Be afraid: A Galaxy Note 9 caught fire in New York this month

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Samsung faces a lawsuit from a woman who claims her Galaxy Note 9 phone caught fire inside her handbag, after the device initially became “extremely hot,” before catching fire, and emitting “thick smoke.” The incident took place inside an elevator, making the situation considerably more frightening, according to a story published by The New York Post.

Batteries inside phones are complex and, especially when mistreated, can be fire hazards; but explosions are very rare. However, because the phone in question here is a Samsung Galaxy Note device, a lot more people will take notice. The reason, in case you’re not aware, is the Galaxy Note 7 suffered from a manufacturing defect that led to some examples catching fire. The device was eventually recalled, potentially costing Samsung a billion dollars in the process.

Following an extensive overhaul of its safety practices, engineering checks, and manufacturing processes the Galaxy Note 8 was released later, followed by the Galaxy Note 9 in August this year. At the time, Samsung Mobile CEO DJ Koh told The Investor, “The battery in the Galaxy Note 9 is safer than ever. Users do not have to worry about the batteries anymore.” Words which are almost certainly true; but still probably shouldn’t be used to tempt fate.

The Note 9 owner, named as Diane Chung by the New York Post, describes panicking in the elevator as the phone started to catch fire, and has apparently filed a lawsuit with the Queens Supreme Court asking for damages and for the Galaxy Note 9 to be withdrawn from sale. She claims Samsung should have been aware of any defects that caused the phone to threaten safety. Details around the device, and the battery’s state, are not known.

Samsung upgraded the battery in the Galaxy Note 9 considerably over previous versions. It has a large 4,000mAh battery inside a body that’s almost identical in size to the Galaxy Note 8, which contained a 3,300mAh capacity cell. The ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 had a 3,500mAh capacity battery, and the revised Note 7 FE — sold only in some markets as a refurbished device — had a 3,300mAh cell.

Samsung responded by saying it has not received any other reports of Galaxy Note 9 phones catching fire, and is currently investigating. If you own a Galaxy Note 9, there is no evidence you should be concerned, although always just like every phone, using the supplied Samsung charger and cable is advisable when recharging the battery.

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Report Claims AirPower ‘Doomed to Failure’ Unless Apple Can Resolve Multiple Ongoing Engineering Issues

Despite the promise of a 2018 release date, Apple’s long-awaited AirPower wireless charging mat remains unavailable, and almost all mentions of the device were last week removed from its website. This has prompted speculation over what could be behind the delay – and even whether the AirPower, which was announced over a year ago, will ever see the light of day.

Previous reports have touched upon the technical issues Apple has run into with the AirPower’s design, but a new report published on Sunday by Sonny Dickson claims several pieces of exclusive information that shed light on the challenges Apple is still facing with the device, which is designed to charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once.

According to the report’s multiple internal sources, many of those working on the AirPower project believe the device may be “doomed to failure” unless engineering solutions can be found for a host of currently unresolved issues, which include:

• Heat management

Currently the device produces far too much heat, which causes performance setbacks, and can affect the ability of the devices to charge if they become too warm in the process. It also affects the ability of Apple’s custom charging chip, which runs a stripped down version of iOS, to function as intended.

• Buggy inter-device communication

Apple’s engineers have been experiencing both hardware and software issues with the communication between AirPower and devices placed on the mat, especially the communication of Apple Watch and AirPod charging data to the iPhone, which monitors the charge level of all devices placed on the mat.

• Mechanical and interference issues

The mechanism being used for multi-device charging [21 and 24 overlapping power coils of various sizes] is proving extremely difficult to build or refine, and has been resulting in a significant amount of interference… which reduces the efficiency of the charging mat, and contributes to the heat issues that engineers are facing.

Aside from heat and interference shielding, the report notes that the complexity of the circuitry in the device is also posing a significant challenge, which may not be overcome unless the device is redesigned to be slightly thicker and larger. However, Apple is said to be “unwilling to make compromises” on the AirPower’s overall design.

Wrapping up, Dickson holds out hope that the AirPower could still debut before the end of the year, but claims that “the broad consensus among engineers suggests that this is highly unlikely”.

Indeed, Dickson says chatter he’s heard “less notable individuals involved with the project” suggest that the AirPower concept and trademark could eventually be applied to an all-new product with other unmentioned features, to be publicly shown at an undisclosed date “not likely to occur before Spring”.

For those who remain steadfastly optimistic about the AirPower, Apple has a few more months to meet its self-imposed 2018 deadline for the device, so it’s still possible we’ll see the device debut via press release in October, November, or December.

Tags: Sonny Dickson, AirPower
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Ulysses App Gains New Mojave-Ready Dark Mode, Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12, and More

Popular writing app Ulysses is being updated to coincide with the release of macOS Mojave and iOS 12, introducing support for new features in Apple’s latest desktop and mobile operating systems.

With macOS Mojave, Apple has introduced a new system-wide Dark Mode, which means many third-party will need updating with a similar color scheme. Since its initial release, a Dark Mode has been part of Ulysses, but the new update introduces a reworked and fine-tuned version to fit with the new system requirements.

Ulysses users will be able to have Dark or Light Mode auto-switch according to the system preferences, or continue to switch manually between the two from within the app. In addition, a new editor theme for Ulysses is available — D14 — with colors optimized for the new Dark Mode.

Elsewhere, Ulysses for Mac is getting a redesigned sheet list (the column displaying an overview of divided texts in a group) with bigger tiles and a lighter appearance for clarity and legibility. There’s also a new share extension that lets users send links, texts and images from Safari and many other apps directly to Ulysses.

Meanwhile, in other improvements:

• Command-clicking a link in the editor now opens the link in the default browser.
• Four spaces are no longer replaced with tabs.
• Comment blocks no longer add to paragraph count.
• Double-pressing arrow keys in editor no longer switches between sheets.
• Improved reliability when editing goals.

Over on iPad and iPhone, the Ulysses update brings support for the new Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12. Users can now assign voice commands to a number of Ulysses actions, including creating new sheets and opening existing sheets and groups. Siri will also make recommendations based on most-used Ulysses actions. All of Ulysses’ actions are available in Apple’s new Shortcuts app, ready for integrating into complex workflows.

The release of the new Ulysses versions is expected to match the release of Apple’s new operating systems – in fact the mobile update is already rolling out for iOS 12, which Apple is launching today. The launch date for macOS Mojave is September 24, so expect Ulysses for Mac to be updated then or thereabouts.

Ulysses can be downloaded for free on the App Store and the Mac App Store. After a 14-day trial period, a subscription is required to unlock the app on all devices. A monthly subscription costs $4.99, while a yearly subscription is $39.99. Students can use Ulysses at a discounted price of $11.99 per six months. The discount is granted from within the app.

Tag: Ulysses
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California to launch its own satellite to monitor climate change?

Gov. Jerry Brown says California will move forward with plans to launch a satellite into space in order to monitor climate change. He made the announcement at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

“With science still under attack and the climate threat growing, we’re launching our own damn satellite,” Brown said at the end of the summit. “This groundbreaking initiative will help governments, businesses, and landowners pinpoint — and stop — destructive emissions with unprecedented precision, on a scale that’s never been done before.”

The L.A. Times reports that the state will be developing the satellite alongside Planet Labs based out of San Francisco. The Earth-imaging company was founded in 2010 by a team of former NASA employees. The objective of the satellite is to monitor the buildup of pollutants.

Robbie Schingler, one of the company’s founders, says that he is hopeful that this satellite will provide instructive data regarding the usefulness of satellites for monitoring and working to combat climate change.

While this satellite is intended to help combat climate change, the state is open to launching others if this project is a success. However, Brown is set to leave office in 2019, so it will be up to his successor to follow through on his plans for a satellite. If the next governor doesn’t support the plan, it could become much harder to get off the ground.

Despite present support for the project, the first satellite is still several years away. Currently, the California Air Resources Board is working on developing the technologies and systems needed for the satellite to accurately monitor for pollutants. The data gathered by the satellite would then be made public through a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Brown has discussed the idea of California launching its own satellite. In the 1970s, he suggested launching one to help handle communications during emergencies. That project never got off the ground, but it followed Brown throughout his political career. He never quite got over the nickname “Governor Moonbeam,” but, then again, he has been re-elected several times, so maybe he no longer needs to fight it.

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Google’s improvements to Sound Search will help it recognize songs better

If you’re a fan of being able to ask your phone what song is playing, you’ll be happy to know that Google is preparing to roll out some improvements to Sound Search.

The genesis of these improvements lies with Now Playing. The software, which Google brought to the Pixel 2 in 2017, was meant to allow Google to create an always-on music recognizer that could be used even without an internet connection. Over the past year, Google has learned that Now Playing not only did its job, but actually did it better than the server-side Sound Search.  In order to improve Sound Search, Google has taken the technology that underlies Now Playing and incorporated it into Sound Search.

If you’re trying to decide whether to use Now Playing or Sound Search, Google says that the new-and-improved Sound Search is both faster and more accurate than Now Playing. The new server-side database contains 1,000 times as many songs as Now Playing.

Of course, that larger database does present a few new challenges. The biggest challenge is the number of false matches that Sound Search could generate due to the much larger directory. In order to solve this issue, Google relies on improved machine learning algorithms to quickly sort through its database until it finds the correct song.

On the technical side of things, Google said that it quadrupled the number of neural networks involved, and increased the size of each embedding from 96 to 128. The company also doubled the density of each of those embeddings. The result of these changes is that Google’s neural networks are able to work harder to find and identify songs.

Another way that Google is dealing with the issue of false matches is by adjusting the criteria for songs based on their popularity. More popular songs have a lower matching threshold than less popular ones. This helps to ensure that Sound Search is more accurate when determining the song you’re trying to find. This also means that Google will be able to continue to add more obscure songs to the database without compromising the accuracy of Sound Search.

Despite these improvements, Google has acknowledged there are still some issues with Sound Search. Very quiet music or noisy environments can pose a problem for Sound Search, and there is room for improvement in the system’s speed.

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5G may spur the return of smartphones locked to specific carriers

When 5G smartphones launch next year, they’ll bring a wave of improvements such as faster internet access and larger data caps. Unfortunately, they’ll also have one major downside. Most of the phones that launch with 5G capabilities will be locked to specific carriers.

While speaking with PC Mag, Gordon Mansfield, AT&T’s vice president of radio networks and device design, explained that the lock was due to the limits of technology, rather than any overt desire on the part of cell carriers.

“It’s not because there isn’t a desire and we don’t want to have cross-compatibility,” said Mansfield. ” It’s just that nobody has figured out how to cram the 28GHz 5G that Verizon and T-Mobile are using, and AT&T’s 39GHz 5G, into one box yet. And while T-Mobile and Verizon are using similar 28GHz bands, T-Mobile is also putting 5G on the 600MHz band, which Verizon is not.”

While this news is bound to be disappointing for some people, it also isn’t without precedent. When 4G devices launched, many of those early phones were locked to whichever carrier you initially bought the phone from. If you simply must have an unlocked phone, then you’re best bet will be to stick with a 4G device and wait until the technology behind 5G matures a bit more.

Fortunately, Mansfield doesn’t think that maturation process will take very long. While he didn’t give a specific time frame, he did say that AT&T was planning on launching 5G sometime within 2018.

All four major U.S. carriers plan to have their 5G networks up and running either this year or early in 2019, but so far, we don’t have a firm launch date for the first generation of 5G smartphones and tablets.

If you’re eager to get your hands on a 5G device, you’ll have to make a few decisions regarding which carrier you want to go with. While contacts and costs are part of the equation, its worth noting that the frequency used by the different carriers could affect the type of phones offered. For example, Mansfield claimed that AT&T’s use of a higher frequency would allow it to support smaller devices than some of the competition.

For more information, check out our handy primer to all things 5G.

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This orange puck keeps you online in any country, with one hidden catch

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Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Staying online when you travel is more important than ever before. Whether you want to jump into Google Maps to get directions to your next destination, pull up your boarding pass for a flight, or research a great place for dinner, you’re going to need connectivity to do it.

Hotel Wi-Fi is an unpredictable beast and international data plans can be expensive. Buying a new SIM for your destination can be a cost-effective strategy, but it means switching out your usual number because a lot of people don’t have dual SIM phones. It should be simple to stay online when you’re overseas, but sadly that’s not the case.

We’ve seen the rise of a new category of product proclaiming itself the answer to your internet-related travel woes: The global Wi-Fi hotspot. We decided to test one out on a trip to Berlin for IFA to see whether it lives up to the promise.

What is the Skyroam Solis?

The Skyroam Solis is an orange puck that’s described as a “4G LTE Global Wi-Fi Hotspot and Power Bank”. We were loaned the device, which usually costs $150 and comes with one free day pass. Ours was preloaded with ten day passes, but you’ll normally pay $9 for each day pass. There are discounts if you buy passes in bulk.

It works like the hotspot function on your smartphone, allowing you to create a private Wi-Fi network. Connection details and password are on the bottom of the puck. Each Skyroam Solis comes with its own global SIM onboard, it can connect to 4G LTE networks where available, and it will let you connect up to five devices.

Easy set up

We set it up in Edinburgh before departing and the process was easy. Hold the power button to turn it on, the white Wi-Fi button on the top will flash and then go solid white once it has connected. You can now do a Wi-Fi network search on your phone or laptop and connect to the Solis. You get a short grace period of a few minutes to configure it, before you need to activate one of your day passes.

You get a short grace period of a few minutes to configure it, before you need to activate one of your day passes.

The connection process takes a couple of minutes, but once you’ve set it up and entered network details into your devices all you need to do is turn it on and press that Wi-Fi button on the top. The day passes last for 24 hours and you can see a countdown on the network information page, along with how many devices are connected, and what mobile network it’s connected to — be it 4G, 3G, or 2G.

There’s also a big, 6,000mAh battery inside the Skyroam Solis which can be charged via the USB-C port on the back. You can even plug in a USB-C to USB adapter and use the Solis to top up your smartphone battery if it’s running low.

Offering connectivity in more than 130 countries — you can check the full list on the website — the Skyroam Solis appears to be a great device for frequent travelers.

Testing time

Soon after landing in Berlin we turned the Solis on and it connected to a 4G network offering decent speeds to two connected phones and a MacBook. Download speeds were around 5Mbps. We spent a couple of hours checking email, including some IFA-related stuff with large press release attachments, reading tech news, and browsing Twitter. Rather hopefully, we tried uploading a video file, but the upload speed was snail’s pace. Annoying, but not a big surprise.

Comparing the Solis with the hotspot function on our smartphone, the speeds were about the same. So far, so good.

You can continue to connect after the 500MB limit is exceeded, it’s just that it’s very, very slow indeed.

Then one of our colleagues arrived at the hotel, and we invited him to connect to the Solis as well, at which point the speed suddenly tanked. Web pages took several seconds to load, video wouldn’t play at all, the connection slowed enormously. Looking at the details we noticed the network connection had gone from 4G to 2G and it turns out this is because we had already exceeded the 500MB “fair use policy”.

Now the Skyroam Solis is advertised as “Unlimited” with “Blazing fast speeds” and there’s no obvious mention of any 500MB per 24-hour day pass limit. You can find it if you dig into the FAQ section, but a quick glance at some Amazon reviews reveals that we weren’t the first to be caught unawares by this.

Strictly speaking it is unlimited, because you can continue to connect after the 500MB limit is exceeded, it’s just that it’s very, very slow indeed. We continued to use the Skyroam Solis around Berlin and on the show floor at IFA. Although our 500MB limit tended to run out quickly each day, we were putting a lot of strain on it by trying to download and upload a lot of files.

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

The slower speed is still useful for checking email, if there are no attachments, checking social media, or browsing the web, if you’re patient and don’t mind missing out on video. The battery was big enough that it never ran out on us, but we did have to charge it up at night.

Is it worth it?

Much depends on what kind of deals your carrier offers. With EE in the U.K. you can buy 500MB of data for 24 hours for a lot of different countries for less than the price of a day pass for the Skyroam Solis. And you wouldn’t have to shell out $150 for the device itself.

If you have a good data plan, then many carriers allow you to pay a daily fee to use it as normal in foreign countries, for example, AT&T and Verizon charge $10 per day. It’s worth checking into before you spring for the Solis.

Ultimately, the Skyroam Solis works well. It’s easy to set up, you can connect multiple devices at once, and it has a big enough battery to last all day. Just be aware of the 500MB day pass barrier. If you want something that will allow you and your partner to roam a foreign city and still check directions on Google Maps, peek at social media, or browse restaurant ideas, then it will work for you. If you have visions of streaming Netflix in your hotel, then look elsewhere.

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Asus ZenBook Pro 15 vs. Dell XPS 15

Asus is going out on a limb with its new ZenBook Pro 15 UX580, introducing an innovative twist on the old-school touchpad. Called the ScreenPad, this new input device layers a touchscreen IPS LCD over the usual swiping surface, adding in some special functionality to make for a potentially more efficient and productive workflow.

But that’s not all the ZenBook Pro 15 has in its bag of tricks. It also sports the fastest notebook processor around, the very fast Core i9-8950HK that promises unparalleled performance. Is all of this enough to give it the edge over our favorite 15-inch notebook, the Dell XPS 15? Read on to find out.

Design

The ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 looks just like every other modern ZenBook, and that’s not a bad thing. It has the same attractive and iconic concentric circle swirl, the same rose gold diamond-cut chamfered edges, and the same quality build as so many recent ZenBooks. Only an unusually flexible keyboard deck mars what would otherwise be a rock-solid build. The bezels are small enough to give a modern look and feel, and the 0.75 inch thickness and 4.1 pound weight is competitive with the rest of the field. In terms of input, we found the keyboard to offer slightly less travel than some competitors, but with a snappy mechanism that’s comfortable for long typing sessions. And the ScreenPad is buggy out of the gate, but it still promises an innovative new way to control your notebook with a handful of special modes and dedicated apps and utilities.

Dell’s 2018 XPS 15 hasn’t changed much aesthetically over the last couple of years, and that’s not a bad thing — it’s just as conservatively attractive as always. It’s formed from machined aluminum and carbon fiber that create a robust and particularly comfortable laptop to use and carry around from site to site. Dell hasn’t engineered the thinnest notebook around, at 0.70 inches at its thickest point, and it’s not the lightest either at 4.5 pounds with a huge 97 watt-hour battery. Even so, it’s among the most diminutive 15.6-inch notebooks given its InfinityEdge bezels — which unfortunately mean the webcam is wedged below the display for an unflattering up-the-nose view. The keyboard is excellent, with sufficient travel an a precise and responsive mechanism enabling fast and accurate typing, and the Microsoft Precision touchpad is large and comfortable.

We like the ZenBook’s elegant look and feel, but the XPS 15 wins out for being completely solid and sporting a better keyboard. That innovative ScreenPad could sway things in the ZenBook’s favor, though, if Asus can work out the bugs and add some polish.

Performance

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

The ZenBook Pro 15 is built around Intel’s fastest mobile processor, the 8th-generation six-core, 12-thread Core i9-8950HK that runs at 45 watts and can ramp up to some insane speeds. It’s a fast CPU, but it also creates some heat that’s hard to manage. Ultimately, it’s faster than the more common Core i7-8750H, but not by much. Asus chose a competent PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) for the ZenBook Pro, which is neither the fastest nore the slowest we’ve tested, and that’s fed by some fast DDR4 memory. Finally, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a solid entry-level gaming CPU, and it allows the ZenBook to support some decent — albeit somewhat inconsistent — gaming performance.

The Dell XPS 15 uses the aforementioned Core i7-8750H processor, an 8th-generation 45 watt part that’s also powered by six cores and 12 threads. The Dell also enjoys a speedy PCIe SSD and high-speed RAM, which is paired with an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti Max Q that punches slightly above its weight class when running some of today’s popular titles at 1080p and medium graphical details. The XPS 15 is plenty fast — almost as fast as the ZenBook Pro 15, in fact — but it also runs cooler and more quietly.

And then there are the displays. On paper, the ZenBook Pro 15 and XPS 15 should be equal. Both enjoy 4K UHD panels with wide color gamuts, and they both promise good accuracy and strong contrast. But Dell delivers whereas Asus kind of dropped the ball, with the former offering a more accurate display with significantly higher contrast and brightness. Dell also offers two options, Full HD and 4K panels aimed at being bright and colorful. Both the ZenBook and the XPS 15 offer great displays for productivity work, but the Dell is much better for professionals that care about color accuracy.

The XPS 15 wins out by being almost as fast as the ZenBok Pro 15 but doing so more quietly and without burning up. And its display is better, too.

Portability

Given all that performance that’s packed inside a chassis that’s not the thinnest around, we expected Asus to squeeze in some serious battery capacity. Unfortunately, the company only managed to equip the ZenBook Pro 15 with 71 watt-hours, which isn’t a ton of juice for such a demanding CPU and high-resolution display.

For its part, Dell equipped the XPS 15 with a massive 97 watt-hours worth of battery capacity, helping to justify its higher weight. And Dell’s investment in batteries paid off. In our suite of tests, the XPS 15 outlasted the ZenBook Pro 15 by a wide margin. We tested the the Full HD version of the XPS 15, and it lasted for twice as long on our most intensive Basemark web benchmark test and almost three times as long when browsing the web and watching video. We suspect that the 4K version of the XPS 15 would last for “only” twice as long.

Both of these notebooks are large and solid 15.6-inch notebooks and so take up some space in a backpack. But the XPS 15 will last for a full working day and maybe even longer, whereas the ZenBook Pro 15 will leave you wanting. The Dell wins this round.

Conclusion

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

The ZenBook Pro 15 costs $2,300 for the Core i9-8950HQ, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, 4K display, and the ScreenPad. You can also spend $1,800 for a Core i7-8750H and a normal touchpad. That makes it a premium notebook but still less expensive than the XPS 15, which comes in at $2,900 for the Core i9, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. But you can also opt for a much less powerful configuration with Core i5 and 56 watt0hour battery for $1,000, giving the Dell a lower price of entry.

The ZenBook Pro 15 brings some innovation with its ScreenPad and some power with its Core i9. But the XPS 15 is almost as fast and its considerably more refined — and thus it’s the notebook we’d rather carry around with us.

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7 drone crashes that will make you fly your bird more carefully

For drone pilots, there can be few things worse than watching helplessly as your bird smacks into a wall, tangles in a tree, or simply falls out of the sky. But sometimes it happens.

Quadcopters like the recently released Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom offer a whopping 10 sensors on all six sides of the machine, giving even the clumsiest of pilots the best chance of avoiding a calamitous mid-air crash. But sensors can sometimes get it wrong, resulting in the kind of wallet-wincing flight error that no one ever wants to experience.

While obstacle-avoidance sensors are now a must-have feature of any drone, the best way to keep your machine safe is to fly with your brain switched to the “common sense” position. As a reminder of just how wrong things can go, we’ve pulled together some crazy clips of spectacular drone crashes — ones that’ll make you think twice about pulling your favorite daredevil move …

An aerial fender-bender

Top tip:

Try to land your drone vertically onto the ground rather than horizontally into a car.

Here’s a gentle one to ease us into the potentially costly world of accidental drone crashes. The pilot describes himself as a beginner, and you’ll see why. Like most drone flights, it starts off well and there appears to be nothing to worry about as the quadcopter flies gently over land. But then, as it glides past the pilot and heads toward his car, you know there’s only going to be one outcome. And it’s not pretty.

Always wear a helmet

Top tip:

Always fly your drone above head height.

You’ll soon get tired of filming aerial shots of your home, so where to go next? This pilot had the idea to head to his local skate park to shoot some boarding buddies doing some tricks. The dramatic drone footage demonstrates some deft handling by the pilot and comfortably matches the boarder in terms of skill. Until the drone smashes into his head, that is.

The flight of parking lot Icarus

Top tip:

Lampposts are solid objects and will obstruct the path of anything that flies toward them. So check your surroundings thoroughly before you begin your drone flight.

Racing drones usually come with very little obstacle avoidance tech, so pilots really needs to know what they’re doing when they turn the speed dial all the way up to 11. This guy headed to a deserted parking lot to push his ‘copter to the limit, and he certainly seems to have the measure of his mean machine as it ducks and dives about the place … if only that darn lamppost hadn’t gotten in the way.

How to anger your landlord

Top tip:

Fly your drone through open windows, not closed ones.

This one’s a real beauty. Seen from the viewpoint of the pilot rather than the drone, the video shows the pilot carefully maneuvering the Mavic Pro out of an apartment window. After flying it around outside, the plan, presumably, was to carefully guide the quadcopter back into the apartment for a safe landing. But, demonstrating that we can’t always rely on a drone’s sensors to save it from a smash, the DJI drone has other ideas. We just hope there wasn’t anyone on the sidewalk down below.

Close encounters of the avian kind

Top tip:

Before taking off, look around to see if there are any angry-looking birds around.

There’s really nothing you can do when your drone is way up in the sky and you spot an eagle or hawk heading toward it. There’s no time to get your machine back on terra firma if the bird of prey is intent on taking it down. When this happens, it’s a case of crossing your fingers and hoping the inevitable drone crash doesn’t result in your machine breaking into bits when it slams into the ground. Although it probably will.

Watch out for that tree!

Top tip:

Do a dry run with the camera pointing ahead to flag up potential obstacles. Like tall trees.

Drone’s are bringing so many new possibilities to a huge number of industries, with movie-making one such beneficiary. Indeed, indie filmmakers, especially, were quick to realize the amazing benefits of a camera-equipped drone, with dramatic aerial shots adding an extra layer of professionalism to their work at very little cost. A popular drone shot used by filmmakers comes from tilting the camera directly down to the ground while flying forward. That’s precisely the kind of shot this drone operator was hoping for, and the clip looks extremely professional until the moment where it looks extremely amateurish.

Sleeping with the fishes

Top tip:

Unless your drone is made for going under water, then take great care to keep it dry at all times.

Here’s some more fun with a high-speed racing drone, except that this time, instead of a parking lot, we’re hurtling over rocks and water. The stunts are dramatic, and the pilot has to respond quickly to the changing terrain. You’d think that whizzing over the flat surface of the sea would be the easy part, but the pilot comes in just a little too steep and low before the video suddenly turns into a serene exploration of the sea bed.

‘Til drone do you part

Top tip:

Check with the bride and groom first to see if they mind having a drone fly straight toward them at great speed.

Wedding photographers traditionally keep their camera firmly in their hands, and as far as this particular photographer is concerned, it really should’ve stayed that way. Just a few seconds into the video and the drone comes down to Earth with a bump, an early indication of the awful drone smash that’s about to occur. No, we don’t know if the groom still has all his own teeth.

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Kuo: Apple Watch Series 4 Pre-Orders Above Expectations, iPhone XS Seeing Lackluster Demand

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a research note today, obtained by MacRumors, outlining his opinions about first-weekend pre-orders for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and Apple Watch Series 4.

Kuo says Apple Watch Series 4 pre-orders have been “better than expected,” as a result of new innovative functions, such as electrocardiogram support. He predicts Apple Watch shipments will reach 18 million units in 2018, with the Series 4 lineup accounting for 50 to 55 percent of those orders.

If the ECG support expands to more countries, Kuo believes the Series 4 lineup could see even stronger shipment momentum.

In contrast, Kuo says iPhone XS pre-orders are “lower-than-expected,” as customers opt for the iPhone XS Max or wait for the iPhone XR. Kuo has lowered his forecast for iPhone XS orders, believing the model will account for only 10 to 15 percent of shipments of the new 2018 iPhones, down from 15 to 20 percent.

Kuo says iPhone XS Max pre-orders have been in line with expectations, signifying the success of Apple’s high-pricing strategy:

There is strong Chinese demand thanks to the gold casing, dual-SIM, and large display. The XS Max average shipping time is shorter than the 2H17 iPhone X (1–2 weeks vs. 2–3 weeks), which we think is due to supply improvements. We maintain our forecasts that the XS Max will account for 25–30% of 2H18 new iPhone model shipments.

Kuo sees a positive outlook for the iPhone XR, available to pre-order October 19, given its lower pricing and dual-SIM support in China.

The well-known analyst increased his forecast for iPhone XR orders, estimating that the model will account for 55 to 60 percent of shipments of the new 2018 iPhones, up from 50 to 55 percent previously.

“We estimate the shipment peak of XS Max and XS will be in October and XR will start shipping and benefiting supply chain momentum in October,” said Kuo.

iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and Apple Watch Series 4 pre-orders began Friday.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5, iPhone XS, iPhone XRTags: Ming-Chi Kuo, TF International SecuritiesBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now), iPhone XR (Buy Now)
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