It’s a broken company [#acpodcast]

Alex Dobie and Jerry Hildenbrand join Daniel Bader to chat more about the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro and the Neural Processing Unit that’s baked into the Kirin processor. They also read and respond to several listener emails about Chromebooks vs. iPads in the classroom.

Next up, they discuss Galaxy S9 battery problems and differences between Exynos and Snapdragon processors that Samsung is using in different markets. Along the lines of Google DNS, Cloudflare has launched a DNS service called 1.1.1.1 that’s meant as a faster and more secure alternative to your ISP’s DNS registry.

Ending on a dumpster fire, up to 87 million Facebook users’ data was shared with Cambridge Analytica. Facebook is making some changes and improvements to it’s data sharing policies, but should Zuck have to fall on his sword?

Listen now

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Show Notes and Links:

• Active shooter at YouTube HQ wounded three before killing herself
• Huawei P20 and P20 Pro: Triple threat
• How does Apple’s new push for the education market compare to Chromebooks in the classroom?
• Samsung Galaxy S9 battery problems, explained: Exynos vs. Snapdragon
• Up to 87 million Facebook users’ data was shared with Cambridge Analytica
• Cloudflare’s new consumer DNS service promises a faster, more secure internet

Sponsors:

• Thrifter.com: All the best deals from Amazon, Best Buy, and more, fussily curated and constantly updated.
• GameStash: Hundreds of awesome games on your Android phone. Try it free for 14 days!

California may soon allow passengers in driverless cars

In early April, California’s new rules that allow automakers, tech giants and just about anybody to test fully driverless cars on its roads finally took effect. But before those companies can realize their ride-hailing robot taxi ambitions, they have to wait for the state to adopt a proposal issued by the California Public Utilities Commission. The public utility regulator’s proposed rules would allow autonomous vehicles to give rides to the public as part of a pilot program — that is, so long as their creators meet a few conditions.

To start with, only cars with backup drivers can initially take passengers. That won’t be a problem, since only one (unnamed) company has applied for permission to test no-driver cars in California, thus far. However, the rules are expected to extend to fully driverless cars in the future. Companies must also provide the service for free — the CPUC plans to develop regulations for paid rides, but that’ll come after this initial set of rules get approved.

Cars participating in pilot programs can’t do pick ups and drop offs at airports, and passengers must be 18 years and older. Any company that chooses to take part must regularly file reports indicating the number of miles their self-driving vehicles travel, the rides they complete and the number of disabled passengers they serve. Finally, they need to wait 90 days after getting an autonomous testing permit from the DMV before their vehicles can start driving passengers around.

In the proposal by Commissioner Liane M. Randolph, she explained that her proposed rules “allow the introduction of AVs into passenger service to the public on a pilot basis, while providing for the safety and consumer protection of the passengers, consistent with the Commission’s regulation of private passenger-carrying transportation entities subject to its jurisdiction.” She also said that they “are designed to work in
tandem with the DMV’s jurisdiction over regulations addressing the safe operation of AVs themselves.”

The commission is slated to discuss and vote on the proposal during its May 10th meeting, so we won’t have to wait to long to find out whether California locals can catch an autonomous car ride to their destination. If the proposed rules get approved, it’ll be another milestone for the autonomous vehicle industry.

Today we issued a proposal that, if adopted, would authorize transportation companies using #autonomousvehicles that are permitted to operate by the #DMV & under #CaliforniaPUC jurisdiction to conduct pilot programs to provide rides to the public. 🚗https://t.co/Ju2GBT5vCq pic.twitter.com/AfIxLQj8T3

— California PUC (@californiapuc) April 6, 2018

Source: Reuters, California Public Utilities Commission (PDF)

Global cyberattack targets 200,000 network switches

The past few days haven’t been great for the internet’s broader security. Iran’s Communication and Information Technology Ministry has reported that it was a victim in a global cyberattack that compromised about 200,000 Cisco switches that hadn’t yet received patches for exploits in the company’s legacy Smart Install protocol. The attackers displayed a US flag on at least some screens, complete with a “don’t mess with our elections” warning, but the attack wasn’t focused on Iran — only 3,500 switches fell to the exploit in the country. About 55,000 of the victim devices were in the US, IT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said, while 14,000 were in China. Other victims were located in Europe and India.

Iran’s report came shortly after Cisco’s Talos research group warned that there had been “several incidents” around the world where “specific advanced actors” had targeted its switches using Smart Install. There had been a spike in scanning as of November 2017, and it only increased in intensity in March and April.

The damage, at least in Iran, might be minimal — Iran said it tackled the flaw within hours, and that it hadn’t lost data. However, the reach of the attack and its messaging are more than a little baffling. If this was a warning over election meddling, why not focus on Russia instead of countries that could frequently be victims of those attacks? This could be an indiscriminate protest, or even a deliberate attempt to throw investigators off the trail by foisting the blame on one country.

Whoever’s responsible, the cyberattacks highlight a recurring problem: many of the breaches in recent months have been the result of lax security practices. These switches could have been fixed in time to prevent the attack, but a slow response left them wide open. It may take a long time before a lear majority of network operators treat patches and operating system upgrades as high priorities.

بررسیهای اولیه حاکی از آن است که در تنظیمات مسیریابهای مورد حمله قرار گرفته، با حک پرچم ایالت متحده، اعتراضی درباره انتخابات آمریکا صورت گرفته است. دامنه حملات فراتر از ایران است. منشا حملات در دست بررسی است pic.twitter.com/L8erHB52j1

— MJ Azari Jahromi (@azarijahromi) April 6, 2018

Via: Reuters

Source: Talos, MJ Azari Jahromi (Twitter)

Why just listen when you can play? How Moodelizer makes music malleable

Moodelizer

Being able to stream millions of songs from the cloud to your phone is a fantastic aspect of the modern era, but when you really get down to it, the music-listening experience is essentially the same as it’s always been: You press play on a song or album, toggle between different tunes, adjust the volume, etc. Beyond those options, there’s limited interaction with the music itself. But, if Moodelizer has its way, that could all change soon

A Swedish-born company, Moodelizer Music Technology has developed a new way to interact with music called Dynamic Playback. Accessed via the Moodelizer mobile or desktop app, Dynamic Playback allows you to adjust the style, intensity, variation, and tempo of a new kind of audio recording, in real-time.

With Moodelizer, toggling between which instruments play in the background of your selfie video can be as easy as dragging your finger across a touchscreen, and you can even shoot video and tinker with the music in real-time. Essentially, the interactive nature of Dynamic Playback puts creative control in your hands.

“Once you’ve experienced dynamic music it’s kind of boring to turn back to straight static music.”

That’s all well and good for spicing up Instagram stories, but Moodelizer has grander ambitions for Dynamic Playback which could allow it to one day replace ubiquitous audio formats like MP3s. Soon, Dynamic Playback could allow users to switch between multiple versions of the same song as easily as adjusting the volume — and that’s only the beginning.

Digital Trends spoke to Moodelizer’s founder, Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, about how his company’s technology could revolutionize audio formats, its applications in augmented reality, and when we could start listening to music with Dynamic Playback.

Digital Trends: How was Dynamic Playback created?

Carl-Michael Herlöfsson: It was an idea of mine that has been milling around for quite some time. I experimented with a whole bunch of different methods trying to manipulate sound in real time. … But, there wasn’t any way to do [what I wanted] with the existing software that I had. I had every [type of] software imaginable. I was a sound engineer and music producer, originally. Then I hooked up with a really skillful coder who said that he and his friend had already written a sound engine and they were willing to try this whole idea out … . So, they wrote a prototype program and I dropped in some audio files … .

The first time I tried it out I realized that it was very cool. So, I rounded up some basic startup money and I got it started. The first two years were mainly spent on trying to figure out how to compose and write music for this format. So, I worked with a network of 30-40 composers, producers and musicians, and people that I had in my sort of network around me. … We wrote music and tried it out and we did some more coding and did some more music. It was sort of a collaborative process. Finally we reached the point where we thought, “Here is the dynamic playback format,” which we then went onto seek a patent for, which we got.

How is Dynamic Playback different from existing formats?

“Dynamic Playback opens up the music. It makes it almost three dimensional, in a way.It changes what’s playing and what you’re hearing.”

All the old kind of formats — if you want to call them that — like MP3, CD, and vinyl are just stereo files … You can’t do anything to it. You can turn it up, or turn it down, maybe add some bass. But, that’s it. Dynamic Playback opens up the music. It makes it almost three dimensional, in a way. It changes what’s playing, which instruments you’re hearing, which variation. Also, from the point of creation for musicians and the ones who are writing the music, they can open up the song where you can give the user access to sort of hidden gems within the song.

How does it work? Why would listeners use this format?

So, basically, if you have a song or a piece of music within the touchpad that is on the Moodelizer app, you can arrange the music, or decide which instruments you want to play. The interesting thing with Dynamic Playback technology is you do it in real time. Which means that you can [shoot a video] and you can adjust the music at the same time. It’s all instant, so you go from a single string line to a full orchestra  — anywhere in between — seamlessly, with just the swipe of the finger. … swiping up and down changes intensity, and swiping left and right changes variety, or distinct versions of it.

But [it also works] diagonally. If you’re in the lower-left corner, you get the least amount of sound. If you’re in the upper right corner you get the most amount of music. You have thousands of different positions within that space where you can achieve different results.

If you’re crossfading different versions of the same song, it’s like having five songs playing at the same time.

Yeah. You can add different songs, as well. [But with the same song] you can have a techno version on one end, and a folk music version on the other end, and you can decide which one you want to listen to at any given time. Also, you can blend them together and get the techno-folk version …

The Moodelizer app is fun, but we get the feeling that there are other applications that could benefit from Dynamic Playback.

Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, founder of Moodelizer Music Technology. Wikipedia

We’ve been experimenting heavily with different kinds of input modes. You can control the Dynamic Playback file, or a piece of Dynamic Playback music, with any kind of inputs like movement of the phone, face recognition — it recognizes your smile and plays happy music.

We have isolated a few functions that we are going to slowly implement into the application. The first one we’ll be launching within a month or a month and a half (we’re in beta testing right now), it’s the [augmented reality] function where you are placing musical pieces within a room. You can kind of score the room in advance. You mark a corner of the room or beach, or wherever you are.

You mark a place, and you say, “OK, this place is going to have this music,” and then you pan the camera, and you say, “OK, there’s my girlfriend, she’s going to have that piece of music [attached to her]. Oh, there’s my couch, It’s going to have this resting music.”

When you start to film, the music will automatically change depending on where you point the camera. So you’re scoring your environment in real-time. We’re actually in discussions with pretty much all of the major social media platforms, and also with manufacturers in China and the [United] States. They are very interested in what this can do for them and how to bring music forward in new ways.

You mentioned there could also be a geolocation component.

Definitely. We have experimented with a maps function where you use the compass of the phone and the GPS location of where you’re at.

“You mark a place, and you say, ‘OK, this place is going to have this music,’ and then you pan the camera, and you say, ‘OK, there’s my girlfriend, she’s going to have that piece of music [attached to her].’”

So, say you’re standing somewhere and you mark a destination on the map, and you are listening to the music; when you’re heading in the right direction, the music gives you feedback telling you you’re going the right way. When you get closer to where you’re going, the music will give you musical signals.

You pretty much can start it up, put the phone in your pocket, just listen to the music, and guide yourself to the locations on the map.  This can be used in geo-based games like Pokemon Go. Or, if you have a store or restaurant and you want people to go there, or meeting with friends, you can have two people decide the meeting place and then both of them are listening to the music to steer them to the same spot.

That might be the most practical application. So many people lose themselves in their music and they don’t want to keep looking at their phones.

Running is another thing we’re working with right now, using wearables like watches for pulse input. If you’re running you can program running intervals to this location. It will both guide you with the music to where you’re going, but it will also drive you. When your pulse hits a certain rate, it will increase the music accordingly to create a sort of musical boost.

So, there are currently no notable artist or publisher using Dynamic Playback — the music in the Moodelizer app is all commissioned by your company. Are there any plans to change that?

This is a disruptive technology in a way that brings a whole new way of looking at something. Obviously, there is a lot of work trying to help people understand what it is, and how they can use it. The interest has been so great already, both from the music industry and from the tech industry.

There are so many possibilities for both parties with a format like this. So we’re trying to get someone really good both artistically and technically, or a good platform, to spearhead the way of using music to show people what you actually can do with it.

I’m sure that there are circumstances that you can start drawing from there. But ultimately the goal is, you log onto Spotify, and you can choose if you want this catalog of Dynamic Music. In terms of the timing, this is the year when we’re actually approaching people. Last year we released our own applications to get a proof of concept and to try out the technology. We have like half a million people using the existing app.

Could Dynamic Playback become the next MP3?

That’s what we think. That’s my mission. Once you have experienced dynamic music it’s kind of boring to turn back to straight, static music.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Embracing the ’80s and flipping the script with The Shins frontman James Mercer
• Alexa to play recently heard songs within Amazon Music
• The best speakers
• Miles of music: The 55 best songs about cars, driving, and road trips
• Raphael Saadiq talks about his new album, Oscar nomination, and ‘Black Panther’

Razer’s Mamba Hyperflux, Firefly charging mat could redefine gaming accessories

Before 2018, the gaming mouse seemed like a solved problem. This year that’s going to change. As companies like Razer and Logitech escalate their wireless-charging-mouse-pad arms race, the gaming mouse landscape will experience a much-needed shakeup and that’s an exciting prospect for anyone in the market for a gaming mouse. The Razer Mamba Hyperflux is prime example of why that is.

The Razer Mamba is an excellent gaming mouse. The Razer Firefly is a great mousepad — with lights. Like chocolate and peanut butter, Razer decided to take these two things that were already great on their own and combine them in a way that makes them into something else entirely, something greater than the sum of their parts. This is the Razer Mamba plus Firefly charging mat.

Wired but wireless

All right, if you’re unfamiliar, the Razer Mamba Hyperflux and Firefly charging pad work together to create an LED-bedazzled and wireless gaming experience that will honestly make it hard to go back to a regular old wireless mouse. Both the mouse and pad are iterations of two previous Razer products, its best-in-class gaming mouse the Mamba, and the Firefly mousepad. The addition of Razer’s proprietary Hyperflux wireless charging technology means the Mamba Hyperflux passively draws power just by resting on its Firefly charging mat. It’s a lot cooler than it sounds.

The Mamba Hyperflux never needs to be charged.

When you first sit down and use the Mamba Hyperflux with the charging pad, it feels like any other mouse. But after a few minutes, you start to notice how smooth the mouse glides over the surface, how nice it is to be able to lift up the mouse to adjust your position without even thinking about cords and cables. You never have to pull on the mouse to get some slack out of the cable, you never have to tuck that same cable back behind your monitor so it doesn’t get tangled on anything. These are all problems normal wireless gaming mice already solved, right? Right. Bear with me.

Unlike other wireless gaming mice, the Mamba Hyperflux never needs to be charged. You don’t need to put new batteries in it, you don’t need to rest it on its charging cradle when it’s not in use, you don’t even have to turn it on and off. Just set it on the Firefly pad and it blinks to life. It differs from a typical charging cradle in that it’s just there, it’s a part of the whole experience, it isn’t something you need to remember to place your mouse on when you’re done with it. It lives on the mousepad, and it likes it there.

In this way, the Mamba and Firefly Hyperflux offer the best of both worlds: The speed, comfort, and always-on functionality of a wired mouse, alongside the freedom and elegance of a wireless mouse.

Playing games, the wireless Mamba never slowed us down, even when we put it in the hands of our resident Overwatch expert. It’s as quick as it needs to be and it just glides effortlessly across the Firefly charging pad. Quick adjustments and positioning are easy to execute without even thinking about cables. Plus the Firefly pad itself features two different surface types for anyone who prefers a slick hard plastic surface to a more typical soft-touch fabric surface.

All together it’s a remarkable device that reinterprets wireless gaming mice in a bold new way. To be fair though, it should be remarkable, since it’s $250. That’s a lot for a mouse and mousepad, but not if you want the best, and that’s what Razer is banking on here.

A taste of things to come

The most exciting thing about the Razer Hyperflux and its competitors is the simple fact that they’re new. They’re new products, they’re a new way to accessorize your gaming rig. There are only a few wireless mice with wireless charging mousepads on the market today, like the Logitech Powerplay system. They’re rare at the moment, but that’s likely to change as competitors get a taste for this new frontier in high-end gaming accessories.

These mice and charging pads fill a niche that has remained vacant ever since high-end gaming mice started coming down in price. Now you can pick up an excellent gaming mouse for anywhere from $60 to $120, but the Hyperflux and Powerplay systems live in the upper end of that spectrum. If the Razer Mamba is the Tesla Model X of gaming mice, the Razer Hyperflux system is the Tesla Roadster.

When you have a fully kitted out gaming desktop, a professional-grade mechanical keyboard with all the LED lighting you could possibly ask for, that’s when the Razer Hyperflux system starts to look appealing. It’s flashy, and extravagant, and expensive at $250, but it’s the finishing touch that really brings a high-end gaming system together.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best mice of CES 2018
• Razer unveils Hyperflux wireless mouse and Nommo speaker line for gamers
• Get your zSilver ready: Razer now has it’s own online game store
• Razer’s Project Linda could arrive alongside the Razer Phone 2 this September
• Razer Phone review

Halo Drone Pro review

Research Center:

Halo Drone Pro

Halo isn’t exactly a big name in the drone space. The company got its start selling hoverboards that (much to our disappointment) don’t technically hover. Shortly after finding success in the rideable tech business, the company then moved into drones (which thankfully do hover), and now offers a quadcopter called the Halo Drone Pro: a souped-up version of its full-sized, full-priced flying machine. We took one out for an extended test to see how it stacks up against UAVs from big-name drone companies like DJI and Yuneec.

What’s in the Box?

The Halo Drone Pro arrived in its own heavy-duty hardcover backpack and immediately impressed us with its gunmetal gray plastic housing, which immediately reminded us of something one might fly in the actual Halo video game – only without any guns.

Luckily, the Halo Drone is at least armed with a 4K camera capable of taking stills and video. The remote control has a nice, classic RC airplane look and feel with precision, responsive metal analog sticks and a host of mysterious buttons. Within the cavernous backpack lies a host of small devices that go with the drone.

It looked like something you might fly in the actual Halo video game – only without any guns.

There’s the follow module, which acts as a beacon for the drone — provided it has direct line-of-sight with GPS satellites. There’s a vaguely James Bond-ish wrist controller and a Wi-Fi module that you need to slot into the back of the controller in order to stream video to your phone. Halo even includes two extra rotors for those of us who tend to break them.

There are two distinct sides to actually playing with the Halo Drone Pro. Flying it is obviously a key element in the enjoyment of any drone and Halo’s is exceptionally fun to zoom about through the sky. The other side, however, is all the things you’re required to do before you can actually get the drone in the air. Here, things are decidedly less fun.

Sync City

All that stuff in the handy case needs to be synced before you can do anything and, as is so often the case, pairing the Halo Drone’s heap of peripherals to your mobile device can be a huge pain. Using an Android-based Samsung Note 8, it was a constant battle to get the controller, Wi-Fi broadcaster, follow module, and the drone itself all synced up and playing nicely together in a quick manner. To make matters worse, we were forced to go through this rigmarole every time we wanted to fly the drone.

This meant connecting to the drone’s Wi-Fi network (which always took several minutes to find), waiting for the app to find the Bluetooth signal from the controller and drone, and making sure the follow module had a clear line of sight to the skies for a GPS signal. If you want to use the watch controller, you need to make sure to sync that instead of the main controller, as it won’t let them operate simultaneously.

The actual app (and you’ll need to use the mobile app to use the Halo Drone) is far from intuitive, especially when having syncing issues. It’s easy to argue, however, that since this is a “Pro” drone, the interface is accordingly more dense and complicated. In any case, Halo could do with a UI expert to streamline the syncing and calibration process, among other more advanced control settings.

Learning to fly

When it all works, however, the Halo has a lot going for it. It’s a hardy piece of equipment that kept on chugging along despite a couple mishaps caused by pilot error. At one point, while getting the hang of the controls, we accidentally caused it to buzz directly into the side of the house, leading to a painful series of crashes and crunches. We lost a rotor thanks to that mishap, but the drone itself was still perfectly fine.

It was a constant battle to get the controller, Wi-Fi broadcaster, follow module, and the drone itself all synced up

Another questionable bit of flying was at least partially caused by a flaw in the video signal. The video feed is not very crisp and sharp, despite the fact that this drone is equipped with a 4K camera. The video quality when playing back on a TV or other screen is merely ok, but not exceptional.  On bright sunny days (of which there were almost none during testing), the picture quality is better, but the camera has real issues with low light settings that plague the winter months here.

Worse, despite the Wi-Fi broadcasting pack, there is a noticeable delay in the video feed of about a second and a half or so. This means you really can’t fly it via the video feed, and are forced to maintain a visual lock on the Halo Drone while you buzz around.

Tough enough to take a tumble

I discovered the Halo Drone’s video playback lag in spectacular fashion, while mischievously trying to follow my kid around the backyard. After a flying flawlessly for a few minutes, I suddenly heard a terrible crunching and whining sound as the drone got caught up in some tall dead vegetation on the border of the property — even though the video on my phone’s screen hadn’t gotten there yet. Oddly, as bad as it sounded from afar, it didn’t even lose a rotor that time, although my kid now makes fun of my bad piloting skills.

Jason D’Aprile/Digital Trends

Had I been a more intelligent human father type, I would have just strapped the follow module to her arm and had her run amok while the drone kept pace from afar. I’m not personally sure what people are using the following module for, to be honest, but I have to assume it involves things with the word “extreme” in them. I just ended up walking the drone like a floating dog that, unlike my actual dog, doesn’t chase cars/cats/other humans at every opportunity. Although in retrospect, a drone that chases humans might have some real entertainment value where I live.

When it’s not crashing, the Halo Drone is a blast. It’s fast (up to 45 mph), maneuverable, and responsive. You can get a faster rig if you opt for a racing drone, but the Halo feels just fast enough to be exciting for non-racers without compromising controllability.

Halo Drone Pro Compared To

DJI Inspire 2

Hover Camera Passport

DJI Mavic Air

Propel Star Wars Battle Drones

DJI Spark

Parrot Bebop 2 FPV

3DR Solo Drone

Yuneec Breeze

Parrot DISCO FPV

eHang Ghostdrone 2.0

HEXO+

Horizon Hobby Chroma

Yuneec Typhoon H drone

Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K

dji Phantom 2 Vision+

Whether zooming high above the treetops which surround my house or strafing the ground because I’m a horrible person who laughs maniacally while scaring ducks, the Halo drone flies great. It also hovers extremely well. Airtime under normal conditions easily reached around 45 minutes. Even in below-freezing weather, the Halo ran for over half an hour without a hitch. That’s insanely good battery life for a drone of this size.

Cables… Cables Everywhere

Charging is a bit of a fuss though, especially if you’re using all the add-ons. The camera is generally charged through the Halo Drone’s battery, which didn’t seem to cause any issues, but we found charging the main drone battery (it only comes with one) takes several hours. Worse, there’s a single charger that has multiple charging heads for the remote control and the drone battery — and you can’t charge both things at once.

There’s a single charger that has multiple charging heads for the remote control and the drone battery — and you can’t charge both things at once.

This basically means that, once the battery dies, you have at least a six hour wait before all your batteries are fully recharged. On the bright side, the remote will only need charging after several flights.  Odder still is the alligator-clip-like charger for the follow module and wrist controller. Again, there’s only one included, which means you’re forced to charge them in turn — although it only took about an hour to juice both up during our tests. The Halo shows off a distinct lack of streamlined user friendliness here, not to mention a lot of cables.

The controller’s range is listed at 1 kilometer (0.62 miles), but thanks to its mobile GPS abilities, you can set routes for the drone to follow — either a simple tap that sends it from point A to point B on the map or more complex routes by laying down waypoints.

Our Take

The $1,000+ drone market is incredibly competitive and rapidly evolving, and unfortunately the Halo Drone Pro just can’t keep up. At $1,100, this drone costs just as much as some of the best UAVs on the planet right now, but also lacks some of bells and whistles that have become standard in drones that are half the price — especially object avoidance.

With the ability to follow, program routes, and return to its home spot, the Halo offers some nice features and it certainly proved to be durable, but still isn’t as complete a package as some of the other top-tier offerings in this price range.

Are there better alternatives?

Yes. $1,100 can get you a damn fine drone these days, and if you’re willing to spend that kind of money, you have a lot of options.

First and foremost, we’d recommend looking into DJI’s Mavic Pro and Mavic Air drones. Both are compact, durable, and absolutely stuffed with features. They have obstacle avoidance, folding form factors, excellent flight performance, and more intelligent flight modes than you can shake a stick at. At $999 and $799 respectively, they’re also a fair bit cheaper than the Halo Drone Pro.

DJI’s Phantom 4 is also a solid contender here, as is the Yuneec Typhoon H. Both are comparably priced to the Halo Drone Pro, but boast superior handling and more features. They’re also much less fussy to use, and don’t require so many finicky peripherals. It’s worth noting, though, that the Halo Drone did outlast both the P4 and Typhoon H in our flight tests – so if you’re after long flight times, Halo might be the way to go.

How long will it last?

This is a tough call. Since the Halo Drone itself is quite hardy and replacement parts are readily available on the internet, the drone’s hardware and essential components should definitely stand the test of time.

On the flipside though, Halo might not stay in the drone business forever. The UAV market is insanely competitive right now, and if Halo can’t hang, there’s a chance it could decide to discontinue its drone – which would mean no more firmware patches, bug fixes, or software updates. To be fair, this is all speculation and we have no way of knowing whether Halo will stay in the drone game or not, but it’s something to keep in mind.

If the company does decide to jump ship, this drone will age quickly and become obsolete in a few years.

Should you buy it?

Probably not. You can get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

How to clean your Daydream View headset

Your Daydream View is probably easier to clean than you think!

As you play with a headset and share it with your friends, it’s going to take some minor damage and accumulate dirt. To keep your adventures in VR as awesome as possible, then you’ll need to know how to easily clean your headset. It can be a little bit trickier with Daydream View because it is covered in fabric and not plastic. Thankfully Google has made it easy to keep your headset in tip-top shape, and we’ve got a few tips to help you out.

Cleaning the lenses

If you’ve ever noticed dust around the lenses of your Daydream View then it’s time to clean them out. Dust can not only affect the quality of your experiences in VR, but it can also irritate your eyes and cause other problems while playing. The easiest way to clean your lenses involves using a microfiber cloth made for cleaning lenses or using compressed air to clean them out.

If you’re using compressed air, all you need to do is gently spray the lenses. This ought to dislodge any dust or debris that may be lurking there. This is also the ideal way to go ahead and clean out dust since you never actually need to touch the lenses. Now if the lenses are smudged, then you’ll want to gently wipe them down with a microfiber cloth. Be sure that it’s a cloth that is meant to be used on lenses, otherwise, you might accidentally scratch them and nobody wants that.

Cleaning the Facepad

The face pad on Daydream View is definitely the portion of the headset that will get dirty the most often, which probably means it will need regular cleaning. Like the covering of the headset, the face pad is cloth which means it’s going to soak up the sweat from whoever is using it. This is especially true if you are using the headset for extended periods of time, or passing it from person to person. Thankfully the face pad is removable, which makes it extremely easy to clean.

First, you’ll want to remove the face pad from inside the headset. Next hand-wash the face pad with mild detergent. Under no circumstance should you machine wash, steam, iron, or wring out the face pad. Instead, once you have washed it lay it out to dry somewhere flat. You can pat the headset to help remove extra moisture, but when it is drying you’ll want to store it out of direct sunlight. Once it’s dry you can put it back into the headset by first stretching the eye holes around the lens rings, and then attach the hook and loop fasteners around the edges.

Step by Step directions

Remove the face pad.
Handwash with gentle detergent.
Pat to remove excess moisture and lay out flat to air dry.
Once dry return to headset by stretching eye holes around lens rings and attach the hook and loop fasteners around the edges.

Clean the headset itself

While some minor wear and tear on your headset is certainly to be expected. It isn’t as though you have the option to just take an anti-bacterial wipe to the headset in order to clean it though. Instead, it’s more of a spot cleaning situation. You’ll want to take a washcloth, and hot water with a mild detergent to deal with any problems.

Using the washcloth, get it damp and then wipe or dab at the area that needs to be cleaned. You may need to come back to it several times in order to fully get the area clean. That’s because you don’t want to wear the fabric out or tear it while trying to deal with an unpleasant stain.

Questions?

Have you had to clean your Daydream View yet? Is there a trick that we haven’t mentioned? Be sure to go ahead and drop us a comment below!

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These discounted Poweradd chargers let you keep your devices powered up around the world

A must-have for any traveler.

Amazon’s Gold Box deal of the day has the Poweradd international travel adapter kit for $16.49. Normally this kit hovers around $26. Today’s deal is the lowest price in almost a year.

This adapter kit comes with two power outlets, two USB ports, and a micro USB connector. On the back of the device is a place where you can easily replace the plug based on where you’re traveling.

The kit comes with 5 international adapters for the U.S., UK, Australia, Europe, and Japan. It’s compatible with more than 150 countries. (It specifically mentions not being compatible with Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Chile, South Africa. However, many places in Italy and Switzerland would have both the traditional sockets and the European standard based on my experiences traveling there.)

You can also get the Poweradd surge protector with international adapters for $18.99. That’s down from a regular price of $24 and is its lowest price drop ever. Poweradd offers a 2-year warranty on all devices.

See at Amazon

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 battery ‘issues’ are all about Apple

Samsung makes more than just phones and the Exynos 9810 Galaxy S9 is a €950 beta test.

By now you’ve probably heard that the Exynos-powered international version of the Samsung Galaxy S9 doesn’t have the greatest battery life. Some say it’s fair, some say it’s the most horrible thing ever, so that means it’s somewhere in the middle and that’s not good enough for a phone in 2018. Especially a very expensive phone.

This time North America gets the good one. But not really.

I say you’ve heard because most of the people reading this will be in a place where Samsung uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 inside the S9 instead of the Exynos and we get to experience the issues second-hand. Usually, it’s the other way around, and in North America we have to hear about how the Exynos version is the better of the two so it’s a bit refreshing to know “we” have the best S9. But we don’t, really, because the Exynos version is still the best version. Or will be when Samsung fixes the problem.

That’s the most important part of this whole thing (please don’t become a -gate). The problems the Exynos chip is having when it comes to battery life are directly related to software and easy to “fix” so that it is as good as the Snapdragon version. Some code in the kernel helps decide when to run at full power and when to run slower based on what the phone is trying to do and it’s all fouled up. Going back to the older way Samsung has done it gives battery life on par with the Snapdragon 845 version. If you don’t bother to take away anything else, that’s what you need to know here. But it’s always fun to look at the why instead of just the how.

This is all about Apple

Yes, I know it’s cliche and you’re tired of reading it, but this time Samsung really is chasing Apple.

Specifically, the advantage Apple’s A-series processors have when it comes to single-core performance. You don’t need to know any model numbers or even exactly what single-core performance means here, just think about how the latest A11 system-on-chip from Apple has two high-performance cores that are about as powerful as the ones inside the MacBook Pro when it comes to benchmark tests. Apple is really good at this and has been for a while.

Apple’s A11 CPU could power your laptop and you’d never notice it was a “mobile” chip.

Samsung makes phones we all know about but processors are a large part of their business. And like almost every other company designing ARM chips, the focus has been on everything but performance. Battery life, cost, scalability, and multimedia instructions are important and the Exynos line of processors does very well in all these areas. But Samsung knows that ARM is the future of computing and that they can’t ignore raw power when it comes to crunching numbers. Apple will never sell their chips to another company so someone has to build it, and that company gets to sell them to everyone. Samsung wants to be that company.

The Exynos 9810 is the starting point. Samsung will tell us it has a set of BIG cores designed for high-performance computing or some similar marketing speech, but what it has are cores built to deliver better performance when it comes to tasks that only use one core. A big deal is made out of multi-core CPUs on mobile devices but when it comes to doing the things we do with them, much of it runs on a single core (and on Android they run on a single thread inside that core). Eventually, all processes will be spread across multiple cores on all computers, but for the foreseeable future, single-core performance is going to be really important.

How Samsung will fix it

The trade-off when you use one core running very fast to do a thing is that it takes a lot of power. Smart people are working on ways to change that, but for now it means that managing how the cores run, when they run, how fast they run, and when they are throttled back are very important when it comes to power management. You simply can’t allow power-hungry CPU cores to run wide-open when they aren’t needed. This is all managed by what’s called a governor in the Kernel. Samsung is using a standard governor (the schedutil cpufreq governor introduced in the 4.7 version of the Linux kernel) with their own special hotplug module on top of it.

Samsung had to make changes to power management to utilize the new chip design. Now they have to make more changes.

The governor Samsung is using was designed to change the frequency and voltage of CPU cores when the load average is recalculated by a different part of the kernel and it works very well for plenty of other devices that use it. But none of those devices have been designed to have a set of high-performance cores that are ready to rock like the Exynos 9810 does. This is why Samsung had to make their own changes and try to balance power usage versus performance with their own chip. And while you might not love what Samsung does when it comes to user-facing software (I’m right there with you) they know what they are doing when it comes to their own hardware at the kernel level.

When you take Samsung’s hotplugged power-management out of the picture, the Exynos 9810 SoC using the standard schedutil governor performs exactly as expected. Or even a little better, as AnandTech’s Andrei Frumusanu demonstrates by rebuilding the kernel without Samsung’s hotplug utility and comparing battery life and performance against the Snapdragon version.

It’s just a software “bug”.

OK, maybe “bug” is the wrong word here because it’s probably doing exactly what Samsung expected it to do and they never considered that it would have such a drastic effect on battery life. But it does show that Samsung really doesn’t have to do anything to fix the issue when it comes to squeezing acceptable battery life from the Exynos-powered Galaxy S9. The “problem” is already fixed and an update could roll out today if that’s what Samsung wanted to do. But I bet that’s not what Samsung wants to do.

Beta testing

If you have an Exynos Galaxy S9 you probably won’t like to hear this, but chances are Samsung isn’t going to fall back to what just works and send out an update that removes their CPU frequency tuning. That doesn’t make any sense when the company has spent an undisclosed amount of money (think millions) to develop a CPU that tries to move closer to what Apple is doing. I predict that they will retool their hotplug module, test it more thoroughly when it comes to battery life and try again. That means you’ll have a bit of a wait and it may not be what was expected once millions of users get a chance to test it.

When all is said and done the Exynos version will be the better version once again.

That doesn’t help when you have a phone with crummy battery life, but it’s how this will have to play out eventually if Samsung ever wants to build the CPU that every other company whats to buy in the future. I really have no advice for you other than telling you to grab a portable battery (or carry your charger if that works for you) and tough it out. But know that this had to happen because Samsung is more than just a phone manufacturer. Eventually it will be sorted out and you’ll be able to stay off the charger longer.

Hey, at least they aren’t exploding, right?

Best apps and games for getting out and enjoying the outdoors

Just because you like being on your phone doesn’t mean you have to stay inside all the time.

Ahh, spring and summer. For those of us who live in the North, it’s that brief couple of months where we can go outside and comfortably enjoy the outdoors. And yet, it’s still all too easy to stay inside, watch Netflix, and just lay about. Sometimes you need something to prod you up on your feet and set you off on a quick and fun adventure.

Whether you’re looking to set up your fitness game, or simply spend a bit more time outside enjoying that fresh air, these apps and games are worth checking out — and stackable! I don’t know about you, but the idea of playing Pokémon Go while outrunning zombies is pretty compelling…

• c:geo
• Zombies, Run!
• The Walk: Fitness Tracker
• Clandestine Anomaly
• Pokémon Go!
• Fitness Fantasy

c:geo

If you’ve never tried geocaching before, you’re sure to be surprised with just how many little treasure hunts are hidden in plain sight all around you! It’s a fun hobby that’s really taken off due to cell phone GPS making it easier than ever for the average person to check it out.

Once you’ve registered and configured the app, geocaching is a fun activity you can do at any time, wherever you are. Simply load up an app, use the map to target a nearby geocache, then head to that location and start searching! The geocache will be cleverly hidden in the area. Once you’ve found it you sign and date the included, re-hide the cache exactly how you found it, then share your experiences online.

There are several geocaching apps available for Android, but c:geo is your best bet. It’s an open source app that’s super easy to use for beginners and includes all the features you need to start hunting. It’s an unofficial client for Geocaching.com, one of the internet’s biggest communities for geocachers.

So what are you waiting for? Grab some friends and head out on your own geocaching adventure!

Download: c:geo (Free)

Zombies, Run!

Part fitness tracker, part audio drama, Zombies, Run! is the perfect app for those of us who really need to be motivated to keep running. Developed by Six to Start, this app has been around for quite some time, but it’s always a fun recommendation to throw out there for anyone looking to jumpstart (and maybe jump scare) a running routine. Simply load up the game on your phone, pop in your favorite workout headphones and head out on your adventure.

You fill the role of Runner 5, a survivor of an ongoing zombie apocalypse that must head out into the infected lands on missions to collect supplies and find new survivors. You’re able to listen to your own music for the stretches, with the story cutting in between songs. If you start slowing down, you may hear the living undead creeping closer — and it proves to be pretty motivating if you’re buying into the narrative. Of course, you don’t have to run. If you’d rather not have your evening jog or walk spoiled by a pack of audio zombies chasing you, you can turn the feature off.

The base app is free, but you can pay a monthly or yearly subscription to unlock all the missions and content at once. If you’ve never tried it before, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Download: Zombies, Run! (Free w/ optional subscription available)

The Walk: Fitness Tracker

If running from zombies is a bit too intense for you, Six to Start also has a step counter app that uses the same storytelling mechanic to tell a different story. Developed and based in the UK, you are the star of an audio drama that spans 500 miles of walking.

While Zombies, Run! plays like a horror movie, the story here is more like a political thriller movie: A bomb has exploded in Inverness Station and you’ve been given a package that just might save the world. You must keep walking to stay alive and deliver the package to the other side of the UK, dodging agents of evil as the story continues to unfolds as you walk.

There are 51 episodes to listen that total over 800 minutes of audio. The game will track your steps even when your phone is asleep also adapt to your individual fitness level so that it never feels too easy or too challenging. It’s another interesting app that might give you more reason to get up and take a walk outside, which is always a good thing.

Download: The Walk: Fitness Tracker ($2.99)

Clandestine Anomaly

Clandestine Anomaly is a pretty interesting game that turns your neighborhood into a battleground between intergalactic rivals, with your smartphone supercharged with everything needed to keep the evil Leecher virus from taking over Earth.

One of the first thing you do in the game is outline the perimeter of the play area — about a square mile or so —and each new level pops uplinked to a GPS location on a map. At its core, Clandestine Anomaly is a tower defense game where you use sensors to detect the Leecher pathways back to their spawning portals. You’re able to play and destroy the oncoming waves from the comfort of your own home — but if you actually head to the area on the map where the battle is going down, you’re able to use augmented reality to launch devastating attacks and gain the upper hand. In later levels, you need to be there to have any chance of being successful.

It’s a really intriguing concept and while you only get four levels before you’re required to pay to unlock the full game, it’s worth giving it a shot if only for a cool look at how augmented reality can be incorporated into games.

Download: Clandestine Anomaly (Free w/ IAP to unlock full game)

Pokémon Go

A fairly obvious inclusion on this list. As we get closer to the one-year anniversary of the release of Pokémon Go, love it or hate it, it’s still going strong with millions of regular players enjoying regular global events as they work to fill their Pokedex.

As we head towards summer, Pokémon Go may have a resurgence as we all look for more reasons to go outside for a walk somewhere. If you’re thinking of getting back into the game or trying it for the first time, you might want to invest in Pokémon Go Plus, a Bluetooth accessory that lets you play the game throughout the day without using your smartphone. You can pick yours up at online retailers like Amazon or Best Buy.

Download: Pokémon Go (Free w/IAPs)

Fitness Fantasy

Fitness Fantasy is a fairly clever game that integrates a step-counting pedometer into a fairly traditional RPG. You control a team of adventurers who are on a quest to rid their world of Dark Energy. To do so, you will need to level up your character using Fit Energy.

This game works by linking to your Google Fit or Fitbit account and converting your daily step count into Fit Energy, which you then use to level up your characters to increase their battle strength. There are over 100 missions to play complete with storyline and new characters to unlock. The battles are pretty simplified and can be automated, but there’s a bunch of resource management required here that’s actually kind of calming at the end of the day.

Basically, this is a passive way to get in a bit more steps. There are ways to increase the conversion rate of steps to fit energy so you get more out of every step, but in general, this game is designed to give you a little added incentive to walk more without being too intrusive or requiring you to have the app open during your day. You can check in at the end of each day, see how much energy you generated and then use it to progess further in the game.

Fitness Fantasy is free to play with in-app purchases available.

Download: Fitness Fantasy (Free w/IAPs)

The ultimate outdoor challenge

If you’re down for a challenge dive into the maps in c:geo, plan a nice long route with several geocaches on the way, then head out while playing Zombies, Run! and Pokémon Go with the Pokémon Go Plus all at the same time. See how many geocaches you can find, Pokémon you can catch, and zombie hordes you can outrun simultaneously in an hour.

Got any recommendations of your own? Drop us a comment!

Update April 6: Added Fitness Fantasy to our list! Now get outside and start walking around!

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