Should you buy a phone case or a skin?

Both add varying levels of protection and personalization to your phone. So which one is right for you?

Manufacturers put a ton of work into designing their phones to be equal parts functional tools to make our lives easier, and beautiful works of art that make us want to pick them off of store shelves to begin with. But beauty comes at a price, and with more all-glass phones than ever these days, there’s no getting around it anymore: phones are fragile.

With this in mind, you might not want to carry your phone without some kind of protection … but exactly what kind should you use? There are plenty of options available, but now that sleeves and belt holsters are out of fashion, the two most common ways of keeping your phone safe are cases and skins.

You’re probably most familiar with cases; every carrier store and mall kiosk has dozens of cases for all of the most popular phones, and they’re a great way of quickly personalizing your phone that may otherwise look just like everyone else’s. Sure, they add a bit of bulk to your phone, but in return you get the peace of mind that your phone should be okay if you accidentally drop it a time or two.

Cases come in all different sizes, form factors, and materials. If you’re particularly clumsy, you may want to get an Otterbox for your phone, which makes it considerably thicker but offers the best drop protection, and usually even comes with a built-in screen protector. I don’t drop my phone too often though (that doesn’t mean it never happens), so I tend to prefer thinner cases that keep the body from getting scratched but don’t take away from the thin design.

In particular, I’ve grown attached to “premium material” cases, like the Alcantara cover for the Galaxy S9 or Apple’s leather case for the iPhone X. They don’t offer much in the ways of shock absorption — they don’t even cover the bottom of the phone — but they look and feel fantastic, and when I’m carrying an expensive phone, I want it to feel like one. Superficial, I know, but that’s just what I like, and these cases still at the very least keep the majority of my phone fairly well protected.

See at Amazon

Cases aren’t for everyone though, and there are plenty of reasons why you might prefer a skin. Maybe you’re unwilling to give up the thinness that your phone was designed to have. Or maybe you just wish your phone were a different color. The glass back on your phone might be too slippery for your liking, or maybe it already slipped out of your hand or off of the table and now the back is irreparably shattered. Whatever the case — err, situation, a skin could be the answer to your problems.

Whether you’re buying from Slickwraps, dbrand, Colorware, or somewhere else, most skins are precision-cut to perfectly match the design of your phone — right down to the curved edges, buttons, and ports. They add next to zero thickness to your phone and cover up any scratches, cracks, or imperfections that might’ve preceded the installation.

It goes without saying that skins aren’t as protective as cases; if you drop your phone onto a hard surface, a skin probably won’t do much to absorb the damage. But they at least keep scratches away, and if your phone cracks underneath the skin … well, just leave the skin on! Okay, yeah, that’s probably not a great longterm solution. If you want that extra level of protection, you can even use a skin and a case at the same time — though unless you’re using a clear case, this might defeat the purpose of getting a skin in the first place.

See at dbrand

Which do you use? Are you more of a case person or a skin person, and is there a particular brand you tend to gravitate towards? Have you ever stepped into the other side’s territory? Let us know in the comments!

Image Shows Supposed ‘iPhone SE 2’ Screen Protector With Smaller iPhone X-Style Notch

Sketchy claims that Apple’s “iPhone SE 2” could boast an iPhone X-esque display apparently refuse to go away, with the latest addition to the rumor pile coming courtesy of Sonny Dickson.

Earlier today the parts leaker posted an image on Twitter of a supposed iPhone SE 2 screen protector that appears to share a similar notch-design to the one Apple uses to house the iPhone X’s facial recognition sensors in lieu of Touch ID fingerprint recognition.

iPhone SE 2 (left) iPhone X (right) screen protectors. SE appears to share the design, however smaller notch. pic.twitter.com/PCJaPkgAOR

— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) June 1, 2018

The comparison shot also shows an actual iPhone X screen protector (right) beside the allegedly leaked one in order to highlight the smaller notch that would presumably be destined for the smaller form factor phone.

Unconfirmed renders and dimensions of the next iPhone SE obtained by MacRumors from casemaker Olixar claim the device will have a length of 4.7 inches and a width of 2.1 inches, making it slightly smaller than the current model but with a larger display thanks to the fuller-screen design. They also suggest the device’s notch will be around half as wide as the one on the iPhone X, but the idea that it might house facial recognition sensors still seems far-fetched.

Apart from the technological hurdles that Apple would have to overcome to achieve the unlikely feat, it’s hard to imagine that Apple would include Face ID on the iPhone SE at all without hiking up the price significantly. Including the feature on an iPhone that starts at just $349 would reduce Apple’s gross margins and risk cannibalizing sales of the iPhone X, which starts at $999.

Those issues put the whole notch-design in doubt, given that the lack of a home button would require some other method of user authentication. Some rival smartphones have recently featured integrated screen fingerprint sensors, but Apple has suggested it won’t be following that approach ever since it developed its TrueDepth camera recognition system.

Apple hasn’t properly refreshed the iPhone SE since it launched back in March 2016, but it did double the available storage capacities in March 2017. Rumors about an updated model have been contradictory in recent months, but they can be distilled into two camps: one hoping for a iPhone X-like design, and another expecting a minor refresh.

Related Roundups: iPhone SE, 2018 iPhonesBuyer’s Guide: iPhone SE (Don’t Buy)
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Drones are helping efforts to free whales from dangerous marine debris

Quadcopters and other remotely controlled flying machines are finding all kinds of amazing uses, well beyond just capturing stunning photos or helping filmmakers to secure some awesome aerial shots.

Take this recent ocean-based collaboration as an example. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary teamed up with Oceans Unmanned, whose goal is to protect oceans and coastal marine environments through the use of drones.

The focus of this particular partnership, highlighted in a video posted on YouTube this week, is to help disentangle whales around Hawaii from discarded fishing kit and other ocean debris that can injure or drown the mammal, or prevent it from feeding.

It’s dangerous work and the team has to approach the creatures, which may be in a great deal of distress, with extreme care.

The NOAA’s Ed Lyman, who’s been helping whales for more than 25 years, has warmly welcomed drone technology into his work. He says the camera-equipped machines, which relay real-time footage to the rescue team, help his boats to “minimize approaches, give us a different view — an aerial view — of the gear and the animal’s condition … it reduces our risk, having that drone in the toolbox makes the whole procedure a much safer one.”

Lyman can thank Matt Pickett, a trained pilot and president of Oceans Unmanned, for the extra assistance offered by the eye in the sky. Picket launched the nonprofit company five years ago with the aim of bringing unmanned technology to ocean protection, using small drones launched from response boats or smaller support vessels.

“You can get a better look at the whales [and] figure out what’s going on, with less risk to both the responders and the whales,” Pickett said, adding that “using tech for environmental good is a really fantastic feeling,”

The video was produced by drone maker DJI as part of its Stories collection highlighting the various ways in which its machines are being used for positive purposes.

Drone rescue

Besides assisting whales in distress, drone technology is also being utilized right now — again in Hawaii — to help emergency response teams rescue residents from the lava flows from Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.

A number of drone experts also assisted with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which caused widespread damage in Houston, Texas, in 2017.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Drone to the rescue: Hawaii resident saved from Kilauea’s lava flows
• Drone to the Rescue: Hawaii Resident Saved From Kilauea’s Lava Flows
• Underwater swarms and sonar-bombing drones: Meet the deep-sea Xprize finalists
• Amazon-style drone deliveries come a step closer for U.K. shoppers
• Wonder what the bottom of the ocean sounds like? Check out this livestream

How to Add a Passcode to Your Apple Watch and What to Do if You Forget it

There are several reasons why you should consider using a passcode on your Apple Watch. Without one, you won’t be able to use Apple Pay to make contactless transactions using the device, nor will you be able to use it to automatically unlock your Mac.

But apart from losing out on functionality, not using a passcode on your watch means that anyone who got hold of it could potentially gain access to your Health and other app data, and possibly more besides.

Using a passcode on your Apple Watch isn’t like having one on your iPhone or iPad, because you don’t have to enter it every time you use your watch. You’ll only be prompted for it if you remove your Apple Watch from your wrist or if the watch is restarted. Also unlike iOS devices, if you ever forget your Apple Watch passcode, there are steps you can take to regain access.

With those benefits in mind, here’s how to set up your Apple Watch passcode.

How to Add a Passcode to Your Apple Watch

Launch the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
Scroll down the list and tap Passcode.
Tap Turn Passcode On.
Enter the four-digit passcode you want to use to lock and unlock the watch.

You can also add a passcode to your Apple Watch through the Watch app on your iPhone. You can find the relevant setting in the My Watch tab under Passcode -> Turn Passcode On.

For an added layer of security, consider using a six-digit passcode on your Apple Watch. Six-digit passcodes offer 1 million possible combinations instead of 10,000, making the passcode harder to crack. To enable a six-digit code from within the iOS Watch app, tap My Watch -> Passcode, and toggle off Simple Passcode. You’ll then be prompted to enter the new six-digit code on your Apple Watch.

Lastly, if you tend to take your watch off during the day, there’s a setting in the Watch app’s Passcode menu that will unlock your Apple Watch whenever you unlock your iPhone, which should make things somewhat more convenient. Toggle on the switch next to Unlock with iPhone to enable it.

What to Do if You Forget Your Passcode

If you forget your Apple Watch passcode, you’ll need to erase the device and then restore from a backup. You can perform this action by launching the Watch app on your paired iPhone: tap the My Watch tab if it’s not already selected, tap General -> Reset, then select Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings.

Alternatively, you can start the erase and restore process on your Apple Watch by connecting the device to its charger and following these steps.Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off screen.
Hard press the Power Off slider and then let go.
Tap Erase all content and settings.
You’ll be asked to set up your Apple Watch again when the process ends. When you do, be sure to restore from a backup.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
Discuss this article in our forums

Creative Ways to Fund Your Digital Startup

A BBC report from 2012 says that startups now need very little cash to get underway. But for digital entrepreneurs who do not have access to cash in any form, getting creative is the order of the day, whether this involves holding a yard sale, talking to angel investors, crowdfunding, applying for government loans or getting a personal loan. With nearly 660,000 businesses established in the UK in 2016, it is safe to say that starting any type of business has now become easier, but for entrepreneurs who have tried getting funding in the idea stage and failed, it can still be easier said than done. There is hope, though, because the ideas above can open doors to digital businesses.

Government Loans and Personal Loans

A report by the Financial Times in 2017 attributes the establishment of new businesses to government-sponsored initiatives such as Brighton Fuse, a programme that creates entrepreneurial opportunities for graduates. However, entrepreneurs who already have a concrete business idea or those who have started building a business from the ground up are encouraged to take a look at applicable government loans.

The UK government offers loans to businesses who have been operating for less than 2 years. A personal loan is another funding opportunity worth exploring. To get a personal loan, entrepreneurs should determine the capital they need. If the loan is unsecured, entrepreneurs will, of course, need to take their credit score into consideration before applying for a loan. Personal loans are available in traditional financing institutions such as banks, but those who have low credit scores can always take a look at reputable lenders online.

The Benefits of Crowdfunding

Entrepreneurs who have a bright idea can always go to crowdfunding sites and start their own crowdfunding campaign. While it is tricky to get funding for free, it is still possible for new digital businesses to raise a bit of cash from the activity, even if they know that they are not likely going to get all the funding they need.

Crowdfunding can be competitive, but this can help business owners get their message out there and the campaign itself can also inspire them to put together a business profile that they can use later on. Crowdfunding is one of the fastest ways to raise funds that also doubles as a marketing campaign. It is also an avenue where entrepreneurs can test the market and a good alternative for those who struggle to get traditional financing.

Talking to Angel Investors

When businesses want to talk to angel investors, the first hurdle is to find them. Thankfully, sites like Lusha and Angelist exist. If the pitch is ready and all pertinent information have been supplied in one succinct email, entrepreneurs are encouraged to contact angel investors directly. However, John Sechrest, a founder of the Seattle Angel Conference notes that businesses need to build their business first before asking for funding. After all, angel investors are not only there to help, they also want to invest in startups that will make their money grow.

Holding a Yard Sale

If a business does not need a lot of cash, holding a yard sale is a good idea. In fact, it is one of the easiest ways to raise funds for just about anything. Entrepreneurs who have accumulated a lot of stuff they no longer use can sell these items to raise a bit of money. According to Forbes, business owners who do not owe any money to investors have more freedom than those who do. This means that raising money from old items that have been sitting in storage for a while is a wonderful idea businesswise. To raise more money, friends and relatives can donate items to the yard sale as well.

Raising money can be difficult but founders of businesses shouldn’t lose hope. In fact, entrepreneurs who are willing to put in some work to raise funds for their digital startup can get the funding they need in no time.

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Clever new method solves VR’s ‘infinite walking’ problem by tricking your brain

One of the ways that virtual reality could be made even more immersive is if users were able to fully explore enormous virtual worlds by physically walking through them. That’s certainly a neat idea, but it’s also something that’s not exactly easy to accomplish when you’re using a VR headset in a small space. After all, nothing ruins the illusion of endless virtual space more than setting out to walk through a sprawling forest only to immediately stub your toe on the dresser five steps in front of you.

Previously, we’ve written about a solution created by researchers in Japan that misleads the brain into thinking it’s walking in a straight line when it’s actually walking in giant circles. That’s pretty neat, but it still requires a “play space” of 16 by 22 feet. A new system, developed by researchers from Stony Brook University, Nvidia, and Adobe, offers an alternative.

“This [project aims to] redirect users’ walking in VR so that they can explore a large virtual scene within a small physical space,” Qi Sun, lead author of the study, told Digital Trends. “We did this with an eye-tracked HMD (head-mounted display) to detect users’ saccade. With the help of human nature [in the form of] ‘saccadic suppression’ effect, users do not notice our redirection.”

Saccades refer to quick eye movements that occur when we are looking at different points in our field of vision, such as when we’re scanning a room. They take place without our control at a rate of several times every second, although we do not consciously register them. What the researchers on this project did was to exploit these saccade movements to rotate the virtual camera in the VR display during such rapid eye movements. By doing this, they can redirect users’ walking direction in real life to simulate a much larger space. This can be done without causing dizziness or discomfort.

Sun offered some potential applications for the redirected walking, including gaming and design work. For instance, an architect could walk around a 3D model of a large building in the confines of their office. Will this technology be commercialized in the near future? Right now, the team is keeping quiet about their plans. “This is currently a research project and neither I nor anyone else could comment on productization plans at this time,” Sun said.

The research is due to be shown off at the SIGGRAPH 2018 event, which showcases the latest computer graphics and interactive technologies, in August.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 8 Amazing accessories that could make virtual reality even more immersive
• Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream review
• Facebook wants to make your virtual self appear as real as possible in VR
• Low-cost Ghost AR headset promises MacOS multitasking on steroids
• The best VR headsets of 2018

Acer crams a Ryzen 7 CPU, discrete RX Vega 56 graphics into a 17-inch laptop

In addition to all the new hardware revealed at the Acer press event last week, the company is introducing three new devices ahead of the Computex show in Taiwan next week. They target gamers using the latest CPUs and graphics from AMD, a nice change from the flood of Intel/Nvidia devices currently dominating the PC market. 

Unfortunately, due to their ship dates, we don’t have a specific list of hardware specifications for each. Acer’s trio includes the Predator Helios 500 notebook (PH517-61) arriving in August starting at $2,199, and two desktops slated for September: The Predator Orion 5000 (PO5-100) starting at $1,499 and the Nitro 50 (N50-100) starting at $899. If the names sound familiar, Acer introduced the Intel/Nvidia variants last week. 

For starters, the Intel/Nvidia version of Acer’s Predator Helios 500 notebook ships in June starting at $1,999. Shown above, the AMD-based version revealed this week arrives two months later packing up to a second-generation AMD Ryzen 7 2700 eight-core processor, and the mobile version of AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 56 discrete graphics chip with 8GB of dedicated video memory (HBM2). 

You read that correctly — there is no Ryzen-branded all-in-one chip here. But given the laptop-based environment, you’re not going to see these two chips match the performance seen in desktops due to keeping the overall heat low inside the laptop’s narrow space. Still, this should be good news for AMD’s customers who want a laptop with near-desktop-like performance and don’t want to settle with an all-in-one chip. 

Outside the AMD components, the upcoming laptop will sport a 17.3-inch IPS display with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution at 144Hz, or a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at 60Hz. The cooling aspect will be handled by two AeroBlade 3D metal fans and five heat pipes pulling the heat away from the CPU and GPU. Sound includes two speakers, a subwoofer, Acer TrueHarmony, Waves MaxxAudio, and Waves Nx head-tracking technologies. 

Next, we have the Predator Orion 5000 desktop. It’s not quite as “dedicated” to AMD as the Predator Helios 500 laptop, supporting up to a second-generation AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor, and up to two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards in SLI mode. Unfortunately, the details regarding this desktop are rather scarce for now, but Acer says it will have two EMI-compliant transparent side panels and rely on Acer’s IceTunnel 2.0 airflow management design. 

“Easy-open side panels allow users to quickly swap out components and cables during upgrades,” Acer says. “The IceTunnel 2.0 airflow management design segments the system into different thermal zones and provides each sector with its own airflow tunnel to expel heat.” 

Finally, we have the Nitro 50 desktop supporting up to a second-generation AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor. On the graphics front, configurations will include up to an AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card or go with Team Green and select up to a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card (6GB).

Backing all of this is storage supporting up to 512GB on a solid-state drive, and up to 3TB on a hard drive. Other features include a wireless charging deck for Qi-enabled devices, an “edgy armored-inspired” chassis with front-facing LED lighting, and Realtek Dragon wired networking. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• Acer’s new lineup includes white gaming laptop and Pixelbook-esque Chromebook
• Nvidia vs. AMD
• HP’s mainstream Pavilion PCs refreshed with latest AMD Ryzen, Intel Core CPUs
• HP targets gamers on a budget with new Pavilion notebooks, desktops, and more
• AMD’s leaked road map shows plans for Ryzen, Threadripper processors until 2020

We may be ready for autonomous cars, but how about self-driving bikes?

We’re totally onboard for being driven around in a self-driving car. For whatever reason, though, a self-driving motorbike sounds a whole lot more terrifying. Nonetheless, that’s what U.K.-based company AB Dynamics has developed — although it’s not something that you will be riding on any time soon. Unlike regular self-driving cars, the self-driving bike does not have the same complex ability to make sense of its environment. Instead, it is able to balance itself and to follow a path accurately and with a high degree of repeatability. The reason? To simulate real-world driving conditions on test tracks to help train future autonomous or semi-autonomous cars.

“Increasingly, cars are fitted with active safety systems whose job is to detect a possible collision and avoid it,” Jeremy Ash, commercial manager for AB Dynamics, told Digital Trends. “These systems are very complex to develop and, as part of that process, you need to expose your car to the type of scenario it might encounter on the road. Often these tests are done with ‘soft dummies’ which represent moving pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, and cars but can be safely struck by the test vehicle. But for some tests 100 percent representative targets are needed, hence real cars — which we can already drive with no one onboard thanks to our robots — and, now, a real motorbike. This could also be used for testing fully self-driving cars, which need to be able to navigate through complex traffic environments without hitting other road users. We are seeing a lot of interest in using our technology to reproduce these traffic environments with moving cars, pedestrians, and other road users.”

AB Dynamics

So far, AB Dynamics has demonstrated the feasibility of its self-driving bike, although only in prototype form. Next up, the company aims to develop this into a production item. This could potentially then be sold to one or more of the 25 largest car manufacturers in the world, which AB Dynamics already supplies test equipment to.

There is the chance of one day developing this into a publicly available self-driving bike, but Ash pointed out that this would require “a lot more R&D” of the sort that companies are now carrying out for autonomous cars. This work is being conducted by AB’s development partner, AutoRD. The question is whether you would be willing to ride one?

Editors’ Recommendations

• Can A.I. make self-driving cars a reality? Waymo weighs in on the future
• How Nvidia is helping autonomous cars simulate their way to safety
• Apple and Volkswagen are reportedly partnering to build self-driving vans
• Audi and Airbus come together to show off the future of transportation
• World’s first highway test facility for autonomous vehicles opens in Michigan

The Dyrt launches mobile app to help you find the best places to go camping

If you’re looking for great places to go camping this summer, your search just got a little easier. The Dyrt, which already features excellent search tools on its website, has launched a new mobile app that will allow outdoor enthusiasts to search, rate, and review campgrounds across the U.S. using only their smartphones, something that could prove very handy when setting out on a camping excursion.

The mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android, taps into The Dyrt’s exciting database of more than 17,000 campgrounds located through the U.S. Users can search based on their current location or look for places to camp at destinations where they intend to travel to in the future.

The list of campsites can be filtered based on whether or not they accept tented camping, trailers, or recreational vehicles. The app features not only campgrounds that are found within national, state, and local parks, but also private campsites and those found on Bureau of Land Management lands. All of the database entries include information on how to contact the campsite and the best way to make reservations to stay there.

Perhaps more importantly, Dyrt users can read reviews of the campsites posted by other campers. This can help them to determine whether or not a specific campsite is a good fit for them or if it should be avoided altogether. Most of the reviews include photos to help get a sense of what the place looks like, and its location on a map gives users a sense of how close it is to local attractions, restaurants, stores, and so on.

The Dyrt has already done a good job of building an online community for its users to share information and post reviews. That community is reportedly so active that a new user signs up once every 60 seconds. Reviewers are rewarded using a point system, with a leaderboard tracking who the top contributors are. Those who post reviews on a regular basis are also eligible to win prizes including gift cards and outdoor gear.

If you’re planning on doing some camping this summer, or at some other point down the road, you might want to check out The Dyrt before you decide where to pitch your tent. You may avoid staying at a campsite that doesn’t fit your needs or find some hidden gems you didn’t even know existed. Download the app now or check out The Dyrt website.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Campnab will help you score a last-minute campsite this summer
• The best camping tents you can buy
• Turn your truck into a comfy mobile home with this pop-up camper
• The best 4-season tents
• Is Airstream’s Basecamp trailer a millennial resort on wheels or a waste of $40K?