HP’s EliteDisplay monitor, Evenflo essentials and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on the HP EliteDisplay monitor, Evenflo infant essentials, McCafe coffee and more!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

LIFX bulbs too pricey? Here are some cheap but smart alternatives

LIFX is one of the biggest brands around when it comes to smart home lighting, offering a wide range of bulbs, strips, and panels to brighten up and color your room. Its selection isn’t perfect, though — the bulbs are pricey, and there aren’t many accessories to control them. If you’re shopping for smart bulbs and don’t want LIFX, there are plenty of other options from brands like Philips Hue and Flux.

Popular pick

Philips Hue White and Color Ambience

Philips Hue is the most well-known competitor to LIFX, and offers a similarly wide range of smart lights. The most popular bulb is the White and Color Ambience, but you can also buy light strips, lamps, and accessories like remote dimmer switches and motion sensors.

$48 at Amazon

Cheaper alternative

Xiaomi Yeelight

Xiaomi doesn’t just make phones; it actually has a massive collection of smart home devices, including its Yeelight smart lights. Like Philips Hue, Yeelights come in a wide variety of form factors, so you can buy what works best for your home — whether that’s a bulb, lamp, night light, or even a candela.

$30 at Amazon

Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

Flux Smart LED Bulb

Flux doesn’t have the broad selection that LIFX and Philips Hue offer, but its bulbs are more affordable and can still be controlled through Wi-Fi — though some of its bulbs actually utilize Bluetooth instead, which cuts costs even further but means that you won’t be able to change your lights away from home.

$36 at Amazon

No hub necessary

TP-Link LB130

TP-Link is an established smart home brand, and its LB130 bulb is a good option that, like LIFX’s bulbs, doesn’t require a hub to control. Get this if the LIFX bulbs are too expensive or your local store doesn’t have them in stock.

$35 at Amazon

Back to basics

GE C-Life

If you don’t care about colors and all you want is a light you can turn on and off from your phone, GE’s C-Life bulb is as simple as it gets. By default, it can only be controlled over Bluetooth, but you can buy a separate hub if you’d rather use Alexa or Google Assistant. Best of all, it’s very inexpensive.

$8 at Amazon

Light panels

Nanoleaf Aurora Rhythm

Nanoleaf doesn’t sell light bulbs, but if you’re looking for an alternative to the LIFX Tile, the Aurora Rhythm is a fun and eye-catching product that lets you light up your room and even coordinates colored lights with music. What’s more, you can buy a hardware controller to change the colors of the panels.

$226 at Amazon

There are plenty of smart lights to choose from, and the best options will come down to your wants and needs. I’ve been using LIFX bulbs for years, but I just bought my first Philips Hue bulb because the included wall-mountable remote works perfectly in our guest room that doesn’t have a light switch, and a few people on the team swear by their Nanoleaf Aurora panels. Find what works best for you, and don’t be afraid to buy into multiple brands! After all, almost all of them can be controlled by your virtual assistant.

Some iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max Devices Won’t Start to Charge While Screen is Turned Off

A number of iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners in the Apple Support Communities and MacRumors Forums report that the devices fail to start charging when a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.

As with many crowdsourced issues, experiences vary. In most cases, the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max begins charging once the user wakes the device by tapping or raising the screen. However, some users report having to both wake the iPhone and disconnect and reconnect the Lightning cable to get a charge.

In rarer cases, the iPhone stops responding entirely at some point after a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.

Lewis Hilsenteger demonstrated the issue on his popular YouTube channel Unbox Therapy today by plugging a Lightning cable into one iPhone X, four iPhone XS, and four iPhone XS Max units. While the iPhone X began to charge, it appears two of the iPhone XS units and three of the iPhone XS Max units did not.

Unbox Therapy’s video uses the hashtag #ChargeGate
Affected customers have documented the issue in at least a dozen discussion threads across the web, including the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and other forums and platforms. It’s unclear how widespread the issue is at this time, but not everyone is affected.

Some users have speculated the issue could be related to USB Restricted Mode, introduced in iOS 11.4.1, which prevents an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from communicating with USB accessories via the Lightning connector if one hour or longer has passed since the device was last unlocked.

However, while USB Restricted Mode is enabled by default in iOS 12, Hilsenteger and others say disabling the feature does not help. Apple also has a support document that ensures “your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch charges as usual when it’s connected to a USB power adapter” with the feature toggled on.

In the YouTube comments on the Unbox Therapy video, some users claim to be experiencing the same issue on older iPhones and iPads, so there is a decent chance this is a software issue that could be addressed in a future iOS 12 update. In the meantime, there does not appear to be a workaround.

If you are affected by this issue, we recommend contacting Apple Support. Apple frequently passes on device information and diagnostics to its engineering teams to address potential bugs like these, so all feedback helps.

Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but we’ll update this article if we receive any information.

Related Roundup: iPhone XSBuyer’s Guide: iPhone XS (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

VPNSecure is currently 94% off

Banking information. Mortgage payment history. Your important documents. Nearly all of your life is online these days, and, while convenient, that can be scary. There are many people out there looking to act maliciously, and we need to be sure that is in the back of our brains at all times. While you can’t avoid using the internet (in most cases), you can ensure that it is a secure connection when you do use it.

VPNs have become more and more popular as the time passes because people want to make sure that the information they are transmitting is getting to the right places. VPNSecure is a great option, and right now you can score a sweet deal on a lifetime subscription to the service. With it you’ll be able to connect up to five devices at the same time, use unlimited bandwidth and more.

Some of the key features include:

• Allows you to bypass geolocation blocks on your favorite streaming networks
• Encrypts your traffic so hackers can’t access your data
• Hides your location & IP address
• Supports torrents
• Allows you to connect five devices simultaneously
• Grants you the ability to choose Data Cipher
• Uses Stealth VPN to render your VPN traffic unrecognizable
• Delivers unlimited bandwidth
• Does not keep any logs of your activity
• Includes servers in 46+ countries & counting
• Protects against DNS leak fixes, kill switches & more

You are getting a whole lot for your money here. VPNSecure normally costs $450 for the lifetime subscription, but right now you can pick one up for only $25.

Browsing the web can get you in loads of trouble if you aren’t careful, so be sure to grab this at its 94% discount to secure your browsing sessions.

See at Android Central Digital Offers

3rd-generation Google Chromecast purchased at Best Buy weeks early

For better or worse, the design is staying exactly the same.

It’s been a hot minute (read, 3 years) since Google updated the Chromecast, but a recent FCC filing made it seem a new model was coming. If a redditor who managed to buy one early is to be believed, not only do we have a good look at the new model, we also have a date for its public release — and a better idea of when the Google Pixel 3 event will be held.

Redditor /u/GroveStreetHomie says that they found this on the shelf at their local Best Buy, and when they went to buy it, the cashier couldn’t ring it up, as the SKU had been held the system for an October 9th release date. Luckily for us all, since the new and old Chromecasts have the same price, the store staff apparently let them buy it under the current generation Chromecast’s SKU. Upon getting it home, they gave us all a quick comparison of the 2nd and 3rd generation:

• “It seems a little thicker.”
• “The top is no longer glossy and the Chrome logo has been replaced with the G Google logo.”
• “Still micro-USB (sad right).”
• “They did remove the magnetic HDMI connector on the tip and base of the Chromecast which is a bummer.”

Sticking to microUSB is indeed unfortunate, as is the loss of the magnets for easy cable management and securing of the Chromecast to the back of your TV. We can’t see how the new model performs — if it indeed has Bluetooth support as the FCC filing suggested — as the current Google Home app is incompatible with the new model, but we won’t have much longer to wait.

After all, October 9th is only 10 days away. The question is, will that date only bring a new Chromecast, or the new Google Pixel 3, too?

According to the FCC listing from August, this new Chromecast will be the first to support Bluetooth. The current model does have a Bluetooth chip, but it’s only used during the initial setup process and can’t be enabled by users afterward.

The FCC documents show that Google thought about just sending a software update to the exisitng Chromecast to enable this functionality, but “because this new model requires a new equipment code (DSS) not covered by the original certification for FCC ID A4RNC2-6A5, the new version of device requires a new FCC ID.”

Along with Bluetooth functionality, the new Chromecast will also offer improved Wi-Fi reception with 5GHz networks:

This device has been changed to include a 0.5 mm trim on the 5GHz PCB antenna trace that increases the 5GHz maximum antenna gain from 2.1 dBi to 4 dBi.

Google might announce the new Chromecast at its upcoming Pixel 3 event that’s expected to take place in early October, but seeing as how the design for the updated model will be identical to the current one, it’s entirely possible it’ll simply be sold in place of the existing Chromecast with no fanfare surrounding it. The October 9th release date mentioned by the Best Buy staff it still fast approaching, and we still do not know exactly when the Made by Google event will be.

Here’s why the NVIDIA Shield TV is still being updated after three years

Updated September 29, 2018: We’ve updated this post to include the first appearance of the presumed 3rd generation Chromecast, found and acquired by a lucky redditor on Friday night, 11 days before its alleged October 9th release date.

Chromecast

• Chromecast buyer’s guide: Which should you get?
• Chromecast vs. Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?
• Chromecast Audio: Everything you need to know
• Chromecast Ultra vs. Roku
• Join the discussion in our forums!

Best Buy
B&H

The Oculus Quest’s competitor isn’t Rift or Vive. It’s the Nintendo Switch

Our time with the Oculus Quest left us impressed. Facebook heavily promoted Quest’s features, like its lack of wires and the fact it isn’t powered by an external PC. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, even said it can deliver performance similar to what the Rift can achieve. We certainly enjoyed the freedom of using a headset that’s built for wireless use from the ground up.

Yet while Facebook and Oculus executives are optimistic about Quest’s potential, those looking to buy the $400 VR headset should heed the warning of CTO John Carmack, who took a more realistic view of what this mobile headset is capable of.

“A big high-end PC can use up to 500 Watts of power,” Carmack explained, noting that the Quest is using approximately 5 watts of power. “There’s almost a factor of 100 difference in total power […]” between the two devices.

While the Rift is as powerful as the PC its attached to, the Quest’s performance is more in line with the last generation of gaming consoles. “Quest is in the neighborhood of a previous-gen console like an Xbox 360 or PS3 in terms of CPU and GPU, and what you can do on it,” Carmack said during his keynote presentation on the second day of Connect.

To overcome the mobile hardware available on the Quest, Oculus engineers are pulling out all the tricks to make sure they’re able to deliver a high level of performance. With Dead and Buried, a large multiplayer game that’s basically VR laser tag, the team removed some GPU strain by pre-baking level lighting.

“On Rift, you might have real time shadows everywhere,” Oculus developer relations engineer Gabor Szauer explained. “On the Quest, we have all the lighting baked into the scene.” The differences between the two lighting techniques aren’t obvious and removing real-time shadow effects reduces the hardware cost of rendering a scene. Other techniques include texture compression and reducing the number of objects in a scene. In total, Szauer said that the games can look “similar enough” to Rift while drastically slashing hardware requirements.

The Oculus Quest’s competitor? Nintendo’s Switch

Though they’ve targeted different types of gaming and different gamers, Oculus feels the device that will compete for gamer’s attention the most is the Nintendo Switch.

“Realistically, we’re going to wind up competing with the Nintendo Switch as a device,” Carmack said. “I don’t think there are that many people that are going to say. ‘I’m not going to buy a PS4, and I’m going to buy a Quest instead.’ I think there are people that are going to say ‘I’m a gamer. I’ve got a brand of choice for the main console. And maybe I got a PC that I play games on. I am going to pick up a Quest as a mobile device.’”

The Quest is also adopting Nintendo’s strategy of making games fun and immersive without focusing on technical specifications. The Nintendo Switch isn’t a device that can compete on a performance perspective against larger living room consoles like the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, but it’s still a fun experience thanks to its hybrid docked and mobile modes.

“The homerun scenario on this is that we carry over all of the goodness of the Rift experiences, all of the conveniences of Go, and bring it all together,” said Carmack. “Bringing in all of the people that could never use the mobile experiences before, and that could be really great.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• The $400 Oculus Quest brings more power to untethered VR gaming
• Oculus Quest hands-on review
• Oculus ‘Santa Cruz’ VR headset may arrive in the first quarter of 2019
• Nintendo Virtual Boy emulator lets you enjoy VR like it’s 1995 again
• The best VR headsets of 2018

These are the most common iOS 12 problems and how to fix them

Apple’s iOS 12, the company’s latest and greatest version of its mobile operating system, is packed with great features. While previous iterations of iOS have come with a series of bugs and other issues, iOS 12 doesn’t seem to have too much wrong with it.

That said, the new operating system isn’t perfect. Some people have reported a few issues with it which is why we’ve put together this guide — to find the biggest iOS 12 problems and try to identify a way to fix them.

Annoyance: Display colors look ‘off’

A number of people on Reddit have reported that after installing iOS 12, the display on their phones looks a little “off.” Colors look a little washed out, and it’s just not as vivid as it was before. In particular, it seems as though the issue affects the iPhone X the most, which is a big deal considering the fact that the iPhone X was the first iPhone with an OLED display, and OLED displays are known for their bright and vivid colors. Speculation suggests that the issue has something to do with the new display profile in iOS on the iPhone X, but that’s far from a certainty.

Unfortunately, as of right now it doesn’t seem as though there is a fix to this issue. It’s possible that Apple will fix the problem in a future iOS update.

Problem: Bluetooth not working

After updating, some people are noting that the Bluetooth icon has disappeared from the status bar. While that’s not an issue in and of itself, others report that Bluetooth simply isn’t working on iOS 12.

Potential solution:

• Go to Settings > Bluetooth and toggle Bluetooth off, then on again.
• If that doesn’t work, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Glitch: Apps crashing more than usual

There have been a few reports suggesting that the update to iOS 12 is causing some apps to crash a lot more than usual. The issue could be due to a number of reasons. For example, the apps in question may not have been properly tested or updated to work with iOS 12.

Potential solution:

• Open the App Store and press Updates from the menu bar. Update any apps that have available updates.
• Force quit the app, then relaunch it.
• Restart your iPhone.

Generally, iOS 12 is a pretty well put-together operating system — so it’s possible no more issues with it will come up. If they do, however, we’ll update this article. You can also learn how to get the most out of it with our handy iOS 12 tips and tricks.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The most common iOS 11 problems, and how to fix them
• Useful iOS 12 tips and tricks
• Our favorite new and updated apps in iOS 12
• How to downgrade your iPhone or iPad from iOS 12 to iOS 11.4
• The best iOS 12 features

10 years of Android: How the best mobile OS was made

You’ve come a long way, baby.

Step into the Wayback Machine and travel to October 2008, if you will.

I was with a small crowd of other folks at a Washington, D.C. T-Mobile store waiting in line to buy the T-Mobile G1. It was a phone that had a very limited release — in the U.S. only high-volume T-Mobile retail stores in areas with 3G deployments were selling them — and it was also a phone that wasn’t even going to work once I got it home (blame that pesky T-Mobile 3G-only thing again). But I had to have it because it was a phone that was running this crazy new Linux-based OS from Andy Rubin and Google called Android.

A turbo-charged Sidekick?

By today’s standards, the T-Mobile G1 was a dumpster fire. It featured a 3.2-inch plasticky-feeling capacitive display, a big chin with a weird clicky trackball that didn’t act at all like the trackball every BlackBerry user was used to (and there were a lot of BlackBerry users back in 2008), a sliding horizontal qwerty keyboard, and almost no internal storage or memory. And that’s not even mentioning the weird headphone adapter you needed and that fact that multi-touch drivers had to be removed from the phone due to “legal” reasons. No matter what phone you have in your hands right now, it’s a lot better than the G1.

Nobody knew it would become so popular; we all just knew it was pretty cool.

But back then, this was a masterpiece of engineering on both the hardware and software side. The minds that brought us the Sidekick now worked for Google and we had an awesome new toy.

Look back at that phone you have in your hands again, and you can thank the T-Mobile G1 for it being the way it is. Android changed the way we all think about “mobile” as much or more than the iPhone did, and the G1 started it all.

This was during the days before we knew what an app store was (though other companies did distribute mobile apps via the internet) and a 3 M/second download speed on T-Mobile’s amazing new 3G network rocked our socks off. It’s kind of crazy what was enough to make people actually like the G1 on the software side. You had Gmail, a rudimentary web browser, a big round clock widget and little else. You could see your contacts and calendar, and the predecessor to Hangouts — GChat — was there and crashed the entire network in some places because it didn’t know how to act nice and not send a gazillion pings every minute.

Android on the G1 would outrage any reviewer or customer by today’s standards. But we kept hearing how Android was going to keep getting better and small quick updates made us all believe it.

DROIDS and Galaxies

Only a few people actually bought a G1. Partially because the interest was in the iPhone, and partially because it was tied to T-Mobile, which, a decade ago, was not a carrier people loved. Android saw light adoption, even though companies like Samsung and Motorola were also making Android phones worldwide. Then, Verizon and its marketing team got involved and gave us the DROID.

You remember the commercials and billboards. You remember the Super Bowl ad. You remember the DROOOOIIIIIDDDDD sound. We saw things change as Android was suddenly in the hands of millions and millions of people.

A year later, Samsung noticed, and took things to a new level with the launch of the Galaxy S. While Motorola and Verizon had about 70 million people to target, Samsung had the entire world watching and wanting the coolest new phone anyone had ever seen.

The original Galaxy S had the improvements Google made to Android — multitouch came back, turn-by-turn navigation through Google Maps was awesome, all your Google information was working together with mail, contacts, and calendar being a seamless thing — but Samsung went crazy with the software and Android looked more like an oddball version of a desktop OS than anything we saw previously. TouchWiz was born, and whether you loved it because it was over the top or hated it because it was over the top it changed everything. Everything.

10 years later

Plenty of companies have helped make what is Android Pie. Sony, LG, OnePlus, Huawei, and more are all very important partners that have contributed to the code that makes Android work. But you can draw a simple timeline using the T-Mobile G1, the Motorola Droid, and the Samsung Galaxy S to see how we got here.

Many companies make Android what it is, even if Google’s name is on the box.

There were some other important milestones — HTC changed things again with the Nexus One/EVO 4G and their 1GHz mobile processors, the first Galaxy Note wasn’t a success by any measure but it’s why we see 5-inch plus screens and oodles of storage and memory, and LG showed how awesome two cameras could be with the G5.

Even the budget space has seen some amazing evolution and every $300 or less phone would suck had it not been for the Moto G. Each one of these partners and their keystone devices are what allowed Google to transform Android into what we see in 2018.

Android is now a smart platform for connected devices, but seeing how it’s evolved on our phones is amazing. Ben Bajarin wrote in 2013 that Android was now software for commodity electronics and things like Amazon’s $29 Fire TV Stick show he was right. But on the mobile side — phones and other devices we carry every day — Android is now a powerful computer and can do just about everything one would need in a pocket PC. It’s become the base that successful companies use to build incredible software on incredible devices.

Samsung showed us all what Android really is — just the backbone for a custom operating system — with the first Galaxy S phone. But the core parts of Android Pie provide an astounding array of features and functionality that nobody even dreamed of in 2008. Notifications that do more than let you know someone is trying to send you a message or an interface to camera hardware that the manufacturer decides is best but still works seamlessly with the rest of the software are incredible feats of engineering. Android adapts to any screen — televisions and watches running Android are commonplace — because it was designed to adapt, but on a smartphone, it shines.

The next 10 years will be just as interesting and none of us know what to expect from Google, Samsung, BlackBerry or any of the rest of the companies that make the Android ecosystem. But we all know it’s going to be really, really cool.

These are the best cases for travel with your PS4

Here are some cases to help keep your PS4 safe as you travel.

There are times where you absolutely have to hit the road with your PlayStation 4. When I need to move my PS4 from point A to point B, I use the USA Gear Case because of its flexibility and storage space.

Best bang for your buck

CTA Digital Case

If you’re looking for a case for your PS4 but you don’t want to break the bank, then you can’t do much better than this carrying case by CTA Digital. The modest exterior design of this bag is good for those who don’t want to advertise that they are hauling around a PS4. There is plenty of room inside to house your console, a couple of controllers, all the needed wires, and a handful of game discs.

$30 at Amazon

More protection

Hard travel case

If you want a solution that offers a bit more protection and you’re willing to throw down a few extra bucks then you’re probably going to want a hard case. This Case by co2CREA offers a comparable amount of storage as the previous entry with a much more durable exterior. Another bonus is the storage compartments which can be adjusted to suit your specific needs.

$40 at Amazon

Flexibility and storage

USA Gear case

No matter what iteration of PS4 you own, this baby can handle it. The nylon exterior is wrapped around a reinforced shell to protect your precious cargo. The inside offers plenty of storage for whatever extras you may want to bring with you and it can also be customized with adjustable dividers. Finally, when you have it all loaded up, toss it over your shoulder with the padded strap and you are good to go!

$45 at Amazon

For when you just need your controller

RDS Industries controller case

There may be some times where you’re headed out to do some gaming and you don’t need to bring your whole console. If the only thing you need is your controller and you want to make your dual shock doesn’t take any shock then you might want to pick up this controller case from RDS industries. It’s a well-made little case which does exactly what it sets out to do.

$19 at Amazon

For some folks, traveling with a PlayStation on hand is a must. If you are one of those people, hopefully these cases — like the excellent USA Gear Case, will help you to get where you’re going without your console taking any taking any damage. I wish you the safest of travels and the happiest of gaming sessions!

Complex Passcode Bypass Method Exposes iPhone Contacts and Photos in iOS 12

A passcode bypass vulnerability has been discovered in iOS 12 that potentially allows an attacker to access photos and contact details on a locked iPhone.

The rather convoluted bypass method was shared in a video by Jose Rodriguez, who has discovered iOS bugs in the past that Apple has subsequently fixed.

With physical access to the locked device, the attacker first asks Siri to activate VoiceOver, sleeps the device with the Side button, and then calls the iPhone using another device. Once the call screen shows up, the attacker taps the Message button, opts to create a custom message, and then taps the plus (+) icon in the top right.

Next, on the other phone, the attacker sends a text or iMessage to the target iPhone, whose screen is then double-tapped when the message notification appears. This causes an odd behavior in the UI, since it highlights the plus icon underneath.

After a short wait, the screen goes white and the notification disappears, but the VoiceOver’s text selection box is apparently still tappable and can now be used to access the Messages interface. Following multiple screen swipes, the VoiceOver is heard to say “Cancel,” which reveals the original Messages screen.

Adding a new recipient to the message and selecting a numeral from the virtual keyboard then reveals a list of recently dialed or received phone numbers and contacts. Further, if one of the numbers or contacts includes an info (“i”) button, disabling VoiceOver and tapping the button shows the contact’s information. Performing a 3D Touch action on the contact also brings up call and message options, along with options to Add to Existing Contact or Create New Contact.

In a similarly complicated set of steps involving an invisible user menu, an attacker can eventually access a locked iPhone’s Camera Roll and other photo folders, which can then be used to add profile pictures to contact cards.

The bypass methods work on all iPhones including the iPhone XS lineup, but Apple doesn’t appear to have fixed the vulnerabilities in the latest iOS 12.1 beta. Thankfully however, all of the above can be easily prevented by disabling access to Siri from the lock screen.

Concerned users can do so by navigating to Settings > Face ID & Passcode (that’s Settings > Touch ID & Passcode on iPhones with Touch ID) and disabling the Siri toggle under the “Allow access when locked” menu.

Tag: security
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