Brain.fm lets you stream calibrated audio tracks to boost your productivity (80 per cent off)

When we need to buckle down and tackle our to-dos, the first thing many of us do is reach for our headphones.

While today’s pop hits make for easy listening, there are better options for tuning out distractions. Brain.fm uses a wealth of neurological research to stream music that’s designed to boost your productivity. Get a lifetime subscription for just £31.22 ($39 USD).

One of Product Hunt’s Top 50 Most Up-voted products, Brain.fm carefully curates the best background music for studying, sleeping, or relaxation. Calling upon groundbreaking AI and neurological research, Brain.fm uses proven science to make sure your listening experience is as productive as possible.

Simply select whether you’re trying to work, relax, or sleep, and Brain.fm will generate an original composition designed to enhance that scenario. You can adjust your stream to play for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or even indefinitely if you’re looking to listen for a while.

Brain.fm lets you explore different recordings and audio tracks for each category, so you can find which ones are right for you. Plus, a subscription to Brain.fm gives you access to premium-only content and lets you track your work progress, so you can stay on top of your assignments.

A lifetime subscription to Brain.fm usually retails for £159.29 ($199 USD), but Pocket-lint readers can get it on sale for just £31.22 ($39 USD). Alternatively, you can get a three-year subscription for only £23.21 ($29 USD) or a single year for £15.21 ($19 USD).

HomeSpot’s Rugged Bluetooth Speaker lets you take your soundtrack anywhere (62 per cent off)

Bluetooth speakers aren’t known for their durability, but HomeSpot is looking to change that.

Shockproof, weatherproof, and powerful, the HomeSpot Rugged Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker can play your favorite music in virtually any environment. For a limited time, you can score your own for only £23.99 ($29.99 USD), or 62 per cent off.

Built to keep up with your adventures, this speaker can withstand dust, water, and even heavy impacts thanks to its rubberized exterior. While other speakers scratch or break at the slightest blow, this speaker is designed to shrug those hazards off effortlessly.

It boasts two high performance 6W acoustic drivers and a passive bass subwoofer, so you can enjoy crisp and powerful audio on the move. Whether you’re camping in the great outdoors or partying by the poolside, you can use this speaker fill your surroundings with your favorite music.

Wires would make for a cumbersome speaker, so HomeSpot cut them out when designing this portable powerhouse. Boasting top Bluetooth technology, HomeSpot’s speaker quickly pairs with either Bluetooth or NFC devices and lets you stream from sites like Spotify with ease. This handy speaker also comes with a built-in noise-cancelling speakerphone, so you can tune in to calls no matter how loud your surroundings get.

The HomeSpot Rugged Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker normally sells for £63.99 ($79.99 USD), but Pocket-lint readers can save big and get it on sale for over 60 per cent off, making the final price just £23.99 ($29.99 USD).

Samsung might bring its edge display to both Galaxy 8 models

It should be even harder for you to decide which Galaxy 8 to buy next year.

According to The Bell (via Droid-Life), next year’s Android flagship from Samsung, thought to be called Galaxy S8, will come in two different sizes, just like the last couple generations that preceded it, but they’ll both feature edge displays, which is the glass curve on the side that begun with 2015’s Galaxy S6 smartphone. This edge makes the phone appear bezel-less and provides more touch functionality.

Not only will both sizes of the Galaxy S8 have an edge display, but there won’t be a flat model, according to the report. So, what will be the difference between them? Well, one will have a 5.7-inch screen, which will make it larger than the Galaxy S7, and one will have a 6.2-inch screen. The larger phone might also sport on-screen buttons instead of physical and capacitive buttons.

If Samsung follows previous release patterns, chances are we will see a Galaxy S8 launch at Mobile World Congress next year. The show takes place from 27 February to 2 March 2017, which would mean the potential launch date could be 26 February. Although there has been claims that the launch could be brought forward to regain consumer confidence after the issues with the Note 7.

Check out Pocket-lint’s Galaxy 8 rumour round-up for more details on the upcoming flagship from Samsung.

Planet Earth might be the biggest loser under President Trump

Deny it all he wants, Donald Trump did in fact tweet that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to damage American manufacturing. But, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say that since 2012 his opinion on the matter has evolved. Even if he no longer considers the concept of climate change to be a conspiracy cooked up by China, he still clearly doubts the science, and that will have significant consequences.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

In our election guide, we drew a line in the sand over climate change, and we stand by that. More than 97 percent of climate scientists believe that average global temperatures are rising and that human activity is at least partially responsible for that. At every turn Donald Trump has rejected the scientific consensus, often with odd answers that exposed his misunderstanding of the issue: “I believe there’s weather. I believe there’s change, and I believe it goes up and it goes down, and it goes up again.”

He even once dismissed the notion of global warming by saying, “We have much bigger problems.” So don’t expect climate change to be taken seriously by this administration. What does this mean in the short term? He has specifically said he would do away with the Waters of The US Rule and the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The former protects rivers, lakes and other wetlands while the latter set standards on carbon pollution produced by power plants. If that wasn’t far enough, he has also suggested he might want to do away with the EPA entirely. Though, such a dramatic move would require some cooperation from Congress who would also have to figure out what to do with the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which the EPA is tasked with enforcing.

Things get worse when you look at his potential cabinet appointments. Reports are that Forrest Lucas, the co-founder of Lucas Oil, is the front runner for Secretary of the Interior. In that position, Lucas would be in charge of national parks and wildlife refuges, and have serious influence over policies regarding offshore oil drilling, fracking and endangered species.

President-elect Trump’s efforts to weaken regulations and set industries free to police themselves doesn’t end with domestic programs. He has also threatened to pull out of the Paris Agreement, in which 200 nations agreed to greatly curtail greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of the agreement is to slow the rise of global temperatures, and keep them from climbing by more than 2 degrees celsius by 2100.

These efforts would certainly save America billions of dollars up front. But they will potentially come with dramatic price tags in the future. Trump’s policies could have lasting impacts that will cause temperatures to continue to rise at an alarming rate. Some analysts suggest his plans will pump billions of tons more of carbon into the atmosphere than existed under President Obama. Increases in global temperature have been linked to everything from failing crops to shifts in fish populations.

This is bad for the planet and the country, but some places will feel the pain worse than others. With the federal government taking a hands-off approach to pollution and regulation, it will put increased pressure on states to pick up the slack. In liberal-leaning areas like California, it’s likely that laws protecting the environment and restricting greenhouse gasses will pass. But in other parts of the country such efforts could face serious opposition.

This patchwork of rules could essentially create environmental ghettos where lax local laws cause the worst polluters to concentrate in particular areas. That could lead to increased health problems in pockets of the country that might already be under extreme economic pressure. And those issues could be compounded by increased pollution and the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act.

Under a Trump presidency, it’s almost impossible to fathom how a public health crisis like the one in Flint, Michigan, might play out. Trump has said we should use our “limited financial resources” to ensure that “every person in the world has clean drinking water;” it’s hard to see how he plans to accomplish that goal with a host of toothless government agencies.

San Francisco judge denies Airbnb’s lawsuit against the city

When Airbnb sued San Francisco in June, claiming that people listing their apartments for rent were responsible for any wrongdoing (like failing to register as a business), city officials were quick to respond. At the time, they said that the rental outfit was reading the Communications Decency Act (CDA) how it wanted to. As such, a city judge has rejected the suit, according to Reuters. Presiding judge James Donato said that the CDA does not “regulate what can or cannot be said or posted in the listings.”

But what does free speech online have to do with any of this? Airbnb claims that it shouldn’t be on the hook for what users put in their listings, and that it isn’t breaking laws, its users who failed to go through a lengthy registration process for renting out their living spaces are.

“Further, Airbnb’s argument that the city violated the First Amendment is moot because the ordinance ‘was not motivated by a desire to suppress speech,’” Reuters reports. As a bit of silver lining, Judge Donato did concede that the current legal process for registration needs some work. How this will affect other lawsuits in other cities remains to be seen. Who knows, maybe Transylvani’a’s laws are a little more lax. We’ve reached out to Airbnb for more information and will update this post should it arrive.

Source: Reuters

Edward Snowden will discuss Trump and privacy on November 10th

American technology policies could change significantly under Donald Trump, and that includes its stance on privacy. How will the new leader alter government surveillance, for example? Edward Snowden might have an answer. The whistleblower and Dutch search engine StartPage are hosting a live event on November 10th at 4:30PM Eastern to address what happens to privacy in the Trump era, among other questions. Snowden speaking engagements are nothing new, but this is special — he’s more than a little familiar with government spying activities, and this is his first chance to opine on how things might be different under a new administration.

Snowden hasn’t said much of anything about the subject as of this writing. However, Trump doesn’t exactly have a stellar record on internet privacy so far. He has proposed reauthorizing the Patriot Act and the previous, less restrained NSA mass surveillance that took place while the Act was in force. He tends to “err on the side of security” over privacy, even if he’s not especially fond of it. As such, Snowden probably won’t have many kind things to say. He’s in favor of more privacy wherever possible, and that could easily put him at greater odds with the US government than he is now.

Source: StartPage