Microsoft Launcher beta gets new icon gestures and family controls

You can set custom app icon gestures and much more with Microsoft Launcher’s latest beta update.

Microsoft Launcher beta testers are getting a small batch of new features to check out this week with the app’s latest update. Rolling out now, the update adds new custom gesture controls for app icons and folders, updates to the relatively new family card, and more.

The most notable addition is that of custom gesture controls for apps. To get started with them, you can tap and hold on an icon or folder as if you were going to edit it. From there, you can select an option to add an action to take when swiping up from the icon. Once set, you’ll be able to use the swipe gesture on that icon to take the action you set.

#MicrosoftLauncher v4.12 is otw to our beta fam today! Highlights: Custom app icon and folder gestures, replacing dock widgets with apps, contacts or app widgets, and Family web filtering through the Family card. Join the beta at https://t.co/6RPke9dVXI and send us feedback!

— Ezra Park (@ezp4rking) July 18, 2018

There are also some smaller tweaks tagging along here, including general UI and animation adjustments and full support for Android O. Here’s a look at all of what’s new:

• Folder and app icon gestures (swipe to open or click to launch).
• Choose how to use the last row of expanded dock: Apps, pinned contacts, folders, search bar or widgets;
• Parents can enable web filtering through the Family card.
• Folders in the app drawer are now sorted alphabetically.
• UI improvements: Animation adjustments; blur effect as an option; App badges in the app drawer;
• Fully support Android O and remove support for 4.0.X and 4.1

If you’re enrolled in the Microsoft Launcher beta, you should be able to grab this update now as version 4.12. If testing goes well, we should see these features hit the release version relatively soon.

See at Google play

How to set up an iCloud email account on Android

There’s no need to abandon your iCloud email address when you get a new Android device.

If you’re moving to an Android device from an iPhone or iPad, there’s every possibility you’re already set up and using an iCloud email address. Android devices require you to have a Google account (Gmail), but you might want to keep using your iCloud account for email. And that’s just fine.

Here’s how to add your iCloud email address to your Android device,

How to add an iCloud email address to Android

Launch Settings by swiping down to reveal the notification shade and tapping the gear button.
Tap Accounts. On some phones, it might be under something like “Cloud and accounts”.
Tap Add account.
Tap Email if the option is there or tap Personal (IMAP) next to the Gmail symbol. If you choose the Gmail option, Gmail will automatically recognize your iCloud address and import the correct server settings.
If you chose the Email option, you’ll have to add the server settings manually:

• Incoming mail server:
  • Server name: imap.mail.me.com
  • SSL required: Yes
  • Port: 993
  • Username: The name portion of your iCloud email address. So if it’s johnsmith@icloud.com, just the “johnsmith” part.
  • Password: Your iCloud email address password. You can also choose to generate an app-specific password.
• Outgoing mail server:
  • Server name: smtp.mail.me.com
  • SSL Required: Yes
  • Port: 587
  • SMTP Authentication Required: Yes
  • Username: Your full iCloud email address, including the @icloud.com part
  • Password: Use the password you used in the incoming mail server section, whether it was your original or the app-specific password you generated.

Tap Next or Continue or whichever button finishes the process.

If there is an error message in the SSL required section of either the incoming or outgoing mail server sections, use TSL instead.

Hopefully, the details above should be enough to get you up and running. It’s a little fiddly to get set up – especially if you’ve come from the iPhone, which does it all for you – but it works, and it gets your existing email onto your new Android device.

Of course, there may be other apps out there that do this for you, or you might know of some tips and tricks to make things run a little smoother. If you’ve got anything that’ll help, drop it into the comments below!

Questions?

Let us know in the comments below.

Updated July 2018: Updated to make sure information is still accurate.

Hands-on with Moment’s new best-in-class Pro Camera app

While still an incomplete project, Moment Pro Camera shows a lot of promise with a simple UI and manual controls.

You might’ve heard that Moment recently released a camera app for iOS and Android. You know Moment — that’s the company behind the lenses you can attach to your phone, which adds capabilities for wide-angle, telephoto, and macro photography. Moment has been making these lenses for years and is clearly experienced in hardware, but this is the first time the company has forayed into software development.

You can download the Pro Camera app from Google Play for $1.99 — but should you?

Download: Moment – Pro Camera ($1.99)

Right off the bat, Moment’s Pro Camera app has a great, clean UI with simple iconography on top of a dark gray interface. Up top, there’s the standard fare of quick controls — an adjustable grid, a toggle for flash, a three or 10-second self-timer, and a JPEG/RAW toggle — along with a button that optimizes the app for various Moment lenses. Of course, if you’re just shooting with your phone’s built-in camera, you’ll want to stick with No Lens mode.

Below that are shortcuts to your photo gallery, the front camera, and the app settings. However, currently, the settings just contain a toggle to geotag your photos and links to support threads and Moment merchandise.

The real benefits of the Moment Pro Camera app come in the form of the manual controls provided just above the shutter button. You can swipe between controls, which in order are shutter speed, ISO, exposure value, focus, and white balance. Each control has a wide range of flexibility, but exact options for settings like ISO and shutter speed will come down to your phone’s physical capabilities.

There are no different shooting modes in Moment’s camera app, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t shoot with automatic settings. By default, the Pro Camera app handles your settings for you, and if you make tweaks you’re unhappy with, you can double-tap the control in question to reset it to auto mode. When dealing with multiple settings at once, double-tapping the viewfinder resets it all, though I’ve run into trouble with the white balance being finicky during resets.

Once you’ve taken a photo, the gallery is just as minimal as the viewfinder. You’re only shown the photos taken directly within the Pro Camera app, though if you want to see the rest of the shots on your phone you can tap the All Photos button in the upper righthand corner to jump to another gallery app. At the bottom, there’s a share button, a delete button, and a button that displays the photo’s metadata. You can also access this information by swiping up from the bottom of the shot.

As nice as Moment’s Pro Camera app is, it’s still in its early stages (I’m using version 1.0.5 right now), and as such is missing a few features — namely video capture and portrait mode (though the latter isn’t necessarily a huge loss). Still, even as a brand new app, it’s full-featured enough for most standard photography, and it can only get better with time and updates.

Have you tried the Moment Pro Camera app? Has it replaced the stock camera app on your phone, or are you waiting for it to get a little more full-featured? Let us know in the comments below!

Download: Moment – Pro Camera ($1.99)

Best Speakers to Use with Your Amazon Echo Dot in 2018

• Best overall
• Best for simplicity
• Best for portability
• Best for sound quality

Best Overall

Sonos Play:1

See at Amazon

The Sonos Play:1 isn’t a Bluetooth speaker — it’s much more than that. As part of a whole-home sound system, the Sonos Play:1 is a small and powerful musical conduit that can fill rooms with lush sound. But that’s an investment.

On its own, connected via 3.5mm jack or over Bluetooth, the Sonos Play:1 connects to Alexa, allowing an Echo Dot, either in the same room or another, to send it music commands. The setup is easy thanks to work from both Amazon and Sonos — it just involves hooking the systems together using an Alexa Skill — and it works flawlessly. Plus, at $149, it’s cheaper than some Bluetooth speakers and sounds much, much better.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for the absolute best sound in a small form factor, connect the Sonos Play:1 to your Echo Dot.

One more thing: If you’d rather go Echo-free, the Sonos One has Alexa built right in.

Why the Sonos Play:1 is the best

Sonos makes great-sounding speakers. Always has, likely always will. The beauty of Sonos’s collaboration with Amazon is that a speaker like the Play:1, which may already be part of a dedicated Sonos system, can work independently with any Echo, including the tiny Echo Dot.

That means you can hide the Dot somewhere in a room and have it always listening for commands. “Alexa, play The Beatles,” takes just a second to say, but with a Sonos Play:1 in the room, the two gadgets become more than the sum of their parts. The beauty is that you aren’t connecting the Sonos to the Echo via Bluetooth, so sound coming out of the Play:1 sounds just as good as if you were using the dedicated Sonos app (which you can still do if you want).

Best for simplicity

Bose SoundLink Color II

See at Amazon

While it’s designed to be a Bluetooth speaker to connect your phone, the design and audio quality from the Bose SoundLink Color II speaker makes it perfect for filling most rooms with sound.

You can connect your Amazon Echo Dot to this speaker and leave it forever as a better Amazon Echo, or you can take the $130 Bose Soundlink Color II with you when leaving the house thanks to its internal battery. It’s a great flexible option for just about every occasion and looks nice enough that it can sit in a room without standing out or taking up too much space.

Bottom line: This speaker will turn your Amazon Echo Dot into something better than an Amazon Echo, and does a whole lot more.

One more thing: You can pick up the Bose SoundLink II in either black or white to match your Echo Dot.

Best for portability

VAUX speaker for Echo Dot

See on Amazon

Why bother with buying multiple Amazon Echo Dots when you can buy a speaker that powers your single Echo Dot so it can come with you wherever you are in the house? VAUX is one of several speaker designers clever enough to make the body of the speaker something that can actually hold the Echo Dot while in use, so it not only powers the brains of the operation but makes the whole system a single portable unit.

This $50 speaker promises six hours of portable runtime, and the dual 52mm drivers will certainly make this little Echo Dot fill a room with sound. Best of all, you don’t need a different power cord to charge this combined unit. The charger you used to power the Echo Dot is also capable of charging this speaker.

Bottom line: If portability is your goal, this is a great place to start.

Best Audio Quality

B&O Play Beoplay A6

See on Amazon

The speaker on a taller Amazon Echo is fine, but in larger rooms, it frequently feels a little flat. If your goal is high audio quality so you can stream across an entire house and really rattle the windows, you either want a complete standalone stereo system or you want a Beoplay A6.

Bang & Olufsen is the champion of high-quality audio in portable form, but you pay for the privilege. These speakers are not cheap, but the audio difference couldn’t be more clear when compared to other standalone speakers. While the Beoplay series does come in other, smaller formats that do a good job filling a room with sound, the $799 Beoplay A6 speakers are built for style and room-filling audio. It’s a strange looking speaker for sure, but one of those experiences where you don’t know you can listen to anything else after listening to this.

One more thing: These speakers are available in a bunch of different color fabric options, but tracking something down outside of the standard off-white or textured grey (sorry, Light Gray and Oxidized Brass) isn’t easy.

Conclusion

There are a lot of great options for speakers to add to an Amazon Echo Dot. The Sonos Play:1 is the best of all worlds, since it can exist as a dedicated Echo Dot speaker or as part of a larger Sonos system. The Bose SoundLink Color II is simple — it’s a fantastic Bluetooth speaker that has a 3.5mm input. If your goal is portability over all else, the VAUX is your speaker. And if audio quality is the most important thing to you, grab a B&O Play Beoplay A6 and have a blast.

Best Overall

Sonos Play:1

See at Amazon

The Sonos Play:1 isn’t a Bluetooth speaker — it’s much more than that. As part of a whole-home sound system, the Sonos Play:1 is a small and powerful musical conduit that can fill rooms with lush sound. But that’s an investment.

On its own, connected via 3.5mm jack or over Bluetooth, the Sonos Play:1 connects to Alexa, allowing an Echo Dot, either in the same room or another, to send it music commands. The setup is easy thanks to work from both Amazon and Sonos — it just involves hooking the systems together using an Alexa Skill — and it works flawlessly. Plus, at $149, it’s cheaper than some Bluetooth speakers and sounds much, much better.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for the absolute best sound in a small form factor, connect the Sonos Play:1 to your Echo Dot.

One more thing: If you’d rather go Echo-free, the Sonos One has Alexa built right in.

Update, July 2018: The Sonos Play:1 is our new pick for the best speaker for your Echo Dot, and we’ve replaced the Bose SoundLink II with the cheaper, more portable Bose SoundLink Color II. Happy listening!

Apple Revises Plans for Contentious Federation Square Store in Australia

Apple today submitted revised blueprints for its planned Federation Square retail store location in Melbourne, Australia, according to the Federation Square website.

Apple first announced the new flagship store in December, set to be built at Federation Square, a shopping center, public square, and mixed-used space in the heart of Melbourne.

The new Federation Square design
The construction of the new store calls for the demolition of the well-known Yarra building, which has infuriated Melbourne residents and led to major protests suggesting the public space should not be given over to a corporation.

Melbourne’s City Council in February backed a motion to lobby for a new store design due to both the backlash and the dissatisfaction with Apple’s planned store design, which has been described as a “Pizza Hut pagoda.”

Another angle of the new store design
The new design plan, created following a series of design workshops that included Federation Square Management, the Victorian Government, the Melbourne City Council, and Apple, features a building with a simpler, more streamlined look that better fits in with the Federation Square aesthetic.

The original Federation Square design proposed by Apple
The pagoda-style roof has been abandoned in favor of a flatter design that will house solar panels. The design offers 500 square meters of new public space, more outdoor shading, a better connection to the Yarra river, and plans for cultural events.

Apple’s revamped design is part of a “broader reimagining” of Federation Square, which includes the new Digital Facade on the Transport Building and the new Melbourne Metro Train Station entrance.

According to Federation Square CEO Jonathan Tribe, the new store design is “consistent with Federations Square’s Civic and Cultural Charter, which recognises Melbourne’s pre-eminence as a centre for creativity and innovation.” The Federation Square leadership expects the Apple Store to boost visitor numbers, bringing an additional two million people to Federation Square each year.

Current plans continue to call for the destruction of the Yarra building, so it’s not clear if Melbourne residents will be satisfied with Apple’s planned changes. At the very least, the new design is less intrusive, which could win acceptance from protestors.

Related Roundup: Apple Stores
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Elevation Lab Debuts New NightPad 7.5W Wireless Charger

Elevation Lab, known for its range of popular iPhone docks, today announced the launch of its latest product, the NightPad wireless charging pad designed for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and future iPhones with wireless charging capabilities.

The NightPad features a minimal design and it looks like a simple black puck, with a matte finish over the body of the accessory. A raised ring is included at the edge of the charger to keep the iPhone securely in place while it’s charging, and it uses a 6-foot braided cord for power.

A subtle black logo is included at the top of the NightPad, and while many wireless chargers use an LED to indicate that an iPhone is charging, Elevation Lab has designed its version with no LEDs. This is to keep it from being noticeable in a dark room.

An LED isn’t technically needed since a charging logo is displayed on the iPhone when a successful connection has been established.

Elevation Lab is an Apple MFi member and the NightPad supports the faster 7.5W charging capabilities. It can charge an iPhone 50 percent faster than standard Qi wireless chargers, according to Elevation Lab, and the 7.5W engineering lessens radio interference.

While created for iPhone, NightPad also works with all Qi-based devices and supports Samsung’s 10W charging.

The NightPad has been engineered to work with cases up to 3mm thick, but in tests, Elevation Lab has seen successful charging with cases up to 6mm thick. Automatic metallic rejection is included to prevent charging when metal is detected, and vents on the underside are included alongside “intelligent electronics” for thermal management purposes.

Elevation Lab is selling the NightPad for $39.95 standalone and for $49.95 with a 15W QC 3.0 power supply included. Higher power adapters are required for Apple’s faster 7.5W charging, so people without a QC 3.0 power adapter will want to purchase the version that includes it.

MacRumors readers can get a special 25 percent discount off of the NightPad when entering the promo code MACNP25. Make sure to order soon, as this deal will only be live for a week.

Tags: wireless charging, Elevation Lab
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Apple Offers Technicians Additional Training on MacBook Keyboards With Series of Web Broadcasts

It has been an eventful few weeks for MacBook Pro keyboards.

Last month, Apple finally acknowledged that a “small percentage” of MacBook and MacBook Pro models with butterfly switch keyboards may experience issues with “sticky” or inconsistently functioning keys, and launched a worldwide service program offering free repairs of affected keyboards for up to four years.

The issues are widely believed to be caused by dust or other particulates, like crumbs from a sandwich, getting lodged in the butterfly mechanism underneath the keycaps, which are shallower than those on previous-generation MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards with traditional scissor switch mechanisms.

Then, last week, Apple surprised us with the release of new 2018 MacBook Pro models, which feature an “improved third-generation keyboard for quieter typing,” according to Apple’s press release. Apple never publicly confirmed if the third-generation keyboard addresses the issues that prompted its service program.

It didn’t take long for the repair experts at iFixit to open up the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and discover a thin silicone membrane underneath each key, which they said is clearly to prevent “contaminant ingress,” or, in other words, to prevent dust and crumbs from getting stuck under keys.

Then, just hours ago, MacRumors obtained an internal document from Apple, distributed to its network of Apple Authorized Service Providers, that clearly acknowledges that “the keyboard has a membrane under the keycaps to prevent debris from entering the butterfly mechanism,” as many people suspected.

Now, in another internal document obtained by MacRumors, Apple has announced that it will be hosting a series of 60-minute web broadcast events focused on servicing Mac notebook keyboards and keycaps.

In the broadcasts, which service providers are instructed to watch “in private in an environment away from customers,” Apple says it will discuss the anatomy of the current keycaps, focus on troubleshooting and isolating keyboard issues, and demonstrate how to clean keyboards and replace keycaps.

These training sessions are routine for Apple Authorized Service Providers, but given all of the issues surrounding the MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards as of late, they will likely be very helpful for technicians.

Customers can initiate a repair by reading: How to Get a MacBook or MacBook Pro Keyboard Repaired Free Under Apple’s Service Program.

Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, MacBookBuyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now), MacBook (Don’t Buy)
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New Legislation Suggests Implementing Emergency Alerts Into Streaming Services Like Netflix and Spotify

Currently, when users in a certain area face potentially bad weather, threats of danger, or a nearby AMBER alert, their iPhone or other smartphone sounds off and displays a message explaining the emergency.

In new legislation shared today, United States senators Brian Schatz and John Thune hope to “explore” ways this system could improve to enhance reliability, including implementing these alerts into audio and video online streaming services (via TechCrunch)

According to the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, more people would be successfully alerted to and aware of potential emergencies if these alerts played on services like Netflix and Spotify. In these situations, the legislation argues, users might have left their smartphone behind in another part of the house while streaming on a TV or computer, missing an alert in the process.

Senator Schatz explained that the mishap with the false missile alert in Hawaii earlier this year “exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts,” inspiring change and the new legislation.

“When a missile alert went out across Hawai‘i in January, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios. Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts,” said Senator Schatz, lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet. “Our bill fixes a number of important problems with the system responsible for delivering emergency alerts. In a real emergency, these alerts can save lives so we have to do everything we can to get it right.”

“Emergency alerts save lives but management mistakes can erode their credibility and effectiveness. The READI Act implements lessons learned from past incidents and recognizes that emergency protocols must change along with communication technology,” said Senator Thune, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Other aspects of the READI Act also propose eliminating the option for users to opt out of receiving “certain” federal alerts, like missile alerts, on smartphones. For iPhone, users can toggle off AMBER Alerts and Emergency Alerts completely under the “Government Alerts” section in Notifications settings.

Otherwise, the legislation would encourage State Emergency Communications Committees to “periodically review and update” their own alert system plans to keep them more up-to-date, as well as compel FEMA “to create best practices” for state, tribal, and local governments for issuing alerts, avoiding false alerts, and retracting false alerts if they happen. This false alert system would also see a reporting system implemented under the READI Act so the FCC can track when they occur and “examine their causes.”

Tags: Spotify, Netflix, United States
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Wemo Mini Smart Plug Gains HomeKit Support Through Software Update

Belkin’s Wemo Mini smart plug has gained HomeKit support through a software update, as reported today by CNET. This means that owners of Wemo Mini plugs can simply open the Wemo iOS app, update the device’s software, and immediately gain the ability to add the plug into the Home app, add it into existing scenes, and use Siri to control it without the need for a Wemo Bridge.

Apple first announced that it would update its HomeKit specification during WWDC 2017, so that compatible smart products no longer have to include a hardware authentication chip. For products like the Wemo Mini, this means that authentication goes through software instead and greatly streamlines how developers integrate with HomeKit.

Although announced at last year’s WWDC, the change eventually launched in iOS 11.3 in March 2018, and the Wemo Mini is now the first HomeKit product to connect to Apple’s platform using the software protocol, a Wemo spokesperson said.

The team at Wemo also tells us that the Mini is the first HomeKit device to connect with the platform using Apple’s software protocol instead of the MFi chipset that was initially required at HomeKit’s launch. “No other non-chipped product has the ability to do the HomeKit authentication via a software update as of yet,” a company spokesperson tells CNET.

In that sense, the ability to connect with HomeKit via software instead of hardware represents a fairly significant step forward for the platform, and one that could make it easier for other existing devices to jump on board. That’d be a win for Apple, which has thus far struggled to keep up with Amazon and Google in terms of the quantity of devices that work with its smart home platform. Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.

The $34.99 Wemo Mini is a smart plug that lets users add smart home control to normal products, like a bedside fan, lamp, coffee pot, and more. Smart plugs are a popular HomeKit accessory given their compatibility with a wide range of devices and cheap price tag. Other companies that make HomeKit smart plugs include iHome, iDevices, Koogeek, and Elgato.

Belkin initially introduced HomeKit support for its Wemo products with the Wemo Bridge, and although the Wemo Mini will no longer require a Wemo Bridge for HomeKit compatibility, other Wemo products will still need the Bridge to connect to Apple’s platform. The team is working on updating other products similar to Wemo Mini, and says the Wemo Dimmer accessory is next on the roadmap for a HomeKit software update later this year.

For the Wemo Mini, users will see the HomeKit software update beginning today, and a rollout to all customers is expected to be finished as soon as next week.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Belkin. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Tags: Belkin, WeMo
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Mad Huawei TalkBand is a Bluetooth earpiece worn in the ear, and on your wrist

Huawei has announced the TalkBand B5, the latest in a surprisingly long line of unusual wearables, which combines a wrist band and fitness tracking features with … a Bluetooth earpiece. Yes, that technology beloved by taxi drivers and those stuck in time somewhere around the new millennium, is back and this time you wear it in your ear and on your arm.

Flippancy aside, the TalkBand series serves a keen niche, and although it’s unlikely to get a wide global release, previous versions have clearly proved popular enough to continue making new models. Huawei describes the TalkBand B5 as a hybrid device that combines a smart Bluetooth headset with a health tracker. The earpiece fits snugly into the wristband’s body, and can be removed to answer an incoming call.

There’s plenty of new tech inside the earpiece. Huawei says it contains the industry’s first triple-core audio chip, along with a dual microphone set up for reducing noise. The fitness band has a heart rate sensor on the back, and it supports continuous monitoring when doing specific exercises. Huawei’s TruSleep technology, which monitors all aspects of sleep and has also been seen on the Huawei Band 2, is included for 24-hour wearability.

Data and other information is displayed on the earpiece’s 1.13-inch AMOLED screen, which has a 160 x 300 pixel resolution and is hidden under a 2.5D piece of curved glass. The screen is 2.4 times larger than the last TalkBand’s screen, making it considerably easier to read when on the wrist. Other TalkBand B5 features include a displaying notifications from your phone, a remote camera shutter, and a phone finder.

The entire wearable is IP67 rated to resist dust and water, so it’s fine for the rain and in the gym, but not for swimming. Huawei will produce a Sports Edition with silicone straps in different colors, along with a Business Edition with a metal or leather strap.

Rumors of the TalkBand B5 spread before the announcement, and some wondered if the device might store Bluetooth earbuds for music, rather than an earpiece for calls. However, the TalkBand B5 is a business tool and not really one for leisure, so it sticks rigidly with tradition. The TalkBand B5 will go on sale in China on July 20, with a release in parts of the Middle East coming after in August. It will cost 1,000 yuan in China, or about $150, for the Sports Edition, or 1,200 for the Business Edition, which is around $180. No U.S. and European launch details have been provided.

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