Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $300 on a Whirlpool refrigerator
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read their continuously updated list of deals at TheWirecutter.com.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Whirlpool WRF535SMBM Refrigerator
Street price: $1,300 MSRP: $1,700 deal price: $1,000
This is the first time we’ve seen this fridge drop to $1,000 since we started tracking it, though it also dropped to this price range while our guide was being written. Home Depot appliance prices tend to have big drops of a few hundred dollars for a couple weeks, before returning to higher prices for a few months.
The Whirlpool WRF535SMBM is our pick for the best refrigerator. Liam McCabe wrote, “If we were buying a 36-inch wide refrigerator, it would be the Whirlpool WRF535SMBM. Mainly, that’s because it’s one of the most affordable French door fridges out there, yet there’s no obvious sacrifice in terms of reliability, useful features, noise, efficiency, or layout.”
In terms of features, “The features in the WRF535SMBM are basic but all useful. The icemaker in the freezer churns out cubes quickly (and seems to run pretty reliably). The glide-out, full-width shelf on the bottom of the fridge is a good spot either for meats and cheeses, or as a convenient eye-level spot for kids to get at pudding packs or Capri Sun or kale or whatever they eat these days. Other than those two, it’s just typical shelves and drawers, nothing fancy. It is a simple, sharp, and clean-looking design, too.”
Moto X Pure Edition 64GB + Moto 360 Sport Watch
Street price: $700; MSRP: $750; deal price: $400
This matches a similar deal we saw briefly at the start of June, but at the time, it sold out quickly. You add the Moto X Pure to your cart, select the 64GB option, then add the Moto 360 to your cart as well. At that point, the $400 price should show up. While that’s a significant savings, if you’re not interested in the watch, Best Buy has the 64GB phone on sale for $320.
The Moto X Pure Edition is our customizable phablet pick in our best Android phones guide. Ryan Whitwam said, “Motorola’s latest flagship phone offers a great Android 6.0 software experience with customization options that other phones simply can’t match. You can choose from different colors and materials for the back, pick a metallic accent color, and even customize the startup message. It’s more comfortable to hold than other phablets despite its big, 5.7-inch LCD, plus it has a slot for a microSD card. If you take a lot of selfies, we have still more good news: This phone has a front-facing flash paired with a wide-angle 5-megapixel camera.”
He also wrote, “The Moto X has a metal frame, but you can choose the back materials using the Moto Maker online tool. There you’ll find various soft-touch plastics, woods, and leathers, and you can also customize the color of the front panel and metal rim.”
Kryptonite KryptoLok Series 2 Bicycle U-Lock
Street price: $40; MSRP: $48; deal price: $30 with code BIKEMORE
Use the code BIKEMORE to get this price. This is $2 above the best price we’ve seen on this bike lock, but a decent discount below the usual price we see on Buydig and Amazon.
The KryptoLok Series 2 is the top pick in our guide on the best bike lock. Eric Hansen said, “This isn’t an exciting, novel pick for the best U-lock but it is savvy. Experts, users, and the bike thieves that we interviewed agree that the Series 2 U-lock is strong enough to foil all foilable thieves. It’s also light and comes with a stable, easy-to-mount carrying bracket that fits on virtually all bikes.”
He added, “Kryptonite’s accompanying ‘insurance’—costing $20 for three years—is the easiest to purchase, thanks to their rare online form. And it pays okay, too. In the event that some jerk destroys the U-lock and makes off with a bike, then Kryptonite pays the homeowners’ or renter’s insurance deductible or the replacement cost of the bike.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
House sit-in shows the power and potential of livestreaming
Forget the final few minutes of the NBA Finals. Forget BuzzFeed tying rubberbands around a watermelon until it exploded. Forget a woman trying on a Chewbacca mask in a car. Sure, these are all moments that have been livestreamed, sometimes to millions of viewers. But it’s events like the sit-in by House Democrats that have truly shown the power and potential of live internet video.
When the sit-in protest started, House Republican speaker Paul Ryan called for a recess and turned off the cameras and microphones. That means that C-Span, the network that typically broadcasts congressional sessions, wasn’t able to show the protest in progress. But in the age of smartphones, this wasn’t a deterrent.
Aside from taking to Twitter with the #NoBillNoBreak hashtag, a few representatives opted to livestream the event. In particular, Congressmen Scott Peters and Eric Swalwell broadcasted the sit-in via Periscope, while Congressman Beta O’Rourke did the same over Facebook Live.
Suddenly, not having cameras wasn’t a problem. This was a momentous occasion, and the only way anyone could see it, was through their computers or their smartphones. Soon, C-Span simply changed its feed over to the congressmen’s livestreams, because that was the only source of the news. CNN and MSNBC reported the event with that same broadcast.
LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/WRxWGI67xH
— Scott Peters (@ScottPetersSD) June 22, 2016
This is the potential of mobile livestreaming realized. As long as you have a smartphone and an internet connection, you can offer a window into a world immediately, no camera crew required. Paul Lewis, a reporter for The Guardian used Periscope to broadcast interviews from the Baltimore riots last year. Christal Hayes from the Orlando Sentinel did the same in the aftermath of the shooting in Orlando.
Of course, livestreams don’t always have such noble purposes. More often than not, livestreaming videos tend to veer toward the trivial, like behind-the-scenes footage of a Jimmy Fallon show or silly antics to promote a particular brand. Most of the time people tend to use it just to broadcast their lives, which certainly could be interesting — perhaps it’s a video of a skydive or a Beyonce concert — but they’re still just using it like a personal vlog. Worse still are those that use livestreaming to broadcast horrific deeds like rape or suicide. It becomes a cry for attention in the worst way possible.
And yet, if it wasn’t for livestreaming, nobody would have seen yesterday’s historical sit-in take place. The same way social media like Twitter and Facebook was crucial to the Arab Spring movement, Periscope and Facebook Live have the potential to be a powerful democratizing force. It’s unclear if livestreaming will be particularly sustainable or profitable going forward, but as the House sit-in demonstrates, it’s important — perhaps even vital — that it exists.
T-Mobile will offer unlimited data for European travel
T-Mobile is continuing its practice of proving to everyone why it should be worthy of the “Un-carrier” moniker. This time around, the company is offering unlimited data with up to 4G LTE speeds throughout Europe for the rest of the summer.
If you’re planning on traveling overseas this summer, you’ll be able to catch up on all your shows and stay in touch with family without worrying about running out of data, just as you’ll be given a free hour of Wi-Fi via Gogo domestic flights — if they happen to offer it, that is. This offer extends even to Verizon and AT&T customers, so if you haven’t quite been convinced that T-Mobile is the carrier for you after all this flash and showmanship, you can at least reap some of the benefits for the weekend.
T-Mobile has also announced that its customers will be able to roam without special charges in Belize going forward, so if that happens to be one of your destinations as you get away for vacation, you’ll hopefully be paying significantly fewer fees, for that area of your trip at least.
T-Mobile is bent on proving its worth by giving its customers special rewards and promotions, though previously they were more focused on goodies and deals (even stocks) rather than expanding data or alleviating charges. It should be interesting to see where it aims next when it comes to pulling in customers.
Source: T-Mobile
Amazon backs ‘Vainglory’ mobile eSports tournament
Amazon is throwing its weight behind mobile eSports yet again. The company — the Amazon Appstore, in particular — is the main sponsor of the 2016 Vainglory summer eSports season. Vainglory is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for touchscreen devices, which Apple demoed on stage back in 2014 to show off the power of its A8 chip. It has become the biggest touchscreen eSport since then, convincing Amazon-owned streaming website Twitch to ink a deal with its publisher, Super Evil Megacorp, to broadcast its tournaments.
Amazon and Super Evil Megacorp are doing things a bit differently this season. Starting today until September 11th, the top eight teams in North America and Europe will be facing each other every weekend. The Appstore will reward players with discounts and Amazon Coins throughout the tournament. By the end of the season, the e-retailer will host a huge championship event. It’s not clear at this point where it’s going to be held, but you can watch Twitch’s coverage of the tournament on the official Vainglory channel.
Source: Vainglory
Apple left iOS 10’s core code unencrypted on purpose
Apple is infamous for guarding its secrets tightly, so it came as a big surprise that the preview version of iOS 10 it released at WWDC has an unencrypted kernel. According to a spokesperson, though, Cupertino did it on purpose, because by leaving it unencrypted, the company was “able to optimize the operating system’s performance without compromising security.” The kernel is the heart of an operating system, and on iOS, it’s in charge of security and managing what parts of an iPhone or an iPad apps can access. Apple used to keep it under several layers of protection — now that security researchers can examine it more closely, bugs could come to light more quickly than before.
iOS security expert Jonathan Zdziarski told MIT Technology Review that “Opening up the OS might help other researchers to find and report bugs, by giving everyone just as much visibility as an advanced and well-funded research team might have.” Tech Review points out that this could prevent law enforcement agencies from exploiting flaws to crack locked devices, like what the FBI did to get into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. After all, if there are more eyes looking for bugs, they can be found and patched much sooner. For the rest of us, this could translate to greater security and phones or tablets that run more smoothly.
Source: MIT Tech Review
FCC wants your help understanding radio noise
Interference from radio noise remains a big problem… and it’s tricky enough that the FCC wants your help understanding the issue in the first place. The agency has put out a call for public input that should not only determine the scale of radio noise problems, but design the studies needed to measure them. It wants to identify the main sources of this noise, where it’s most likely to happen and whether it varies based on time. It’s particularly concerned about “incidental” noise from devices that aren’t meant to emit radio frequencies, like motors or power lines.
Any results from the consultation and the resulting studies are bound to take a while, let alone any solutions that come from them. There’s definitely pressure to hurry things up, however. On top of longstanding concerns for ham radio, the US is entering an era where multi-gigabit 5G and WiFi networks may be crucial to getting people online. The last thing the country needs is a rising volume of radio noise bogs those connections down.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: FCC (PDF)
Facebook brings VR Reactions to 360-degree videos
In between shooting up enemy spaceships in Eve:Gunjack and watching your favorite shows in virtual reality, you can also use your Gear VR to browse 360 Videos on Facebook. Now, in addition to viewing them, you can also show what you think about them. Oculus has just made it possible to see and leave reactions — you know, those Like-alternatives that Facebook released earlier this year — right within the smartphone VR viewer. Just look at the Like button long enough, and you’ll trigger a circle of possible Reactions to choose from. And if you’re dying to give a “Wow” emoji to a friend’s 360-degree panorama instead, don’t worry — support for 360 Photos should arrive in the coming weeks.
Source: Facebook
Simple Habit aims to de-stress you with 5-minute meditations
Yunha Kim knows a lot about stress. She founded Locket, an app that put ads on the Android lock screen, which was eventually bought up by the shopping app Wish. Starting and running her own company, naturally, was a stressful proposition, so she turned to meditation as a way to center herself. Now, she’s hoping to do the same for everyone with a new iPhone app called Simple Habit. It offers five-minute guided meditation sessions that you can do from practically anywhere, each targeted for specific situations.
While there are plenty of mindfulness apps out there — even Apple is getting in on the meditation bandwagon with Breathe in WatchOS 3 — Kim says Simple Habit differs by adopting a Netflix-like model. The app is free to install, and there’s also a quick introductory session that shows you what the experience is like. But to get access to all of the meditation lessons, you’ve got to pay $4 a week, $15 a month or $120 a year.
It might seem counterintuitive to pay up front for mindfulness training, but it looks like you get a lot for your money. (And it’s not as if meditation lessons are always free.) Kim has around 30 experts contributing lessons to the app, which from very specific (at work and stressed) to fairly general (morning meditation). With this many contributors, Simple Help should be able to keep its selections of lessons fresh, something that other relaxation apps often have trouble with. Kim is also working with a Harvard psychologist to ensure the lessons actually help you relax.
While sitting at my desk, I went through the “Improve Focus at Work” session. A calm and pleasant British woman guided me to sit down, stretch my shoulders, and then focus on my breathing. Over the course of the five-minute session, she had me focus on my left hand, every single digit and repeat the process for my right hand. Yes, it doesn’t sound very exciting, but that’s the point. It’s a simple way to clear your thoughts, focus your mind and hopefully make yourself feel less stressed
Simple Habit also has sessions going all the way up to 30 minutes, which will be helpful if you really get into the habit of meditation. Honestly, it’s not that hard to start meditating for free on your own, with some light research. That’s how I’ve been distressing for the past few months. But Simple Habit’s targeted sessions makes it easy for people with far less patience to relax. Eventually, you might find that you don’t need the app anymore for your meditation fix, but your time with it will have been well worth it.
Source: iTunes, Simple Habit
Microsoft puts your company intranet on your iPhone
Look, we know: accessing your company’s intranet is about as exciting as watching paint dry. However, wouldn’t you rather have the option of using it from your phone, instead of having to sit at a computer? Microsoft thinks so. It just launched SharePoint for iOS, its first mobile SharePoint app. The tool gives you access to the files, portals, sites and teams that you’re used to on the desktop. It’s also smart enough to hop between apps depending on what you’re accessing. It’ll jump to OneDrive if you’re peeking at the company’s document library, for instance, or switch to one of the Office apps if you’re opening a recent file.
Microsoft is quick to admit that this is a “first step,” and that there may well be features you’ll miss (such as company-wide announcements) that are coming later this year. You should also see Android and universal Windows apps in a similar time frame. So long as those aren’t showstoppers, though, the app should be worth grabbing — if just because it can keep you away from your desk for a little bit longer.
Source: Office Blogs, App Store
BET gets its own mobile streaming service
Viacom is making good on its promise to parcel out its channels as individual services for cord cutters. It’s launching a BET Play app that lets you watch the network’s black culture programming for $4 per month on your Android and iOS devices. You’ll largely end up watching like Chasing Destiny or Real Husbands of Hollywood on demand, but there is a smattering of live content. It has a live feed of BET Soul’s music, and it’ll be the only official way to livestream the BET Awards (conveniently, taking place on June 26th).
The service is available in 100 countries around the globe, so you don’t have to be American to give it a whirl. However, support for it on TVs is pretty limited. You can use AirPlay to send videos to your TV if you have iOS gear, but you won’t find native Apple TV or Android TV apps, and there’s no Chromecast support. It’s not a perfect substitute for your cable or satellite subscription right now, then — you’ll probably have to be content with watching on your phone.
Via: The Verge
Source: Viacom
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