Netflix heads to VR again with Google’s Daydream
Last week we saw HBO and a slew of new apps land on Google’s Daydream VR platform — now, Netflix is joining the fray. The streaming company launched its Daydream app this morning, and it looks pretty similar to its existing Gear VR app. That’s probably not too surprising, since both platforms are based on Android. The Daydream Netflix app places you in a virtual log cabin, where you can peruse your queue and start watching videos as you normally do.
Unfortunately, there’s no offline Netflix support for the app yet, but hopefully that’s something that will be added soon. It would be particularly helpful for sitting back and catching up on Netflix during long flights, for example. Given that Netflix is only allowing downloads on its iOS and Android apps at the moment, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see it bring the feature to an Android-powered VR platform.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Google Play
The best toaster oven
By Brendan Nystedt
This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best homewares. When readers choose to buy The Sweethome’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.
After more than 50 hours of research and testing—and making stacks and stacks of toasted white bread, mini pizza bagels, and cookies—we think the Panasonic FlashXpress toaster oven is the best for most people. This model performed as well as (or better than) models that cost twice as much. Its compact size takes up less space on a counter, yet its interior is still large enough to comfortably reheat leftovers and frozen snacks.
Who should get this
A toaster oven is a great multipurpose small appliance that lets you toast bread and bake and reheat foods without firing up your full-sized oven. A compact one works well when you’re making single-serving meals and snacks or if your rental has a tiny kitchen with an oven that doesn’t work well (or is missing altogether). Looking for regular old toasters? We have picks for those, too.
How we picked and tested
Photo: Michael Hession
We looked for toaster ovens that were easy to use, reliable, quick, great at toasting bread and baking cookies, and available for between $25 and $270. A Sweethome survey revealed that most of our respondents wanted to cook leftovers, pizza, and convenience foods like Hot Pockets, so we looked for a model with enough capacity for those jobs that wasn’t too big. Our pick would ideally take up very little counter space in the type of tiny kitchen you find in small studio apartments or a mother-in-law unit.
Our heat-map test results from five of the better ovens we looked at. Photo: Katie Hausenbauer-Koster
We put seven toasters through a battery of tests with three tasters in our New York City test kitchen. First, for our toast test, we filled each toaster with as many slices of basic white bread as we could. For consistency, we set each machine to the medium shade setting and used the toasted results to create a heat map. This showed us any hot spots, as well as how each one performed as a toaster.
For the second test, we made break-and-bake Toll House cookies and pizza Bagel Bites, evaluating the finished cookies and bagels for color, consistency, and doneness. To keep the ovens on an even playing field, we didn’t turn on any of the ovens’ convection settings when we tested.
In the five models we thought had the most promise after the heat-map toast test, we also ran a bonus round of testing on boneless, skinless chicken thighs to test each oven’s broil mode (except the Panasonic FlashXpress, which doesn’t have one). The results were disappointing on every single model, so don’t expect much from this feature, even if the oven can roast and bake with no problem.
Our pick
The compact Panasonic FlashXpress excels at basic tasks like toasting bread, reheating pizza slices, and cooking bite-size snacks. Photo: Brendan Nystedt
We recommend the Panasonic FlashXpress for its strong baking performance, compact size, and reasonable price. It cooked toast and other foods to an even, lovely golden-brown better than most other models we tried, and its toast shade settings were among the most accurate we tested. For a relatively low price, the FlashXpress stands out from a crowded pack of mediocre, cheap models, offering performance and features we found comparable to toaster ovens that are larger and double the cost.
Bread toasted on the medium setting came out beautifully golden brown without any scorching or charring. Only one other toaster oven we tested was able to toast bread as impressively—the Cuisinart TOB-260N1. Other models we tested, such as the KitchenAid KCO273SS, toasted bread unevenly, with extreme light and dark patches. The Panasonic FlashXpress was the only toaster oven we tested that had both quartz and ceramic infrared heating elements, which consistently produced evenly browned toast batch after batch. For more on different heating elements, check out our full guide.
Low heat—and a lack of color—on the two pieces of bread we put in the front of the oven. Photo: Katie Hausenbauer-Koster
When mapping the Panasonic’s internal heat distribution, we found a 1-inch margin right behind the door where the toast didn’t brown well. Because you can’t fit full slices of bread in that space anyway, it’s not a huge deal (just remember to push your bread all the way to the back of the oven rack). However, it did affect other foods that were in that zone. Though Bagel Bites and cookies placed in the cool area were thoroughly cooked, they weren’t as pleasantly browned. However, similar problems were common in many of the ovens we tested.
A pricier, medium-sized toaster oven
The roomier Breville Smart Oven is our runner-up pick. Photo: Michael Hession.
If you need a larger toaster oven than our main pick, we recommend the Breville Smart Oven. This model did well across the board in our tests, evenly toasting bread almost as well as our upgrade pick, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1. Though it’s pricier than our main pick, the Breville Smart Oven has a more modern, intuitive interface and an easy-to-read display.
This model doesn’t have an internal light, but it turned out consistent results batch after batch.
A large toaster oven with more accessories
Our upgrade pick, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1, is large enough to fit nine pieces of bread. Photo: Brendan Nystedt
If you want your toaster oven to cook nine slices of toast at once, the big, versatile Cuisinart TOB-260N1 convection toaster oven is the best that we found. The Cuisinart TOB-260N1 is a different beast entirely than the Panasonic FlashXpress: It’s more than twice the price and almost twice the size, and its much bigger oven cavity can handle a wider variety of cooking tasks. Compared with all the other large toaster ovens we tested, this was the top performer by an impressive margin. When compared head-to-head with the Breville Smart Oven Pro, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1 cooked toast more evenly. It has a better warranty, more accessories, and a slightly bigger capacity to boot.
This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Note from The Sweethome: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.
Twitch uses machine learning to moderate your stream chats
Sure, you can already take steps to keep your Twitch chat friendly, but it’s a lot of work if you don’t have a team of moderators. Do you really want to watch conversations like a hawk in case someone gets around your meticulously crafted filters? You might not have to after today. Twitch is introducing an AutoMod feature that uses a mix of machine learning and natural language processing to keep “inappropriate content” out of your stream chats. It not only screens for offensive language, but can spot attempts to dodge your filters through clever uses of characters and emoji. You can even set a general filtering level to determine just how profane you’d like chat to be.
If a message does run afoul of your settings, AutoMod will hold it in a publishing queue for you or moderators. You can make exceptions, in other words, or allow messages that clearly should have gone through.
The AutoMod app is available right now for English broadcasters, and as a beta in 12 other languages (including European languages, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Turkish). No, it won’t be as comprehensive as having a good set of human mods, but it could make the difference between focusing on your stream and distracting yourself when a viewer gets unruly.
Source: Twitch Blog
Facebook now lets you livestream in 360 degrees
Facebook has unveiled the next iteration of its Live video streaming service, dubbed Live 360. As the name implies, the new feature will enable comprehensive surround video broadcasts in real time.
The social network is teaming up with National Geographic to promote the launch. Tomorrow, December 13th at 12pm ET, NatGeo will broadcast live from its Mars Desert Research Station facility in Utah, where, for the past 80 days, eight space scientists have been living in artificial habitats that replicate life on the Red Planet.
The Live 360 feature won’t be everywhere to start. Facebook plans to slowly roll it out to select Pages in the coming months before broadening its distribution to both Pages and user Profiles by the end of next year.
Apple releases iOS 10.2 and its companion TV app
Apple is making good on its promise of giving you a unified video streaming experience. The company has released iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1, both of which include the company’s centerpiece TV app. So long as a given service supports the feature, you no longer have to jump into and out of apps to catch up on your viewing — you can resume your favorite show or check out recommendations from a single place. Netflix isn’t included in TV at the moment, alas, but this and the recently launched single sign-on should save you a lot of hassle.
The iOS update isn’t just a one-trick pony, of course. It includes a slew of new emoji, including a face palm, a gorilla (read: Harambe) and female equivalents for most job emoji. And of course, there are numerous subtler tweaks. You’ll see improved music controls with quicker access to your queue and shuffling, better stabilization and improved frame rates for Live Photos, a dedicated News app section for saved articles and notifications for smart home devices like smoke detectors and door sensors.
Combine these with general fixes (there’s a significant upgrade to Bluetooth performance, for example) and you’ll definitely want to upgrade — if just to see Apple fulfill one of its big end-of-year promises.
Source: MacRumors
Apple Looks to Open New Stores in Washington D.C. and Scottsdale, AZ
Apple is one of a number of retailers looking at opening a store at Scottsdale Fashion Square, in a 100,000-square-foot wing formerly occupied by Barney’s department store, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.
Former Barney’s store at Scottsdale Fashion Square (Photo: Phoenix New Times)
Barney’s department store closed its Fashion Square store earlier this year, providing Apple with an opportunity to secure a large space in the largest shopping mall in the Phoenix area, according to the report. The mall has the second-highest profit per square foot of any U.S. malls, according to owner Macerich.
Scottsdale, an eastern suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, has one existing Apple retail store at Scottsdale Quarter. Apple has four other retail stores in the greater area, including locations at Biltmore in Phoenix, Chandler Fashion Center in Chandler, SanTan Village in Gilbert, and Arrowhead in Glendale.
Meanwhile, Apple has reached an agreement to proceed with opening a flagship store at the historic Carnegie Library in Washington D.C. as previously rumored, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Carnegie Library (Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri)
Carnegie Library property management Events DC has reportedly proposed a 10-year lease term, with the option for two 5-year extensions. Apple will pay market rent and will give Events DC a payment of “between $1 million and $2 million to offset any losses at the building,” the report added.
Carnegie Library is a 113-year-old building located across the street from the Washington Convention Center in Mount Vernon Square. Apple will work with Foster + Partners as it often does to redesign the 63,000-square-foot space, which will be similar to its flagship stores in San Francisco and London.
Washington D.C.’s historical preservation panel would have to approve Apple as a tenant due to the building’s historical legacy and importance to the city.
Related Roundup: Apple Stores
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Releases tvOS 10.1 With New TV App
Apple today released tvOS 10.1, marking the first major update to the tvOS 10 operating system that was first released in September. tvOS 10.1 has been in testing since October 31, and Apple seeded four betas to developers before its public release.
The tvOS 10.1 update can be downloaded on the fourth-generation Apple TV using the Settings app. Go to System –> Software Update to install. For those who have automatic software updates turned on, the Apple TV will be upgraded to tvOS 10.1 automatically.
Apple has also released an 8.4.2 update for third-generation Apple TV owners, which is available alongside tvOS 10.1.
tvOS 10.1 introduces a brand new “TV” app, which is designed to make it easier for users to discover new content across the dozens of television and movie apps that are available.
It serves as a sort of Apple-designed television guide, giving customers a way to find and watch TV and movies across multiple devices. It features a dedicated store, recommended content, and cross-device syncing.
The TV app works hand-in-hand with Single Sign-On, a long-promised tvOS 10 feature that was introduced last week. Single Sign-On lets users sign in with their cable credentials one time to access all live cable content they’re entitled to across multiple apps.
Single Sign-On is currently available for CenturyLink Prism, DirecTV, Dish, GVTC, GTA, Hawaiian Telcom, Hotwire, Metrocast, Service Electric, and Sling TV.
tvOS 10, for those unfamiliar with the operating system, brings features like improved search, expanded Siri capabilities, a dark mode, a Continuity option for using the iPhone for text input, automatic app downloads, quicker access to live TV, and more. For more details on tvOS 10 and tvOS 10.1, make sure to check out our dedicated roundup.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Releases watchOS 3.1.1 With Bug Fixes, Performance Improvements and New Emoji
Apple today released a new software update for the Apple Watch, upgrading watchOS 3.1 to watchOS 3.1.1. The watchOS 3.1.1 update comes more than two months after thewatchOS 3 was provided to the public in September and marks the second update to the operating system. watchOS 3.1.1 has been in testing since October 31.
watchOS 3.1.1 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General -> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. An iPhone running iOS 10 or later is required to download the new software, but it is available for all Apple Watch models.
No major outward-facing changes were discovered in watchOS 3.1.1 during the beta testing period, suggesting it focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. watchOS 3.1.1 does support the new Unicode 9 emoji that have been introduced in iOS 10.2 and it includes a new feature for changing the skin tone of emoji. A full list of bug fixes is below:
– Fixes an issue that could prevent contact names from appearing in the Messages app and notifications
– Fixes an issue that could impact ability to respond to notifications
– Resolves an issue where the Stocks complication may not update on the watch face
– Fixes an issue that may prevent the Activity rings from displaying on the Activity watch faces
– Fixes an issue that prevented the dials on an analog watch face from appearing after changing the temperature unit in the Weather app
– Resolves an issue that could cause the Maps app to stay launched after navigation has ended
– Resolves an issue where the incorrect date could be displayed in the Calendar app month view
watchOS 3 completely overhauls the interface on the Apple Watch, introducing a dedicated app dock, instant launch apps, new watch faces, and new complication options. There are new Activity sharing features, a “Breathe” app guides users through deep breathing sessions, and an SOS feature can automatically call emergency service.
For more details on what’s new in watchOS 3, make sure to check out our watchOS 3 roundup.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
Discuss this article in our forums
Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones review
If you were to pick me out of a crowd, I’d be the girl with the headphones.
I hate noise. Music keeps me sane. This is why the most important device leaving the house isn’t my phone, it is my headphones. My primary headphones are worn around my neck every day, they are one of the features coworkers and cohorts recognize me most by (after my hat, of course). As a very particular person, finding a good pair of headphones is a bit like finding a magic wand, except instead of just going to Ollivander’s, you’re looking quite literally in every shop you can find for something that fits your life, your lifestyle, and your wallet.
Lucky for me, the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones fit all three.
Now, behind-the-head or on-the-ear is a very particular style unique to each person, and I did not arrive at it lightly. Earbuds never fit; they’re often too painful to wear. Traditional over-ear headphones can cut me off from the world wonderfully, but they’re often too heavy to wear for long periods, too bulky to wear around the neck between sessions, and difficult to wear one ear on and one ear off, as I often do at work and around town.
The behind-the-ear headphone category is unfortunately not one that receives a whole lot of attention, at least from bigger brands.
There also hasn’t been an arms race of features and innovation here as there’s been in earbuds and over-the-ear headphones. What we do have are dependable, low-cost headphones with easy controls, easy charging, and sweet, sweet battery life.
They are Kinivo’s third generation of behind-the-head headphones, and as with many threequels, they’re hitting their stride with this one.
Enter the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth headphones. They are Kinivo’s third generation of behind-the-head headphones, and as with many threequels, they’re hitting their stride with this one. They bring a few new bells and whistles to a line that have been my workhorse headphones for years, and these subtle upgrades make a world of difference.
While previous models have curved backs to their cups, the 260s have flat, textured backs, with more angular sides. This allows the headphone to sit flat and stable on the table when not in use, diminishing scuffing. The 260s are also IPX7 sweatproof, which is great not only for when I’m wearing them in the gym but also when they’re around my neck seven to 10 hours a day in Texas’s hellish summer heat.
Controls on the 260s are a slight departure in two ways: the power button and the device status updates. On both the 220s and 240s, Kinivo opted to have a long-press of the power button turn the headphones on and off, and played a small tone upon boot-up. The problem with this, especially when turning the headphones off, was that if you didn’t long-press the headphones long enough, you triggered the callback button instead. This year, Kinivo opted for a standalone switch for powering the headphones on and off, making turning the headphones on/off seconds quicker and giving a clearer indication the headphones are on/off compared to just a blinking blue light.
Telling me how much battery is left upon startup is wonderful.
While previous models just used different beeps to denote it turning on and pairing/disconnecting from a device, not all of us speak beep, so the 260s now speak English. When you power on the headphones, the device tells you how much battery you have, and will say “Connected” and “Lost Connection” whenever they connect/disconnect from a device. Telling me how much battery is left upon startup is wonderful. Previous models kept us guessing how much we had until the dreaded Low Battery bell starting ringing. Now, we know: “Battery high.”
Battery life on the BTH series has always been great, with the headphones usually lasting me a week of mixed use, and the 260s are no different. These headphones can sit on my neck for 10-12 hours a day, sit on my ears four to five, and easily make it through the work week and well into the weekend.
Charging these headphones is as easy as finding a Micro-USB cable and plugging in, no proprietary cables to hassle with. Many of us are moving on to USB-C as we upgrade our phones, but Micro-USB cables are still plentiful, cheap, and we all have about half a dozen littering our desk drawers and backpacks, so it’s hard to knock Kinivo for going with something established and reliable.
For my money, and for my music, the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones are what I turn to. These are the headphones that I don’t leave home without, the pair that sit comfortably around my neck on thrilling roller coasters and boring bus rides. These are many like my headphones, but these Kinivo BTH260 are mine. Without me, my headphones are useless. Without my headphones, I am hopeless.
Note that these headphones are very difficult to find right now, but should come back in stock soon.
See at Amazon
Digital Offers: Grab the Certified Ethical Hacker Bootcamp for just $45!
Not all hacking is bad hacking. The word itself is associated with negativity usually, but it can be used for just as much good as it can bad. Have you ever thought how cool it would be to research vulnerabilities and try to discover them on your favorite websites while working for them? It would be pretty sweet, right? But, how do you even get started?
Meet the Certified Ethical Hacker Bootcamp, a perfect way to get going. The bootcamp offers access to more than 40 hours of content that you can access at any time of the day, along with nearly 150 lectures on different topics. From learning perimeter defenses to gaining practical experience with DDoS attacks and more, there is a wide variety of great information here that will help you advance your current career, or help you make a move to a new one.
The bootcamp includes:
- Access 144 lectures & 45 hours of content 24/7
- Study by taking 600+ exam questions
- Gain practical experience w/ intrusion detection, policy creation, DDoS attacks, & more
- Learn about perimeter defenses
- Scan & attack your own networks
- Understand Trojans, backdoors, viruses, worms, & more
This sure sounds like it would cost a lot, right? Well, normally this bootcamp is priced at over $5,000, but right now you can pay just a fraction of that. You won’t set yourself into a financial debt to try and learn something new here.
Priced at just $45 for a limited time you’ll get everything mentioned above and even more. Don’t miss out on this deal or you may regret it later.
See at Android Central Offers
AIVAnet 