Photography News: Filter your drone; outfit a Sony with its smallest ultra-wide

Tiffen NATural ND kit for DJI Tiffen

Afraid of missing out on the latest photo industry news while you’re out, well, actually taking pictures? Photography News of the Week is all the news you might have missed this week, published on the weekends. Alongside the biggest stories of the week, like the new Leica M10-D and startup Pixii’s digital rangefinder, find briefs on the latest in accessories and photography news from this week.

Tiffen ventures intro drone photography filters

Photo accessory company Tiffen has a new line of filters for drones. This week, the company unveiled a collection of filter kits for DJI drones. The new kits are designed for the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, DJI Mavic Air, and the DJI Inspire 2, joining the existing filter options for the DJI Phantom 4 Pro.

The kits include varying levels of neutral-density filters to darken the frame and allow for wider apertures or slower shutters. The Inspire 2 options also include a circular polarizer and sky filter. Tiffen designed the filters with multi-layer hydrophobic coatings, which makes the filters waterproof and scratch-resistant. Tiffen says the filters are designed for 4K with a 10-year warranty, offering low reflection and “unmatched color.”

The filter kits range in price from $50 to $200.

Go ahead, dive underwater with the Nikon Z7 using this housing

Ikelite

Well, that didn’t take long. The new Nikon Z7 will soon have underwater housing for submerging and shooting with the new full-frame mirrorless camera. Ikelite announced the 200DL housing for the Z7 earlier this week. The housing protects the camera in dives down to 200 feet while allowing access to most (but not all) rear and top camera controls.

The ability to dive with the Z7 will cost $1,695 — and that doesn’t include the compatible DL lens housings.

Wine Country’s luxury ND filters just got a cheaper price

Wine Country’s neutral density filters are designed using a new technique designed to eliminate color casts from using the filters, but that design leaves the filters as one of the more expensive options. That’s not exactly the case anymore. This week, Wine Country launched circular ND polarizing filters, a more budget-friendly way to try the Vapor Disposition Coating that allows photographers to reduce the light coming into the camera without creating the color casts typically associated with ND filters. The filters are made using Schott glass.

The new filters start at $51 but move up from there for larger filter sizes. The filters come in three, six, and 10 stops or as kits with all three.

The Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE is the smallest ultra-wide angle

Venus Optics

Sony E-mount shooters could soon go wider without investing in big glass. The new Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE is the smallest ultra-wide angle zoom in its class, manufacturer Venus Optics says. Weighing just a touch over a pound, the lens sits at about 3.5-inches long. The lens follows a similar announcement for Canon and Nikon DSLR mounts earlier this year.

Because circular filters can cause vignetting at the front of an ultra-wide lens, Venus Optics instead added a 37mm filter mount at the rear of the lens. Magnetic 100mm filters can also be used at the front.

 The lens is manual focus, however. The Sony E-Mount is available for pre-order for $850. The company is also planning a Nikon Z and Canon RF mount option of the lens.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Photography News: Luminar teases Libraries, Sony develops polarized sensor
• Canon launches four lenses, three adapters for its new RF lens mount
• Nikon says Z7, Z6 mirrorless cameras will ship on time in the U.S.
• DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom review
• DJI Mavic 2 Zoom review

Qualcomm Says Apple Is $7 Billion Behind in Royalty Payments

Apple owes $7 billion in royalties to Qualcomm since halting payments because of its ongoing dispute with the mobile chip maker over unfair licensing practices, according to a court hearing on Friday (via Bloomberg).

Apple began withholding the payments through its manufacturers last year, after the tech giant filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm claiming that the chipmaker was charging unfair royalties for “technologies they have nothing to do with.” However, Qualcomm maintains its technology “is at the heart of every iPhone,” and that the royalties are entirely valid.

“They’re trying to destroy our business,” Qualcomm lawyer Evan Chesler said at the hearing in federal court in San Diego. “They’re now $7 billion dollars behind in royalties. The house is on fire and there is $7 billion of property damage right now.”

The two companies have been locked in the wide-ranging legal battle since 2017, with Apple accusing Qualcomm of unfair patent licensing practices and Qualcomm accusing Apple of patent infringement.

Apple argues that the mobile chipmaker is forcing it to pay for the use of its chips in iPhones and then again through patent royalties, a practice Apple refers to as “double-dipping.” However Qualcomm claims it is doing nothing illegal and that Apple has agreed to the business model for years.

Both Apple and Qualcomm have filed multiple lawsuits against one another, with Qualcomm also seeking import and export bans on some iPhones in the United States and China.

Tags: lawsuit, Qualcomm, Patent lawsuits
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Razer’s most basic Blade 15 is the one most gamers should buy

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Razer recently launched a drastically redesigned version of the Razer Blade with thin bezels, the latest hardware, and a profile just 0.66-inches thick. Our review heaped praise on it, but there’s one major downside. The price.  Starting at $1,900 with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q and 256GB solid state drive, it’s not exactly affordable.

Well, good news! Razer now offers a less expensive model. At a starting price of $1,600 for a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q, 128GB SSD, and a 1TB mechanical disk, it’s no budget laptop, but it’s obtainable for gamers seeking a mid-range rig. The base Blade 15 does make sacrifices, however. Do they dull Razer’s edge?

The same, but thicker

The entry-level Razer Blade 15 is an odd one because, unlike most laptops the share a name, the chassis differs depending on how much you spend. Everything above the keyboard, including the display and lid, appear identical to the more expensive variant, but the lower half is different. The Razer Blade 15 Base, as we’ll refer to it, is thick.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

How much thicker? The profile grows from 0.66 inches to 0.78 inches, or just barely more than one tenth of an inch. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Yet, it’s noticeable. The Razer Blade 15 Base feels a bit old-fashioned, while the more expensive edition feels sleek and modern.

Old fashioned isn’t always a negative, however. The Base offers a regular gigabit Ethernet port, which isn’t available on its sibling. Port selection is otherwise the same, so that’s a win for the Base model. Saving money means losing the Chroma RGB keyboard backlight for a more standard backlight, but you won’t lose sleep over that.

The difference all comes down to the GPU – and how it’s used.

There’s little difference between models in day-to-day use. While the Base is a bit thicker, the keyboard and display look the same between all models. It’s hard to tell them apart when they’re not side-by-side. That’s good, because it means Base buyers don’t miss out on most the Blade 15’s strong points. The lack of a 144Hz display (it’s replaced by a 1080p 60Hz screen) is a bummer, but also matches Base’s capabilities, as it’s only sold with a GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics chip.

It looks similar, but does it still perform?

Looks, of course, are part of the equation. Performance is a more serious concern.

In theory, the Razer Blade 15 Base shouldn’t sacrifice much in pursuit of a lower price. The Intel Core i7-8750H processor is used among all Blade 15 variants, so there won’t be much difference there. You’ll even enjoy 16GB of RAM which, again, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its pricier peers.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

The difference all comes down to the GPU – and how it’s used. The Base model is only available with the GTX 1060 Max-Q. You can grab that same GPU in the least expensive slim model, but most slim configurations have a GTX 1070 Max-Q. That bumps the price up to at least $2,400. Razer says the Base version doesn’t have the more advanced vaper chamber cooling design of the slim version.

That does make a difference in games, but the gap is smaller than you might think.

We saw a consistent story across most scenarios. The slim Razer Blade 15 with GTX 1070 Max-Q was 15 to 25 percent quicker than the Base model with GTX 1060 Max-Q. Rocket League on Performance settings was one exception, but only because both laptops hit the game’s engine cap of 250 frames per second. We also saw a virtual tie at medium detail in Civilization VI, though the slim Razer Blade 15 earned back a lead at ultra detail.

All our game benchmarks occurred at 1080p resolution. While the slim Blade 15 can be equipped with a 4K screen, it’s not a great fit, as the GTX 1070 Max-Q isn’t powerful enough to keep up with 4K resolution in demanding games.

There’s no shame in being basic

You’ll spend $1,600 on the Razer Blade 15 Base. You’d need at least $1,900 to buy the slimmer version though, right now, the least expensive model is $2,200 (with a 512GB SSD – lower capacities have sold out). Stepping up to the GTX 1070 Max-Q demands at least $2,400.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Should you go basic? To answer that question, ask yourself another. Are you buying the Blade 15 mostly to play games, or are you buying it because it can do everything well?

The slim Blade 15 is a solid all-rounder. It’s easy pack, has a bigger 80 watt-hour battery (up from 65 watt-hours), and has more solid-state drive capacity. In the end, it feels less like a pure gaming laptop and more like a MacBook Pro 15 or Dell XPS 15.

Gamers can stick to the Blade 15 Base. That may seem counter-intuitive. The slimmer model can have the quicker GTX 1070, true, but its price puts it in league with GTX 1080 laptops. The base model offers better value and balance. It’s quick enough for any game, and you don’t need to set up crowdfunding to buy it.

Sometimes, it’s okay to be basic.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Dell XPS 15 vs. Razer Blade 15
• How Razer forged the Blade 15, the slim gaming laptop nobody else could build
• Razer Blade 15 gives more bang for your buck, adds ‘mercury white’ edition
• Razer Blade 15 (2018) review
• Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 with ScreenPad review

Lenovo Legion C730 Cube review

Research Center:

Lenovo Legion C730 Cube

Here’s a question you’ve probably never asked yourself: What if your gaming PC looked less like a traditional computer and more like a beer cooler? Lenovo’s latest compact gaming PC, the Legion C730 Cube, is as close to that as we may ever see.

The C730 Cube not only looks the part, but it also keeps its internals cooled ships with its own six-pack in the form of Intel’s hexa-core processor. Alongside that capable processor, you get the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 for graphics — as well as a unique carry handle for easy transportation.

Starting at $1,300, the C730 Cube represents Lenovo’s unique approach on balancing performance, price, and portability, but is this Coleman-inspired gaming PC the right tool for your next gaming battle?

Not your father’s cooler

Unlike its rivals, Lenovo took a more muted approach in designing the Legion C730, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Unless you live, breathe, and play PC games 24-7, the C730 will fit in no matter where you set it up in your home. It’s minimalist matte black finish — which Lenovo calls iron gray — helps it transition between a work horse in your home office, a home theater PC in your living room, and a powerful VR-capable gaming rig.

Competitors in the category, like the ASUS ROG Huracan and MSI Trident 3, come with more aggressive, angular designs and red accents that do little to conceal their gaming roots. Though these desktops may immediately catch your eye, they’ll start to feel out of place when used in a more grown up home office space.

But the C730’s more grown-up vibes come with its own costs — the system isn’t the most compact. While rival systems occupy as little desk real estate as possible — ASUS’s ROG Huracan G21 has a smaller footprint at 5.11 x 14.66 x 14.41 — Lenovo designed the C730 around portability. At 9.09 x 13.07 x 9.53, the C730 takes up more desk real estate, but the carry handle makes it easier to move.

To maximize the use of available space, the C730 comes densely packed, contributing to the unit’s heft. Weighing just shy of 20 pounds, the C730 is within range of other compact gaming desktops.

Like other gaming desktops, you won’t find any shortage of ports.

At that weight, it’s not something you’ll want to carry everywhere, but if you need to move it, the top carry handle helps. And, if you’re concerned that long gaming sessions can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, just take a break and lift and carry the C730 between rooms for some instant strength training.

The outside surfaces are mostly constructed of a durable plastic, but there’s an internal metal cage to keep things reinforced. The two removable plastic side panels are also lined with metal sheets.

Up top, you’ll find a carry handle and a clear plastic window lets you quickly identify the C730’s gaming heritage — when the unit is powered on, full RGB lighting illuminates the top of the unit, and the clear window gives you a peak at the graphics card — our review unit is powered by Nvidia’s GPU and shows off the GeForce GTX branding. RGB lighting, CPU overclocking, and warranty support are all handled through the bundled Lenovo Vantage app.

The missing link

Like other compact gaming desktops, you won’t find any shortage of ports, which are distributed between the front and the rear, and there’s a removable rubber strip on the back for cable management. In total, you’ll find eight USB ports (two USB 3.0, four USB 3.1, and two USB 2.0), an Ethernet connector, headphone jack, mic input, audio output, DVI port, three DisplayPort connectors, and single HDMI port. Dolby Atmos is also supported, for an immersive audio experience.

Chuong Nguyen/Digital Trends

While there are ample USB ports, the C730 doesn’t come with USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 support. Including these ports would have made the rig more future-proof and allow users to connect an external GPU. Both MSI and ASUS included a USB-C port on their compact gaming desktops, allowing gamers to connect newer drives or monitors to their systems.

Wireless connectivity is supported by 802.11ac Wi-Fi with 2×2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.2.

The only thing that connects the C730 to your home outlet is a medium length power cable.

All configurations of the C730 also ship with a wired keyboard and optical mouse, though you dedicated gamers may want to upgrade to a mechanical keyboard. The USB keyboard is responsive, but doesn’t come with any backlighting effects. The keys are responsible, have good travel, and key caps come with a bottom curve similar to laptop keyboards on Lenovo’s IdeaPad and ThinkPad lines.

Our biggest complaint with the keyboard is that Lenovo made it a bit more compact by squeezing in the traditional two-row, three-column area that’s home to the Insert, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, and Delete keys into a three-row, two-column layout. This rearrangement also resulted in shifting the arrow keys over to the left, with the left arrow now located just below the right Shift key. While the configuration isn’t detrimental to the touch-typing or gaming experience, it took us some time to adjust to the squeezed layout.

Compartmentalized for cooling

The centrally placed and vertically mounted motherboard inside helps to divide the C730 into two compartments, both of which are easily accessible via removable side doors. One panel can be quickly removed via a latch found on the rear, which gives access to the most heat-generating components, like the RAM, processor, and graphics card. Fortunately, neither the RAM or GPU are soldered on, so both are upgradeable in the future. All C730 configurations ship with a single 16GB RAM module, but users can add up to three additional modules for a total of 64GB.

Chuong Nguyen/Digital Trends

There are also three fans in this compartment that are used for active cooling. One fan is found on the GPU, a second located on the motherboard, and a third mounted on the rear to pull air from the front of the unit through vents with circular bullet-hole cutouts. In general, we didn’t notice heat to be an issue, even during longer gaming sessions. Fan noise was very subtle, and the low-pitched whirl of the fan blades wasn’t distracting.

On the opposite side is a second panel that’s secured by two Phillips screws. Here, you’ll find the drive bay for the HDD along with the internally mounted power supply. Fortunately, unlike the Huracan G21, you won’t be saddled with external power bricks; the only thing that connects the C730 to your home outlet is a medium length power cable.

Lenovo Legion C730 Cube Compared To

Falcon Northwest Tiki (2018)

Origin Millennium

Dell Inspiron 27 7000 (2017)

Dell XPS Tower Special Edition 8910…

Dell XPS 8900 Special Edition

Apple iMac 21.5-inch (2014)

Lenovo C560 Touch

ASUS M70AD-US003S

Acer TA272HUL

Velocity Micro Vector Campus Edition

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720

Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i5)

Asus Eee Top ET1602

HP Pavilion a6130n

Apple iMac Core Duo 17-inch

Upgrading the hard drive or adding an additional drive is easy, and Lenovo provides helpful videos for you to navigate the C730’s internals. All the components are well organized, with cables tied together to keep a tidy appearance.

Overclockable for performance

There are only two configuration options for the C730. The C730 isn’t built for high-end gamers who demand customizations at every step, and Lenovo is targeting gamers who need a quick entry into discrete graphics or VR capabilities without having to invest the effort into building their own rigs.

All configurations come with a six-core, Intel’s 8th-Generation processor and discrete graphics. The entry-level $1,300 option comes with AMD RX570 graphics and a standard Intel Core i7-8700 CPU, while our upgraded review unit comes with an overclockable Intel Core i7-8700K silicon and Nvidia GeForce RTX 1060 graphics with 6GB video RAM for $1,519. Even though Intel’s 9th-Generation processors are incoming, this 8th-gen CPU is still a powerful piece of silicon that delivers ample performance.

The overclockable processor comes with a base speed of 3.70GHz that can go up to 4.70GHz with Turbo Boost. Despite coming with the same overclockable processor as this year’s Falcon Northwest Tiki, the C730’s processing performance out of the box is more similar to the base Core i7-7800 processor. In our Geekbench test, the C730 generated a single-core score of 5,331 — compared to the 6,228 score on the Falcon — and its multi-score of 21,830 falls short of the Falcon’s 28,413 mark. Even though the C730 couldn’t quite keep up with the Falcon, its single-core and multi-core scores were better than the Velocity Micro M60, which is powered by AMD’s Ryzen 1800X processor.

Given the high-end processors, the differences between benchmarks from the C730, Falcon, and Velocity Micro may not even be perceptible in real-world usage. If you’re looking at buying the C730 primarily as a general computing machine for productivity tasks, these differences may be more relevant. Even then, when working in multiple browsers with multiple opened tabs or editing photos, the C730 kept up well, and we didn’t notice any lags.

And proving that benchmarks may not paint a full picture of what a PC is capable, the C730 was able to finish our 4K video encoding test using Handbrake in two minutes and three seconds. That’s close to a full minute faster than the time that it took the Falcon to perform the same task. In our testing, the video file was placed on and encoded to the main SSD, the system’s faster of the two preinstalled drives.

Dual drives

To keep costs down, the C730 ships with two drives. There’s a faster SK Hynbix M.2 solid-state drive that comes with limited 128GB storage and a slower 7200RPM Seagate hard drive with a 1TB capacity. Users will want to install applications on the SSD and store larger files on the HDD. Serious gamers will likely want to upgrade the HDD to a secondary SSD.

In our CrystalDisk Mark test, speeds of both drives were slower than competing systems. Comparing the 128GB SSD on the C730 to the Falcon’s 2TB SSD, the latter system posted faster read speeds and write speeds. The C730 averaged 1,607 MB/s (megabytes per second) on the sequential read tests and a slow 363 MB/s on the sequential write tests, compared to the Falcon’s scores of 2,687 and 1,504 scores, respectively.

And as expected with hard drives, even ones with faster 7200RPMs, you’ll find much slower sequential read and write speeds. The secondary drive on the C730 posted average sequential read and write scores around 200 MB/s.

Gaming Ready, VR-capable

Our review unit ships with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060, and unlike competing systems, there isn’t an option to choose an upgraded configuration with better graphics. The Asus Huracan G21 tops out with an a GTX 1080 GPU, while the Falcon Northwest Tiki goes even further with 1080 Ti graphics. The base C730 ships with an AMD RX 570 discrete graphics card.

In general, unless you’re pushing intensive games with high graphics settings, the GTX 1060 chipset does a good job keeping up. Given that Oculus requires a minimum of GTX 960 graphics or better for virtual reality experiences with Rift, performance of the C730 is generally great.

We benchmarked the C730 using VRMark’s suite of tests, and the unit’s scores sit between the Oculus required minimum and a premium high-end PC. The C730’s score of 6,628 on the Orange Room test compares favorably against the Oculus minimum of 3,716, but still falls short of the 10,390 high from premium high-end systems. Similarly, the C730’s Cyan Room score of 3,566 sits between the 2,152 requirement at the baseline and 8,548 at the high end.

Given the VR benchmark results, gaming results were similar, and though the GTX performed well, its performance fell short of more powerful units, like the Falcon with its GTX 1080 Ti graphics, and the results were consistent across our suite of game tests.

At 4K resolution, Civilization VI played with 59 frames per second under medium settings, but performance quickly dropped to 38 FPS when Ultra settings were enabled. The Falcon, in comparison, had a less dramatic drop, earning scores of 106 and 81, respectively. With Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, scores generated by the C730 were less than half of what the Falcon is capable of. The C730’s benchmarked performance with these games were consistent with Dell’s Inspiron 5680, an entry-level gaming desktop with similar GTX 1060 graphics.

The situation improves for the C730 when playing the somewhat older Battlefield 1. With older games, the disparity between the C730’s 1060 GPU and the Falcon’s 1080 Ti GPU isn’t as pronounced at lower 1080p resolutions. For example, with medium settings, the C730 got 114 FPS (frames per second), compared to the Falcon’s 198. The disparity grows quickly again once you play the game with ultra-high details or increase the resolution. For instance, under 1440p resolution with ultra-high settings, the C730 scored 61 FPS, while the Falcon scored 143 FPS.

When compared to higher-end gaming PCs, like the Falcon with its GTX 1080 Ti graphics, the C730’s GPU begins to show its weakness when you push for higher game settings and increase the resolution. As we saw on our Deus Ex and Civilization VI tests, at lower settings on 1080p, the C730 was able to push close to 60 FPS, but framerates quickly dropped beyond that. When the settings were increased to ultra-high at 1440p, the C730 got about 30 FPS. Gamers who want to play with resolutions higher than 1080p and with faster framerates will likely want to find a system with a better graphics card.

The limitations in the GTX 1060’s performance were also apparent on Fortnite. Though the game performed well on the C730 with no noticeable lags or stutters, when the settings were pushed to the game’s ultra-high “Epic” mode, framerates quickly dropped. On our 4K display, the average framerate was just shy of 30 FPS. In 1080p under the same settings, the game performed much smoother, averaging 112 FPS. With 1440p, performance averaged 49 FPS. While the game was still more than playable with 4K resolution and rich details, those with discerning eyes who want faster framerates at high resolutions will want to find a better graphics option than what ships on the C730.

Software

Though there’s relatively minimal bloatware on the device, one potential explanation for the C730’s weaker processing score is that it comes preloaded with a trial edition of McAfee, which consumes some system resources while it’s running in the background. Even if you don’t mind the slightly diminished CPU performance, the software quickly gets annoying when it nags you to subscribe.

Our Take

The Legion C730 might be sold as a gaming PC first, but it’s got the looks and the performance to back it up if you need a well-rounded, all-purpose desktop during the day. The high-end 8th-gen, six-core, overclockable CPU gives it plenty of performance to handle productivity and general computing tasks, and the GTX 1060 makes it a suitable gaming rig if you’re not pushing the boundaries with detail-rich games at ultra-high resolutions.

Are there any alternatives?

In the compact gaming desktop space, there are a number of options from ASUS, MSI, Falcon, Alienware, and others, but none come with the convenience of a carry handle that gives the C730 a unique take on desktop portability. High-end gamers will likely want to custom build their own rigs, but if you’re more of a casual enthusiast, you can get away with one of these performance-packed rigs.

The ASUS Huracan G21, for example, delivers more gaming performance with its GTX 1080 graphics card, but you’ll be paying close to $1,000 more on Amazon currently. One of our favorites at Digital Trends, the Falcon Northwest Tiki, similarly comes with a near-$1,000 premium for its upgraded performance, and higher end configurations will cost you even more.

The C730 strikes a good balance between performance and price for casual gamers who may need the high-end processor performance for computing tasks, but who aren’t demanding top-specs in the graphics department.

How long will it last?

Lenovo includes a standard one-year manufacturer warranty with the C730. This is fairly commonplace, but it also means that this Legion desktop doesn’t quite have the shelf-life that the Falcon commands with its three-year warranty should anything go wrong. The part most likely to fail on many computers is the hard drive, and thankfully, on the C730, that’s user-serviceable and replaceable.

What really holds the C730 back is the lack of more modern ports, like USB-C and Thunderbolt 3, that would make the system more futureproof. Adding a Thunderbolt 3 port, for example, would allow gamers to connect a newer Nvidia RTX series graphics card to an eGPU rig. This would provide an instant upgrade to the system, allowing it to grow should your gaming needs change in a year or two. Though RTX cards are new, and ray tracing isn’t a proven technology yet in the gaming space, lacking the Thunderbolt 3 means you’ll likely need to buy a new system if you want to venture into Nvidia’s vision for the future of gaming.

Should you buy it?

The C730 is a capable gaming system that’s ultimately limited by its own graphics card. While the GTX 1060 does an admirable job, it starts falling short when you’re pushing the limits, and that’s a compromise that high-end gamers aren’t willing to make. Entry-level gamers looking for a good starter system who may not care for the C730’s portability factor can find similar performance for almost half the cost in Dell’s Inspiron 5680.

Snapchat finally comes to Windows 10 and MacOS, but its not what you think

Snapchat is finally bringing a Snap Camera to Windows 10 and MacOS. Not at all similar to the iOS and Android counterpart, Snap’s new app is all about integrating custom lenses with other video conferencing and social desktop apps like Twitch, YouTube, Skype, and Zoom.

The new Snap Camera app is available as a free download and is designed so that it runs in the background of MacOS and Windows as a camera output. Once selected, one of the “thousands” of lenses from the Snap Camera can virtually be worn while streaming or recording videos.

A gallery of lenses is also available inside the app, and can be searched by keyword or saved as a favorite for later use on other Mac or PC apps.

“Today, we are excited to introduce Snap Camera, a free application designed for desktop that invites anyone to experience the fun of Lenses while using their computer,” the Snapchat team said.

It is not required to have a main Snapchat account to download the app, and there is no login as part of the install process. Another integration is also available where Twitch viewers and broadcasters can unlock special Snap Camera lenses in broadcasts through the scanning of QR codes. Examples of those lenses include faces from the characters of League of Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

The Snap Camera app was first announced during the annual TwitchCon conference, as noted by The Verge. According to Eitan Pilipski, Snap’s head of camera platform, the app is designed for creators.

“We’re trying to find new distribution channels for those creators to surface their work. We think this a very unique opportunity, bringing Snapchat AR experiences to the desktop,” said Pilipski.

A full guide to using the new Snap Camera lenses is available online. Minimum system requirements include a PC or Mac with an Intel Core i3 processor clocked at least 2.5 GHz, or an AMD Phenom II clocked at 2.6Ghz, 4GB of RAM, and a screen resolution of 1,280 x 768 or higher.

Considering that Snapchat has been struggling lately, and users have been opening the app less frequently, the new app could expand its base. As noted in August, 3 million people quit the platform, primarily due to its controversial redesign.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best lite apps for Android and iOS
• The best camera apps for the iPhone
• Use your messaging app to control your smart home with Line Things
• The best Mac apps of 2018
• The best Apple TV apps

SpaceX is gearing up to launch a used Falcon 9 rocket booster for a third time

SpaceX

Reusing its rockets is one of the key ways that Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX wants to make space travel simpler and more affordable. With that goal in mind, it has just announced its intentions to fly one of its first stage rocket boosters for a third time — something that has never before been done.

Even though it has reused its Falcon 9 rocket a total of 16 times, until now it hasn’t flown a single first stage more than two times. That could seemingly change as soon as next month, when Falcon 9 will be used for the SSO-A launch, carrying 70 small government and commercial satellites into polar orbit. Providing everything goes as planned, this launch should take place on November 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Lompoc, California.

While it’s not yet been officially confirmed by SpaceX, what would make this possible is the newer version of its Falcon 9 rocket, referred to as “Block 5.” Block 5 was first flown in May this year. It is the most advanced iteration of the rocket and thought to be SpaceX’s final version, with the reusable booster helping cut down on costs as well as shorten the length of time required between launches.

According to the website NASA Spaceflight, there are two possible Block 5 boosters which could qualify for being used in the mission, since these are the only two that have already flown twice. So far, the Block 5 booster has been a big success. After being launched in May, it flew again in under three months. It also returned in better than condition than expected. If SpaceX is indeed able to fly it three times within six months it would be an extremely promising step forward for the future of affordable commercial space travel.

“We’ve launched Falcon 9 over 60 times,” SpaceX’s Lars Hoffman, senior director of government sales for the company, said this week. “We’ve landed our first stage booster 30 times now. And relaunched 16 times. We’re about to relaunch a booster for the third time. High-reliability, higher-performance, lower-cost access to space; that opens it up to everybody.”

Oh, SpaceX: When will you stop dazzling us with your innovation? We hope that the answer is a resounding “never!”

Editors’ Recommendations

• The world’s biggest plane now has some rockets to launch
• Japan preps first test for its awesome ‘space elevator’
• SpaceX to send Japanese billionaire on moon trip, but he won’t be going alone
• Watch the moment NASA releases 450,000 gallons of water onto a launch pad
• Here’s how Microsoft’s Hololens is helping NASA build the new Orion spacecraft

Here’s how to watch Apple’s October 30 Mac and iPad event

It feels like just last week that we were treated to the new iPhone XS and XR, but already it’s time for another Apple event. This time around, we expect to see a new MacBook, new Mac Mini, new iPads, and more — seriously bringing Apple’s computing product line into 2018 and beyond.

Of course, you might be wondering how and where you can watch Apple’s event for yourself. After all, even if you’re not all that interested in Apple products, Apple’s releases are likely to have a significant impact on the tech world as a whole. That, however, is why we’ve put together this guide — to help you figure out exactly where and how to watch the October 30 Apple event.

Unlike previous Apple events, the October 30 event takes place in New York, and it starts at 10 a.m. ET, which equates to 7 a.m. PT.

How to watch the Apple event on a PC or Mac

Usually, Apple limits streaming of its events to Safari on a Mac or Microsoft Edge on a PC, and we expect that to remain much the same for this event. For its September iPhone event, however, Apple detailed that your browser needs to support MSE, H.264, and AAC — basically meaning that it may be possible to stream the event on Google Chrome or Firefox. Keep in mind that if you don’t go through Safari or Edge, there’s no guarantee that your stream will work properly.

No matter which device or browser you use, you need to head to Apple’s website to stream the October 30 event.

How to watch the Apple event on an iPhone or iPad

Perhaps you’re more interested in watching the event on your iPhone or iPad — in which case you’ll need a device running iOS 10 or later. To watch the event on your iPhone or iPad, you will need to open up Safari and head to Apple’s website.

How to watch the Apple event on an Apple TV

Thankfully, you can watch the event on the big screen but the process of watching on your Apple TV is a little different than watching on your iPhone or computer.

To watch on your Apple TV, you need to head to the App Store and download the “Apple Events” app, which will be available from the App Store shortly before the event starts. From that app, you will be able to stream the event for yourself.

How to watch the Apple event on Twitter

Like the iPhone event, Apple will be streaming its event on Twitter — meaning if you have the Twitter app or access to the Twitter website, you will be able to stream it without having to use Safari. To stream the event on Twitter, all you have to do is “heart” the tweet below and Apple will send you updates about the stream when it becomes available on October 30.

Join us on 30 October at 2 p.m. to watch the #AppleEvent live. Tap ❤️ below and we’ll send you updates on event day. pic.twitter.com/j8nukqP1n8

— Apple (@Apple) October 25, 2018

Stay tuned

Whether you watch the Apple event or not, we will be covering all of the major announcements right here. Head here to check out all of our October 30 Apple event-related coverage.

Editors’ Recommendations

• What to expect from Apple’s October 30 event: New MacBooks, iPads
• How to watch Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• What to expect from Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• A canceled education order is increasing hopes for new Macbook model
• What to expect from Google’s October 9 event in New York City

Here’s how to watch Apple’s October 30 Mac and iPad event

It feels like just last week that we were treated to the new iPhone XS and XR, but already it’s time for another Apple event. This time around, we expect to see a new MacBook, new Mac Mini, new iPads, and more — seriously bringing Apple’s computing product line into 2018 and beyond.

Of course, you might be wondering how and where you can watch Apple’s event for yourself. After all, even if you’re not all that interested in Apple products, Apple’s releases are likely to have a significant impact on the tech world as a whole. That, however, is why we’ve put together this guide — to help you figure out exactly where and how to watch the October 30 Apple event.

Unlike previous Apple events, the October 30 event takes place in New York, and it starts at 10 a.m. ET, which equates to 7 a.m. PT.

How to watch the Apple event on a PC or Mac

Usually, Apple limits streaming of its events to Safari on a Mac or Microsoft Edge on a PC, and we expect that to remain much the same for this event. For its September iPhone event, however, Apple detailed that your browser needs to support MSE, H.264, and AAC — basically meaning that it may be possible to stream the event on Google Chrome or Firefox. Keep in mind that if you don’t go through Safari or Edge, there’s no guarantee that your stream will work properly.

No matter which device or browser you use, you need to head to Apple’s website to stream the October 30 event.

How to watch the Apple event on an iPhone or iPad

Perhaps you’re more interested in watching the event on your iPhone or iPad — in which case you’ll need a device running iOS 10 or later. To watch the event on your iPhone or iPad, you will need to open up Safari and head to Apple’s website.

How to watch the Apple event on an Apple TV

Thankfully, you can watch the event on the big screen but the process of watching on your Apple TV is a little different than watching on your iPhone or computer.

To watch on your Apple TV, you need to head to the App Store and download the “Apple Events” app, which will be available from the App Store shortly before the event starts. From that app, you will be able to stream the event for yourself.

How to watch the Apple event on Twitter

Like the iPhone event, Apple will be streaming its event on Twitter — meaning if you have the Twitter app or access to the Twitter website, you will be able to stream it without having to use Safari. To stream the event on Twitter, all you have to do is “heart” the tweet below and Apple will send you updates about the stream when it becomes available on October 30.

Join us on 30 October at 2 p.m. to watch the #AppleEvent live. Tap ❤️ below and we’ll send you updates on event day. pic.twitter.com/j8nukqP1n8

— Apple (@Apple) October 25, 2018

Stay tuned

Whether you watch the Apple event or not, we will be covering all of the major announcements right here. Head here to check out all of our October 30 Apple event-related coverage.

Editors’ Recommendations

• What to expect from Apple’s October 30 event: New MacBooks, iPads
• How to watch Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• What to expect from Apple’s September 12 ‘Gather Round’ event
• A canceled education order is increasing hopes for new Macbook model
• What to expect from Google’s October 9 event in New York City

‘Final Fantasy XV’ dev claims Nvidia’s new card greatly improves performance

“Highest” Preset | Wide

The lead programmer on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XV claimed in an interview with Wccftech that Nvidia’s deep learning supersampling (DLSS) technology made possible through its RTX-series graphics cards, can have a dramatic effect on the game’s performance. Although the game doesn’t yet support it, it is one of the major titles that will be adding the anti-aliasing-like technology soon.

Alongside ray tracing, DLSS was one of the major technologies that Nvidia touted its new Turing-generation of graphics cards with. Used in place of traditional anti-aliasing techniques like temporal-anti-aliasing (TAA), DLSS leverages AI and deep learning to reproduce certain elements of a scene at a much higher resolution than the game is rendered at. It’s designed to improve the visual fidelity of scenes and be much less resource-intensive than techniques like TAA.

According to the technical director and lead programmer on Final Fantasy XV, Takeshi Aramaki, the effects of DLSS are impressive. In his chat with Wccftech, he stated that “The resolution of the texture reduces partially at times, but polygon edges are much cleaner and we’ve been able to realize blur reductions. The performance significantly increases with the 4K resolution and the framerate also shows a substantial improvement.”

Another important improvement with this feature, we’re told, is that it was much easier to implement DLSS than TAA in the game, making for an easier developmental process.

It should be noted, however, that there have been a number of user reports of poor anti-aliasing in Final Fantasy XV, both in terms of its performance impact and its overall aesthetics. While that may make the use of DLSS more dramatic an improvement for those who can take advantage of it, it suggests that the game is not the best benchmark of how DLSS truly compares to TAA or similar anti-aliasing technologies.

Despite his praise of DLSS and the speed with which it’s been implemented, Aramaki wouldn’t be drawn on when we can expect it to become available for owners of both the game and Nvidia’s RTX cards to enjoy. He did, however, suggest that Square Enix may implement ray tracing in the game at some point in the future, giving gamers another reason to adopt the new graphics cards from Nvidia.

For a more in-depth look at Final Fantasy XV performance, check out our guide.

Editors’ Recommendations

• A.I. makes Nvidia’s RTX 2080 twice as powerful as the GTX 1080
• Nvidia’s RTX 2000 GPUs look like A.I. hardware dressed up for gamers
• Nvidia’s Turing chip reinvents computer graphics (but not for gaming)
• Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 might launch next year without ray tracing
• Nvidia’s new GPUs look amazing, but that doesn’t mean you should buy one

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 vs. Pixel Slate

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Once was a time when Microsoft had fallen behind when it came to portable computing. Today though, modern manufactures release products specifically designed to compete with the excellent range of Microsoft Surface 2-in-1s. That’s exactly what Google and Samsung have done with their new respective Pixel Slate and Galaxy Book 2 convertible tablets.

They’re distinctly different devices though, sporting different internal hardware configurations and very different operating systems. So, which is best? To find out, we pitted the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 versus the Pixel Slate and made them face off in a number of important use cases.

Design

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Google is well known for its minimalist aesthetic choices, and the Pixel Slate fully embodies that ideal, but in a fashion that we found a bit drab. It’s flat, dull color scheme and heavily rounded corners make it look less exciting compared to its contemporaries. The Galaxy Book 2, on the other hand, really stands out. It has a subtle, soft aluminum finish that is truly striking, even when compared to fresh-faced devices like the Surface Pro 6.

Both suffer from overly thick bezels, which is becoming a hallmark of 2-in-1 devices. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled by the ultra-thin bezels of modern laptops like the XPS 13, but we can’t help with wish these 2-in-1s adopted at least some kind of middle ground for a more up-to-date look.

Style aside, both devices are light and well balanced. During our time with the Pixel Slate, we even saw someone balance it on a single fingertip, showing how easy and comfortable it is to hold in just one hand.

Port selection on the Pixel Slate is as minimal as its aesthetic, offering just two USB-C connectors and an accessory connector for the keyboard (and no headphone jack). The Galaxy Book 2 has a slightly broader array of connection options, offering the same USB-C ports, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has built-in LTE for easy internet connectivity on the go — something that is becoming more common in laptops too.

Although there is a stark disparity between the starting price of both devices, the bundled accessories (or lack thereof) close that gap significantly. The Galaxy Book 2 starts at $1,000 but comes complete with a detachable keyboard and a new S Pen, the latter of which magnetically attaches to the lid. The Pixel Slate might start at just $600, but both the keyboard and Pen are additional accessories, priced at $200 and $100 a piece. The keyboard takes some getting used to as well, with our early testing leaving us far from enamored with the rounded keycaps.

Arguably the biggest difference between the two devices’ designs though, is the software they run. The Pixel Slate runs Google’s Chrome OS which is lightweight and increasingly offers better touch support. It has its own suite of compatible applications and a broader selection of Android apps. The Galaxy Book 2 runs Windows 10 S in its default configuration, which means it is limited to Microsoft Store apps. You can opt for a full Windows 10 installation instead, however, if you so wish.

Performance

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Galaxy Book 2 is built around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 850 octa-core processor and comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage, all for $1,000. In our review, it performed well with no real slow-downs during light multitasking or multi-tab browser usage. It shows noticeable improvements over the older Snapdragon 835 processor but it still performs poorly when compared with Intel hardware like the Core i5 CPU found in the Surface Pro 6. The onboard Adreno 630 graphics core was lacking in gaming scenarios, proving to be only really capable of rendering low-demand titles like Minecraft at comfortable frame rates.

They should look pretty though, thanks to the bright and rich AMOLED display the Galaxy Book 2 sports. It has a resolution of 2,160 x 1,440, offering a pixel density of 216 pixels per inch (PPI).

The Pixel Slate comes in a few different configurations and uses more typical laptop hardware. The $600 model comes with an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard storage, with options to double both.

In our hands-on test, we used the $800 Intel Core m3 model with 8GB of RAM, which we found to be a little underpowered, feeling quite clunky during certain tasks like using the device’s new split-screen mode for multi-tab browsing at the same time.  The $1,000 model should be far more capable though. It offers an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The $1,600 high-end variant sports an Intel Core i7 CPU from Intel’s Amber Lake generation, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage space.

None of the Pixel Slate’s chips will have super-powered graphics cores, but they should be more than capable of handling the multitude of low-demand games and mobile titles that make up the bulk of the Chrome OS catalog. They’ll look crisp too, thanks to the Pixel Slate’s 3,000 x 2,000 (293 PPI) display, though odd scaling on Android apps might mean black bars are a requirement to fit the screen.

Portability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The dimensions of both devices are much the same. The Galaxy Book 2 measures 11.32 x 7.89 x 0.30-inches, while the Pixel Slate measures 11.45 x 7.95 x 0.27-inches. The weight difference between the two is also negligible — 1.75 pounds and 1.6 pounds respectively. While both are small and light enough to throw in a bag for travel, the Pixel Slate has arguably better weight balancing, making it the more comfortable device to hold one-handed.

There is a starker difference in battery life, however. The Galaxy Book 2 is rated by Samsung at lasting as long as 20 hours on a single charge, while the Pixel Slate is rated for up to 10-hours of mixed usage. In our testing of the Samsung 2-in-1 managed seven and a half hours of web-browsing which isn’t bad, but it’s a little underwhelming considering the Qualcomm processor was supposed to enable far greater battery life than the Intel competition.

We have yet to run detailed battery tests on the Pixel Slate.

Pixel Slate pulls ahead by a pixel

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Neither the Pixel Slate or Galaxy Book 2 have really blown us away. We’d recommend a Surface Pro 6 over either of them, but in this head-to-head there are only two combatants and we have to raise the flag of the Pixel Slate in victory. It might be dull to look at, have expensive accessories, and wonky performance at the low-end, but its overall package is more pleasing, especially at its lower price point.

The Galaxy Book 2 does have better battery life and a much nicer aesthetic, but it’s hardly affordable. The Snapdragon 850 feels underwhelming at times and the Windows 10 S operating system left us frustrated more than liberated, as was the intention with the leaner version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

There are certainly better 2-in-1s out there, but if you’re picking one of these, the Pixel Slate offers enough of a display upgrade and a more affordable array of hardware that it wins the day. This may change once we complete a full review of the Pixel Slate, but so far, it offers the better overall 2-in-1 experience.

Overall winner: Pixel Slate

Don’t forget to check out our laptop reviews for some other great 2-in-1 options.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Samsung Galaxy Book 2 review
• Samsung Galaxy Book 2 packs Snapdragon 850 into Always Connected Windows 2-in-1
• Samsung Galaxy Book 2 vs. Surface Pro 6
• Google Pixel Slate vs. HP Chromebook x2
• Surface Pro 6 vs. Surface Book 2