Verizon 5G Home promises up to gigbit internet speeds for as low as $50

Verizon finally detailed its plans to become the first carrier to bring gigabit internet speeds into the home through its 5G home broadband service, Verizon 5G Home. Initially, Verizon will deploy its 5G Home service through a limited rollout in the Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento markets. The service will cost $50 per month for customers with Verizon Wireless accounts and $70 without a wireless bundle starting on October 1.

“This monthly charge includes all taxes and fees, and does not require an annual contract,” Verizon said, noting that there are no data caps. Verizon claims that its unique network infrastructure, comprising of end-to-end fiber resources, large deployments of small cells, and spectrum holdings, will help differentiate its network.

Like existing home broadband service, Verizon will send technicians to install the equipment. The carrier said that there is no charge for hardware, and internal and external equipment may be required, depending on your home. Early adopters will get perks, like free installation, a promotion with three months of free service, and a choice of free Chromecast or Apple 4K, along with three months of YouTube TV at no cost. Unlike traditional home broadband service, the internet service operates on Verizon’s 5G mobile network.

Verizon initially launched its 4G LTE network nearly a decade ago, and with its 5G deployment plans, it hopes to become the first carrier in the world to launch this next generation network. With its 5G network, Verizon promises home broadband speeds in excess of 300 megabits per second.

“Verizon 5G Home customers should expect typical network speeds around 300 Mbps and, depending on location, peak speeds of nearly 1 Gig, with no data caps,” Verizon said. That speed is good enough to download a Blu-ray movie in several minutes. Verizon’s 5G network will be competitive against DSL, cable, and fiber internet services, and the fast speeds and no caps could make Verizon 5G Home appealing to cord-cutters. For comparison, Google promises gigabit per second home internet speeds for its wired Google Fiber broadband service.

Verizon will begin taking signups for 5G Home starting Thursday, September 13, through a dedicated web portal, provided you live in one of the early test markets. As U.S. carriers race toward 5G as the successor to current generation LTE networks, rival AT&T aspires to become the first network to offer mobile 5G service. In contrast, Verizon’s initial deployment of 5G will be limited to the home. T-Mobile previously announced that it will launch its 5G network next year, and Sprint and LG aim to launch the world’s first 5G smartphone.

With less latency and improved speeds, 5G is poised to take connectivity to the next level. It will help power autonomous cars as well as connect gamers. “We will deliver a revolutionary 5G experience that will change how people live, work and play,” Verizon Chief Technology Officer Kyle Malady said in a statement.

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The new $649 Coral One is both a handheld and robot vacuum

Why not both?

The new Coral One is going to change the way you clean. Priced at $649 as a pre-order and shipping next month, this nifty device combines the best of the world of vacuuming. It’s a vacuum robot, similar to a Roomba, that converts into a handheld vacuum like a DustBuster swiftly and easily.

Compared to the more popular robot vacuum brands, the price is great. Most robot vacuums cost more than this — for example, the Neato Botvac — and those don’t come with the added benefit of a built-in handheld vacuum. Of course, you could always go for a budget model like the $200 eufy Robovac or the $175 iLife A6 Robotic Vacuum, but then you’re sort of defeating the whole “two birds with one stone” thing. If you don’t need a multitasking vacuum, those may be better options for you. I don’t know your life.

The Coral One includes a couple of simple tools for the handheld feature and boasts a 90-minute standard mode battery life, a 30-minute turbo mode battery life, and up to 30 minutes of runtime on the handheld cleaner. There are additional features built right in, too. The vacuum won’t fall down the stairs or get stuck in a tight spot, and if it ever needs your attention, there are relatively pleasant audio cues to let you know. The handheld vacuum has a built-in spotlight so you can see what you’re doing. Little touches like that can make a big difference in something you’ll use as often as this.

Unlike other similar products, the Coral One doesn’t use an app or Wi-Fi. Instead, the built-in sensors automatically detect and clean along the most efficient route of a room. You can’t set boundaries or clean specific areas, but you also don’t have to worry about a map of your house floating around the cloud somewhere. You can program daily routines on the charging dock and use the physical remote to start or stop cleaning.

The Coral One will start shipping next month and deliveries will begin around October 25th.

See at Coral

Spider-Man is getting a New Game Plus mode!

Forget everything you know about Spider-Man video games. This experience is on a whole new level.

Spider-Man is one of the most iconic fictional characters ever created. The web-head has starred in countless comics, movies, TV shows, and video games but not all of them have bee super high quality. While games like Spider-Man 2 are widely regarded as one of the best superhero games of all time, Spider-Man has also been subjected to some extremely bad video games that many of us try to block out of our memory.

With that said, Ratchet and Clank, Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance developer Insomniac Games is spearheading an exciting new vision for the wall-crawler. While we haven’t played the game yet, the studio has proven themselves time and time again and all the trailers we’ve seen look incredibly promising for PlayStation 4 fans this year.

See at Amazon

What’s new with Marvel’s Spider-Man?

Keep up with Peter Parker if you can. The geeky webslinger is back in his most ambitious game yet, and we have all the latest details for you right here.

September 11, 2018

If you can’t get enough of Spider-Man you’ll be happy to hear that Insomniac is working on a New Game Plus mode. Going by the wording used in the company’s tweet and how they are “polishing it up,” it sounds like the mode isn’t too far away from gracing our consoles.

Insomniac did not detail exactly how New Game Plus would be implemented, but safe to say you’ll likely be playing through the story once more with even more powerful enemies and a stronger Spider-Man to boot.

August 27, 2018

Sony’s Gamescom booth was dominated by Spider-Man this year, giving it center stage just ahead of its release. Though Insomniac has revealed so much already, that doesn’t mean we can ever have too many trailers, right? The videos below are from a series called Just the Facts, where Insomniac breaks down certain aspects of the game.

And, of course, Spider-Man’s gameplay launch trailer released.

In addition, we also received a little tidbit of information confirming how long the game is, courtesy of Insomniac’s community director James Stevenson, who answered a few questions regarding the game on Twitter.

According to Stevenson, Spider-Man will be “around 20 hours on default difficulty.”

Potential spoilers ahead

Since Spider-Man on PS4 is releasing so soon, spoilers are floating around. One such (potential) spoiler hasn’t come from early copies of the game, but instead from a Funko Pop image. It looks like Spider-Man may make a visit to the Negative Zone as he’s getting a separate Funko Pop with his Negative Zone Suit. Insomniac’s Spider-Man is set to have dozens of outfits for Peter to don, however they’re not all getting separate Funko Pops like this one is, implying it serves a greater purpose within the game.

August 8th, 2018

Ahead of Spider-Man’s release in September, its opening hours showcase the kind of tale that Insomniac is looking to craft. While Spider-Man is, of course, the titular character, the man behind the mask is just as important.

“We wanted this to be our own universe,” explains Jon Paquette, Spider-Man’s lead writer, discussing why the company isn’t adapting a previous storyline from the comics. “And we did a couple of things at the start to hopefully make it feel like it’s different. We are not doing the 15-year-old Peter Parker in high school dealing with girl problems and working as a photographer … We wanted to start (with an older, 23-year-old Peter) because we wanted to tell the story of an experienced Spider-Man who gets to the point where his experience isn’t enough.”

This Peter Parker is no longer a Daily Bugle photographer anymore. He’s now working as a scientist, though his employer is being kept a secret from fans at this time as Insomniac doesn’t want to spoil the reveal. His maturity affects his relationships with those around him. No longer a brash, young teenager, Peter is more assured of himself.

Speaking of his relationships, he and Mary Jane are no longer a couple by the beginning of the game. Despite this, previous videos have shown that she plays an important role in Peter’s adventures. In fact, she’s a playable character.

While she doesn’t have any web-slinging abilities, she does have her wits. As an investigative journalist, she’ll utilize her own skills like her keen observation and reflexes in stealth segments to sneak around and complete her own objectives.

July 30th, 2018

Insomniac has announced that Spider-Man has gone gold. This means the game has been finalized and recorded to a master disc from which all the other copies will be made.

We are pleased to announce that #SpiderManPS4 has GONE GOLD for its worldwide release on September 7th. Thanks to @PlayStation and @MarvelGames for their support in the creation of this original Spider-Man adventure. pic.twitter.com/iD4mJmqGfK

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) July 30, 2018

It’s safe to say that the September 7th release date for the game will hold up and there will be plenty of copies to go around.

July 19th, 2018

What would San Diego Comic-Con be without another Spider-Man trailer? The upcoming Insomniac title just received a story trailer which gave us our best look yet at the threats that Peter and his friends will be facing, as well as introduced Osborn and Silver Sable into the mix.

On top of that, Sony revealed a Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro that will be gracing store shelves this September, launching alongside the game. As seen above, it sports a sleek glossy red color along with Spider-Man’s iconic symbol. It will be available for $399.99 USD/$499.99 CAD in the United States and Canada. The best part: Pre-orders are already available.

See at PlayStation

June 11th, 2018

As we expected, Sony’s E3 2018 show featured a heavy dosage of Marvel’s Spider-Man, the Insomniac-made game that aims to put all the previous ones to shame. We were treated to loads of new gameplay at the show, with Spidey crashing a prison riot caused by Electro’s shenanigans.

Electro is just one of the many villains present. The trailer also confirmed Rhino, Vulture, and Scorpion. That’s alongside previously-confirmed lesser criminals such as Martin Li and the Taskmaster. There’s also a brand new villain named Mr. Negative, who is making his debut in this very game.

Be sure to check out the full gameplay trailer above, which gives us our deepest look at Spider-Man’s combat yet, as well as some crazy web slinging moves we haven’t yet seen.

The Spidey classics, with a new twist

Insomniac has taken great care with Marvel’s golden boy by working closely with comic-book legends like Dan Slott and Christos Gage to craft an original story for Spider-Man. We all know how Peter Parker got his powers, how he struggles to find his footing as a superhero at first, and all that jazz so Insomniac is going to spare us the classic origin story and thrust into the prime of Spidey’s life. Peter Parker is 23, he has been Spider-Man for eight years and has pretty much gotten this whole superhero thing down to a tee.

In the game’s opening, Spider-Man will take down the infamous criminal mastermind, Wilson Fisk AKA Kingpin. Insomniac Games has noted Kingpin as Spider-Man’s greatest villain at this point in his career and it’s a massive achievement for him when he finally takes him down. Peter Parker’s apartment is also littered with various details regarding his past encounters with criminals like Shocker and Rhino meaning he has tackled some of his famous villains but the biggest baddies like Venom and Green Goblin may not have surfaced in New York yet.

On the opposite side of Peter’s life where he’s not wearing the mask, things are a bit more troublesome. His relationship with the red headed bombshell, Mary Jane Watson, is on the rocks, he’s on the verge of being evicted from his messy apartment, and Aunt May is put into danger when she becomes close with the charitable Martin Li. Li looks like a pretty swell guy on the surface but he holds a dark secret inside of him in the form of his super villain alter ego, Mister Negative. In fear that Li could hurt those closest to him, Peter begins his hunt for Li while tackling plenty of other criminals along the way such as Taskmaster.

Beyond that, it’s come to light that players will actually be able to play as Mary Jane Watson at some point during the story. Insomniac wasn’t too chatty about what sort of role she would have when playing as her, nor do we know how her gameplay mechanics will work. Another interesting character that the player may be able to take control of is Miles Morales.

More than an open outdoor world

As much as those in Peter’s life are important to a good Spider-Man story, one of the most vital characters is the city of New York City itself. As expected, there will be tons of side activities to tackle such as stopping robberies and other crimes. According to Game Informer, when they went hands-on with the game, there will actually be a good amount of interiors to go inside during these crimes so it’s not like other Spider-Man games where you have to chase after a speeding car or beat up some guys on the street.

To make the city feel more alive, Insomniac has built a Marvel universe within it. Players will be able to find the Avengers Tower, the Wakandan Embassy, and likely other major landmarks within the world to help take the worldbuilding to another level. There’s no word on if any other Marvel heroes will show up in the game but it’ll likely be kept to a minimum as they’re trying to make a Spider-Man game, not build an expansive Marvel games universe.

With a heavy focus on story and developing Peter Parker’s life and world, a lesser team could forget to develop a really solid set of gameplay systems, but Insomniac isn’t taking their eye off the ball.

Dynamic movements, killer combat

Many look to Spider-Man 2 as the best gameplay experience in a Spidey game due to the incredible attention to detail and physics based gameplay. The webs attached to walls, Spidey swung like a pendulum, and there was an incredible sense of momentum and speed building as you zipped through the city. With all of the advancements and innovations in games in the last decade and a half, Insomniac is on track to deliver the best Spider-Man game, perhaps superhero game, to date.

The most important aspect of the character is the way he moves through the world. Spider-Man will be as agile and fast as ever in this new game where he acts like a speeding train that has had the brakes ripped out. In Insomniac’s game, Spider-Man is equipped to adapt to his environment on the fly. He’ll never stop moving if you don’t want him to, the game is constantly making adjustments so you’re speeding through the world as the real experienced “masked menace” would.

It’s some of the more traditional Spider-Man combat with elements of the Batman Arkham series mixed in.

If you’re swinging but you’re about to smash right into a wall, Spider-Man will instead prepare to run along the wall in the direction you’re holding the stick. If you’re running along a rooftop with lots of vents and other objects, Spider-Man will parkour over them. If you’re running up a wall with a fire escape, he won’t awkwardly get stuck on it, he’ll bounce off each individual layer of the fire escape like stairs or propel himself through them if he’s coming at them from the side.

There’s an almost dynamic nature to the locomotion of Spidey in this game. His animations are diverse so it keeps this fun and fluid sense of rhythm, he’ll twirl, move his body in cool ways, and all sorts of other things you’d expect him to do when going from place to place. It’s safe to say that it will probably one of the most beautifully animated games to date when it drops.

As for combat, it’s some of the more traditional Spider-Man combat with elements of the Batman Arkham series mixed in. You’ll have your punching and kicking but you can also use some gadgets to help keep things fresh and make things easier on yourself. One gadget Spider-Man has is a web grenade, it detonates and then strings up any nearby enemies so you can swing in and deliver some cheap shots or pick them up and swing them around with a makeshift silk lasso.

If you’re feeling a bit playful, you can use the tripwire which is similar to the web grenade. It sits on a surface and when someone walks past it, it shoots a web out at them and slams them toward the wall. If you manage to latch the tripwire on to a person instead of a wall, it will smash two enemies together like Newton balls. If you also happen to knock an enemy off of a building, a tripwire will automatically be deployed and activated to prevent a foe from becoming a splatter on the sidewalk down below. The city is messy enough and Spider-Man doesn’t kill so the game will help you out there.

If you’re in the heat of the moment and you’re keen on doing that, players will be able to slow down time briefly and analyze the area for their next move. Is it singling out a guy? Choosing where to throw a gadget? Using an environmental object to defeat some evildoers? It’s up to you how strategic you want to be with it.

Missions, Trophies, and so many different suits

Of course, New York City is known as the city that never sleeps so there’s always something brewing on the streets whether it be petty crimes or full-blown robberies. Outside of story missions, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will get side activities to go clean up the streets. Crimes will play out differently each time so you’re not doing the same repetitive task over and over again so you can grind for that trophy or special in-game perk. According to Game Informer, robberies can evolve into car chases and so forth so it’s always shifting and keeping you on your toes.

If you’re a bit tired of beating people up (you’re a superhero, it’s your job, get over it), you can go and do some of the collectible missions like finding Peter Parker’s lost backpacks. As we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming last year, Peter tends to just leave his school bag webbed up in alley ways when he has to spring into action. Of course, this can result in some bags being misplaced so you need to go and retrieve some key mementos of Peter’s. The items in the bags will serve as backstory for Peter Parker and fill in some of the blanks in the story as well as give you little trinkets such as the first pair of web-shooters he ever created.

There are other little side activities sprinkled in the world but Insomniac isn’t going to divulge all of them before launch so that there can be some surprises when you play it. Similarly, they were tight lipped on the suit customization.

While it is now officially confirmed there will be dozens of costumes for Spider-Man inspired by comics, other games, and the movies, they’re not revealing many of the suits yet. So far we know that there will be a more traditional suit that you start the game in, an upgraded one with the white spider which supposedly ties into the narrative, the Noir suit, and the Spider-Punk suit.

Each suit has a unique special ability tied to it, the Spider-Punk suit features the ability to pull out a guitar and strum it really hard to create an AOE attack. The other suits have their own benefits but Insomniac isn’t willing to talk too much about them yet.

Oh, and one last thing: they’re including a killer photo mode in the game. Considering Peter Parker is a professional freelance photographer when he isn’t donning his Spidey suit should mean we’ll have plenty of great tools to capture his musings around New York City.

Alright, when can I buy this?

If you’re as excited as we are for this game, you can pre-order the game for $59.99 at most retailers. If you want to go the extra mile, you can drop $149.99 on the Collector’s Edition which includes a nice looking statue, some digital items such as post-launch DLC missions, and a steelbook case.

Spider-Man will swing onto store shelves on September 7th, 2018 exclusively on PlayStation 4, this is NOT a timed exclusive. It will never be on anything else other than PlayStation.

See at Amazon

Updated September 2018: Insomniac has revealed that the studio is working on a New Game Plus mode to be added to the game at a later date.

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Verizon’s $50 5G Home Internet Service Launching October 1 With No Data Caps

Verizon’s 5G home broadband service is set to launch in parts of Indianapolis, Houston, Los Angeles, and Sacramento on October 1, Verizon announced today.

Customers who live in areas where the service is rolling out can place an online order for Verizon 5G Home starting on Thursday, September 13 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time using the FirstOn5G website.

Verizon previously said that it would be offering customers who sign up for its internet service a free Apple TV 4K in lieu of a traditional cable box.

Verizon 5G Home is built on Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G network, and it is the first commercial 5G service to launch in the United States. Verizon is also hoping to be the first mobile provider to offer 5G service, but that’s still a ways off.

Verizon’s 5G internet service will be priced at $50 per month for customers who are also Verizon Wireless customers, and $70 per month for those who are not already Verizon Wireless customers.

The monthly fee includes all taxes and other fees, and there are no hardware charges or annual contract. Customers who sign up early for the service will receive three free months of service, an Apple TV 4K or Google Chromecast, and three free months of YouTube TV.

Verizon says that 5G Home customers will see typical network speeds of around 300Mb/s and depending on location, peak speeds of nearly 1 Gig. There are no data caps.

After the initial rollout to Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, Verizon plans to rapidly expand its coverage area.
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The BrambleBee robot promises to help honeybees pollinate flowers

Honeybee populations are declining at a terrifying rate. This poses a significant threat to agriculture, the economy, and pretty much life as we know it, due to bees’ crucial role as some of the natural world’s best pollinators. Could robots help?

That’s what researchers from West Virginia University (WVU) have been working to answer, via a new autonomous, bee-inspired robot that is designed to pollinate bramble plants — primarily blackberries and raspberries — in greenhouse environments. Its name: BrambleBee.

Unlike some of the nature-inspired, biomimetic robots we’ve written about in the past, BrambleBee doesn’t look too much like its buzzy namesake. It’s a ground-based robot equipped with a robotic arm, boasting a custom-designed pollination end-effector tip. It looks more like the kind of robot you might expect to find in Amazon’s warehouses, picking out your orders, than a next-gen pollinator. But that doesn’t mean it can’t do the job.

“BrambleBee works by first driving around the greenhouse to perform an inspection pass, where it uses its Lidar and cameras to map the environment and the locations of detected flowers,” Nick Ohi, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “After that, it then uses the mapped flower locations to autonomously plan and execute the pollination pass.”

West Virginia University

This involves working out the optimal route to individual flowers, parking up, and then deploying its robot arm to carry out the pollination process. This is achieved by using the small brushes on its end-effector to transfer pollen from the anthers to the pistils of the bramble flowers. The task requires incredibly precise motion and gentle application so as to prevent damaging the flowers.

At this stage in the project, Ohi acknowledged that BrambleBee is not as fast or efficient as bees in performing this task — although this is to be expected at the current stage in development. Once the techniques have been fully tested, the researchers will work to increase speed and efficiency.

“We expect the real benefit of this kind of system to be realized when many of them are deployed in very large greenhouses or farm fields and are capable of pollinating entire farms on their own,” Ohi said.

Yu Gu, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at WVU, was keen to stress that this is not a project designed to replace bees. “BrambleBee can be seen as a backup plan in case there would be a bee shortage in the future, or work in places that bees are not applicable, [such as] inside greenhouse or in space,” Gu stated.

A paper describing the work is available to read online.

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Here’s what would happen if the Sahara was covered in solar and wind farms

With swirling dust storms, barely any rain, and daytime temperatures reaching up to 104-degrees Fahrenheit, the Sahara desert is one of the world’s least hospitable environments. But the 3.6 million square mile stretch also represents a whole lot of untapped prime real estate — which a new study suggests could be used for housing the biggest solar and wind farms in the world. As it turns out, not only would covering the entire area in solar and wind farms more than meet the world’s energy demands, it would also transform the local climate. According to a team of international researchers, this could more than double local rainfall and result in a moderate “greening” of the region. What’s not to like?

“The Sahara is quite dry and its surface is covered with little vegetation,” Yan Li, a postdoctoral researcher in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, told Digital Trends. “The additional rainfall and vegetation would certainly provide a much-needed relief to this dry, bare desert.”

In their study, the researchers simulated the effects of covering the entire area with these solar and wind farms. They concluded that wind farms would generate, on average, around three terawatts of power and 79 terawatts through solar farms. This is significantly more than the 18 terawatts that made up the 2017 global energy demand.

This climate modeling study is one of the first times that researchers have modeled the effects of wind and solar installation, along with the ways that vegetation changes with heat and precipitation. The reasons for the changes in climate are complex, but they are related to effects like wind farms’ turbine blades pulling warm air down to the desert’s surface, along with solar farms increasing surface reflectiveness.

Of course, building this many solar and wind farms probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon. But it may not need to. As noted, doing this would produce far more energy than we currently require. It also wouldn’t take this major an intervention to get the beneficial effects on local precipitation and vegetation. When the researchers conducted experiments for farms of smaller scales, their results suggested that covering only the northwest quadrant of the Sahara would have almost the same climate benefits as covering the entire thing.

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Science.

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The history of drones in 10 milestones

Here in 2018, drones are flying high — both figuratively and literally. Whether it’s military applications or product deliveries, these are 10 of the most significant milestones that explain how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) became the ultra-hot product category that they are today.

The earliest breakthroughs

Wikipedia

1907: The world’s first quadcopter was created by inventor brothers Jacques and Louis Bréguet, working with controversial Nobel Prize winner Professor Charles Richet. While undoubtedly exciting, it had some big limitations: being unsteerable, requiring four men to steady it, and — in its first flight — lifting just two feet off the ground. But it did innovate the quadcopter form factor we have today. Hey, every journey has to start somewhere!

The first military drones

RAF

1917: Launched only 16 years after the Wright Brothers’ pioneering Kitty Hawk flight, the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target became the first pilotless winged aircraft in history. It was a radio-controlled pilotless airplane, based on RC technology from the inventor Nikola Tesla. The goal of the Aerial Target was for it to act as a flying bomb, which could be piloted into enemies. Despite promising demonstrations, the AT was ultimately never used in a combat scenario. However, it opened the door for similar projects, such as the astonishing Kettering Bug — and paved the way for today’s military drones.

1943: Created for use by the German military during World War II, “Fritz X” was the nickname given to the FX-1400, the first remote-controlled weapon that was actually put into operational use. A 2,300 pound bomb that was used to sink ships during combat, this was not only the first military drone to be properly deployed, but also the ancestor of modern anti-ship missiles and other precision-guided weapons.

The RC plane boom

1960s: Breakthroughs in transistor technology meant that, for the first time, miniaturized radio-controlled components were available to customers at a reasonable cost. What followed was a popularity boom in RC planes in the U.S. Mostly coming in kit form, these RC planes offered everything from indoor-flyable models to much larger outdoor models. The cottage industry that sprang up was an early example of the kind of community and market which emerged for consumer drones half a century later.

The first armed drone strikes

Getty Images/Thir Khan

2001: In the aftermath of 9/11, the CIA began flying armed drones over Afghanistan as part of the war against the Taliban. The first CIA drone-based kill operation took place in February 2002, when an unmanned Predator drone was used to target a suspect thought to be Osama bin Laden. However, it turned out to be an innocent man named Daraz Khan who was out collecting scrap metal. Instances such as this began concerns about the use of drones in warfare, which continues to rage today.

FAA creates commercial drone permits

Getty Images/Saul Loeb

2006: Recognizing the potential of non-military, non-consumer drone applications, the FAA issued the first commercial drone permits. These permits lifted some of the limitations placed on consumer drones flown for recreational purposes. In doing so, it opened up new possibilities for companies or professionals who wanted to use drones in assorted business ventures. At first, barely any commercial drone permits are requested. However, that number soon ramped up.

Here comes the Parrot AR Drone

Wikipedia

2010: The French company Parrot released their Parrot AR Drone, the first ready-to-fly drone which can be controlled entirely via Wi-Fi, using a smartphone. The drone was almost immediately successful, both critically and commercially, receiving the 2010 CES Innovations award for Electronic Gaming Hardware, and selling upwards of half a million units. The company’s AR Drone 2.0 further improved on the formula with an easier piloting system, making it easier for newcomers to pick-up-and-play.

Amazon Prime Air

2013: In December 2013, Amazon released a concept video showcasing founder Jeff Bezos’ dream for a drone-based delivery system. While the retail giant wasn’t the first company to consider drone deliveries, it was the one which puts the technology into the public consciousness. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Bezos described the possibility of using the technology to make half-hour deliveries. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” he said. Bezos described the technology as being around five years away, although Amazon later clarified that aerial deliveries will require some federal rule changes.

The Lily drone debacle

2015: The consumer drone industry has gone from strength to strength. However, not everything has been good. Perhaps the biggest disappointment — and one which still leaves a bitter taste in some people’s mouths — was the Lily Camera drone disaster. Despite racking up $34 million in pre-orders, the original company behind this smart flying camera wound up filing for bankruptcy and shutting down after a series of delays. It was a tough lesson for a lot of drone enthusiasts to learn.

Drones get smarter

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

2016: Already one of the best drone makers on the marketplace, DJI’s Phantom 4 introduced smart computer vision and machine learning technology. This allowed it to avoid obstacles and intelligently track (and photograph) people, animals, or objects — rather than being limited to following a GPS signal. The resulting UAV was a major milestone for drone photography and consumer drones in general.

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• The best drones under $500

How to install Flash on an Android phone or tablet

When Google released Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in 2012, Flash support found itself on the cutting room floor, no longer downloadable in the Google Play Store and dropped from the mobile platform. Convenient for watching TV on your phone or playing a slew of online games, Flash was an application that set the Android ecosystem apart from iOS, for better and worse.

Android users today operate their phones out-of-the-box sans Flash, yet many still want a way to get the software platform back again. Luckily, Adobe realized this and now allows Android users to download its Flash player directly from the company’s website. Because Flash is no longer supported on Android devices, you won’t find any security updates, bug fixes, or official support. You may experience stability issues when downloading and using Flash, too, many of which worsen when using modern devices running more recent versions of Android like Marshmallow, Nougat, Oreo, and Pie.

That said, read on if you’re still set on installing Flash on your device.

Installing Flash on Android devices running Android 4.1 or newer

If you’re running Android 4.1 — aka Jelly Bean — or newer, all you need to do is install a browser that supports Flash on your device. These are becoming rare, however. Let’s take a look at two options that we can currently recommend if you feel it necessary to deal with Flash content on your Android device.

Puffin

In short, if you need to access Flash content on your Android device, your best bet is to install the Puffin browser. It runs Flash in the cloud, though it does so as if it were running locally on your device. You can play games, watch video, and access a multitude of Flash content. It also boasts quick speeds and encrypts your browsing activity, a plus if you’re concerned about online security. Puffin also offers all sorts of other tools and an array of themes.

What’s the catch? The cloud servers that are handling your browsing are based in the United States. If there are location restrictions on the content you’re trying to access, then the content may not be available for users outside of the U.S. The browser is also blocked in countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Still, Puffin remains your best option if you need to access Flash on your Android device.

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Android

Photon Flash Player & Browser

Another great way to access Flash content, both on the web and on your phone, is Photon Flash Player & Browser. The app not only supports Flash videos but also Flash games — so if you’re feeling a little nostalgic, you can play some of those classic online games. As you would expect, the app supports formats like FLV and SWF, though it also supports more modern formats — so if you want to make this your default browser you can do so.

Another great feature here is that the Photon Flash Player & Browser claims to act as a VPN when you’re using it. In other words, it ensures that even when you’re on a public network, your browsing is secure and private. Plus, it unblocks content.

Download now for:

Android

Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 with ScreenPad review

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ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE

It’s not enough to just put great components in a well-built laptop these days. You need something special to stand out. Asus’s newest attempt is called the ScreenPad, a touchscreen built right into the touchpad that can be used as a second screen. Curious? So were we.

The company sent us a high-end configuration of the ZenBook Pro 15 to review, equipped with an 8th-gen Core i9-8950HK CPU, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, a 4K IPS display, and the aforementioned ScreenPad. That configuration came in at $2,300, though you can also spend $1,800 if you’re willing to “settle” for a Core i7-8750HQ and give up the ScreenPad.

The ZenBook Pro 15 is powerfully configured and premium-priced. Does the ScreenPad offer enough innovation to put Asus’s latest powerhouse over the top against some stiff competition?

Large and in charge

Large or small, thick or thin — if you’ve seen one ZenBook, you’ve seen them all. There’s almost always the same iconic Asus concentric circle swirl on the lid and rose gold diamond-cut chamfered edges. And of course, you’re guaranteed to find at least one model sporting the company’s most recognizable Deep Dive Blue color that’s at once attractive and almost regal.

Yes, we’re talking about the ZenBook Pro 15 here, and it’s just as lovely as always. Add to the elegant aesthetic an almost solid-as-a-rock build quality, with a lid and chassis bottom that stubbornly resist bending and twisting. The keyboard deck does have some flex to it, which frankly is unusual for ZenBooks. The hinge swings open easily with one hand yet stays in place, further testifying to the company’s attention to quality.

Even with a slightly flexible keyboard deck, the ZenBook Pro 15 does well against the best-made notebooks like the Dell XPS 15, Razer Blade 15, and Apple MacBook Pro. And that’s true whether you’re talking about its build or its good looks.

When you turn on the ScreenPad, it turns into a piece of tech we’ve never seen on a laptop before.

It also falls in line with those competitors in its weight and measurements. It’s 0.75 inches thick, which isn’t quite as thin as the XPS 15’s 0.66 inches, the Razer Blade’s 0.66 inches, or the MacBook Pro’s 0.61 inches. In spite of how solid it feels, its 4.1 pounds is slightly lighter than both the Razer Blade and XPS 15, both of which come in at 4.5 pounds.

In short, the ZenBook Pro 15 is a very attractive and well-made notebook, and it’s great to look at and hold in your hands.

Asus also spent some time making sure that the ZenBook 15 Pro is a well-connected machine. It includes two USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports with 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 support, two USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 ports (which is better than the Gen 1 ports on most notebooks), and a full-sized HDMI port (1.4 only, unfortunately). The XPS 15 only has one Thunderbolt 3 port while the MacBook Pro has no legacy ports whatsoever. All of connectivity is mated with a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card reader, providing for both legacy and futuristic support. Wireless connectivity is provided by the usual 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi supporting up to 1.13Gb/s and the latest Bluetooth 5.0.

A very nice selection of input options, and one that’s particularly innovative

Turn on the notebook, and your eyes are drawn immediately to the ScreenPad, the brightly-lit input device below the keyboard. The 5.5-inch LCD screen works just like a standard touchpad when off, except that it’s a bit thicker than the usual touchpad. We also noticed it requires quite a bit of extra force to actuate the left and right buttons. The surface is comfortable enough, and there’s reliable Microsoft Precision touchpad support and smooth Windows 10 gesture support. If you usually tap to click, then you’ll be fine with the ScreenPad as “just” a touchpad. But if you tend to click the buttons, then you’ll be less impressed.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

But when you turn the ScreenPad on, it’s transformed into a piece of tech we’ve never seen on a laptop before.

The first of its two operating modes is the ScreenPad mode, which offer mini-apps like a calculator, music player, and number pad that offer ostensibly useful additional features. While interesting, they were buggy, prone to crashing, which was a frustration. In this mode, these apps also take over the standard functionality touchpad when active. That’s right: Enable a ScreenPad app, and you lose basic touchpad functionality.

If Asus can work out the bugs, the ScreenPad could be a nice innovation.

One feature that we found genuinely useful was the ScreenPad Office integration, which provides a suite of edit controls when you fire up Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Unlike the ScreenPad apps, the Office tools retained the ability to use the touchpad for swiping and tapping, and the tools were both easily accessible and helpful.

Then there was the Extension Display mode, which adds a second display where you can drag apps just like you can with an external monitor. That, too, was buggy and reset often during our testing, but it worked just as you would expect. It was best for Windows 10 apps that were optimized for touch — as long as you change the input mode away from the default that forces you to control a tiny mouse cursor – because things are quite small at the default Full HD resolution.

None of this is to say that the ScreenPad shows no promise. Some of the functionality made lots of sense, such as the home menu that provides convenient access to customizable app buttons. Using the touchpad is intrinsic to a notebook’s workflow, and so it’s intuitive to glance down and tap a button to launch an app rather than heading to the start menu or clicking a button on the desktop. It’s more intuitive, we dare say, than Apple’s Touch Bar.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

If Asus can work out the bugs, then we think the ScreenPad could be a nice innovation. And, the company needs to get things up to snuff, because it’s implementing similar technology on its upcoming ZenBook general refresh that adds the ScreenPad and LED number pad technology to other machines. As of now, the ScreenPad gets in its own way more often than not.

Its other input methods are much more conventional. For you touch typists out there, the ZenBook Pro 15 has a typical chicklet-style island keyboard with black keys and attractive yellow letters that stand out without being harsh. There’s also three comfortable and consistent levels of backlighting. The keyboard’s travel is only so-so, less than it should be given the large chassis and falling behind the XPS 15 and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 15. Even so, it has a snappy mechanism with a soft bottoming action that combine for a comfortable — if not class-leading — feel.

The ZenBook Pro 15 also has a touch display, and so you can use that as well to quickly scroll through web pages and tap on-screen buttons. A fingerprint reader on the keyboard deck provides Windows 10 Hello support, and it’s fast and reliable as expected.

A 4K display that should have been more impressive than it was

Asus equipped our review unit with its 4K UHD IPS display that it promises will meet some seriously impressive specifications. It’s supposed to be Pantone-validated and factory calibrated for superior color accuracy, and we were disappointed when colors looked off to us and the display’s contrast was less than we’ve seen with other premium displays.

Unfortunately, according to our colorimeter tests, the display was somewhat inconsistent and ultimately disappointing. Its color gamut support is wider than average, certainly, at 96 percent of AdobeRGB and competitive with the excellent 4K display that graces both the XPS 15 and the XPS 15 2-in-1. That’s also higher than the other notebooks in our comparison group.

However, color accuracy was relatively poor at 3.65, higher than many other premium notebooks we’ve tested and far away from the “perfect” score of 1.0 or less. And contrast was also just average at 890:1, again falling way behind the two XPS machines and well into the middle of the pack.

Brightness was good but not great at 335 nits, again falling below many premium machines that tend toward 400 nits or higher. And gamma was way off at 1.4, meaning videos and images tend towards being too bright with blown-out well-lit areas.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Subjectively, this was a good display for productivity work and for viewing photos, if you can accept the low accuracy. But the contrast was noticeably less than you’ll find with notebooks like the XPS 15 and the Surface Book 2, and movies and TV shows were way too bright.

Perhaps our review unit was just poorly calibrated at the factory, but we came away unimpressed given Asus’s lofty promises. Just for kicks, we tried to calibrate the ZenBook’s display, and while we were able to improve color accuracy to 1.35 and gamma to 2.2, that was with a slight reduction in color gamut. Overall, the poor calibration is a pretty big disappointment on a premium device like this one.

ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE Compared To

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762)

Asus Zenbook Pro UX550VE

HP ZBook Studio G4

Acer Aspire VX 5-591G 5652

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2017)

Dell Precision 15 3510

LG Gram 15 Z960

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro…

Asus Zenbook UX501VW-DS71T

Samsung ATIV Book 9 (2014)

Dell XPS 15 (2012)

Toshiba Satellite P855

Toshiba Satellite P755

HP Pavilion g6

Lenovo IdeaPad U550

The audio was a much better experience, thanks to Harman Kardon tuning and a Smart Amplifier that powered the speakers to some serious volume. There was no distortion even at full volume, and the large chassis provided for some nice stereo separation. Bass is better than usual, and mids and highs were crisp and tight. You can even listen to some music on the ZenBook Pro 15 and be satisfied, and movies and TV shows can be enjoyed without reverting to headphones.

A hot performer – both literally and figuratively

Asus sent us the fastest configuration on offer, sporting the latest 8th-gen Core i9-8950HK processor. It’s the most powerful you can get in a notebook today. The six-core, 12-thread CPU is capable of bursting to a heady 4.8GHz, and it runs at 2.9GHz as its base frequency. That’s fast.

It’s also a challenge for notebook manufacturers, because packing that much processor power into a closed chassis creates challenges with heat and throttling. Dell’s XPS 15 and Apple’s updated MacBook Pro 15 both struggle at least a little to keep the Core i9 running at full speed, and the result is that the chip isn’t that much faster in actual use than the Core i7-8750H that you’ll find on more machines.

That’s exactly what we discovered in our benchmark testing. Yes, the ZenBook 15 Pro is faster in the Geekbench 4 synthetic benchmark than just about any notebook we’ve tested, beating out the XPS 15 and the Razer Blade 15 with the Core i7-8750H as well as the XPS 15 2-in-1 and HP Spectre x360 15 with the Core i7-8705G.

The Core i9 isn’t that much of an improvement over the fastest Core i7, but it’s still pretty fast.

But it’s not that much faster. The Core i9 is a full 36 percent faster when using both cores, but it’s only 14 percent faster in the multi-core test. In our real-world Handbrake benchmark that encodes a 420MB video to H.265, the ZenBook Pro 15 was again the fastest we’ve tested, completing the test in just 139 seconds. That’s fast, but it only narrowly beats out the XPS 15’s 150 seconds.

None of these results is so much faster that it puts the Core i9-8950HK into a different class completely than a notebook like the XPS 15. Because of that, it won’t be worth the extra $500 for most people. And even though it’s not that much faster, you’ll still contend with extra heat — the ZenBook Pro 15’s chassis got quite toasty — and some serious fan noise when the CPU and GPU are working especially hard. It’s worth noting that the XPS 15 is quieter and cooler.

Asus wasn’t as aggressive in configuring the ZenBook Pro 15’s storage, which can be configured in either 512GB or 1TB capacities. The company chose a Toshiba PCIe SSD that was plenty fast in both reading and writing data but not at the top of the class. You won’t find storage speeds holding you back, even if Asus didn’t choose the absolute fastest SSD on the market.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Overall, the ZenBook Pro 15’s performance won’t disappoint. The Core i9 isn’t as much of an improvement over the fastest Core i7 as we’d hope, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the ZenBook Pro can perform.

A spotty midrange gaming performer

The ZenBook Pro 15 also benefits from a moderately fast discrete GPU, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.  but in a laptop this thin, we were curious to see if those benefits would really be felt.

In our gaming benchmarks, the ZenBook Pro 15 turned in a mixed performance. That started with the 3DMark synthetic gaming benchmark, where the notebook scored a relatively low 6,534 in the Fire strike test. That’s slower than the XPS 15’s GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q and also the Dell G3 Gaming Laptop’s GTX 1050 Ti.

When we fired up our suite of games,  and the Dell G3. In Battlefield 1, the ZenBook Pro 15 managed 55 FPS in 1080p and medium details, and 39 FPS in ultra details — once again, falling behind the XPS 15 and the Dell G3.

You’ll find the ZenBook Pro 15 to be somewhat slow compared to other GTX 1050 Ti-equipped notebooks.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided showed similar results, and as expected there was no improvement when we jumped up to 4K resolution (the notebook didn’t offer 1440p as an option). Depending on the graphics quality, the ZenBook Pro 15 was either just slightly slower than the competition or significantly slower — not that any of these laptops are powerful enough for serious 4K gaming.

In conclusion, you’ll find the ZenBook Pro 15 to be somewhat slow compared to other GTX 1050 Ti-equipped notebooks, even in the MaxQ models. Asus fails to keep things cool enough to run its GTX 1050 Ti at full throttle. The company would probably have done better to join the Dell XPS 15 in utilizing the more efficient and cooler Max Q version of the 1050 Ti, which might have allowed the notebook to maintain higher overall frame rates. In the end, the ZenBook Pro 15 is fast enough for casual gaming sessions, but you expect some significant throttling.

A 4K UHD display and ultra-power CPU demand more battery, and don’t get it

Asus packed only 71 watt-hours of battery capacity into the ZenBook Pro 15. Given the 4K display and high-end components, we weren’t expecting much in the way of longevity.

And we weren’t surprised as we ran through our suite of battery tests. The ZenBook Pro 15 managed less than three hours when running the relatively grueling Basemark web benchmark, which is competitive with most of the notebooks in our comparison group. The XPS 15 with its Full HD display was the standout, thanks to its 97 watt-hour battery capacity — it would likely exceed the ZenBook’s score handily even with a 4K display.

The ZenBook Pro 15 started to drop off when we switched to our web browsing test, managing just under four hours. Only the Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop lasted for less time on this test, and the XPS 15 was again much stronger. We had to look at thinner and lighter 2-in-1 machines to find 4K notebooks that so poorly, for example the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 that only managed about a half hour longer on this test.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

When looping our test video, the ZenBook Pro 15 was even less impressive, matching the massive, 17-inch Predator Helios 500 at just under five and a half hours. Every other comparison group lasted longer, including the XPS 15 2-in-1 that managed just over six hours.

Toss in the ZenBook’s relatively hefty frame and its massive AC adapter, and this isn’t a notebook that you’re going to want to cart around for long-term mobile use. At the very least, you can’t expect to work a full day away from a plug, and you won’t want to carry that power brick around with you. We’d expect a significant jump in terms of battery life on the 1080p model, but we’d still expect it to sit near the back of the pack, given this system’s performance and the size of the battery.

Our Take

With the ZenBook Pro 15, you can’t accuse Asus of wimping out. The company equipped the notebook with the current latest and greatest components and created a good-looking, well-built, and fast 15.6-notebook that’s a real productivity powerhouse and a decent gaming machine for all but hardcore gamers. The ScreenPad is a real innovation that’s just begging for some bug fixes and polish to make it a truly useful component.

It’s not so much faster, though, that you’ll choose it just for the performance. And its battery life holds it back from beating out some of the competition.

Is there a better alternative?

The most obvious comparison machine is the Dell XPS 15, which is almost just as fast as the ZenBook Pro 15 and offers a better display and much better battery life. The Dell is more conservatively designed but also more robust all around, and it’s more expensive when configured with the Core i9 at $2,960 (on sale for $2,830). But that also brings 32GB of RAM and a 1GB SSD to go with the 4K display, and Dell often has sales that bring prices down significantly.

If you’re looking for a more gaming-oriented option, then don’t discount the Razer Blade 15. You’ll get an equally good-looking notebook that’s not so conservatively designed as the XPS 15, and you’ll also benefit from a much faster Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 GPU. Plan to spend well over $2,500, though, if you try to match the CPU.

Finally, there’s another 15-inch player coming from a slightly unexpected source. We’re talking about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which will offer the absolute latest Intel six-core CPUs and a GTX 1050 Ti Max Q GPU. That’s more power than we’ve seen packed into the ThinkPad’s iconic and rugged design, making the X1 Extreme a viable option in this notebook class.

How long will it last?

The ZenBook Pro 15 has a robust design and up-to-date components, and so should provide years of operation. Asus adds a year of accident and spill protection to its standard one-year warranty, which is a real plus.

Should you buy it?

No. The ZenBook Pro 15 doesn’t offer any performance advantage over competitors, has mediocre battery life, and a poorly calibrated display. And for now, the ScreenPad is too buggy and limited to live up to its potential.

Mezmoglobe spinning desk toy will keep you focused (or totally distracted)

Considering how many hours we spend tapping away at our computers each day, it’s perhaps no wonder we’re suckers for innovative desk toys. And we’re far from alone in feeling that way. This week, a new kinetic desk toy called Mezmoglobe rocked up on Kickstarter — and, based on its blow away performance in its first 24 hours alone, it seems that there are plenty of other desk toy junkies out there.

Called Mezmoglobe, it’s the creation of Kristoph Krisjans, who previously introduced the world to his Moondrop fidget toy, designed to simulate how gravity affects objects on the moon. Mezmoglobe is a globe-shaped object hewn out of a solid piece of aerospace grade aluminum, using the latest high-precision CNC machines. A symmetrical helix pattern is milled along its spherical surface to produce a mind-bending “flowing” optical illusion when you spin it on its base. The results may just be the most perfect fidget toy since 2016’s ridiculously successful Fidget Cube.

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“From a very young age, I have always been fascinated by all kinds of physics toys — especially perpetual motion toys that present odd visual effects,” Krisjans told Digital Trends. “I am sure most people can remember a spinning top from their childhood. I had many types of tops, but my favorite ones had a drawn spiral on the top side so it would create the hypnotic effect when spun. A couple years ago, I saw one of those tops and it reminded me how cool the effect actually looks. I had an idea to put this principle in a high-quality desk toy that would look appealing not only spinning, but also standing still.”

As ever, we offer our usual warnings about crowdfunding campaigns, which can be subject to delays, failures to ship as described, or sometimes even failures to ship at all. As Krisjans noted, however, he has previously shipped 15,000 desk toys to 9,000 backers around the world — which should hopefully bode well for Mezmoglobe delivering on its promises.

If you would like to get involved, you can head over to the project’s Kickstarter page, where it has already raised more than 16 times its initial modest funding goal, with 33 days remaining on the clock. A single Mezmoglobe, available in a range of anodized color options, starts at just $35. Shipping is planned to take place in January 2019.

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