Amazon Key smart lock features are available across the US

Amazon Key is a relatively new smart lock service that allows delivery people to enter your home (they’re monitored, of course) and leave packages. Users can also grant entry to certain people while they’re away, as well take advantage of keyless entry for themselves. The service automatically records what’s happening, so you know exactly what the dog walker is doing when they pick up your animals. Now, Amazon has announced that Key features are now available across the US, but the in-home delivery is still only available in 37 select cities and surrounding areas.

The service uses a smart lock and connected camera, along with an app, to provide home access to guests. Of course, the highly touted feature is being able to take deliveries when no one is home. When a delivery person has a package, they can scan the barcode, which will unlock the door. The entire thing happens through an app, and it’s recorded, so you know exactly what is happening while the courier is in your home. After they leave, they simply lock the door, and that’s it.

Customers can choose from eight different smart locks (including five more options added today) that are available from leading manufacturers, like Kwikset and Yale. And right now, Amazon is running a promotion where users can receive anywhere from $110 to $140 off of a Amazon Key Home Kit, depending on which one you choose.

Since Amazon is now offering some Amazon Key features across the US, it’s probably only a matter of time before the company expands in-home deliveries to more cities as well. There are certainly some privacy concerns with the service, but the company introduced fingerprint authentication back in March, so that should certainly help with some of the hesitation.

Review: Prynt Pocket Turns Your iPhone Into an Instant Camera

Prynt Pocket, priced at $150, is a portable printer that’s designed to work with the iPhone, allowing you to print small 2×3 photos wherever you go thanks to ZINK paper, which does not require printer cartridges to work.

There are several of these iPhone-compatible miniature printers on the market, but the Prynt Pocket is unique because it’s designed to connect to the iPhone using a Lightning connector, a feature that has both benefits and downsides.

Design

Of all the portable ZINK photo printers that I’ve tested, Prynt Pocket has the most complicated design and the biggest learning curve when it comes to using the device. The ZINK paper needs to be loaded into a separate paper cartridge in the correct orientation, and then the paper cartridge needs to be loaded into the portion of the Prynt Pocket that attaches to the phone.

From there, you need to adjust the size of the Prynt Pocket using a slider and accompanying button in order to fit it to your iPhone of choice. Then your iPhone needs to attach to the Prynt Pocket via the Lightning connector built into the device. With other printers, you basically unsnap a single compartment, load the paper, and then snap it back into place.

Prynt Pocket is designed this way so you can snap a photo with the device attached to your iPhone and then print it right away. I found that connecting the Prynt Pocket to my iPhone in this way was time consuming, and it wasn’t a feature that I thought was useful as most of the time, I want to edit before I print. Editing with the Prynt Pocket attached to my phone was cumbersome, but there is a “Print” button right in the app if you want to snap a shot and then print sans editing.

The Prynt Pocket is large enough that you’re not going to want to leave it on your iPhone when it’s not in use, and while it’s smaller than the Lifeprint and the ZIP in length, its odd shape and thickness makes it less convenient to fit into a bag or backpack.

As mentioned above, you can attach an iPhone to the Prynt Pocket and use it to take and immediately print photos. There is a built-in shutter button on the Prynt, which is nice if you do want to use this shoot and print method, and there’s also a little wheel at the top that can be used for zooming in or out in the Prynt app. A grip makes sure you can get a strong hold on the Prynt Pocket while using it, and a slot at the bottom is where printed photos appear after running through the machine. Shutter and zoom are tools that only work within the Prynt app.

I didn’t care for attaching the Prynt Pocket to my iPhone because it never felt secure, but this wasn’t a dealbreaker — I was just careful to make sure I kept a tight grip. The Prynt Pocket itself is made from plastic and rubber, and a large iPhone, like the 7 Plus feels heavy, off balance, and ready to topple out of my hand even with the slide fitted to the iPhone. I felt similarly uncomfortable having my iPhone X in the device because really, it’s just the bottom third of the phone that goes into the Prynt Pocket.

On the plus side, because it uses a Lightning connector and not Bluetooth, securing a connection is as simple as plugging an iPhone into the Prynt Pocket. I’ve never had an issue with the two Bluetooth-based photo printers I’ve had and thus tend to prefer that connection method, but people who prefer a physical connection over a Bluetooth connection may like the Prynt Pocket more than competing portable photo printers.

Though the Prynt Pocket connects to your iPhone using Lightning, your iPhone doesn’t provide power. It needs to be charged regularly using a microUSB cable. I found that a single charge lasted me a couple of days, printing a few prints here and there. Charging it up takes a few hours.

Overall, the Prynt Pocket is small enough to fit into a backpack or bag for use on the go, but it’s definitely bulkier than other options like the Polaroid ZIP. Since this is using a Lightning connector to print, it is limited to the iPhone. You can’t use the Prynt Pocket with an Android smartphone because it’s not compatible, nor can you use it with an iPad.

Photo Paper

All miniature printers of this type use ZINK paper, which is expensive. Prynt’s paper is priced at $9.99 for 20 sheets, $19.99 for 40 sheets, and $29.99 for 60 sheets, so it costs 50 cents every time you print a picture.

All ZINK paper, Prynt’s included, is sticky at the back so you can peel off the protective layer and use it as a sticker if so desired. ZINK paper uses heat to print, so there’s no need to worry about ink.

Prynt’s paper is actually cheaper than the paper for the larger Lifeprint and a little more expensive than some of the paper options for the smaller Lifeprint. ZINK Polaroid paper is just a bit cheaper because it’s readily available on Amazon.

You might be wondering if you can use Polaroid ZINK paper in the Prynt Pocket because they both offer 2×3 inch prints, but the answer is no. The paper that Prynt uses is proprietary and is about a fourth of an inch smaller than Polaroid ZINK paper.

I’m not sure why Prynt decided to make its 2×3 prints slightly smaller than Polaroid’s because 2×3 inches is already quite small for a picture, but the end result is that you can only use Prynt paper. Prynt offers standard paper and paper divided into fourths for even smaller prints/stickers.

Prynt does have a unique program that nets you unlimited paper, which is not something offered by any other company. Prynt’s unlimited paper option costs $35 every two months, aka $17.50 per month or $210 per year.

You would need to be printing somewhere around 35 prints a month to make the cost worthwhile. I’m not sure how Prynt is keeping people from subscribing, ordering a bunch of paper, and then unsubscribing, but it seems to be based on an in-app measurement of how much you’re printing.

If you don’t mind shelling out $17.50 per month and have a use for dozens of 2×3 inch prints, this is a great option to get the most out of your Prynt Pocket.

Prynt also has an in-app rewards system that I liked a lot. You can earn “Pops” every time you print and when you share your prints, and those Pops can be used to redeem paper, photo accessories, and even a Prynt Pocket.

Print Quality

Image quality from the Prynt is about on par with the image quality you get from other ZINK printers, and it’s not going to match traditional prints from a larger printer or a dedicated photo printing service.

Think of ZINK images like Polaroids — they can be a little blurry, the colors can be somewhat off, and there can be some artifacting sometimes, but you get the instant gratification of being able to print whenever and wherever you are.

With the Prynt, a lot of images have a little bit of a blue cast, and images that are a little darker where the lighting is poor probably aren’t going to print all that well. One trick is to bump up the brightness more than you normally would – that can help to level out the Prynt’s tendency to print images darker than they appear on your iPhone.

I printed the same image from the Lifeprint 4 x 3.5 printer, the Prynt, and the Polaroid ZIP, and as you can see, there’s not much difference between them. In real life, the Lifeprint image is the clearest and brightest, but it’s also the largest, and it’s honestly tough to tell between the other two.

Lifeprint image left, Prynt image bottom right, Polaroid ZIP image top right
I do want to mention that I went through two Prynt printers for this review. The first printer that I received was printing every single photo with blue lines through it. I followed Prynt’s calibration steps (running a calibrating image sheet through the printer) and tried everything to fix it, but I had no luck. In the end, I had to have Prynt swap it out for a printer that was printing as it should. If you run into this problem, get in contact with Prynt support so they can help you sort it out.

Dealing with a non-working printer was super frustrating and I nearly scrapped this review all together, but I can say that the second unit I received has zero issues and is printing as expected.

Prynt App

To use the Prynt Pocket, you need to sign up for an account in the Prynt app, and you need to grant the app access to your camera and microphone to use the in-app camera tools.

You’ll also want to download the app if you have friends with a Prynt Pocket, because like Lifeprint, there’s an AR feature that animates printed photos that were Live Photos or videos when originally captured.

The animation feature works with any Live Photo or video that you print, with no little symbol or marker required on the photo itself. It’s a neat effect because it makes the photo come to life with augmented reality functionality so it looks a bit like those animated Harry Potter photos. You can move your phone around and still view the video or Live Photo through the Prynt app.

This is a feature that’s sure to impress people, but it’s more of a novelty than a useful function. If you have a video you want to show to someone, you can send the video digitally so they can watch it on their iPhone without the extra step of needing to scan it in the Prynt app.

Of course, I can see how it could potentially be useful for photos provided to acquaintances at a party or left somewhere for a stranger to find. All Prynt photos have a Prynt URL on the back that explains the “unlocking” process.

There’s one other neat feature Prynt has added that gives it an edge over competitors — Stories. You can actually associate more than one Live Photo or video with any print, even one that was still to begin with.

The Prynt app itself has built-in editing tools. You can add filters (there are a few dozen), frames, stickers, or make adjustments to brightness, exposure, contrast, saturation, and more. There are also tools for drawing on a photo, adding text, or turning an image into a meme with fields for top and bottom text.

There’s a built-in mini social network, where you can record a “Clip” demonstrating the augmented reality feature to share it with others. You can view other Clips in the app too. It was fun to watch a few of these, but this is a feature that’s probably not going to be a huge draw for most people. On the plus side, you’re not forced to use the built-in social networking, unlike the Lifeprint.

The last feature in the app is a built-in shop where you can purchase more Prynt paper and accessories like frames and carrying cases.

Bottom Line

All things considered, the Prynt Pocket, the Lifeprint, and the Polaroid ZIP are all about the same. Paper prices aren’t too different, image quality is essentially no different between the three, and the apps all offer similar functionality.

Choosing a ZINK printer, then, comes down to the feature set being offered. Prynt Pocket is unique because it doesn’t require Bluetooth, but that can be either a plus or a minus. I didn’t care for the bulky size or the fiddly construction of the Prynt Pocket and I much prefer the Bluetooth options because they can connect to an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, but the physical connection the Prynt Pocket offers will be a plus if you don’t want to deal with Bluetooth.

The Prynt Pocket includes fun augmented reality features that are better than Lifeprint’s (Polaroid doesn’t offer this feature at all), which is an added bonus, but I wouldn’t recommend buying the printer just for this function.

Prynt is the only company that offers an unlimited paper plan, and with paper price being the major drawback of one of these ZINK printers at upwards of 50 cents per print, that’s a huge plus. You can get unlimited prints for $35 every two months, but keep in mind the device itself costs $150, so that’s quite a bit of money to invest in tiny photos.

I don’t know who needs hundreds of little 2×3 prints or what the average person would do with them, but a teenager, a frequent party goer, or someone who journals or scrapbooks is likely to get enough use out of the prints to make the subscription worthwhile.

If you foresee yourself printing more than 40 photos a month with a ZINK printer, Prynt Pocket is definitely the best choice because it’s going to be the most cost effective in the long run, but if your printing is likely to be more sporadic, it’s worth taking a close look at all of the available printer products on the market to see which features and which design works best for you.

How to Buy

Prynt Pocket can be purchased from the Prynt website or from Amazon.com for $149.99.

Note: Prynt provided MacRumors with a Prynt Pocket for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
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Mophie Launches New $60 Wireless Charge Stream Pad+ With Fast Charge Functionality

Mophie today announced the launch of a new Qi wireless charger for Apple’s iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, the Mophie Charge Stream Pad+.

Mophie says the Charge Stream Pad+ is its first universal high-speed wireless charging accessory, compatible with the fast charging capabilities of both Apple and Samsung devices.

For Apple’s most recent iPhones, that means the Charge Stream Pad+ supports the faster 7.5W charging introduced back in December. Mophie’s existing wireless charger, the Wireless Charging Base, also supports 7.5W charging.

Smart charging circuitry inside of the Charge Stream Pad+ communicates with an iPhone or other smartphone to determine and deliver the optimal amount of power.

Design wise, the Charge Stream Pad+ looks like your average Qi-based wireless charger, with a circular flat base where you rest your phone. A non-slip rubberized finish makes sure your iPhone stays in place, and it also ships with a wall adapter and USB-A to microUSB cable. It comes in black or white to match any decor.

The Mophie Charge Stream Pad+ is also compatible with all Charge Force Mophie Juice Pack battery cases designed for the iPhone and for Samsung smartphones, such as the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 7, which enables wireless charging.

The Charge Stream Pad+ can be purchased from the Mophie website for $59.95.

Tag: Mophie
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Twitter has removed over 1.2 million accounts for promoting terrorism

Twitter released its biannual Transparency Report today and it shared stats on how it continues to handle terrorist content. Overall, since August of 2015, the company has removed over 1.2 million accounts that promoted terrorism. During the second half of last year, it permanently suspended 274,460 accounts for this reason, which is slightly less than what was removed during the first half of 2017. Twitter notes that it has now seen a decline in these sorts of removals across three reporting periods and it attributes that pattern to “years of hard work making our site an undesirable place for those seeking to promote terrorism.”

Of those accounts that were removed between July 1st and December 31st last year, 93 percent were flagged by Twitter’s internal tools and algorithms. Around 74 percent were suspended before ever tweeting — stats that are in line with Twitter’s report from the first half of 2017 as well. Government reports of violations are still on the decline. Last September, Twitter reported that government-originating reports accounted for less than one percent of removals. Now, they account for less than 0.2 percent.

In addition to the terrorist content updates, Twitter also shared information on some changes it has made to how it notes when content is being withheld. It’s now differentiating when content is being blocked due to a court order or because of local laws. The Transparency Report also notes that there was a 38 percent increase between the first and second half of 2017 regarding copyright violation takedown notices for both Twitter and Periscope. There was an 18 percent decrease in trademark violation notices.

Twitter makes a point to note the efforts of governments to limit online speech. “With the passage of new legislation and ongoing regulatory discussions taking place around the world about the future of public discourse online, we are seeing a potential chilling effect with regards to freedom of expression,” Twitter said in a blog post. To address that, Twitter says it uploads request for content withholding to the Lumen database, which collects and analyzes these sorts of requests. “Lumen serves as a critical transparency resource as more freedom of expression comes under fire, by making such requests available for public review,” said Twitter.

Lastly, Twitter reiterated its effort to “increase the collective health, openness and civility of public conversation around the world, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable toward progress.” In regards to that, Twitter also recently hosted a Periscope livestream, taking questions from the public about its policies, and launched a request for public proposals on how to promote healthy, open and civil conversations on its platform.

Images: Twitter

Source: Twitter (1), (2)

The Lunar Xprize will continue, but without the $20 million reward

Earlier this year, the Lunar Xprize competition ended in an anticlimactic way, as Google opted not to extend the competition for a $20 million prize beyond the March 31st deadline. This meant that the contest ended without a winner. But now, Xprize has announced that the organization plans to continue the competition — just without a cash reward. Xprize is hoping to find a new sponsor to reinstitute the monetary prize.

According to the release, the teams that were competing for the Xprize (Moon Express, SpaceIL, Synergy Moon and TeamIndus) are pleased with this change in fortune. Some of these companies faced uncertain futures without the Xprize. Additionally, “[it] served as an excellent early catalyst to get new people, partners and money involved,” according to CEO and founder of TeamIndus, Rahul Narayan. That being said, many received funding through the incremental prizes of the competition, and the cash incentive for actually reaching the moon was a big one. We’ll see what happens with this competition, and if Xprize is able to find a new sponsor to replace Google.

Source: Xprize

‘Firewatch’ is the latest indie game headed to Nintendo Switch

The folks at Campo Santo are bringing Firewatch to the Nintendo Switch. The developers have been busy stripping the game “down to the studs” to improve performance. Specifically, optimizing load times for textures and geometry. “We know what a good Switch game feels like, and want to make sure Firewatch feels like that too,” Campo Santo writes. What’s more, those updates will eventually make their way to the Mac, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

“We’re lucky to be able to keep investing in and supporting a single-player game that came out over two years ago, and we’re more proud of Firewatch than most things we’ve made in life,” the blog reads. “We want it to be found and enjoyed by as many people as possible.” There isn’t a firm release date, but Campo Santo promises that the portable version will be out “soon!” Meaning, not long from now you’ll be able to take a walk in the (virtual) woods when you’re out in the real woods. How’s that for meta?

Source: Campo Santo

NASA may use swarms of robotic bees to study Mars

It’s hard to exaggerate just how successful NASA’s Mars Rover program has been. These little vehicles have crawled over different parts of the Martian landscape, sending back invaluable data. But these rovers have some limitations: They move incredibly slowly. In over 2,000 days on Mars, the rover Curiosity has traveled about 11 and a half miles. That’s why NASA has approved exploratory funding for an entirely new type of explorer: a swarm of robotic bees controlled by AI.

Researchers in Alabama are working with a team in Japan to develop “Marsbees.” Each Marsbee would be about the size of a bumblebee, but with bigger wings, which are necessary because of the thinner Martian atmosphere. They would travel in swarms, enabling these robotic creatures to fly into Mars’s atmosphere, survey the planet and take a wide range of readings, thanks to their mobility.

The Marsbees would have a home base: in this case, likely some sort of large mobile rover where the Marsbees could recharge. They wouldn’t need to land to transmit data, though; all of that would happen wirelessly.

This project is incredibly preliminary, but it certainly has interesting prospects. Not only will it prompt everyone reading this article to say “Bees?!” like G.O.B. Bluth, but it’s potentially an entirely new way to explore Mars. It’s one of 25 research project that NASA is funding in anticipation of eventually sending humans to Mars.

Source: NASA

Dropbox Smart Sync is finally available to all business users

It’s been a few years since Dropbox first started talking about Smart Sync, a feature that lets users see everything stored in their Dropbox in the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer, regardless of whether that file is available locally or stored in the cloud. Everything stored in Dropbox shows up in your native file browser, but does so without eating up hundreds of gigabytes of storage — a feature particularly useful for large teams or businesses with massive file systems. After a few years of development and an early access program, Dropbox is releasing Smart Sync for all its business customers.

Previously, some businesses could get request early access, but now anyone administering a Dropbox Business account will be able to enable the feature for their users. Somewhat ironically, Smart Sync has also been available to anyone paying for the $20 / month Dropbox Professional plan — an option for individuals that pairs 1TB of storage with extra features like this one.

Dropbox is also releasing a new selective sync feature for Business customers that’ll let account administrators pick a selected set of folders that’ll be automatically synced with new users by default. It’s meant to make it easier to get the essential documents that new employees need out with minimal friction (without eating up all the hard drive space on a new user’s computer). Both features are available today — and if you don’t have a Dropbox Business account but still want to try out Smart Sync, the company is offering free two-week trials of Dropbox Professional.

Amazon offers remote access to FreeTime parental controls

Last year, Amazon launched a Parent Dashboard to go along with its FreeTime subscription service for kids. The dashboard allows parents to see how much time their kids spend on the service and what they’ve read, watched or played. It also gives parents summaries of whatever their child has engaged with as well as prompts to foster conversation about it. Now, Amazon is giving parents remote access to controls.

Previously, parents had to set bedtimes, daily goals, time limits and filters through their child’s device. Now they can do so remotely through the Parent Dashboard from any web browser on their computer or mobile device. Be aware that when you choose to opt in to the remote parental controls through the dashboard, all previous FreeTime settings will be erased. So just take note of your current settings if you want to keep them as they are after opting in.

The remote feature is available now.

Virgin Galactic completes first powered test flight since 2014 crash

Today, SpaceShipTwo completed its first powered test since the horrific crash in 2014 that killed one of its pilots. The craft, VSS Unity, took off from Mojave Air and Space Port aboard a plane called CMS Eve, and was piloted by two people. According to Richard Branson, the vehicle went supersonic, up to Mach 1.6. He proclaimed Virgin Galactic “back on track.”

.@virgingalactic back on track. Successful powered flight, Mach 1.6. Data review to come, then on to the next flight. Space feels tantalisingly close now.

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 5, 2018

It’s a great accomplishment for a company that has been taking it slow since the 2014 accident. Virgin Galactic performed numerous glide tests of SpaceShipTwo in order to ensure it was once again ready for a powered test, its fifth overall (but first since the fatal crash).

Following the investigation into what happened, The Spaceship Company (a Virgin Galactic subsidiary) made some changes to the design of SpaceShipTwo, according to CNBC. If all goes well with future powered tests, then Virgin Galactic could become one of the premier names in space tourism and launch providers.