-and-glass body and wrap it in silicone and carbonate – lest we risk shattering it. Even then, glass – Corning Gorilla Glass 5, no less – is not known for its durability at thin densities. In the proverbial race to make the thinnest phones this glass is indeed quite thin.

Durability Concerns

Never Stood a Chance.

Even a Spigen full-body case couldn’t save my poor review unit whose back is hopelessly shattered like a first generation iPhone 5 after its first drop. The sad part is that the damage occurred in the case – and there’s a visible impact mark on the glass.

LG has an entire section on the product page singing the praises of the V30’s build quality. It raves about the phone’s IP68 rating, rightfully so as that’s something that consumers really desire in a modern smartphone. What’s more, its “Military Tested” durability, passing “14 different military-standard durability tests” using the MIL-STD 810G battery.

What LG neglects to mention though, is which tests the LG V30 passed, and which it didn’t. MIL-STD 810G is a Military Testing Standard encompassing 29 different categories, ranging from minor tests like sand and dust to major ones like gunfire and ballistic shock.

LG conveniently doesn’t tell us if the V30 passes the Method 516 (Shock) test, for example, which determines durability from impacts like drops and throws – I suspect, given the phone’s all-glass nature, that it didn’t.

Frame

Beyond the glass face and body, the frame of the phone is made of anodized metal in either silver or black. The silver is chromed out and shiny. It’s way too flashy for my personal taste, but gorgeous to some, I’m sure.

LG went with a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone – a call back to, perhaps, the G-series, which saw buttons in the same place for easy manipulation – and volume buttons on the left side of the frame. Pretty standard. Interestingly, the glass on the rear panel of the phone also appears to cover the Flash and laser focus, resulting in a perfectly smooth back, save for a modest camera bump.

Internals

The V30 is a true flagship. From start to finish, its internal components were cutting-edge at the time of release and still stand up today. 

The Snapdragon 835 processor that powers the V30 is the most modern Qualcomm processor currently in a smartphone. We expect to see the Samsung Galaxy S9 feature the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip, but that doesn’t mean the V30 is any less powerful. The processor allows you to fly through tasks.

The V30 also features 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, the standard for flagships today. While some outliers may feature more, the V30 matches other flagship devices like the Google Pixel XL and Pixel 2 XL, the Samsung Galaxy S8, and the HTC U11. Devices in 2018 may have more RAM or more storage, but for right now, the V30 is well equipped.

The V30 also sports the trifecta of modern specifications: Bluetooth 5, 802.11ac WiFi, and USB-C version 3.1 (with Quick Charge 3.0). The V30 is in the top tier of smartphones on the market in this category. Bluetooth 5 offers better range, faster data speeds, and the bandwidth to connect two devices at the same time.

In terms of battery life, the V30’s 3300 mAh battery is underwhelming but still very much in the realm of the modern flagship. We always want better battery life from our phones and that’s no different from the V30. While I was able to get through a 15 hour day with the phone, battery life could certainly be better. For years, we’ve decried OEMs making their devices slimmer to the detriment of battery life. The V30 is a case study in this very practice.

Software

Android can be whatever you want it to be; that’s the beauty of the operating system. As such, I don’t normally talk too very much about the so-called “skins” that OEMs place over their respective phones. After all, what’s the point? If you don’t like it, download a new launcher or new apps.

But LG has really done a lot to deviate from Google’s core Android design, both in terms of adding features and its visual style. The V30 comes stock running Android 7.1.2 – no Oreo update yet, even months after release – and runs a heavily skinned variant that’s virtually unrecognizable as Nougat.

When first setting up the phone, we’re presented with an option of how we’d like our Home Screen set up: Home (with all apps on the screen at once – oddly, the default), Home with Drawer (Android’s standard), and EasyHome (which has limited space on the Home Screen, for use with children or elders). There are a number of themes that can be downloaded for use with the Launcher, though I didn’t find any of them to be particularly engaging.

Floating Bar

Floating Bar is a cute little feature that places a shortcut on top of everything on the screen. This allows you to access handy shortcuts like favorite apps, contacts, screenshot manipulation, and music playback control. It’s useful at times, but I also found it to be a bit cumbersome.

It always manages to be in the way at one point or another, much like Facebook’s Chat Heads feature. I haven’t ever found it to be critically useful. You can control music playback by simply pulling down on the notification shade and that’s definitely clever and a bit of value added.

The Floating Bar.

Smart Settings

Smart Settings is something that should be integrated into Android’s AOSP, in my opinion. It allows you to customize the settings you want based on four parameters: At Home, Away from home, When earphones are plugged in, and

My Smart Settings

When Bluetooth is connected. These settings can change your sound profile, Bluetooth, and WiFi based on the aforementioned conditions.

This is especially useful for saving battery by turning off Bluetooth or WiFi when you don’t want it on, or launching your favorite music app when you connect headphones or Bluetooth, automatically. Think of it as a less encompassing version of IFTTT – automating your smartphone, so you don’t have to micromanage it.

It’s certainly not perfect, but it is rather convenient.

Smart Cleaning

This is one of those redundant features I mentioned above. Task Killers haven’t been necessary on Android in many iterations, and that’s exactly what Smart Cleaning is at its core. It kills Idle Tasks and erases Temporary Files in an effort to clear up RAM for your use. But honestly, Android already does a pretty decent job of doing that all by itself. If you’ve managed to bog down the V30’s processor and RAM, it’s probably something you’re doing wrong; not something Smart Cleaning can fix.

Smart Bulletin

I’m torn on Smart Bulletin. It’s a decent idea in that it shows at-a-glance information that’s relevant in your daily life: Smart Settings, LG Health, Calendar, and Music. Unfortunately, the only apps that Smart Bulletin can pull from are LG’s versions of those apps. That means no Google Calendar, Fit, or Music. It’s all very Apple-like. Had LG simply given us the ability to choose whichever apps we wanted, that would have been wonderful. Instead, it limits us to using its own apps and no others.

Camera

LG’s V-series phones have always had ambitious cameras. From their software to the hardware backing them, the V-series was dedicated to giving a fantastic camera experience to the masses. And while it hasn’t always succeeded, LG has, at least, made that its goal. Unfortunately, the camera on the V30 is rather underwhelming for a flagship device.

Camera Modes.

With the Pixel 2, Note 8, iPhone 8/X, and HTC U11 all receiving DxOMark scores above 90 recently the V30’s 82 DxOMark score is rather disappointing. More than just a number though, the pictures the V30 takes are underwhelming as well. To clarify, they aren’t terrible. You’d be hard-pressed to find a modern smartphone that takes terrible photos, but in a world of amazing smartphone cameras, this isn’t one of them. The V30 has a number of modes to modify your pictures – some of them useful, others not so much.

Modes

• Match Shot: Allows you to take pictures of video using both cameras at the same time – and stitch them together.
• CineVideo: Allows for point-zoom in video, something that isn’t particularly common in smartphones.
• Grid Shot: Take four pictures and stitch them together into a single shot.
• Food: Depressing mode that enables our obsession with taking pictures of our food.
• Slo-Mo: Pretty self-explanatory. Slows down fast-moving objects.
• Time Lapse: Takes a video in a slower time interval, then plays it back at regular speed. Makes time seem faster.
• Snap Movie: Tap to record for 3 seconds. Touch and hold for up to a minute. This essentially lets you stitch together a series of clips into a single video. Add effects to make it shinier.
• Popout: The subject of the photo is in focus and colorful, while the rest is cropped out with altered effects.

Value

At somewhere between $650 and $800, the V30 falls squarely in the premium price tier. While I personally am a fan of budget flagships – why pay more for a high-end brand name? Most consumers that like to buy Samsung, LG or HTC will find this price point to be acceptable. The V30’s processor and RAM will hold up for a long time, relatively speaking. The camera performs well, its storage (and the potential for a 2TB MicroSD card) is more than adequate, and its connectivity standards are more-or-less future proof out to two years. As such, the $700 price point is pretty bearable, assuming you’re in the market for a high-end, big-name flagship.

Buy the LG V30 from your carrier of choice:

Verizon | AT&T | T-Mobile | Sprint

Or, you prefer to get it unlocked – and for cheaper, I may add – get it from Amazon:

Unlocked LG V30