Meet the man fighting plastic pollution with a fleet of AI-powered camera drones

That plastic cup you’ve got sitting on your desk looks pretty harmless on its own. However, add it to the rest of the plastic that humanity throws away on a daily basis and you have the makings of the estimated 5 to 13 million metric tons of plastic trash which reportedly wind up in the world’s oceans every year. U.K.-based Plastic Tide founder Peter Kohler got a glimpse of the scale of this problem a decade ago — and it changed the course of his life.

Plastic Tide founder, Peter Kohler

“About ten years ago, I went out to the South Pacific,” he told Digital Trends. “I’ve always been fascinated by oceans, and this was pure paradise. But it was a paradise under siege. One of the most visible ways this paradise was being besieged was with litter. It was everywhere, although we were miles from anyone. When you’re sailing in the middle of nowhere, it really gets you wondering where this litter comes from and how it gets here. I came back to England and spent the next few years puzzling over how best to answer that question.”

Kohler’s questions led to answers, but not necessarily the kind that he wanted. One of the tidbits he discovered was that, not only do we have a huge marine littering problem, we don’t know where most of it comes from. Simply put, when plastics are dumped in the water they are quickly lost track of, making it hard to hold people accountable.

Photos are used to train an A.I. algorithm to recognize images of plastic trash.

But he has a solution — and it involves some pretty impressive cutting edge technology. “Plastic Tide aims to use tech, machine learning and citizen science to build a scalable local and global monitoring solution to this problem of marine litter,” he told Digital Trends.

The idea, in essence, is to use drone-mounted cameras to take thousands of aerial photos. These photos are then used to train an A.I. algorithm to recognize images of plastic trash to distinguish, say, a plastic bag from a jellyfish or a bottle cap from a seashell. A bit like the Captcha systems online that ask you to prove your humanness by decoding a squiggly row of letters or numbers, conscientious users can log on to the nonprofit’s website and help to tag artificial flotsam and jetsam.

“In the short term, this can be used to help with cleanup events by making us aware of the worst-impacted areas for humans, marine life and bird life,” Kohler continued. Just like the Captcha system, though, when you answer these questions correctly, you’re also helping to make the image recognition algorithms smarter so that they will one day be able to carry out this classification on their own. That will enable Plastic Tide to move onto the next stage of its goal: building a comprehensive system which can chronicle the spread of plastics in something much closer to real time. Instead of just looking at coastlines, Kohler said that this could “include coastal, sea surface, seafloor, rivers, and maybe even one day roads and railways. Everything that connects to the sea, basically.”

Being able to track the spread of plastic in this way will help with everything from discovering which companies are responsible for particularly egregious littering to visualizing the direct link between environmental policies and their impact on the world. “For example, here in the U.K. the government has banned plastic bags,” he said. “We can then see what that actually does to the amount of plastic on the coastline.”

However, there’s another part to the project — and i‹t’s one which also needs your help. In order to spot plastic in images, Plastic Tide needs images to spot plastic in. These are taken using drone-mounted cameras, snapped by a growing army of helpful volunteers. “Pretty quickly I started getting emails from people around the world asking how they could contribute images to help train the machine learning system,” Kohler said. “It became so big that I founded the Marine Litter DRONET to coordinate these efforts. It’s a mix of everyone from concerned individuals all the way up to research institutions and companies.” This aspect of the initiative has attracted some keen enthusiasts, such as 72-year-old Morris Enyeart, who has so far contributed upwards of 7,000 images.

“Plastics aren’t bad; it’s our misuse of them which is often bad.”

Kohler makes sure to stress that “plastics aren’t bad; it’s our misuse of them which is often bad.” Nonetheless, this is an area which desperately needs attention — and since it affects us all, it’s only right we all lend a hand where possible.

“We’re always happy to have people get involved,” he said. “They can volunteer to tag plastic by logging onto our website and clicking the button on the landing page. If they want to join the Marine Litter DRONET, they should send us a message. Plus, get involved with your beach cleaning efforts. That’s a great way of making you aware of the impact of everything that you throw away.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Disposable plastic straws are a huge polluter. This keychain could change that
• Chevrolet now lets you pay for Shell gas right from the driver’s seat
• Drones are helping efforts to free whales from dangerous marine debris
• Electrolux develops the first fridge made with recycled plastic
• Accidental mutant enzyme sounds scary, but it could help eliminate plastic waste

Microsoft Office 365 apps will hit the revamped Mac App Store later this year

As part of Apple’s announcement regarding MacOS Mojave, the revamped App Store, and support for the UIKit development framework used for iOS apps, the company has announced that Microsoft will be bringing Office 365 to the App Store on Mac later this year. These apps will be in addition to the Office 365 desktop programs you can already download and install on any Mac device. They will be joined by Adobe Lightroom CC, BBEdit from Bare Bones software, and Panic’s Transmit.

The news arrives by way of Apple’s product marketing manager for the Mac App Store, who claims that developers are excited over the App Store overhaul. In addition to Adobe, Bare Bones, and Panic, other names briefly flashed during the presentation included Serif, Bloom, Feral, Corel, Aspyr, Black Magic Design, Intua, and Houseparty. 

The excitement over the upcoming App Store revamp is well-earned. Launched in 2011, the current version isn’t exactly horrible, providing a Featured page, a Top Charts page, and a Categories page throwing apps into groups such as Business, Photography, Games, Productivity, and so on. You can access the pages via icons listed along the top along with pages listing your Purchased apps and the Updates section. 

But Apple looked closely at how customers used their Macs and decided to rebuild the App Store from the ground up. The example that was shown on-stage relied on the upcoming Dark Mode in MacOS Mojave and looked stunning. Instead of an icon-based toolbar strung along the top, you’ll see a menu riding down the left side of the App Store presenting tabs for Discover, Create, Work, Play, Develop, Categories, and Updates. 

That said, Apple pushed to bring the streamlined iOS experience over to MacOS, such as implementing a new user interface, video previews, app rankings, placing ratings and reviews front and center, and more. Apple also created a better method of leaving ratings and reviews to make feedback even easier for Mac owners. 

Currently Microsoft only provides five apps on the Mac App Store: Remote Desktop, OneDrive, OneNote, Band Sync, and RMS Sharing. That number pales in comparison to the huge library Microsoft serves up on iOS: Over 20 including its individual Office-based apps, Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, Xbox, Mixer, Skype, and more.  

Microsoft’s slim selection of apps on MacOS paints the current state of the Mac App Store. You won’t find the likes of Facebook, Netflix, Hulu, and Twitter, the latter of which pulled its app from the MacOS app store in favor of Mac owners getting the “full” experience using a web browser. Meanwhile, you’ll still find Twitter’s app on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch alongside Facebook, Netflix, and Hulu. 

With the arrival of UIKit support in MacOS, developers won’t be required to create two separate apps for two separate platforms. Right now, Apple is supposedly keeping this feature all to itself to convert its in-house apps. UIKit support will go live for developers in 2019 although Microsoft may already have access to provide a premium Office app experience later this year. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• iPhone apps are finally coming to your MacBook. Eventually. Sorta.
• MacOS Mojave brings Dark Mode, stacking, and a redesigned App Store to Macs
• The best Apple Watch apps
• Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps are free for a limited time
• The 100 best iPad apps for your Apple tablet

Microsoft Office 365 apps will hit the revamped Mac App Store later this year

As part of Apple’s announcement regarding MacOS Mojave, the revamped App Store, and support for the UIKit development framework used for iOS apps, the company has announced that Microsoft will be bringing Office 365 to the App Store on Mac later this year. These apps will be in addition to the Office 365 desktop programs you can already download and install on any Mac device. They will be joined by Adobe Lightroom CC, BBEdit from Bare Bones software, and Panic’s Transmit.

The news arrives by way of Apple’s product marketing manager for the Mac App Store, who claims that developers are excited over the App Store overhaul. In addition to Adobe, Bare Bones, and Panic, other names briefly flashed during the presentation included Serif, Bloom, Feral, Corel, Aspyr, Black Magic Design, Intua, and Houseparty. 

The excitement over the upcoming App Store revamp is well-earned. Launched in 2011, the current version isn’t exactly horrible, providing a Featured page, a Top Charts page, and a Categories page throwing apps into groups such as Business, Photography, Games, Productivity, and so on. You can access the pages via icons listed along the top along with pages listing your Purchased apps and the Updates section. 

But Apple looked closely at how customers used their Macs and decided to rebuild the App Store from the ground up. The example that was shown on-stage relied on the upcoming Dark Mode in MacOS Mojave and looked stunning. Instead of an icon-based toolbar strung along the top, you’ll see a menu riding down the left side of the App Store presenting tabs for Discover, Create, Work, Play, Develop, Categories, and Updates. 

That said, Apple pushed to bring the streamlined iOS experience over to MacOS, such as implementing a new user interface, video previews, app rankings, placing ratings and reviews front and center, and more. Apple also created a better method of leaving ratings and reviews to make feedback even easier for Mac owners. 

Currently Microsoft only provides five apps on the Mac App Store: Remote Desktop, OneDrive, OneNote, Band Sync, and RMS Sharing. That number pales in comparison to the huge library Microsoft serves up on iOS: Over 20 including its individual Office-based apps, Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, Xbox, Mixer, Skype, and more.  

Microsoft’s slim selection of apps on MacOS paints the current state of the Mac App Store. You won’t find the likes of Facebook, Netflix, Hulu, and Twitter, the latter of which pulled its app from the MacOS app store in favor of Mac owners getting the “full” experience using a web browser. Meanwhile, you’ll still find Twitter’s app on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch alongside Facebook, Netflix, and Hulu. 

With the arrival of UIKit support in MacOS, developers won’t be required to create two separate apps for two separate platforms. Right now, Apple is supposedly keeping this feature all to itself to convert its in-house apps. UIKit support will go live for developers in 2019 although Microsoft may already have access to provide a premium Office app experience later this year. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• iPhone apps are finally coming to your MacBook. Eventually. Sorta.
• MacOS Mojave brings Dark Mode, stacking, and a redesigned App Store to Macs
• The best Apple Watch apps
• Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps are free for a limited time
• The 100 best iPad apps for your Apple tablet

LG V35 ThinQ vs. HTC U12 Plus: Which big beauty should you buy?

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

It’s worth noting that Apple and Samsung are not the only smartphone makers turning out great devices. LG and HTC have been making great Android phones for years and years — and they deserve some attention. If you’re in the market for a powerful, big smartphone packed with innovative features, then the LG V35 ThinQ and the HTC U12 Plus should both be on your radar. The question is — which phone is better? We decided to put the two devices head-to-head to find out.

Specs

LG V35 ThinQ
HTC U12 Plus

Size
151.6 x 75.4 x 7.3mm (5.97 x 2.97 x 0.29 inches)
156.6 x 73.9 x 8.7 mm (6.16 x 2.9 x 0.34 inches)

Weight
158 grams (5.57 ounces)
188 grams (6.63 ounces)

Screen size
6-inch OLED
6-inch Super LCD

Screen resolution
2,880 x 1,440 pixels (538 pixels-per-inch)
2,880 x 1,440 pixels (538 pixels per inch)

Operating system
Android 8.0 Oreo
Android 8.0 Oreo

Storage space
64GB
64GB, 128GB

MicroSD card slot
Yes, up to 2TB
Yes

Tap-to-pay services
Google Pay
Google Pay

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

RAM
6GB
6GB

Camera
Dual 16MP (with OIS) and 16MP wide angle rear, 8MP front
Dual 12MP and 16MP telephoto rear (both with OIS), dual 8MP lenses front

Video
 Up to 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 240 fps, HDR10
Up to 4K at 60 frames per second, 1080p at 240 fps

Bluetooth version
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0

Ports
3.5mm headphone jack, USB-Type C
USB-Type C

Fingerprint sensor
Yes (back)
Yes (back)

Water resistance
IP68
IP68

Battery
3,300mAh

Fast charging (Quick Charge 3.0)

Qi wireless charging

3,500mAh

Fast charging (Quick Charge 3.0, QC 4.0 with adapter, not included)

 

App marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store

Network support
AT&T, Project Fi
T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon

Colors
Aurora Black, Platinum Gray
Translucent Blue, Ceramic Black, Flame Red

Price
$900
$800

Buy from
 AT&T, Project Fi

HTC, Amazon

Review score
 Hands-on review

Hands-on review

Performance, battery life, and charging

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The standard flagship combination for 2018 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor backed by 6GB of RAM — and that’s precisely what both of these phones have inside. You can expect speedy, slick performance and the ability to multitask gracefully. Both come with 64GB of storage and have MicroSD card slots for expansion. You can also get the U12 Plus with 128GB of internal storage.

In terms of battery life, the U12 Plus has the edge on paper with an extra 200mAh over the 3,300mAh battery in the LG V35 ThinQ, but we’re not sure that will make a big difference in every day se. They both support Quick Charge 3.0 out of the box, but the U12 Plus can also support the slightly faster Quick Charge 4.0 standard, though it will require you to buy a compatible charger separately.

The LG V35 ThinQ scores some points back here with support for Qi wireless charging, which is sadly lacking in the HTC U12 Plus. This is a very tight category, but we’re giving the V35 ThinQ the win for the wireless charging support.

Winner: LG V35 ThinQ

Design and durability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The LG V35 ThinQ is almost identical to the LG V30 in terms of design, which means it’s a good-looking device. There are slim bezels above and below the large screen, with no notch in sight. Rounded corners and curved aluminum edges give way to a glass back. The dual-lens camera has a fingerprint sensor below it. It’s a surprisingly light phone, but it’s big, so it’s not the easiest to manage one-handed.

The HTC U12 Plus is very similar in size, slightly taller and thicker but not quite as wide. It also has a horizontally arranged dual-lens camera on the back, with fingerprint sensor below and an all-screen front with bezels top and bottom, though they’re a bit bigger than LG’s bezels. It’s a heavier phone, but that actually lends it a more expensive feel. HTC offers some innovation here with a complete lack of mechanical buttons, instead relying on touch-sensitive buttons and the squeezable edges for operation.

In terms of looks, we prefer HTC’s eye-catching, liquid glass finish, with the translucent blue model being an interesting option. The V35 ThinQ looks conservative by comparison, but that will suit some people better.

Both phones are IP68 rated, so there’s no need to panic about short dunks into water or being caught in the rain. Because of the glass sandwich designs, we strongly advise cases for both of these phones.

Winner: HTC U12 Plus

Display

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

With 6-inch screens, these smartphones are among the largest on the market. Both the V35 ThinQ and the U12 Plus sports resolutions of 2,880 x 1,440 pixels. They both have an 18:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 538 pixels per inch. They’re both sharp and a pleasure to read on, but LG has a slight edge. The OLED screen in the V35 ThinQ offers much better contrast and we prefer it to the Super LCD in the U12 Plus. LG has also managed to achieve a slightly higher screen-to-body ratio, which makes the large screen just a touch more manageable.

Winner: LG V35 ThinQ

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The dual camera is very much here to stay, and LG and HTC have embraced the trend. The V35 ThinQ pairs two 16-megapixel lens, one with an f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization and the other a wide-angle lens with an f/1.9 aperture. The U12 Plus has a 12-megapixel standard lens with an f/1.75 aperture, as well as a 16-megapixel telephoto lens with an f/2.6 aperture.

Low-light photography is a weakness for the V35 ThinQ, though there is a Super Bright Camera mode, and we love the versatility of the wide angle lens. The U12 Plus boasts a superb camera that justifies the early plaudits. We know that HTC is capable of delivering strong photography, and the single-lens U11 camera impressed us last year, so it’s exciting to see what the Taiwanese manufacturer can do with a dual-lens setup.

HTC has also chosen to go with a dual setup on the front, pairing two 8-megapixel cameras with f/2.0 apertures for great portrait selfies with blurred backgrounds. The V35 ThinQ has a single 8-megapixel camera on the front with an f/1.9 aperture.

LG has stirred some A.I. smarts into the mix, but the AI Cam has failed to impress us so far. The V in the V35 stands for video, so there are some interesting modes you can try out to help make your home movies a bit more arresting. However, in terms of the upper limits, the U12 Plus is actually more capable, because it can capture 4K at up to 60 frames per second or 1080p at 240 fps, while the V35 is limited to 30fps and 60fps respectively.

Winner: HTC U12 Plus

Software and updates

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Both phones run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, with manufacturer skins over the top. They will both get upgraded to Android P, but beyond that, it’s hard to say when. Both manufacturers have done fairly well with Oreo rollouts, so we don’t really know which will deliver the freshest flavor of Android first.

We prefer HTC’s user interface, though the U12 Plus does have some bloatware onboard. The V35 ThinQ has some special Google Assistant commands, but we’re not keen on the look of the skin, and there’s some bloatware there too.

Winner: HTC U12 Plus

Special features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The ThinQ part of the V35 name means that your smartphone can double as a smart home controller, provided you have a bunch of ThinQ-branded LG devices. For some people, the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack with a Quad DAC in the V35 will score as a special feature, especially since the U12 Plus doesn’t have one. There’s also the A.I. smarts in the camera and the video modes that we highlighted in the camera section, not to mention Google Lens integration in the camera app.

HTC won’t be outdone in the special features department, adding new gestures to Edge Sense which allows you to squeeze your phone to snap a photo, trigger Google Assistant, or something else you decide upon. With a new double tap option, it’s more versatile than ever, and the touch-sensitive buttons feel like another step toward a completely button-free phone. The powerful camera also has a few tricks up its sleeve, such as Sonic Zoom, which boosts the audio for any subject you zoom in on when shooting video.

Winner: Tie

Price

The HTC U12 Plus costs $800 (add $50 for the 128GB model) and you can buy one direct from HTC or on Amazon. It’s certified to work on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

You can get the LG  V35 ThinQ exclusively on AT&T and Google’s Project Fi, but it costs $900.

Overall winner: HTC U12 Plus

There really isn’t a big gap here. The LG V35 ThinQ has a superior display, a refined design, and an impressive set of features, but it doesn’t do enough to justify the extra cost. The U12 Plus boasts an excellent camera, just as much power under the hood, and plenty of tempting features of its own. We like both phones, but the HTC U12 Plus narrowly ekes out the win.

Editors’ Recommendations

• LG V35 ThinQ vs. LG V30: Is the newer model worth the extra cash?
• HTC U12 vs Google Pixel 2 XL: Can HTC take out the stock Android king?
• HTC U12 Plus vs. HTC U11: Is it time to upgrade?
• LG G7 ThinQ vs. Google Pixel 2 XL: A brains-versus-brawn comparison
• OnePlus 6 vs. LG G7 ThinQ: Can the flagship killer sink LG’s latest?

Waze enlists A.I.-powered analytics company Anodot to improve driver experience

A.I.-derived business insight provider Anodot announced on Tuesday, June 5, that Waze will integrate its autonomous analytics system throughout the community-based traffic and navigation app. Anodot’s machine learning system will beef up Waze users’ driving experience by detecting and reacting to user-reported abnormalities and problems.

Based in Israel with offices in Europe and Silicon Valley, Anodot’s systems act as a business data safeguard. Anodot’s analytics engine continuously monitors company data. When the machine learning-driven system detects problems or anything out of the ordinary for that company’s datasets, it signals an alert for further action.

What that means in plain English is that when Anodot’s machine language-based artificial intelligence software analyzes vast amounts of new data, it can tell immediately if something unusual occurs. A wide variety of businesses use Anodot’s analytics. When Anodot’s system identifies a glitch, an error, or anything outside the norm, the new data is integrated with the primary business’ systems. For various client’s seamless recovery from abnormalities can mean more on-time deliveries, increased manufacturing line uptime, or financial systems reacting to errors before too much harm is done.

The data Anodot will monitor for Waze’ will be the reports from millions of Waze users who share real-time information while traveling. Drivers use the navigation app to report traffic and road conditions, gas prices, speed traps, road construction projects, and more to help others save travel time and fuel expense. Users can find the best routes to follow on the maps Waze map editors update based on community-reported information.

With Waze’s real-time, community-driven travel information model, Anodot will be used to keep drivers moving. For example, if Anodot detects Waze member messages about traffic accidents, suddenly slippery road conditions, significant gasoline price changes, or anything else that its A.I. system determines differs from the norm, that data is instantly used to adjust local driver recommendations or notifications.

“Waze needed a solution that could quickly identify and alert us on potential app performance and user experience issues, helping us to minimize user issues,” said Waze’s head of analytics, Dr. Orna Amir. “Anodot helps us fulfill our most important goal: To constantly enhance and improve the driving experience for our users. And it does so by seamlessly analyzing millions of hyper-localized metrics.”

The variety of data types Waze receives and the speed at which it reports to drivers is at once its greatest value and biggest challenge. Turnaround time is crucial. When you add the element of location — which is anywhere Waze users drive — the complexity multiplies.

According to Anodot CEO and co-founder David Drai, however, its autonomous analytics engine is up to the task of making Waze’s processes more efficient and effective.

“With traditional BI (business intelligence) tools, it can take days or weeks for companies to learn of issues that can hurt reputation and profits,” Drai said. “Anodot’s autonomous analytics technology is capable of handling the speed, volume, and variety of data Waze generates, and provide actionable insight from these huge data sets.

“Whether this means better-suggested routes or fewer app hiccups,” Drai continued, “Waze users will enjoy a better app experience with Anodot working for them behind the scenes.”

Intel throws down a gauntlet with its 28-core extreme CPU

The bar for what to expect from single-socket, consumer-facing processors has been raised once again with Intel demoing a 28-core monster at this year’s Computex show. Easily capable of outstripping its existing top-of-the-line Core i9-7980XE, the CPU is slated for release later this year.

The biggest change with both Intel and AMD’s latest generations of CPUs is that they bolstered the core counts of mainstream processors. With AMD leading the charge with its Ryzen lineup, Intel followed suit and increased its Core i3 CPUs to four cores and the Core i5 and i7 chips to six cores a piece. That core-count expansion is now impacting the top of the top-end too, with Intel’s 28-core CPU likely to be the most powerful single-socket chip Intel has ever released to the public.

Beyond its core count, there isn’t much we know about this chip. We don’t know what architecture it’s built on, or what its die size is. What we do know though, is that it can run at up to 5GHz and that it makes the $2,000, 18-core i9-7980XE look weak in comparison.

In a run of Cinebench’s CPU rendering test, the new 28-core CPU was capable of a multi-threaded score of 7,334. As PCGamesN highlights, multi-CPU systems might have performed better than that in the past, but this is the most powerful single chip score we’ve seen yet. In comparison, the best current Intel CPU, the i9-7980XE only managed a score of 5,029 when overclocked to 5GHz.

Intel hasn’t made it clear when this new high-end CPU will be released but did state that it would show up before the end of the year. Its eventual price tag was also elusive, but considering it competently outpaces even chips that cost a couple of thousand dollars, we wouldn’t expect this new CPU to retail for any less.

The most intriguing part of this story could be how AMD will respond. It seemed clear that Intel boosted the core counts of its eighth-generation CPUs in response to AMD’s original Ryzen release. Threadripper proved to be perfectly capable competition — and far more affordable — than Intel’s Core i9 CPUs. With this new benchmark hardware to contend with, Threadripper 2 may do something special once again.

Editors’ Recommendations

• AMD vs. Intel
• Intel Anniversary Edition 5GHz six-core CPU is just days away
• Intel shows off world’s first six-core mobile CPUs, adds Optane to everything
• HP’s mainstream Pavilion PCs refreshed with latest AMD Ryzen, Intel Core CPUs
• Intel’s 10nm CPU finally makes it to retail in a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad laptop

Intel just showed how it can substantially increase laptop battery life

Intel offered an intriguing proposition at this year’s Computex show: How would you like to increase your laptop’s battery life by around 50 percent? That’s a question that few would answer in the negative and it could be the case for a number of new-generation notebooks in the near future, as Intel has already partnered with Sharp and Innolux to produce the new 1W LCD panels that make it a reality.

The biggest drain on any notebook is almost always the display. That’s why we so often recommend 1080P panels over the 4K alternative. With Intel’s new design though, that may no longer be the case. While it does add the caveat that the most battery savings will be in systems equipped with Intel HD graphics, rather than AMD or Nvidia graphics chips, the promise of such battery life extensions is certainly compelling.

It would be a bit of an ask to have journalists wait out the many hours it would take to drain a laptop battery on stage, but Intel did bring along a Dell XPS 13 fitted with the new Low Power Display Technology to Computex. It suggested that the already impressive battery life — 13 hours in our video loop test — could be extended by between four and eight hours depending on usage, as per The Verge.

As Intel suggests, this new technology’s effectiveness will depend heavily on how the system is being used. It doesn’t matter how efficient your screen is if you have it in standby while the CPU is grinding away at encoding a video. The limitations on graphics hardware are also a little disappointing, but then we want our gaming displays to be bright and colorful, unlike some of the budget gaming laptops out there. If we can have a new generation of mainstream 2-in-1s and lightweight laptops that can suddenly have more than a day’s charge, color us intrigued.

Perhaps we’ll even see a new generation of laptops that fit these displays with smaller batteries to maintain existing uptime but cut down on weight and size even further.

While it seems unlikely that any improvement seen by this kind of battery-boosting technology will lead to manufacturers being any less dishonest about the capabilities of their laptop’s batteries, it is at least a new recommendation we can add to our guide on how to improve your laptop battery life.

Editors’ Recommendations

• HP just unveiled your next laptop – all 11 of them to be exact
• Dell calls revamped XPS 15 the ‘smallest performance 15.6-inch laptop’
• Smart bike helmet maker Coros’ GPS fitness watch promises 30 days of battery life
• The best Dell laptops
• Take Crush Light, a collapsible and affordable solar lantern, on any adventure

Samsung may be developing a Snapdragon 850-powered Windows 2-in-1

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Qualcomm has hinted that a new Samsung device with a Snapdragon 850 chipset is in the works and considering the Korean manufacturer’s existing portfolio of Windows convertible tablets, it could well be a Windows 2-in-1. If true, this would put it in direct competition with the likes of HP, Asus, and Lenovo, all of which have their own Qualcomm-powered Windows laptops.

With battery life one of the main concerns of any new laptop buyer, a number of manufacturers have been looking to bring some of the highly efficient mobile processors produced by companies like Qualcomm to bear in the notebook space. The fact that its Snapdragon system on chips (SoC) happen to be pretty powerful also hardly hurts matters.

That’s doubly so with its newly announced Snapdragon 850, which is designed specifically to cater to the needs of modern, highly efficient laptops and convertible devices. Where the Snapdragon 835 was often found in smartphones too, Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 850 has been optimized for use with Windows PCs, including form factors that aren’t just your typical laptop.

Although Qualcomm hasn’t been drawn on what kinds of “innovative form factors” it expects its new 850 SoC to be used in, a new Samsung convertible tablet could be one of them, as per Engadget. If such a device were to make full use of the new Snapdragon chip’s capabilities, we could expect it to offer stellar battery life and full LTE data connectivity up to 1.2Gbps, as well as much greater performance than the Snapdragon 835.

Such features may be able to draw in more manufacturers to support the new chip design in their builds, as only a handful of Windows laptops were built on the Snapdragon 835 platform. With the likes of Intel touting new, battery-life extending technologies like low-power-draw displays, however, traditional laptops will be as competitive as ever with Qualcomm’s latest efforts. It will be interesting to see what Samsung and its contemporaries can do with the new hardware later this year.

Perhaps budgeting for better battery life is the best aim for those looking for laptop upgrades this year though, as Nvidia’s big announcement at Computex as that its new graphics cards aren’t likely to arrive until much later in 2018.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 is made for Windows PCs with ‘innovative form factors’
• Is Microsoft planning a $400 Surface tablet?
• LG G7 ThinQ vs. Google Pixel 2 XL: A brains-versus-brawn comparison
• Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus: Here’s everything you need to know
• 5 things the rumored Surface tablet will need to beat the iPad

Google Lens is now available as a stand-alone app on the Google Play Store

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

If you’re looking for an easier way to access Google Lens, look no further than the new shortcut app now available in the Google Play Store. The stand-alone app allows folks to take advantage of the relatively new feature, even if your existing Android device doesn’t offer built-in functionality. (The LG G7, for  example, has a dedicated button on the handset that lets you go straight to Google Lens.) With the new Lens app, you’ll be able to access the same functionality as you would otherwise — and you can still access Lens via Google Assistant.

As  we’ve previously reported, Google Lens, which made its initial debut at Google’s I/O 2017 event, lets you extract text and hyperlinks from images, and can also identify a number of landmarks around the world. It first became available to Google Pixel phones at the end of 2017, and then was launched across all Android phones in March of this year. And on March 16, it finally made its way to iOS users, too.

More recently, Google announced a few  updates to Lens that make it more useful still. At I/O 2018, the tech giant revealed that Google Lens is now built into the camera app on phones from 10 manufacturers: LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony, Nokia, Transsion, TCL, OnePlus, BQ, and Asus. And when you open the camera app on one of these phone makers’ handsets, you’ll be able to point your camera at an object and find similar products. So if you see a dress you like, you can get Google Lens to show you the same or a similar garment, and if it’s available, buy it directly through Google Shopping. There’s also Smart Text Selection, which allows  you to point your camera at a chunk of text and then copy it, translate it, or send it to someone.

With all of this functionality, it’s no wonder that folks are looking for easier ways to access the feature. However, we should point out that even though Google Lens is now a stand-alone app, it’s not necessarily compatible with all Android devices. For example, while it will work with the Samsung Note 8, it won’t play as nicely with the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. Other users have noted that the app doesn’t work on the Moto Z Play, Nokia 7 Plus, and the Xiaomi Mi A1. You’ll have to be running Android Marshmallow and above in order to access the app.

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Meet PanoClip, the $50 lens clip that turns an iPhone into a 360 camera

Most 360 smartphone cameras add both dual lenses and dual sensors in order to capture a spherical view — but one new brand has managed to do all that with just lenses and software. Announced June 5, PanoClip is an iPhone lens add-on that uses the front and rear facing cameras to shoot and stitch immersive 360 content. The $50 lenses are compatible with the iPhone 6 and up, including Plus models, and the company says an Android version is in the works.

Instead of adding an entirely new camera to the iPhone, the PanoClip adds on two wide-angle lenses to the phone’s front and rear-facing cameras. The PanoClip app then stitches the video together. 

The PanoClip uses an app to create a handful of different effects from the clip-on lens. Along with the traditional scroll around 360 format, the app can also capture in Tiny Planet mode which wraps the immersive view into one frame, creating a circular sphere that looks like, well, a tiny planet. 

The app also houses a handful of other edits for the immersive content. Spin View flattens the footage to a traditional aspect ratio, but automatically pans in every direction to keep that 360 feel. The developers say the mode is designed for sharing on platforms that don’t support the 360 format.

Sky View mode intelligently analyzes the scene to detect the horizon. The user can then swap out the sky for something else. The sky replacement options even move and change to music, creating an effect that the developers call “trippy” and “fun.” The app also includes filter-based edits and stickers for spicing up your videos even more.

The PanoClip brand comes from Arashi Vision, the same company that owns Insta360, the brand behind another connected 360 cam. The PanoClip isn’t part of the Insta360 family, apparently to differentiate what is essentially just a pair of add-on lenses from a true 360 camera.

Using an add-on lens rather than an add-on camera is one of a handful of attempts to bring 360 photography and video to more users at a lower price point. The Fusion Lens (not to be confused with the GoPro Fusion, a 360 action camera) uses a similar concept by modifying the built-in cameras to capture spherical perspective, but hasn’t launched off of Indiegogo yet. The Fishball uses only the rear camera and instead relies on mirrors to capture an immersive view. Besides being a more affordable option, using add-on lenses means devices like the PanoClip don’t need to be recharged, although running your phone’s front and back cameras simultaneously likely means you’ll want to keep a USB battery handy.

Editors’ Recommendations

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