Shoot for the moon with these lunar wallpapers
Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars…
The stars might be too far away to dream of visiting, but the moon is so close. It’s right up there in the sky, almost every night. It’s taunting us as it twirls around the Earth in its near-monthly rotation. And even though most of us will never see it up-close, we’ll continue to reach for it every day… as the wallpaper on our phone!
It’s been a while since I featured a Trey Ratcliff, and I don’t know why, because his work is always out of this world. Winter may not be here yet, but it’s never too early to imagine some majestic snow-capped mountains, with a magic moon setting behind a pierced shroud of pale clouds….
The Super Moon Sets in Queenstown by Trey Ratcliff
Golden moons are magical things… well, they may be slightly less magical than childhood films like The Swan Princess led me to believe, but the golden glow of a harvest moon just seems more powerful, more awe-inducing. The definition of the ripples on the lake in this distance shot are spectacular, and if they have me humming Far Longer Than Forever, oh darn.
Harvest Moon by goldleaf09
While full moons may seem more wholesome and powerful, crescent moons are full of promise, full of mystery, full of secrets. They’re knife-thin Cheshire cat grins in the sky, waiting for a pair of bright eyes to blink into view above them. This wallpaper also helps put back into perspective how small the moon looks compared to our beautiful Earth thanks to this shot from Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.
Crescent Moon Rising and Earth’s Atmosphere by Koichi Wakata
Good night, Moon by Scott Kelly
Astronaut Scott Kelly got to spend a year on the International Space Station — something for which millions of nerds will forever envy him — and in that year of living in a weightless lab orbiting our blue marble, he had a lot of time to take freaking gorgeous pictures. Pictures like these! The Earth looks like a baby blue blanket getting ready to smother the moon, which is just out of its reach…
Good night, Moon by Scott Kelly
Three times the crescent moons, three times the mystery, three times the magic… it’s a shame this is all the way out on Saturn. Saturn has many, many moons, but here we have Titan, with its gaseous glow, rough Rhea with its icy craters, and mini Mimas at the bottom. Look at mini Mimas, it’s such a cute little moon! This wallpaper comes from the Cassini spacecraft, an unmanned spacecraft sent into Saturn’s orbit.
Triple Crescents by NASA
Apple will release MacOS Sierra update for Macs on 20 September
Apple quietly announced after its iPhone 7 event on Wednesday that MacOS Sierra will officially release for Macs later this month.
The Cupertino, CA-based company’s latest desktop operating system will start to roll out 20 September, according to its website. This is the first desktop OS to have Apple’s new naming scheme, and it marks the retirement of OS X. The idea is that MacOS will better align with WatchOS and tvOS, Apple’s operating systems for Apple Watch and the fourth-generation Apple TV, respectively.
On 8 September, Apple released the golden master (GM) build of MacOS Sierra. A GM is typically the final build of a piece of software in the beta stages for developers. In terms of MacOS, the GM build arrives shortly before the official release that’s delivered to consumers. Apple is pushing out the GM build two weeks after its seventh MacOS Sierra public beta and less than two weeks before the official release for consumers.
In other words: the MacOS Sierra golden master – if there are no critical bugs found – should be the same piece of software that most Mac owners can begin downloading later this month. If you’d like to try the GM, you must be a beta tester in Apple’s beta testing programme. You’ll receive the macOS Sierra golden master through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
- Pocket-lint explained how to become a Sierra beta tester here
The MacOS Sierra is a major update with a number of new features, including Siri for the Mac, new Continuity features, and a “Universal Clipboard”. There’s also deeper iCloud integration, new Photos features, and an improved Messages app, among other things.
- Pocket-lint detailed many of Sierra’s new features here
Oculus Story Studios won its first Emmy for an interactive film
Virtual reality is an art form that’s still in its early stages. Headsets, like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, were only released this year, and people still need to be convinced that VR can be a powerful new way to tell and experience movies, TV shows, and video games. In what could be a tipping point for the VR industry, Facebook-owned Oculus won its first Emmy for Outstanding Original Interactive Program for its animated VR short film, Henry.
The movie, which is only available on the Oculus Rift, is about the titular, cute hedgehog — voiced by Elijah Wood — who likes to hug. It’s directed by Ramiro Lopez Dau, who previously worked on Monsters University and Cars 2. Henry is the first VR original to receive such a prestigious award, which was previously given to apps and online video projects, such as The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Creators are still figuring out how to produce full-length VR films that can rival a movie theater experience. But, this Emmy can be a big step forward for VR, and could help validate this technology as a legitimate tool for storytelling in the coming years.
Via: Variety
Source: Oculus
Welcome to the final console generation as we know it
PlayStation 4 architect Mark Cerny practically whispered into his microphone as he introduced the world to Sony’s latest console iteration, the PS4 Pro. His voice was at odds with the setting: He stood at the center of attention in a New York City auditorium packed with journalists and fans eager to hear about the latest and greatest Sony gaming technology. Amid frantic keyboard tapping and camera flashes, Cerny described the PS4 Pro’s upgrades like a museum curator detailing a magnificent piece of art he’d just acquired.
The Pro’s GPU is twice as fast as the standard PS4, it can handle PSVR out of the box, it has a 1TB hard drive, boosted clock rate, and it supports 4K and HDR gaming. Even some older games, including Shadow of Mordor and Infamous: First Light, will be patched to support 4K and HDR features in a move that Sony labels, “forward compatibility.”
Cerny called the PS4 Pro transformative, while PlayStation CEO Andrew House stressed that Sony wanted to ensure anyone playing on the new, beefed-up console would still be a part of the overall PS4 community.
“PS4 Pro is not intended to blur the lines between console generations,” Cerny said.
However, despite Sony’s best intentions, the PS4 Pro smudges this generational dividing line. Modern console generations have followed a fairly rigid pattern: standard console, “slim” console, rumors of a new console. Rinse and repeat for the next four to eight years.
Now, Sony and Microsoft have announced slimmer versions of the PS4 and Xbox One, but they’ve added another console iteration to the mix. Microsoft has Project Scorpio, a 4K, VR-ready console with juicier guts than the Xbox One. And Sony, of course, has the PS4 Pro.
Both of these consoles feel like a half-step forward. They aren’t part of a new console generation, but they are distinctly more powerful than their predecessors. It’s like Apple revealing the iPhone 6s a year after launching the iPhone 6. It’s like Alienware, Dell or HP announcing a new gaming PC: It’s fancier and faster, but it still plays all the games you already own.
These similarities to smartphone and PC upgrade cycles aren’t an accident. They’re a business plan.
“We think the future is without console generations,” head of Xbox games marketing Aaron Greenberg said in August. “We think that the ability to build a library, a community, to be able to iterate with the hardware — we’re making a pretty big bet on that with Project Scorpio. We’re basically saying, ‘This isn’t a new generation; everything you have continues forward and it works.’ We think of this as a family of devices.”
Even back in March, Xbox boss Phil Spencer compared the future of consoles to the PC market.
“We can effectively feel a little more like what we see on PC, where I can still go back and run my old Doom and Quake games that I ran so many years ago and still see the best new 4K games come out — and my whole library is always with me,” Spencer said.
Sony hasn’t been as open about its shift to a PC or smartphone approach to console generations, but it’s following Microsoft’s lead. In fact, it may be at the front of the pack: The PS4 Pro is scheduled to hit shelves a full year before Scorpio. The Pro lands on November 10th for $400, while Scorpio is due to land at the end of 2017.
This is not the end of consoles. It’s a moment of liberation. Microsoft and Sony can take advantage of faster iteration cycles to pump out more consoles, not fewer, though the changes in each new model may be incremental. (Maybe Valve was onto something with the Steam Machines after all.)
Despite Microsoft, Sony or Cerny’s intentions, console generations are definitely changing — but consoles themselves are not disappearing. The lines are just a little blurrier now.
Burritos by drone will soon be a thing
In the biggest test of drone deliveries to date, Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. and Chipotle are bringing airborne burritos to the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. According to Bloomberg, the trial runs start this month using Alphabet’s experimental Project Wing drones flying out of a Chipotle food truck.
The drones, which are all approved under the FAA’s new commercial guidelines, can fly autonomously but will have a human backup ready to take the controls if something goes awry. When a drone reaches the hungry customer on the other end of the delivery, it will hover in place while lowering the burrito payload to the ground using a winch. The project’s engineers will be testing everything from the drone’s navigation systems to customer satisfaction. After all, what good is a drone if it can only bring you a cold, mushy burrito?
While the concept seems simple, the data gathered from the project will actually help the FAA design a new system of low-altitude air traffic control that will be necessary once drone deliveries start catching on in earnest. As the director of the project partnership, Mark Blanks told Bloomberg, the lucky volunteers ordering the airlifted burritos will be a select group of users made up of “Virginia Tech employees, students and possibly other recruits.”
Source: Bloomberg
The Wirecutter’s best deals: $30 off the Amazon Tap
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.
Athlon Optics Midas ED Binoculars
Street price: $290; MSRP: $290; deal price: $250
The first time we’ve seen a drop on these binoculars since we started tracking them, and it’s a worthwhile one. At $250, they’re a full $40 below the street price.
The Athlon Optics Midas ED are our pick for the best binoculars. Daniel S. Cooper said, “Amazingly affordable with great optics, these binoculars have comparable performance to many models that cost thousands more.”
He went on to say, “The Athlon Midas ED pair’s optics aren’t its only strong suit: These are exceptionally durable binoculars that easily withstood the humid, dusty, and hostile environment of the Mexican rain forest and harsh sun of the Californian desert. And their focus dial adjusts reliably and smoothly across a wide range of depths, making it easy to focus on what you’re trying to see, no matter where it is.”
Anker PowerLine 3-ft Lightning Cable (3-Pack)
Street price: $25; MSRP: $40; deal price: $20
If you like having spare Lightning cables on hand, Anker’s currently offering a deal on a 3-pack of their PowerLine 3-ft Lightning cables. It’s $5 below their street price and only slightly over the usual cost of buying two Lightning cables individually.
The Anker PowerLine Lightning cable is our pick for the best Lightning cable. Nick Guy wrote, “Anker’s PowerLine cables charge iPads, iPhones, iPods—and the plethora of Lightning-based accessories Apple introduced over the past year—at their maximum speed (though the 12.9-inch iPad Pro can charge even faster with a special cable and charger). They also fulfill our readers’ number-one request: sturdiness. Anker builds its PowerLine cables with Kevlar fiber and PVC strain-relief collars that should prevent fraying during normal use. Plus they’re affordable: The 3-foot cable is half the price of Apple’s 1-meter (3.5-foot) Lightning to USB Cable. Add to this Anker’s reputation for stellar hardware, its fantastic customer service, and an awesome 18-month warranty, and it’s clear why this cable is our pick.”
Amazon Tap
Street price: $130; MSRP: $130; deal price: $100
This is the second time we’ve seen the Tap down to $100, matching a previous sale from the start of August. A couple days after that last sale started, Bed Bath and Beyond beat it with an $80 sale for a few days, but since that’s the only time we’ve seen a great BB&B sale on any our picks, we don’t think we’ll see that price again soon.
The Amazon Tap is a more portable pick in our Alexa guide. Grant Clauser wrote, “The Tap’s built-in battery lets you take Alexa voice control to the backyard or other places outside the home, though worse audio performance and the lack of an always-on microphone is limiting.”
For more about the always-on microphone, “The Tap doesn’t sport the always-on microphone for receiving voice commands that the Echo and Dot have. Instead, there’s a microphone button you need to press, similar to pressing the home button on an iPhone to call Siri to attention (if you don’t have “Hey Siri” enabled on your iPhone). This little inconvenience is meant to make the Tap’s battery last longer. It also makes it unsuitable as your main Alexa interface. You can’t shout commands across the yard, because the Tap isn’t listening.”
Refurbished Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 Lens
Street price: $350 (new); MSRP: $400 (new); deal price: $220
We’ve featured a deal on this refurbished lens before, but this comes in at $20 below the previous sale. At this new low, it’s even more affordable and even more of a reason to pick it up if you’re looking for a more capable prime lens. As always, Canon’s refurbished lenses come with a 1-year manufacturer warranty.
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 STM is the higher quality version of our prime lens pick in our Canon lenses guide. Tim Barribeau wrote, “If you’re willing to spend a bit more, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 is higher quality—and capable of gathering even more light—but nearly three times the price. Of the company’s two 50 mm offerings, the f/1.4 version is undoubtedly a better lens, but if you’re just starting out and you aren’t sure what you want out of a lens, the f/1.8 version is supremely affordable and worth getting as you feel your way around.”
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.
FCC boss shares a fresh compromise on set-top box rules
The FCC and cable companies have been butting heads for nearly a year over how to regulate set-top boxes, and today FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler outlined his latest plan in an LA Times op-ed. The new plan to “Unlock the Box” is a compromise that embraces some earlier suggestions from the cable industry. Notably, Wheeler’s proposal calls for pay-TV providers to create free apps that consumers can download on the device of their choice, such as Roku, Apple TV, Xbox One, PS4, smart TVs, or Windows, iOS and Android devices. Or, consumers can keep their set-top boxes.
The cable industry floated this idea in June. However, that was months after Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai recommended that the FCC try to eliminate set-top boxes altogether, in favor of apps.
Wheeler’s latest proposal includes another feature that the cable companies agreed to in June — universal search. When customers search for programming on any device with a cable app, pay-TV options have to appear alongside other sources, such as Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime. This not only gives consumers more options, but it could support programming diversity, Wheeler argues.
“Integrated search also means expanded access to programming created by independent and diverse voices on the same platform as your pay-TV providers,” he writes. “Consumers will more easily find content even if it’s not on the pay-TV service to which they subscribe.”
Pay-TV providers like Comcast, Time Warner and DirecTV will still control their own programming and advertising, and they’ll be responsible for the quality of the apps themselves.
The FCC will vote on this proposal on September 29th. If adopted, large cable companies (which serve 95 percent of pay-TV customers), will have two years to comply. Medium-size providers will have an additional two years to get up to snuff.
Source: LA Times
Two years later, Apple has figured out what the Watch is good for
It’s been exactly two years since Apple took the wraps off the Apple Watch, the first entirely new product for the company under the direction of CEO Tim Cook. But unlike Steve Jobs’ legendary introduction of the first iPhone, which focused on three main feature categories, the Watch was all over the place. It’s a precise timepiece, with high-end fashion bonafides! It can track your activity and workouts! It has apps, notifications and glances! You can send your friends your heartbeat or ridiculous emoji or inappropriate sketches! But you need your iPhone to do basically all of this!
It was a dizzying introduction. When the Watch launched in April of 2015, most reviewers agreed that there were a lot of interesting features, but it didn’t all come together in a coherent fashion. And the slapdash combo of features didn’t quite justify the product’s relatively high price. But now, with the introduction of the Watch Series 2, Apple has made it clear: if you’re not interested in health tracking, don’t buy an Apple Watch.
Essentially all of the features that separate the Series 2 Watch from the original model are focused on making it a better health- and fitness-tracking device. Onboard GPS makes it far more useful for running or hiking, especially without your phone. True water resistance means swimmers can use the Watch to track their performance, and it can even differentiate between activities in a pool or out in open water. A significantly brighter display means it’s easier to read when working out under the sun. A host of software updates will make it a better tracker than it was before — and there’s a Nike-branded model for those who want to access the shoe-maker’s custom workout software and “run club.”
The only new feature that isn’t specifically geared towards improved fitness tracking is the faster processor, but that’s a no-brainer after 18 months on the market and something all buyers will benefit from. The brighter display is great for all buyers as well, but the original Watch screen wasn’t exactly lacking. It was sometimes tough to read outside in direct sunlight, but the display is pretty far down my list of complaints with the first-generation Watch.
Apple’s website and branding reflects this shift in focus: the Series 2 page has four sections detailing the new Watch’s features, and three of them are entirely focused on health and fitness. The Watch’s many other features like notifications, apps and watch faces are all grouped together. And Apple barely even mentions the fairly ridiculous specialized communication options it touted so heavily when the device was announced. Apple hasn’t removed any features, but it has totally changed the marketing and conversation around what the Watch does.
It says a lot that that there’s no more “Apple Watch Sport” collection — it’s just Apple Watch, Series 1 or 2. The more expensive stainless steel cases still exist, but they live alongside the cheaper aluminum models that have sold much better. And Apple all but exited the luxury market it aspired to when the Watch was introduced. The insanely expensive solid-gold “Edition” models have disappeared without a trace. You can still easily price a watch up to over $1,000, Apple’s partnership with French fashion designer Hermes is ongoing, and there’s that fancy new ceramic model that’ll set you back a cool $1,250. But that’s still a far cry from the $10,000 starting point for a solid gold Watch.
Instead, Apple is making the Watch more affordable than ever. The Series 1 is cheaper than before ($269 and $299 for the 38mm and 42mm models, respectively), and Apple upgraded its processor to match that in the Series 2. If you’re not a swimmer and don’t need rigorous, GPS-assisted fitness tracking, the earlier model is a perfectly viable option for many potential buyers — that upgraded processor means it should last as long as the brand new model.
The question now is whether targeting fitness and health will be enough for the Apple Watch to be a significant part of the company’s business. A lot of fitness tracker companies have struggled to find a foothold in the market, and there’s a common perception that they end up in a drawer, forgotten after a few months.
We still haven’t heard concrete Apple Watch sales numbers — but the company says it is already the number two watch retailer in the world (by revenue). The Watch may not become Apple’s next world-beating product, but this more focused strategy will likely help it expand the market of potential buyers. And Apple’s recent keynotes have made it clear that health is a company-wide priority for the company, which makes the Watch a key part of the company’s strategy going forward. At the very least, Apple has firmly decided why the Watch exists. It just took a couple of years to get there.
Microsoft could be unveiling its Surface All-in-One in October
Microsoft may very well be introducing its Surface All-in-One device this October during a special fall hardware launch, according to ZDNet.
The device, reportedly codenamed “Cardinal,” is supposedly a product that can “turn your desk into a studio,” reports ZDNet, which is very likely the previously-rumored All-in-One system, which could be coming in various screen sizes vaand offering the Perceptive Pixel screen tech utilized by Surface Hub.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has kept mum on the specifics, despite the fact that reporters have reached out to inquire about the possibility that the upcoming Surface Cardinal exists or that there’s going to be an event this October.
ZDNet’s report notes that existing Surface models may well feature faster processors and other minor updates as well, but larger product reveals probably won’t make an appearance until spring 2017.
If Microsoft is looking to make a hardware push during the fall, it could also coincide with updates about the gaming side of its regime, but right now details are up in the air. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what’s going to happen as far as this supposed Cardinal product is concerned.
Via: ZDNet
A $40 dongle lets you use wired headphones and charge your iPhone 7
After Apple got rid of the headphone jack on its new iPhones yesterday you were probably thinking: How am I supposed to charge my phone and use wired headphones? Fear not dear reader, accessory maker Belkin has a solution. With its $40 Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar adapter (actual product name), the company provides a way for you to replenish that iPhone 7 or 7 Plus battery while still keeping the music going.
What’s more, Belkin’s new dongle supports 48 kHz 24-bit audio output and if you’re still planning to use 3.5mm headphones, it works with the Lightning adapter that comes with the new iPhones. Remote control and voice cues from Apple’s headphones are also still in play. If you need to pick one up so that you can listen while you recharge, you’ll be able to do so October 10th. Now when you head out of the house you’ll need to remember this dongle, the adapter, your headphones and a charging cable. Or you could just go with one of many wireless options if you desire less clutter.
Via: The Verge
Source: Belkin
