Don’t miss out on this Chromebook deal for just £99
Amazon is currently offering a pretty sweet deal on the Lenovo N22 Chromebook, dropping the price to just £99. Normally priced at £160, this £60 price drop brings it to the lowest we’ve seen on it to date. Featuring an 11.6-inch display, the Lenovo N22 comes equipped with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage internally. Battery life should be no issue for you, as Lenovo states you should get around 14 hours of usage per charge.
Keeping in mind that this is one of the Chromebooks that will be able to run Android apps from Google Play, this savings makes it quite a steal. This likely won’t last long at this price, so be sure to grab one quickly if you are interested in checking it out. If you grab one, be sure to let us know in the comments!
See at Amazon
Pocket-lint Adventures: Running the Gung-Ho Obstacle race with the TomTom Bandit
Obstacle Course Races are all the rage with many event organisers opting to see how muddy and gruesome they can go. Gung-Ho takes a different approach. Instead of mud filled sheep dips and obstacles involving you carrying logs up a hill until you are a bedraggled mess, it is a more family friendly approach.
The race, around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes in the UK, consists of a 5km run with a number of inflatable obstacles to clamber or bounce your way through. There’s no timer, so you there’s no feeling that you are being pushed by an ominous sweeper bus that might come and suck you up and spit you out the other end in shame.
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With the fun run approach well and truly at the heart of the experience, we took the TomTom Bandit along for the ride.
The tough exterior housing meant it was more than ample to take any knocks and bashes, while the wide angle lens meant it was no problem getting everyone in our group in on the action. Although there wasn’t any water elements on the event loop it would have mattered anyway. The TomTom Bandit action cam lives up to its name there too capable of being submerged up to 40m.
We used the TomTom Bandit with the optional Pole Mount accessory (£54.99). The TomTom Bandit is a welcome companion, capturing the fun along the way. It’s light enough to carry, but small enough to slip into a pocket.
With instant sharing from your phone, and the ability to edit in an instance, the Bandit was perfect for quickly sharing our antics with the rest of the team.
For this Pocket-lint Adventure we opted to use the desktop software that comes free with the TomTom Bandit. It allows you to quickly see the highlights automatically added by the cameras internal sensors while you were filming, or the ones you’ve either manually added at the time or after the fact in the editing process.
Once we’d found the best clips, we were then able to arrange them before adding a soundtrack. We then saved the finished short movie and uploaded it to YouTube for everyone to see. Quick, simple, easy.
Check out more of the Pocket-lint Adventures below:
Tim Cook: ‘Apple could unlock iPhones, but won’t’
To celebrate both Tim Cook’s fifth year at the helm of Apple and the production of the billionth iPhone, the chief has sat down with the Washington Post. It’s very much a goodwill piece, although there are a few insights into both Cook and Apple that the CEO lets slip along the way. For instance, on the subject of the San Bernardino iPhone, the company did spend a long time working out if they could unlock it. After deciding that it was possible, but that it’d be extremely difficult to stop the exploit being shared, Cook refused to do it. As he explains, “the risk of what happens if it got out, we felt, could be incredibly terrible for public safety.”
Cook also reiterated that the $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics was really to get at the company’s streaming platform. In his eyes, Apple doesn’t “acquire for revenue,” but for “talent and/or intellectual property,” although the profit that Beats generates is a handy bonus. Buying Beats enabled Apple to get its own music service “out probably a little sooner than we would have otherwise.” Cook also claimed that Apple may make more original video and audio shows like Planet of the Apps and Beats 1, but only if it will act as a “catalyst” for pushing apps as the future of TV.
Tim Cook does seem determined to gloss over Apple’s tax status in Europe, claiming that the company didn’t get special treatment in Ireland. The European Union feels differently and has opened a lengthy investigation to examine the terms of a so-called sweetheart deal when Apple Ireland was established in 1991. The fact that, in 2014, Apple booked two-thirds of its global profits to an Irish-registered tax haven implies something may not be right. Cook also believes that where you “create value is the place where you are taxed,” his justification for saying that only US tax is worth paying.
As for the future, Cook refutes the suggestion that Apple is lagging behind companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon on Artificial Intelligence. Reiterating the fact that Siri is “with you all the time,” and that Siri’s next word prediction has gotten “a lot smarter.” Another big growth area is augmented reality, and Cook concedes that Apple is “doing a lot of things” behind the scenes on developing the technology. Not to mention all of those secret purchases of firms — 63 since late 2013 — including a few AI firms like Turi and an AR company called Metaio.
Source: Washington Post
UK’s first cloud DVR lets you watch recordings anywhere
To be blunt, Bush isn’t a brand known for particularly innovative products. But, come the end of the month, it’s the name you’ll see on the first cloud DVR to launch in the UK. Bush’s Digital TV Recorder is an affordable set-top box — arriving exclusively at Argos on August 30th for £100 — that lets you watch and record Freeview channels. What’s special about it, though, is the integration of ShowDrive, a service that takes those recordings and uploads them to the cloud so you can watch them wherever you want, and on basically any device.
The set-top box itself has two tuners (so you can watch one channel and record another simultaneously) and 16GB of internal storage. Add in an active ShowDrive subscription, however, and those 16 gigs become more of a local cache, with recordings subsequently uploaded to the cloud as fast as your internet connection can manage. Pay £2 per month, and you’ll get enough space for 35 hours of content, while £6 per month increases that to 350 hours. Discounts are also available if you spring for a year’s subscription upfront.
Once recordings have been uploaded to the ether, you can access them anywhere through the ShowDrive web app, which is compatible with computers and mobile devices. More than just a folder, the app presents your recordings in a visually rich UI with cover art, episode descriptions and the like. It’s searchable, offers recommendations, supports pause and resume across devices and will also point you towards on-demand platforms that feature more episodes of your favourite shows. If you’re on a shoddy hotel WiFi or slow 3G connection, then the quality of the stream will automatically scale to avoid any buffering downtime. Incidentally, the Bush box itself is said to upscale SD content to “near HD” when you’re watching TV at home.
We’re told other ShowDrive-ready set-top boxes, as well as TVs, will start popping up next year. For a while, though, Bush’s Digital TV Recorder will be the only DVR device of its kind available in the UK. That’s quite the claim considering the numerous pay-TV players we have over here, all with their own hardware. Many of them offer apps that let you stream TV and catch-up services on the move. Some also let you watch recordings on mobile devices over your home WiFi network, or download them to watch when you’re not. None of them, however, have yet to use cloud storage to allow you to access recordings from anywhere.
Source: ShowDrive
Sea anemones could be the key to treating hearing loss
Sea anemones could soon do a lot to help those of us living above the water. Researchers have discovered that proteins used by starlet sea anemones to repair their cells also repair the sound-sensing cells in mice and other mammals. If you bathe cells in those proteins for long enough (the team tried for an hour), they rapidly restore molecular links that bundle hearing-related hair cells together. In theory, you could reverse hearing damage among cells that haven’t been permanently lost — that exceptionally loud concert might not permanently limit your listening enjoyment.
There’s a lot of work to be done before there’s an actual treatment. However, scientists don’t think you’d always need anemone cells to make this work. At least in mice, there are repair proteins that parallel those from the underwater creatures. If researchers can find a way to improve their effectiveness (mammal proteins are much less useful right now), you wouldn’t need to harvest them from sealife to deliver effective treatments.
Via: ScienceNews
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology
Tesla Rethinks ‘Autopilot’ Definition in China After Beijing Crash
Tesla has removed the word “autopilot” from its China website after a driver in Beijing who crashed while the mode was active complained that the company had misled them about its capability (via Reuters).
The accident happened on a commuter highway when the car failed to avoid a vehicle parked on the left side and partially in the roadway, damaging both cars but causing no injuries.
Tesla Model S all-electric five-door, luxury liftback (Image: Tesla Motors)
It is the first incident of its kind in China, but follows a fatal crash in Florida earlier this year and highlights a lack of clarity surrounding how automated driving features work.
References to autopilot and the term “zidong jiashi”, which also translates as “self-driving”, were taken off the company’s web page for the Model S sedan by late Sunday, according to a comparison with an archived version of the page. The references have been replaced by a phrase that translates as ‘self-assisted driving’.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, a spokeswoman for the company said:
At Tesla we are continuously making improvements, including to translations. We’ve been in the process of addressing any discrepancies across languages for many weeks. Timing had nothing to do with current events or articles.
In response to the crash, Tesla China staff have reportedly undergone training to re-emphasize that car salespeople must always keep two hands on the wheel when demonstrating the autopilot function.
Other Tesla drivers interviewed by Reuters said China sales staff took their hands off the wheel while demonstrating the function. Under Chinese law, drivers are required to keep two hands on the wheel at all times.
The spokeswoman for Tesla said that the system was not self-driving but merely assistive and that drivers were responsible for always maintaining control of the vehicle. On the Tesla U.S. website, autopilot in the Model S is described as allowing the car “to steer within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by using active, traffic-aware cruise control”.
Digital control of motors, brakes, and steering helps avoid collisions from the front and sides, and prevents the car from wandering off the road. Autopilot also enables your car to scan for a parking space and parallel park on command. And our new Summon feature lets you “call” your car from your phone so it can come greet you at the front door in the morning.
U.S. regulators have yet to issue written regulations for autonomous vehicles, but Apple – heavily rumored to be working on a car project – has already met with California DMV officials regarding self-driving car laws within the state.
Multiple reports indicate that Apple is exploring the functionality with the possibility of including it in a later iteration of its vehicle project, which is said to be overseen by former longtime executive Bob Mansfield, who last served as Senior Vice President of Technologies at the company.
Apple has reportedly recruited hundreds of engineers from the likes of Tesla, Ford, GM, and elsewhere to work on the so-called Apple Car, codenamed “Project Titan” internally, despite CEO Tim Cook’s recent refusal to be drawn on the subject. The electric vehicle could be street-ready between 2019 and 2021 according to various reports, with R&D based in Sunnyvale, California.
Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: Tesla
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Microsoft Office Apps Update Brings Drawing Support to iPhone
Microsoft today updated its suite of Office apps designed for the iPhone, adding finger-drawing support to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
In January, the company added inking support to its productivity suite for the iPad Pro to take advantage of the Apple Pencil, but now iPhone users can also make use of the feature using their digits.
A new Draw tab can be found in each of the three apps. The drawing tools in this tab allow iPhone owners to use a stylus or finger to write, draw, highlight, and annotate various Microsoft Office documents.
The thickness and color of the pen can be changed, while hand-drawn shapes can also be transformed into customized shapes. Excel users can annotate over cells, while those who use PowerPoint can draw freeform over slides.
Microsoft Word [Direct Link], Microsoft Excel [Direct Link], and Microsoft PowerPoint [Direct Link] are all available for iPhone on the App Store. While the apps are free to download, users need a qualifying Office 365 subscription to create and edit documents.
Tag: Office 365
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Bang & Olufsen A1 review: Bluetooth speaker bliss
It’s not often a Bluetooth speaker has its designer’s name tucked away within its specification. But then the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A1 is no ordinary Bluetooth speaker; an example of the kind of sound quality that can be achieved at this small scale.
Thing is, its price point is far from ordinary too: at £199 it’s a considerable chunk of cash to be chucking at a portable speaker. The obvious question, then, is whether it’s worth the investment?
B&O A1 BeoPlay review: Design
Bang & Olufsen is well known for its design. The Danish company walks the line between understated and outlandish, falling into the former camp for the A1 (it is designed by Cecilie Manz – a well-known industrial designer).
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Its circular base gives it a nautical, port-hole kind of appearance – especially once it’s been hung from the wall via its tied leather strap.
Up top is an aluminium grille, complete with arrangement of fine holes to disperse sound; beneath which is a polymer base with hidden soft-touch buttons to hold everything together. The two parts are well connected, although they look somewhat separate from one another. Rested on a tabletop and it’s not necessarily B&O’s finest work, especially compared to some of its high-end speakers.
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Operability is great. A USB Type-C port ensures quick charging of the 2,200mAh on-board battery, which can last for up to a day at a time. We’ve easily been getting two working days at a time when set to a reasonable volume.
There’s app connectivity with the B&O BeoPlay, but connectivity isn’t as complex as some larger dedicated speakers. There’s no Airplay, or WiFi, for example – although it is possible to pair two of the speakers into a stereo pair, if you have a lot of spare cash to buy two of them.
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Design shortcomings are more comparisons to the competition rather than major failings: the B&O lacks waterproofing like the Ultimate Ears UE Boom, for example, while its sound can’t project in as full a 360-degree arrangement either.
B&O A1 BeoPlay review: Sound
But just because it can’t fire sound out in all directions really doesn’t matter – it’s not like you’ll mount it backwards and hope it sounds at its best. Indeed, when you first hear the BeoPlay A1 you’ll be surprised that sound this good can come from something so small.
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The real standout point for the A1 is just how significant its bass response is from a speaker of this size. It’s taut and can manage frequencies as low as 60Hz, which is plenty base enough. Having caught-up with DJ Friction’s D&B show on Radio 1, it did a grand job of firing out basslines like a speaker far larger would. That’s down to an “aluminium core sub-woofer, powerful magnetic system and amps,” says B&O.
Not that it’s all bass – the BeoPlay A1 is really well balanced with its delivery of all kinds of music, from ensuring mid-range vocals cut through, to sparkly high-end percussion. It’s not overly sharp nor resonant, just a real exemplary speaker for how good sound quality can be at this scale.
Verdict
It might be small, but the B&O BeoPlay A1’s big sound makes it standout in the portable Bluetooth speaker market. We may have baulked at its £199 price tag at first, but given how good it sounds, we think it’s worth every penny.
Sure, there’s no WiFi, AirPlay, waterproofing or 360-degree design like some of its competitors, but the solid battery, build quality, extra drive of bass and sheer audio clarity give this Bang & Olufsen the upper hand when it comes to sound quality. The BeoPlay A1 is well worth saving up for.
Incredible HTC Nexus Sailfish pic leak shows Google phone in all its glory
Fresh images have been posted online, seemingly showing off one of the next HTC-made Nexus phones in the flesh.
Android Police posted images of “Sailfish”, which is expected to be launched alongside a similar HTC phone currently code-named “Marlin”.
As we’ve seen in previous render leaks, it’s a mostly solid metal build, but with a large glass panel on the top third, where the fingerprint sensor and camera system lives. And, although there’s no HTC logo to be seen anywhere, there’s certainly something very HTC-like about the phone.
- Is this what Google’s Marlin and Sailfish Nexus phones will look like?
- Next Nexus (2016): Release date, rumours and everything you need to know
The corners are nicely rounded, while the chassis looks to be hewn from a single block of aluminium, rather than a slim metal frame.
Like most metal phones, there’s an antenna band running along the bottom of the phone, and it appears there are antenna “gaps” on the top portion as well, mostly hidden by the large glass panel.
Android Police
Rather than be gently curved like a lot of phones, the edges of the device appear to be mostly flat, with some angled chamfers on the top and the bottom, similar to the HTC 10.
According to Android Police, both of the new Nexus phones will look the same and feature mostly the same specifications. The only difference – according to the blog’s claims – are the screen size, device dimensions and battery capacity. In essence, Marlin is just a bigger version of Sailfish. The latter of which is expected to have a five inch screen.
Interestingly, another picture leaked on Twitter seems to confirm that the images AP got their hands on are legitimate, and show what looks like part of a lifestyle photo shoot.
The 2016 HTC Nexus looks like a cross between the Nexus 4 & iPhone with glass and fingerprint scanner on the back. pic.twitter.com/7pm9fhszki
— nexus (@usbfl) August 14, 2016
While we’re calling these phones Nexus, it’s possible that Google is moving away from that brand name. Previous renders suggested the phones will have one simple brand logo, and that will be a single “G”. No HTC or Nexus branding, anywhere.
That’s interesting because it suggests that – like its Chromebook and Tablet businesses – Google wants to have more control over hardware, and is using a manufacturer as a contractor to build its phones, rather than a partner who gets to share the limelight.
We don’t know exactly when the Nexus phones will arrive, but rumours suggest we should see a launch at some point in September.
London police to create a troll-hunting social media unit
In a bid to tackle rising levels of abuse on social media, London’s Metropolitan Police is to set up a five-person team of specialist officers tasked with targeting online trolls. Scotland Yard will spend £1.7 million on the unit, called the Online Hate Crime Hub, which will provide “targeted and effective services for victims”, offer advanced intelligence on offenders and strengthen links between police, communities and social media companies like Facebook and Twitter.
Although UK authorities have taken steps to outlaw online abuse, victims have complained that police forces have been slow to act or been left feeling like their voices haven’t been heard. The Online Hate Crime Hub aims to better support those targeted by trolls, unmasking perpetrators who have operated under “veil of anonymity” provided by social media services.
“Those targeted can become isolated, living in fear of the online behaviour materialising in the real world,” the London Mayor’s office said. “The police response to online hate crime is inconsistent, primarily because police officers are not equipped to tackle it.”
The team — comprising of one detective inspector, one detective sergeant and three detective constables — will also help police officers and community groups identify, report and tackle abuse, ensuring victims receive the proper level of support.
Via: BBC News
Source: London Mayor’s Office
