Here’s how Samsung can make the S Pen a standout feature again with the Note 9
It’s the one true differentiator of the Note line, and there’s room for improvement.
Samsung’s Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines have converged over the past three generations, to the point where very little differentiates the two lines. The one true standout feature of the Note line is the S Pen, which really has no competition in the market — but even still, it hasn’t fundamentally changed since the Galaxy Note 5, leaving even Note fans clamoring for the next big advancement.
The latest rumors for the Galaxy Note 9 launch point to a new style of S Pen that keeps its home inside the phone but now connects over Bluetooth to offer new features. We don’t have much of a hint of what those improvements could be, but I have a few ideas — some practical, some far-flung enough that they’d have to be implemented in future versions of the Note. Let’s go through a thought experiment.
Better awareness of where the pen is
Never leave your S Pen behind, and keep using it away from the phone.
Galaxy Notes have always had a system to alert you if you have stopped using the S Pen and didn’t place it back inside the phone. With a full Bluetooth connection, this can go a step further — the phone would always know precisely whether the S Pen is within range of it. Alerts for leaving your S Pen behind somewhere would be far more reliable, and there would no longer be false positives so long as Bluetooth is turned on.
Going a step further, this new awareness of proximity opens up even more possibilities. Currently, the phone only knows that the S Pen is there when it’s extremely close to the display — move it about an inch away, and it no longer does anything because it’s a passive instrument. But with Bluetooth (and therefore a battery), the S Pen will always have a connection to the phone — the button(s) will still be able to perform functions and there are other possibilities for interaction other than only putting the tip of the S Pen on the screen.
Presentation and media controls
Let’s take that idea a bit further — what can you do with an S Pen if the phone can recognize its interactions even when it’s not in the immediate proximity of the display? The simplest feature would be using the S Pen’s button for media controls or as a presentation tool. With 30+ feet of range, you could easily see someone using the S Pen as a simple tool to play/pause video playing on the phone connected to an external display, or move through a presentation with the small S Pen rather than holding the big Note 9.
This would be extra useful if the S Pen added another button, rather than relying on the single button it’s historically had. This could be as simple as turning the clicky end piece into an actual button — currently, it’s just a retractable tab that helps you pull the S Pen out of the phone (and satiate your fidgeting habit).
Recording off-display writing
With the right developers on board, the possibilities are endless.
If the S Pen can send information to the phone over Bluetooth at a distance, why would you necessarily need to write on the display? I’d love to see Samsung implement some sort of way to record writing that you do off the display but within Bluetooth range of the phone. Much like dedicated “smart” pens have done in the past, perhaps you could do some scribbling on a flat surface with the S Pen and see it relayed in virtual space on the Note’s display. Whether that’s to give you a larger canvas to work on or just an extra option for expansion, it’d be a neat trick.
Even if this was only available as a secondary accessory for the S Pen that offered an ink-filled pen attachment, it’d be an amazing extension of the Note’s ability to be a productivity and artistic device.
Perhaps some gaming tie-in
Samsung’s CEO, DJ Koh, recently hinted that the S Pen may have some sort of tie-in with gaming. Being connected over Bluetooth and offering extra functions with its button(s) lends itself to this kind of advanced interaction, but it’s hard to imagine this going very deep considering its size. You’d have to imagine that any sort of “game” the S Pen is used for would have to be specially designed for it, and will most likely be some sort of casual game.
Leaning on the above idea of drawing off of the screen, you could easily see some sort of party game coming together where you would draw something on the table that nobody could see aside from the one with the phone, and others guess it. Not exactly something that’s going to sell a ton of Note 9s, but it could be something Samsung develops in-house just to show what the new phone and new stylus are capable of.
Use as a headset
Samsung’s done it before, and it can do it again.
As crazy as it sounds to have the S Pen work as a headset, Samsung actually has some standing in this area. It made an S Pen that doubled as a Bluetooth headset for the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, but it was obviously far too big to be considered as a phone accessory. Perhaps now it could get the technology down to a size small enough to fit inside a Galaxy Note phone.
Sure, we don’t make as many phone calls as we used to, but those who use a Note are the type who want to be able to multitask and may want to use a Bluetooth headset — with this, they could continue to use their phone while talking through the S Pen. It wouldn’t be as useful as a dedicated headset or headphones with a microphone, but in a pinch, it’d be far more helpful than talking on speakerphone.
What do you want?
We’re quickly approaching the launch of the Note 9, and we’re all interested in speculating about what Samsung could do with the S Pen to make the Note line stand out. Whether it’s for this release or the future, what do you want to see from the S Pen? Let us know in the comments!
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Samsung Galaxy Note 9 rumors: Release date, specs, price, and features!
- Is it best to buy the Galaxy S9 or wait for the Note 9?
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- Galaxy Note 8 review
- Join our Galaxy Note 9 forums
How to Use Instant Tuning in iOS 12 to Change Notification Behavior on the Fly
As part of its digital health initiative in iOS 12, Apple has introduced some improvements to the way app notifications can be managed, enabling users to more easily reduce the number of daily distractions their iPhone or iPad throws their way.
One of these new features is called Instant Tuning, which allows you to quickly adjust the future behavior of app notifications whenever they appear in the Lock Screen or the Notifications Center. Here’s how to make the most of it.
How to Use Instant Tuning in iOS 12
Next time an alert appears in your device’s Notifications Center or on the Lock Screen, swipe left on it, then tap Manage. Alternatively, if your device supports 3D Touch, hard press on the alert and then tap the three dots in the upper right corner of the expanded notification.
A Manage Notifications pop-up will appear on the screen featuring two blue button options. Deliver Quietly ensures future alerts from this app only appear in the Notification Center (accessed by swiping down from the top of your device’s screen).
Note that selecting this option means alerts will no longer show in the Lock Screen and you won’t see any banner notifications on any other screens. Deliver Quietly also turns off any sound or vibration alerts set for the associated app.
If you tap Deliver Quietly and then decide you’d rather not stick with the setting, open the Manage Notifications pop-up again in the same way and tap the Deliver Prominently button to reinstate the previous settings.
The second option, Turn Off…, completely disables all notifications for the related app. Tap this button and you will be prompted to confirm it’s what you want.
Below the two large blue buttons is a less prominent Settings button that takes you to the individual app’s various notification options, usually accessed via the main Settings app.
From here you can adjust where alerts should appear (if at all), enable or disable sounds and badges, select alert preview options (Always, When Unlocked, Never) and choose how notifications should be grouped (Automatic, By App, Off).
Related Roundup: iOS 12
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Apple Revises Vintage-Obsolete Date of 2012 15-Inch MacBook Pro With Retina Display to End of 2018
A few months ago, in an internal document obtained by MacRumors, Apple indicated the Mid 2012 model 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display would be classified as vintage or obsolete as of June 30, 2018, marking the end of hardware service from Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers.
In a notice distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, however, Apple says it “incorrectly classified” the notebook as vintage or obsolete on June 30, and revised the date to December 31, 2018.
The full-length internal document, obtained from multiple sources:
In a Service News article published in May 2018, the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) was incorrectly classified as vintage in the state of California (U.S.) and country of Turkey and obsolete worldwide (except for California and Turkey) on June 30, 2018.
Please note that the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) will not become vintage in California (U.S.) and Turkey and obsolete in all other countries until the end of December 2018.
Apple apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Apple has yet to remove the notebook from its public-facing vintage and obsolete products list, as shown below.
Apple considers a product to be vintage or obsolete, depending on the region, when at least five years have passed since the product was last manufactured. When this happens, Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers stop offering hardware service, like repairs, except in California and Turkey by law.
All in all, if you’re still using this particular MacBook Pro, it turns out you still have a little under six months of hardware support remaining from the Genius Bar and certified repair shops. So, if you’ve been looking to get that battery replaced, or otherwise, it would be best to do so sooner rather than later.
Beyond that date, you’re on your own. Fortunately, the repair experts at iFixit offer many do-it-yourself guides and replacement parts.
Related Roundup: MacBook ProTag: vintage and obsoleteBuyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Apple’s Chinese iCloud Data Moved to Servers Managed by State-Owned Mobile Operator
Apple’s Chinese iCloud operator has agreed a deal with state-owned China Telecom to transfer local customer data to the company’s Tianyi cloud storage business, according to TechCrunch.
China Telecom reportedly announced the agreement in a WeChat post, saying that local Apple partner Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD) had migrated all Chinese iCloud customer data to Tianyi servers. Apple separately confirmed the change to TechCrunch.
Back in January, Apple controversially announced that its iCloud services in mainland China would be overseen by GCBD, which was already known to have ties to the Chinese government. GCBD was brought on board to manage Apple’s new $1 billion data center, which opened in the region last year.
Customer data stored on iCloud includes emails, text messages, and the encryption keys that protect it. Customers who did not want to use iCloud operated by GCBD were given the option to terminate their account or select a country other than China for their iCloud account.
Apple made the transfer to comply with the latest laws enacted in China regarding regulations on cloud services, requiring foreign firms to store data within the country. The move means Chinese government can use its own legal system to ask Apple for its users’ iCloud data, whereas before the government had to go through the U.S. legal system.
Today’s development is unlikely to quell the concerns of human rights and privacy advocates, who criticized Apple’s original decision to rely on GCBD and questioned whether it will be able to maintain and protect its customers’ privacy under the new Chinese laws.
At the time, Apple said, “While we advocated against iCloud being subject to these laws, we were ultimately unsuccessful.” Nevertheless, Apple assured customers that no backdoors had been created into any of its systems, and that it retained control of the encryption keys. Whether the new GCBD-Telecom arrangement impinges on Apple’s original assurances remains to be seen.
Tags: China, China Telecom, iCloud, privacy
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Our favorite Amazon Prime Deals priced $10 or less
Take advantage of these inexpensive deals while they last.
We’re almost at the close of Prime Day 2018, and if you’re anything like me, you’re praying that you won’t see any more great offers to make you pull out your wallet once again. If your Prime Day funds are running low, there are still some great deals you can grab for $10 or less. Of course, as with most of the deals popping up during Prime Day, a majority of these offers are exclusively available for Prime members. If you’re not a member, you can still get in on these deals by starting a free 30-day trial.
Avid reader? You’ve probably already heard of Kindle Unlimited which offers unlimited access to over 1 million books for a monthly fee, but did you know you can try out the service for three months at just $0.99 total? Its books can be read either on a Kindle device or via the free Kindle app. If you don’t have much time for books, consider Audible instead and have someone else read to you. Right now, you can grab three months for $5 each as opposed to the regular $15 monthly price.
If you’re one of those people with headphones always on, like me, you also won’t want to miss Amazon’s offer for four months of Amazon Music Unlimited for $1. The service gives you access to your favorite music and new releases so you can listen whenever on your iOS or Android device, or computer.
There are even some money-making opportunities during Prime Day. For example, if you buy some of these $1 Dash Buttons, you’ll receive a free $5 credit upon pressing them for the first time, and you can get a credit for each one you buy.
Some of the other great deals under $10 today include:
- Groot Planter Pot for $6.86
- Plinrise Animal Desk Phone Stand for $7.99
- Panasonic Wired Earphones for $6.79
- 14oz Aquaphor Healing Ointment for $7.40
- Jenga for $10.27
Prime Day 2018 has just a few hours left, so you might want to take a last look at the remaining Prime deals while they’re available.
If you buy one Amazon device on Prime Day, make it the Fire TV Cube
Treat Yo Self.
I think more-often-than-not deals are about saving on the essentials. After all, if we have to buy it, we might as well save some money on it. If you’re going to buy new silverware or charging cables, you should get them at a discount. If you’re going to start your smart home, you should go with a bundle that gets you what you need without breaking the bank. If you’ve got a baby on the way or one already gurgling in his crib, you’re going to need every dime that can be spared. But days like Prime Day afford us a little extra wiggle room with deals. There are so many devices and tools and groceries on sale that it becomes the perfect time to do something you probably don’t do as often as you should – splurge a little.
There are still some great Amazon devices on sale. Not just devices at good prices but devices we know are really worth the investment. The Echo Dot is still just $30, which is the same as its Black Friday pricing. You could even get two for $50, which is a bargain given the Dot costs $50 by itself on a non-giant-sales-day. You get a smart home hub, access to Alexa’s voice control, and a Bluetooth speaker all in one tiny device. But that’s a boring choice and a decision you’ve probably already made.
Instead, you should go with the Fire TV Cube. It’s new, it’s not nearly as tested as the Echo Dot, and it’s a little more splurgy. But it’s not too bad because right now the Cube is down to $89.99, which is the same price Amazon offered to Prime members willing to pre-order it back in June. You might not have been willing to take the risk when you didn’t know what it was, but that’s a mystery solved thanks to this thorough CordCutters review.
The Fire TV Cube takes the best of what the Echo Dot has to offer, combines it with the Fire TV, and gives you one device you can use to control your entire living room… with your voice. When you buy it for yourself, it comes connected to your Amazon account out of the box. After the initial setup, you’ll be ready to stream from Amazon Prime Video in no time. You can control your cable and satellite boxes, your speakers, and all your favorite media. With Alexa’s Smart Home Skills, you’ll be able to access your video doorbell, lights, and other devices as well. It’s not perfect, and some of those skills need to ironed out, but it’s trying to do more in one device than any of the rest of Amazon’s lineup.
You might not have jumped at the opportunity to get Fire TV Cube before, but you’ll miss out on its best-ever savings by failing to take the leap right now. If you’re going to buy one Amazon device on Prime Day, make it the Fire TV Cube.
See at Amazon
These are the top 10 items that our readers purchased on Prime Day
There were some clear winners this year.
Amazon boasted that Prime Day 2018 would have more than a million deals available worldwide, which is pretty insane when you think about it. Even though there were so many deals, there were a bunch of clear-cut winners this year. We took some time to break down what the top 10 deals were during this sale, as decided by what you have been buying.
Given the price drops that each of these items received, and the popularity of the products on their own, it’s not a huge surprise to see any of them on the list. Of all the products, the one that surprises me the most is the Amazon Cloud Cam, given the level of competition in the home security camera space at around and even below this price point. The top 10 items that you all purchased on Prime Day include:
Amazon Fire TV Stick
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
SanDisk 128GB microSD Card
Amazon Echo Dot (2nd-Gen)
Toshiba 50-inch 4K Fire TV Edition
Instant Pot DUO60 6-Quart
Amazon Cloud Cam Security Camera
Kindle Paperwhite E-Reader
Roku Streaming Stick
Amazon eGift Cards
Some of these items have finally sold out, and others are still available. It’s rather impressive to see Amazon maintain stock on such a wide variety of items for nearly the entire duration of the huge shopping event. The Amazon Gift Cards are likely on the list thanks to this promotion which basically gave you free money to buy a $25 card.
Last year, Amazon’s biggest seller was the Echo Dot, though this year the company says that early data shows that the $20 Amazon Fire TV Stick took the top spot and that the Toshiba Fire TV was the best-selling TV deal in all of Amazon’s history. Following closely behind the Fire TV Stick was the Instant Pot and Echo Dot, which is no big surprise.
If you haven’t finalized your Prime Day shopping, be sure to check out all of the best deals that are still available and get it done before the event ends.
How to Enable iOS 12’s New Do Not Disturb at Bedtime Feature
There’s nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night, glancing over at your iPhone to check the time, and seeing a bunch of notifications that demand your attention and distract you from getting back to sleep.
Apple is aiming to prevent this in iOS 12 with a new Do Not Disturb at bedtime feature that prevents notifications from being displayed on the iPhone’s Lock Screen during your downtime, removing the temptation to start opening up apps in the middle of the night.
Enabling Bedtime Mode
Open up the Settings app.
Scroll to the “Do Not Disturb” section and tap on it.
In the Do Not Disturb section, tap on “Scheduled” to toggle it on.
Select your Do Not Disturb time period, which, for most people, should be from when you go to bed until when you typically wake up.
Tap on Bedtime Mode to toggle it on.
With Bedtime Mode enabled, when you activate the display on your device, the entire screen is dimmed and black, offering up only the time, the current device charge, and a notice that Bedtime Mode is turned on.
In this mode, all incoming calls are silenced as are all incoming notification messages. Your notifications are still listed in the Notification Center, accessible by swiping down from the top of the display, but you won’t see them on the Lock Screen.
Bedtime Mode vs. Do Not Disturb
With Do Not Disturb turned on without Bedtime Mode, all of your incoming calls and notifications are still silenced, but the notification messages themselves will all be visible right on the Lock Screen.
Enabling Calls From Certain People
If you want family members to be able to contact you even with Do Not Disturb and Bedtime Mode turned on in case of emergency, there’s a setting for that.
Open the Settings app.
Tap “Do Not Disturb.”
Scroll down to the Phone section where it says “Allow Calls From.”
Select Everyone, No One, or “Favorites,” which can be set up in the Contacts app.
You can also toggle on “Repeated Calls” in the same section of the Settings app so a second call from the same person within three minutes won’t be silenced. This is an ideal way to screen out unwanted calls while still allowing for potential emergencies as most people will try again if you’re unreachable in a crisis.
Waking Up
When it’s time to wake up, and when Bedtime Mode is scheduled to go off, your iPhone or iPad will display a “Good morning!” message and it will let you tap to reveal all of the notifications that were silenced during the night.
Turning Off Bedtime Mode
If Bedtime Mode isn’t for you, you can turn it off in the Settings app where it was enabled.
Open the Settings app.
Tap on “Do Not Disturb.”
If you want to turn off your scheduled Do Not Disturb session entirely, toggle off “Scheduled.”
If you want to leave Do Not Disturb on but disable Bedtime Mode, tap the Bedtime Mode toggle to turn it off.
Note: To quickly access Do Not Disturb settings, swipe to open up the Control Center and then 3D Touch or long press on the little moon icon.
This will provide you with options to enable Do Not Disturb for an hour, a few hours, until the end of an event, or until you leave a specific location, and it also offers up a “Schedule” option at the bottom that opens straight into the Do Not Disturb toggles in the Settings app.
Related Roundup: iOS 12
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The UN and Yale unite to build a ‘smart’ tiny house for the future
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More than 7.6 billion people currently inhabit the Earth, each one an eating, breathing, space-occupying bundle of atoms. By the year 2050, experts estimate that the global population will rise by more than a quarter, bringing the total to around 9.7 billion people. That is a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of bodies to find shelter for. Already, around a billion people live in shoddy settlements, while many more reside in structures that aren’t environmentally friendly.
In an effort to design more sustainable and affordable housing for future populations, the United Nations and Yale University recently teamed together and created the Ecological Living Module, a roughly 240-square-foot tiny house, which they designed to test ways to minimize water and natural resource use.
“We clearly need more housing but the key thing is that we also need smarter housing” Erik Solheim, head of the United Nations environment program, UN Environment, said. “The housing sector uses 40 percent of the planet’s total resources and represents more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. So making them more efficient will benefit everyone and it’ll mean lower bills, too. Innovations like the Ecological Living Module are what we need more of.”
Constructed mainly from locally sourced, renewable materials, the Ecological Living Module is powered entirely by renewable energy. Using built-in technology, the structure has its own solar energy generation system, on-site water collection setup, basic agricultural infrastructure for growing greens, and plant-based air purification system. The unit is designed to let in natural light to lessen its energy demand, and is capable of being modified for living and working. It can accommodate up to four people, albeit in rather tight quarters.
The Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture worked with Gray Organschi Architecture to design and fabricate the house.
“Adequate housing is at the heart of sustainable urbanization,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, executive director of UN Habitat, the UN’s human settlements program. “The use of proper building materials, better planning, and improved construction techniques can make energy use in buildings more efficient. If adopted widely, this practice can create jobs and prosperity with lower greenhouse gas emissions.”
A prototype of the Ecological Living Module is on display in the UN Plaza in New York City through July 18. Future models will be designed to adapt to local climatic and cultural contexts.
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New VR horror game gets scarier if your heart rate isn’t fast enough
A bit like spicy food, the effectiveness of horror titles varies from person to person. What makes me break out in a sweat may not be enough to elevate your heart rate. Fortunately (or, if you’re of a nervous disposition, perhaps, unfortunately,) the good folks at game developer Red Meat Games have come up with a neat way around this problem. It includes medical technology that would more commonly be used for helping people than scaring the bejesus out of them.
In its latest virtual reality game Bring to Light, players have the option of strapping on a heart rate monitor to personalize the game’s fear factor. Get too comfortable with the experience, and the game’s artificial intelligence will know to ramp up the terror. Because who wants a relaxing, enjoyable game experience, right?
“Back in 2013, gaming conferences were plastered with mobile game ad companies selling their ad services,” Red Meat Games CEO Keith Makse told Digital Trends. “I had the thought at the time that rather than automating the ad systems, as was proffered by every ad company, there could be a tool that could automate game design in some way.”
Red Meat’s first attempt at doing this resulted in a tool Makse calls DAISy (Distributed A.I. System), which tweaked a trivia game based on real-time user interaction. However, Makse wanted to go further than this and utilize biometric technology. “When I was brainstorming another game, I thought we should be able to use biometric feedback as user input, and we quickly thought of using a heartbeat,” he continued. “That was the easy part. We’ve probably spent about 12 months in total designing, building, and testing this system to get it to where it is today.”
Bring to Light puts players in control of the sole survivor of a subway accident, which turns out to be just the first step in a terrifying Lovecraftian horror experience. The $20 game launched on Steam earlier this month, available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, as well as a “flat” version you can play on PC without the need for a virtual reality headset.
“While I still think it’s too early to tell if this will be picked up by any others out there, I do think that using biometric feedback will eventually become an option for games and other apps out there,” Makse said. “More biometric devices are released every day and constant improvements are being made.”
