Here’s what we’re reading, watching, playing, and listening to this week

How we’re spending our leisure time.

Everyone has a bit of quiet downtime once in a while. Whether you’re sitting quietly at home or trying to relax on a plane or just giving your busy mind and hands a break, it’s important to relax.

A good way to do that is to read a book, listen to some music or watch a movie or show. See what’s caught our attention for the week of June 2nd.

Marc Lagace

I think I’ve recommended the 30 for 30 podcast before, but I just binged through Season 3 on a recent flight and I highly recommend it.

The five-part audio documentary examines Bikram Choudhury, an Indian yoga teacher who brought his brand of “Bikram hot yoga” to America in the 1970s and made millions offering grueling nine-week training session to impassioned devotees. I remember checking out a hot yoga class for the first time and hearing the instructors preaching about the brilliant Bikram and his teachings. It all felt a bit too “cult of personality” to me and I definitely felt some creepy vibes — sadly, the podcast confirms my suspicions.

It’s a finely produced podcast that had me engaged throughout, and you can enjoy it with or without having practised yoga before.

Joe Maring

After a lot of nagging from one of my friends, I decided to pick up Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombie Chronicles this past week when it was on sale for about $20.

I don’t plan on touching the campaign and can already tell I’m not a fan of the multiplayer, but the remastered Zombies maps from the older Black Ops games are phenomenal.

Reliving the claustrophobic bunker of Nacht der Untoten and rocking out to the hidden song in Kino Der Toten while running away from Hell Hounds in their remastered glory has been loads of fun, and it’s been exciting to check out maps like Moon and Origins that I previously missed out on.

Tom Westrick

One really cool thing I did last week was attend a songwriter’s circle at the Irving Theater in Indianapolis. At first, I thought it would be a chance for me to try out some of the songs I’ve written, but I was incorrect. Instead, it was something even cooler: four local musicians came and took turns singing and telling stories. I bought CDs from Meg Williams and Joe Shelton. If you’re interested in country music at all (or even if you just have an hour to kill), give them both a listen.

Elsewhere, I finished watching Frasier, and I’m glad the last season was just as good as the first ten. Instead of working through other Netflix series, I’m going to spend some time with my Plex library, namely Static Shock since the final DVD of that series was just released. When I’m through with that, I’ll probably start the latest season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Andrew Martonik

We’re less than two weeks out from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and that means I’m deep into a depression surrounding the United States not being in the tournament. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be watching — oh no, I’ll be catching as many games as possible through late June and July. In the tune-up for the tournament, I found a great podcast from Gimlet Media called “We Came to Win”.

It’s a podcast series all about telling the greatest stories of the World Cup, across multiple countries and various decades of the competition. Each episode is a different story following a certain team, match, person or storyline, and ranges from 20 to 50 minutes. You can pick up just an episode here or there, or jam through the current list of eight episodes available — they’re releasing a new one each Wednesday.

The show is available on the Gimlet website but also in the Pocket Casts app. If you’re a fan of soccer, you’ll want to give it a try while we get ready for the World Cup to kick off.

Essa Kidwell

This week is crazy busy for me. Between all the writing and filming I have to do, I’ve been trying to get back to my roots and reconnect with the things I’ve loved since childhood. So, this week I’ll be reading the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Which, awesomely enough, is actually available for free on Amazon if you have Prime. I remember picking it up for the first time in my elementary school library and haven’t touched it since. I’m excited to read it again, as an adult, and see if I have any different opinions or notice anything I may not have before.

Real talk for a minute. I’m not someone who complains that the “movies don’t stick to the books” or “how dare they mess up one tiny detail to the story” unless it’s major. But let me tell you how heartbroken my younger self was when it came to watching the Goblet of Fire in theaters and they didn’t include the House Elf Kitchen. It was, for some reason, my favorite part of the book. I just wanted to see the gang tickle a painting of a pear until it laughed so hard it opened into a door that lead to the kitchen.

Alright, rant over. I’m going to get back to my books and music now. Have a good week!

Your turn

What are YOU reading, watching, or listening to this week? Let us know in the comments!

Update, June 2, 2018: This is a weekly series where we tell you what we’re into, so check back every weekend!

The Pixelbook is on sale at Best Buy and it starts at just $750

Save $250 and get free shipping on the coolest Chromebook ever.

If you love deals and have been wanting to get your paws on a Google Pixelbook you need to hit up Best Buy, where you can save a ton of money right now.

The base model Pixelbook normally sells for $999 and is now on sale for $749, and you can save the same big money if you opt for one of the more powerful upgrades — the 256GB storage model can be had for $949 (normally $1199) and the 512GB version is just $1,399 (normally $1649). And these prices include free shipping. Even the Pixelbook Pen is on sale and you can snag one (and you totally should) for $89 and save ten bucks.

The Pixelbook is one of Google’s most ambitious products ever, and one if its best. Beautiful hardware matched with Chrome’s simplicity and security make for one awesome Chromebook. But the price has always been a barrier to a lot of folks and knocking a couple of hundred dollars off — this is the lowest we’ve ever seen any of the models — is even more awesome. Awesomer, if you will.

Don’t miss out on the best price the best Chromebook has ever seen!

See at Best Buy $749

Chromebooks

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• Should you buy a Chromebook?
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• Google Pixelbook review
• Join our Chromebook forums

OnePlus 6: Which RAM and storage size should you buy?

We all like big numbers, but the extra cost doesn’t always make sense.

OnePlus has grown a bit from its days of only offering one phone in single color with no further configuration options. The OnePlus 6 now comes in three different colors, and with three distinct models that have different amounts of RAM and storage. Most people will just buy the base model to keep the cost down, but if you’re considering paying a bit more to increase the memory or storage on your new purchase, you’ll want to start right here.

Choose a color first

There are three different colors of the OnePlus 6 — Mirror Black, Midnight Black and Silk White — but unfortunately not every storage option is available in every color. So whether you care more about your storage or your color doesn’t really matter, you still need to be aware of the color options before you settle on your desired storage. Here’s how it breaks down:

• 64GB storage: Mirror Black
• 128GB storage: Mirror Black, Midnight Black, Silk White
• 256GB storage: Midnight Black

The color you’ll see most often is Mirror Black on account of it being the only color available for the base model, so if you want to have something a bit unique you’ll need to up your storage to open up the Midnight Black and Silk White options. Silk White will be extra-exclusive on account of technically being a “limited edition” run, though we don’t know how long it’ll be available.

What color OnePlus 6 should you buy?

Pick a storage size

Once you’ve picked your desired color, or at least come to terms with the color options you have, it’s time to pick a storage option. Getting 64GB in the base model is enough for most people, particularly because OnePlus is pretty light with its software and gives you a lot of free space — less than 10GB is used out of the box. Just keep in mind that if you’re used to a phone with an SD card slot, like a Samsung Galaxy, that the OnePlus 6 doesn’t have that capability. You’re stuck with the storage you buy.

Most people will get by fine on 64GB, and 128GB will be extra comfortable — only hardcore users need 256GB.

Keeping that fact in mind, you may consider bumping up to the 128GB storage, which will most likely be more than you’d need in the life of the phone even without active management. The 128GB storage model is just $50/€50/£50 more than the base device — so if you can afford it and have have any reservations about how much storage you may need, go for it. And, as we’ll discuss below, you get 8GB of RAM as part of the upgrade.

Now, who should buy the 256GB model? Well, not that many people. Unless you intend to use your OnePlus 6 to store tons of local media and massive games, you aren’t likely to fill up even 128GB. But if you know that you need 256GB based on where your current phone’s storage stands, then you don’t need this guide to tell you — just spend the extra money and get the storage, you won’t regret it. The 256GB model is another $50/€50/£50 above the 128GB, and has the same 8GB of RAM.

More RAM is just a nice bonus

You’ll notice we’re talking about RAM last in this equation. That’s because you can’t pick the RAM you want independently of the storage — if you pick the 64GB storage you get 6GB of RAM, and both higher storage options jump to 8GB.

Don’t pay $50 extra just to get more RAM — 6GB is plenty.

Do you really need 8GB of RAM in the OnePlus 6? The short answer is “no, but it’s nice to have.” With the base model phone having only 6GB of RAM and a vast majority of Android phones released today still having 4 or 6GB, there’s very little that the extra memory can do for you because software and apps just don’t expect it. It’ll come in handy if you’re running multiple intensive apps in addition to a game, under some circumstances, but really it’s just preparing your phone for the (distant) future where apps and software become even more memory intensive.

Paying $50 more just to get 2GB of extra RAM isn’t worth it, but it’s a nice addition if you do decide to make the move for more storage. So again, pick your storage first and don’t worry about RAM.

OnePlus 6

• OnePlus 6 review
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5T: How much changes in six months?
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5: Should you upgrade?
• These are the official OnePlus 6 cases
• The OnePlus 6 doesn’t work on Verizon or Sprint
• Join the discussion in the forums

Apple Leaks Video of macOS 10.14 Showing Xcode 10 With Dark Mode, News App, and More

Steven Troughton-Smith today discovered a brief video on Apple’s servers that appears to show Xcode 10 running on macOS 10.14.

The well-known developer says he found the 30-second clip buried within an API on the backend of the Mac App Store. He shared a direct link to the video, embedded below, with 9to5Mac’s Guilherme Rambo.

Given the video originates from Apple’s servers, and is for its own Xcode development tool, everything shown is very likely real.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Xcode 10 on macOS 10.14. Dark Appearance, Apple News, App Store w/ video previews pic.twitter.com/rJlDy81W4W

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) June 2, 2018

That includes:

• Xcode 10 has a new dark interface, while the Trash icon in the dock is also darker, suggesting that macOS 10.14 may feature a systemwide dark mode, including in apps. On macOS 10.13, there is a partial dark mode, but only for the dock and top menu bar.
• There is an Apple News icon in the dock, suggesting that it will be expanding to the Mac with a desktop app.
• The desktop background could be a picture of the Mojave Desert in California during the night, hinting at a macOS Mojave name for the next version. MacRumors recently noted that Mojave could be Apple’s top choice based on the company’s recent trademark activity.

The video itself also likely confirms rumors that the Mac App Store will be redesigned on macOS 10.14 to more closely resemble the App Store on iOS 11, including the addition of preview videos like this one for apps.

The leak comes just two days before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company is expected to preview macOS 10.14 alongside iOS 12, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12. WWDC opens with a keynote on Monday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

MacRumors will be in attendance at the keynote, with live coverage of the event beginning shortly after 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Stay tuned to MacRumors.com and our @MacRumorsLive account on Twitter.

Related Roundup: macOS 10.14Tags: Xcode, Apple News
Discuss this article in our forums

The latest version of MacOS now supports storing your messages in Apple’s cloud

The latest version of MacOS High Sierra is out, and with it arrives support for Messages in iCloud. Apple’s update arrives just days after the release of iOS 11.4 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that introduced the same feature. You can now essentially store all messages and related attachments in Apple’s cloud, which automatically appear on all of your Apple devices if logged into the same iMessages account. 

To activate this feature in MacOS, open the Messages app and navigate to Messages > Preferences > Accounts > Enable Messages in iCloud.  

To activate this feature on iOS, open the Settings app and navigate to [your name] > iCloud > Enable Messages in iCloud. 

When turned on, this feature will allow you to read all messages sent from all Apple devices no matter if it’s a MacBook or an iPhone X. That also means if you delete a message, it’s gone for good: There’s no backup stored on your other Apple devices. 

According to Apple, this cloud-based feature aims to free up space on your devices. But there’s a drawback: Your messages are stored in Apple’s cloud. Thus, if a hacker breaks into your iCloud account, theoretically he/she will have access to your private messages and attachments. But don’t worry: Apple says your messages are encrypted from end to end. 

Outside the new Messages in iCloud feature, MacOS High Sierra 10.13.5 improves “stability, performance, and security.” Also on the short list are two changes for the enterprise: Variables in SCEP payloads that now expand properly, and a fix for configuration profiles containing a Wi-Fi payload and SCEP payload. Apple provides a second security-based list of notes here. 

To get the latest version of MacOS, open the App Store, click on the Updates button at the top, and wait a moment for the app to catch up with Apple. If you don’t see High Sierra 10.13.5, you might need to install incremental security updates before Apple pushes the latest High Sierra build to your device. 

MacOS High Sierra 10.13.5 arrives just days before Apple’s developer conference next week. We expect to see iOS 12 along with ARKit 2.0, the company’s platform for augmented reality apps served up on iOS. Other platforms expected to make an appearance include Watch OS 5, tvOS 12, and possibly MacOS 10.14. 

Apple is also expected to spend time discussing how it will bring iOS and MacOS closer together without combining the two platforms. If anything, Messages for iCloud does just that: brings a unified messaging experience to MacBooks and iPhones alike. Apple CEO Tim Cook even previously said customers don’t want iOS and MacOS merged into one platform. 

Meanwhile, what you may not see during the show are new devices, as the conference will supposedly focus strictly on software, not new software running on new hardware. Apple’s MacBook portfolio isn’t expected to receive an upgrade until late 2018: The same timeframe Apple will likely introduce its next iPhone(s) and MacBook Air laptops. 

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Collect and battle mystical creatures in Might and Magic Elemental Guardians! [Game of the Week]

Update June 1, 2018: Become the strongest Wizard in Ashan in Might and Magic Elemental Guardians, and then kick back and relax with the Sudoku-inspired puzzle game Hexologic!

Might and Magic: Elemental Guardians

Set in the same world as the previous games in the Might and Magic franchise, Elemental Guardians is a brand new RPG designed exclusively for mobile that tasks you with collecting and evolving over 400 different creatures and battling them in both a single-player campaign as well as in PvP battles.

This is a total collect-a-thon with a ton of daily missions and achievements to work towards. The animations and graphics are top-notch and there are even augmented reality features that let you bring your favorite creatures into our world and let battles unfold on your coffee table, or wherever you choose.

Might and Magic: Elemental Guardians is entirely free to play and is definitely worth checking out if you love mobile RPG games. If you pre-registered for the game, you’ll be happy to know that you also unlock Andy the Android bot as an exclusive reward so you won’t want to miss out on that!

Download Might and Magic: Elemental Guardians (Free w/IAPs)

Hexologic

Who doesn’t love a good puzzle game? Hexologic is a brand new game for Android that combines the core concept from the popular pen and paper game Sudoku with the colorful and relaxing gameplay of a good Android puzzle game.

The premise of the game is pretty simple — you tap to add dots to each hexagon in the grid and must make sure that the sum of all dots in each row adds up to the number at the end. Like any great puzzle game, Hexologic is easy to grasp but manages to up the challenge as the puzzles get more and more complex. There are over 60 puzzles to complete with more advanced modes available to up the challenge.

If you’re constantly on the lookout for a new puzzle game to chill with during your downtime, give Hexologic a try!

Download Hexologic ($0.99)

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The Very Real reason LG built Google the sharpest OLED display ever

Everything bad about current generation VR is about to disappear under a flood of pixels.

In late May, LG and Google showed off a tiny piece of glass that’s going to change VR and AR forever. It was a 4.3-inch 3840 x 4800 (18-megapixel) OLED display with a 120 x 96 field of view. A quick check of the math says that means it has 1,443 pixels-per-inch, which makes it the highest resolution display ever. Oh — it also has a 120Hz refresh rate.

If you have an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive you might understand why this is amazing. If you don’t, you need to understand that VR headsets work by projecting images on two small displays positioned very close to your eyeballs. That gives a sense of immersion, which is kind of important if you want to make virtual reality feel like real reality. It also means that everything can look like a screen door because the pixels are so close to your eyes, you can feel claustrophobic because the field of view is too narrow. Even a 60 or 90Hz refresh rate can leave you feeling a bit seasick under the right (or wrong) conditions.

VR needs a very good and very stable display. More is better here.

You also need to know that Google Daydream and Samsung’s Gear VR are very cool but smartphone-powered VR isn’t nearly as “powerful” as a headset that uses a PC engine and GPU, and can amplify every one of these problems. VR is new technology, and the issues that surround every new tech are there to be solved. One way to work them out is with a kicking display in front of your eyes that aims to reach the limits of human vision.

Some things look better behind the screen door.

We’re told by some very smart science people that the bounds of human vision is 9,600 x 9,000 pixels at 2,180 ppi, with a 160 x 150 field of view. That means this display is closer than ever to showing everything our eyes are mechanically capable of seeing. Compare this to something like the HTC Vive Pro and its 1440 x 1600 (625 ppi) display at 90Hz. The Vive Pro is a great VR headset and using it can feel immersive with the right content — it really can be Virtual Reality. This panel from LG is far better.

So this new screen is built for VR and will be a conduit to improve the tech. That’s expected as smart people work on those problems. But I don’t think anyone expected Google to be the company who wanted it built. Google can do VR pretty well, both in the smaller affordable space with Daydream and with stand-alone VR Headsets like the one we’ve already seen from Lenovo. But I don’t think this display was designed for any product Google currently “makes”.

This is how VR will sell — no wires, no backpacks. Google just has to make it amazing.

This new display has to go inside a standalone unit that doesn’t make you look like a Ghostbuster when you wear it or nobody will buy it.

You need plenty of oomph to push these many pixels at 120Hz, and a small self-enclosed headset with a mobile chip isn’t going to be able to do it. There is no way around that simple fact, and we already know that the panel can’t run past 90Hz on any existing mobile chipset. It’s not a matter of raw horsepower; small mobile chips are heat constrained. They can run fast and hard, but then get hot and need to take a rest. This panel isn’t going in something like the Lenovo Mirage Solo because it needs a CPU and GPU running fast enough to drive it without hitting that thermal wall.

I think Google is going to try and reinvent stand-alone VR again. Google loves to tinker with existing products and Daydream Standalone is a shiny new platform that hasn’t been sullied by dirty hands yet — it has to be tempting to try “stuff”. If there is a way to match portability with GPU rendering power, they will find it.

Whether we buy it or not is the real question.

Amazon’s one-day PNY sale features discounted storage, SSDs, graphics cards, and more

This limited time sale is one you don’t want to miss out on.

Amazon’s offering a variety of PNY products at up to 25% off today only, from micro SD cards and graphics cards to flash drives and SSDs. This sale is part of Amazon’s Gold Box deals of the day and brings many of these items down to their lowest prices ever.

If you’re on the hunt for a micro SD card, you could grab an Elite-X 128GB version for $40.49 or the Elite-X 256GB version for $79.99. They’re ideal for recording and storing 4K footage.

There are also USB flash drives from $11, and Lightning + USB flash drives from $38 which can plug directly into your iPhone or iPad.

Some of the other options on sale today include:

• Attache USB 2.0 Flash Drive, 32GB (3-pack) for $17.99 (was $30)
• Elite Performance 128GB High Speed SDXC Card for $35.99 (was $46)
• 240GB 2.5″ SATA III Internal Solid State Drive for $55.99 (was $70)
• 128GB Duo Link Lightning + USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $59.99 (was $98)
• Elite Performance 512GB High Speed SDXC Card for $149.99 (was $212)
• GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Graphics Card for $229.99 (was $280)

See at Amazon

5 reasons I still hate voice assistants, even as the world goes nuts for them

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

I have multiple devices that I can talk to, and outside of telling Siri to turn off the lights when I go to bed (because I’m a lazy, terribly person), I don’t talk to a single one of them. In fact, I’ve disabled the voice-activation function of all the ones that I can. I don’t like talking to my devices. I find it silly, and I don’t find it makes my life any easier.

But the numbers show that I’m virtually alone in my disdain for voice-activated electronics. The Alexa-enabled Fire Stick is Amazon’s best-selling device, along with the Echo Dot, FireTV 4K, and Echo Spot — all devices that want you to tell them what to do.

And people are using the devices like crazy. Alexa Skills are multiplying daily, and people are using their Echoes to order dog food and coffee instead of firing up an app or a web browser. Meanwhile, Apple is dead-set on making voice a premiere way to interact with its products, hiring hundreds of engineers and designers to make Siri smarter.

Let me back up a bit. I was an early adopter when it came to voice activation. In 2006, I adopted a Nabaztag voice-activated robotic rabbit. I loved her. I’d ask her for the news headlines, she’d read me my emails, and I’d pay attention to her telltale ears when the weather was bad.

And then Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, PlayStation Eye, Kinect, and others came along. They all wanted me to talk to them. To tell them what to do. I learned the voice commands like a good nerd and, once I had my home dialed in to the extent that I could change the thermostat temperature, turn on the TV and even choose a channel, and dim the lights with my voice, I quit.

I quit it all.

I realized I just don’t like talking to my devices, and I don’t find that doing so is any better than using an app or website to do what I need to do.

Once I had my home dialed in to the extent that I could change the thermostat temperature, I quit.

Before I go any further, I’d like to make a couple things clear. First and foremost, I love new technology. My entire home is smart, from the thermostats, to the lights, to the TV, to the smoke detectors, to the security systems. I like connected devices. Second, I think voice commands have a time and a place, namely in cars to reduce distraction and in cases where disabilities or other impairments make it a viable way to interact with your tech.

I also believe that at some point in the future — probably sooner than later — when Siri and Alexa can parse more than simple commands, I’ll be on board. This isn’t the rant of a luddite who just doesn’t get it. This is the rant of a nerd who doesn’t need it.

With that aside, let’s dig in to why I don’t like to talk to my devices.

It’s goofy

I have a friend who loves talking to his devices. I get it — he’s as much of a nerd as I am, and telling your device to remind you to pick up some milk before heading home is a convenience that’s hard to replicate. But every time he does it, he gives me an apologetic look as if to say, “Yeah, I know what I’m doing is goofy, but I’m doing it anyway.” I can respect that. But it’s still goofy.

It’s slow

In many cases, telling your device to do something – from the moment you realize you want to change the temperature to the moment the temperature changes, for instance – is rarely faster than picking up your device to get it done. Sure, your smartphone might be across the room and you just want to set the thermostat to 72 degrees, but when was the last time your smartphone wasn’t within reach?

It’s frustrating

Let’s assume I’m wrong about the slowness thing (I’m not). Even if it is faster, at least at first, to use your voice to change the temperature or to order a product, it’s often incorrect. This undermines the convenience and speed of talking to your devices.

Philips

“Alexa, set temperature to 72 degrees.”

“Okay, I ordered ten packets of Cold Eeze. They will be delivered by UPS on Saturday.”

The old-school alternative — changing the temperature (or ordering Cold Eeze for that matter) — is seeing your choice and an exact, visual confirmation before following through with what you actually want. No muss, no fuss. It just works.

It’s incomplete

Ever notice how excited people get when Alexa or Google Assistant can do something new, like parents seeing their toddler say a real word for the first time? “Alexa can now set your DVR to record The Daily Show!”

You could do that for years just using your DVR or a remote app like Harmony. And it just works.

It’s a gimmick – a party trick.

The fact that we get excited when our digital assistant learn new tricks is evidence that they’re incomplete infants. We get so excited that they can do something as simple as take a note or recite an email that we forget how useless they really are in the big picture, and how often we’re going back to the “old” way of getting things done anyway. In other words, it’s a gimmick – a party trick. Perhaps in the future when they’re smarter we’ll find real use for them, but let’s be real: They don’t do anything we couldn’t do last year with our fingers.

It’s creepy

I spend enough of my life online to know that the concept of privacy is a moving target. All of my devices track what I do, mostly to make my experience with them more tailored to my habits, but also to make other people more money. I’ve accepted that, just as I have accepted advertising, marketing, and being a contributing part of society.

With that said, I still find the idea that devices are always waiting for me to say, “Alexa!” or “Okay Google” a bit, well, creepy. It’s likely I’ll get over it, but I’m not quite there yet. Reports of Alexa randomly sending recordings of private conversations to friends is not helping the situation.

Don’t get me wrong

Eight years ago, beloved animator and director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) infamously dismissed capacitive gesture interfaces as obscene, saying, “For me, there is no feeling of admiration or no excitement whatsoever. It’s disgusting. On trains, the number of those people doing that strange masturbation-like gesture is multiplying.”

Miyazaki was last seen attempting to learn to use gesture and touch interfaces as he struggles to get his next upcoming film ready for the world. In short, he was wrong, and he admits it.

Voice commands are clearly part of our future. This is not me saying that voice commands — or those who embrace them — are pointless or even obscene. I just don’t think they’re ready yet. But, hey: Thanks for beta testing them and teaching them some new tricks while the rest of us wait for prime time.

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How broke college grads made animation software used in Jurassic Park and Iron Man

Adobe

In an unheated, defunct imperial knife factory in Providence, Rhode Island, a small team of young Brown and Rhode Island School of Design grads used task lamps to keep their fingers warm as they typed. The exposed beams and sandblasted brick made for a nice visual atmosphere, but turning on the furnace would cost far too much to keep the old building warm.

The year was 1992, before the world wide web was, well, wide, and the group of ten or so team members making up the Company of Science and Art (COSA) had already failed at one project: Selling digital magazines on CD-ROMs via snail mail. Now, another project was in jeopardy. Apple had just launched QuickTime, a serious competitor to the small company’s own video playback app, PACo Producer.

With maybe six months of cash left to burn, the team grasped for one last possible lifeline in an attempt to pivot and re-invent themselves. And what they created was nothing short of a revolutionary piece of software that went on to power the special effects in a wide range of blockbusters; a program we know today as Adobe After Effects. After launching out of beta in 1993, After Effects is now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

An idea born of desperation

After Effects did to animation and motion graphics what Photoshop did for photography and graphic arts by providing a layer-based system for animation design. Creating digital animations before After Effects was possible, but other programs limited the number of layers to just two or three. After Effects had no such limit, giving creators far more flexibility. 

“We were just trying to keep the company alive — we were just trying to survive.”

The layer-based essence of After Effects, where every layer can be a video, was there from the very first version, but other trademarks of the software, including the timeline that allows you to navigate to different frames, was missing. Instead, the animators navigated using pause, play, fast forward, and rewind controls. Rendering the animation on that very first version took long enough that the task was often left to run overnight.

Dave Simons, one of the original creators at COSA who now works with Adobe’s young Character Animator program, said that the team knew their little operation wouldn’t be able to compete with Apple’s QuickTime. When they brainstormed ideas, they tossed out everything from a mosquito spray to what became After Effects. Animation software was more in line with their earlier work and something they wished they had at hand when creating digital magazines on CD-ROMs, so going that direction made perfect sense.

“We were just trying to keep the company alive — we were just trying to survive,” Simons said. “I consider myself very lucky that we were at the right time and right place. We had great people working on it, but a lot of things had to come together for it to become the success that it is. It’s still shocking to me, and it’s still growing. More and more people use it.” Simons still works with some of the original After Effects team from COSA at Adobe, including interface “surgeon” David Cotter and Paul Usatello.

The concept for the software was partially inspired from the tedious process of creating keyframe animations using Photoshop to design each frame individually. The group also found inspiration watching music videos on a stack of seven second-hand TVs all tuned to MTV — back when MTV actually showed music videos.

Adobe initially turned it down

The team spent nine months creating After Effects, running on a bare minimum budget (hence, the unheated building). They approached several large companies for funding, including Adobe, but found no takers. Thankfully, QuickTime actually helped create a higher demand for PACo Producer, giving the struggling company a few more months than they expected and keeping them afloat until the release of After Effects in January 1993.

After Effects has kept the original essence while vastly expanding the tools for creating animations and composites.

The software was not only enough to save the company, it also attracted large buyers. COSA was acquired by Aldus, which was in turn bought by Adobe in 1994, where After Effects found its forever home. That new ownership also meant the program could grow far beyond its original scope, integrating with Photoshop and eventually becoming part of today’s Creative Cloud suite of applications.

Since then, Adobe After Effects has kept the original essence while vastly expanding the available tools for creating animations and composites. A timeline was added in the second version while support for three-dimensional animations came in version 5. More recently, Adobe expanded the collaborative capabilities of After Effects, enabling distributed teams to work on the same project in near real time.

After Effect’s first major Hollywood use was to create an on-screen animation in Jurassic Park, when an animated Dennis Nedry pops up on a computer and says, “Ah ah ah, you didn’t say the magic word!” Since then, the program has become a common tool in the industry. The software is often used, like in that original on-screen animation, to create fake user interfaces on futuristic computers, including the flashy heads-up display graphics in Iron Man 3, but its capabilities have branched out into many other areas of special effects. The program is also commonly used for creating credits, and is part of Pixar’s toolkit for making its stylish animated credit sequences.

“I’m not an artist, but I love creating tools that let artists be more efficient and expressive, to give them the tools to express,” Simons said. “To be able to aid in the creation of that kind of art, and moving images of all types, is still very satisfying to me and what drives me.”

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