Apple’s iCloud is experiencing issues across more than a third of its services

Apple

Apple’s iCloud service ran into difficulties on Tuesday afternoon, causing problems for potentially millions of people around the world who rely on the service.

At the time of writing, the company’s System Status page reveals that issues are affecting more than a third of the services that use iCloud, among them iCloud Drive, Photos, iCloud Mail, iCloud Calendar, and Find My iPhone.

Click on each issue on the System Status page and you’re met with the message: “Some users are affected. Users may be experiencing slower than normal performance with this service.”

The tech firm has so far declined to acknowledge the problem via Apple Support on Twitter. We’ve reached out to the company for an explanation on what’s happening, and we’ll update this article if we hear back.

As you’d expect, people have wasted little time jumping on to Twitter to share their frustration at being unable to access some of the services, and to check it’s not just them.

is anyone else’s icloud email account down? mines been down for hours 🙁

— Gemma (@gemmaac) October 24, 2018

One claimed that an Apple Support rep had told her she’d never seen so many issues affecting iCloud at once …

iCloud having issues. I called Apple Support (only waited 2 min!) & rep told me she has never seen this many “current issues before & its likely affecting thousands or millions”. iCloud is down, but Apple still had pleasant and fast support! #iCloud #iClouddown pic.twitter.com/vo0vf0ePc7

— Mariette Booth (@MarietteBooth) October 24, 2018

Apple launched a bunch of new phones recently and the outage appears to be affecting some of those people trying to set up their new handsets using backups stored on iCloud.

Of course I upgraded my iPhone today and now cannot restore it from iCloud…. https://t.co/zlliziOpBa

— Steve Robinson (@Beardy_Steve) October 24, 2018

@AppleSupport Hi! Can y’all fix iCloud now? I bought a new phone and want to set it up asap. Thanks.

— Andres (@andreewberry) October 24, 2018

Apple’s outage is the latest in a string of weird happenings to hit high-profile services in recent days. Just last week, YouTube went down for a number of hours for its two billion or so users around the world. As an apology, anyone paying $40 a month for its YouTube TV service was offered a week of free credit. Shortly before YouTube’s blackout, Twitter had a moment when it started sending users notifications consisting of long strings of apparently non-sensical letters and numbers.

Editors’ Recommendations

• There’s no silver lining for iCloud users, and Apple needs to fix it
• How to protect your iCloud account
• How to back up your iPhone
• Plagued by technical issues, Plex Cloud will shut down on November 30
• YouTube is back after crashing for users around the world

Samsung will debut UFS 3.0 storage in 2019; LPDDR5 launching in 2020

Samsung and Micron are building memory products tailored for 5G.

At Qualcomm’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong, Samsung’s head of mobile memory product planning Jay Oh revealed that the next wave of Unified File Storage (UFS) products will launch in the first half of 2019.

UFS 3.0 will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage variants, and if you’re looking for even more storage, Micron has stated that the first wave of phones with 1TB of internal storage will make their debut in 2021. The Smartisan R1 comes with a total storage of 1TB, but it’s likely that particular device is using two 512GB storage modules. The first integrated 1TB module will be unveiled in 2021.

Advances in 3D NAND manufacturing are allowing memory makers to increase storage density while retaining the same footprint. UFS 3.0 is set to come with a dramatic increase in performance, with Samsung touting a 2x increase in memory bandwidth. UFS 2.1 is currently the go-to standard for flash storage in the mobile space, so it’ll be interesting to see what UFS 3.0 has to offer.

Alongside storage solutions, Samsung and Micron are also set to roll out LPDDR5 in 2020. Samsung says it will commence mass production in 2020, with LPDDR5 delivering much higher bandwidth — ranging from 44GB/s to 51.2GB/s — while reducing power consumption by 20%.

With 5G set to go mainstream next year, a faster storage standard is needed to facilitate the new slate of experiences that will go live, and UFS 3.0 is set to be on the forefront of that change. Qualcomm is working with a series of partners to bring 5G-enabled devices to market, and Samsung is turning to its Exynos business for an in-house 5G modem. Huawei is also working on its own solution for 5G, and with 5G making its debut along with UFS 3.0, there’s plenty to look forward to in 2019.

How to Use Text Clippings in macOS

In macOS, a Text Clipping is a selection of text that you’ve dragged from an application to another location on your Mac, where it becomes a unique kind of standalone file.

The relatively little-known feature has been around since Mac OS 9, and it offers a convenient way to save out pieces of text from pretty much anywhere for later use in another app or document.

To create a Text Clipping, simply highlight any piece of text and drag it with your mouse to your Desktop or an open Finder window.

This saves the highlighted text – including any rich text formatting – as a .textclipping file named after the first few words of text that you selected, but you can easily rename it to make it more identifiable.

To use the selected text in another file like a Pages document, drag the Text Clipping into the open document and the text will be automatically pasted wherever the cursor is located.

You can paste the clipping in the same way into all sorts of open files and apps, including browser search engines, Mail compose windows, Xcode projects, and more.

To quickly view the contents of a Text Clipping, simply select the file and invoke Quick Look with a tap of the spacebar.

You can also double-click a Text Clipping to view the text in a dedicated window, and even highlight and copy (Command-C) just a snippet of the text from this window for pasting elsewhere.

Text clippings can speed up many repetitive tasks, making things like reusing email/letter templates and code snippets a cinch. If clippings become indispensable to your workflow, consider creating a dedicated folder to store them, otherwise they can quickly clutter up your desktop.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Our first look at Android 9 Pie for the Galaxy S9!

Drink it in.

Samsung tends to take its time releasing new platform updates for its existing phones — its install base is just too big, and there are so many things to test, and test again, before releasing it widely. That’s why the company has, over the past few years, introduced alpha and beta programs — closed and public, respectively — so the kinks can be worked out before they roll out to everyone.

We’ve already seen alpha builds of Android 9 Pie floating around for Samsung’s 2018 devices, including the Galaxy S9 and Note 9, but we now have a fully-functioning — and much-improved — beta build to look at. That’s because Samsung has started reaching out to select users in advance of opening a public beta program for Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note 9 users in the U.S., the UK, and South Korea. To be clear, I’ve taken images provided to us from a Galaxy S9+ beta user and transposed them onto my Galaxy S9 — I don’t have the leaked build myself.

Right off the bat, you can see that Samsung is hewing more closely than ever to Google’s native design language, with a simplified colored menu, and highlighted shortcut buttons in the notification shade.

You can also see, at least in this build, Samsung’s adoption of Google’s own Product Sans system font, which is the first time I can recall seeing it applied across the entire OS. (Google doesn’t even allow for this on its own Pixel phones.)

One of the big expectations with Android 9 Pie on Samsung’s latest devices is the adoption of a gesture navigation system, which Google transitioned to with the Pixel 3.

And while it does look like Samsung will offer gestures, they’ll be optional, and more akin to Apple’s or OnePlus’s than Google’s (which will likely suit people just fine).

More recognizable will be Samsung’s adoption of Pie’s larger cards in the multitasking menu, which will also be navigated horizontally, a change from how it works on Oreo. Samsung will, like Google, highlight five oft-used apps in the multitasking menu, too.

Elsewhere, you’ll find simplification across all of Samsung’s native apps: the dialer now has tabs along the bottom for easy switching; the incoming call screen highlights the most recent call from the same number; and Messages has bottom tabs and a more prominent floating action button (FAB).

Finally, and perhaps least appealingly, there will be a new Bixby interface, further refining the changes introduced on the Note 9 earlier this year.

This build is recent — it was compiled just under a week ago, and already has the November 1st, 2018 security patch applied — something even the Pixel 3 can’t claim just yet.

Of course, it’s not clear when Samsung plans to begin its official beta program, but judging by the freshness of this build, and the increased frequency of leaks such as this, it shouldn’t be long now.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Stardew Valley for iOS Now Available Worldwide

Popular farming simulation and RPG Stardew Valley expanded to mobile devices today, and can now be downloaded from the iOS App Store on an iPhone or iPad.

If you’re unfamiliar with Stardew Valley, it’s an incredibly in-depth simulation game where players are tasked with taking over a small, failing farm, working to bring it back to prosperity by planting and tending crops, raising animals, and crafting goods to sell.

Similar to games like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley also lets players fight monsters to earn money, mine ores, fish, get to know townspeople, and engage in social activities in the town. The game cycles through different seasons with various crops and activities to partake in as the game progresses through the years, so there’s always something new and exciting to do.

Stardew Valley offers hundreds of hours of gameplay, and there are no in-app purchases to deal with. A farming simulation might not sound appealing, but Stardew Valley sucks players in with crop and farm strategies, min/maxing profit each season, engaging combat, a never-ending list of achievements to earn, and so much more.

The mobile version of Stardew Valley is the full version of the game that “plays almost identically to all the other versions, but with the addition of touch-based controls suitable for the iPhone and iPad .

All single-player content from the 1.3 patch is available, but Stardew Valley for iOS does not support multiple players. If you’ve previously played Stardew Valley on PC or Mac (it first came out in 2016), you will be able to transfer your save data to iOS using iTunes.

Ahead of the launch of Stardew Valley, our sister site TouchArcade was able to go hands-on with the game, and TouchArcade editor-in-chief Eli Hodapp posted an in-depth review earlier today.

According to Hodapp, compared to the desktop version, the mobile port of Stardew Valley is “about as good as it possibly could be.” It’s a full-fledged game and while the control system isn’t “super ideal,” it still “more than gets the job done.”

Tapping on the screen moves your character, while a toolbar lets you change the item you have equipped. Auto-combat is enabled by default, and whenever you’re in range of an enemy, your character will swing automatically. It can get “wonky” though, says Hodapp, if you run into threatening enemies. Luckily, there’s an option for manual contact.

It’s best to play on an iPad because navigation can be difficult on an iPhone, but it’s doable. All in all, Stardew Valley received TouchArcade’s highest recommendation.

This game is so good it’s stupid, and is my most played game on my Switch. As I mentioned in the preview, the best version of Stardew Valley is the one you have with you, so even with some minor control issues at launch, I wouldn’t be surprised if I also clock in hundreds of hours of play in this version of the game. Again, if you’re the kind of person who often complains about free to play games and the lack of depth in mobile games, do not hesitate to put your money where your mouth is and buy Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley can be purchased from the App Store for $7.99. [Direct Link]

Tag: App Store
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Fitbit Charge 3 review

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Fitbit Charge 3

Fitbit’s latest fitness tracker is the Charge 3, and it looks a lot like its predecessor, the Charge 2, at first glance, from its similarly-sized OLED screen and aluminum case to its interchangeable watch straps. However, Fitbit is slowly but surely making its fitness trackers more like smartwatches, and the Charge 3 can provide smartphone notifications just like the Fitbit Versa.

With excellent battery life, an affordable $150 price tag, and a touchscreen display, the Charge 3 is a fitness tracker you can wear all day in a meeting and in the gym. Is it a worthy upgrade of the Charge 2?

Let’s take a closer look at exactly what the latest Fitbit fitness tracker has to offer.

Lightweight, sleek look

To get that sleeker, compact design, Fitbit trimmed down the aerospace-grade aluminum case of the Charge 3. As we found with the Fitbit Versa, the company has done a good job making a case that doesn’t look too big on a woman’s wrist or noticeably small on a man’s. The concave back makes the whole thing look deceptively thinner than the typical smart wearable.

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

While the physical changes are subtle, it still makes a difference aesthetically when on the wrist. Regardless of whether you opt for a leather or silicone watch band, the Charge 3 looks impressive for a fitness tracker. Of course, wearing it with formal wear is pushing the boundaries but we didn’t have an issue pairing it with a casual outfit or even one that’s on the dressier side — we even got tons of compliments on it.

Fitbit swapped out the physical button that was originally seen on the Charge 2, for an inductive button with haptic feedback. Aside from swiping through the display (which we’ll get to later), the button is essentially your “back” button — when you want to go to the previous screen. It’s also what you press every time you want to get back to the home screen.

Alternatives

Fitbit Versa

Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

Apple Watch Series 4

Fitbit Flex 2

The inductive button is extremely responsive, although it might take you a while to become accustomed and use it rather than automatically using the touchscreen. We like the fact that because it isn’t a physical button that sticks out, it allows the Charge 3 to have a streamlined design. We wish all fitness trackers and smartwatches would adopt this “buttonless” design. You can also adjust how sensitive you want the button to be, as well as the intensity of the vibrations.

Wearing it throughout the day or during a workout, we love how lightweight the Charge 3 is. Fitbit says the Charge 3 is 20 percent lighter than the Charge 2, and it’s comfortable enough to work out with and to keep on for long periods of time. But only after finding the bands that we thought worked best with the device.

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

From silicone to fabric to leather by Horween, there’s a band suitable for everyday wear. But we think the classic silicone band is uncomfortable, and too stiff to mold to our wrist in a way that feels like a natural fit. Instead, we opted for the Horween leather band which fit perfectly from the start. As usual with leather, it also becomes more worn down as you wear it — allowing for it to truly capture the shape of your wrist. For working out, we did like the silicone breathable band (that’s punctured with air holes) which was also convenient enough to wear in the shower.

We’re especially glad to find how easy the bands are to swap out. The simple press of a button feels like a cake walk in comparison to the Fitbit Versa which requires you to fiddle with quick release pins. 

No more taps, but the touchscreen is unresponsive at times

Navigating through the menus with the Charge 2 means pressing the side button to cycle through the different modes, and then tapping on the display to choose the mode you want, which is a tedious process, even after you get used to it. Charge 3 navigation is much faster because you simply swipe the display to the desired function, while the inductive button serves as the back and home button.

With a tap on the screen, press of the inductive button, or flick of the wrist, you’ll awaken the Charge 3. Unfortunately, we found the touchscreen was a bit unresponsive; sometimes we’d have to tap on it several times to bring the display to life, which can be very frustrating.

The touchscreen was a bit unresponsive when attempting to wake it.

On the home screen, you’re greeted with metrics like the time, step count, or resting heart rate, depending on which clock face you choose via the Fitbit app. A swipe up brings you to your personal dashboard — which is where you can see all your health stats including calories burned, female health tracking, active minutes, and more. You can customize the information you want to see via the Fitbit app. For instance, we weren’t as interested in seeing our active minutes throughout the day as we were the other metrics, so we removed it from our personal dashboard.

Fitbit’s other smartwatches give you an overview of the last seven days, but the Charge 3 only gives you one day’s worth of information. It doesn’t include stats on your last workout either, you’ll have to refer to your Fitbit app for that. Having been accustomed to seeing all of our metrics throughout the week on the Versa, we weren’t sure how we’d feel not having access to as much data — but we actually preferred it. We can only count a handful of times where we wanted to cross reference our steps between a few days but pulling out the app wasn’t a hassle since we always have our phone on us anyway.

Swiping to the left on the display brings you to modes like exercise, relax, timer, alarm, weather, and settings. To view all notifications, swipe down on the display. Fitbit says the Charge 3 has 40 percent more active display than its predecessor, which allows for more content to fit on the screen. Rather than only one mode appearing on the screen, you’ll now see two at a time, which keeps you from having to swipe through as much to get to a specific item.

For the most part, the Fitbit Charge 3 OLED display works smoothly, and content looked vibrant on the screen even with grayscale. While there was no lag when swiping through the different modes, we did run into the occasional lag when swiping through notifications or our personal dashboard. It’s not a huge issue but it’s definitely noticeable.

Basic fitness tracking

Besides tracking and measuring heart rate, the Charge 3 includes an SP01 sensor that measures blood oxygen (it’s a technology that’s also found in the Versa and Ionic). With the SPO2 sensor, the Charge 3 can also monitor sleep patterns. Then there’s Fitbit’s Sleep Score program, which is designed to help you sleep better and is available to owners of any Fitbit device with PurePulse HR tracking. The beta program will open next month.

Since it’s so lightweight, we didn’t mind sleeping with the Charge 3 on but we do recommend turning off notifications and ‘Screen Wake’ by holding down the inductive button. That way, it won’t wake you up throughout the night. Once you sync the Charge 3 to the Fitbit in the morning, you’ll be able to see an in-depth analysis showing time spent in light, deep, and REM sleep, along with how long we were awake for — all of which we found to be accurate. We’re also happy to see that you can now check your personal dashboard to see how long you slept the night before, after you sync to your smartphone.

Since it’s so lightweight, we don’t mind sleeping with it on at night.

As with the Flex 2, the Charge 3 is water resistant down to approximately 164 feet (50 meters). With a new swim mode, you can track laps and distances in the water; the info is synced with the Fitbit app.

With a new goal tracking feature, you can set specific goals ahead of your workouts. For example, we set a goal of two miles for our run, so the Charge 3 indicated how much longer we had left to go. Once we reached our goal, the Charge 3 vibrated — but we did find ourselves glancing at it, anyways. You can check pace and distance in real-time by swiping through the display when on Exercise mode.

You can also set goals for metrics like calories or time for over 15 different types of exercises. It’s not much different than setting alerts for specific mile markers during runs — for instance, we set our Fitbit to alert us for every half mile we covered. Throughout the day, you’ll also get reminder alerts to move if you haven’t reached 250 steps within the hour.

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

Unfortunately, the Charge 3 doesn’t include built-in GPS, so you’ll need to pair it with your smartphone during those runs (GPS is used for location information, which is necessary to track distance). Fitbit said incorporating GPS would have left no wiggle room for a larger battery and more sensors.

There’s no support for music connectivity either, so we were forced to bring along our smartphone. Fitbit hopes to add music controls for third-party music apps via software updates, which would at least make it easier to change up tunes without needing to take out your phone. Regardless, we’re disappointed to see that in a fitness tracker that can already do this much, we have to rely on our phones to play music.

Fitbit Charge 3 Compared To

Withings Steel HR Sport

Garmin Fenix 5X Plus

Fossil Q Venture HR

Apple Watch Series 4

Casio Pro Trek WSD-F30

Alpina AlpinerX

Fossil Q Venture

Garmin Vivoactive 3

Emporio Armani Connected touchscreen…

Apple Watch Series 3

Huawei Watch 2 Sport

Huawei Fit

Apple Watch Series 2

Asus ZenWatch 2

Garmin fenix 2

The built-in heart rate sensor produced similar beats per minute as when we manually tracked our heart rate — for the most part. After one of our runs, we calculated our heart-rate at 124 BPM while the Charge 3 measured it at 139 BPM. Another day that week, we calculated it at 108 BPM while the Fitbit measure our heart-rate at 121 BPM. During the day, it’s more accurate though — especially when it comes to resting heart rate which we found to be spot on with what our WearOS smartwatches have calculated. After our most recent workout, it was the most accurate it’s been — we calculated 160 BPM while the FItbit was at 167 BPM.

Runners will appreciate the new auto-stop feature — every time you wait at a traffic light during a run, the Charge 3 automatically pauses exercise mode until you start running again. But that won’t be out until later this Fall. There’s also a smart track feature that is able to recognize activities after a specific amount of time that you’re able to set through the app.

Useful smartwatch features

The ability to receive smartphone notifications and accept and reject calls with the Charge 3 isn’t new — owners of the Charge 2 are already able see call, text, and calendar alerts when actively paired to a phone. But the Charge 3 also lets you reply to text messages with Android phones and view app notifications, depending on the apps installed on your smartphone.

With Quick Replies, you can send up to five custom or pre-populated replies that are 60 characters or less. Apple iPhone owners can only view incoming text messages. Since we used an iPhone, we were only able to view our notifications.

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

We also found that we had to manually go into the Fitbit app and toggle on the apps we wanted to receive notifications for. You’ll be able to choose which ones you want to turn on after receiving notifications to your phone once the Fitbit is connected. For now, there are no brand apps available. The Versa and Ionic smartwatches include apps like Starbucks, Huge Lights, and Strava. But Fitibit said it’s working to bring additional functions to the device in the future, via firmware and third-party app updates.

Fitbit did include what it claims are its “most requested apps” — alarm, timer, and weather. Alarms are set through the Fitbit app and sync to the fitness tracker for you. As for weather, you’re able to see about three or four different days at a time depending on your location. The company is also working on building in a new calendar app and the ability to see the Fitbit leaderboard right on your wrist.

Fitbit also offers the Special Edition Fitbit Charge 3. With an NFC chip built in, it will offer the ability to make contactless payments using Fitbit Pay.

Impressive battery life  

Unlike the Apple Watch and Google’s Wear OS smartwatches, we particularly love that the Charge 3 doesn’t die by the end of the day. We were able to receive all notifications, track our workouts and sleep, and the watch still managed to last roughly seven days.

We were able to receive all notifications, track our workouts and sleep, and the watch still managed to last roughly seven days.

Packing a tiny, 71mAh battery, Fitbit said the watch should last seven days — and we think that’s accurate. We did use it a lot, testing every single feature, which is likely why it nearly ran out of juice just before the seventh day. But at the same time, it helps that there aren’t many power intensive features — like there are on the Versa. We simply used our Charge 3 to track our outdoor runs and our step count throughout a long, walk-intensive weekend in Chicago.

Since the Charge 3 tracks your basic fitness metrics, (you don’t have the ability to download third-party apps) the main power consumption should be from smartphone notifications. Even at the end of a work day when our device was at 77 percent, it only dropped to 75 percent after tracking a run.

Warranty information

The Fitbit Charge 3 will cost you $150 for the black silicone sports band with a graphite aluminum case, or blue gray band with a rose gold aluminum case. The Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition with Fitbit Pay is priced at $170 for the frost white silicone band with a graphite case, or lavender Horween woven watch band with a rose gold case. The Special Edition also comes with an extra black band in the box.

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

Since the watch bands are interchangeable, you can also purchase additional ones. For $30, there are the classic bands in black and blue gray. For the same price you can also purchase the silicone sport bands in black, berry, navy, and scarlet. Woven bands are available in charcoal and periwinkle, for $35, while the Horween leather bands in midnight blue and plum are $50.

Fitbit offers a 45-day money back guarantee and a one-year limited warranty, which covers manufacturer defects.

Our Take

The Fitbit Charge 3 is a comfortable and sleek fitness tracker, that also brings smartwatch notifications to your wrist and packs a battery that keeps the device going for almost a week. Its heart rate and in-depth fitness tracking capabilities make it worth the $150.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. If you’re looking for a more feature-packed Fitbit, then there’s the Fitbit Versa — the company’s latest smartwatch. For only $50 more than the Charge 3, the Versa has a 1.34-inch LCD display, interchangeable watch straps, and tons of fitness features, all packed into a beautiful design. Its battery doesn’t last as long as the Charge 3, but you’ll still be able to get up to five days on a single charge.

If you’re still leaning more towards fitness bands, there’s the Samsung Gear Fit2Pro at $200. The water-resistant band features a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED screen, built-in GPS and heart-rate sensor, and the option to store or stream music.

For Apple users looking for an iOS compatible device, the Apple Watch Series 4 is your best bet. While it is double the price, you won’t have the same limitations that you would with Fitbit when it comes to interacting with notifications.

For more options check out our selections for the best fitness trackers.

How long will it last?

The Charge 3 feels durable and it’s water-resistant, so we think it should last two years or more. Even though the battery already lasts a week, it’s important to consider that it will deplete over time. We also hope Fitbit continues to release updates and follows through with bringing additional functions to keep up with competition.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re seeking a stylish but basic fitness tracker that is also capable of bringing you all of the alerts you need, the Charge 3 is a great choice.

HP packs 20 hours of battery life and 4G LTE in redesigned Spectre x360 models

For the fall season, HP is introducing refreshed versions of the Spectre 13, Spectre 15, and also a new Elitebook x360 1040 G5. Some of the new devices come packed with options for 4G LTE Gigabit-class internet and other models introduce new and unique design elements and improved battery life.

Spectre 15 x360

Starting at $1,390 and available in November at HP.com is the Spectre 15 x360. Aimed at photographers, videographers, and illustrators, this leading 2-in-1 is packed with options for the latest 8th gen Intel Coffee Lake six-core processors, and up to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics with Max Q design.

Also available is a model with the 8th generation Intel Whiskey Lake quad-core processor with Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics card. This combination of processor and graphics card should equate for 17.5 hours of battery life during use and faster video rendering times.

HP also includes options for a display with 4K resolution, 8 million pixels, and 650 nits of brightness. That’s impressive, putting the Spectre 15 well past devices like the Microsoft Surface Book 2. Other improved elements on the model include 11.9 percent narrow bezels, a geometric speaker grill with bigger speakers boxes, and an angled USB-C connector for easier cable management. That USB-C port is also good for connectivity for dual-5K support with up to two external displays.

The internals also see some changes. Adding to the overall 20 percent increase in performance from previous generations are bigger dual fans, dual radiators, an IR thermal sensor, and up to three heat pipes. A pen is included in the box on all models, saving you the extra purchase.

Spectre 13 x360

Launching alongside the bigger 15-inch model is the 13-inch Spectre 13 x360. Available in December at BestBuy, and starting at $1,150, this convertible features super-long 22.5-hour battery life and support for optional Gigabit-class 4G LTE. Compared to the last generation, this years model also introduces 13 percent performance increase and 37 percent longer battery life.

Though not as powerful as the Spectre 15, the Spectre 13 comes packed with the 8th generation Intel Quad Core i5 or i7 processors and FHD or UHD 4K displays. You’ll also find it in a new Poseidon blue color with pale brass accents.

Unique design elements onboard the model include 5.7 percent narrower display bezels, a power button in the faceted edge, and a fingerprint reader on the right side keyboard deck for more convenient logins. Also new is a Privacy Camera Kill Switch on the side of the device to electronically kill the webcam when it is not in use. These features mean you’ll never have to worry about your privacy, security, or accidental shutdowns.

Wrapping up HP’s fall lineup is the EliteBook x360 1040 G5, available later in October 2018 for $1,500. The X360 1040 G5 is the world’s first-gigabit business class 14-inch 4G LTE connected-class convertible. It packs the 8th generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, and support for up to 32 GB RAM. Also announced the new 23.8-inch EliteDisplay E243D FHD Monitor, and a USB Fingerprint reader mouse, both will be available in December at $329, and $49, respectively.

Editors’ Recommendations

• HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2017) Review
• HP tries out a new premium laptop look with the leather-clad Spectre Folio
• HP Spectre 13 (2017) review
• Intel’s Whiskey Lake CPUs include hardware fix for Meltdown, Amber Lake does not
• Here are the 10 best laptop deals for October 2018

The best shipping container homes from around the world

Do you have an inordinate amount of shipping containers? Are you trying to figure out what to do with all them? In the unlikely event that the answer to this question is “yes,” you’ll be pleased to learn that they’re far more practical than you may have imagined. And if, as is more likely, the answer is “no,” then good news! You can grab yourself a decent-size shipping container for just over $1,500 — sans renovations, of course.

Further reading

Treehouses that will make you question life on solid ground

Houseboats that will set your imagination adrift

Shipping containers are flood- and fireproof, making them a great home-building material. Ranging in length from 20 to 30 feet, shipping containers are typically only used for 10 to 15 years, but they can last much longer. It is estimated that there are 24 million empty shipping containers in the world that will never be used for cargo again. But, as the saying goes, one man’s retired shipping container is another man’s crazy, high-end modular home. What? That’s not a saying? It should be. Without further ado, here are some of the raddest shipping container homes on the planet.

WFH House

Jens Markus Lindhe

Location: Wuxi, China

Design: Arcgency, Esbensen, Teknologisk Institut

The WFH House is coined as more than just architecture — it’s a sustainable product. The dwelling is a prefab home, meaning it can be exported anywhere in the world, though, the first model was finished in 2012 and is located in Wuxi, China. It’s equipped with solar cells and a green roof, not to mention an underground storage container for housing rainwater. The WGH House uses 40-feet-high shipping contains as the structural framework, rendering it adaptable earthquakes, climate change, and other local challenges.

Grillagh Water

Patrick Bradley Architects

Location: Cavan, Ireland

Design: Patrick Bradley Architects

Located on the banks of the Grillagh River in Cavan, Ireland, the Grillagh River House is a hidden marvel situated in the rural countryside. The home is the first modern shipping container home designed and built in Ireland, one that utilizes four 45-foot shipping containers to create two cantilever forms. The home’s layout has been cleverly designed to take full advantage of the surrounding pastoral views, culminating in a home that’s as beautiful to look at as it is out of.

HO4+

Honomobo

Location: Prefab home certified for California, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta

Design: Honomobo

Made from four 40-foot shipping containers, the HO4+ is another prefab home that could be your new forever home. There are two floor plans currently available, one featuring three bedrooms and one bathroom, and another that consists of two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Both floor plans include a large living room, however, as well as a dining room and full kitchen, that latter of which is finished from floor to ceiling with glass. This single level home measures 1,224 square feet, and given its prefab nature, can be built anywhere.

Container Cabin the Catskills

Porter

Location: Saugerties, New York

Design: Nowhere Studios

If you don’t want to fully commit to a shipping container home, you can stay in this cozy cabin in the Catskills Mountains for $195 a night. The 20-foot shipping container sits on 20 acres, and features a wood stove, sofa bed, kitchenette, and writing desk, among other modern amenities. With low-energy windows and sliding glass doors, staying warm isn’t an issue, nor is relaxing given the hammock, hot tub, and 64-square-foot yoga platform that reside just outside the residence. Needless to say, nature is rarely as accommodating.

Bard College Media Lab

Matthew Carbone

Location: Annandale-On-Hudson, New York

Design: MB Architecture

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this media lab at Bard College apparently was. The installers reportedly assembled the structure on site in a mere half a day, costing a total of about $200,000. The two-story structure emphasizes tranquility, with open spaces to work in, an unassuming black and white color palate, and plentiful windows to let in natural light and give students a view of the trees just outside. A large garage door opens up, granting access to the main room. While it’s not technically a house, MB Architecture’s site states that the same design could be outfitted with a kitchen and bathrooms to make a functional living space.

Seven Havens

Budi Pradono Architects

Location: Lombok, Indonesia

Design: Budi Pradono Architects

The Clay House — or “Seven Havens,” as it has come to be known as — was constructed in the southwestern portion of the Lombok province, which is located just east of Bali. This bodacious box home is nestled on a set of concrete stilts, allowing the residence to sit just above the hillside for optimal views of the Selong Belanak. The container that creates the ceiling of the master bedroom is also set at a 60-degree tilt, giving the room a wedge shape that faces the bay. Budipradono Architects used a similar slanted design technique — albeit, a steeper one — when constructing another private residence in Indonesia known locally as “The Leaning House of Jakarta.”

Devil’s Corner

Brown Brothers

Location: Apslawn, Tasmania

Design: Cumulus Studio

The design firm Cumulus Studio created this property for the Brown Brothers winery. The premises is comprised of three main sections, each of which provides guests with panoramic views of Moulting Lagoon, Freycinet Peninsula, and the Devil’s Corner vineyard. A series of timber-clad shipping containers surround an open-air terrace, where guests can imbibe the choicest of Tasmanian quaffs.

Ccasa Hostel

Ccasa Hostel

Location: Nha Trang, Vietnam

Design: TAK Architects

Vietnamese studio TAK Architects created this vibrant hostel near the center of Nha Trang. Within the walls of the property, a stack of polished shipping containers have been transformed into minimally furnished dormitories for wayfarers passing through southeast Asia. The pergola surrounding the individual containers helps to shield the units from direct sunlight during warmer months. The property is also just 600 feet from the beach, offering guests sweet, sandy solitude if they need to take a break from the bustling backpackers retreat.

Student housing project

Urban Rigger

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Design: Urban Rigger and Bjarke Ingels

Urban Rigger worked with architecture firm Bjarke Ingels to create this floating student housing project in Copenhagen. The main objective was to create affordable modular housing within the urban harbors. Individuals can rent a unit at Urban Rigger for just $600 per month, which is a steal considering Copenhagen is notoriously one of the most expensive cities on Earth. The homes include a private bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen with shared living spaces. The outside of the facility features community gardens, kayak landings, and bathing platforms. Canadian construction firm Honomobo is also creating modular, stackable housing using shipping containers.

Ecuadorian Container Home

Lorena Darquea Schettini/Daniel Moreno & Sebastián Calero Architects

Location: Pichincha, Ecuador

Design: Daniel Moreno Flores and Sebastian Calero

Designed by architecture powerhouse couple Daniel Moreno Flores and Sebastian Calero, this shipping container home is situated in central Ecuador. The team used a total of seven 20-foot shipping containers and one 40-foot container to build the sprawling abode. The home, which is made of a host of individual modules, can be quickly disassembled and transported for a sudden change of scenery.

The fastest charging phone we’ve ever tested has a Lamborghini badge

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Who would want a Lamborghini that went from zero to 100 in 35 minutes? No-one wanting to get anywhere quickly, certainly, but we’re not talking about a super car here, we’re talking about a smartphone. In smartphone land, zero to 100 is super phone territory, and exactly where Lamborghini belongs.

This is the Oppo Find X Lamborghini Edition, a spruced-up version of the Find X, with some very impressive fast charging technology called Super VOOC. Appropriately for anything with a Lamborghini badge, it’s damn fast. An empty battery hits 100-percent capacity in just 35 minutes. Sounds unbelievable, but we’ve tested it out and found that not only does it work as described, it sometimes works even faster.

There’s no magic involved, and no special circumstances that only sees the super fast charge work on a Tuesday when the sun is at its brightest. You just plug it in to the supplied charger, and that’s it. Yes, it’s a proprietary set up, so you must use the charging plug and USB Type-C cable. However, the charger has a Lamborghini badge, and the cable is bright orange and looks strong enough to tow a car, so you won’t mind.

The charger

We’ve tested this out several times, and you can see the fifth charging cycle featured in the video. The phone’s battery was completely flat, with the screen informing us to plug the device in if we wanted it to turn on. It was 12:20 p.m., and at 12:53 p.m. the display showed 99-percent charge, and ticked over to 100 percent a moment later. That’s just under 35 minutes, and an astonishing performance.

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Perhaps even more impressive — neither the phone or the charger became hot, and barely even managed to get warm to the touch. Inside the Oppo Find X Lamborghini is a 3,400mAh battery cell, which Oppo says is a special Bi-cell battery that supports the 10V 5A charging system. Super VOOC is Oppo’s name for the fast charging technology, and this is the first time we’ve seen it used in a smartphone, after the tech was teased back in 2016. Now it’s here, the Find X Lamborghini Edition has become the fastest charging phone we’ve ever tested.

The Find X Lamborghini Edition has become the fastest charging phone we’ve ever tested.

Any smartphone owner is going to immediately see (and want) the benefits. While others come close, with OnePlus’s Dash Charge on the OnePlus 6 managing 60-percent charge in about the same time, none can match the convenience of the Find X Lamborghini Edition. Even if the battery isn’t flat the charge times are impressive. In only 15 minutes you can expect the battery to be at 65 percent charge. If a fast charge time is your number one requirement, the Oppo Find X Lamborghini should be at the top of your shopping list.

The phone

The Lamborghini Edition is identical in operation to the standard Oppo Find X, and you can read our review of the phone here to find out more, but there are a few differences and features that deserve to be highlighted. The Lamborghini Edition comes in carbon fiber black, and it’s surprisingly subtle. The weave on the back of the phone is only visible at the sides, and only in the right light. In the center, the color turns inky black, offset by a gold Oppo and Lamborghini logo. It’s incredibly classy.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Around the front is the same 6.4-inch screen found on the regular Find X, complete with the very cool and colorful notification light system that runs around the screen edge, and the same awesome motorized camera module. This remains a highlight of the Find X. There’s minimal delay in it rising from the phone for face unlock duties, or for when you want to quickly take a photo. The build and action are the same as the Find X — there is some wobble if you deliberately move it about — and the phone is not water resistant because of it. Most will forgive it, as this is one of the coolest smartphone features we’ve seen in 2018.

It comes with a special Lamborghini theme which changes the icons and wallpaper, but they’re not particularly attractive.

It’s the same Snapdragon 845 processor powering the phone, with 8GB of RAM and a massive 512GB of internal storage space on the Lamborghini Edition. You won’t be left wanting speed or memory space if you purchase this phone. The software is Android 8.1 with Oppo’s ColorOS on top. It comes with a special Lamborghini theme which changes the icons and wallpaper, but they’re not particularly attractive.

It comes in a presentation box with the charger, a tough case with a carbon fiber-effect look and the Lamborghini logo, plus a pair of Oppo’s O-Free true wireless earbuds too. This may sweeten the deal, but they aren’t fantastic. Similar in fit to Apple’s AirPods, these lozenge-shape earbuds can’t match the sound quality or the battery life, returning less than four hours on a charge. However, they do come for ‘free’ in the box, and we cannot complain about that, plus we far prefer the O Free to a cheap set of wired headphones. They also have a matching carbon fiber look to go with your phone.

Finally, the Lamborghini Edition does not feel any stronger than the standard Find X, so concerns over durability remain. The included case is sturdy, and may mitigate any worries over the device bending or breaking, but you’ll still want to be careful with this one.

Camera

Identical to the regular Find X, the Lamborghini Edition has a dual-lens 16-megapixel camera on the back with an f/2.0 aperture, with a secondary 20-megapixel lens. The front camera has 25-megapixels. There’s scene recognition, slow motion video, and optical image stabilization, so it’s not lacking in technology.

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The Find X’s camera both excites and disappoints. We’ll never tire of the motorized module, and in the right environment, the rear camera takes fantastic photos. In poor or difficult lighting, it doesn’t always impress. The front camera is superb, and lives up to Oppo’s reputation as a master of the selfie. Just the sheer breadth of features, beauty modes, and lighting effects makes it worthwhile for selfie fans.

The price

Lamborghini’s are expensive, so it’s no surprise to find out the Oppo Find X Lamborghini Edition is also quite pricey. It’s not for sale in the U.S. either, so you’ll have to import one, but like the Find X itself the device should be available on a wider scale internationally in the near future. How much? The price in China converts over to at least $1,500, or around twice the price of the basic 128GB Oppo Find X.

We recently struggled to find a reason to pay extra for the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS over the standard Mate 20 Pro. Oppo has given us a reason to pay more for the Lamborghini Edition, as the Super VOOC fast charge cannot be found elsewhere, and is a truly exciting and beneficial upgrade. The phone also looks great, and we like the way it fits in with the Lamborghini brand by being seriously fast.

If you’ve got the money, the Oppo Find X Lamborghini Edition will turn heads, and you’ll easily have the fastest charging phone on the block. However, if you’re not willing to pay so much, we’d say it’s inevitable the Super VOOC tech will come to a more accessibly priced Oppo phone in the future.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Oppo Find X: Everything you need to know
• Oppo Find X review
• Vivo Nex S review
• Google Pixel 3 review
• Sony Xperia XZ3 review

Europe’s space agency plans to build its own micro-gravity moon base — on Earth

Artist’s rendering of the Luna facility.

Before astronauts step foot in a rocket ship, they undergo grueling training in simulated environments meant to prepare them for the unforgiving space beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Everything is tested and accounted for, from the crew down to their tiniest tools.

Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) is developing an astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, where it will build a small replica of the surface of the moon. Dubbed Luna, the facility will be used to test new technologies and tools that future crews may find handy while exploring and establishing a base on our nearest cosmic neighbor.

“ESA wants to create a testbed for demonstrating and validating technologies and operational tools that will be needed for the human exploration of the moon,” Andreas Diekmann, an ESA project manager working on Luna, told Digital Trends. “ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, where Luna will be established … already [has] experience with analog facilities and astronaut crew operations. This experience is currently focused on the [International Space Station] program, but we want to expand our expertise towards human exploration of the moon and, later, Mars.”

The Luna facility will combine a 1,000-square-meter (around 10,750-square-foot) artificial lunar habitat, powered by a solar energy system similar to what ESA thinks could be used in the future to power a moon base. Solar has been deemed the most sustainable energy option on the moon. As for the moon dust, ESA will source volcanic powder from 45 million-year-old eruptions of a nearby volcano.

Still in its concept stage, ESA is finalizing the design and blueprints of the facility. But once it’s complete, Luna will be used to help train astronauts and test the tech they will use. ESA plans to develop the Future Lunar Exploration Habitat — a moon base where astronauts will live and work — by the end of the year.

“The utilization of Luna will have a focus on testing technologies and operational tools required for the human exploration of the Moon,” Diekmann said. “Examples are the collaboration of astronauts and robots, or the testing of tools for in-situ utilization of lunar resources.”

Diekmann added that they plan on installing a device that reduces gravity so that astronauts can train in the low-gravity conditions experienced on the moon, just one-sixth of the gravity on Earth.

Editors’ Recommendations

• ‘First Man’ review
• Astrobiologists think the moon might have hosted simple life-forms long ago
• Who will be the first private passenger to the moon? SpaceX will tell us today
• SpaceX to send Japanese billionaire on moon trip, but he won’t be going alone
• Japanese billionaire faces tricky task of choosing 8 artists for his moon trip