Here’s why the spectacular SpaceX rocket launch in California looked so incredible

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David McNew/Stringer/Getty Images

David McNew/Stringer/Getty Images

David McNew/Stringer/Getty Images

David McNew/Stringer/Getty Images

David McNew/Stringer/Getty Images

The combination of Elon Musk and social media haven’t exactly been a winning recipe for most of 2018. Last night’s SpaceX satellite launch took steps to help rectify that, however — as Twitter users who lived in the vicinity of the launch posted jaw-dropping photos and video of the spectacular event and the amazing sky-illuminating effects that resulted from it.

The rocket launch took place from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 158 miles north of Los Angeles. It took off at 19.21 PST and touched back down eight minutes later, having delivered the SAOCOM-1A Earth-observation radar satellite into orbit as part of Argentina’s national space program. this is the first time SpaceX has landed one of its booster rockets on the West Coast. Overall, this is the 30th landing of a booster, with the rest of them taking place in Florida.

@elonmusk @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket taking off above Downtown Los Angeles in timelapse #SpaceX #Falcon9 pic.twitter.com/FzXuf9Coky

— Emeric Le Bars (@EmericTimelapse) October 8, 2018

What’s really got people talking, though, is the awesome light show that the launch created in the sky over Los Angeles. Like some cross between the Northern Lights and the scene from Independence Day where the aliens arrive, it was utterly mesmerizing on every level. As the rocket shot through the sky, people from as far away from Arizona were treated to a display of blue and white clouds across the sky.

The otherworldly display was caused by the rocket’s exhaust vapor, which condensed to form ice crystals in the frigid upper reaches of earth’s atmosphere. These crystals were then lit up by the setting Sun, creating a glittering burst of colors that lit up the darkening California sky. The explanation might be simple, but the spectacle’s impact on people watching below was anything but.

“THAT WAS AMAZING!” tweeted feature animator Joaquin Baldwin. “The @SpaceX launch from Vandenberg was incredible! I took one long photo, 9 minutes long, the stage 2 cloud was spiraling out of control, what a show!”

Nope, definitely not aliens.

What you’re looking at is the first launch and landing of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the West Coast. The rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 7:21 p.m. and landed safely back on Earth. ???? pic.twitter.com/8AKjGptpps

— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) October 8, 2018

“Tonight’s #spacex launch was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” rocket photographer and high-speed videographer Ryan Chylinski tweeted. “Inconceivable image from my camera and in my brain.”

Others, who hadn’t been keeping up with the news, reacted in bafflement at the sight — although that did little to stop them sharing their reaction on social media.

Seth MacFarlane, the creator of cartoon series Family Guy, probably had the best, most succinct reaction to the astonishing showcase. “Science!” he tweeted, next to an image snapped from his smartphone. Yep, that about sums it up!

Editors’ Recommendations

• SpaceX just landed another of its reusable Block 5 rockets
• NASA’s planet-hunting TESS satellite: What you need to know
• SpaceX Starlink: Here’s everything you need to know
• Prepare for liftoff: Here are all the important upcoming SpaceX rocket launches
• What is the Hyperloop? Here’s everything you need to know

Acer brings Intel’s 8-core, 9th-gen processor to its Predator Orion desktops

Electronics company Acer says it will bring Intel’s 8-core, 9th-generation processor to its Predator Orion 9000 and 6000 desktops, putting them on par with Dell’s Alienware Aurora desktops. The new choice in processor puts more power in the hands of gamers and should make for seamless gameplay in the most demanding situations.

According to Jeff Lee, general manager of stationary computing, IT products business for Acer, Intel’s latest processors arm gamers with “an arsenal of PCs that can withstand the most demanding gaming scenarios today.”

“The refreshes are in line with Acer’s long-standing commitment to empower users with the latest technological breakthroughs, and provide them with best-in-class user experiences,” Lee said.

Acer promises that the top-of the-line Predator Orion 9000 with updated Intel processors will be a “dream machine” for the hardcore gamer. The desktop comes with the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPUs, and support for 8K UHD graphics. Other cool features include a black-and-silver chassis, lighting bars and RBG LED fans, and a side window to showcase the internals of the desktop.

Acer’s Orion 6000 Series gaming desktop is being marketed more for those who want an exceptional gaming rig. It features NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPUs and the same signature transparent side panel. Info on pricing has not been made available.

The Intel 8-core 9th-gen processor powering these devices comes packed with plenty of oomph for gaming. It was tested with 19 of the most popular games today, across genres like shooters and RPGs. Intel says to expect up to 10 to 11 percent more performance over the previous generation on popular games like Hitman 2 and World of Tanks.

CES 2019 and IFA 2019 are both on the horizon, so 0ther leading desktop makers are likely to get on board with the new gaming- and performance-focused chipset in the not-too-distant future. Intel also showcased its new gaming desktop models during the keynote.

This yearly refresh is not uncommon for Intel and its partners, who are looking to take back gamers from rival AMD. Based on recent hires and all the talk in gaming today, the Intel Core i9-7980XE is Intel’s response to AMD’s new eight-core Threadripper chips.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs are coming to Alienware and Predator gaming desktops
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Mobile sighting hints at more powerful gaming laptops
• Nvidia’s Turing chip reinvents computer graphics (but not for gaming)
• Nvidia teases new GeForce RTX 2080 launch at Gamescom next week
• Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 20 Series starts at $500 and features real-time ray tracing

Withings Steel HR Sport Review

Research Center:

Withings Steel HR Sport

Withings shook up the fitness watch market in 2015 when it introduced the Activité Pop, one of the first smartwatches to blend the classic analog wristwatch with a cutting edge fitness tracker and a sub-$200 price tag. The company found its niche with these hybrid watches, and it caught the attention of Nokia Technologies, which acquired it in 2016. Perhaps it was too small a niche, because Nokia sold Withings back to its co-founder earlier this year.

Withings is powering on with its first post-Nokia product, the Steel HR Sport. It maintains all the same tenets as other WIthings watches — it looks as good as ever, it now has more advanced fitness-tracking features like VO2 max and connected GPS, and it still has an affordable price tag.

Classic aesthetics, comfortable design

Ever since the Activité Pop, Withings has been making some of the best-looking wearables on the market. The new Steel HR Sport continues this tradition with a classic analog watchface and subtle smartwatch integration. The watch measures 40mm wide and 13mm thick, and weighs a mere 49 grams. It has a matte black stainless steel casing that is paired with your choice of either a white or black watch face. The side button sits close to the casing so it doesn’t snag on clothing. The button is very responsive and pushes with a firm, reassuring click.

Withings upgraded the band in the Steel HR Sport using a soft silicone material with holes for breathability. It’s super soft and comfortable on the wrist, but if you don’t like the supplied band you can purchase an optional leather or colored silicone band from Withings, or choose any third-party 20mm band.

The watch face uses a standard analog hands with tick marks for minutes and five minute increments engraved on the casing. Withings adds smartwatch features and fitness tracking to the Steel HR Sport in a way that doesn’t detract from the watch’s overall good looks. At the top of the watch face is a small LCD that displays health metrics and incoming notifications. You can press the side button to scroll through data screens to view your current heart rate, step count, calories burned and more. We had no problems viewing the screen in daylight or under interior lighting. At the bottom of the watch face is a sub-dial that shows the progress towards your current step count goal.

Multi-sports activity tracking

Withings knows people like to do more than just run or bike and has included 30 different sport modes into the Steel HR Sport. Five of these sports modes can be added to the watch at a time. You can start an activity by pressing and holding the side button to open the activity menu. You then can use the button to scroll through 5 different activities that you have added to this menu.

It’s difficult to read these metrics on the small display while exercising.

Once an activity starts, all the metrics can be viewed within the Health Mate app on your phone. You also can press the side button to scroll through the available data screens on the watch such as distance, time and heart rate. Unfortunately, it is difficult to read these metrics on the small display while exercising. We either had to stop running or pull our phone out of our pocket to gauge performance.

You can stop an activity using the watch or the phone, and when you are done, the activity is stored on the phone for review.

New VO2 Max and connected GPS tracking

One of the new showcase features of the Steel HR Sport is VO2 max, an estimation of the amount of oxygen you utilize during exercise and a common metric used to gauge a person’s fitness level. Withings, like other fitness manufactures, estimates this value using a combination of your pace, distance, heart rate and other recorded metrics. The higher the number, the more fit you are.

After an exercise, Withings will assign a fitness level score between 17 and 60 that reflects your relative fitness level during that activity.  It takes a few exercise sessions before the value is set, and it will change as your fitness level improves or declines. You can scroll through the individual fitness level scores for past exercises, but the app oddly does not track how this score has changed over time.

We compared the Health Mate track to one recorded by the Suunto 9, a dedicated GPS sports watch, and it was spot on.

Connected GPS is another new feature in the Withings Steel series of watches. The company saves weight and lowers battery consumption by offloading the work of GPS tracking to your phone. Using connected GPS is simple. Just fire up the Health Mate app on your phone when you start exercising, and it will do all the recording for you. You can even view performance stats like pace during the activity just by glancing at your phone. The tracking, though, is only as good as the GPS in your phone. We used an iPhone 8, and the GPS recording was impressive. We compared the Health Mate track to one recorded by the Suunto 9, a dedicated GPS sports watch, and it was spot on.

Basic fitness analysis

Withings’ Health Mate app is the central hub for all your fitness data. It pulls the data via Bluetooth from the Steel HR Sport and any other compatible devices, like the Withings scale. First and foremost is a timeline feature with all the various metrics presented in daily blurbs. You can scroll through this timeline and view your daily summary from weeks and even months ago.

Next to the timeline is a dashboard view that summarizes your steps, sleep, weight, and average heart rate for the current day. Tapping on one of these metrics lets you view both week-by-week and month-by-month averages. There’s also a wellness program built into the app that helps you set goals and stick to them. You can sign-up for programs to help you lose weight, improve your sleep and more. The rest of the app is used to customize your profile and manage your devices.

Health Mate sticks to basics when it comes to analyzing your fitness data and is targeted towards the casual user. The daily step counts, sleep time, and similar stats are presented as daily, weekly and monthly averages. They are broken down by the weekday and weekend, but that is about it for advanced analysis. One feature we really miss is trend analysis — there is no way to view trends so you cannot easily determine if your step count or fitness level is going up or down over the year.

Activity details are equally sparse. You can see the basics like pace, splits, and calories burned, but there are no advanced metrics like cadence or speed. Also missing is a comparison feature that tells you whether you are trending faster or slower on a particular run or bike ride. Data can be shared to other services such as MyFitnessPal or Runtastic, but Strava unfortunately is not included at this time.

Withings Steel HR Sport Compared To

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

Diesel On Full Guard Smartwatch

Huawei Fit

Garmin Vivoactive HR

Apple Watch Series 2

Asus ZenWatch 2

Garmin fenix 2

The Withings Steel HR Sport is geared towards getting you off the couch and on the move so you can hit your fitness goals.  The Health Mate app lets you set your own daily step goal and rewards you with achievements and daily encouragements when you reach or exceed your goals.  A leaderboard option encourages you to connect with friends and compete to get the most steps each week — you only need to have the Health Mate app on their phone to participate.

Sleep tracking

The Steel HR Sport also can track your sleep. Like most fitness trackers, it detects automatically when you go to bed, and provides detailed analysis of your sleep pattern. The watch was accurate in detecting when I went to sleep and woke up with only a few exceptions mostly when I tossing and turning in bed before I woke up. The Health Mate app breaks your sleep down into stages so you can see when you are awake, in light sleep or in deep sleep. It also records your heart rate through the night and provides your resting heart rate.

Our favorite feature was the sleep score, a numerical rating assigned each day to your sleep based upon the duration and the quality of your nightly rest. For folks dealing with sleep issues, it’s an easy way to compare your sleep on different days.

Smartwatch notifications

Smart notifications on the Steel HR Sport are not as elegant as compared to other smartwatches and fitness trackers. You can control the notifications that reach the watch using the Health Mate app, but the delivery of these notifications is hindered by the small circular display. Each notification scrolls across the display and only shows a small portion of the overall information. You can see who the email is from and the first few words of the message, for example. The scrolling text is awkward to read and you have to wait for all the text to scroll by. If you miss some of it, you have to wait for the notification to stop scrolling before it will scroll a second time. It scrolls three times and then disappears.

Withings does the best it can with the small LCD on the watch, but this is one of the tradeoffs you get with a hybrid watch.

Battery life

Withings advertises 25 days of battery life and actual performance is not far off. In three weeks of testing, we only charged the watch once and that was only because we had 30% battery left and wanted more than enough juice to make it through a long run. We haven’t had to charge the watch a second time yet.

Price, availability, and warranty information

The $200 Steel HR Sport is available now from Withing’s website and both online and in-store retailers such as Amazon.

Withings offers a limited warranty that covers defects in materials or workmanship on the device for one year from the date of purchase.

Our Take

Withings managed to build a beautiful timepiece and embed a very capable fitness tracker inside. We appreciate the simplicity, with the analog watch at the forefront and fitness tracking in the background. The Steel HR Sport also is among one of the most comfortable fitness trackers we have worn. You can sleep with it, swim with it, run with it, and you don’t even know it’s there. If you are looking for a hybrid watch, then the Withings Steel HR Sport should be at the top of your list.

Is there a better alternative?

Withings is at the top of the hybrid market with the Steel HR Sport, but it is followed closely by the Garmin Vivomove HR. Both watches share a classic design, but Garmin has the leg up on the Withings in the fitness tracking area thanks to deeper metrics, and large user base with the Garmin Connect app.

How long will it last?

The Withings Steel HR Sport’s construction is solid, but elegant. We had zero problems with watch during testing and expect this to continue. The glass display is the biggest potential vulnerability.  It’s not sapphire crystal, so it may scratch and scuff with rough usage. Thankfully, it is water resistant up to 50 meters. We expect the Withings Steel HR sport to provide up to three years of tracking as long as you are not too hard on the physical exterior.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you want a fitness tracker, but hate the boxy designs and digital displays of the current crop of fitness trackers, then the Withings Steel HR Sport is for you. The companion Health Mate has a clean interface and provides just the right balance of encouragement and analysis for fitness buffs who don’t need to dig deep into their data.

Does the new Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) have audio out for speakers?

Best answer: The 3rd generation of the Amazon Echo Dot can output audio to other speakers via a 3.5mm auxiliary cord or wirelessly via Bluetooth.

• Amazon: Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) ($50)
• Bet Buy: UE BOOM 3 ($150)

Two speakers are better than one

The speaker on the 3rd generation Amazon Echo Dot is bigger and better than the 2nd generation — a 1.6-inch speaker instead of a 0.6-inch speaker — but why listen on such a small speaker when you have bigger speakers all over your house? You can plug your Amazon Echo into bigger speakers thanks to the 3.5mm audio output port, but Amazon does not include a cable to do so.

Many of us already have a 3.5mm aux cable sitting around our house somewhere to use with the new Amazon Echo Dot, or a 3.5mm to RCA adapter to hook the Echo Dot up to an audio video receiver, but if you do not, these old-school cables are easy to find in as sort or long a cable length as you could ever want.

What about digital output?

The audio output from the new Amazon Echo Dot is analog only; it does not offer digital audio output from its 3.5mm audio output port like a Chromecast Audio does. While you could use an analog to digital converter to connect an all-new Echo Dot to a digital audio system, you might be better off using Bluetooth instead.

What speaker should I use?

Well, between Bluetooth and aux out, you could use just about any speaker with the Echo Dot you want, but if you’re looking to pump up the party, consider checking out the UE BOOM 3, which can connect to your new Echo Dot with a 3.5mm aux cable or wirelessly with Bluetooth. It’s a portable speaker, so you can bring the party around the house while your Echo Dot stays tethered to its outlet in one room, and you can take it on trips to use with your phone or computer.

If you’re going to leave the UE BOOM 3 plugged into the Amazon Echo Dot via aux cable, I would suggest grabbing a UE POWER UP charging station so that you’re leaving the waterproof flap open all the time.

Our pick

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen)

$50 at Amazon

Bigger and better in every way

The latest Echo Dot has a vastly improved speaker that’s 70% louder and offers a more clear sound for Alexa’s responses and streaming music. A new soft-fabric siding gives the all-new Echo Dot a cozier feel and comes in three colors so that the Echo Dot can blend in or stand out among your home decor as you wish.

Bigger, booming sound

UE BOOM 3

$150 at Best Buy

Bring the party from one room to the whole house

This is one of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market. It’s got a bold, booming 360-degree sound, great battery life, IP67 dust and water resistance, and easy device — and multi-device — management through UE’s BOOM app. The BOOM 3 also sports a beautifully durable look that will fit in just fine alongside your Echo Dot.

How to stream The Weather Channel once you’ve cut the cord

The Weather Channel, as seen on DirecTV Now.

Fun fact: There’s a good chance you can’t. Which is crazy.

One of the most obvious things you’ll miss after you cut the cord is The Weather Channel. Seems crazy, right? Almost like it’s a public utility or something. But the simple fact is that The Weather Channel isn’t anywhere near as ubiquitous as you might have though.

You can watch The Weather Channel on DirecTV Now, Fubo, or HDHomerun Premium.

Without getting too into the weeds about why things are the way they are, know this: You can watch The Weather Channel on DirecTV Now, and you can watch it on Fubo.

OK, you can maybe watch The Weather Channel on DirecTV Now. As we check our list of DirecTV Now plans and pricing, we find that it’s available on the three highest plans — starting with the $50-a-month “Just Right” plan. If you’re on the $35 “Live a Little” plan, no Weather Channel for you.

The Weather Channel also is available on Fubo. It’s another streaming option that has a couple of main plans — $44.99 a month for 70-plus channels, and $49.99 for 85-plus channels, plus available add-ons. TWC is available on either of those plans.

And as of late-August 2018, you’re able to get The Weather Channel on HDHomerun Premium, a $35-a-month service.

From a traditional streaming standpoint, that’s the only real option you have. It’s DirecTV Now, Fubo, HDHomerun Premium, or nothing.

Get a free DirecTV Now trial Get a free Fubo TV trialGet HDHomerun Premium

Watch The Weather Channel with Chromecast or AirPlay

This is one of those gray areas (OK, it’s not really a gray area), and maybe it’s a little more work than it should be. But whatever.

You can stream a live feed of The Weather Channel’s website in a desktop browser, and then use Apple’s AirPlay or Google’s Chromecast to send that tab over to a TV.

Oh, and a catch — you’ll need to have a cable login (from anyone other than Comcast) to sign in first. Maybe you tripped and landed on one and lo and behold, it works. Whatever. We’re not going to judge too much.

Streaming alternatives to The Weather Channel

Yeah, it’s ridiculous that The Weather Channel isn’t everywhere, because it really should be. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t alternatives.

One such option is Local Now. (For which TWC is a weather provider.) It’s not as slick as TWC proper, but it does have the same sort of “Locals on the 8s” thing.

Where to get Local Now? Sling TV has it in both its Orange and Blue plans. There’s also an app for Amazon Fire TV. And there’s also a Local Now channel on Roku, it’s available on Fubo, and it’s coming to YouTube TV at some point. And there are apps for Android and for iOS.

Updated Aug. 18, 2018: Added HDHomerun Premium as a carrier of The Weather Channel.

Grab the $70 TP-Link 6-outlet power strip or two smart plugs for $30

All the smart outlets you could want.

The TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi 6-outlet 3-USB port surge protection Power Strip is down to $69.99 on Amazon. This power strip is a new product from TP-Link and has never dropped from its $80 retail price before, which you can still find it for at other retailers like B&H. This is a first-time discount.

If you need to add a couple individual smart plugs around the house, you can also get a 2-pack of Kasa Smart Plug Lite for just $29.99, which is on sale from a street price around $50.

Read more about this strip here. This is essentially a surge protector with six outlets that can all be controlled independently. The free Kasa app gives you control over each independent plug. Name each plug based on what’s plugged in, too, so you don’t forget. It also has three USB ports.

See on Amazon

Smartphone tips for hurricane season

Hurricane Michael, as of 5 p.m. EDT October 8. (Image credit: Colorado State University)

Ed. Note: We’re re-upping this with Hurricane Michael headed to the Gulf Coast this week. Stay safe out there, everybody. And if you’re told to evacuate, DO IT! For the latest on any storm, visit the National Hurricane Center.

When a storm threatens, your smartphone is now one of the most important tools in your preparedness kit.

You don’t want to be caught unaware when a hurricane hits, and as we’ve learned recently, they can arrive unexpectedly, and in unexpected places. Hopefully anyone in the direct path of Hurricane Irma has already gotten out of the way. For folks on the outskirts, though — and everyone else who lives where a hurricane or typhoon can happen, there’s still plenty of storm season left. And there’s no better time than now to bone up on some of the best ways to keep current on what’s out there, and how to stay safe if a storm comes your way.

And just like with everything else, our smartphones now play an integral part with that.

I’ve lived on the Gulf Coast my entire life. I’ve been through storms. God willing, I’ll never go through another. But either way, I’ll be ready. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can be, too.

Websites and apps

If you only use one website for tracking tropical activity, it needs to be the National Hurricane Center’s site, found at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov. (They’ve got a mobile version, too, if you’re into that sort of thing.)

I also recommend Weather Underground’s site, too, and the blog written by Jeff Masters.

What about apps, though? I’ve used a few over the years. Mostly they’re wrappers for the NHC website, and for the most part the apps themselves are pretty crap. And you don’t really need them. They can, however, be good for notifications of new updates, which the NHC puts out every six hours. If you don’t want to spend a few bucks, you could just hit up the NHC site, or follow their Twitter feed, or use RSS or e-mail. (The NHC has a lot of ways to stay informed.)

The one app I’ve used off and on during hurricane season is SeaStorm Hurricane Tracker, which costs $1.99. Even then, I only really use it for the alerts.

And if you just don’t want to bother committing all of these tips to memory, go for the American Red Cross’ hurricane app.

More: The best weather apps for Android

Your phone

There’s almost nothing worse than knowing a hurricane is headed your way. They’re big. They’re often slow. You could have days or even weeks of warning. That gives you plenty of time to prepare. And our phones make it easier than ever.

A few tips I’ve picked up the hard way:

Inventory your home and car. Use notes apps that sync to the cloud (that’s the really important part) to keep track of everything you own, for insurance purposes. If it’s not documented, it might as well have never existed.
Take pictures. Lots of pictures. The outside of your home. The inside of your home. Pets. Kids. Anything of value. Insurance fraud, unfortunately, is a thing. You’ll want to prove your car didn’t already have that tree on it. Again, make sure your pictures are uploaded to a cloud service like Google Photos or Dropbox.
Charge early and often. When the power goes out, it goes out.
That said, data could well be down after a strong storm. (Though operators will be quick to tell you they’ve been hardening against storms.) If that’s the case enjoy the silence, and don’t waste battery if you don’t have to.

Speaking of charging …

Batteries are our lifeblood. I mean, our phones’ lifeblood. If you want any hope of communicating after a storm, or keeping up with folks during a storm, you’ll need to stay charged. The good news is that even if you don’t (or can’t) use a full-blown generator, we’ve got options.

We’ve seen an explosion (figuratively, that is) of small and inexpensive external batteries. This very much changes the game for post-storm charging. You should have a few on hand. We’re fans of this 20,000 mAh battery from Anker. USB-A and USB-C, so it’ll charge pretty much everything. (And, yes, it’s on that “good” list for USB-C.)

A good bit more expensive, and maybe a little crazy (in a good way) is the Anker PowerHouse — a 434Wh (that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 120,000 mAh) gianormous AC or solar-powered backup battery/inverter.

Unfortunately for most of us, it’s still a little early for this future-tech solution.

Other random things worth buying

Batteries are obvious. So are lamps of some sort. And food that doesn’t spoil.

I also recommend picking up a sun shower of come sort. These are large PVC bags that use the sun to heat the water within, and gravity to rain it down upon your body. I used them on boats growing up, but they’re perfect for post-storm showers. You don’t need electricity to heat the water, they’re portable, and they’re easy to store.

This one looks just fine — but you’ve basically got your pick on Amazon. If you’re buying locally, any sporting goods store or boat store should have them in stock.

I’d also recommend picking up a battery-powered AM/FM Weather radio. Again, you need to conserve things like your phone for when you really need them. These ancient little radios run on batteries and will keep you up with important local info as well with NOAA weather radio. They’re indispensable once the power goes out. (It’s what us old people had before Twitter, and with less trolling.)

Be safe out there.

How to Electronically Sign a PDF Using Preview on Mac

When you receive a PDF document by email that you must sign, the process of printing out the file, signing on the dotted line with a pen, scanning the signed document and sending it back can be a rather tedious task. Fortunately, Apple has added the ability to electronically sign a PDF document using Preview, a program that comes preinstalled on every Mac running OS X Lion or later.

The steps involved to electronically sign a PDF using Preview on Mac are quite simple and will save you valuable time, especially if you have multiple documents, contracts, forms or other paperwork to sign. If you are worried that your virtual signature will look bad, rest assured that you can create your signature by using the trackpad or holding up your signature on paper to a Mac’s built-in iSight camera.

Steps to Electronically Sign a PDF Using Trackpad

Open the PDF file you need to sign in Preview.
Click on the Markup icon () and then the signature () icon.
Click on Create Signature > Click Here to Begin. Draw your signature on the trackpad. Click any key when finished. Click Done.
Click on the signature created to insert it into the PDF document. The signature can be moved or resized like a regular image.

Steps to Electronically Sign a PDF Using Camera

Open the PDF file you need to sign in Preview.
Click on the Markup icon () and then the signature () icon.
Click on Create Signature > Camera. Sign your name on white paper and hold it to be visible to the camera. Preview will draw a virtual signature. Click Done.
Click on the signature created to insert it into the PDF document. The signature can be moved or resized like a regular image.

Tips

• If you are using the trackpad to create your electronic signature, it is recommended that you look at Preview and go slow and steady with your finger to achieve the best result. For an even more precise signature, you can use an iPhone or iPad stylus, preferably one with a fine-tipped ending, to draw your signature on the trackpad.
• Signing a piece of white paper and holding it up to the camera is the easiest way of creating an electronic signature in Preview, although this method does not always yield the best results. The signature will appear inverted when you hold it up to your Mac’s camera, but Preview will automatically ensure that it reads properly from left to right.
• You can create an electronic signature in Preview by following steps above even if you do not have a PDF document opened. By default, all electronic signatures that you create are automatically stored in a list on Preview so that you can insert them into future PDFs documents and other files without needing to repeat these steps. Preview can store multiple signatures at once.
• Apple also provides markup tools in the Mail app in macOS to create electronic signatures that can be directly inserted into your emails.

Tags: Preview, PDF, signature
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How to Use Do Not Disturb While Driving

Starting with iOS 11, Apple introduced a Do Not Disturb While Driving Feature that’s designed to mute incoming calls, texts, and notifications while you’re driving to cut down on accident-causing distractions.

Do Not Disturb While Driving is not a feature that’s enabled automatically, but you will see a popup prompting you to turn it on when Apple detects the motion of a car after installing iOS 11 or later for the first time. Despite the notification, you’ll still need to choose how you want to use the feature if you miss the initial setup process.

Do Not Disturb can be set to turn on manually, automatically when the iPhone detects a car’s acceleration, or when an iPhone connects to a car’s Bluetooth.

Enabling Do Not Disturb While Driving

Open the Settings app.
Tap Do Not Disturb.
Scroll down to “Do Not Disturb While Driving.”
Tap on “Activate” to choose how you want Do Not Disturb While Driving to be turned on. If you don’t want to use Do Not Disturb While Driving, set it to manual.Whenever Do Not Disturb While Driving is activated, you’ll see a bar at the top of the screen letting you know incoming notifications are being muted.

Do Not Disturb While Driving Control Center Toggle

If you don’t want to have Do Not Disturb While Driving turn on automatically but still want to use it, there’s a Control Center setting for activating it.

Open the Settings app.
Choose Control Center.
Select Customize Controls.
Add Do Not Disturb While Driving, which has an image of a car.
This adds the Do Not Disturb While Driving toggle to your Control Center. To turn it on or off, you just need to swipe to open the Control Center and tap it.

If You’re a Passenger

When the automatic setting is enabled, Do Not Disturb While Driving will turn on whenever your iPhone detects the acceleration of a vehicle. This can be inconvenient if you’re a passenger, so you’ll need to turn it off through the Control Center or by tapping the persistent Do Not Disturb While Driving popup at the top of the display to let Apple know you’re a passenger.

Choosing Your Auto Reply Options

When you’re driving, all of your incoming text messages are muted. You can choose an automatic text message that lets people know you’re in the car and will text later, and you can customize who sees the message.

Open the Settings app.
Choose Do Not Disturb.
Scroll down to “Auto-Reply To” and tap it.
You can choose for automatic texts to be sent to Recents, Favorites, All Contacts, or No one, if you would rather not have your phone send automatic replies.

Customizing Your Auto Reply

Open the Settings app.
Choose Do Not Disturb.
Scroll down to “Auto-Reply” and tap it.
Apple sets a default message in this section, but you can change it to say whatever you want. This is the message people will receive when texting you when Do Not Disturb While Driving is enabled.

If there’s an urgent issue and someone needs to get in contact with you immediately, they can break through Do Not Disturb While Driving by texting you “urgent.” This will override your Do Not Disturb settings and will notify you of the text immediately.

An ideal setup is to set auto replies to your favorites, which likely translates to close friends and family. This will let them text you in an emergency situation, but will prevent other less urgent messages from being a distraction.

Phone Calls

If your iPhone is connected to your car’s Bluetooth system, iOS is smart enough to know you have a hands-free calling method available. In this situation, calls will continue to come through even when Do Not Disturb While Driving is enabled. Texts and notifications from apps will continue to be muted, though.

If you’re not connected to Bluetooth and have no hands-free accessory, calls will be blocked like text messages and notifications.

Parental Restrictions

For parents of teenagers, there’s an option to enable a restriction that will prevent Do Not Disturb While Driving settings from being changed or toggled off, guaranteeing children are using the feature whenever they’re in the car. Here’s how to turn it on (iOS 12 or later):

Open the Settings app.
Choose Screen Time.
Tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Tap on the Content & Privacy Restrictions toggle to turn on restrictions.
Scroll down to Do Not Disturb While Driving and tap it.
Choose Don’t Allow.On devices running an earlier version of iOS, there are different steps to follow to access device restrictions. Open the Settings app, choose General, scroll down to Restrictions and then tap it. Enter your passcode and then find the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” option and choose “Don’t Allow Changes.”

Tag: Do Not Disturb While Driving
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Apple Stops Signing iOS 11.4.1 Following iOS 12 Launch, Downgrading No Longer Possible

Following the release of iOS 12 on September 17, Apple has stopped signing iOS 11.41, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 12 will no longer be able to downgrade to the iOS 11 operating system.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date.

iOS 12 and today’s iOS 12.0.1 release are the only versions of iOS that can be installed on iPhones and iPads by the general public. Developers and public beta testers can download iOS 12.1, an iOS 12 update that’s being beta tested.
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