Save 55% on CrazyTalk Animator 3 Pro for a limited time

It’s no secret that video animations are great at attracting online viewers. Who doesn’t love a fun and colorful animated distraction? Don’t you wish you could quickly create your own fun animations, or add a splash of magic to your social media?

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Create awesome animations for your business or social media! Learn more

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What’s the best place to buy the RED Hydrogen One?

Best answer: You can buy the Hydrogen One from AT&T, Verizon, or unlocked directly from RED, but only AT&T offers a bundle with two free movies optimized for 4V playback.

AT&T: RED Hydrogen One ($1295)

Carrier support

If you’re a cinema aficionado who just can’t resist the temptation of the RED brand name, the Hydrogen One is finally available to purchase starting this Friday, November 2nd. At a whopping $1295, it’s certainly not cheap, but it’s the most affordable RED product yet, save for a few camera accessories like cables and batteries.

Both Verizon and AT&T will be carrying the Hydrogen One, offering different payment plans to make the phone easier to walk out with. Of course, you’ll still end up paying the full $1295 over time regardless, but Verizon has 24-month financing for $53.95 per month. AT&T, on the other hand, will let you get away with $43.17 a month, but the financing period is stretched out to 30 months.

To help ease the blow, AT&T is offering free downloads of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Ready Player One to the first 10,000 people who buy a Hydrogen One on its network. Available in the Hydrogen Network, these movies are optimized for RED’s Holographic 4-View display technology. Unfortunately, Verizon isn’t offering any kind of bundled bonus content with the Hydrogen One at the moment.

Buying unlocked

If you don’t mind handing over the full $1295 up front — or if you’d rather wait it out and snag the elusive titanium model for an even higher price of $1595 — you can buy the Hydrogen One directly from RED’s site. While you won’t get Fantastic Beasts or Ready Player One, you do get an unlocked model that’s free of any carrier bloatware … and of course, you avoid piling more costs onto your monthly phone bill.

Our pick

RED Hydrogen One

$1295 at AT&T
$1295 at Verizon

Squeeze every bit of value you can out of this high-dollar phone.

If you’re going to buy the Hydrogen One, you’ll get the most value out of AT&T’s H4V movie bundle, but if that’s not important to you or you’re on a different carrier, you can buy it from Verizon or unlocked directly from RED.

Nomad Updates Qi-Compatible Base Station With Integrated Apple Watch Charger

Accessory company Nomad today launched the Base Station Apple Watch Edition, which includes a Qi charging mat for iPhone and integrated charging puck for Apple Watch. The new accessory is an upgrade from the original Base Station, which was focused on Qi charging for iPhone and lacked Apple Watch charging support.

The Base Station Apple Watch Edition includes three 7.5W charging coils underneath a padded leather surface, which the company says will let users choose from multiple charging orientations. On the top left corner of the unit is a stand for Apple Watch, which charges the smartwatch in Nightstand Mode and supports both closed loop and open loop bands.

Nomad says the Base Station Apple Watch Edition can charge up to three devices at once, presumably referring to two Qi-compatible iPhones and one Apple Watch, but it’s unclear how a second iPhone fits on the mat when Apple Watch is charging. Nomad seems to acknowledge this in its FAQ on the stand, stating that while it supports up to three devices, “it is designed to comfortably charge 1 Apple Watch and 1 phone simultaneously.”

Easily charge your Apple Watch and iPhone wirelessly. We’ve added three coils to provide mulitiple charging orientations; center your phone over a coil and wirelessly charge your phone how you like. Great for your desk, bedside, and around the house.

We recently got our hands on the original Nomad Base Station and shared our thoughts in a review on the MacRumors YouTube channel. While the leather surface lacked reliable grip for case-less iPhones and finding the hot spot for charging proved finicky, we largely came away impressed by Nomad’s accessory thanks to its design and additional port options on the back.

In terms of those ports, it’s worth noting the updated Base Station Apple Watch Edition appears to have ditched the extra USB-A and USB-C ports on the back of the device. For those interested, the new accessory is available to purchase on Nomad’s website today for $119.95.

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

Tag: Nomad
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Apple Pay ‘Making Up a Lot of Ground’ With Competitors Thanks to Success of Apple Pay Cash

A new report out this week by Bloomberg highlights Apple’s ongoing efforts to boost adoption of Apple Pay, which is said to be gaining more traction this year thanks to the launch of Apple Pay Cash, as well as a growing number of of retailers supporting the mobile wallet. Although it still struggles to surpass rival mobile wallets, analyst Gene Munster argues that Apple’s real advantage lies in the fact that it’s the only digital wallet with payment options for mobile apps, desktop, peer-to-peer, and in stores.

According to Munster, Apple Pay Cash’s launch in December 2017 “was a big missing piece” to the Apple Pay ecosystem, and has led the company to “make up a lot of ground” with its competition in 2018.

In total, 60 percent of United States merchants will have Apple Pay-ready equipment in their shops by the end of this year, which is an increase from three percent four years ago, when Apple Pay launched. Apple Pay already has made impressive growth in the United Kingdom, because merchants there “already accepted contactless payments and consumers were already using contactless cards,” explained Crone Consulting CEO Richard Crone.

Multiple analysts believe that Apple’s biggest opportunity in the mobile payments field is to increase acceptance of Apple Pay from e-commerce sites and to beef up the features of Apple Pay Cash. According to data from Crone Consulting, the number of online mobile app transactions using Apple Pay is “growing much faster” than transactions made inside retail stores. In this area, Apple Pay is used by hundreds of thousands of websites and is accepted by 85 of the top 100 global e-commerce apps. Senior managing director for Falcon Point Capital, Michael Mahoney, agreed:

“When it started, you’d tap and physically cause a purchase to be made,” Michael Mahoney said. “The whole world of mobile commerce has so much shifted to everything being done on the phone and shipped to you. My kids don’t even think of going to the store. Apple Pay has morphed along with that change in behavior.”

As of estimates from August, 31 percent of worldwide iPhone users have used Apple Pay in some way in the last year, up from 25 percent one year ago, according to Loup Ventures data. In regards to the total number of active users making at least two transactions per month, Crone Consulting estimates that Apple has 32 million users in the U.S., compared to its total user base of around 252 million global. In terms of U.S. usage, PayPal has the most at 250 million users and Walmart Pay is just below Apple Pay at 31 million users.

Apple Pay Cash was the highest-rated peer-to-peer payments platform on the market, according to a review by Consumer Reports. The service beat out Zelle, Square Cash, Venmo, and Facebook Messenger P2P payments, mainly due to Apple’s stronger privacy and security measures. Munster pointed out that the growth of Apple’s P2P platform is convincing new people to add their banks into Apple Pay (which is required for P2P iMessage payments), many of which eventually add their credit and debit cards into Wallet as well to enable the main NFC features of Apple Pay.

Apple is also continuously expanding the mobile wallet into new countries, and this week Apple Pay will launch in Belgium. Belgium-based newspaper De Tijd reports that several sources believe Apple Pay will launch in early November — as soon as tomorrow, November 1 — with major bank BNP Paribas Fortis supporting the launch. Next, Apple Pay is said to be “coming soon” to Saudi Arabia.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Siri Experts From Apple Attending Natural Language Processing Conference in Belgium Over Next Five Days

As it announced in its Machine Learning Journal, Apple is attending the 2018 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing in Brussels, Belgium between today and Sunday, November 4.

Apple has set up a booth staffed with natural language processing experts from its Siri team and encourages conference attendees to stop by.

Apple has also highlighted an opening for a Siri-related software engineering position within the company, based out of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, where it has a research and development office focused on Siri.

“The launch of Siri was a defining moment in the history of Artificial Intelligence,” the job description states. “Hundreds of millions of people now use Siri to send a message, play their favourite song or even take a selfie.”

Earlier this year, The Information published an in-depth look at how Siri has transitioned from one of Apple’s most promising technologies into a “major problem” for the company. The report cited a dozen former Apple employees who reflected on Siri’s “squandered lead” over rivals Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Apple responded to the report with a statement claiming that Siri is “the world’s most popular voice assistant,” and touted “significant advances” to the digital assistant’s performance, scalability, and reliability.

We have made significant advances in Siri performance, scalability and reliability and have applied the latest machine learning techniques to create a more natural voice and more proactive features. We continue to invest deeply in machine learning and artificial intelligence to continually improve the quality of answers Siri provides and the breadth of questions Siri can respond to.

Apple has steadily improved Siri with features such as Shortcuts and customized language models that improve the assistant’s ability to recognize names of local points of interest, such as small businesses and restaurants.

Tag: Siri
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Nintendo Planning Major Update for Fire Emblem Heroes and ‘Broadening the Scope’ of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

Nintendo this week held its financial results briefing aimed at the second quarter for the fiscal year ending in March 2019 (via Reuters), during which it discussed its smart device business and major updates coming to two of its iOS apps: Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

Starting with Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo’s director and president Shuntaro Furukawa said that the company is planning a major version 3.0 update to the iOS game that will arrive around the end of 2018. The president didn’t divulge any more information on the update, but ensured that Nintendo will keep pouring effort into development and operation of Fire Emblem Heroes following its huge success on the iOS App Store.

According to Furukawa, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will also be updated in the near future, but this one will be focused on “broadening the scope of the gameplay.” The iOS game is a pared-down version of the full games found on consoles like Nintendo 3DS, DS, Wii, and GameCube, and focuses on a small campsite that players can redecorate and customize to their liking, with a few other mini locations that can be visited through an in-game map.

Although details are still scarce, it sounds like Nintendo is planning to slightly expand the explorable area of the game with the update, and potentially add in new gameplay features. The company has consistently held new seasonal events and introduced new features — like gardening — over the past year, but its scope has largely stayed the same as when it first launched.

It’s doubtful that this means Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will see a full village for players to navigate on iPhone, since Nintendo’s mobile business so far has used the strategy of introducing a smaller version of its franchises to entice people to check out the full games on console.

Because of this, it’s possible that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s big update could align with the next mainline entry in the franchise on Switch, which is set for release in 2019. Furukawa did not detail when exactly we’ll see the iOS update, but noted that “details will be announced closer to the time of the update,” so it might not be until next year.

Lastly, the president confirmed that Mario Kart Tour is still on track to be released during the current fiscal year ending in March 2019. After Mario Kart Tour launches, Nintendo will have released six games on the iOS App Store: Miitomo, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Dragalia Lost.

Tags: Nintendo, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
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iOS 12.1 Extends Battery-Related Performance Management Feature to iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X

Apple on Tuesday released iOS 12.1 following six weeks of beta testing. As mentioned in the release notes, the software update extends Apple’s performance management feature to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.

From the release notes:

Adds a performance management feature to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down, including the option to disable this feature if an unexpected shutdown occurs, for iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

Apple has reflected this change on its iPhone Battery and Performance website, noting that performance management “may be less noticeable” on those iPhone models due to their “more advanced hardware and software design.”

The performance management system was first enabled in iOS 10.2.1, but it was limited to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus until yesterday’s release of iOS 12.1.

Last December, Apple did mention that the design of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X allows for a “different” performance management system that “more precisely” prevents unexpected shutdowns, but prior to iOS 12.1, no performance management feature of this kind had been enabled on the trio of iPhones:

iPhone 8 and later use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance. This allows a different performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown. As a result, the impacts of performance management may be less noticeable on iPhone 8 and later. Over time, the rechargeable batteries in all iPhone models will diminish in their capacity and peak performance and will eventually need to be replaced.

Why is Apple slowing down some iPhone models if necessary?

From our January 2018 article What to Know About Apple Slowing Down iPhones to Prevent Unexpected Shutdowns:

iPhones, like many other consumer electronics, are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which have a limited lifespan. As the battery in your iPhone ages, its ability to hold a charge slowly diminishes.

A chemically aging battery can also have increased impedance, reducing its ability to provide a sudden burst of power when demanded by other components in an iPhone, such as the CPU and GPU. A battery’s impedance will also temporarily increase when it has a low charge and/or in cold temperatures.

A battery with a high enough impedance may be unable to provide power quickly enough to the iPhone when needed, and Apple safeguards components against the drop in voltage by shutting down the device.

Apple recognized that iPhones unexpectedly shutting down on users is not a good experience, and starting with iOS 10.2.1, it quietly implemented a power management feature to prevent these shutdowns. The update was released in January 2017, and a month later, Apple said it saw a major reduction in shutdowns.

The performance management feature can be disabled if desired in the Settings app, under the Battery Health menu, also new to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X in iOS 12.1. At this time, the feature does not appear to extend to the new iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, or iPhone XR.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
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Uber now offers a $15 monthly plan for access to cheaper fares

Uber has launched a subscription service that gives riders exclusive access to “consistent, low prices” for a monthly fee.

It appears to be an effort by Uber to boost loyalty among riders and discourage them from hopping between different ridesharing services.

Ride Pass is available for UberX and UberPool trips in Austin, Orlando, Denver, and Miami for $15 a month, and Los Angeles for $25 a month. The higher fee for Los Angeles is because folks there will soon get free access to Uber’s ebikes and scooters, too, as part of the package.

The service, which aims to offer savings of up to 15 percent for each ride, bases its prices on data for similar routes made previously and will be unaffected by surge pricing — a big annoyance for many Uber riders.

“One thing we hear a lot from riders is that changes in price — however small — can make it tough to plan their day with Uber,” Dan Bilen, product manager at Uber, wrote in a post announcing Ride Pass. “The daily commute is a classic example, and it goes something like this: you pay one low price for the ride to work, only to find the ride back home is a different story. You’re frustrated, and from that moment on you might think twice about leaving the car at home.”

Bilen said Ride Pass aims to make Uber “a reliable alternative to driving yourself — an affordable option people can use for their everyday transportation needs.”

You can sign up for Ride Pass through the Uber app, and with each ride you’ll be able to track the savings you’re making over the regular rates — to make sure it’s worth it.

This isn’t the first time Uber has experimented with subscriptions plans, with Uber Plus in 2016 offering a variation of Ride Pass in selected cities.

Meanwhile, Lyft — Uber’s main ridesharing rival in the U.S. — made its subscription-based “All-Access Plan” available nationwide from this month.

Lyft’s offering charges $299 a month for 30 rides that cost up to $15 each — if a single ride costs more than $15, you simply pay the difference, and if you take more than 30 rides, Lyft promises to discount each ride fee by 5 percent.

Neither Uber’s Ride Pass nor Lyft’s All-Access Plan are guaranteed to save you money, but there are certainly potential savings for those who use ridesharing services on a regular basis.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Lyft has a new fixed-price subscription plan for frequent passengers
• Going my way? Waze takes its carpooling service nationwide
• Lyft wants to know about your ride experience before it’s even over
• Lyft offers some fun stats to celebrate its 1 billionth ridesharing journey
• Lyft’s self-driving taxis have made 5,000 trips for paying riders in Las Vegas

A foldable smartphone at CES 2019? Anything is possible, says LG

Foldable smartphones may become one of the standout mobile trends of 2019, with several manufacturers officially stating they’re working on such devices for the coming year. While LG is not one of them, a rumor indicates it has no intention of missing out. The company will apparently show a foldable smartphone during a presentation at next year’s CES technology show in Las Vegas, says mobile leaker Evan Blass.

In a tweet he says he cannot speak for Samsung, which has already confirmed it will release a foldable phone in the future, “But I do know that LG plans to unveil a foldable phone at its 2019 CES keynote.” While he provides no further details on the device itself, or whether this will simply be a tech showcase, rather than a product we’ll be able to buy; LG has long been at the forefront of flexible screen technology, validating the rumor to a certain extent.

Digital Trends spoke to Ken Hong, LG’s head of global corporate communications, to get an official response. He said “LG’s policy is not to comment on rumors and speculation,” but when pushed on the subject, he hesitated and added, “Anything is possible at CES.”

Technical know-how

Patents for folding phones have been seen from LG for several years, we’ve covered leaks stating the company would have a foldable device in 2017, and before all that, it pioneered the flexible screen with smartphones such as the G Flex and G Flex 2. It also reportedly spent $1 billion on a factory in South Korea dedicated to making flexible screens, all of which adds up to not only experience, but also the ability and interest to make folding smartphones a reality.

While, “anything is possible,” at CES, does that mean it’s likely? LG is not saying anything at all on the subject, and although Samsung and Huawei have confirmed folding smartphone plans; neither have stated anything about when they will launch outside of some time in 2019. Huawei has linked its folding smartphone with 5G, indicating it may not arrive until a 5G network launches — a date which is equally unknown. Microsoft is also rumored to be examining a foldable device design.

CES 2019 begins on January 8, 2019, and we’ll keep you up to date with LG’s foldable smartphone news and rumors right here.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Huawei is working on a 5G foldable phone, the Mate 20 X may be its template
• Samsung Galaxy X: Everything we know so far
• Samsung Galaxy S10: Here’s everything we know
• A ThinkPad tablet with a foldable screen could be in Lenovo’s future
• 5G may spur the return of smartphones locked to specific carriers

How to automate your morning routine with the Amazon Smart Plug

Alexa routines are incredibly powerful, and if you have an Amazon Smart Plug, integrating it into an existing routine is dead simple and a great way to make your mornings go even smoother. Here’s how to do it!

Products used in this guide

• Amazon: Amazon Smart Plug ($25)
• Amazon: Echo Dot (3rd Gen) ($50)

How to use a Smart Plug with your morning routine

For this guide, we’re going to assume you already have an existing morning routine and an Amazon Smart Plug connected to your Amazon account.

Open the Alexa app.

Swipe from the left edge of your screen to open the menu.
Tap Routines.

Tap your morning routine.

Tap Add action.
Tap Smart Home.

Tap your Smart Plug (in this example, it’s named Coffee Pot).

Choose if you want it to toggle on or off.
Tap Next.

Tap the arrow at the top left corner.

With all of that done, you’ve just successfully added the Amazon Smart Plug to a morning routine. Now, stop reading this and go ahead and try it for yourself!

Our top equipment picks

A smarter outlet

Amazon Smart Plug

$25 at Amazon

Alexa’s favorite smart plug.

Amazon’s first foray into the smart plug market is nearly a home-run. It works beautifully with Alexa, setup takes just a few seconds, and it blends seamlessly into the background. We just wish it also worked with Google Assistant.

If you’re invested in Alexa speakers, the Amazon Smart Plug just makes sense over any of its competitors. The sheer simplicity of getting it connected to your home Wi-Fi network and smart speakers is a breeze, and from there, you’re left with a trusty and good-looking plug for your house.

Best Dot yet

Echo Dot (3rd Gen)

$50 at Amazon

One of the best smart speakers for $50.

Not only is the Echo Dot insanely affordable, but it’s also just a darn good smart speaker. It sounds great for its size, has a pretty fabric design, and works beautifully with other Alexa gadgets.

Any smart speaker that’s powered by Alexa will work well with the Amazon Smart Plug, but the Echo Dot stands out among nearly everything else thanks to its tremendous bang-for-your-buck.