Most Useful 3D Touch Gestures on iPhone

3D Touch is a feature that’s been around since the 2015 release of the iPhone 6s, and it’s become an integral gesture system on all of Apple’s latest iPhones.

Though it’s been around for a while, there are several hidden and less obvious 3D Touch gestures that you may have forgotten or might not be aware of, especially if you don’t use the feature often. In our most recent YouTube video and in the guide below, we’ve highlighted some of the most useful and lesser known 3D Touch gestures.

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3D Touch Cursor

Whenever you’re typing something using the default iOS keyboard on the iPhone, if you 3D Touch, the keyboard turns blank and morphs into a trackpad that allows you to quickly move the cursor on the screen through the text you’ve written.

This is a useful gesture that allows you to make quick edits without having to reach up and tap the display.

If you hold the cursor over a word for a short length of time, you can also use it to select text for deleting multiple words, copying and pasting, formatting, and other purposes.

You can use this cursor gesture in Mail, Notes, Messages, and more on 3D Touch-enabled devices running iOS 11.

Control Center

In Control Center on devices running iOS 11, you can 3D Touch on almost all of the included icons to get additional control options and shortcut access.

Some of the available options are listed below:

• Wi-Fi – 3D Touch the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth box to get additional options for AirPlay and Personal Hotspot.
• Music – 3D Touch for additional Music control options both for the iPhone and for connected devices that include HomePod and Apple TV.
• Brightness – 3D Touch the brightness control to see a larger slider and to access options for Night Shift and True Tone.
• Volume – 3D Touch to see a larger slider.
• Flashlight – 3D Touch to change the brightness of the rear flash, aka the “Flashlight.” There are four brightness levels.
• Timer – 3D Touch to choose a timer length using a built-in slider bar.
• Calculator – 3D Touch to copy your last result.
• Camera – 3D Touch to access quick options for taking a selfie, recording a video, recording a Slo-mo video, or taking a portrait.
• Home – 3D Touch to access controls for your favorite scenes and accessories.
• Screen Recording – 3D Touch for options that include screen recording to camera roll or Facebook, turning the microphone on and off, and starting a recording.
• Wallet – 3D Touch for a shortcut to your default credit or debit card and an option to access your last transaction.
• Notes – 3D Touch to access shortcuts to create a new note, a new checklist, a new photo, or a new sketch.
• Remote – 3D Touch for a full Apple TV Remote interface.

Prioritizing App Downloads

When you’re downloading a bunch of updates from the App Store, if you 3D Touch on an app that’s pending, you can force it to download first. This is useful if you’re stuck with an app that’s loading but need to access it quickly.

You can also cancel downloads and pause downloads with this feature.

Bonus: In the App Store itself, if you 3D Touch on the icon, you can update all of your apps with a quick tap that doesn’t require actually opening up the App Store app and navigating to the Updates tab. There are also shortcuts for accessing your purchased apps, redeeming a gift card or promo code, and conducting a search. Note: The “Update All” icon doesn’t seem to appear reliably at all times, which may be due to a bug.

Previewing, Sharing, and Saving Photos

In the Photos app, if you 3D Touch on a thumbnail, you can see a preview of the image without needing to tap to open it, which is known as a Peek and Pop gesture. Swipe up after the initial 3D Touch to get access to options to copy a photo, share a photo, favorite a photo, or show additional photos from the same day.

You can use this same gesture in Safari and other apps that have images, such as Messages, Mail, and Apple News. For example, 3D Touch on an image in Safari, swipe upward, and you’ll see options to save the image to your camera roll or copy it. Make sure to 3D Touch and then immediately swipe, because if you continue to hold down it will initiate a full “pop” gesture which eliminates the quick save option.

Bonus: 3D Touch on the Photos app icon to get access some fun and useful shortcuts to your most recent photos, your favorite photos, photos from one year ago, or a search interface.

Third-Party App Shortcuts

Apple made 3D Touch available to third-party developers, and there are now hundreds of popular apps that have incorporated it, offering up new options on compatible iPhones.

3D Touch, for example, enables pressure sensitive drawing and writing in note taking and sketching apps, and it’s even been incorporated as a control method in some games. Blackbox, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and BADLAND 2 are all examples of games that incorporate 3D Touch in some way.

On a more basic level, most apps have Home screen shortcuts accessible using 3D Touch. Instagram, for example, lets you access the camera, create a new post, view activity, or switch accounts using 3D Touch options, while Facebook has shortcuts for things like scanning a QR code, searching, or writing a post.

Many apps also support 3D Touch gestures in app. For example, within Instagram or Facebook, 3D Touch on a thumbnail or a link for a preview of the content. These kind of Peek and Pop gestures have been built into quite a few third-party apps for a consistent usage experience on devices that support 3D Touch.

3D Touch-Compatible Devices

3D Touch continues to be a feature that’s limited to the iPhone, and it’s enabled through a built-in Taptic engine included in every generation since the iPhone 6s. 3D Touch is available on the following iPhones:

• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X

Conclusion

3D Touch can do a whole lot more than what’s included in this guide, and the best way to discover everything is liberal use of the feature. 3D Touch on third-party app icons to see what shortcuts are available, 3D Touch within apps to see if there are built-in 3D Touch gestures, and give it a try in all of Apple’s apps, most of which have been built with 3D Touch integration.

Use 3D Touch in apps Messages, Safari, and Mail on links and photos to preview content with Peek and Pop or to find new sharing options, and 3D Touch on notifications to get more information.

Have a favorite 3D Touch gesture that we didn’t cover in the guide? Let us know in the comments.

Tag: 3D Touch
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Red review – a minimalist, yet engaging puzzle game

Puzzle games, just like every other genre, are sharing in the mobile gaming boom. Touchscreen controls are perfect for the control of puzzle elements, and short, sharp mental challenges are splendid for gaming on the go.

From abstract games to physics puzzles to murder mysteries, gamers have plenty of options to choose from these days.

And in this article, we’re going to look at an intriguing new puzzle game called Red- which bets on minimalism and ingenuity to attract players on board.

Setup

To get started, download Red from the Play Store and install it on your Android device. Upon opening it, you’ll be greeted by a pretty simple main page with some creepy music playing in the background.

Due to the flickering letters and eerie sounds, you might be tempted to believe this is a horror game of some sort. Alas, it’s not. It’s a puzzle game which spans over a total of 50 levels.

Experience

The idea behind this game is pretty simple: all you have to do is make the screen red. The levels are all different, and since they come with no instructions, you will need to figure out the mechanics of each level.

For example, in one level, you need to tap and hold on the bottom of the thermometer for the mercury levels to go all the way up. Other levels feature a Snake-like game and another has you playing a game that reminds of heavily of Tetris.

Given that all 50 levels are different, there’s a little chance of getting bored. But sometimes, you will find yourself at a loss for what to do. Although, in the majority of cases, the visual clues are enough to guide you.

But if you do get stuck, you can simply tap on the light bulb button in the upper right corner to get a hint or two.

The annoying part is that you’ll have to play an ad or two to get the hints. Or you can simply unlock the Premium version (for $2.99) and get a clean ad-less experience.

No problem, if you don’t feel like paying. You can still play the game in full. The only big difference is that you will have to watch ads in order to unlock a clue.

Levels get harder as you progress, so you will indeed need a few clues. I know I did.

It’s worth mention, that Red is the followup of Yellow, a similar game developed by the same developer (Bart Bonte) which challenges you to make the screen Yellow in 50 levels.

Red is really fun to play. The only complaint I have is that the intense red color is quite tiresome on the eyes, so I had to make frequent breaks during gameplay.

Other than that, the game is challenging enough to keep you going through the whole 50 levels.

Wrap-Up

If you’re looking for a simple yet engaging puzzle game to play, then Red is for you. Although the frequent red screens might make the game playing experience a bit tedious. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution to this problem: take breaks between levels.

Download Red in the Google Play Store

goTenna Mesh review: Private networks for going off the grid or during outages

If you’ve ever gone camping or hiking and found yourself “off of the grid” for a period of time, you likely know how refreshing it is. No phone, no Facebook, no Reddit, no text messages. On the other hand, it can be somewhat scary to be away from society for any length of time. What happens if you get lost or separated from your party?

Whether you’re in the bottom of a canyon or three miles deep into the woods, it might make some nervous to be un-tethered from society. At the very least you want to be connected to another person in case of an emergency, right?

Unfortunately, all service providers have pockets or large swaths where coverage is not available. So, forget about calling back home when you find yourself up a tree, staring down at wild coyotes. You can’t even text your buddy who’s only a few hundred feet away.

If you packed a goTenna Mesh as part of your camping gear, the situation could be much different. The goTenna Mesh is a stick-like device designed to create a mesh network which allows for 1-to-1 communication between phones. In short, it takes your phones and turns them into an almost walkie-talkie like experience that also allows for messaging and location data. But that’s selling it short.

Unlike traditional walkie talkies, goTenna Mesh lets you share GPS coordinates and use an offline map. Moreover, the mesh aspect means that the connection and network itself get better when more uses are added. And, thanks to automatic channel and interference management, you don’t have to worry about switching channels or picking up junk over the airwaves.

Each goTenna Mesh is about four inches tall and is comprised of anodized aluminum and a protective, weather-proof coating. An adjustable silicone strap (four color options) lets you attach it easily to a backpack or, say, to the top of a canopy. If you have multiple units, you can place one at a cabin, another in a tree stand, and carry one with you. The more of these you have in the area, the better your experience gets.

Battery life is rated at about 24 hours but that’s on consistent usage. If you only need to turn it on for a few hours each day, you’ll get multiple days worth of life. According to goTenna, the battery can hold its charge for nearly one year. Charging is done via a microUSB port located on the side.

The goTenna Mesh pairs to your phone via Bluetooth where all of your work is done via the mobile app. Upon setup you’ll enter your contact information and, optionally, download an offline map. After that you’re basically good to go.

There are a variety of types of communication that goTenna Mesh offers including 1-to-1, private group (up to 10), and a public broadcasting, called Shout. If you’re looking for another user, you’ll find them by phone number of goTenna ID (GID). Head to imeshyou.com and you’ll find a whole network of mesh nodes to connect to and users to chat up.

On the left side of the app, you’ll find options like Contacts, Location, and Settings. Under the Location, you can search and download hundreds of different maps for offline viewing.  In the Settings you’ll find options to adjust your profile information, notifications, chat settings, map settings, and security options.

According to goTenna you should be able to get line-of-sight range up to four miles (6.4km) in area like beachsides, plains, and deserts. Mix in buildings or mountains and trees and you’ll find that cut down. Reports we read varied from a few blocks in a big city to a couple of miles in a national park.

Generally speaking, we found no issues in using ours in the woods and countryside. We never really wandered more than a half mile away from the other users and our base was at the top of a hill. Indeed, we used three goTenna Mesh units; one on each of our backpacks, and one to triangulate.

The goTenna Mesh sells in a two-pack for about $180; a four-pack is $329, and an eight-pack is $579. Each bundle comes with charging cables and includes a 1-year warranty and 30-day trial to goTenna Plus. The premium service usually sells for $29.99 per year and includes topgraphical maps, trip stats, location tethering, and more.

Would we like to do more than send and receive messages? Yes and no. Going off the grid means just that. Sometimes we want to be inaccessible and away from the world. On the other hand, we might like to make a quick emergency phone call if the need arises. Picture messaging? Ehh, we’re okay without that.

If you find yourself camping, canoeing, hiking, or even taking a vacation every so often, the goTenna experience is worth checking out. In our research of the devices we found that users have taken these to Disneyland, on cruise ships, and hang-gliding. In other words, it’s not just for places that are off the grid but those which might be congested or suffering an outage.

Snapchat’s sponsored filters are now a lot more like ads

It’s been a weird year for Snapchat. The company needs to make money, but it hasn’t figured out how to do so without ticking off users. The latest addition to the app’s camera might not engender a lot of love from people, either. Next time you open the app and pick a sponsored face filter — an ad in and of itself — you should see a “call to action” button, according to Recode. Meaning, that below the (potentially racist) face filter, now there will be a button that takes you to a digital marketplace or company website. To check it out in action, hit the source link below.

The way the buttons are positioned (right above the filter options) will probably lead to at least a few accidental clicks too. It’s precisely what marketers and advertisers crave, and in turn could lead to more income for Snapchat. In and of itself, that’s fine; all businesses need cash to survive. But, this seems explicitly designed to game the system at the expense of user experience.

Source: Recode

NASA’s Orion crew capsule will have over 100 3D printed parts

It’s not just revolutionary start-ups like Rocket Lab that are using 3D printing to create their rockets and spaceships. NASA’s new crew capsule Orion will have over 100 3D printed parts specially developed by prime contractor Lockheed Martin, in cooperation with 3D printing experts Stratasys and the engineering firm PADT.

According to Stratasys, these parts will be made of entirely new materials that are specially designed to withstand the rigors of deep space. “In space, for instance, materials will build up a charge,” the Vice President of Manufacturing Solutions at Stratasys, Scott Sevcik, said to Reuters. “If that was to shock the electronics on a space craft there could be significant damage.”

This type of on-demand part printing provides a more economical method of building a complicated spaceship. And, according to Sevcik, it means that the designers can be a bit freer with the design, as they aren’t constrain by existing parts and specifications. The companies are hoping to apply what they learn from this 3D printing endeavor to other aerospace industries, such as building satellites and robotic spacecraft.

It’s not clear when Orion’s next test flight will be. The first, EFT-1, occurred at the end of 2014. The next test will be EM-1, the first flight of NASA’s massive SLS rocket, and it will be uncrewed. The capsule will spend roughly 3 weeks in space and will orbit the Moon to test its spaceworthiness. While this flight is currently being targeted for the end of 2019, delays mean that it wouldn’t be surprising if the flight slips into 2020.

Source: Reuters

Twitch will stream NBA 2K League events starting May 1st

The NBA 2K League has been picking up steam ahead of its May debut, but it wasn’t clear where the basketball franchise’s eSports organization would broadcast games. Today, it announced that Twitch will stream the inaugural game on May 1st with many to follow, as the platform and league signed a multiyear partnership.

Fans will be able to watch livestreams of the first season’s 199 games exclusively on Twitch, though each will be available to purchase on-demand after they air. In addition to weekly games, this includes three mid-season tournaments, playoffs and the finals. The platform will also bring custom overlays themed to the league for anyone who wants to really get in the mood.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched the league’s player draft earlier this month: In addition to NBA TV, it was streamed on Twitch. But that could be a clue that the NBA 2K League is looking for other broadcast options, as it called the partnership with the streaming platform its first media rights deal in a press release.

But since the partnership also brings Twitch on as a founding member of the league, it’s yet another investment in eSports for the platform: Back in January, reports surfaced that the company paid Blizzard $90 million for a two-year deal to livestream The Overwatch League.

Puerto Rico is experiencing an island-wide blackout

Seven months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico, the power grid is still unstable. But progress was being made; according to CBS, less than 10 percent of the island was without power as of a month ago. But now, the Associated Press reports that the island is undergoing yet another full blackout. The power company is still investigating the cause and estimates it will take 24 to 36 hours for power to be restored.

The saga of Puerto Rico’s power grid has been an unhappy one. The US territory was already facing a financial crisis before the hurricane hit. The island only has one electric company, and prior to Maria, it was $9 billion in debt and utilizing outdated infrastructure and equipment.

After the hurricane hit, the island was devastated. One proposed solution was to privatize the power grid. Elon Musk and Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello had a meeting about rebuilding the island’s power grid with batteries and solar systems, and Tesla began pitching in to the effort late last year.

It’s a frustrating situation, to say the least. This is US territory, and yet the island is still in dire straits over half a year after Hurricane Maria. It’s hard to imagine what the population is experiencing, and this latest setback has to be incredibly harmful to what little morale there is left.

Source: Associated Press

VW’s fast EV charging network is headed to Walmart parking lots

Walmart probably isn’t the first place you’d go to charge an electric car, but you may have to rethink that belief before long. VW’s Electrify America is installing (PDF) EV chargers at more than 100 Walmart stores across 34 states, with the rollout finishing by June 2019. And these won’t be frugal installations, either — they’re some of the first 150-350kW DC fast chargers built to handle next-generation EVs. They should be three to seven times faster than the 50kW chargers you typically see today, so you may come back to a completely recharged car if your shopping trip is long enough.

The initiative promises to “more than double” the number of chargers at Walmart stores in the US, Electrify America said. That’s still a drop in the bucket when there are over 5,000 Walmart locations in total. Electrify America by itself expects to have installed or started work on 2,000-plus stations in the US by the end of 2019.

However, this is still an important step toward bringing EVs into the mainstream. You’re more likely to buy an EV if there are easy-to-find charging locations, and it doesn’t get much easier than a big-box retail store. Just as many larger retailers have gas stations either attached or nearby, you might see EV chargers become a regular staple of any store with a giant parking lot.

Source: Electrify America (PDF download)

Facebook lets creators turn video premieres into live events

If you watch enough Twitch channels, you may have seen a Premiere — a pre-recorded video that debuts as a live stream. It lets broadcasters recreate the thrill you’d expect from a TV show premiere, just in an online format. Sound like a good idea? Facebook agrees. It’s testing Premieres, an option that lets creators launch canned videos as Facebook Live moments, complete with real-time chats. You can check out a movie trailer or Watch show at the same time as everyone else, rather than racing to watch them on your own before your friends spoil everything.

The initial testers include an unspecified mix of creators, publishers and shows, but the feature should be available “more broadly” in the near future.

While Premieres isn’t exactly original, it makes eminent sense given Facebook’s increasing emphasis on Watch originals and the nature of many videos you find on Facebook. It helps producers build hype by giving viewers a specific time to visit their pages, complete with the pop-up notifications you don’t get with regular video posts. And just like a TV premiere, it could create virtual watercooler talk that leads others to wonder what the buzz was about and check out a video themselves. It might also spur the growth of Facebook Live. The format is already successful with over 2 billion streams to date, and that’s from truly live events — it could get yet another boost from recorded clips.

Source: Facebook

GoPro’s latest trade-in program will take any digital camera

GoPro really needs you to buy its action cameras, and it’s trying an uncommon take on a familiar strategy to make that happen. The company has introduced a TradeUp program in the US that gives you a discount of $50 on a Hero 6 Black or $100 on a Fusion if you trade in your old digital camera… no matter who made it. So long as the camera was worth at least $99.99 when new, you’ll get that same discount. You’ll clearly get more value out of this by trading in a point-and-shoot or early GoPro instead of a DSLR, but it’s a good way to get rid of a device that would otherwise gather dust in the closet.

This is more comprehensive than GoPro’s 2017 trade-in effort, which limited you to existing cameras. And importantly, there’s no end date on this one. So long as GoPro thinks the program is viable, you can send in your old gear. The company will recycle old cams through zero-landfill methods.

The campaign makes the most sense if you were already inclined to get a Hero 6 or Fusion. There are far more affordable action cams if you don’t want 4K or VR video, including GoPro’s entry-level Hero. Still, the discount is just enough that it might prompt a purchase if you’ve been waiting for a guaranteed deal.

Source: GoPro